《I have been blessed by Chaos but all I want to do is chill on a farm》 01 Interlude: A disembodied soul floated in front of what appeared to be a cloud of darkness, the cloud pulsed growing small or big and it moved all around in swirling patterns never to remain in one place too long. Well, this soul once was a man, but it died, no, not it ¨C He; Even in death he had a strong sense of self. He looked around there was only emptiness and this nebulous ever-changing blob of darkness. The soul felt the overwhelming pressure coming out of this cloud. There were only a few things to assume. ¡°Are you here to take me to the afterlife?¡± He asked still unsure of the ability of the cloud to speak. But, oh it spoke, directly into his mind. ¡°Mortal,¡± the booming voice penetrated his very core, ¡°there is a life after, but not the one you might expect.¡± The cloud of darkness surrounded him from all sides. ¡°I¡¯ve won your soul and so you will be reincarnated.¡± He didn''t remember gambling or selling something so important¡­ The entity continued. ¡°Worry not, Mortal, I¡¯ll put you in one of my worlds. In a place where no one would expect, so you¡¯ll be safe for a while.¡± ¡°This world it¡¯s not Earth?¡± He asked having a hunch already. ¡°A world of strife and magic; a harsh place. But be not afraid, I shall bestow upon you a few boons; the standard sort.¡± He had a hundred questions he wanted to ask, but he felt his soul body to become overwhelmed by the power the entity was emitting. The swirling cloud of darkness thundered and lit with purple colour, much like a thunderstorm, and then one of the stray bolts of lighting hit him directly; likely on purpose. And then it hit again and again. While it was scary it only tickled his soul a bit. The lightning bolts were harmless but they did a thing, or three¡­ Three lines of text floated in his vision: [Perk Resurrection [1] obtained.] [Perk Language Comprehension obtained.] [Perk Chaos Blessed obtained.] The last one sounded ominous. It made him wonder about what sort of entity this was. ¡°Off you go, Mortal.¡± Everything went black, he didn¡¯t even get to ask the name of the entity or even the place he would be¡­ reincarnated? ... [You have entered The Dreaded Place] ¨C a mysterious message filtered into his mind and vision. ¡°A dreaded place?¡± This didn¡¯t sound good, at all. It didn¡¯t look good. ¡°A jungle?¡± He was surrounded by thick trees, imposing bushes and creeping vines. The vegetation was so dense that barely any light reached the ground. Despite the lush greenery, it was eerily quiet. At least, he wasn¡¯t a floating soul anymore; he had a body. He recognised it as his old body, but a much younger version. He checked himself over, everything was in place and he looked healthy enough. Actually, he felt great! But the jungle start wasn¡¯t the best. He expected a temple, or even some small town or anything like that. But the looks of it, he will be far away from any decent civilisation. ¡°First things first, to find a water source.¡± It came back to survival first. ¡°And maybe a village.¡± He looked around anxiously taking in the sight of this untamed jungle, and then he looked at himself. ¡°Or maybe not.¡± He was put in this world without even a single piece of equipment. He was naked! Not to mention the lack of a weapon. A divine thingamajig tool would be mighty useful, but the entity didn¡¯t feel the need to give him that. Or even tell him where he was reincarnated. Well, maybe he shouldn¡¯t expect too much from a mysterious cloud of darkness¡­ at least he was alive again. ¡°Deities work in mysterious ways¡­¡± He rationalised to himself. He looked again, and while he had nothing, that didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t make something. The plants offered themselves to him and he was able to fashion a type of skirt using a large leaf and a vine. It turned out really well and he was proud of his craftsmanship. A masterwork - worthy of a king no less! [You have crafted a leaf skirt of poor quality. Crafting +1exp.] Another message. This was interesting. He wondered if his creation had some special properties. Another message popped out in his vision. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. [Leaf Skirt: -1 fashion. +1 Rep with Elves.] ¡°Elves?¡± He exclaimed in surprise and then looked around in suspicion. He hated elves. They were arrogant nature-loving hippies! Anyways, there were messages floating in his vision, so there was another thing to try. ¡°Status!¡± Nothing happened. ¡°Status Screen. Info. Character Sheet.¡± Nothing at all. ¡°Oh come on!¡± There were allusions to Crafting skill and exp but no further explanations. Regardless, he wasn¡¯t going to stay bummed out about something trivial as that. If it granted him exp, that meant that this was good no? So he decided to make something else. ¡°Now a weapon.¡± He went looking for suitable materials. In the end, there wasn¡¯t much laying around, but he had a weapon now even if it was just a random stick he found on the jungle floor. ¡°Yeah, no message.¡± He wondered if he needed to alter it more to receive it. ¡°I have no tools. Not yet, this will have to do. Now, a river.¡± He listened intently for the sound of water. There was none. There was no sound at all, not even the wind rustling the leaves. ¡°How strange.¡± He walked aimlessly for quite a while. The anxiety began to set in. Not only there was no sound of water, but there were also no sounds of animals. Nothing at all. Spooky! ¡°If there are no animals here I might starve¡­ if I don''t die of thirst first.¡± His heart filled with dread. He passed numerous green plants as he went, but none of them looked edible. And even if they were he wouldn''t eat them, that would be a quick way to die. The fact was that he wasn¡¯t someone like an elf so It was much safer to cook a fish or even eat some rodent than experiment on some random shroom or tuber. If there were fruits or nuts. He hasn¡¯t seen them yet. It must have been hours since he started the quest for water. There was no sound of it. ¡°I¡¯m royally buggered. Am I not?¡± It was getting dark. And chilly. *Brrr. ¡°A human can live without water for three days. I will find something tomorrow.¡± He was trying to remain optimistic. ¡°So for now, it¡¯s a fire.¡± He changed the priorities. As he was gathering dry scraps of wood, grass and leaves he stepped on some wet mud. ¡°Yuk.¡± It felt slimy and gross. However, this was a good sign. Upon further investigation, he was able to uncover a stream. ¡°Some fresh clean water at last!¡± He scooped it and drank with unadulterated greed. *Brrr. *Shiver. It was ice cold, but small victory worth celebrating. At the source of the stream there was an outcrop of rocks and small boulders; washed and polished by the water. ¡°Just what I needed.¡± He picked the best-looking one. Cast rock onto a rock, bim bam bosh, and there it was ¨C A sharp shard of stone was made and then attached to the stick he had found earlier. Like so, a mighty weapon was made; a legendary one. Easy! [You have crafted a stone spear of poor quality. Crafting +1exp.] Now, he was a proud holder of a whole 2 exp¡­ ¡°Oh well. Better than nothing.¡± The message dispelled the delusions and reminded him of the distractions he was surrounding himself with. ¡°Sparks! I was here for the fire." There was a lot of effort put into it but he failed to make the fire, it was just impossible without lighting fluid or matches. Well, there were ways but he either lacked the skill or technique so in the end he had to give up. *Brrr. *Shiver. ¨C the night was spent in a nest of twigs and leaves. He worried that a random snake might bite his ass and poison him. But he was too tired to worry and quickly fell asleep exhausted. Upon inspection his ass was fine. Not even a single bug bite. Not only there were no snakes or insects, but there were also no animals of any kind at all. Nothing! ¡°What a weird place. Starve I shall not!¡± He announced to the whole jungle a new challenge. Yet starve he did. It was already dark and no sight of anything edible, he was so hungry the tree bark began to look tasty. ¡°I will not give in to weakness. I will prevail!¡± He cheered himself. ¡°¡­Tomorrow.¡± He yawned tiredly. Okay... The place was devoid of life except for the greenery. He could try eating some roots or flowers. He could¡­ and he did try a few most edible-looking things, they were bitter or tasted like grass. ¡°To the dust with it!¡± He cursed losing hope. ¡°This is indeed a dreadful place.¡± No matter how hard he looked he just found no fruits, nuts or berries, this jungle was devoid of such things. Through trial and error, he managed to find something he could barely stomach. It was a young green vine growing on a thick white tree. The young sprouts were juicy and despite the bitterness, it seemed something he could stomach. So yeah, he was eating an equivalent of a weed, but there was just nothing else here. He kept walking for days, subsisting on nothing but Bitter Vine, yeah he even named the damned plant. Heck, where were those elves when you needed them? He was ready to put his prejudices away for anything that didn¡¯t taste like concentrated bitterness. He munched on another stem while walking. [Perk Chaos Blessed activated.] ¡°Eh!¡± He screamed out in shock. His vision dimmed and he felt like he was dreaming. Again he found himself disembodied and surrounded by nothing. Unlike last time there was no mysterious cloud of darkness to fill the emptiness but he did feel something greater than himself, some power emanating from¡­ from his very core, from his memories or even his soul. Visions began to flash in his mind. Images of flora and fauna. They were plants and animals he knew from his previous life. For a split second, his mind was filled with an image of a juicy burger, the first image out of the thousands which felt like food-food and not some raw barely edible plant. And then the vision cut abruptly. [Perk Poison Resistance: Lesser obtained.] [Perk Enhanced Nutrient Processing obtained.] ¡°Eh!?¡± He almost choked on the bite still in his mouth. ¡°It was poisonous!¡± Regardless, he had gained something unexpected, and quite useful. ¡°I take it back!¡± He took the bad words away he had made in the past few days. ¡°This world is amazing!¡± This meant that he could eat other barely edible plants growing here. Well as the perks went it felt slightly underwhelming, but at least he didn¡¯t grow pointy ears and began acting as if a stick was stuck up his ass. Or did he? He quickly checked himself over. ¡°Phew.¡± His fingers detected no physical changes. ¡°Let''s put this perk to a test.¡± He stuffed some fern leaves into his mouth. ¡°Ew!¡± It tasted just as bitter as the vines. He waited for some reaction in his stomach, the unpleasant kind. He braced for it. Nothing came. He ate some more. The leaves tasted awful and they barely filled him. Everything in this place, even if edible now, tasted like grass. ¡°Disappointing!¡± He screamed into the void. He felt cheated by the perk. Why couldn''t he have gotten something like Laser Eyes or Conjure Food? 02 Days passed, but neither the scenery nor the situation changed. He was alive, he was well, but he wasn¡¯t prospering. Everything tasted so disgusting. It was becoming a problem. What was not the problem, strangely, was the lack of people. The solitude was oddly refreshing and It was strange how he didn¡¯t feel lonely. Was the jungle beginning to grow on him? ¨C He didn¡¯t know but there was some progress: He managed to craft himself [Bark Armour] and [Leaf Shoes]. Both gave +1Rep with Elves and Crafting +1exp. The shoes soon disintegrated, they weren''t that durable. But hey easy exp at least. ¡°I wonder exactly how much exp I need to acquire before something fun starts to happen.¡± No helpful message popped up to explain such things. It was getting boring to be roaming around in what probably were circles. There were no signs of animals or civilisation, so he decided to settle and grind some exp, if walking wasn¡¯t a solution maybe this was¡­ so he took a small crafting project. He worked like a factory robot, pumping out [Leaf Shoes] one after the other. [+1exp. +1exp, +1exp¡­] The messages kept popping up. The level-up announcement remained elusive. [Congratulations! You are now proficient enough to craft leaf shoes of common quality.] ¡°After hours of work? That¡¯s it?¡± The message even sounded condescending when he read it in his mind. Just to test if he understood this right, he crafted another [Leaf Skirt] it came out as poor. ¡°Vine juice!¡± He swore in disappointment. By the way, the vine juice was so bitter it became a swear word of its own. There was little to do here. He didn¡¯t even get to use his spear not even once! The place was devoid of danger, but also of fun, and it seemed endless. Wandering aimlessly didn¡¯t look like a solution anymore. Well, there was one thing he always wanted to do. To build a house of his own and grow his own food and crops. He began daydreaming to escape the harsh reality of being stuck in this ¡®hostile¡¯ place. ¡°It sounds nice. Who is here to stop me?¡± None, literally, no one was there. To build his first house he needed materials and tools. Materials were plentiful and the tools could be made. With ample time he managed it. The stone tools weren''t fancy but they did the job so the construction began. The first house, in reality, a shed, failed; it collapsed. A second one held but looked really shabby. As he was building a message popped out once in a while telling him that he was earning +1exp in Building. It wasn¡¯t much but it felt rewarding. After many attempts, the shed was complete. It was a structure made out of wooden beams, woven twigs, vines and leaves. All in all not too bad. He felt proud of himself. Then he cleared a small spot of all the shrubs and other flora. The bendy twigs he could handle, but there were these white tall trees and they seemed to be harder than stone. Not to mention the fact that they were just really thick. Anyways, he kinda needed the timber so he cut the softwood leaving the white trees untouched. After all, he was a homesteader, no, a pioneer sent here to conquer the wilderness. And real homesteaders always grew their own food. In his case, it will be vines. Disgusting Bitter Vines which were awful but by the leagues the best this jungle had to offer. ¡°I will become a vine juice farmer!¡± He shouted proudly rising the wooden hoe in the air. And then began crying. He broke. He didn¡¯t want to eat these stupid vines for all eternity. He craved for the real food. Regardless, he tilled the ground around the white tree, removing all other plants and roots. He was kinda lucky that the roots of the tree were not in the way at all and after a lot of painstaking work, he had a small patch of Bitter Vines. Each time he planted a vine and tied it to a stick he would get Farming +1exp, so his hard work was already being rewarded. When the vine patch was done he called it a day and went to sleep in the Leaves Bed he had crafted earlier. It was exactly like one a gorilla would make and he shamelessly borrowed that design from his memory. The sleepiness overtook him quickly. He dreamt of vine juice. Barrels upon barrels of it. He looked at the barrel in disdain and then fell in it. The barrel was larger than it was supposed to be, it became as large as a pool. The pulp was sticky and reeked of plant matter. His body began to change. His ears elongated, his face became long and his hair turned long and blonde. It was a nightmare! He woke up drenched in a cold sweat and grasped for his ears. ¡°Phew, only a dream.¡± But that was not all: [Perk Chaos Blessed activated.]. It must have happened during the night. He inspected the clearing where he planted the vines. They were already budding. The plant was growing at an astonishing speed and there was a slight shadow of blue taking colour on the stem. The perk did something to the vine, whatever it was. He dabbed twice in the air to celebrate the good news, it was okay and not cringe at all; no one was watching anyway. Then he had some vines for breakfast. Eww! ¡°At this pace, I might just admit it¡­ Virtually I am no different from a stinky elf.¡± He lived like one, he ate like one. To dispel depressing thoughts he made a small wattle cage to protect the budding plant. He watched it grow. Really, there was nothing better to do. No entertainment. He decided to explore the surroundings further. As he went he marked his way with sticks. He went quite far but the scenery barely changed. There was no life at all: he confirmed that for the hundredth time. At least he had some good exercise. Back at his place he still had a good amount of free time so he decided to hone his crafting skill. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. The materials he had on hand were limited. There were bendy twigs, vines, bark and other plant matter for his creations. The stems of the vines were surprisingly durable and with some processing could be made into a rope. He did just that. He pulled the fibres and twisted them into a rope. The rope was the essential tool for any wannabe survivalist. So he crafted Rope for days. He had a bunch of it. ¡°In the end, I didn¡¯t get much exp for that.¡± It kinda made sense it was repetitive and boring but quite easy to make. He looked himself over. His ¡®clothes¡¯ were beginning to deteriorate. The plant matter they were made was wilting. ¡°A chance for new gear.¡± He decided. This time he spent a good amount of time thinking about how to increase its durability. He could try processing plant fibre into the cloth, similar to what he did to get the rope, but that would take forever. In the end, he made himself a [Leaf Vest], [Leaf Skirt], and believe it or not [Rope Sandals]. The sandals were a great success. Then he made himself a [Leaf Hat] to complete the look. [Gear bonus achieved +5 Rep with Elves] ¡°Sweet!¡± But then he realised that he must look like a hippy or something. ¡°Or not¡­¡± But who cares, he was proud of his budding skill. ¡°Who knew I had a talent as a clothes designer.¡± He smiled proudly. The plant was growing nicely, however, there were some alarming signs. It was blue ¨C the stem and the leaves; it was completely blue. Blue! But there were also the beginnings of small grapelike fruits nesting under the leaves. ¡°It¡¯s okay. There is no need to panic.¡± He calmed himself knowing that the stem didn¡¯t need to be normal colour to grow edible fruits. He was under the impression this was either a tomato or grape, both were vine plants. Or whatever category they were supposed to be; he wasn¡¯t a botanist. As time went by he either spent it figuring out how to make cloth from plant fibres or admiring his magical blue plant. Cloth-making wasn¡¯t an easy process. He tried various plants. Some were successes, some failed to produce good results. There was some sort of a leafy bush, its leaves were spiky and difficult to harvest. It kinda looked like the top of a pineapple but bigger and minus the fruit. That one had a good fibre for cloth. Also, there was another candidate, it was just an oversized leaf on an oversized stem, and unlike the former only its stems were useful. So there were options. He harvested the string-like fibre from the plants and left them to dry. Then he needed to weave them into the cloth. ¡°Nope!¡± He gave up. It just was too labour-intensive. It seriously needed some automation. A nice roll of thin cloth was beyond his skill, but he could manage a thin rope. If push comes to shove he could try something similar to knitting. On a brighter note, the magic plant was growing splendidly. ¡°It must be eight metres long.¡± He appraised the length of the vine. Tiny yellow fruits were already getting bigger. He tried eating its leaves already but only a few because he didn¡¯t want to harm the plant. It surprisingly tasted ten times better than his usual staple of the bitter vine, but still, it tasted very much as an edible weed would; not the best. He was praying for the fruits to grow quicker. ¡­ The plant matured. It bore big fruits the size of grapefruit, its skin was smooth and the membrane thin and edible. Its flesh was interesting. It was almost like jelly. It tasted positively divine, it was sweet and it was unlike any other fruit he had eaten. ¡°Oh my god!¡± He stuffed himself full of it. It was hard to control himself. But he had to. He needed to leave some for seeds because the fruit had to overripen to mature them. At which point it became hard and inedible; each yielded twelve seeds. With the extra seeds, he expanded his vine patch. Soon the small patch turned into a small farm. It grew very quickly and the harvest was plentiful; truly a plant infused with mysterious magic. This Chaos Blessed perk he had was a powerful one, but it was slightly unpredictable; he couldn''t even choose to activate it ¨C it seemed to be random. The fruits he was eating had a surprising bonus, not only were they tasty they energised him. And he had a feeling that just one fruit per day was enough, but of course, he ate more. They were dense in energy and nutrients. He worried about getting fat, but he just didn¡¯t. Metabolism or something ¨C go figure. With renewed vigour and ample time, he achieved several things. The first one came as a surprise. Caring for the magic plant and harvesting the fruits gave him Farming exp, a surprisingly high amount of it. [Congratulations! You have reached Farming lvl 1.] [Requirements have been met. Hidden perk unlocked.] [Perk Unnatural Selection obtained.] It didn¡¯t elaborate further. And also this meant that the entire time he was on level 0. Lucking out on this blue vine was likely a contributing factor to obtaining this strange perk. The other achievements were of lesser significance. He managed to make cloth. Yes! And turn it into sacks to store the fruits. Fruit left on the vines would overripen and go hard, but if plucked and stored away they kept for a good while. Also, he had made himself a better shed and a storehouse to store all of the fruit. All good and well¡­ Or not really. It was still kinda boring. And, after what it was? ¨C a few months; it was getting lonely. He even made himself a scarecrow to talk with. He named it Wilson. At that point, it dawned that something had to change and quickly. While he wasn¡¯t busy farming or talking with Wilson he kept exploring the surrounding area, establishing a few trails here and there. He was looking for useful plants like the Bitter Vine, or that spiky plant for fibres so that he could make more cloth. On one of such treks, in the small stream, he found a peculiar rock. It didn''t look natural, because it was a polyhedron sphere, like a football ball. And he knew that rocks in nature, and especially in streams would just be smoothed flat or round. Also, it was black and had this glass feel to it, almost like obsidian. Anyways it felt special so he took the shiny trinket. He kept the thing next to his bed, and would often play with it in his hands, especially in the evenings while thinking about one thing or the other. That was until: [Perk Chaos Blessed activated.]. The obsidian sphere glowed in purple for a few seconds and the light disappeared as soon as it appeared. ¡°What just happened?¡± He inspected the sphere. It didn¡¯t look any different. Shrugging off the mysterious event he went to sleep. A few days went by, and without being able to figure out what exactly happened to the sphere he had almost forgotten the entire incident. He treated the sphere like he always would, rolling it in his hand before he fell to sleep. But, eventually, he noticed a peculiar thing. The sphere was breaking the laws of nature, it was growing in size! It might be the isolation and his imagination going wild but, the sphere began as apple-sized and now It was the size of a grapefruit. So yeah, the chaos perk was somehow growing the sphere, ¡°But why?¡± he couldn¡¯t help but wonder. One evening, after a hard day of farming and crafting he came back to his shack. There were pieces of black broken shells all over the spot where he kept the orb. The conclusion was simple, it wasn¡¯t just an orb, it was an egg and something hatched from it. But what was it and, ¡°Where is it?!¡± he panicked for a moment. He looked everywhere inside but couldn''t find it. He even looked outside around the shack. No mysterious creature or anything. Nothing. ¡°It hatched and made a runner. What did I expect?¡± He should have predicted it and it was disheartening, but it was his own fault. ¡°Maybe with luck, I will find it. No, I definitely will, there is nothing to eat in this jungle. If anywhere the creature will be somewhere in my garden.¡± As he was about to go and check the garden vines something rustled by the ceiling. He looked up and almost fainted. A creature out of a horror movie was hanging on the ceiling. It was black like coal and had six legs. A set of four yellow eyes stared at him hungrily. It had mandibles and all. It kinda looked like a spider or an ant, it definitely was like an insect but nothing like he had seen before. It was ugly. It was scary. It was way too big. He came to the dreadful realisation ¡°A monster!¡± The two looked at each other, and neither moved from their spot. ¡°Oh well, beggars can¡¯t be choosers.¡± So he went to get some fruit to feed the monster. He hoped it would eat the fruit and not crave his human flesh. He prayed fervently in his mind for it to be a vegetarian. Once back he offered a slice of the freshly plucked fruit from the blue vine. It came off the ceiling and devoured the slice greedily. ¡°At¡¯a boy!¡± He celebrated in relief and fed it some more until it wasn¡¯t hungry; one could not be too careful it might still have had a thirst for blood. 03 The creature didn¡¯t thirst for blood. It was completely harmless and actually quite cute. It must have registered him as his parent and now was following him everywhere; a welcome company. It wasn¡¯t too intelligent. He tried a few things with it but it didn¡¯t want to play fetch or tug of war or anything. The tricks? What tricks can you teach a spider? Well, it knew how to ask for food then it was hungry. All in all, It seemed to be content at watching him doing his chores. It was refreshing. The blue tomato-jelly-grape plant definitely was a life changer but the spider thing was even more so. ¡°And, I am not alone anymore.¡± The days were ever so brighter. He knew the importance of remaining positive, or else The Dreaded Place will get to you! ¡­ Okay, the creature was more useful than he thought. It could learn things! One day out of the blue, it began harvesting the fruit and bringing it to storage on its own. He didn¡¯t tell him to do that, it just did. It even stuffed it in the sacks. ¡°What a good helper you are!¡± He patted the creature but it didn¡¯t really respond to the praise. It was very emotionless, very much like an insect would be. He sighed at the lack of response. ¡°Ahh. Well, at least you are intelligent. Teaching a dog this would take a while.¡± The best part was that the little helper didn¡¯t tire or get bored doing this dull task. ¡­ Okay, the shed was full of fruit. More fruit than one man and a hatchling would need. It was a waste to throw them away, so he built another building to store them. The best part was that the hatchling was managing fine on its own. Actually, he didn¡¯t need to harvest the fruit anymore, the creature had it sorted. With more time on his hands, he dedicated himself to building and sprucing up the place. He ran out of sacks to store the fruit. Did he even need to store them in the sacks? Not really, but it was neater this way. He used his time to process plant fibre. He kinda wanted something better than leaf gear. It made him look like ¡­ he dreaded it ¨C like an elf. ¡°I rather look like a peasant than an elf!¡± So he did something that he should have done from the start. He used the cloth for his next project. [You have crafted cloth pants of poor quality. Crafting +1exp.] [You have crafted cloth shirt of poor quality. Crafting +1exp.] ¡°Yes! A new fashion range. Woo-hoo, yipy-ka-ya-yo!¡± He inspected the rough creations. [Cloth Shirt: -2 fashion.] Somehow the fashion penalty got worse, but at least the Elf rep boost was gone. ¡°An improvement!¡± A sudden message appeared. [Farming +120exp]. ¡°What? But I didn¡¯t do anything.¡± The message was mysterious. He went to check on the garden. It was in the usual pristine condition. The creature tended to it like an expert gardener. Harvesting the fruit, pruning the vines and all that. Nothing was out of the ordinary. ¡°Maybe I¡¯ve got the reward for maintaining it for so long?¡± But then there was the fact that it wasn¡¯t him; the hatchling was doing all the work. ¡°Speaking of which¡­¡± His pet was missing so he went to investigate. He found the hatchling in the new storehouse. ¡°Oh, noes!¡± It didn¡¯t look too good. The creature was on its back with its legs all curled up. A telltale sign of death. Beside it was a clutch of a dozen of eggs. He didn¡¯t know if to cry or celebrate. Evidently, his beloved pet perished all too early. He was already quite attached to the little helper. But the good news was there will be more of it. ¡°An asexual reproduction. Are they clones then?¡± He speculated. It was truly a magical creature. ¡­ This time the eggs hatched much more quickly and the whole shebang went the same. The hatchlings followed him like ducklings would their mother, observing every task. Having helpers was welcome, but he didn¡¯t need all twelve of them in the garden. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. On a side note, he had some bad thoughts. Sinful ideas. Wonders and musings. ¡°Should I eat one?¡± He hadn¡¯t eaten meat for¡­ ever since he was reborn. It was tempting. But in the end, he resisted. The constant staring by the hatchlings didn¡¯t play in making the decision; the four big eyes and cute incomprehensible chirps didn¡¯t affect him. Not at all. This decision not to was the right one. Unbeknownst to himself, while doing his chores he came to a revelation - harvesting the magical plant wasn¡¯t the only trick the hatchlings were capable of. One day some of them began gathering the plants for fibre, and then even extracting the strands of said fibre. Actually, they divided the labour. Some were doing this while others were doing that. It seemed that they liked to specialise and then stick to the task. Then he reached another realisation. ¡°Is this automation!¡± Well, not really, but close. ¡°I am a king of spiders!¡± Technically no, those weren¡¯t spiders, but that didn¡¯t stop for the delusion to take place. He imagined himself as the hive queen, ups, a king. His little helpers did his bidding and his kingdom prospered. ¡­ It was boring again. He had nothing to do. The hatchlings did all the work. ¡°First-world problems, eh?¡± He used the time to chart the territory around. In the end, he managed about ten thousand steps in each direction. Unfortunately, the map was a failure. There were just no discernable features. No hills, no rivers. Nothing. Just an endless eerily silent jungle. That didn¡¯t stop him from creating landmarks of his own. A few marks here and there, just in case he loses his way. After getting a rough feeling of his immediate surroundings he took a following important task. Anyone living on the land had to get accustomed to the local plants so he began documenting them in his head. There were odd trees. There was a kind he could chop and the kind his stone axe couldn¡¯t even chip. The former was more common. One particular tree looked just like a tree would but was hollow from the inside, almost like bamboo, but it wasn¡¯t bamboo. It was soft and easy to cut, in other words, an ideal building material with limited tools. The most numerous were various vines, bushed and leafy plants. At first glance, they had no useful properties. A few notables were a pinnable-agave-looking plant and then a huge stem with an equally huge leaf growing from it. Both had useful plant fibre. The first one, seemingly looking out of place in this jungle earned the name of BanditAgave. Its fibres were thick and sturdy making it good for ropes and twines. The second one was just named as StemLeaf. The stem had fine fibre strands which were suitable for making cloth for clothing. The big leaves were ideal for roofing. He harvested the two kinds wherever he found them. It didn¡¯t take long to harvest all of them in the area. ¡°I have to go further and further for them.¡± He made a reflection. Then he had an idea. Instead of harvesting them like a primitive person he could attempt to farm it. He cleared a large area by the vine patch and planted a few samplings of each in separate fields. While being planted each seedling glowed in a mysterious light for a short second giving him +2 exp each. Obviously, something was going and [Unnatural Selection] was a prime suspect. ¡­ The hollow tree, he named it the Impostor Tree, was put to good use as well. He used the unique feature to redirect some of the stream flow towards his shed. There he already had a hole waiting for the water. It was a small pool of sorts, well he called it a pool but it was just a hole lined with rocks and clay-like dirt. The water was awfully cold. It didn¡¯t make a pleasant bathing experience. However, the cold bath was allegedly healthy for your body and soul. The spider creatures, which he still hadn¡¯t officially named yet, had confused the pool with the watering hole. Ever so often they would come and drink from it. It was fine, but on more than one occasion it got him worried. He didn¡¯t like them drinking from there then he was bathing. He worried that they might develop a taste for human-flavoured water. Incidentally, even if it rained less than it should in the jungle, all of the plants didn¡¯t need much watering. Which was odd, but welcome. It made sense since while digging the ¡®pool¡¯ he noticed that the ground was wet and muddy, retaining the water well. Almost like a swamp would be. Which made no sense. This was a jungle! ¡°Or was it?¡± ¡­ His magic tomato-jelly-grape plant was named as TomGrape. Yes, a truly original name. He was proud of it. The new harvest was done. Which was the good news. The bad news was that after almost a month of hard work, all of the hatchlings had died. The good news- they all laid eggs. The bad news - there would be too many hatchlings. The good - he could finally embrace his delusions and become The Spider King. Becoming the hatchling rancher sounded all good and such, but there was a problem ¨C he found them quite scary. Who wouldn¡¯t? They were cat-sized insects. Even now, he just couldn¡¯t get comfortable with the way the creatures looked. Oh also, if all the eggs hatch, there would be over a hundred of hatchlings to take care of. ¡°They kinda take care of themselves tho.¡± But still. A scary thought. ¡­ He had to look after TomGrape vines in the absence of hatchlings. The plant had naturally expanded and there was a lot of work to do. He came to realise how much the hatchlings were useful. [Farming +1200exp]. A message told him he just earned a staggering amount of experience. This could mean only one thing. He ran to the building where he had relocated the eggs. ¡°Yes!¡± he celebrated. They all had hatched. Hundred of eyes were staring at him. ¡°Oh¡­ No.¡± he celebrated too early. A hundred of hatchlings followed his every move. Always watching. Always observing. Yellow eyes unblinking. Unnerving was an understatement. He made sure to feed them well. He couldn¡¯t let them get hungry and get funny ideas. ¡°No animal would bite a feeding hand.¡± He reassured himself providing the slices of TomGrape. ¡°Unless the hand is fed itself¡­¡± In no time at all, some of the hatchlings took the job of caring for the TomGrape vines. But others refused to even touch the vines. The reason is quite obvious, they wanted something else to do. And they picked on other daily tasks he was otherwise busing himself as of yet. Now, he had plenty of helpers to extract the fibre and put it to dry. The hatchlings pulped the soft parts of plants with their mandibles pulling the fibre in expert motion. Others even learned how to weave it into rope and cloth. Having no real thumbs or even fingers made the task awkward, yet still, they had found a way with other appendages. It was astonishing to see how quickly were they able to adapt. And once again he had nothing to do; It was becoming a pattern. Weeds of worry found a way into his mind. Even with full storage of TomGrape fruit, he worried about running out and not being able to feed his pets. He also worried about the next generation. That would mean there would be a thousand of them in less than two months. A scary thought. He would either need to cull them or smash some of the eggs. The yellow eyes were always watching. He brushed such unforgivable thoughts away before they can suspect him. He rather just expand the fields. 04 Within a week or so he had cleared the area of the plants and trees. Everything except for the IronOak, a champion of the jungle. It refused to be chopped down, so he allowed the white trees to grow in his garden; a reward for their resolve. And just so, they were exactly perfect to hang the ropes from for the TomGrape vines to grow on. Only by clearing the area well did he realise of what it looked like. The trees, ropes, and wines made web-like curtains. On this ¡®web¡¯ frolicked the spider-like hatchlings pruning the branches and plucking the fruits. Some even took it upon themselves to further clear the jungle of bushes, trees and other plants. The jungle was beginning to morph and change. For something else entirely. On the one hand, no longer was it quiet, it was bustling with activity. On the other, deforestation was taking place. Plants which had no use were plucked, pulped and turned into fertiliser. There was another grand realisation, one full of a fleeting regret. ¡°What have I done?¡± In a doomsday scenario: What would happen if he dies? - The hatchlings would proceed to multiply and take over the jungle of course! Can this even be stopped? The hatchlings had already learned of the ways of destruction. And should it be stopped? Why even stop this? Why turn back? This was progress and progress demanded sacrifice. And most importantly he was in charge. He was in control. He was the King here. The Spider King. Right? ¡°Right?¡± He wondered philosophically about what he had unleashed into this world. Such musings were a sickness of an idle mind. ¡°I better find some work.¡± ¡­ The hatchlings were a busy lot: A group was diligently tending to the TomGrape, another group was meticulously processing the gathered StemLeaf into fibres for cloth, and a much smaller group was mercilessly clearing the jungle for more fields. Everyone had their jobs. And yet there was an even smaller group, the guys there were stumbling and fumbling trying to do other things, trying to find their role in this harsh society. And even further yet, there was this one guy who kept following the sole human here; always watching, always judging. He was the king of this little village and this little hatchling was his jester. The scary reality was that the hatchlings were doing most of the hard work and he had often found himself idly sitting in his ¡®throne¡¯ room. The throne was only a poor quality chair and the room still just a shed, but better things will come with time. ¡°Tell me a joke, jester. I am bored.¡± Of course, there was no reply, but he felt that the spider creature would blink and roll its eyes if it had the appropriate anatomy to do that. ¡°Maybe, you are not a jester then? What is your job? Are you lost like me?¡± The hatchling simply observed. ¡°You are here to judge me on my rule, no? And then I don¡¯t have you close you¡¯ll go and tell all kinds of stories about me to your friends. I know!¡± He had finally decided there was enough of idling. ¡°I better go out and reconnect with my people. Let¡¯s see what all this gossip is about.¡± So, he went out. And his people were toiling restlessly, so busy were they that they didn¡¯t even notice his royal presence. ¡°Ignored¡­¡± So he observed further. While his people were hard workers they were still a poor lot ¨C no property or possessions. While yes, they all have been fed well and there was no crime in this little kingdom. But then ever did that keep the people content for long? ¡°Maybe I should think of some sort of reward?¡± But nothing came to his idle mind. ¡°What would these creatures even like?¡± He looked meaningfully to his jester. The ¡®jester¡¯ stared at him with all of his four yellow eyes; content with its simple life of ever watching. ¡°Hmm¡­ Hmm? What you say, jester? Don¡¯t just be like that! No, I shouldn¡¯t¡­ But maybe¡­¡± It was decided. The idle king shall no longer be known as The Idle King! He went to the storage and gathered a bunch of crafting materials, namely the soft StemLeaf cloth, the sturdy BanditAgave ropes and the soft ImpostorTree wood. And then he began crafting. [You have crafted cloth basket of poor quality. Crafting +1exp.] ¡°I can do better than that!¡± There was plenty of cloth to practice and eventually. [You have crafted cloth basket of common quality. Crafting +2exp.] Baskets were littering the floor, he had crafted a hundred or so. Happily, he inspected his latest creation. [Cloth Basket: +5% gathering speed.] ¡°Huh?¡± It was a mystery why a basket gave a speed bonus instead of carrying capacity, but a bonus was still a bonus. His workers working faster was a good thing, right? ¡°Right?¡± He looked at the ever-jesting Jester. Incidentally, the poor quality ones didn¡¯t provide a bonus. So he rolled his non existent sleeves and began recycling the failures to make more of the common quality products. In the end, a basket was just that ¨C a simple implement to store some items. It will be a useful tool on his farm if only the hatchlings had the arms to carry them. ¡°Anyhow, they will figure it out somehow.¡± So he went to educate the farmers in the use of this marvellous tool he had just invented. Illuminating the masses was a hard task! ¡®My mandibles work just fine why do I need this?¡¯ He imagined one of the farmers retorting. None of the hatchlings spoke, yet still, he could see their disapproval. ¡®It doesn¡¯t even have a proper handle.¡¯ ¡®Ehhh? It¡¯s only of common quality!¡¯ If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°No, you don¡¯t understand.¡± For the umpteenth time, he showed how to store TomGrape into the basket. ¡°This goes here until it¡¯s full and then you bring it to the storage and empty it.¡± Maybe the task was just too advanced for the simple minds of these farmers. They had to fill the basket, carry it, empty it in the warehouse and then reuse it. Maybe there were too many steps, or maybe he had expected way too much from an actual animal and not a real sapient and independent farmer. But these creatures were his subjects and he persevered in his teachings, after all, they were able to learn so many things already. And in the end, his labours were met with success. He rubbed his hands in glee observing the hatchlings using the Cloth Baskets he had crafted, and indeed the work was that much faster. So he visited other groups of his labourers, the jungle clearers, the fibre makers and the cloth weavers. All to spread the glorious ways of the use of the ever-so-useful Cloth Basket?. They were just as stubborn as the farmers. There was a reason for the stubbornness. While teaching he had close contact with the hatchlings. That was when he noticed small differences in the groups. The jungle clearers had stronger and bigger mandibles, the weavers more dexterous appendages, and so on. There were minute adaptations in the groups making their tasks easier. ¡°So they specialise, grow and adapt¡­¡± A simple but mind-spinning conclusion. They didn¡¯t need tools, with time they would grow and evolve, develop appropriate limbs and appendages to fit in their roles. It was wonderful! And it was scary. He knew of no animal who could evolve so fast, at leats, not in his previous world. Even so, the basket was just too useful not to use, and no, he didn¡¯t force them to use the baskets because he spent hours making them. There was a speed bonus! ¡°But then¡­ What is your future evolution, Jester?¡± he looked at his sole companion. --- [Farming +1260exp]. Once again the young has replaced the old. Oddly, the number this time didn¡¯t shoot up. He inspected the eggs in the hatchery, over a hundred of them. Compared to the last time the eggs were much bigger, they were the size of a ball. ¡°Bigger eggs ¨C bigger spiders.¡± The thought scared him slightly. Bigger spiders equal better workers. He reasoned in that way to push his anxieties away. He rolled a heavy obsidian-coloured egg in his hands. Its shiny shell was hard as a rock and in the shape of a polyhedron just like a football ball would be. ¡°It¡¯s quite sturdy. If I dropped it, it probably wouldn¡¯t even break.¡± Unwilling to test the theory he put the egg back with its friends. ¡°But how will they even hatch if this is so sturdy.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Nature has its ways¡­.¡± The days without the workers felt dreadful. The otherwise busy farm was devoid of rowdy workers and worst of all the work still had to be completed. It was strange how all of the spiders decided to perish and lay eggs in the same time, almost like some sort of morbid ritual. While having his hands occupied with work helped to distract him from his loneliness and invasive thoughts a simple fact was that the farm grew too much to be handled by a single man. *Boop ¨C something nudged him on his shin. A familiar creature the size of a small cat was inspecting the hem of his trousers. A big fat smile appeared on his face. ¡°Look who¡¯s back!¡± He rolled the sleeves of his shirt ready for more hard work. The new clutch of hatchlings will need to be shown how things work around here. Teaching was never easy but he welcomed the distraction. Slowly more hatchlings trickled into the TomGrape farm like a steady stream. He waited for everyone to find their way so he can instruct them as a group. The little students were giddy and full of energy, unwilling to sit idle. Some were already tending to the vines with their small mandibles. By the looks of it they already knew the basics. Exactly like the ones before. ¡°Born with knowledge. I am envious of you!¡± Still, they can¡¯t know everything and some skills will have to be learned the hard way Once he was done with the little farmers, he went back to find the rest of the younglings. After all, a good number of hatchlings were missing. They weren¡¯t at the hatchery, they went to the fibre weaving stores and the nearby farms of StemLeaf and BanditAgave. By the look of it, and by what probably was instinct they had begun the tasks their ¡®parents¡¯ did. The little workers were stumbling and fumbling, no good at their complex jobs. But they are only a day old! They will learn. With that knowledge, he went back to his humble shack. Which by now needed repairs. The dry leaves and flimsy sticks were not the best building materials. And there, low and behold were six little hatchlings sniffing at his bedding and inspecting his things. ¡°What are you doing here? Why aren¡¯t you at work?¡± He complained to the youths like a real slave driver. Of course, the little spiders couldn''t understand him. He tried to shoo them away so he can sleep, but even then they refused to leave him alone. ¡°Are you here to learn new skills? Like your forefathers did?¡± The hatchlings just stared at him with their beady round eyes. ¡°I¡¯m way too tired. I will show you something tomorrow. Goodnight.¡± He crashed into his bed and passed out that instant. ¡­ Little workers were picking up their duties fast. With the workforce replaced the farm will flourish once again. The only problem here was this set of six troublemakers. He showed them how to farm TomGrape, how to cut BanditAgave, how to extract and process StemLeaf, and how to weave the plant fibres into treads for cloth. However, they simply refused to pick up the skills. ¡°You want to learn something new, don¡¯t you?¡± It kind of made sense, but the farm was in balance and there were no new tasks to be done. Except for the difficult tasks which required a sharp mind and a set of opposable thumbs. ¡°Are you crafters or builders?¡± he asked unsure himself. While he did the maintenance work on various sheds and storage buildings the young students watched diligently. By the morning he expected them to pick a skill or two, after all, they were quick learners. Unfortunately, that did not happen. He showed the six various other jobs they could try doing, but even then they refused to take action content by simply watching him. By that time he finally realised what he had on his hands. ¡°Six jesters! What did I do to deserve this?¡± They were just like that fellow. The only thing it did was follow him around and judge him all day. ¡°Are you here to keep an eye on me? To make sure I don¡¯t misbehave?¡± He used the opportunity to voice his thoughts. The grim reality was that the lack of human contact was doing things to his mind. The company, however, even if troublesome was welcome. So he will talk with them about various things on his mind as he did with Jester. ¡­ These new workers ate a lot. He began to worry that the farm was too small, the good thing was that the storage was full so there was no need to worry just now. This, and they grew a lot. By now they were the size of a large dog. Big scary-looking things, after all, they were insect-type creatures. If he didn¡¯t know how all of this started and let¡¯s say was just a casual passer-by on this farm, he would be running for his dear life. Or if he was an adventurer he would be trying to clear this monster infestation before it spreads. He was neither of these things. ¡°Good thing there is no one here in this Dreaded Place! Just me and my spiders¡­¡± By now he was sure of it. The surrounding was devoid of any animals, but then again he didn¡¯t stray all too far from the farm. ¡°Thinking about this, isn¡¯t it the right time?¡± He asked the trouble six. He was sure they had their own opinions, if only they could speak them he would like to hear it. He raised his hand into the air and announced. ¡°By a unanimous voice of the majority, it is decided!¡± ¡°And I am so disappointed in you.¡± He pointed at one particular troublemaker. ¡°Always voting against me. Want it or not, you are coming!¡± An expedition! They will go to explore this land further where maybe, just maybe, he will find something else besides an endless jungle. The quest was ambitious and there was much preparation to be done. The trip will be long so he had to prepare appropriate gear. It took him longer than he liked to admit, days even but it was done. The set consisted of: [Bark Chest Piece], [Bark Greaves] and [Bark Vambrase], all for protection. It counted as a set and gave him magic resistance +15, which was an odd bonus for wooden armour, but whatever. [Stone Spear] was his choice of weapon. Which was just the same boring item he once crafted, only of better quality now. He did make a bow, but after a few attempts, he realised that he wasn¡¯t becoming a competent archer anytime soon; who knew it takes so much skill to use. The ranged weapon was discarded as a failure and then promptly forgotten. [Cloth Backpack] was there to store his food and other comfort items. All in all, he wasn¡¯t much of a fighting force, but he wasn¡¯t going alone. Six companions will be tagging along, which should not be underestimated. After all, they were spider-like monsters at the size of dogs! With sharp mandibles and all that. And for his six he crafted some splendid gear too. He strapped a [Cloth Pouch] to their backs for future storage if they find something, and also he dressed them in a specially designed [Cloth Robes]. The robes were probably an overkill but he wanted to try dressing the spider in clothes. He liked the challenge and he was happy with the end result. If one may say so, the otherwise scary-looking spiders now were all dressed up and cute. ¡°Ready? No?¡± He looked in disappointment at the one particular companion. ¡°It¡¯s always you! Regardless, we shall go and explore this jungle. Forwards we march!¡± He spurred his men on an expedition. 05 It has been days since he had left and the jungle was endless. He had a few more days before the turning point where the food would become a problem. That was reflected by the sour mood of his six companions. He felt the mutiny is close. ¡°Listen, I have a feeling it¡¯s close.¡± He spoke to his men. ¡°You have been saying that for days.¡± ¡°Yeah!¡±, ¡°Mhh.¡±, ¡°You got it right.¡± Others agreed. For one reason or the other, he could hear his companions speak or at least he imagined them to. ¡°But if we turn back, we come back empty-handed. It would be such a waste.¡± He tried to reason. ¡°Do you even know the way back?¡± the leader of the six spoke. ¡°I sure do! There¡¯s no way I would get lost.¡± ¡°Really? I¡¯m not so sure about that.¡± Recently his six companions were awfully talkative, well, he imagined them to be and It would be a good thing if not for the small detail that all they did was criticise him. ¡°I am so bored of eating TomGrape.¡± ¡°Every day it¡¯s TomGrape.¡± ¡°And we sleep rough. It¡¯s cold and it¡¯s tiring.¡± ¡°All we do is walk all day. And for what?¡± The mutiny was getting out of hand. But they were right, the jungle exploration was not as exciting as he had expected. The scenery barely even changed. He pushed through an overgrown bush still keen on pressing forwards. ¡°Nothing could be endless¡­¡± He spoke more to himself than others. ¡°Huh?!¡± He exclaimed walking out of the bush. The scenery has changed radically. There was a huge league-wide clearing. The boring green was replaced with vibrant blue. It was a field of flowers, and nothing else. ¡°Come! Come!¡± He urged his companions. ¡°We had found it.¡± The promised land of blue! He wasn¡¯t sure what he had found exactly, but that didn¡¯t matter at this point. He ran deeper into the dense field until he was surrounded by flowers. His reckless charge disturbed blue bell-like petals sending equally blue dust into the air. ¡°Achoo!¡± He sneezed from the airborne pollen. Then he plucked one of the flowers to inspect it more closely. It was entirely blue, the stem and the flower. The petals were as big as his hand and formed a bell-like shape. The bell was filled with dust like pollen. ¡°It¡¯s the moment of truth.¡± He bit on the flower to taste it. ¡°It¡¯s slightly sweet!¡± Having the two food relating perks allowed him not to worry. He offered some to his companions, but they were more cautious than him and remained unwilling to try unfamiliar food. ¡°Oh, the dust stains everything.¡± He made another discovery. ¡°And it¡¯s hard to get off.¡± He rubbed his hands but the blue dye was stubborn. [Warning! Perk Poison Resistance is active.] ¡°Huh?¡± He blinked. ¡°Could it be?¡± He turned to look at his companions, it was good they didn¡¯t eat any. However, the cloud of dust has settled and now clung to their obsidian carapace. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here!¡± He urged. The six companions were sluggish in their rush to retreat back to the jungle. ¡°Hopefully this is not permanent.¡± He worried. Back in the greenery and away from the flower field he weighed on this discovery. ¡°The negative effect of the dust doesn¡¯t seem permanent on you guys which is good. And I ate the thing and I¡¯m fine. Is this because I have resistance?¡± He weighed his options. ¡°I am going back to collect some more. You guys wait here.¡± He instructed. And to his surprise his companions understood him, probably for the first time since in reality, they didn¡¯t listen to his commands as of yet; they only followed him everywhere. He plucked the flowers whole and stuffed them in the [Cloth Pouches] he had previously made. He also made sure to gather some plants intact together with the soil, hoping that they will survive the long trip. While doing so he noticed something peculiar on one of the flowers. ¡°What is this?¡± He wondered out loud. ¡°A slug?!¡± He shouted in joy. While yes It was a disgusting slug-like animal it still was the first one ever he had seen in this place. The creature was translucent or would be if it didn¡¯t feast on the blue dust. It wasn¡¯t hostile either, it simply wriggled its two slug antenna curiously at his fingers. ¡°I am taking you home.¡± It was decided. ¡­ Something new and out of the ordinary was found making the expedition a success. The way home was uneventful which was a good thing. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Another good thing was that the Farming exp still slowly ticked up even when he was away from the farm. It was a minuscule amount only but that must have added to something because¡­ [Congratulations! You have reached Farming lvl. 2] [Perk Acclimate obtained.] Well, maybe not so uneventful after all. Back on the farm, the party was greeted by curious workers. ¡°Did you miss us? We come back with the spoils.¡± He waved a slightly wilted petal at the farmer. It sniffed the blue plant and then recoiled from it as if it was poisoned. ¡°Meh! What do you know.¡± He deposited it into his mouth. ¡°Mmm¡­ Sweat.¡± [Warning! Perk Poison Resistance is active]. Warning or not, it tasted delicious! The spiders didn¡¯t like these flowers much, but all it meant was that there will be more for him and his slug. Oh, and the slug had a name now ¨C Johny. of course, he wouldn''t let Johny starve so planting a small patch of these flowers here was a matter of urgency. Hopefully, this new perk [Aclimate] will come in handy. ¡­ The patch of flowers took the new soil well, no doubt all thanks to the perk. He had named the flowers as DustyBlue. Aside from tasting slightly sweet and being Johny¡¯s favourite food, these flowers had a few useful properties. They produced dust in ample quantities. The said dust was that special thing which made these flowers different. Aside from causing torpor and sleepiness to his farmers, the dust was a herbicide ¨C it killed all other plants except for the flower. Which made so much sense thinking about that flower field. Also, the dust was a great dye if dissolved in water. No longer will he need to suffer the dull brown colour of the cloth. Incidentally, all of his clothes were now dyed blue. In addition to all that there was another small discovery. It was an odd one and it¡¯s better if no one asks how he had found this one, but Johny made a special jelly. The jelly concentrated the sweetness of the DustyBlue leaves making it a special treat which even his spider pets could enjoy. Too bad Johny was so little and could make only so much. He made sure to feed it plenty of leaves so it grows big and strong. All in all, things were good and his little village was prospering. The spiders had expanded the TomGrape fields, it was quite a large area already. A bit further away there were fields for BanditAgave and StemLeaf. The two didn¡¯t even compare with the area assigned to TomGrape, after all, he didn¡¯t need that much cloth or ropes. The DustyBlue field was the smallest of them all and it was by intention. His little workers kinda stayed away from the flowers, likely not too pleased about the debuff the dust had. He had to tend to this one on his own, and it was okay since he had Johny to keep him company. That and the fact the exp he was getting then tending to the flower field was very sweet indeed. Each time he harvested a bell he was met with [Farming +5exp] message. ¡­ The next step in his plans was to begin dyeing the cloth on an industrial scale, which was of course only an exaggeration. To achieve that he had dug a pool and filled it with the stream water. Then he filled it with the DustyBlue dust. He was very lucky the dye worked in cold water. A source of hot water was still a dream far away. Then he would fill the pool with cloth at let it sit there for a couple of days. For better or worse, the dye was a potent one. He would only need to do this once, after which the vivid blue colour wouldn''t wash off; It was even able to stain wood permanently. Naturally, in no time at all he had a shed full of rolls of blue cloth; he even died all his ropes and twines blue. ¡°No longer will I need to suffer the boring brown.¡± It was nice. Now and then, he would need to do some digging and other dirty work, that¡¯s when he realised that the blue cloth he used was more than pretty fabric. It was both water resistant and dirt repelling. It was like magic, the dirt just didn¡¯t stick to it. ¡°I wonder why when I inspect this it didn¡¯t telll me about this?¡± [Blue Cloth], was the simple prompt he would get trying to inspect the item. Regardless of the mystery, he had so much of it now that he needed to do something about it. And why not make some clothes for his workers? And his six jesters looked amazing in theirs. ¡°A company uniform!¡± He beamed and then frowned at his own idea. ¡°No, this is not a company, this is a kingdom! And every one shall dress appropriately.¡± Then he shook his head as if to refute that. ¡°Even better. I pass the first law¡­¡± T here were better, and more important laws to make, but despite that. This was the first law: ¡°No one shall go naked.¡±. Thus he began the production of clothes for his people. He decided that different workers will have different attire. A bunch of designs were made, and he made sure to test each on his jesters. The blue clothes really did look well on his spiders, making them much less monster-like. ¡°It¡¯s funny how something simple like this makes you look less like a simple animal and more¡­¡± he looked for a good word, ¡°civilized¡­¡± he didn¡¯t know if he found the right one. It wasn¡¯t easy to fashion a cloth so it fits the spider well, but he managed somehow. For the farmers he made pants, which were more like sleeves for their six legs, the sleeves were held taunt on their bodies using twine and rope belts. For the fibre-processing spiders, he made robes, which ended up looking more like a shirt since the spiders were quite flat. Imagine a horse with one of those blankets to keep them warm on their backs, the ones reaching only to their knees. The weavers had ribbon tape wrapped all over their bodies, with plenty of gaps in between. This wasn¡¯t proper clothing, but the contrast of obsidian black and blue was pleasant to the eye. The jungle clearers ended up with the heaviest design. They had spider ¡®pants¡¯, spider robes and even head wraps covering their body. They were clad blue from head to toe. The reason for that is simple. It was to protect them from the sticky plant juice and matter then they churned at the greenery with their mandibles. Even if he didn¡¯t have guards, he had made an uniform. It was unlikely the spiders needed extra armour since they had their carapace so he kept it light. It was just a cloak attached to their backs. For the last set of clothes, he just went wild. It was strips, belts and patches of cloth all over to give this crazy look. He even fashioned a small top hat to complete the look. This was the attire worthy of a jester. The completion of each uniform gave him +50 Crafting exp. ¨C which was a significant amount. With the designs done, he paraded his six models all over the farm to see what the public thinks. The reception was overwhelmingly positive. His people were extremely curious about these clothes. One of the farmers was eyeing spider pants with interest, appreciating the design and the vivid blue. Curiously he tugged at the sleeve and then nibbled at the twine on the back holding it. The design was good, the pants were not coming off easily. The jester raised his body higher off the ground to tip tow on its legs and to look bigger. It was obvious, he was proud of his clothes. It was just there standing perfectly still and willingly subjecting itself to these curious inspections. This scene repeated itself all over the farm. Eventually, the spiders stopped working altogether, a rare sight for otherwise always-busy creatures. His people were demanding these clothes! There was a riot about to happen. ¡°I better go and craft some more!¡± He was all fired up now. 06 The sky was painted in tame yellows and reds indicating that the sun was setting. Soon the overwhelming darkness will decent on the eerie jungle. Even if this was The Dreaded Place there was little to worry about. Or was it? The shadows of the IronOak grew taller and taller with each passing minute until the whole place was cast in to darkness. The sun was gone over the horizon leaving only a red outline in the sky as a reminder; which will be gone soon as well. There were no sounds or songs of the animals, not even a rustle of leaves. Silence reigned supreme. Animus and its animated life had no place in this vast jungle. That would be true if not for one odd village; it was an aberration defining all odds. A shadow loomed between the shadows, he too was an oddity in this otherwise ¡®sterile¡¯ place; he was alive. He was dressed in a black cloak which allowed him to perfectly meld with the night. Even though this place was devoid of animals, it wasn¡¯t devoid of danger so he moved quietly unwilling to disturb the overbearing silence. He was on a mission of utmost importance. He was here to investigate the rumours, to dispel the worries of the seers. The jungle has been sleeping for hundreds of years, and The Dreaded Place was just that ¨C a spooky title. However, that was not so aeons past; the title was rightfully earned. There was a prophecy almost forgotten and a warning still alive: Do not disturb the jungle or it will spawn an evil of unimaginable proportion. That was what they all feared, to disturb the jungle. Despite the warnings, he still had to investigate. So he made himself as small as possible and moved as quietly as his skill allowed. Not to be seen, not to be heard, smelt or even felt; his presence was null. He moved towards the chaotic energy he could feel on his skin, which only grew in strength with time, he followed it like a compass. He knew where to go, he already knew that he would find something¡­ something dreadful. He travelled from one tree shadow to the other being careful with his steps and motions. Soon he observed a change. Something that should not exist, a thing that should not be done for it was forbidden. He almost made a sound purely out of terror. What should be there was no longer there. A large chunk of the jungle was simply cleared. Who would dare to disturb this place? And so deep within the jungle. It all made no sense. Luckily some of the trees still stood, so he was able to move deeper into the clearing. Then, in the distance, he noticed even more changes. He had almost gasped in shock again. There were neat rows of thick blue webs in the distance. Hundreds and hundreds of webs dropped down from Iron Oaks. The strings of these webs there thick as ropes, and tangled in these webs there was an unfamiliar plant. Neither the webs nor that strange plant had a place in the jungle. Both were unnatural and previously unseen. Then he noticed something, at which point he had even expected it, there was a creature darting between the blue webs. He observed the creature feeling his own hands begin to tremble. The monster was very much like an insect it had an obsidian carapace, six spindly legs and four yellow eyes, but it was neither a spider nor an ant. A mishmash of both perhaps. What disturbed him the most however was that the monster here wore clothes. At that sight, his mind almost went blank. Jungle spawning monsters was expected, but monsters wearing clothes implied truly dreadful things. The elders can do with this information whatever they want. He had seen enough, enough for the rest of his dear life. He moved quickly with urgency to leave the clearing and the nest of monsters, to report about the impending doom. But even then it will take him weeks to return. In his mind, he knew it was already too late to do anything about it. ¡­ The self-proclaimed King of Spiders was deliberating things of high importance. It turned out that only by designing a new set of clothes he could get Crafting +50exp, but replicating the design gave only +10. That, however, didn¡¯t mean that he didn¡¯t level up, by the time he finished the last set of clothes he was met with a message: [Congratulations! You have reached Crafting lvl .1] Yeah, it was only a level 1. There was still so much to go. But even level one came with a bonus. [Requirements have been met. Hidden perk unlocked.] [Perk Superior Design obtained.] If only it went further and explained what it did¡­ Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°I should craft something to see what it does.¡± He rubbed his chin in thought for a while. ¡°Something for myself. Yes! I can¡¯t be the King and be out fashioned by my people. Something regal then.¡± He decided. And thus he spends hours crafting meticulously. The tools he had to use were primitive, the materials simple but even then he produced something that should be impossible. [You have crafted royal robes of superior quality. Crafting +100exp.] ¡°Superior? +100? Wow!¡± Very much wow indeed. He turned the robe in his hands appraising his hard work. It was blue like the rest of his creations, he made it long and slightly loose, and the sleeves were also long and able to cover his hands completely if he let it hang free. He fastened it to his body using a woven tape sash. By the way, it was a hooded robe, not too dissimilar from a robe medieval monks and sages would wear. In reality, except for the vivid blue colour, it was quite plain. He already knew where improvements could be made. It was in texture and design. The cloth could be woven in different ways to produce a patterned design. He will teach his weavers a few new ways how to weave the cloth. He equipped his robes for the first time. [Royal Robes: +10MP.] ¡°Ten MP? As in mana points?¡± He wondered. Yet again the bonus was odd. He wondered why exactly it gave 10mp and not some other bonus. ¡°Is it because this is a robe?¡± His guess was as good as anyone else¡¯s. ¡­ Mana points meant that there is magic and hence a spell system in this world, however: ¡°Fireball.¡±, ¡°Smite.¡±, ¡°Heal¡±, ¡°¡­¡± He tried various incantations but nothing worked. ¡°I guess it¡¯s not meant to be.¡± He wasn¡¯t going to become a mage. Not yet. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I don¡¯t need it.¡± He reassured himself. His hands were full of various lesser tasks. One of which was building an extra storage room for all the fruit. Then he was building and doing maintenance he would get Building exp, but the points took forever to accumulate. At this pace, it will take forever to achieve a single level. ¡°Meh.¡± He shrugged not too bothered about the lack of progress. ¡°I am fine being a farmer and a crafter. Too many jobs would only distract me from what is important.¡± Making sure his kingdom prospered was what mattered the most. He finished assembling the building using split planks of ImpostorTree. The planks were held together using ropes. Of course, he was aware that various wood joining techniques existed but he didn¡¯t know any of those. He finished laying dried leaves for the roof and then shook his robes to dust them off. The Dirt Resistance the blue dye gave was a wonderful thing. His clothes barely needed any cleaning. Then he went to maintain the egg hatchery. ¡°It, can¡¯t be.¡± It was full of eggs. ¡°But¡­¡± He peaked his head outside just to make sure. ¡°They are still alive.¡± Previously his workers would die straight after laying the eggs, but apparently not this time. ¡°So the village expands once again. More exp for me!¡± He celebrated. This of course implied that he will need to uphold the first law. ¡°If only they could craft their own clothes.¡± He wished absentmindedly. In no time at all the eggs began to hatch, and as soon as they hatched the hatchlings rushed to their parents. They were keen to carry out their jobs. It was of no surprise that his six jesters had laid eggs of their own. And now he had 12 jesters on his hands. The troublemakers have multiplied! ¡°Hey, I can¡¯t have too many freeloaders you know!¡± He shouted at the six accusingly. The twelve remained of little use, but there was a small miracle. He had finally gotten his first builders. There were only two of them but the duo were expert helpers. Not only were they able to expertly nest the leaves for the roof, they knew how to tie ropes and make wicker walls. He didn¡¯t even need to prompt them to start the building maintenance. ¡­ He looked at the buildings he had once erected with his own hands: his sleeping shed, two fruit storages, fibre processing facility, cloth warehouse, and hatchery. ¡°Yeah¡­ there¡¯s something wrong with my builders.¡± That statement wasn¡¯t exactly correct. The builders were magnificent workers, but¡­ The way they did things turned out to be different from the way he did things. All the buildings were still there, however, their shape had drastically changed. The structures used to be rectangular boxes with flat roofs but now they were dome-shaped. They looked like balls half buried in the ground. The walls were constructed using bendy twigs, blue rope and even cloth. The materials were woven in a way to express the webbed pattern. Even the usually square entrance was now spherical. ¡°A monster den.¡± That was how it looked. ¡°A spider''s nest!¡± With all those buildings, the way his beloved creatures were growing TomGrape, and the way his workers looked like there was no denying it. The farm looked undeniably spooky. ¡°There is definitely a theme going on.¡± A monster spider theme. The only exception was his BlueDust flower fields which spiders avoided. Having a horror-themed farm didn¡¯t bother him too much. Actually, it kind of looked cool. With building maintenance out of the list of things he had to do routinely he was able to take a side project. What he was doing now was trying to preserve the TomGrape fruits. With time yellow TomGrape fruits would acquire hard shells, that would already semi-preserve the jelly-like insides. What he wanted to do was to try fermenting the fruit flesh, in other words, he was making wine. It didn''t work at all. Then he extracted the juices from the fruit they turned back to their jelly state and then later rotted without fermenting properly. It was a failure until he mixed the jelly with sweet petals of BlueDust flowers. The two reacted with each other and the end result was a thick syrup. It wasn¡¯t wine, but it stayed fresh for a very long time. The first time he gave BlueSyrup to one of his farmers the guy made a funny dance. Obviously, he was very happy with the taste. Later the fellow returned to beg for more syrup. This behaviour was new, the spider creatures never had asked anything of him before so this interaction was welcome. Soon, this guy was eating syrup and only syrup, and later it was joined by his friends. There was a bonus to all of this: the extra sugar made the spiders run everywhere faster and even work harder. However¡­ ¡°I might have made a mistake. They¡¯re addicted to it!¡± 07 He was walking around appreciating his growing kingdom. His diligent workers were filling the storage with food and cloth. Everyone seemed happy. But all good things have to come to an end. His people''s life was still way too short. This, however, wasn¡¯t as devastating as it used to be. The simple fact that they laid eggs twice in their lifespan meant that he still had half of the workers living. The hatchery was filled with the seemingly usual number of eggs. There weren¡¯t any big changes there. Except for when the eggs hatched. [Farming +1500exp], well maybe his count was a bit off however this wasn¡¯t it. This time there were clear differences between the hatchlings. Once again the creatures have evolved, their appearance steered towards the adaptation to do their roles. The farmers had slim and nimble legs, making them experts at climbing vines. Their mandibles changed in form, it was as if it was made exactly to tend to the TomGrape vines. The weavers and fibre processers grew an extra two little arms next to their mouths. This seemingly provided them with the extra dexterity needed for their job. And perhaps now technically made them fully fledged spiders (8 limbs and all that). Builders for one reason or another grew smaller, which was quite counterintuitive, but their number increased as well. There was a dozen of them working on maintenance. The jungle clearers were visibly bigger at birth. Both their legs and mandibles were thicker and stronger. ¡°The jungle eh¡­¡± He wanted to sign. The trouble was that his workers didn¡¯t respond to his commands very well and he didn¡¯t know how to stop jungle clearers from doing their work; in the nearby surrounding area, there wasn¡¯t much of the jungle left. The deforested area must have a good three miles in radius. ¡°I guess they just plan in advance. After all, the farms are expanding.¡± He gave them due credit. It was almost scary how clever his people were. He didn¡¯t even need to teach or show them things. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± He thought about it some more. A theory formed in his head: what if they don¡¯t truly die, not in a conventional sense, but copy their minds into their eggs? ¡°That would explain quite a few things.¡± That and the fact that he was stuck with now 24 jesters doing absolutely nothing except for hanging in his room and following him everywhere around. That is to say, if a lazy personality had formed and then transferred their mind into an increasing number of eggs, the reborn hatchlings would be all lazy too. ¡°Are you all just lazy?¡± He asked his ever-growing entourage as a whole. ¡°Nah, just look at your siblings, that¡¯s just impossible.¡± He scratched his head in thought. ¡°Something else is going on.¡± ¡°Maybe you are my personal guards?¡± A King needed those, ¡°But then from whom are you protecting me?¡± It was a mystery. ¡­ He rolled an obsidian piece of chitin in his hand, the hexagonal chip was slim but surprisingly sturdy. He had loads of these pilled by the wall outside the hatchery. These segments were the pieces from the hatched eggs. Each egg upon hatching would split into 32 hexagonal panels. At first he thought of them as junk, not even good for fertiliser since it was too sturdy to be ground into power and refused to degrade, but obviously he had been wrong. These small chips were sturdy enough to be used as armour. Well, he wasn¡¯t an armour maker, but he wasn¡¯t a clothes designer either yet look at his clothed workers now. There was something about the way this world worked, after all there were magic, perks and levels. Obviously, his lvl.1 Crafting and Superior Design had to do something with this. He hoped that the two will be enough to craft something close to armour. First things first, he needed a workshop so he set on to build one. Just as he was done hammering corner poles as a guide for a square building the builders swarmed to it and did what they do best. ¡°Yeah¡­¡± They were making walls with expert motions and in no time at all, he had a hollow dome for a building. The little builders were already better builders than him. He gathered a good amount of chitin chips into a sack, took some twine, rope and cloth and began working. In his mind he visualised segmented armour of old: Asia Minor scale mail or Oriental Laminar were the ones he was most familiar with. Of course, knowing armour from an image and trying to replicate it, were two separate things. He only had a very rough idea of how to do it. First, he fashioned a long shirt out of blue cloth, he made it extra thick using two layers. The shirt was meant to use as a base to attach the chitin. He punched tiny holes into chitin ships, which was a lot harder than he thought since he had no drill. Then he weaved BlueDust-treated twine through these holes and then to the shirt. Chip after chip he formed a protective layer. The process was labour-intensive but he was happy to have something fun and meaningful to do. Stolen story; please report. ¡°A set befitting a king!¡± He finished it. [You have crafted scale armour of common quality. Crafting +50exp.] Even though he used simple materials the armour turned out quite decorative. The hexagonal pieces were linked neatly in rows giving this scaled look, plus they were dark obsidian and surprisingly shiny if polished. The outline of the shirt and the areas where he couldn''t use chitin were vivid blue. The black and blue gave a nice contrast. He put the shirt on. ¡°This is lighter than I thought¡± He moved around for a bit. ¡°Doesn¡¯t impede movement either. And for the bonus.¡± [Scale Armour: +1 Rep with Dragons] ¡°Ehh!¡± He shouted indignantly. ¡°There are dragons?!¡± If so, he didn¡¯t want to meet any; that sounded scary. ¡°Anyways, am I not too intimidating?¡± He asked for opinions. One of the tiny jesters, a baby one, chirped at him. ¡°This is new! Was that a compliment?¡± It chirped again, but this time it sort of resembled a distorted human voice which said: ¡°y-e-s.¡± He blinked twice unable to believe it. ¡°I must be tired¡­ hearing things. Off to bed then.¡± ¡­ While the Scale Armour was one of the better articles of his work he knew he do better. ¡°Practise makes perfect.¡± After a few tries he had completed a set and it even was of superior quality. [Scale Armour], [Scale Greaves], [Scale Vambrase] and finally [Scale Helm]. The helmet was the hardest to make, the individual pieces were slightly too big for fluid assembly. In the end, it ended up being just a dome of scales in-lined by cloth. To avoid it being too plain he had added scale pieces to the sides of it. It looked like the frills of a lizard. [Gear bonus achieved: +20 Rep with Dragons] [Temporary perk Minor Regeneration obtained.] This meant that sets of superior gear could give him perks of various kinds. ¡°Yes! This is amazing.¡± He donned his armour and walked around the farm displaying it proudly. ¡­ The other thing he needed to do was to expand the DustyBlue fields. The flowers were growing well, but they were growing best in the areas where the TomGrape used to be. The discovery was accidental but the conclusion was obvious: TomGrape enriched the soil in which it was growing; truly a magical plant. Also, Johny had grown larger. Like really large for a slug; it was half of an arm in length already. ¡°You glutton!¡± He patted the slug with affection. A bigger slug meant more jelly for him. He wondered if this high-sugar diet he was on was any good to him, but anyway, he wasn¡¯t putting any extra weight on. Well, that wasn¡¯t necessarily true. He had been here for a while, and where once was useless fat now was lean muscle. He liked his diet of fruits, syrup and jelly. The days of gnawing on bitter vines were in the past and forgotten. However, he still craved something more, he wanted meat. ¡°Maybe¡­¡± he patted his armour making the links jiggle. ¡°It¡¯s time for another expedition. There must be something alive here, somewhere.¡± He looked at his embiggened escort. ¡°I reckon we could take even a dragon.¡± He joked. Much like before he gathered the necessary gear. This time he turned in the opposite direction. ¡°This way, Legion. Onwards we march!¡± He directed. It wasn¡¯t quite a legion with only twenty-five members, but in his mind, it felt like one. He felt bold, empowered even. He felt like he could take this jungle and become its master. The first few miles were the easiest since he went through the cleared area. Thereby the border he saw one of his workers nibbling at the bush to dissemble the useless plant. ¡°Ancient Rome, hmm¡­¡± he had an idea. The Romans had it figured out. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t hurt to have a road or two. Hey you, come with us.¡± He ordered. Of course, the busy spider ignored him completely. ¡°So we have to do this the hard way.¡± He knew the right trick for that. ¡°Look what I have.¡± He opened a wooden container of sweet syrup. The worker sniffed at the air and in no time it was jumping excitedly begging for the treat. ¡°Now-now, only a tiny sip. Follow!¡± He ordered again and this time it obeyed and joined the group. A lone worker will never be enough to clear enough of the jungle as they went along, but it was still useful since this spider was an expert at cutting past the overgrowth and making the journey so much easier. ¡°If only you guys took upon this good example.¡± He looked at the rest of the crew who refused to take any meaningful work. ¡°Forget it, my mistake, I should have gathered more of spider cutters for this expedition. Oh well¡­¡± At this point, he didn¡¯t want to turn back. He knew that there must be more to this jungle, he just needed to survey it properly. They had marched for days, stopping only at night to rest. Like before the jungle seemed endless, that was until¡­ ¡°What is this?¡± He found himself in a small clearing. ¡°No way!¡± He was excited to find signs of life. There was a camp of a dozen straw huts, they were shabby and clearly only a temporary construction. in the middle of it there was a fireplace. If there was life, it was long gone. He inspected the camp further. He found a piece of shattered pottery and some bits of dried fruit. Those were his only clues. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± He wasn¡¯t the detective but. ¡°A primitive tribe.¡± He had summarised. Signs of human activity meant that there must be other life nearby. A food source: some fruit or even animals to hunt. He salivated at the idea. ¡°It¡¯s high time to expand the kitchen menu!¡± He urged his men forward. It took him days, more days than he would like to admit, and there still were no signs of life. ¡°This is so unfair!¡± He complained. He wanted to push, to pursue further, but the food supply was running dangerously low. ¡°At best, we can make a few more days before we need to turn back.¡± One of the spiders nodded at him, as if it understood. Recently he noticed such small cues. They were more responsive to his words, almost as if they understood what he said. But then even dogs would respond when talked to, even if they had no real idea of what the owner was saying. ¡°Aren¡¯t you getting smarter? Maybe soon I will be able to give you commands and teach some proper tricks.¡± The fantasy pleased him, he distracted himself with such things for the last two days. The scenery began to change. Ever so slowly the familiar jungle turned into something else. Different plants and different trees began to pop up. ¡°[You have exited The Dreaded Place]¡± ¡°No way!¡± But he was at the turning point, if he pursued his goals further he won¡¯t have enough supplies to make the trip back. ¡°Those who don¡¯t risk don¡¯t eat slug jelly. Forward!¡± He urged his men to push deeper. 08 The jungle devoid of animals and sounds was replaced by a dense forest filled with life. Birds, critters and tiny bugs all were making noise. That was so until their home was invaded by a band of monsters, spiders bigger than they had any right to be. At the sight of a new predator, the forest grew quiet. ¡°Oh come on!¡± He was eager to meet an animal, or anything at all. ¡°I guess we are just too noisy.¡± A nearby bush rustled followed by an angry roar. A black four-legged beast jumped out of it. It was big, the size of a horse, and it was muscular like an ox, but quite obviously it wasn¡¯t a herbivore since Its maw was filled with sharp fangs. For whatever reason it was enraged by the mere presence of these spiders. It was ready and roaring for a fight so it went and snatched a spider much smaller than himself. With a sickening crunch, it was crushed between its fangs and then spat out. All of this happened in a blink of a second. ¡°No!¡± He wasn¡¯t all too happy about the development. His little spiders shared the sentiment. ¡°Attack!¡± He made a roar of his own. In his hand, he had only a stone spear. His mind was clouded by anger and a sense of loss. The forest beast leapt fearlessly right towards him. The two roared at each other, and then he jabbed at the murderer. The beast sidestepped to a side and swiped its paw at him. His scale armour deflected the blow no problem but the force sent him stumbling back. He wasn¡¯t the only one to be enraged enough to engage this beast, his spiders jumped into the fray; quite literally. They were only little compared to this forest beast but still, they were the size of large dogs. The forest beast got more than it had bargained for. It snapped and swiped its claws at the jumping spiders but all too soon it was swarmed from all sides. The spiders grabbed at the beast, mandibles locking on whatever they could and then they pulled. The beast roared in defiance and shook a few spiders off its body and turned to run, but it was all too late. The spider who so much loved to clear the jungle bit the beast''s leg off with its wide and powerful mandibles. The beast stumbled and the spiders coming from all sides ripped at its flesh once again. Overwhelmed the beast came apart in large chunks like a shattered puzzle piece. ¡°Take that!¡± He jabbed the spear at the motionless remains needlessly. [Fighting +5 exp] With the knowledge it was over he directed his look at disassembled parts, there wasn¡¯t much of the beast left. Its once black and pristine fur was now full of holes and slashes made by mandibles. If anything useful was left it was only its fangs, but it wasn¡¯t a time for looting. ¡°This is more than we bargained for.¡± He had finally realised the dangers. ¡°Should we turn back?¡± He looked for advice. The spiders chirped at him in high tunes which were oddly jubilant. ¡°No, we can¡¯t celebrate now¡­¡± He looked anxiously at the forest. ¡°But you are right it¡¯s too early to turn our tail and run. Into formation!¡± The spiders surrounded him obediently, two of their kind offered to act as the scouts and skittered further in front of the group. ¡°So then you want to, you can understand¡­¡± He smiled feeling more secure being surrounded by his creatures. ¡°Let me just take this as a trophy.¡± With great effort, he managed to pull a fang from the severed head, and then he pulled another; the two were the size of a dagger. [Apex Fang] x 2. The fangs seemed to be significant. ¡°Loot?¡± He wondered. There was still so much he was unfamiliar with about this world, and if he stayed on his farm he would remain ignorant. ¡°Okay, let''s be careful about this. We will probe slowly.¡± He directed the group. As they moved further into the forest they met several animals, but nothing like that fanged beast. Actually, there wasn¡¯t any fighting, the animals opted out to run most of the time. If they didn¡¯t run they did other things, things like¡­ A white squirrel with two tails was laying on the floor with its belly exposed and its paws high in the air; pretending to be dead. ¡°What are you doing?¡± He approached the critter. ¡°I know you aren¡¯t dead.¡± He shrugged. Then he stabbed at the squirrel with his spear. He was quick about it and it didn¡¯t even have time to make a sound. [Fighting +1000exp] Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! For some reason, it gave him an obscene amount of exp. He shrugged at the mysteries of the system. ¡°Sorry, you are my dinner.¡± Humans were a part of nature and nature was cruel like that; also, he was hungry. His stomach rumbled giddy at the prospect of meat. He couldn¡¯t rush this, it had to be done properly. He used the tools he had prepared just for this and meticulously cleaned and skinned the white squirrel. [Guardian¡¯s Pelt]. The pelt had an odd name, but despite that little detail, the fur was snow white and silky smooth. It would make a perfect hat or a set of gloves. He tucked it into the sack for safekeeping. Then he skewered a cleaned squired using a stick and began roasting it over the fire. By the way, he had learned how to do it through numerous days of practice, it¡¯s just that he didn¡¯t really need it; there was nothing to cook. A pleasant aroma filled the air. There was a rustle coming from a nearby tree. He looked up ¨C cautions. ¡°Someone wants to steal my food?¡± He pointed in the general direction of the disturbance. A spider went up a tree to investigate. Whatever it was, it was already gone. The first bite of meat was divine. He didn¡¯t know he had missed protein so much. ¡°You want some?¡± He offered to one of his companions. It came closer to inspect the morsel in the palm, it rolled it in between its mandibles getting a good feel, but it never went into its mouth. The spider, content with its investigation, stepped away. ¡°I knew you were vegetarians! Good.¡± He exclaimed in relief. ¡°I reckon we can find fruits and roots for you to eat. Let''s have a look.¡± ¡­ After an intense search, much digging and harvesting he had a few sacks full of forest bounty. However, it was no surprise that his spiders didn¡¯t want to eat that either. By now it was obvious that their preferred food was TomGrape and its derivatives unless he found something full of sugars. So was the expedition a success? ¨C Perhaps, but the day wasn¡¯t over yet, so he pushed forward. His forces didn¡¯t have another worthy challenger. That was until he found himself in the clearing. The cleared space was of significant length and at the end of it was a sturdy palisade with towers and a gate. The wood making the walls was thick, and the individual timbers twisted around each other as if they were hugging. The trees weren¡¯t chopped to make this palisade, they were grown to form a wall. ¡°Civilisation!¡± He had found the first people. He looked at the towers. They weren¡¯t the towers of a conventional design. A few sturdy trees towered above the wall and on their top weren¡¯t the tree crown but a nest of branches. The nest was hollow and inside it there were people. From the distance, he couldn¡¯t tell their exact appearance but they looked human enough. There were numerous guards in the towers, keeping a keen eye on the clearing. The place seemed to be on high alert. ¡°Do they expect trouble?¡± He worried for a moment. He wanted to run to them and finally make some friends. But then he realized that his spiders would follow and that probably would lead to a misunderstanding. He watched the wooden gate while hiding in a bush and wondered how to proceed. ¡°I might need to come another time. Maybe prepare some gifts.¡± Maybe he should have trusted these people more and just went to say hello. Regardless, he¡¯d decided to go home this time. On his trip back a small event had happened. A pack of what resembled boars crossed his exploration party¡¯s path. The forest animals had their young with them and must have panicked, so they attacked. The numbers were roughly equal on each side. A large boar, likely the leader of the pack charged at him. He had planted his feet firmly into the ground and raised his spear to break the charge. The Boar slammed into the spear and the stone tip sunk deep into its side and the spear shaft shattered, however, it wasn¡¯t too bothered by it and completed the charge. He felt the slam and was sent flying landing on his back slightly winded. ¡°Uhh¡­¡± He let out a groan. Nothing seemed to be broken. The Boar was glaring at him in agitation, its front hoof ripped the green moss out of the ground; it was readying itself for another charge. ¡°No, you don¡¯t.¡± He quickly stuffed his arm in his backpack looking for something to defend himself with. Of course, he still had the two of [Apex Fang]. He wielded both like daggers in his hands. The Boar charged and he was able to dodge it just barely. That¡¯s when he jumped at the boar¡¯s back and sunk his daggers into its sides. The boar squealed and trashed trying to throw him off its back. By luck his right dagger must have hit something and was firmly wedged inside the boar, that was why he was able to hold on while The Boar dragged him all around the forest floor. It wasn¡¯t pleasant, but that was it; the scale armour protected him from scratches and abrasions. The left dagger was loose, but only for a while. He used it to repeatedly stab into the animal''s flesh. The animal was very resilient but in the end it tired and collapsed onto the ground. ¡°Phew.¡± He breathed out in relief. ¡°Hunting boars is difficult!¡± [Fighting +50 exp]. He had finally had a chance to look at how the rest of his party was faring. One of the spiders was flung into the air by a fat boar but as soon as it landed it didn¡¯t seem to be damaged at all; all thanks to the sturdy carapace. Similar scenes repeated all over. The pack of boars was energetic but in the end, they failed to do any meaningful damage to his spiders and were mercilessly wiped out. A few of his spiders were limping but that was it. ¡°Well, done guys!¡± He cheered proudly. The spiders chirped in unison celebrating their victory. They were the giddiest he had ever seen them to be. Six of the young survived the slaughter and were running confused while squealing sharply out of fear. It was good that spiders didn¡¯t see them as a treat so he was able to capture little boars. It was sad that their parents had to die, but it was the way of nature where the strong eat the weak. ¡°Now, it¡¯s looting time!¡± He gathered his tools. They were too far from their farm to have use of all of the meat; It would just spoil before they came back. The spiders weren¡¯t interested in it so he only took a few chunks for his dinner. The pelts were a different story because he could take them. By skinning them he had obtained [Boar Pelt], now he understood the classification, the blue meant that it was a crafting material. The furry pelts had a lot of thick skin in them, and would likely make good leather. He had some knowledge of how to do it. For leather making, he will need bark, some brain from the boars, other minor things, and plenty of time. By the time he had finished, it was already dark. Walking through the forest in darkness was a sure way to get lost. So he made a camp nearby. He had laid in his cloth sleeping bag for a good sleep but the spiders must have had other plans. For some reason, they picked him up in his sleeping bag and began carrying him towards the jungle. ¡°I didn¡¯t know this was an option.¡± The spiders just chirped as if to say not to worry. 09 When the Elf scout returned to the city, he was met with faces full of anxiety; no one had ever wanted to believe that the prophecy of old was true. He was under strict orders to not disclose what he had experienced while in the depths of The Dreaded Place. He didn¡¯t need to tell the common folk of what he had found there for them to know the truth; the look on his face betrayed everything. As he passed the commotion he was unable to meet the eyes of his family and friends, he felt guilty for no good reason, regardless of such things he had a duty to give the report to the venerable elders. There high up in the ancestral tree, in the grand hall, were gathered all the people of importance. It was just so that the importance in this society came with age, and many of those gathered here were at least past two-hundred years; some older ¨C ancient even. Hence, he was neither surprised nor offended to see venerable elders asleep during a crisis of this magnitude. At least the high chief was wide awake. He cleared his throat and spoke loudly so that even the most ancient could hear him. ¡°The darkness has awoken.¡± He was surprised at the sound of his own voice; he sounded so shaken his voice was barely recognisable. ¡°So the divinations were correct.¡± The chief replied flatly as if he expected the bad news. The scout nodded. ¡°And it¡¯s spreading like a sickness. Destroying and corrupting the very jungle it has spawned from.¡± ¡°Only a true evil would do so - eat its own mother.¡± ¡°What do we do chief? Do we try to fight it?¡± ¡°But can we win?¡± The scout shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s likely too late.¡± ¡°Then we must weather it. Our ancestors did, so shall we.¡± The scout wasn¡¯t too sure about it; they didn¡¯t see the things he saw so fleeing seemed like a better option but he knew that the elders would be too stubborn to leave their ancestral forest. He didn¡¯t want to disagree with the elders either way. ¡°If we must¡­ Then let me explain in detail of what exactly I have seen.¡± The high chief and other venerable elders perked up. The keen looks of the pillars of elven society felt oppressive. He had never felt so important in his entire life. A scout like him, in normal circumstances, was of low status in this society. However, things were changing, for better or worse. He took a deep breath and spoke of horrors he had witnessed in great detail. The elders were known to be stubborn and resistant to changes, under their rule barely anything seemed to change. This time, to the surprise by many, was different. A great many changes were implemented. The living wood was used to grow the walls around the city, surrounding it completely. The gatherers were no longer permitted to leave the city, no one was except the scouts. Most importantly everyone had to learn how to use a bow, even the women and the children. The sages and other wizened people buried themselves in dusty scrolls looking for a magical solution in ancient texts. Everyone had a role to play. His role, obviously, didn¡¯t change much, he was still a scout. No, he was The Scout now, after all, he was the best, so he continued to do what he excelled at. It was his daily routine to inspect the forest, to scout for any changes and then no matter how minor report back to elders. He took great pride in this important mission. The days went on and there was nothing, and then more nothing. Until there was something¡­ He had found the Apex Panther, the king of this forest, literally ripped in pieces. The sight was so vile he failed to keep his breakfast inside. His otherwise steady hands began to tremble in fear. ¡°Stop it! This is not you.¡± He tried to calm himself. It was impossible to stay collected. To slay Apex Panther was no easy feat, the animal was known as the king of the forest for a good reason. ¡°¡­and here it lays dead.¡± There was no stronger creature in the entire forest, so it meant only one thing. He began running back to the city, the elders had to know. Everyone is in danger! In his mad dash, he had almost made a critical mistake. He was lucky to be saved by his unique perk. An overlay superimposed on the sight of usual trees and vegetation blinked in his vision. He recognised the red spider-like shapes. He had detected enemies, they were only meters away. He stopped a tad bit too quickly and tumbled to the ground. He rolled breaking the fall, he had made a mistake but his scout skills saved him once again ¨C no sound was made. He had stopped just in time to remain hidden. The red overlay was no longer needed, he could see the hostiles with his plain vision. He climbed up the tree to see better. He was right, he knew the enemy, they were spiders dressed in blue cloth. But there was something else right in between the spider formation. And that thing scared him more than spiders did. It walked on two legs like an elf would, but it didn¡¯t look either like an elf or even human. It looked like a twisted mockery of a human. Instead of skin, it had black scales and its head resembled that of a lizard. The scout concluded it to be another spawn of evil. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. However disturbing the sight of a humanoid monster was, this was not the worst thing he was observing at this very moment. There, right beneath the scaled monster was something that could only be called a Divine Guardian, the embodied spirit of this forest. This was a holy animal all elves recognised and revered, only a select few lucky elves were able to meet this elusive creature. Its appearance however was well documented and he had no trouble recognising the forest spirit. And there it was, laying in complete submission under the boots of this twisted creature. And then, as the true evil would, the twisted creature slaughtered the Divine Guardian in cold blood. The scout could feel sad tears flowing down his cheeks. He wasn¡¯t one to cry easily, actually, he had never cried before. This was terrible, but not the worst he had seen yet. He sat in the tree petrified and observed the horrors which kept getting worse and worse with each passing second. ¡­ While he was away from the farm new spiders have hatched; he welcomed the message [Farming +1500exp]. It was a moment for celebration, however, seeded deep into his mind was a worry that new hatchlings won¡¯t recognise him as their rightful king. He was away for quite a while so they might have even elected a new king! There was no need to worry because he had received a hero¡¯s welcome. Young hatchlings were happy to meet their master, sniffing at his trousers and chirping in their shrill but cute voices. ¡°I have found civilisation!¡± He announced proudly to everyone gathered. ¡°But what do we do with this knowledge?¡± Of course, even if thousands of eyes were watching him keenly there still was no reply. He knew what needed to be done, but first things firsts. ¡°Carry the spoils to the storage.¡± He ordered his spiders, the ones who were already halfway within the completion of the order. ¡°Oh and the little boars, don¡¯t hurt them. I will build a pen to keep them.¡± He did just that, it was a simple task of hammering some wooden poles and tying a net of ropes in between. Then he released the squealing animals into the pen. They didn¡¯t seem all too happy, probably still scared of the spiders. ¡°Here-here, now, you need to get used to this.¡± He dropped an armful of TomGrape fruit into the pen. The little boars were suspicious of the unfamiliar fruit. They cautiously sniffed at the food using their short snouts. Then, soon enough, they were devouring the offering with great gusto. ¡°I knew you will like it. Everyone does. Just wait until you try slug jelly.¡± With that, his future source of meat was secured. With this done he performed a, now routine, lookover of his farm. Everything was in order, the buildings were maintained, the fields expanded and the jungle cleared. Nothing out of the ordinary. Except for Johny, he expected the little slug to make some trouble; he was a known troublemaker. He didn¡¯t expect it to devastate the BlueDust fields. That, and the fact that he no longer was little, no, he was as big as the boars he had fought. ¡°Johny! What did you do you glutton!¡± He put on his best angry face and scolded the slug. The slug wiggled its antennas towards him and the shades of blue ran through its see-through body. It was showing colours to him, Johny did that then he was happy. ¡°Aw, you missed me. I can¡¯t be angry with you, you are just too cute.¡± He patted the overgrown slug. ¡°But you need to watch your appetite. Now, where is all that jelly?¡± A bigger slug equals more jelly. At this point, he had no qualms about milking Johny for it. The size of course made the task so much easier. All of this milking stuff implied that Johny was probably a female slug, but who cares. The slug was just Johny in his mind. He licked heavenly jelly from his fingers. ¡°It¡¯s as tasty as ever. Thanks, Johny.¡± The field of flowers is pretty much gone, but in turn, he has a whole tub of slug jelly. ¡°I better reward my companions. They have defended me well.¡± He went to look for the troublemakers. Usually, they would just follow him around but this time they seemed to be busy sorting the gathered loot. He had found half of them in his shed. They were by his chair waiting for him. ¡°Where is the rest of you? What is going on?¡± He questioned the peculiar behaviour. ¡°X-Plo-R¡± The biggest of them chirped. Then did it grow so much? No, wait, did it just talk? ¡°Did you just talk?¡± The spider just stared at him with all of its four yellow eyes. ¡°The day must have exhausted me.¡± He brushed it off as tiredness. ¡°If they are gone, it means they had finally found a job they like. You should follow their good example.¡± He spoke to the large spider. It didn¡¯t reply. ¡°Oh well. I am off to bed.¡± He shrugged it off. He quickly fell asleep. In his dream, he dreamt of his kingdom. It was growing bigger and bigger. It would be a good thing, but he found it harder and harder to manage it. There was so much to do, so much to manage and direct but there was only one of him. He felt so stressed he began to feel inadequate as a King. In his dream, he ran away from his kingdom leaving his people to govern themselves. It didn¡¯t turn out the way he had hoped it would, the spider turned against the spider. There was violence and discontent and the budding civilisation crumbled before it could bloom. Once pristine TomGrape fields withered to nothing and with no food everyone died. He felt so bitter and displeased with his cowardice, but mostly bitter. He woke drenched in a cold sweat, then he spat a bitter wine out of his mouth. ¡°How did that find its way into my mouth?!¡± He wondered looking accusingly at the multiple spiders, the ones who refused to be employed. This was not the first time they pulled a prank like this. One jester was good fun now and then, but a bunch of them¡­ He just wished they found jobs soon. Maybe if he took them for another expedition, the rest of them will find something they liked. Speaking of which: ¡°I still don¡¯t know where your friends went.¡± He worried slightly. ¡°X-Plo-R¡± The perpetrator and the leader of the pack chirped a reply. This time he was sure he heard it. ¡°Explore? To explore?¡± The spider chirped in affirmation. ¡°So you can talk!¡± The spider nodded its head. ¡°And you can understand me?¡± It nodded again. ¡°A man of few words, eh?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°This is great. Brilliant even!¡± He was both happy and angry, ¡±Now you can find jobs and stop pranking me. Even better, let''s find your friends before they make trouble.¡± He didn¡¯t want them to attack the city by mistake. After all, he planned to be friendly with them, even if they were most likely elves. Put hatred aside and love your neighbour and all that, plus he was curious. Just as he was about to run after the rogue explorers he had second thoughts. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t rush this¡­ Stop, we all, stop. How, will I even find them to begin with?¡± He posed a question to the largest one. It gave him the spider equal of a shrug. ¡°If they make trouble, I guess I will need to apologise and hope for the best.¡± It seemed like a better plan than running around for a wild goose chase, the jungle was just too big and with luck, his spiders won¡¯t even encounter any hostiles. 10 Going to meet your neighbours empty-handed is never a good idea. He didn¡¯t have a lot of different products on his farm, but the stuff he had was of high quality. With great effort (he needed to use slug jelly in convincing), he had wrangled a few of his workers and loaded them with gifts; he took simple things like Blue Cloth, TomGrape fruits, and a jar of Slug Jelly. He had noticed that his workers had recently become more chatty and sociable. It wasn¡¯t rare to see them chittering between themselves and for better or worse they had realised that something of significance is happening. They either wanted to take part in it or were just jealous of slug jelly treats, either way, what this meant was that now he had keen volunteers ready and roaring to go and greet the newly discovered neighbours. The issue was that there were just too many volunteers: like half of the entire village. The spiders were lined up in neat rows and were waiting for him to start the journey. ¡°Guys, I know you are excited about meeting new people but this is just too much. I don¡¯t even have that much jelly and this jar is for neighbours.¡± He tried to reason. All in vain. These spiders were just too stubborn. ¡°If everyone goes, who will look after the farm and the plants?¡± He tried again. ¡°No-Pro-Ble-Mmm.¡± The largest in the group replied. He recognised the speaker, It was the leader of the troublemakers known as Jesters. He decided to call it Chief Jester. At this point he wasn¡¯t even surprised that his spiders were sapient and could speak, he was way past this point. He just attributed it to them being born out of magic. ¡°Ahh.¡± He sighed; there wasn¡¯t much point in arguing with spiders. ¡°If you say so¡­ I guess there is strength in numbers and that forest isn¡¯t exactly without dangers.¡± They began a slow march towards the depths of the jungle. He noticed a bunch of clearers working on what seemed to be a road; one of the spiders was teaching the others, It was the same one he had used before. ¡°You learn quickly, don¡¯t you? Good work, we will need this road.¡± He praised their initiative. He knew where he needed to go so the journey was much shorter, and when the road gets done it will be even faster. There in front of him was a familiar sight of the wooden palisade, but this time there were even more people in the guard towers. He reconsidered them as archers. ¡°So many archers, are they at war with someone?¡± He wondered out loud. It was likely, and if so, he came at a bad time. He looked at his spiders, there were over a hundred of them. ¡°Yup, they will definitely misunderstand.¡± He concluded. ¡°Guys, let me go alone.¡± He signalled the spiders to wait. He took a deep breath of air and walked out of the forest and into the clearing. The booming sound of a horn rang from one of the watchtowers rousing the people behind the walls into motion. ¡°It will be okay.¡± He reassured himself and kept walking. More and more people poked their heads out of the palisade walls. Ever increasing number of arrows were aimed in his direction. ¡°They are just cautious.¡± He kept walking slowly but confidently. He was close enough to distinguish individual faces from one another. They looked like humans but not quite. Their hair was blond and long, their skin pale and their ears elongated. ¡°Elves.¡± He concluded. ¡°I knew it¡­¡± A single arrow was shot from a longbow and it pierced the ground two feet away from him. He stopped walking and waved at the elves. ¡°Hello, I come in peace!¡± He shouted. He could hear some sort of commotion happening behind the walls but no one replied to him yet. It was probably because they were cautious of a weird stranger. Then he realised that he indeed looked quite odd, scale armour and all. He took his helmet off. ¡°Look.¡± He pointed at his face. ¡°I know I¡¯m not like you, but I am friendly and unarmed. Can I come in for a talk?¡± Someone finally replied, ¡°You want to talk?¡± Their tone was tinged tones of disbelief. ¡°Yes, I even brought you gifts. All to show my goodwill.¡± He put on his best smile or tried to. It was hard then there were so many arrows aimed at him. ¡°What gifts? I can see nothing in your hands.¡± Now there was open hostility in the man''s voice, ¡°It¡¯s the monsters which will flood our city once we open the gates. Isn¡¯t it? That¡¯s your ¡®gift¡¯.¡± Ah, so they noticed the spiders. ¡°You mean, my spiders? They are friendly and perfectly well-behaved.¡± The last part was a lie. The man didn¡¯t reply for quite a while. He became quite nervous just standing there in the clearing. If for some reason one of the spiders decided to come and say hello he knew the elves wouldn¡¯t take this well. ¡°What do you want?¡± Someone else asked this time. ¡°Mmm¡­¡± He thought he was clear the first time. ¡°To be friends, have good relationships, to be allies that sort of stuff. We are neighbours after all.¡± ¡°How can we be friends with monsters?¡± The man asked in turn. It kind of struck a cord. These elves had a stick up their ass, there was a reason he hated the elves¡­ The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°If I don¡¯t look like you it doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m a monster. Have you ever heard of the saying: don¡¯t judge a book by its cover?¡± There was mocking laughter and then a reply. ¡°Oh, we know you are a monster. But we also know that we can¡¯t win against your forces of evil. If you want to attack us and wipe us out you will have to do it the honest way, we aren¡¯t buying your trickery and inviting you inside these walls.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± He was out for words. ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything wrong did I.¡± The man laughed again. ¡°Your very existence is wrong. However, you haven¡¯t killed any of us, not yet, so I will follow our tradition and let you leave. So leave now!¡± The elf commanded. It seems the neighbours weren¡¯t very neighbourly. He should have expected it, they were elves after all. ¡°Whatever I did to offend you, I am sorry.¡± He tried to be a bigger person. ¡°I brought gifts, and they are yours regardless you want them or not. You can throw it away if you don¡¯t like it¡­ I will leave now.¡± He took a small step backwards, no arrows came to pierce him. He put his helmet on, turned his back to the elves and walked towards the forest just as calmly as before. He could hear cheering coming from behind the walls. For some reason, he found it mighty annoying. ¡°Oh boy, that didn¡¯t go well at all.¡± He reflected. ¡°I really don¡¯t like them, elves.¡± He entered the forest where his spiders were waiting patiently. ¡°Sorry guys, they won¡¯t welcome us.¡± He apologised to everyone gathered there. ¡°Let''s leave some gifts, and just go home.¡± He untied a few sacks and left them laying on the ground. ¡°Maybe we can find better allies somewhere else.¡± He tried to be positive. And thus unceremoniously so, they walked all the way back to the farm. ¡­ He tried to be positive, he really did, but a lot of things weighed heavy on his mind. Elves deciding not to treat him and his spiders as equals implied many things, none of which were good. ¡°Now they know about us, and we know how they see us.¡± The usual escort of spiders was present of course, but he was just talking to himself. ¡°We need to be cautious and careful. I need to protect my people. Yes, this is the duty of a King. ¡± He nodded to himself finding the resolve to move forward. ¡°We need to protect this kingdom. We need walls, we need warriors.¡± He looked at the group he had casually named Jesters. ¡°Can you help me with that?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Chief Jester chirped. It felt like he was dreaming, he didn¡¯t expect a reply so readily. ¡°I guess, you guys are really sapient. Should I rely on you more?¡± Chief Jester chirped something complex so he didn¡¯t quite understand it, but he knew it was a positive reply. ¡°Then I will.¡± From that day on the farm began to change. Whatever wood was gathered from clearing jungle it was used to make a wooden palisade, the walls surrounded the most important buildings while the farms were still outside it. There was also a new group of nimble scouts, venturing deep into the jungle and probing for danger. For the warriors he still had none, likely he would need to wait for a new clutch of spiders to be born. The construction took days to achieve, and due to a lack of builders he had to contribute a significant amount of his time. The time was well spent because he had finally acquired enough Building exp. [Congratulations! You have reached Building lvl .1] [Skill Reinforce obtained.] This wasn¡¯t a passive perk but a skill he could activate. Instinctively he knew what it did and how to use it. He began using it on sections of the palisade wall, and with some application of rope and wood, he made the wall more sturdy. He wasn¡¯t just adding it to the wall, he was using the skill while doing it, and somehow it made the wall more sturdy; Magic, go figure. Anyway, doing this gave him a small tickle of Building exp. ¡°I have a way to level my building quicker now.¡± He smiled at the prospects. But by heart, he was a farmer, he just liked it more. The proof of that was the two storage houses full of TomGrape, the third one was on its way. And the farmland was still expanding, so maybe he will need a fourth one too. That and he needed more spiders for various tasks. His wish was granted sooner than he expected, well kind of, they haven''t hatched yet but by the best guess, there were at least a thousand of eggs waiting to hatch. For whatever reason egg production just exploded. It kind of made sense they had ample food and need for workers. He just couldn¡¯t wait for the eggs to hatch. While he was waiting, he remained cautious of possible elven incursion. He just didn¡¯t like the outcome of his diplomatic mission. The results of it gave him many sleepless nights. However, for one reason or the other, the elves seemed to leave him be. That however didn¡¯t mean that his spiders left the elven territory. His explorers were probing further and deeper into the jungle, further into the forest. Best of all, they were bringing him various goods. Fruits, berries, and nuts were offered as tribute to the King. He would prefer some meat but he still had no way to preserve it. The explorers would also bring various plants they found peculiar. Most of which were useless to him, but there was one exception: it was a thick vine full of spiky thorns. He hoped to use Acclimate and Unnatural Selection to turn this plant into something he could use for defence. A patch of it was already growing in a small field where TomGrape vines used to be. ¡­ The new flock of spiders have hatched, and this time he was well prepared. He was busy crafting them the necessary clothing. In addition to the usual workers now he had a group of scouts, a larger group of explorers (who were not scouts if similar), and finally some warriors. He had more warriors than he needed really, half of the hatchlings seemed to be of the warrior class. Aside from the obvious fact that they were bulkier and bigger, there was an odd change in their carapace. Instead of smooth obsidian chitin, their body was made of hexagonal segments giving them an armour-like look. The segments were just like the ones the eggs had, meaning they were just as sturdy if not more. Plus, the warriors preferred to walk using only four legs, keeping their front two unoccupied. It was a shame the two arms weren¡¯t quite yet arms and they still couldn¡¯t hold tools but it was a step forward in an obvious direction. ¡°I will need weapons eventually.¡± He stated the obvious. But the resources in the jungle were limited, all he had was chitin and wood. ¡°So clubs and spears it is.¡± He decided and began testing the first designs. [Congratulations! you are now proficient enough to craft a chitin spear of superior quality.] [Congratulations! you are now proficient enough to craft a wood club of superior quality.] These were the results after many hours and multiple attempts. The wood club was just as the name implied and a simple weapon to craft. The chitin spear had a more complex design and even provided more Crafting exp. He used the chitin chips for the spear tip and some blue rope to secure it in place. He even decorated the shaft in carved patterns hoping for some bonus or reward, but there were none, however, the spear looked quite badass and he kept this one for himself. The warriors had finished growing, however, they weren¡¯t quite ready for the weapons still preferring to use their mandibles. Also, they had become quite restless, their mock battles had grown too fierce and often he had to break them before they could hurt each other. This meant only one thing ¨C they were bored and eager for action. He gathered all of his warriors in a cleared field. They looked in anticipation. ¡°No, I won¡¯t attack the elves.¡± There was a sliver of disappointment in their eyes. ¡°However, we are going for another fully-fledged expedition. No! Conquest. Because we are ready!¡± The spiders chirped giving him their cheers and approval. 11 For this expedition, Instead of going east this time, he went to the south. He knew what to expect for the first week or so; jungle, endless jungle. He and his spiders marched for days, determined to reach their goal; and their goal was¡­ ¡°Hills?¡± the slope was too steep for that. ¡°Right, mountains.¡± Indeed the trees parted exposing a mountain face of dark grey stone. ¡°We¡¯ve had hit a wall.¡± However, he refused to give up just yet. ¡°Let''s try to climb this mountain.¡± He announced the challenge to everyone. The spiders had no problem with that; they were expert climbers. He, however, was a totally different story. In the end, he ended up being carried by the spiders up the steep slope. They were halfway up the mountain. He turned to look at the jungle, being up high it allowed to see him so much further. But as far as he saw there was just more jungle. He tried looking for his village but couldn¡¯t find it; it was likely too far and behind the horizon. Out there, in between grey rocks and boulders, there was a cave. ¡°Hey let¡¯s go there for a minute.¡± He pointed at the cave entrance. The cave entrance was large, its inside was pitch black and too dark to see. Despite the spookiness, he desired to explore the cave further, after all, he saw spookier things already; he was used to spooky. The spiders didn¡¯t seem to care either way. As they went deeper the oppressive darkness was replaced by blue glowing spots of moss. There was more and more of that on the walls and ceilings; soon various fluorescent mushrooms began to pop out here and there. And just like that the darkness was no more. He picked a glowing mushroom. ¡°Fascinating.¡± As soon as he did so the glow dimmed. ¡°So what does make them glow?¡± He wondered at the mystery. ¡°Let''s go further.¡± The deeper they went the more marvels they uncovered. This wasn¡¯t just a cave, it was an extensive labyrinthine cave system. Moss, lichen, mushrooms and various other plants grew all around, the rock walls could barely be seen. Various creepy crawlers skittered away from him and spiders as they were making their way deeper into the cave system. ¡°Just how deep does it go?¡± He wondered, but then realised that he has all the free time he needs to explore this. Well, maybe, the food was a limiting factor, and the potentially hostile elves, but¡­ ¡°Eek, Nope!¡± Someone screeched at the spider and made a runner. It was small and quick in its getaway, he could barely make the small figure out. It was a red two-legged creature. The fact that it just spoke piqued his interest. ¡°Hey, you!¡± He wanted to chase after the creature. He did just so, his spiders right in tow. Having longer legs he had no trouble closing the distance between him and a peculiar cave dweller. ¡°Stop, I want to talk!¡± ¡°Eek!¡± It screeched in terror and dunked into a small hole right into the wall. He finally caught up with the creature but the hole was too small for him or any of his spiders. ¡°Hey, come out. I am friendly.¡± He encouraged. A scared voice came out warped by the confines of the tiny hole ¡°No!¡± ¡°I just want to talk.¡± ¡°Go away!¡± ¡°Ahh.¡± He sighed. ¡°Why everyone has to be so hostile to me.¡± He took one TomGrape fruit out of the sack and dropped that into the hole. ¡°I mean no harm.¡± There was no reply for a while, and then there was a sound of someone eating and slurping on the fruit greedily. ¡°So what are you, little creature? A mountain goblin?¡± ¡°More!¡± the voice demanded. He dropped another fruit. ¡°I¡¯m kobold.¡± It sounded proud about it. ¡°I see¡­¡± He had never seen a kobold before but from the stories, he knew Kobolds were some sort of red lizards who liked to live underground. He saw the kobold take a quick peek out of the hole; as soon as it was done peeking it asked, ¡°And what are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a human, I guess.¡± It looked again. ¡°Not true. You have scales.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± He realised that with his armour it might be difficult to understand so he took his helmet off. ¡°See, a human.¡± ¡°Eww, so ugly! Put back on.¡± The kobold urged. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. He wanted to slap the creature already. ¡°Why you here?¡± It asked. ¡°Exploring. No, I am here to make allies.¡± ¡°Allies?¡± ¡°Yes, to make friends.¡± He didn¡¯t lie about that. ¡°Spiders your friends?¡± ¡°Yes, they are. And they always listen to me, they won¡¯t eat you. You can come out.¡± He dangled a sack of fruits. The kobold crawled out of its hole hesitantly and after seeing that the spiders weren¡¯t jumping to eat them, it grabbed for the sack of fruit. ¡°Tasty!¡± ¡°Hey, I didn¡¯t say you can have everything.¡± The kobold ignored him and began devouring the fruit. ¡°Will you take me to your people?¡± ¡°Okay.¡± There was no hesitation in the kobold¡¯s voice. He was a bit surprised at that 180 turn in behaviour, from cautions to overly trusting, but maybe kobolds were like that. The little fellow, who he assumed was a male, led him from one tunnel to the other, deeper and deeper into the mountain. While doing so the kobold kept devouring the fruits from the sack, one after the other. Until the sack was empty, the kobold shook the sack to make sure there was nothing left and then¡­ He jumped towards another hole, his legs were kicking at the ground trying to propel the body deeper through the narrow mouth of the hole. However, the kobold had eaten too much, his belly too full, and he was now stuck in the hole. ¡°What are you doing?¡± He asked curious. ¡°Eek!¡± It screeched. The legs stopped kicking and were now hanging limply as in defeat. ¡°Stuck! Help!¡± The kobold sounded panicked. He grabbed the kobold by one of his legs and pulled him out with ease. ¡°Are your people at the other end of the hole?¡± The kobold seemed panicked. ¡°No!¡± He put the kobold down back on his legs. ¡°Okay, I show where camp is.¡± They walked what must have been half of way back. ¡°Are you lost or something? We were here before.¡± He enquired the kobold. ¡°No!¡± It said with confidence. And while they walked the kobold kept eying the random holes in the walls and then his spiders; It was suspicious. ¡°Ahh¡­¡± The kobold breathed out as if disappointed about something. ¡°Ate too much.¡± ¡­ It took a while but they were there. He knew this was the place because he stood in a large cave. A very large cave; There was enough space for two villages. there even was a mushroom tree forest and even a stream of water. In the middle of the cave, there was a camp with its borders framed by a short wall of boulders and sharpened sticks. ¡°A kobold camp.¡± He stated the obvious. He might have repeated the previous mistake by coming with spiders, but if they didn¡¯t like his spiders then he wouldn''t like them either. It didn¡¯t take long for the kobold camp to notice his presence, soon a small force of kobolds walked outside the wall. Like the little fellow here they were red and short, but unlike him they had weapons and even clothing; if a pointy stick and loincloth could be called that. He stopped at a good distance, close enough to be heard, but not too close to spook them completely. ¡°Hello, I come in peace.¡± He tried. His little red friend ignored his speech and scampered in a rush to the group of warriors. ¡°I bring gifts, as a neighbour.¡± He untied a sack full of fruits. The little one and what was probably the leader of the kobold warriors were talking, and by the looks of it they were done. ¡°You friend?¡± the warrior asked. ¡°I hope we can be friends, yes. If you can treat my spiders as equals.¡± ¡°They eat kobold?¡± He pointed at the spiders. ¡°No, they are vegetarian.¡± ¡°Veg-Vege-Ve?¡± The warrior tried. ¡°I don¡¯t eat kobolds, only fruits.¡± ¡°Is it friend?¡± The kobold pointed at the group of spiders again. ¡°Yes, they are friendly. Are you the leader?¡± ¡°No, we protect the leader.¡± ¡°Can I meet them now?¡± The kobold seemed hesitant. ¡°Yes, but. Leave the spiders.¡± It was obvious they were afraid of his spiders, but at least they didn¡¯t show open hostility. ¡°Fine with me.¡± He picked up a large sack and began marching towards the warriors. There were only fifty or so warriors here, once he was close enough they surrounded him on all sides. He saw looks which were more curious than scared, but there was plenty of fear showing. It was understandable, he was at least three times taller than their biggest warrior. He was led through the gap between the boulders. Inside the camp he saw even more kobolds, so many he didn¡¯t bother to count. Everyone was giving him curious looks. They approached a structure made of dirt, rocks, and what looked like some spongy wood. It was a unique structure he had no name for, and despite it being the largest in the camp it was obvious he still wouldn¡¯t fit inside it. ¡°Leader.¡± The warrior shouted. ¡°Leader!¡± He shouted again, but noone was coming or replying. The warrior went inside and came back with their leader. By the looks of it, he had to drag them here. The leader was probably the best-looking kobold here: they had earrings in their long ears and even a full tunic. It was hard, no, practically impossible to tell their gender; just like for any kobold he had seen so far. The leader hid behind the warrior. ¡°Why did you bring him here?¡± the kobold sounded offended, but really he just looked scared. ¡°I came here to form an alliance.¡± He dropped the sack of fruits. ¡°This is a sign of my goodwill. Try them they are very tasty.¡± He urged. The leader picked a fruit from the sack and nibbled at it. ¡°Wow!¡± ¡°I know right!¡± ¡°Can be friends. You bring more fruit.¡± The leader beamed happily. ¡°I might as well. Actually, I would like to trade.¡± ¡°Trade?¡± ¡°Yes, do you have something interesting you could give me in return for fruits?¡± The leader looked suspiciously but that judgment didn¡¯t last, he pulled a small pouch out of his tunic and then pulled out a small green rock. ¡°Shiny rock.¡± The leader explained helpfully. ¡°An emerald?¡± He was surprised, he didn¡¯t expect the kobold to have these. He thought they were poor! ¡°A shiny rock for your fruit.¡± He wasn¡¯t too sure he had any use for emeralds; or desire. What he really wanted was something useful for his village and the spiders. However, the reality was that these kobolds had little aside from rocks, dirt and apparently precious stones. ¡°I¡¯ll take it.¡± He took the stone. ¡°But I am afraid I don¡¯t have enough fruits.¡± He wasn¡¯t going to rip his allies off, he intended to give them a ¡®fair¡¯ price. But who knew how much would be fair? ¡°I¡¯ll give you. Hmmm let''s say a hundred sacks.¡± He thought that a single emerald was worth at least that much. ¡°A hundred?¡± The kobold jumped. ¡°Yes, but I don¡¯t have them here. They are in my camp.¡± He explained. ¡°Then take the shiny. Come back later.¡± He wasn¡¯t going to say no to that, but¡­ ¡°It will be my spiders doing all the job. Are you okay to let them in into your camp?¡± He had to make sure. The leader seemed to be conflicted. ¡°Spiders don¡¯t eat Kobolds?¡± ¡°As I have explained to your friend here, they don¡¯t, actually they are very well-behaved.¡± ¡°Okay then.¡± So it was decided. His first ally was made. ¡°Are you alright to show me around and tell me more about Kobolds? If honest I know nothing about you guys.¡± The leader rubbed their muzzle while looking at the sack of fruits. ¡°We eat first. You tell us about you.¡± ¡°Ah, yes! I understand I¡¯m as strange to you as you are to me. So sit around and hear my story¡­¡± He began telling an epic tale of struggle and conquest. More and more kobolds surrounded him, each with juicy fruit in their hands. 12 He waved goodbye to the Kobold Leader, no, to everyone in this not-so-tiny camp. The kobolds turned out to be extremely decent people; he even made some friends. He learned many things about Kobolds, to name a few: they were afraid of large open spaces so going above ground was a big no-no, they were very proud of their race and according to them they were descendants of dragons (he very much doubted this was true), and most importantly they were expert tunnellers. The kobold leader told him that the entire cave system was dug by no one else but kobolds over the millennium or so. It was hard to believe, but over a large amount of time, it indeed looked like a possibility; and if true it was an amazing feat. As he was leaving the expansive cave he did so with a wide smile. ¡°These fellows are definitely better than the elves.¡± All in all, the expedition was a success but he still had to get home and bring the spoils. The spoils weren''t that single emerald he carried in a pouch, no, the real reward here was the Alliance he had just made; the emerald was just a token of trust. He and his spiders were navigating the tunnels towards the surface. ¡°I hope we are going the right way.¡± Well, he made a small mistake and didn¡¯t ask for a guide to take him outside. ¡°It would be cringe if I turned back and asked for one now, wouldn¡¯t it.¡± He looked at his best helper, the large leader of the spiders. ¡°You know the way back up don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°No.¡± The spider chirped happily. There was no reason to be happy about this! ¡°I am sure we will find our way out.¡± He tried to sound confident. After many turns and crossroads of multiple tunnels, he no longer was so confident. The path in the tunnel branched out again. ¡°I don¡¯t even know if we are going up or down¡­ Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.¡± He counted out the ¡®branches¡¯. ¡°Where is a tunnel I must go. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. This one!¡± He selected a random one. ¡°I¡¯m sure this is the one.¡± They proceeded further in. This tunnel like the others was overgrown with glowing moss and multicoloured mushrooms, creepy crawlers zoomed away from him. This place had an ecosystem of its own. And for whatever reason not everything turned to be afraid of him and his spiders. A long thick tail swatted him on the chest knocking him off the feet. ¡°Huh!?¡± Was the only thing he managed to say taken by surprise. He looked at the attacking creature. ¡°Huh?!¡± He repeated out of surprise, which probably made him sound quite dumb. But he was dumbfounded after all! There only a few dozen feet away from him was an amalgamation of a woman and a snake, he was no expert on mythology, but that creature looked like a lamia. ¡®Creature¡¯ was not the best word to use, because judging from the chest she definitely was a lady. She had smooth grey ash-like skin, her hair was long and pale blue in colour. Her waist was very slim, but otherwise, she was well-endowed. Her snake-like portion, the tail that hit him, was thick and long and probably made three-quarters of her entire body. In her hand, she had a spear, a weapon she could have used but didn¡¯t; not yet. Her otherwise human-like face was twisted into a grimace of rage unfit for a regular human. ¡°You sss-shall not go further!¡± She hissed at him. Her speech sounded distorted, her lips didn¡¯t quite sink with what she was saying, likely a shenanigan of [Language Comprehension] perk. ¡°What did I do now?¡± He asked rhetorically brushing the cave moss off his scaled armour. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you are, sss, but you and your army are not welcome here.¡± She hissed again. Well, she indeed was brave to take him and all of his spiders on like this, he had to give her that. If he wanted he could crush her, but he was no monster. ¡°I didn¡¯t know I was trespassing. To be honest I am lost.¡± He admitted. ¡°Let¡¯s say I believe you, sss, where are you going then?¡± A question with a simple answer. ¡°Outside to the surface.¡± ¡°Then why are you here sss-so deep inside the mountain?¡± The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. He shrugged. ¡°Got badly lost¡­¡± He hated to admit it. ¡°If you would point me in the right direction I would gladly leave. I want no trouble.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t trust you, creature!¡± She hissed at him pointing a spear forward. It looked like he will have another elf situation. If only he had a way to convince this lamia of his good intentions. At moments like these, he wished to be more charming and have the skills worthy of the leader, but the fact was that he was an eccentric farmer who ran a farm with spiders. ¡°I¡¯m honest. There is no foul play.¡± That would probably be what a swindler said, but¡­ he wasn¡¯t one. ¡°I¡¯m just lost. Could you kindly escort us away? Look I¡¯ll even pay you.¡± He offered the emerald. The lamia looked at the stone with shiny eyes. ¡°Let¡¯s sss-say I believe you.¡± She approached him reaching for the stone. It was kind of scary since the lamia was so much taller than him, actually, she must have done it with intent. He observed her tensing her muscles and stretching her tail to keep her balance while she tried to appear much taller than she probably was. ¡°Here you go.¡± He dropped the stone into her hand not giving in to the intimidation. ¡°Your sss-scales are fake.¡± She observed. ¡°It¡¯s armour.¡± She gave him an inquisitive look. ¡°Something you put over your body for protection.¡± He elaborated. She pocketed the emerald into a small pouch attached to a belt and then slithered past him seemingly unafraid of multiple spiders nearby. ¡°Why? Is your body weak?¡± ¡°What?¡± He thought her question was a bit odd. ¡°No, my body is fine.¡± ¡°I sss-see, but you hide it anyway.¡± ¡°As I said it is for protection.¡± He explained again. ¡°I understand. Sss. To protect your weakness.¡± She said with pity. She slithered around him but her eyes were on his spiders. ¡°You control these monsters?¡± ¡°They aren¡¯t monsters, they can speak. Go on, don¡¯t be shy and say hello.¡± He encouraged. ¡°Hel-lo.¡± The largest spider chirped happily. ¡°It just made a sss-sound.¡± The lamia didn¡¯t sound too impressed. ¡°You can¡¯t understand him?¡± ¡°Should I?¡± Yeah, it kind of made sense, neither lamia nor the spiders had his language perk. ¡°Well, I can understand him.¡± He shrugged. ¡°That makes sss-sense.¡± Lamia just nodded. ¡°They sss-seem well-behaved¡± He smiled at the lamia because she understood just how polite these spiders are ¡°Indeed, they are the best.¡± ¡°Okay, we will escort you away, sss, but don¡¯t ever come back.¡± ¡°We?¡± He looked around. From walls, floor and even the ceiling multiple lamias emerged. Before he couldn¡¯t tell if there was anyone aside from moss and lichen-crusted surface, but now they definitely were here. This was work of magic, some unique camouflage perk or something. In just a few seconds they were surrounded by lamia warriors from all sides. For whatever reason, he didn¡¯t even know why, but he took notice that all of them were female; probably a perk of beying a man. Female or not, they were intimidating. ¡°Oh, I see. Well done.¡± He praised the ambush. ¡°It¡¯s good that you are friendly, ha-ha.¡± He laughed his anxiety away. If they attacked, could he win? Perhaps, but it was good it didn¡¯t come to that. ¡°Come, creature. Do not delay us-sss in our tasks.¡± He and his spiders ended up sandwiched between Lamia warriors. ¡°I would never, thank you for your assistance. let¡¯s go.¡± He tried to be cordial despite the uncomfortable situation. There was a tinny nagging thought that the lamia might lead him not to surface but somewhere else entirely just to deal with him in the most unkind way. Paranoia was not fun so instead he used the opportunity to know the woman beside him better; even thou she looked quite grumpy. At least her angry grimace mellowed out a little. ¡°You want to try this?¡± He took a fat bite of TomGrape ¡°I grow it myself¡±. ¡°What is it?¡± The lamia seemed interested. ¡°A fruit. It¡¯s tasty, have a try.¡± He fumbled in his pouch for a fresh one. The lamia had other ideas and just snatched the one he was just eating. She opened her jaw wide, which reminded him that despite her pretty face she wasn¡¯t quite human. *Crunch *Crunch ¨C she devoured it in two bites; It was quite unwoman-like. ¡°Sss-Sweet!¡± She sounded surprised. Then she snatched the other fruit right from his hand. The manners were just not there, but he wasn''t going to complain about it to his only chance of getting out of here. ¡°I know, right? I would offer more, but we will need what we have to reach our home.¡± Lamia seemed disappointed, and her colleagues were eying him as if he just offended their ancestors or something. ¡°Ahh¡­¡± He sighed in defeat. ¡°I can spare a bag or so.¡± He untied a bag from one of his spiders and began handing out the fruit. There were just enough with a few spares left in the bag. ¡°Here you can have the rest.¡± He offered. Lamia smiled at the tribute. Despite the rows of sharp teeth, she looked all content and the grumpiness was gone as if it never was there. ¡°Oh, so you can make that expression then you want to. You''re kinda cute.¡± He smiled back. The solitude must have done a number on his psyche because he just realised what had happened; normally he would never even think of flirting with a lamia. The lamia gave him a weird look and slithered a good few feet away to a side. ¡°Sorry, I might have overstepped the line ¡®cause I couldn¡¯t help myself, ha-ha.¡± He tried to laugh it off. She turned her head away, there was even a slight blush on her face. After this there was just an awkward silence as they progressed through the tunnels. The lamia consciously distanced away from him. ¡®And everything was going so well until that comment¡¯ He wasn¡¯t one to have an extensive internal monologue, but he was having one right now. The fact that Lamia were all women, the fact that he was secluded for so long, and the tiny detail that they didn¡¯t wear much clothing all added up. He was reprimanding himself over his comments and behaviour. It wasn¡¯t the first time he blew it off with a woman. The trauma of the past experience returned. He thought he had left all that in his previous life, but apparently¡­ No! He left those in his previous life. He approached the lamia. ¡°Look, if I said something inappropriate, I didn¡¯t mean to. Culture barrier aside, I was just excited to meet you guys.¡± The lamia finally looked at him. ¡°It¡¯s-sss okay.¡± ¡°Is it really? I just don¡¯t want to blow it with you guys. You see I was here to make allies.¡± ¡°Allies?¡° Lamia raised her brow in curiosity and surprise. ¡°You should have sss-said so from the beginning.¡± He almost face-palmed himself. How could he say so, she has been quite hostile from the very beginning, but maybe he should have. 13 He and lamia had a small conversation, and only then did he realise how suspicious he must have came across. Leaving aside a tiny detail that he''s commanding a small army of spiders, the claim that he wanted to go to the surface was unbelievable to the lamias. That was because going to the surface was the same as suicide; Lamia knew of the The Dreaded Place, it was a place unable to sustain life. Another thing that didn¡¯t add up was him travelling through Lamia territory. There were quicker and safer paths. But if he and the spiders were sent here by a third party, a party wealthy enough to provide supplies to traverse through The Dreaded Place, and if they were here to negotiate a deal with the subterranean factions ¨C his story would add up; at least to the Lamia. As convoluted and far-fetched all of this was, this wasn¡¯t the end of it. ¡°What do you mean you aren¡¯t the emis-sss-ary of The Demon Lord.¡± The lamia gave him a confused look. ¡°I know nothing about the guy!¡± He tried to untangle the misunderstanding. ¡°As I said I live in the jungle, and farm my own supplies.¡± ¡°But nothing even remotely edible grows-sss there. The place is cursed-sss.¡± ¡°That¡¯s just not true. You all have eaten a TomGrape, haven''t you?¡± ¡°Is-sss there any other food?¡± ¡°Amm¡­ Not really.¡± ¡°Okay, I believe you.¡± ¡°Really? Why now?¡± Lamia didn¡¯t elaborate on that, but, ¡°We can sss-speak about the alliance if you take me to those farms of yours-sss.¡± This just took an unexpected turn. ¡°Well, I guess you can.¡± ¡°You sound sss-surprised.¡± Lamia judged his expression. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to be willing to form an alliance, we didn¡¯t have a good start after all.¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t?¡± It seemed that she thought otherwise. ¡°No. Well, yes¡­ What I mean is you are escorting me out of the cave system.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t this-sss what you asked for, sss?¡± ¡°Yes¡­ But If I can I would like to visit your place.¡± ¡°No!¡± Lamia said firmly. ¡°First I sss-see those fruit trees of yours-sss.¡± ¡°Technically, they grow on vines.¡± ¡°Whatever.¡± ¡°But it''s far, and I¡¯m not sure I have food for all of you.¡± ¡°No problem, it¡¯s-sss just me going.¡± They have reached the exit of the caves. He thanked his luck for it being the same one he entered, otherwise, he would be quite lost. Lamia winced at the stray sun rays hitting her face. ¡°Let¡¯s hurry to the trees.¡± She urged shielding her face. He looked at the lamia again, it was obvious she was out of her element. Her posture was hunched and she kept turning her head as if she expected to be ambushed at any moment. ¡°You are quite brave to trust me like that.¡± ¡°I ruled you not to be a liar, sss, and I¡¯m a good judge of that.¡± ¡°Yet still, you are surrounded by spiders and going who knows where. Does it not bother you?¡± She frowned at the comment in displeasure. ¡°So were you. You were lost in deep caves, were you afraid at that moment?¡± ¡°No, but I had my¡­¡± She cut him off, ¡°So neither am I. I can defend my-sss-elf. I am a warrior for a reason!¡± He had a hunch she was more than just a warrior, regardless of that he wasn¡¯t trying to agitate her, quite the opposite. ¡°What I wanted to say is that I admire you.¡± That didn¡¯t come out right. ¡°I mean, I admire your strength and resolve. Your ability to trust others is refreshing.¡± ¡°Are you trying to flatter me?¡± she hisses with a tinge of embarrassment on her face ¡°Why?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m just being honest. And apparently often misunderstood.¡± ¡°The barrier between races is not easy to overcome.¡± He didn¡¯t expect that nugget of wisdom from her. ¡°I guess you are right.¡± ¡­ Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The trip back home was one filled with trials and tribulations, but not the usual kind. To cut a long story short he had made another friend. ¡°This is it.¡± He pointed at the blue webs in the distance. Hundreds upon hundreds of webs on which the vines of TomGrape grew. ¡°Unbelievable!¡± Lamia slithered in a hurry to inspect the webs. ¡°Ah, hey¡­¡± He didn¡¯t think that was a good idea. ¡°Wait!¡± Lamia ignored him leaving only a trail of crushed leaves behind her. He didn¡¯t know Lamia could be such fast runners. And despite his worries, the farm workers chose to ignore the intruder. ¡°So. Yeah, this is where I grow the fruits.¡± He said proudly after catching up to her. ¡°But there are sss-so many!¡± ¡°I know, that¡¯s why I was thinking of trading them.¡± ¡°I am sss-sure that can be arranged.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yes, but I would need to sss-speak with my mot¡­ The Queen first-sss.¡± ¡°Of course. There is more I would like to show you.¡± Finally, he had a chance to gloat about his hard work to someone else, after all, he was very proud of his farm. So he gave a small tour. ¡°The cloth you use is also interesting. Does it have magical properties?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t get dirty, but I don¡¯t think this is magic.¡± He displayed what he meant by pouring some muddy water on the fabric, the muck just slid off. ¡°It looks-sss like magic, but I wouldn¡¯t know. I don¡¯t have the identification sss-skill.¡± ¡°Me neither. Is it something the Queen would like?¡± ¡°I would need to bring the sample.¡± ¡°Yeah, sure.¡± They went through other bits and bobs on the farm, the only thing he didn¡¯t show was slug jelly; he didn¡¯t have enough of it even for his personal use anyway. After the tour was done, for one reason or the other, lamia didn¡¯t wish to stay over for the night. ¡°I must go back-sss to my people.¡± ¡°It was a pleasure meeting you.¡± He smiled yet was slightly sad to part with his newly made friend. ¡°See you soon?¡± ¡°Sss-soon, yes.¡± ¡°Well then, if you must go, please let my guys escort you.¡± ¡°No, need.¡± ¡°I mean, they¡¯re going that way anyway. Making a delivery you see.¡± ¡°A delivery.¡± Lamia looked with one eyebrow raised. ¡°To whom-sss?¡± He had forgotten a small detail he had found from this lamia during their travel chat and almost made a critical mistake. To put it mildly, Lamia didn¡¯t like Kobolds. ¡°Erm¡­ To my other allies.¡± There was a pout on the lamia¡¯s face but it disappeared in seconds and was replaced by an expressionless stone-like poker face. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you had allies-sss already.¡± He shrugged. ¡°My goods are just that popular.¡± ¡°It makes sss-sense. Then I must hurry and report back.¡± She didn¡¯t even wait for his spiders to escort her, which perhaps, was for the better. ¡­ He was sitting on his ¡®throne¡¯ and was doing a lot of thinking. If he wanted to grow his kingdom he needed to make allies, but there were a lot of issues with that. Obvious issues: He understood that most people would dislike him just for ruling over spiders; King of spiders just sounded menacing. Which was so unfair, spiders were the best workers he could ask for. He understood that others would judge him just for the fact that he lived in The Dreaded Place; The name alone sounded like trouble. He also understood that he had next to none of the experience needed in being a King and engaging in complex matters such as diplomacy. Just look at what happened with the Elves. ¡°How can I make this work?¡± He pondered out loud. ¡°I want others to see that I am not a threat. I want to be able to form strong alliances. I want to be seen as equal, as a man to man and as a King to King. I want to be liked. I need that natural charm.¡± ¡°Au-Ra. Perk.¡± A chirpy voice suggested. He had almost forgotten that his most trusted advisor (ex-Jester) was there in the throne room. ¡°An Aura Perk?¡± He asked unsure if such a thing even existed. ¡°Kings. Au-Ra. You. Have. It.¡± That was wonderful praise, but it was clear he had no such perks. [Perk Chaos Blessed activated.] [Perk Aura Projection obtained.] ¡°Eh!¡± He screamed out in shock. The Chaos perk was broken, what sort of perk just randomly assigned him more perks? ¡°I¡¯ve just gotten the perk.¡± ¡°You. Had. It. All. Along.¡± The spider reaffirmed confidently. He activated the perk receiving a proper message and all, but he didn¡¯t feel any different. ¡°Can you feel anything?¡± He asked his best advisor. The spider moved from side to side and then shook its head. ¡°Hmm¡­ I want to be seen as good and trustworthy.¡± He tried to project such concepts as an aura. ¡°Yes. I. Feel. Aura of Frie-Nd.¡± ¡°Realy? But did it work? I will try something else.¡± He did a 180 and wanted to appear as a monster, something threatening; it was quite vague this time. ¡°Sss-Sca-Ry.¡± ¡°It worked! I can be as complex or as vague as I want, but it still works. He can project all sorts of Auras. Isn¡¯t it OP?¡± ¡°Is. Go-Ne.¡± ¡°Oh? So I need to be actively thinking about it to project the aura properly. Meh, a small drawback.¡± He used the willing subject for further experimentation. By no means this was mind control or something like that, it was merely a suggestion. The large spider was scared but not terrified, and even then with some effort, it was able to disperse the aura completely. If he told the spider about the effects he tried to project the spider was able to fight it easily, but if he remained quiet or lied, the spider found it much harder to dispel the aura. Also, it was quite versatile, it could be used to unbalance his opponent (Scary Aura, Anger Aura), or it could be used to enhance the mood of others (Happiness Aura). Furthermore, it could even be used to communicate emotions or induce them into others. If he wanted others to know that he for example is anxious he could project an anxious aura. And the more anxious he truthfully was the stronger the skill would be. The communication of emotions was where the strength of the perk was in. He could be fake or truthful about the emotion, however, if he was truthful it was so much stronger. To tell ¡®I love you¡¯ without telling you in words ¨C was the real strength of this skill. He did just that to the spider, in a platonic way of course; he loved all of his spiders. The result was interesting. The spider made a buzzing sound like a bee and began to dance in an odd but adorable way. ¡°Tha-Nk, Y-ou!¡± ¡°No, you say ¡®I love you too¡¯.¡± He corrected. ¡°This. Is. Lo-ve?¡± ¡°Yeah, sort of.¡± He became kind of embarrassed about the whole thing. ¡°You are like¡­ kind of¡­ like my child. So yeah.¡± ¡°You. Must. Show. Others!¡± He was able to understand the spider''s words better than before. He wondered if his language comprehension perk levelled up or something. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I feel uncomfortable about this.¡± ¡°You. Must.¡± It was clear the spider wasn¡¯t asking, so he went outside and began projecting the aura of ¡®I love you¡¯. The spiders began flocking to him in hordes and chirped in unison. He felt like a pop star on a stage, like the Pope in a mass, like the King in front of his subjects. The spiders were were totally charmed charmed by his presence. It felt good to have such a positive welcome, he felt adored by his people -¨C a dream come true. It wouldn¡¯t have worked so well if he expressed himself only with words. Aura projection, even if it was just a suggestion in another¡¯s mind, was still a powerful perk, and maybe, quite dangerous. 13.5 The elf high chief released the air from his chest sharply, it came out heavy and strained; he didn¡¯t know he was that tense. ¡°The menace is gone!¡± He could see the archers relax as if a heavy burden no longer pressed on their shoulders. Cheers resounded within the wall. He, however, didn¡¯t feel all too joyous at all. ¡°We won the battle but not the war. The devouring spiders be back and we must remain vigilant.¡± He tried to drill a simple fact into the young elven minds. However, he knew that the people needed a small respite and a celebration to ease the anxious soul. He left the young to party and left for the ancestral tree hall. There the venerable elders were still pouring through texts, looking for answers. ¡°Anything?¡± He asked hopefully. An elder shook his head. ¡°There are some spells we can utilise, but nothing to guaranty our survival.¡± ¡°The evil is at our walls, I will take whatever help I can.¡± An old and wrinkly scroll was pressed into his hand. It described a ritual to summon dryads, a type of forest spirit. ¡°With the forest guardian dead this won''t be easy.¡± The chief grabbed for his chest still mourning the loss. An elder looked with compassion. ¡°The monster knows what it¡¯s doing, that¡¯s why they killed It first.¡± The chief needed The Guardian to bless the ritual, but it was gone¡­ The Guardian Spirit will reincarnate with time, but that might take years. ¡°Lesser dryads will have to do.¡± ¡°But that is dangerous¡± The elder cautioned. ¡°But we are desperate.¡± Without The Guardian''s blessing, the dryads he summoned would not only be weaker but harder to command. ¡°I¡¯ll go and get ready for the ritual.¡± ¡­ The chief didn¡¯t want or need to be interrupted right now, but the messenger was persistent in her urgency. ¡°High chief you have to see it!¡± She demanded. ¡°You already told me it¡¯s not dangerous. So I don¡¯t care about them pretty baubles and distractions.¡± In other words, he had no interest in the ¡®gifts¡¯ the evil monster left. ¡°But! Just come and have a look.¡± It didn¡¯t look like she would leave him, and his concentration was gone anyway. ¡°Fine!¡± He agreed and stomped in discontent to the hall. There on a long table were the ¡®gifts¡¯. At first look it didn¡¯t look like anything offensive, just some fruits and cloth. No, it was quite plain, so maybe the monster was trying to offend him by giving simple gifts fit only for the slaves. Whatever¡­ he leaned to inspect the fruit. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°[Inspect]¡± he invoked a skill. ¡°Well, it¡¯s not cursed or poisonous. Actually¡­¡± ¡°We already tried some. They are delicious.¡± That wasn¡¯t very smart of the scout, but he was alive so the chief couldn¡¯t say anything except for, ¡°The fruits are magical. Where did he get them? I¡¯ve never seen this kind before. Did the elders check the texts?¡± ¡°They did, they don¡¯t know where it came from.¡± ¡°They couldn¡¯t come from the jungle, nothing grows there.¡± He stated a simple fact. ¡°Here, check this out.¡± A roll of cloth was pressed into his hands. It was vivid blue and pleasant to the touch, but there was something about it. ¡°[Inspect]¡± He invoked. [Blue Cloth] an item made out of magic-resistant StemLeaf and enchanted with the dust of BlueDust flowers giving it a signature blue colour. Possible passive effects: [Magic Resistance], [Dirt Resistance] He didn¡¯t know what these StemLeaf or BlueDust were but those were the least of the things that bothered him. ¡°This is an enchanted cloth!¡± The elves surrounding the table nodded in agreement understanding the chief¡¯s emotions perfectly. ¡°That can¡¯t be¡­¡± such items are very rare, and for a reason. ¡°And there is so much of it.¡± He looked at the cloth rolls displayed on the table. There was enough of it for a king''s ransom. Then he realised. ¡°The reports! The scouts told us that all of the spiders are cloaked in this cloth!¡± ¡°No!¡± The other elves realised that too. ¡°This means¡­¡± ¡°The spiders are now much harder to kill.¡± He broke the bad news. The arrows were imbued with magic, meaning that such magic probably wouldn¡¯t work anymore. ¡°But they can¡¯t be impervious to arrows, we still stand a chance.¡± He had to remain hopeful. Yet¡­ ¡°From all of this, I can only assume that this evil has a sponsor.¡± The high chief added fuel to the fire. ¡°But who?¡± ¡°Who else. The Demon Lord!¡± Everyone gasped. ¡°The Demon Lord¡­¡± Elves whispered to each other. ¡°No¡­¡± ¡°I should have known. This makes perfect sense now. The Demon Lord must be alive and well, he had been plotting this for hundreds of years.¡± ¡°Can we still win?¡± An elf asked with worry. ¡°We must!¡± ¡­ The high chief rubbed his throbbing temples, this was just too much. His best scout was missing, forget that, his scouts were going missing left and right. He was at a point where he risked losing either all of his scouts or the precious info on the advancing forces of evil. ¡°High Chief! High Chief!¡± An errand girl was shouting with a big smile on her face. Finally some good news. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°The Master Scout is back!¡± ¡°But I thought he died.¡± ¡°No, he is alive.¡± The girl dragged an elderly man way too fast. There it was the Master Scout, haggard but alive. The elder went to hug the man. ¡°High Chief, I am sorry.¡± ¡°What are you sorry for?¡± ¡°I¡­ I saw that monster eating our deity and¡­ I lost it¡­ I ran away.¡± The elder frowned. He knew the Forest Guardian, the spirit they all worshipped, was dead, but he didn¡¯t know the monster ate it. This was disturbing. ¡°It¡¯s Okay, we are all scared. I don¡¯t expect you to be perfect.¡± The Scout shook his head. ¡°No, I did wrong. However¡­ This is a long story, but I met other elves from other forests. They have their own prophecies and are worried too.¡± The Scout delayed but clearly wanted to ask for something. ¡°Spit it out.¡± ¡°They are at our border, asking for the permission to enter.¡± ¡°This is unusual.¡± He didn¡¯t expect that, the elven communities often stuck to their own staying away from other tribe¡¯s businesses. ¡°But, of course, I will welcome them.¡± ¡°There is more¡­¡± The chief motioned for the scout to continue. ¡°They will help, they will send their forces to us, but we have to provide proof of the evil.¡± ¡°Proof? What proof do they need? They can go and see with their own eyes!¡± ¡°And they would likely never return to tell the tale. They don¡¯t know the forest and the jungle like we do. We must show them the devouring spider, show them that it can be killed.¡± This was an interesting idea, with many holes in it. ¡°We haven¡¯t killed any yet, but, I guess, this is the time to bite back.¡± The high chief agreed. ¡°Thank you chief, I know we can do it! I go get them and ready the hunt.¡± The shout left in a rush. ¡°I better finish this ritual, the elves on their own will not be enough for this.¡± He went back to drawing a large circle, in this circle there were hundreds of trees in the rough shape of people. 14 The farm was expanding more than just in the amount of fields; over five hundred spiders were working on various tasks. With new births came more exp. [Farming +2500exp]. [Congratulations! You have reached Farming lvl. 3] [Requirements have been met. Hidden perk unlocked.] [Perk Evolve obtained.] ¡°Evolve? This sounds OP.¡± He was excited to try the new perk. ¡°What should I test this on?¡± He grabbed a pebble. ¡°Evolve!¡± Obviously, nothing happened. ¡°Yeah, as expected. I need to try this on the TopGrape.¡± He left the throne room and ran towards the fields. There on the blue web was an innocent and unsuspecting TopGrape vine. ¡°I am about to change your life, plant. Evolve!¡± He invoked the perk. ¡°Hah!¡± He breathed out sharply. ¡°Oh boy.¡± The fatigue hit like a tsunami and his vision went dark. ¡­ ¡°Where am I?¡± He blinked the drowsiness away. ¡°In my bed, huh, but wasn¡¯t I.¡± The trustworthy advisor was by his side. ¡°I see, you brought me back. I feel better now, thanks. But what happened to the plant?¡± ¡°Plant?¡± The spider chirped. ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s go and see.¡± He wobbled out of his bed still unsteady and towards the fields. There it was, the plant evolved. It changed so much that it stood out from the rest of its kind. The vines were thick like an arm, they were blue like the ropes used to make the webs. It was astonishing that the rope proved to be strong enough to support the plant, or maybe the vine being that thick didn¡¯t need the web anymore at all. On the vine grew equally blue leaves in the shape of triangles and the size of a head. He tried to pluck the large leaf. ¡°Stubborn aren¡¯t you.¡± He was unable to. He couldn¡¯t even tear it and it was resistant to bending. Okay, eventually he tore it off. ¡°This is stronger than cardboard but weaker than plywood.¡± He tried to compare distant memories in his head; In reality, the leaf was unlike the two. ¡°This will definitely be useful.¡± If he managed to straighten them out, he would have thin but sturdy sheets. ¡°Enough of these leaves, what am I even doing.¡± The highlight of the plant was bulbous purple fruits growing right under the leaves. They were the size of a melon. ¡°I wonder how will this taste.¡± He tried to bite, but was unable to, like a melon it had a shell. ¡°I should have expected this.¡± He had to cut it in half with a knife. When he stabbed, there was a lot of pressure build-up and the fruit sprayed juices in a jet; the jet hit him directly in the face. He heard his advisor making a short suppressed laugh from behind. Finally, he cut some flesh and right into the mouth it went. ¡°Mmm¡­ This is different.¡± It tasted like grapes but not quite. He cut some more to offer to the spider. Spider? ¨C No. There was a whole platoon of them now. ¡°I guess you want o try some too. Go ahead, help yourselves.¡± Spiders crawled all over the vine-web and began devouring the fruits in gusto. With the knowledge that soon none will be left, he finished the one in his hand. [You recovered 10MP.] ¡°Interesting.¡± He still didn¡¯t have access to a mage class or anything like that, but for some reason, he felt much less wobbly and tired now. ¡°I am sure I have MP and HP values but for some reason I just can¡¯t invoke my status.¡± There was no menu for him to access. ¡°I can¡¯t even interact with the system.¡± He wondered if he was some sort of exception in this world. Either he didn¡¯t have the full access or there was no proper system yet. ¡°If only there was someone I could ask!¡± He raised his fists into the air from frustration. ¡°Do you have a mysterious System? Akashic records? Voice of The Word?¡± He asked his advisor. ¡°What. Is. System?¡± It questioned back. ¡°Nah. I don¡¯t think you have it¡­¡± He dismissed the small frustration and instead went back to what mattered, which was appreciating the new magical plant he had just evolved. ¡°You must look after this one. It is precious.¡± ¡°Un-Der-Stood.¡± ¡°Also, we need more of it.¡± The fact that all of the fruits were now eaten didn¡¯t help. ¡°So, please wait for the fruits to grow back.¡± ¡°Un-Der-Stood.¡± ¡­ Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. He ended up naming the plant PurpleM because it was purple and helped to recover mana points. The newly acquired perk was so OP, it was a shame not to use it. However, it seemed it had some consequences. ¡°I was out cold for two days¡­¡± He didn¡¯t realise it at first, but this was true. Regardless, there was this little imaginary spider on his shoulder, whispering sweet words into his ear. ¡®Do it, you will be fine.¡¯ ¡®Use the skill on your spiders.¡¯ ¡®Evolve them.¡¯ ¡°They¡¯re living creatures what if the perk will harm them.¡± ¡®They will grow stronger!¡¯ ¡°What if they change too much, turn into something twisted.¡± ¡®Twisted? Ha-ha-ha¡¯ the devious imaginary spider began to cackle. ¡°As if they aren¡¯t already¡­¡¯ He didn¡¯t let it finish and swatted the hallucination away. ¡°No!¡± The spiders were just too precious. And anyway, they were already capable of natural evolution. The creatures, not all, but some were already capable of speech. ¡°However¡­¡± There was a suitable candidate. He went into the fields of BlueDust flowers. He wasn¡¯t here to evolve the deadly flower, which probably wouldn¡¯t go too well anyway. He was here for Johny. ¡°Hello.¡± He picked up the not-so-little slug. ¡°You are precious too, but¡­ Johny, you have to evolve.¡± He gave the slug no choice. ¡°Evolve!¡± He invoked the perk. ¡°Bitter vines and rotten fruits!¡± He swore after he realised it. His vision began to dim and he was deep in the BlueDust flower field; the field his spiders were unable to access because of the debuff the dust caused. ¡°Johny! Go get help!¡± He put the slug down at the same time he collapsed to his knees. [Warning: Extreme Mana deficiency.] ¡®Why did even the Farming perk use MP? It makes no sense!¡¯ He wanted to complain to whoever designed this, but instead passed out. ¡­ ¡°Uhh! I feel like I just took a shower of rocks.¡± He complained in a wheezing voice. His mouth was dry, and his throat hurt. Everything was sore. ¡°I feel like I am a hundred and twenty-five.¡± Despite that, he rose from his bed. ¡°I see, you managed to recover me successfully. Thanks¡± He bowed to his ever-dependable advisor. ¡°Where is Johny?¡± ¡°Johny?¡± Spider turned his head as if not sure. ¡°Yeah, Johny the slug. Where did you think all that sweet slug jelly come from?¡± He crossed his arms unhappily suspecting that his advisor was trying to play a jest on him. The spider, however, did the equivalent of a spider ¡®I don¡¯t know¡¯ shrug. ¡°Anyway, off to the fields!¡± His legs felt shaky, and the short trip was exhausting, but he had to see it. And oh how unprepared he was for the sight. ¡°I¡­ Just¡­ Johny is this you?¡± He couldn¡¯t believe it. ¡°Are you even Okay?¡± Let¡¯s be honest, slugs aren¡¯t the prettiest creatures in the world; this one isn¡¯t different. The evolution enhanced this natural slug ¡®charm¡¯. If he had access to the system it would probably tell that Johny had negative 100 charm status. He stared at the transformed slug wishing that the sight would be censored. Johny was as big as him now, and still very much transparent and a slug. Some of the organs were not transparent and he could see exactly what and were made this slug tick. The slug had tiny arms with three fingers for each hand, and on its belly were rows of teets to dispense that sweet slug jelly. Most importantly, it had something akin to a face now, and it was deep into the uncanny valley territory; from the top of Johny¡¯s head stretched two tentacles with big green eyes staring right into the soul of his. ¡°I¡¯m. Okay.¡± The slug replied. THE SLUG REPLIED! ¡°No way! You can speak?¡± ¡°I¡¯m. Okay.¡± It repeated. ¡°I¡¯m. Okay. I¡¯m. Okay. I¡¯m. Okay.¡± It repeated again and again. Despite the otherwise unorthodox appearance, the voice was pleasant. The tone was sweet and mellow. With practice, Johny could be an excellent singer. ¡°I¡¯m glad this worked well. So¡­ umm¡­ Do you mind if I¡­¡± It was not proper but. ¡°Milk you.¡± He had to taste that jelly. ¡°Okay.¡± Johny puffed the underside proudly. The jelly sacks expanded and then contracted to leak the substance. Some things are not meant to be spoken or written, or even thought about. What matters is that he now had no less than six jugs of slug jelly. He scooped some with his finger and gave a taste. ¡°Noice!¡± It was the same old jelly, the one everyone loved so much. Probably for the best, if the recipe worked, why change it. Now of course, with the bigger slug, he will have more jelly. As expected the spiders were already waiting for his return; the jelly was that popular. A little tiny spider, a baby one, offered him PurpleM fruit as a trade. ¡°Aren¡¯t you cute?¡± He cut the fruit and ate it. The +10 mana recovery made his throbbing headache so much better. ¡°This might be the cure I needed. I need more.¡± He patted the little farmer. ¡°Wait if the fruits are back, how long was I out?¡± ¡°Six. Days.¡± Another farmer replied politely. ¡°Six days? How I am even alive?!¡± He grabbed for his head. ¡°No, isn¡¯t it high time to check on Kobolds? Did the Lamia return?¡± He began to panic. ¡°Trading. Expedition. Return. Soon.¡± The spider informed him. ¡°And the Lamia?¡± The farmer did a spider shrug. ¡°I guess, there is nothing to worry about¡­¡± True or not he tried to calm down. The little baby farmer was back with more fruit. ¡°Oh, thanks.¡± He nibbled at the fruits, his head clearer with each bite. ¡°If the Lamia come back, shouldn''t we, greet their delegation?¡± he asked rhetorically. ¡°I better do the prep now, I don¡¯t want to mess this up.¡± He began to brainstorm on what he needed to make this a success. Forgetting all the pots of slug jelly he left for the throne room. The throne room of course was just a shack with a flimsy chair. ¡°That won¡¯t do.¡± This was long overdue for an upgrade. Luckily he won¡¯t need to do it alone. He had the builders and his advisor for help. With him supervising the spiders began working. The old building, including his bedroom, was torn down and rebuilt from the ground up. The structure was still very much like a spider nest but it was now the largest building in the entire village. The outside didn¡¯t look like much, just an oval dome, but the inside was a different matter. He had wooden floors, columns and even some decorations. The builders managed to incorporate triangular PurpleM leaves into the wall, which made a nice blue wallpaper. From the ceiling hung by ropes were hanging dried TomFruit shells, they were purely decorative. There was even a rug, if you could call it such, it was ropes woven together to make a sturdy sheet-like mat, it stretched from the entrance all the way to the throne. It wasn''t the purple carpet the royalty would use, no, it was better; more suited for the spiders and their legs. The throne, however, was still just a chair. That one he wanted to craft himself. In his mind, he imagined a large throne clad in obsidian chip mosaic. He wanted to make it spooky, imposing even. Being friendly and welcoming was all good, but the king shouldn¡¯t be seen as weak and he was the Kng of Spiders so the throne had to be appropriate. Of course, there won¡¯t be any skulls littering the base of the throne or anything like that. In the end, he settled for a simple design. First, using the pieces of obsidian eggshells he made a sphere, which was very much like the eggs the spiders were born just many times bigger. Inside that sphere, in the opening, he constructed a throne. It was large and jagged making it appear as if carved directly from crystal. It came out a bit too dark with all that glass-like obsidian, to change it he layered the inside of the sphere with blue leaf wallpaper and embroidered the seat of the throne in cloth. He sat down on the completed throne. ¡°I call this the King¡¯s Egg.¡± He named the throne. A few builders who were doing the remaining bits and bobs chirped to him in small cheers to help to celebrate. ¡°Hmm¡­ I need to practise this. Let''s hold a mock audience. My subjects, gather!¡± He instructed. The builders looked at him inquisitively and then ran outside. ¡°No, don¡¯t run away¡­ They ran to invite everyone didn¡¯t they?¡± It was hard to be a king. 15 He had plenty of time to practise Aura Projection, the spiders reacted well to it and he was getting a hang of the perk. Every morning he would put on Kings Aura and make his spiders do a report on their activities. It was a win-win, the spiders would have a chance to practise their speech skills and he his Aura. In the midday, he would visit the hardest workers of them all and put on Friendliness Aura and then give them honest praise. The words of course were not enough, so he rewarded the hard work with a bonus slug jelly portion. And in the evening¡­ He had that for himself and his various crafting projects. At the moment he was working on a new set of armour, it was coming along well but far from finished. The other project, however, was complete. In the beginning, he was unsure what to do with the white pelt he had obtained from that squirrel creature. That was until he realised how hard the seat of his throne was. So he turned it into a bag and stuffed it with filling. The pelt he used was named [Guardian¡¯s Pelt], some sort of unique item, he didn¡¯t know why it was called so or why it was unique; the only thing it will guard is his rear from hard surfaces. [You have crafted divine pillow, by default it is of legendary quality. Crafting +1000exp.] ¡°Ah¡­ Okay.¡± He was speechless. He inspected the item in his hand, to him it was just a stuffed bag. Well, the fur was shiny white and softer than silk, but he didn¡¯t think it was worthy of divine or legendary titles. ¡°I should give this a try.¡± He pushed an old cloth cushion away from the seat and put the divine pillow on, and then sat on it. ¡°Oh. Yeah, I see.¡± It definitely felt different. He couldn¡¯t put it to words but his ass was feeling blessed. [Temporary perk Increased Authority obtained.] ¡°What? Why? You know what, I don¡¯t care. Thanks, system!¡± The system worked in mysterious ways. He was happy with the item, actually, he was so motivated he didn¡¯t want to wait another day to see what [Apex Fang] could give him. The fang was destined to be a weapon, it was too short for a sword but long enough for a short blade. Instead, he decided to stick with what he knew and began crafting a spear. He used the design he knew. [You have crafted apex spear of superior quality. Crafting +250exp.] Was he disappointed? ¨C No! ¡°This is by far the best weapon I possess.¡± He tried thrusting and swinging it. It felt just natural. And it came with a bonus: [Apex Spear: +10% fear factor. ] ¡°All I need is to finish my new armour.¡± A spider messenger ran into his workshop, the taps were quick and rushed. ¡°Hello.¡± It chirped a greeting. He turned to look noticing the fidgety spider, he knew that something of significance had happened. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°La-Mia.¡± ¡°And here you worried me for a second. Where are they?¡± The spider turned around and sprinted out of the workshop. ¡°Hey wait for me.¡± He ran after the messenger. Apparently, there was a lot of running which needed to be done, the Lamia were at the edge of the clearing which was at least three miles away from where he was at the moment. On his way back he met the trade expedition, the one he sent out to Kobolds. ¡°Hey you are back, how did it go?¡± The expedition leader stretched an arm-like appendage and handed a tiny cloth sack. He quickly opened it, it was full of emeralds. There was just too much. ¡°Did they get greedy and want to buy all of our fruits?¡± ¡°More. Fruit.¡± The spider confirmed. ¡°I¡¯m glad you did so well at negotiating, but this is just too much. You know what, just give them what they asked. I will deal with it later.¡± ¡°Un-Der-Stood.¡± The spider chirped and went towards the storage buildings. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. He could see Lamia in the distance, the whole lot of them. There were at least fifty lamias gathered here. The gathering was a familiar one, just lamias wearing nothing but loincloths and wielding long spears in their hands. However, there was one which stood out like a sore thumb from the rest. The lamia in question was larger than the others and white as snow. Her scales, skin and hair all were pale white, only her eyes were red. She was also wearing a lot of jewellery all over: bracelets, necklaces, rings and piercings, all sorts. By her side were much smaller lamias, half the size of warriors, they were unarmed and from the fact that they held a huge umbrella over the big lamia the little ones were likely servants. He approached the lamia, he could feel all of them looking at him with burning intensity. It was worth mentioning that, he didn¡¯t have his guards behind him, nor his advisor, he didn¡¯t even wear armour or brought a spear. He wore plain pants and a shirt he had crafted ages ago. He understood all of this slightly too late, maybe he didn¡¯t have appropriate attire but he had his perk. He projected a King''s Aura with the highest intensity he could manage and closed the distance. The judging looks Lamia were giving, didn''t ease, they only burned in intensity. They were just ogling him without even uttering a single word. Within his group, he recognised a familiar friend, the friendly lamia from before. He looked at her for help, but she just turned her head down as if in an apology. It was up to him to break the silence. ¡°Greetings and salutations!¡± He greeted. ¡°I am¡­ The King of Spiders.¡± He decided to roll with the title he gave himself. ¡°Welcome to my dominion: The Dreaded Place.¡± He winced at the ominous name, after all, he couldn¡¯t change it. ¡°And you must be, no one else but the Lamia Queen.¡± He only guessed. ¡°That I am-sss.¡± She gave a curt bow. ¡°May I, sss, enter your domain?¡± ¡°Yes, of course. You are welcome here, we have so much to discuss.¡± ¡°That we do, sss.¡± He guided the procession towards the newly build throne room. There was quite a distance and plenty of time to make small talk, however, the Queen and her subjects were too busy ogling the surrounding fields and structures. Actually, he could take advantage of that so he projected the Aura of Awe. The lamias began to whisper between each other and several times the Queen had to shush her subjects. He didn¡¯t know why she preferred them to be quiet, some sort of Lamia custom or etiquette, either way, he was in no position to butt in. Finally, they entered the throne room. The Lamia Queen had to crouch to fit through the entrance, which was slightly embarrassing, he will tell the spiders to make it larger. Luckily the throne room was built like a large hall with a high ceiling, all of them fit there nicely. He sat on the throne. ¡°Please feel at home and if you need anything just ask.¡± He realised that he left his guest standing, but there was a small conundrum. These were lamias, he didn''t know how their tails would be compatible with standard furniture. ¡°Ehem.¡± He cleared his throat and changed his aura to that of a good host. ¡°Let me provide the refreshments first.¡± He whispered to his best advisor who just found the way back to his side minutes again; just in time. The spiders rushed from all over, the sides, the walls, and even the ceilings. In a matter of seconds, a long table was constructed, a blue cloth laid over it, and on top of it fruits were arranged in neat stacks. Even he was impressed by this performance. ¡°Please help yourself.¡± He encouraged. The Queen took a bite of the fruit, he did the same. He just wished she was a bigger talker, it was still uncomfortably silent. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about the alliance, I assume you are here for that, yes?¡± ¡°Yes-sss, I¡¯ve forgotten-sss.¡± That reply surprised him, she didn¡¯t look like a birdbrain. She was a snake! ¡°So can we make a trade, do I have something you want?¡± ¡°Yes-sss. The fruit. They are sss-splendid and nourishing, and magic, sss. We want-sss them.¡± ¡°Brilliant.¡± If only he didn¡¯t empty half of the storage to please the Kobolds. ¡°And the cloth, would that be something you are interested in?¡± He pointed at the tablecloth. The weavers had learned several different weaving patterns, the tablecloth was anything but plain. And these Lamia could use some clothes, he would lie if he said it didn¡¯t bother him. ¡°The cloth? [Inspect]¡± The eyes of the queen popped out ruining her otherwise pretty face. ¡°We can¡¯t-sss, it¡¯s too expensive.¡± ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t name a price, did I.¡± ¡°No¡­ the fruit, they must be expensive too.¡± He wasn¡¯t quite sure where the Queen was going with it, it was just not true. So he gave her an odd look; which of course she misunderstood for something else. ¡°There was an incident, our resources are sss-strained, sss-so we don¡¯t have much to trade.¡± It didn¡¯t look like it, she was drowning in jewellery. He changed the aura to the equivalent of an Aura of Trust. Right before he could ask for more details Lamia Queen opened up. ¡°We don¡¯t have much food, sss, our mushroom fields-sss were devastated by The Great Worm of Oberon. No, the sss-situation is quite dire. We are sss-starving.¡± ¡°Wow.¡± Too much information. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you had it that bad.¡± He could understand why the Lamia were so tense the first time he met them, they were vulnerable. ¡°I can make a discount. What do you have for trade? Any samples I can see?¡± ¡°We have some-sss.¡± She clapped her hands, and a little servant produced a tiny bag. The little lamia servant seemed panicked for a moment but in the end, she pushed the bag to the random spider. The spider brought it to him. He opened the bag, there were some glass, precious gems, and some carved figurines out of bone. He didn¡¯t need more baubles that¡¯s for sure, he needed practical items. His expression must have betrayed what he thought. ¡°No, good? I figured-sss, you have a rich kingdom. What use do you have in our alliance? None-sss.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ That¡¯s not true! Friends are important because friends are there in tough times. I want this alliance, and I will help you. You can have the fruits for free, but don¡¯t take more than you need.¡± He stood from the throne and gave the bag back to the little servant. The servant girl wasn¡¯t that little, she was almost as tall as him, and the Queen was just huge. Lamia might not be good farmers, but they had strong individuals for sure and their warriors seemed capable. ¡°I¡¯m sure you will help me when I¡¯m in trouble, right? Consider this alliance sealed.¡± ¡°Are you sss-sure?¡± ¡°Positive, I can even tell my spiders to carry the sacks for you. So do I have your trust and friendship?¡± ¡°You do-sss.¡± The queen smiled a toothy smile at him. ¡°Do we need to sign something?¡± But then he remembered that he had neither ink nor paper. ¡°Sorry, lets just shake on it.¡± He stretched an arm. ¡°Sign? A contract?¡± The Queen asked, her voice tinged with fright, but it disappeared just as quick as it appeared. ¡°Yes, I agree.¡± She offered her arm. He grabbed the appendage, the hand was big, and the nails sharp, and even if it was cold he could feel no hostility in the shake. ¡°Deal done. So why don¡¯t we relax a bit, and know each other better.¡± He whispered to his advisor to bring the good stuff out, the slug jelly and PurpleM fruits. ¡°Tell me more about this Great Worm of Oberon.¡± 16 Meeting the Lamia Queen was a pleasure, once she opened up she was a likeable person. And it was sad to hear about their troubles. That god-awful Worm devastated their food supply and apparently was a formidable opponent. To defeat it the Lamia Queen would need to send all of her warriors and even then victory was not guaranteed. Instead, they opted for waiting for the worm to leave; it would do so after it engorged itself just enough. In turn for the help provided the Queen asked him if he wanted to see Lamia Village. ¡°Of, course I do! Let¡¯s just load your fruit and we are ready to go.¡± The overfilled warehouses were now mostly empty, but this wasn''t a bad thing. Just as he was about to leave with the Lamia, he saw his spiders carrying something big. It piqued his interest, but then it got close enough he found himself frowning. ¡°What happened?¡± He ran to the spider. A spider was carrying a spider scout on his back, the scout was dead. His spiders were not immortal, actually, they had short but happy lives; they would die by the second time they laid eggs. So he didn¡¯t want to jump to conclusions. However¡­ ¡°Attack.¡± The spider chirped in a sad tone. ¡°By whom? Forrest beasts? Maybe letting you guys scout the forest wasn¡¯t the best idea.¡± He only did that because he wanted the vegetables growing there for a more varied diet. ¡°Elves.¡± ¡°Elves? Well, I should have known it; we¡¯re in their territory. But why can¡¯t they just share a bit, we don¡¯t take too much.¡± At this point, he was just complaining out loud to nobody in particular. ¡°Elves-sss attacked you?¡± The Queen must have overheard that conversation. ¡°Ah.¡± He sighed. ¡°I didn¡¯t tell you but I¡¯m not in the best relationship with them. You don¡¯t need to worry yourself with that.¡± ¡°They attacked you, killed your people-sss!¡± The Queen sounded more upset than him. ¡°Are you letting them get away with this?¡± She was right. He ought to protect his people, but doing so would only cause more death, that¡¯s why he hesitated. ¡°I don¡¯t want to escalate things. I will just pull out of their forest.¡± ¡°Their forest? Who decided that-sss?¡± He didn¡¯t have an answer to that. ¡°Let me tell you sss-something as a ruler to another ruler. Don¡¯t be too kind because your kindness-sss can be seen as weakness-sss.¡± He knew what she was implying, but it came out a bit two-faced. ¡°They will grow bold. Attack you and take what is yours-sss that¡¯s why you need¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re right I need to protect my people. But war ¨C I don¡¯t desire.¡± Lamia seemed thoughtful for a moment. ¡°We are allies and allies help each other in tough times-sss. Let me lend you my sss-strength.¡± He looked at the Queen in surprise. ¡°Take these-sss with you and sss-see what elves¡¯sss do.¡± Five Lamia warriors slithered towards him. They stood tall and firm with their heads high as if proud of the assignment. ¡°I understand. The elves might have no problem attacking spiders but attacking Lamia too¡­¡± ¡°Yes-sss.¡± Attaching a lamia too would mean that elves would declare war not only on spiders but Lamia as well, plus this would show that he had allies to come to his aid if elves kept antagonising him. ¡°Splendid, I will treat your warriors well.¡± There was one issue, however, one of the warriors was the friendly lamia from before and he was sure by now that she was more than a warrior. He looked at the familiar face who smiled at him. ¡°But, what if your people get hurt?¡± Lamia frowned. ¡°What are you sss-saying? They are sss-strong, they are here to do their jobs-sss.¡± ¡°And how about her?¡± He pointed at the suspect. ¡°Sss-so you can tell. She¡¯s-sss my daughter, but she¡¯s one of many. Let her sss-stay, unless you have no use of her, sss.¡± ¡°No, no, I wasn¡¯t implying anything like that. Of course, she can stay, I know she is a splendid warrior.¡± ¡°When I sss-shall go. Come and sss-see our village, when you can.¡± The Queen summarised that she will leaving her daughter to ward off the elves. He wondered if he should go with the Queen to investigate the Worm. The spiders knew what they were doing and could manage the farms on their own. Actually, he needed to go now more than ever. There was something he needed from the mountains ¨C metal ore. ¡°I shall accompany you, but I don¡¯t think I can spare my spiders now, I need numbers to protect the scouts.¡± He told the spiders to unload the cargo from their backs. ¡°I apologise, but you will have to carry this yourself.¡± This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°No problem, I understand-sss.¡± The Lamia took three sacks each, it looked heavy but they also were much bigger than the spiders. He still felt bad making them do the heavy lifting, the trip was a long one after all. He donned his armour and took the newly crafted Apex Spear with him. Before he left he spoke with the five lamias and told them to work with his scouts and explorers and protect them. They readily agreed to be on bodyguard duty, however, the friendly lamia seemed a bit sad he wasn¡¯t staying in the village. In other words, he trusted his spiders, especially his advisor, and the lamia to handle this in an appropriate way. He didn¡¯t need to micromanage everything ¨C the boon of having intelligent workers at hand. ¡­ Before he went to the Lamia Village he excused himself. The timing and the place were bad, if he didn¡¯t have Convincing Aura he wouldn¡¯t be able to pull it off, but he had to see Kobold''s leader. Moreover, he couldn¡¯t tell Lamia about the Kobolds because the two hated each other. The reason him needing to see the Kobolds was simple: they were better diggers than Lamia, actually, lamia wasn''t into digging at all. He needed ores and the kobolds could dig them. In the end he was lucky to catch up with the trading expedition, the one he had seen going off before. Of course, Kobolds will still get their fruits but he didn¡¯t want more emeralds. Then he approached the camp kobolds ran to his spiders filling the cave with cheers. He didn¡¯t know they liked TomGrape fruits so much. They were so distracted by looting the fruits from the sacks, yes looting was the right word, that they completely ignored him. ¡°Well, anyway, I am here to see the leader.¡± He tried to remember where the leader''s burrow was. He found it no problem and then gave a loud knock on the dirt wall. ¡°Hello, It is I the Spider King.¡± ¡°Eek.¡± The kobold yelped in surprise. There was rustling and shuffling, and even the sound of pots shattering but the kobold came. ¡°Yes, Spider King.¡± The Kobold dusted off its dirty tunic. ¡°I¡¯m here to discuss our trade.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Any way you can give me metal ores instead of emeralds?¡± ¡°Emeralds? Oh, shiny rocks! But shiny rocks are valuable and dull rocks useless. What for do you need dull rocks? There is plenty in the wall you can just take them.¡± ¡°No, I need ores, to melt them into metal ingots.¡± ¡°I know metal. You can¡¯t smelt here, the smoke would kill, need to go deep in the mountain and use the Sea of Fire.¡± ¡°Well, I won¡¯t be smelting in the caves. So can you dig it for me?¡± The kobold shrugged. ¡°Will we still get our fruits?¡± ¡°Yes, of course.¡± ¡°Then we dig dull rocks for you. Simple.¡± Was it really that simple? ¡°Can you show me the metal ores, do you have any around?¡± ¡°I have some laying somewhere. They often get in our way then we dig tunnels.¡± The leader led him all around the village collecting stray rocks noone wanted but still had for some reason. ¡°I think I have enough samples, thank you.¡± ¡°You sure you don¡¯t want shiny rocks?¡± ¡°Positive.¡± ¡°Your weird!¡± the kobold accused. ¡°I know, I¡¯m the King of Spiders.¡± He laughed it off. ¡°Should I come back and collect the ores then you finish digging it?¡± ¡°No need, there is more pilled by the tunnels.¡± ¡°Can I just send my spiders to gather them?¡± ¡°You can take, it''s trash anyway.¡± The kobold pointed in the distance. ¡°Follow the tunnel you will find the pile midway.¡± ¡°Thanks!¡± He sent his spiders to gather the ore in the sacks and then take it to the village. What was left was visiting the Lamia Village. But he didn¡¯t know the way! ¡°What a blunder.¡± He cursed. ¡°Leader, Leader where are you?¡± he went back shouting through the village. ¡°What?¡± The kobold emerged his face stained with the TomGrape juice. He turned his Aura on. ¡°This is a weird request but can you take me to Lamia territory? Don¡¯t ask why.¡± ¡°No, they will eat us!¡± ¡°Not too close, just point me in the right tunnel.¡± ¡°No.¡± The aura must have failed. ¡°I will send you different kind of fruits, the ones which give you mana points.¡± ¡°MP? Okay!¡± The kobold did a 180. ¡°Come, come.¡± He followed the running kobold. He was surprisingly motivated by extra MP and so this meant that he knew about mana. It was a good time to ask. ¡°Hey, do you have access to the System?¡± ¡°System?¡± The kobold tilted it¡¯s head. ¡°Yeah, like these messages filtering through your mind to tell you earned exp and perks.¡± ¡°Oh, the World Messages. I know of them why?¡± ¡°This is weird, but how do I access my status or the list of skills?¡± ¡°Say [Status]¡± ¡°[Status].¡± He said it but nothing happened. ¡°I knew it, something is broken; It doesn¡¯t work.¡± ¡°Weird. You¡¯re weird.¡± Kobold gave a judging look. ¡°Come, come this way.¡± He pointed at another tunnel. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to lead me personally, but thanks. Let¡¯s be careful from now on.¡± ¡°Yes, very smart. No more talk.¡± Finally, they reached the point where the Kobold was no longer willing to go any further. ¡°Danger this way, don¡¯t go.¡± ¡°Thanks but I must go.¡± He waved the kobold a goodbye. ¡°I will be fine.¡± The kobold just looked at him as if he was crazy but didn¡¯t say anything. He went deeper into the tunnel confident that he will find Lamia eventually. But just in case. ¡°Hello, any lamias around? Hello!¡± His words echoed. There was no one to reply so he went even further in and repeated. ¡°Hello?¡± ¡°Sss-stop.¡± He turned to look at the voice coming from behind. The woman was obviously Lamia, and she had that hostile look on her face, her spear was pining at his neck. At this point he just triggered his Aura Projection by instinct, it was becoming second nature to him. He smiled at the lamia. ¡°I am the King of Spiders. I was invited to visit your village but had a small errand to do first.¡± Lamia bowed deeply. ¡°I have heard of you King of sss-Spiders. Follow.¡± They went through maze-like tunnels. If not for Lamia he would be lost already. They exited the narrow tunnel into the larger cave. On the floor of the cave was covered by shoots of brown mushrooms, he had seen those before, the ones here weren¡¯t just growing randomly, they were being cultivated. Lamia servants, or should he call them lamia farmers, were pouring something looking like liquefied mulch on the mushrooms. There was quite a smell coming of it, but this was how farming was so he didn¡¯t judge them. ¡°Those are hard workers.¡± He praised the Lamia. ¡°Sss-sh.¡± Lamia shushed him again. ¡°Not so loud.¡± Suddenly, the ground began to rumble, stray pebbles were falling from the ceiling. He saw the farmers looking up at the ceiling with their faces filled with anxiety. ¡°Run!¡± Lamia warrior shouted to everyone. ¡°Earthquake?¡± He looked back towards the lamia warrior for confirmation but she was already halfway towards a side tunnel. He ran towards her, the shaking ground made him stumble and fall. It began shaking so much he couldn¡¯t stand. He cursed his unsteady legs and wished for a thick serpentine tail. The lamia had left him behind. The ceiling spat a chunk of rubble and from it a large mouth appeared. The mouth was filled with rows of hooked teeth, the teeth were half his length and just as thick. The mouth moved towards the ground, revealing the thick body of the worm. ¡°The Great Worm of Oberon!¡± The monster was even larger than he had imagined. It had rough and pink flesh, the flesh was surrounded by tiny clawed arms. Hundreds and hundreds of tiny appendages were scattered all around its body, they were clawing at the rock helping the worm to dig and move. The Worm opened ad closed its humongous mouth, taking huge breaths of air. Each time it breathed out, the stench of rot became stronger. [De-buff active: Miasma] --¨C This didn¡¯t sound good, however, [Perk Minor Regeneration activated] this was the temporary perk his armour set gave to him. The shaking stopped, breathing the air hurt but at least he could walk. The Worm moved towards the mushroom fields and began devouring them; soil and all. ¡®It¡¯s not interested in me, but for how long?¡¯ He didn¡¯t want to stay and find out. 17 The Worm was more interested in him than he previously had thought. It was moving right towards him with its mouth agape; gobbling up everything and all in its path. ¡°Not good!¡± He grabbed for his backpack and threw it away. His food rations spilled once it hit the ground. The little trick had worked and the Worm went for it, buying him precious time to escape. He ran to the nearest tunnel, reached the entrance and just kept running without even looking back. The Worm didn¡¯t seem to be pursuing so he slowed down to a jog. The Miasma de-buff disappeared, at which point he felt much better. If not for the temporary perk the armour gave him he didn¡¯t know if he would have made it. He continued jogging in the tunnel, and out of what must have been sheer luck he found a group of lamias who were vigilantly guarding the tunnel exit. ¡°Hey, It¡¯s me.¡± He waved at them. ¡°Come-sss quickly¡±. They gestured for him to hurry. The lamia parted and let him into the large cave. This one was larger than the one Kobolds were living in. In the middle of it, he could see hundreds of leather tents clustered together. A small lamia slithered to greet him. ¡°King of Spiders-sss, follow; the Queen is waiting.¡± He did as told. He was led past the tents and past many curious gazes towards what looked like a huge natural pool. It was encircled by rocks and in the middle of the pull was the Queen lounging on a flat rock. Wisps of steam told him that this was a hot spring. ¡°Come-sss.¡± The Queen invited. He didn¡¯t need to get wet, there was a stone path towards the flat rock where the Queen was lounging. He jumped from one rock to the other; the gaps quite wide and the rocks slippery. Somehow he didn¡¯t slip and embarrass himself. ¡°Are you Okay-sss?¡± She asked with worry. ¡°I made it out alive. Now I know what you are dealing with.¡± The memory of a terrible monster flashed in his mind. ¡°Yes-sss, our last remaining farm is ruined. If not for your help we would sss-starve.¡± Conveniently she popped a whole fruit in her large mouth and demolished it with a single crunch. ¡°I¡¯m glad I was able to help. This is a nice village you have, I¡¯m still glad I came.¡± He looked around, the border of the pool was now surrounded by lamias, there were hundreds of them all staring at him with interest. He now knew how the Queen must have felt on his farm when surrounded by his spiders. ¡°Yes-sss, we had this place for centuries.¡± She sounded proud. ¡°Would someone mind showing me around? I am interested in your village.¡± The Queen clapped her hands and out of the large crowd a tiny form of white lamia emerged; obviously another child of the Queen. The child had no qualms about getting wet and swimming right through the pool to the middle where he was. It was clear that Lamia were an expert swimmers. ¡°Come-sss.¡± The child hissed imitating her mother¡¯s mannerisms. He was shown the tiny details of Lamia''s life. The tents in which they slept, the place where they made their spears, a large kitchen where they would cook and prep the food. In many ways, this was a village like any other, but also it was different. It was clear that Lamia were strong people but they didn¡¯t excel either in building or farming or in any other crafts which didn¡¯t involve muscle; they led very primitive lives. Actually, it was obvious that they were most suited for hunting. The child dragged him to the large burrow in the ground, it was quite dark since there were no glowing moss or mushrooms, but he could make out the silhouettes of eggs. They were large and leathery. ¡°We keep our eggs-sss here in the hatchery, they won¡¯t hatch for another month or sss-so.¡± The child looked at him in an odd way. ¡°I don¡¯t think I was sss-supposed to show you this, but there is nothing else to sss-see.¡± she began twiddling her thumbs. Apparently, this was the last destination on this tour. He had seen everything except for a male lamia, not even one. ¡°Where are the males?¡± He asked curious. The child laughed at him. ¡°Ha-ha, you silly. Lamia can¡¯t be males.¡± She stated it as if it was the universal truth. He looked at all the eggs again. ¡°When how do you¡­¡± And stopped midway realising that he was asking a child. ¡°Aren¡¯t your people mostly warriors and hunters?¡± He changed the subject. ¡°Correct-sss.¡± She nodded while picking her nose. ¡°Why farm mushrooms when you can hunt your food?¡± ¡°The Great Worm of Oberon, sss!¡± The child spat on the ground in displeasure, likely in imitation of adults. ¡°The prey-sss left our caves-sss a long time ago.¡± Despite the unchildlike behaviour, the child made sense. He would want to leave too after seeing what lurked nearby. ¡°And why didn¡¯t you leave?¡± ¡°This is-sss our place, we can¡¯t leave our home. And if we left-sss where would we go?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but this doesn¡¯t look safe. What prevents the Worm from attacking you?¡± He was asking all these hard questions to no one else but a child, this was probably why the earth began to rumble. ¡°Is this?¡± He felt slight d¨¦j¨¤ vu. The child began crying. He wanted to cry too. The shakes were so strong that he had to kneel on the ground or he might fall. A warrior lamia slithered in rapid motion and scooped up the child hauling her who know where, hopefully to safety; if there was a place like that at all. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Are we running again?¡± He asked but no one replied. Lamia was moving all in random directions, there seemed to be chaos. He projected an Aura of Calmness, the Lamia calmed and even the rumbling ceased. He used that chance to make his way back to the Lamia Queen. He didn¡¯t even make it halfway through¡­ In the distance, he could see the large form emerge, it shot out from the ground with a spray of boulders. The air was filled not just with rocks but yellow fruits he recognised. The Worm must have hit their storage area. The monster closed its maw gulping a large amount of fruits, and then its body flopped on the ground sending a shockwave through it. He didn''t see Lamia running away, quite the opposite, they were grabbing their spears and moving to charge the Worm. His instincts told him to run, but how could he then he saw such bravery at display. He grabbed his spear tighter and ran towards the overgrown worm. Lamia warriors were stabbing the Worm with their spears, its skin was scally and thick; they weren''t doing much damage. The interesting peculiarity was that the Worm didn¡¯t retaliate, it simply moved from one sack of fruits to the other, devouring fruits with the sack and all. It was easy to understand the fixation, the fruits were very delicious, and he in different circumstances could take it for a compliment. However, he might be the one to blame for what was happening here. ¡°The Worm must have had developed a taste after it ate my backpack.¡± He whispered to himself. And the scent of the fruits must have led it here. ¡°What will the Worm do when it runs out of TomGrape to eat?¡± He was done thinking out loud and ran towards the fat body of the Worm. He trusted the spear with as much power as he could muster and it sunk into the monster''s flesh. For whatever reason his spear seemed to be more effective than the crude Lamia spears. The damage was dealt but pulling it out proved to be difficult. He had to get close and use all of his body weight to dislodge the Apex Spear. He might have gotten too close because one of the Worm¡¯s digging appendages swung at him and slashed right through his armour. He was surprised at the sharpness of the claw, but the appendage was made to dig through hard mountain rock. Lamia swarmed all over the Worm stabbing at it mercilessly. Their efforts seemed futile. And the fruit ran out all too quickly. The monster opened its large mouth exposing the oversized teeth. The air was filled with the overpowering scent of rot, [De-buff active: Miasma], then It roared in a low booming roar and went after the Lamia. It was quicker than its size would let you believe, hundreds of little arms surrounding it¡¯s body must have something to do with it. The mouth opened and closed, and one of the lamia was gone; swallowed whole. Then it moved targeting another one. Of course, the Worm wasn¡¯t left alone to harass the Lamia. There were holes all over its body leaking yellow blood, and some of the arms were missing but the damage was not enough. With a well-aimed thrust, he poked another hole into the side of the Worm. The monster moved sharply and hit his armour with its body. ¡°Ah!¡± He was sent flying into the air. He landed like twenty feet away from the Worm and the landing was not pleasant either; almost as bad as the hit itself. The armour couldn''t take the beating and the chips making it came apart. [Temporary perk Minor Regeneration lost.] He began to cough, the miasma burning his lungs and eyes. Through tears, he could see Lamia trying to fight it still. Some were being eaten others were flung away like he had been moments ago. ¡°We can¡¯t win this¡­¡± It didn¡¯t look like he will be the hero he thought he could be. ¡°We must run.¡± He projected the Aura of Authority. It wasn¡¯t his call but, ¡°Retreat!¡± He shouted as loud as he could, which wasn¡¯t easy considering that his lungs felt like burning. He had gained a few stray looks but the Lamia didn¡¯t listen. A reason for that might be that the Worm was moving towards where all the Lamia eggs were. He had to strain his eyes but there in the distance, the Queen and her guards were forming a line of defence around the egg hatchery. He ran towards her and the lamia guards parted letting him in. ¡°I don¡¯t think we can win this.¡± He stated the obvious. The worm was closing the distance towards the hatchery, brave Lamia were trying to slow it down. ¡°We must-sss.¡± The queen hissed. He understood why the Queen stood here between the eggs and the Worm, but there must be a better way. ¡°I¡¯d hate to see you die. I hate this!¡± He was a stranger to so much death. ¡°Let¡¯s gather the eggs and run!¡± ¡°Where? Where to? SSS! The worm will only follow-sss.¡± ¡°We can try my village for a start.¡± He offered. ¡°You want-sss this calamity in your village?¡± The Queen asked with a face that betrayed that she tough he was mad or something. ¡°It will follow.¡± ¡°We will deal with it, then it comes to that.¡± The Queen was thinking, but there was no time to do that. The Worm had reached the guard line of Lamia. ¡°Just gather the eggs! Run!¡± He made a call. ¡°Do it! As he say-sss!¡± She commanded after giving him a nasty glare. ¡°but Lamia, don¡¯t run, sss, we are warriors-sss.¡± She hissed mostly to herself and began slithering towards the Worm. The small lamia and other nonfighters began gathering the eggs. ¡°Hey, aren¡¯t you going to escape?¡± He shouted to the Queen. ¡°I will hold, sss, the Great Worm, while you flee. Buy us-sss time.¡± The rest of the warriors apparently had the same idea. ¡°Then I will fight too.¡± He decided and joined the ranks. The Worm crashed into the Lamia ranks, scattering them like stray pebbles. It was hell-bent on getting to the eggs, but the lamias jabbed their spears and managed to stop its movements. ¡°Attack-sss, kill it!¡± The Queen shouted. She two was wielding a huge-ass spear and committing to their efforts. The stationary worm was easier to attack, so he used his spear to widen an already nasty gash in the monster''s flesh. But of course, this was not enough. The Worm tensed its muscles and began to move either breaking the spears or letting them rip chunks of the flesh when they came loose. It was moving once again. It roared enraged and set its sight on the Lamia again. The tactic changed, It began to spin and slither in a circle, deflecting all attacks. Now and then, it would turn its head and nab a stray Lamia who dared to be too close. ¡°What now?¡± He asked seeing that attacking it was impossible. ¡°It¡¯s not after the eggs-sss. We wait, buy more time-sss.¡± That didn¡¯t mean that lamias weren¡¯t dying. The tactic changed again and the Worm launched itself in a straight line, towards the tunnel where the evacuees escaped. ¡°After it!¡± The Queen commanded. He sprinted struggling to keep up with the incredulously fast Lamia. He was beginning to lag behind, ¡°Can I?¡± He asked something unforgivable. ¡°Hop on.¡± The permission was granted. He jumped on Queen¡¯s back like a little goblin on a warboar would. The Queen slithered even faster, and being the first one to catch up to the Worm she thrusted her long spear at its side. The spear sunk deeply in the weakened flesh, widening the hole he had made moments ago, a small fountain of yellow steamed from it, however, the weapon was stuck. ¡°Worry not, I can help.¡± He used his spear to make the injury even worse. Small digger arms would try to go and get him once he was too close, but the Queen moved away just in time. They repeated the strategy, it worked quite well. Who knew that the giant Lamia Queen could be such a good ride? He wondered if he could train some of his spiders to be ridden just like that. But it was not the time for such thoughts. The Worm stopped, likely tired from all the pricks it received. And it stopped it in the utmost meaning of the word stop; literary it was stationary in the blink of an eye. The Lamia still slithering were unable to break their sprint as fast as the Worm did, plus the Worm even began to move backwards. And here they were right in front of its mouth. It changed direction again lunging with its mouth agape and into the mouth they went. No, not all of the lamias, The Great Worm Of Oberon was not that large, only the Queen and her rider. It closed its teeth and like a garbage truck would it crushed Lamia Queen¡¯s body. [Perk Chaos Blessed activated]. By the grace of being comparatively small, or by some divine intervention, he avoided those teeth, but deep in the gullet he went. He was swallowed whole! 18 The inside of the worm was warm and the opposite of cosy, and most of all it stunk like rotten onions; but on the bright side, he was alive. Was the worm big enough for him to walk, no, but crawling he could manage. The juices and slime he was waddling through tingled his skin in a bad way. [De-buff expired: Miasma], at least something was positive. ¡°There must be my spear here, somewhere.¡± He used his hands to feel since sight was no longer an option. Actually, there were all sorts of stuff inside: rocks, soil, pieces of food and bones. As he was feeling his way around in the darkness he touched a piece of wood involuntarily; it was slick with slime. It crumbled in between the fingers as if it was made of sand. ¡°Does this juice dissolve wood and stones only? How about meat?¡± He was overtaken with worry about the time he still had. ¡°Likely this is just the first stage of digestion. I need to get out before a different kind of stomach juice fills this space.¡± He kept feeling for his spear, for anything sharp at all. ¡°Here it is!¡± He found something. ¡°No.¡± It crumbled between his fingers. ¡°A-ha!¡± He grasped the familiar shape. The spear shaft had dissolved but the [Apex Fang] didn¡¯t. He looked for a good spot to begin digging, but how could he decide ¨C it was pitch black, so instead he listened. There was this rhythmic thumping sound flowing through the worm''s body. He followed the source of it. As he was crawling he could feel his damaged armour pieces to begin to fall apart. The tingling sensation turned to burning. He pressed the head to the fleshy wall, he could feel it pulse. ¡°Found it. Whatever this is, it is important.¡± He began stabbing at the wall, it was quite thick and it took multiple thrusts. Finally, he managed to rip a hole, just large enough for him to squeeze in. It was tight making him feel like some sort of a mole. ¡°Abominable flesh-digging mole! But, the Worm deserved it.¡± He was pushing and cutting whatever was between him and pulsing organs. And finally, he reached it. He could feel with his hands the large sack-like muscle contracting, pumping what was hopefully monster blood. ¡°A dagger through your heart Monsieur! Assassin style.¡± He stabbed. Yeah, he shouldn''t have expected one thrust to be enough. He stabbed and stabbed and stabbed, it didn¡¯t seem to be doing much until. ¡°Plegh!¡± He coughed trying not to drown. The organ ruptured dousing him in viscous fluid. He was drowning, he would have if not for the pressure, the oil-like substance pushed him back into the worm¡¯s stomach. Back in the larger confines, he gasped for air. He didn¡¯t think he would ever be happy smelling air so pungent, but he was. ¡°Let¡¯s hope this did the trick.¡± Some worms had multiple hearts. ¡°I don¡¯t want to repeat this.¡± [Fighting +25000exp] a message informed him. He didn¡¯t know how to react. He would cheer in joy if he wasn¡¯t still stuck inside the worm. [Congratulations! You have reached Fighting lvl .1] [Perk Tough Skin obtained.] [Congratulations! You have reached Fighting lvl .2] [Requirements have been met. Hidden perk unlocked.] [Perk Assasin Strike obtained.] ¡°Wonderful, I could have used those earlier.¡± And the perks seemed pretty much self-explanatory. ¡°Back to digging myself out of this mess.¡± He began cutting at the flesh, truth be told, [Apex Fang] didn''t make a good cutting tool, stabbing however¡­ so he just stabbed at the flesh and scrapped it away bit by bit. Various liquids, substances and juices leaked all over him, yet he continued digging. It was quite morbid so to cheer himself he began singing: ¡°I am a dwarf and I''m digging a hole. ? Diggy diggy hole, diggy diggy hole! ?¡± With a song, it went so much smoother. However, the inside of the worm began to feel weird. At first, the flesh was just dry, then it became gummy and later it began to harden. Now it felt like he was picking at the sandstone. ¡°Diggy diggy hole, diggy diggy hole!!!¡± He tried not to panic. If it hardens more he won¡¯t be able to get out with just some glorified tooth. Thumping sounds were coming from the other side of the hardened flesh, someone was banging on it from the outside. He could see tiny holes and then rays of iconic blues and yellows coming from glowing moss surrounding the tunnels. He made the right choice not to get too close because shortly after a whole spear tip was pushed right through the hardened monster''s flesh. He stared at it, it was only a few inches away from his face. ¡°Hello? Can you not do that again!¡± He knew who the culprits were. ¡°You alive? I told you I heard someone sss-singing.¡± Someone sounded irritated, very much like when someone was true but no one believed them. ¡°You sss-said it was a dwarf, sss, of course we wouldn¡¯t believe-sss it.¡± ¡°Get me out of here!¡± He shouted through the tiny hole. ¡°Hold on! SSS. Don¡¯t die!¡± He wasn¡¯t planning to, not in this godawful place. More lamias began cutting at the flesh and surprisingly it began to crumble. He crawled trough the small opening. And only then he came to light did he realise that he was completely naked. His skin was all slick and yellow as if cowered by rapeseed oil and globs of slime clung to him like he was some sort of swamp monster. That was not the most scarry thing. ¡°My hair.¡± He grasped for his head. ¡°My hair!¡± It was gone. The lamia looked at him incredulous. ¡°Are you sss-sure we have the sss-same guy?¡± ¡°He sss-sounds the sss-same.¡± If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The sound of crackling filled the air, and he turned to look at the source expecting another monster. There was no monster besides The Great Worm of Oberon. The sound came from it¡¯s cracking and rapidly drying body. The monster was unrecognisable, it looked crispy like an earthworm on superheated asphalt. It began to change colour turning to the sand yellow and then grey. It was decomposing so rapidly that it was eerie. And then it crumbled to dust, a huge pile of course rock dust. ¡°This is weird.¡± He didn¡¯t know how to react to what he saw. The Lamia, however, all cheered in unison. ¡°You killed it didn¡¯t you!¡± ¡°You avenged our-sss Queen!¡± The celebration came late but it was welcome. ¡°And the rest? They did escape, did they?¡± He asked still worried. ¡°They should have. ¡± ¡°It¡¯s good it¡¯s over then, but at what cost¡­¡± It felt too steep. He walked towards the pile of dust, looking for comrades to bury. There was nothing but dust, the bodies turned to dust just like the Worm did. ¡°Huh?¡± That was not true, there was something. ¡°What is it?¡± He picked a round golden sphere, it was very heavy, but it was not metallic it was crystalline. A lamia slithered to look at it in curiosity. ¡°If I had [Identify] or [Appraise], sss, I could tell.¡± Meaning she didn¡¯t. ¡°Does anyone here have such perks?¡± Multiple lamias hissed one after the other: ¡°Those are sss-skills, but even then, no.¡± ¡°The Queen had-sss it.¡± ¡°But now is-sss dead.¡± ¡°The Queen¡¯s heir must-sss have a low level [Identify]. You can ask her, sss.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t mind me keeping it then?¡± He asked just in case. ¡°You killed it you keep-sss it.¡± ¡°You are our-sss hero now.¡± ¡°A hero?¡± He didn¡¯t feel he deserved the title. Heroes slay the monsters magnificently, they don¡¯t crawl through guts and bile. ¡°A sss-slayer of The Great Worm of Oberon!¡± ¡°A sss-slayer.¡± ¡°Sss-Slayer.¡± They began to chant one after the other. He was happy they were feeling so giddy after so much death, but maybe this was the reason why ¨C to cope with sorrow. ¡°Slayer of The Great Worm of Oberon, I¡¯ll make sure to add that to the growing list of ominous titles I possess.¡± The King of Spiders, ruler of The Dreaded Place and Slayer of The Great Worm of Oberon ¨C it didn¡¯t sound all too bad. Except for the part that he just wanted to farm on his farm and trade his goods with locals. ¡°How does this keep happening to me?¡± He wondered out loud. ¡°Am I lucky or cursed?¡± It seems one of the lamias took his monologue for a genuine question. ¡°You are blessed, I think-sss.¡± She wasn¡¯t wrong about that¡­ ¡­ The way back home wasn¡¯t something he would describe as fun. Lamia shared some food with him, some dried mushrooms, they were tasteless but still better than bitter vine. Lamia didn¡¯t care about his clothing, the lack of it to be precise, but regardless he improvised a leaf shirt. [You have crafted a leaf skirt of superior quality. Crafting +1exp] [Leaf Skirt: +2 Rep with Elves.] ¡°I¡­¡± He realised something. ¡°I should have worn this when meeting the elves.¡± But the obsidian armour was so much cooler! He will need to craft a new set and a new spear. He wasn¡¯t back yet but he was already crafting in his mind. The group caught up with the refugees, that¡¯s what they were now and it was him who had to break the bad news. Instead of blaming him they instead hailed him as a hero once again. The idea that Lamia were good people was cemented in his mind. Some lamia wanted to go back to the cave, but that option was shot down immediately by Lamia warriors. They still had no food source there, and everything was pretty much destroyed. Oh, and the new Queen was that albino child who gave him a tour. She was way too young to lead such an important role, but it wasn¡¯t his call. The celebration was postponed until they were back at his farm. Which was already in sight. His workers managed to clear a huge chunk of the jungle, only the IronOaks remained; the sole survivors of the ¡®slaughter¡¯. Those were the same trees which were used to anchor the web and grow the Tomgrape vines. The trees were few and far between, but there were thousands of webs connecting the trees with each other. His spider farmers climbed the trees up and down, picking the ripe fruits; this was the sight he missed. The Lamia looked at the ripe fruit with salivating mouths. They too suffered poor food rations on this ill-prepared trip. ¡°They won¡¯t bite, go and ask for some fruit.¡± He told and followed his own advice. Almost all of the Lamia here saw the spiders for the first time. Let¡¯s just say they had their reservations about approaching them. He could see that lamia servants and the little ones were quite terrified of his ¡®people¡¯. But the food was a good motivator. After a quick breakfast, he moved the Lamia towards the centre where all the buildings were. Someone asked straight away if they can dig a burrow for the eggs, which was a bad idea since the deeper ground was wet and the water would flood the burrow. ¡°You can borrow one of my hatcheries. It should be okay, no?¡± ¡°If it¡¯s out of the light, then yes.¡± They moved the eggs into the hatchery and only then did the lamias relax. By that point, one of the scouting expeditions has returned, which included one Guard Lamia. She was dressed head to tail in blue cloth; a complete face veil, long tunic and then cloak hid every inch of their skin. It looked excessive. It was a shame to hide a beautiful face, even if it had sharp fangs, serpentine eyes and a slightly pale complexion. Moreover, he wasn¡¯t the one who crafted these clothes. After initial greetings, he asked out of curiosity. ¡°Your attire, how did you get it?¡± ¡°The sss-spiders made it. They insisted we wear these. We weren¡¯t allowed to sss-say no.¡± She said it in a polite but half-complaining manner. He recognised the voice, this was the friendly Lamia. ¡°Oh! I almost have forgotten, there is a rule in this village. A royal edict: No one shall go naked.¡± He remembered. Lamia Guard bowed in apology. ¡°You should have told us sss-sooner. We didn¡¯t know-sss about the rule.¡± ¡°I forgot.¡± He laughed it off. ¡°How is the forest?¡± Lamia made a sour face. ¡°We protected your spider sss-scouts, no one died sss-since, but we didn¡¯t kill any elves-sss either.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good, no?¡± ¡°No. They harass the sss-spiders, test-sss our patience every day. SSS! You should attack their lair.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to invade further into their forest. I want a peaceful resolution.¡± Lamia shrugged, ¡°Just sss-saying¡± She looked at the rowdy crowd in the distance. ¡°What is-sss this about?¡± He turned back. ¡°Oh¡­¡± He didn¡¯t want to break the bad news just yet, the one where her mother died and for some reason her younger sister is a Queen now. Anyhow, there was more pressing matter. A horde of spider-weavers was wrangling little lamias and wrapping them in cloth. The few remaining warriors managed to fend the spiders off, but the servants and children didn¡¯t. Following laws was important, but this was not the way to do it. ¡°Hey! Hey! Stop!¡± He ran waving and shouting, hoping to stop the fight before it escalated. The lamia slithering behind him had other ideas. ¡°Ha, ha, ha.¡± She laughed in evil glee. ¡°Just look at them!¡± For some reason, she found their struggle funny. ¡°Give up, you sss-stand no chance. I have learned that the hard way. Sss. The cloth only feels uncomfortable for three days.¡± The children were crying and trying to pull the blue cloth away, but the spiders fastened it with ropes. ¡°Oh, boy. I am so sorry about it.¡± By the look of it, the child Queen suffered the same fate, she too was crying fat tears. He explained the situation and apologised to everyone involved. Surprisingly the Queen was the first one to forgive. ¡°If this is-sss your edict, I understand. Rules are rules, we are guests-sss here.¡± ¡°That¡¯s very mature of you, thanks.¡± The child Queen gave him a toothy smile. ¡°Anyway, since everyone is safe now¡­ There was something I wanted to ask for a long time.¡± He just couldn''t find the right moment. ¡°I need a favour.¡± ¡°You saved us-sss twice, you are our hero. For you anything-sss.¡± ¡°Hero?¡± Friendly lamia asked but was conveniently ignored. ¡°Wait, where is Mother?¡± She slithered towards the warriors. ¡°Can you tell me what this is?¡± He passed a golden crystalline sphere. ¡°[Identify]¡­ Ohh!¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°It say-sss it¡¯s The Blessing of Oberon.¡± ¡°What does it do?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the blessing.¡± She frowned. ¡°Yeah, but what effects does it give.¡± ¡°It makes you blessed.¡± She frowned deeper. She was obviously dodging the question. The reason was obvious: her skill level was too low and she couldn¡¯t tell more but was too proud to admit it. ¡°I see, thanks. Any way to activate it? I was carrying it but received nothing.¡± ¡°Yes-sss, yes-sss.¡± She smiled ¡°It says you need to put-sss it inside your body. Eat it?¡± ¡°How? This is solid and the size of my fist.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know!¡± ¡°Unless¡­¡± He frowned deeply at the disturbing thought. ¡°No, thank you!¡± He wasn¡¯t sure he wanted the blessing anymore, and¡­. ¡°I think I will pass. What sort of blessing a calamity Worm would give anyway?¡± ¡°Oberon is a name-sss for the Mountain Deity, it¡¯s also the name-sss of the place we live-sss: Oberon Undermountain.¡± She explained. ¡°Oh, that changes things.¡± He wanted it after all. ¡°But stuffing it in¡­¡± ¡°You can give it to sss-someone else. With a bigger mouth, sss.¡± ¡°That¡¯s an idea.¡± 19 Despite the recent loss and great tribulation, the mood of celebration was in the air; Lamia culture was an interesting one. First, they wanted to ¡®crown¡¯ a new queen (there was no crown involved), and secondly to celebrate their new hero. This village had never held a big celebration, and it was high time to change it. The tables were assembled, the food brought and dresses made. Apparently, the Lamia being cave dwellers didn¡¯t appreciate the sunlight much and in the end were thankful for the clothes the spiders gave them; so the law was upheld. However, it seemed inappropriate for the Queen to wear plain clothes. Right before the celebrations he managed to make her a dress. [You have crafted royal dress of superior quality. Crafting +100exp.] [Royal Dress: +10MP.] The dress was complex in design because he wanted to incorporate a tail; due to Lamia aversion to sunlight, he couldn¡¯t leave any skin exposed. Arguably this wasn¡¯t a dress but a full-body suit, however, he added a skirt and many frills along the tail to improve that. It was all blue in colour, but different parts of the dress had different patterns. Also, there was a hood and a veil to hide her face from the harsh sun. In the end, it was both functional and eye-catching. The Queen''s inauguration will be beginning soon. Right before that, he went into a dome-shaped building where the new Queen was preparing herself. There were no doors so he knocked on the wall. ¡°Can I come in?¡± ¡°Come-sss in.¡± ¡°I made this for you, here¡±. He handed her the neatly folded dress. ¡°A gift to celebrate the new Queen.¡± She unfurled the dress and inspected it curiously. Her face went through various expressions. ¡°If you don¡¯t like it you don¡¯t have to wear it. I just thought¡­¡± ¡°No, I like-sss it, it¡¯s just¡­ How do I even put this-sss on?¡± ¡°Oh¡­ Well, I could show you if that¡¯s appropriate.¡± ¡°Thanks¡± The Queen pulled off the clothes spiders had made her exposing her naturally pale skin. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°What are you waiting for? Come on, sss-show me.¡± She pushed the dress into his hands. ¡°Okay, first¡­¡± He pushed her through the upper part. Her hands, of course, got stuck in the sleeves and he had to untangle her. ¡°Now¡­¡± He strapped the cloth to her tail using laces and belts. ¡°And we¡¯re done. Give a spin.¡± She spun around lifting the skirt and frills up as she did so. ¡°This-sss looks-sss fun.¡± ¡°It looks better than I thought it would. I didn¡¯t have your measurements.¡± Likely saved by his perk. ¡°Really. Do I look good?¡± ¡°Yes, you¡¯re very beautiful.¡± It was a shame he had no mirror for her to see the outfit. One of many reasons why he wanted to trade with different people. A servant lamia slithered into the room. ¡°Huh?¡± There was a momentary surprise, but the servant lamia corrected herself quickly. ¡±Queen, are you ready?¡± ¡°Yes-sss.¡± ¡­ The Lamai borrowed his throne room for the inauguration. The entrance of the Queen made quite a bustle within the Lamia crowd. His spiders watched from the ceiling and clacked their mandibles to celebrate the entrance. What followed were the oaths. The warriors swore an oath of loyalty, the servants an oath of obedience, and the Queen to protect and guide her people. Just when he thought this was over the Queen gave him a meaning full look. ¡°King of Spiders-sss, sss-Slayer of The Great Worm of Oberon, you may come.¡± He didn¡¯t expect to be a part of this. He made a slow walk through the throne room. Thousands of eyes stared right at him, it was hard not to be self-conscious, so he projected the Aura of Authority. He wasn¡¯t sure of proper etiquette so he winged it. ¡°I am here, Great Queen of Lamia.¡± Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The Queen giggled at her title but collected herself quickly. ¡°I declare you our hero, sss-saviour of all Lamia.¡± Everyone cheered and clapped. ¡°You have sss-saved us many times already, I am forever in your-sss debt.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± She wasn''t finished. ¡°Hence, we shall come to your aid then you need us and no matter how grave the danger.¡± He bowed. ¡°I shall rely on you brave Lamia.¡± The Queen bowed even deeper. ¡°We thank you.¡± Everyone clapped again. ¡°Ssss-shall we eat then? I am sss-starving!¡± The Queen broke her otherwise immaculate performance with a toothy grin. ¡°Let¡¯s dig in!¡± The feast began and spiders ate with Lamia like they were best friends. For this occasion, he brought a very special treat ¨C a jar of slug jelly. The Lamia Queen looked at it in suspicion. ¡°Just try it.¡± She jabbed her whole hand into the jelly and scooped a generous amount. ¡°Mmm, so sweet.¡± He tried to take the jar back so others could have a go. ¡°No! I am not finished.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°The Queen says NO!¡± She was already abusing her authority. ¡°You will get fat if you eat it all. It¡¯s meant to be shared.¡± ¡°No!¡± She began scooping the jelly even faster into her mouth. ¡°Have you ever seen fat lamia?¡± ¡°No, but¡­¡± He reached for the jar again. She raised the jar over her heed and toppled the contents in her mouth. ¡°Here, you can have it back.¡± The jar was empty, slug jelly gone. He didn¡¯t know to scold or praise her, she must have broke a record or something. ¡°Don¡¯t blame me if you feel unwell later.¡± This was not the only jar he had, so he went to get more. And he will keep those far and away from the greedy Queen. ¡­ The Lamia will be staying until their eggs hatch, and maybe for a bit while after. He didn¡¯t mind, they were welcome here. He rolled The Blessing of Oberon on the table in his room. The crystalline sphere was golden and even glowed a little. ¡°It will remain a pretty bauble if I don¡¯t use it. We can¡¯t have that, no?¡± He was back into his good habit of thinking out loud. However, nowadays, it was rare he was ever alone. ¡°No.¡± Spider advisor chirped. ¡°Blessings. Must. Be. Used. Not. Hoarded.¡± ¡°A sage advice from the spider. You are an advisor for a reason. Since I won¡¯t be eating this, do you want to have a try?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Any reasons?¡± The spider remained quiet for a while, thoughtful even. ¡°I. Know. Someone. Who. Want. To. Be. More. Useful.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Tell them to come here then.¡± The advisor was back with another spider. ¡°Hello, buddy.¡± He greeted the featureless spider. Recently he was getting those. Spiders with no jobs. A similar situation he had with Jesters until they evolved into scouts, explorers and warriors. ¡°Can your friend speak?¡± Even now, not all were able to. ¡°No.¡± It couldn¡¯t form words, but it chirped at him happily. ¡°He will learn in time. Maybe sooner with a blessing. Here.¡± He offered the sphere. ¡°Swallow it.¡± The spider swallowed the large sphere with no problem. He looked at the spider with bated breath. ¡°Hmm¡­ nothing seems to happen. Were the instructions wrong?¡± The spider began to glow. ¡°Never mind.¡± It glowed even more, it was shining, emitting light so bright it was blinding. ¡°Okay¡­¡± It was getting scary. ¡°Please don¡¯t explode.¡± The light dimmed, and there it was. The same spider, no longer black but grey, it¡¯s chitin rugged and course as if made out of stone. ¡°Oh! He evolved. What can you do now? What did the blessing give?¡± The spider, of course, still couldn¡¯t talk, but it chirped happily and ran to where he kept the ore samples he obtained from kobolds. And then it ate them. ¡°I kinda needed those... Don¡¯t tell me you like to eat rocks now.¡± It chipped as if to argue. ¡°No. Rocks. Metal.¡± The advisor translated helpfully. ¡°You could understand him? Ask him what it does.¡± The spiders ¡®spoke¡¯ with each other, there were more dancing and waving than actual sounds. ¡°Perk. Metal. Extraction.¡± The advisor translated. ¡°Evolution. Metal. Spider.¡± ¡°Nice! But he looks like a rock spider though.¡± The advisor did a spider shrug. ¡°I know, this system just doesn¡¯t make sense. Anyways, let''s feed you more ores and see what happens.¡± He did just so, and to no surprise at all the spider began to grow metallic plates on its body; no actual plates yet, only a thin beginning. ¡°And here I thought I would need to burn all the wood for charcoal. The elves will be pleased no?¡± He wondered how were they doing. It was a while and maybe he could try talking with them again. ¡­. Deep in the forest and outside the elven settlement three elderly figures were drawing a large complex circle filled with glyphs, shapes and magical elven language. The magical formula was huge in scale, probably the same area as the elf settlement itself. The inside of the circle was filled with hundreds of statue-like figures of various heights and sizes. The figures were made out of wood and leaves, some were living tree saplings, but all of them vaguely resembled a humanoid. Each of them had multiple glyphs carved in and around their imitation bodies. ¡°High Elders, thank you for coming to my aid.¡± The three high elders were of the same status, each representing an elven settlement. The two simply nodded at the third as if no thanks were necessary. ¡°Well then, shall we pour the energy into it?¡± ¡°Without Divine Guardian blessing? We shouldn¡¯t.¡± ¡°But here you are.¡± The three High Elders might be allies now, but that didn¡¯t mean there weren¡¯t disagreements. ¡°I¡¯m just saying this is unwise.¡± ¡°Do I need to remind you that I have no choice? Our Divine Guardian was eaten!¡± ¡°And mine would only give a blessing if threatened directly. Let¡¯s do it.¡± The two began pouring the mana into the circle, and the third joined soon after. The whole formation glowed blood red. Tiny wisps, no bigger than a fist, flocked to the circle. They were coming from all around, from the surrounding trees, grass, and even earth. The air was filled with many colours, putting a rainbow to shame. They blinked and glittered in anticipation. The lines making the formation slithered like snakes, turning the overall shape into something else and changing the magical formula. The wisps moved to the wooden figures and began circling over as if drawn to them. But the little lights were picky, if they didn''t like the wooden effigy they would move to another. Once they picked the one they liked they moved towards merging with it. The figures began to stir, stiff like puppets then the hollow eye sockets took shape and shone with the light of soul and intelligence. ¡°Dryads heed my command. The forest is under threat you must protect it.¡± The elders repeated in unison. They chanted the phrase again and again, hammering it into the hollow wooden heads. The Dryads transformed further, the wood and leaves flowed like oil unifying and completing the body. The figures were more elegant now, their movement less stiff. They all looked humanoid with two arms and legs, but their heads took the shape of various animals. Some grew tails while others grew claws, some even wings which didn¡¯t quite work. Despite appearing half human - half animal, they were still mostly plant. ¡°Dryads heed my command. The forest is under threat and you must protect it.¡± The three chanted for the last time. The Dryads, one by one left the circle and dispersed into the forest. The elders drained of mana, collapsed to their knees. 20 He had gathered the necessary resources in his workshop. His mind was set on making a truce with the elves. ¡°This time I won¡¯t make that mistake.¡± He laid down the triangular leaves from PurpleM vine, some blue rope and other mundane plants and vines right on the workstation. He began working on a new design, the one elves would appreciate. He didn¡¯t know much about their tastes but he had the clues the system was feeding him. He worked for hours on the blue suit, the colour of course was not ideal, but it never was about the colour; it was about the materials used. He had a purpose for the suit and Superior Design helped him to achieve his goals. [You have crafted emissary suit of superior quality. Crafting +100exp.] [Emissary Suit: +5 fashion, +20 Rep with elves.] ¡°Yes. It was a success.¡± He cheered. The design was an odd one; a suit made of cut and stitched back leaves. But it was the Rep bonus that mattered. ¡°Hmm, something is missing.¡± The leaves were thick and rigid enough to make it work. [You have crafted emissary top hat of superior quality. Crafting +100exp.] [Emissary Top Hat: +1 fashion, 5% Diplomacy bonus.] ¡°5%? I guess every little helps.¡± Now, he had to complete the look. [You have crafted emissary cane of superior quality. Crafting +100exp.] [Emissary Cane: +1 fashion.] ¡°Aww, this one didn¡¯t give me an extra bonus. But it is just a cane¡­¡± ¡°If only I had a monocle, I would look quite posh.¡± But that would be overkill. ¡°And I feel quite fashionable already. Does this affect my charm?¡± Fashion aside, he was still missing one item. ¡°I need a weapon, just in case.¡± He pulled out his trusty [Apex Fang] and began making a weapon out of it. It worked well like a spear so he decided to stick with that. His hands moved in expert motion, familiar with the design, but this time instead of normal wood for the shaft he used something special; a lucky find really. He had found a broken branch from an undefeatable IronOak. It wasn¡¯t uniform or straight, but it was super sturdy. [You have crafted Slayer Spear of legendary quality. Crafting +1000exp.] ¡°Legendary, why?¡± He was surprised. ¡°Oh, the hint is in the title. Thank you Worm¡± he recalled a traumatic memory. ¡°For dying.¡± It came with a bonus as well. [Temporary perk Life Steal obtained.] ¡°Magnificent. I am a vampire now, ha-ha!¡± he laughed it off. Anyway, with the outfit done and protection in his hand he gathered the spider warriors and left the farm. Two of lamia guards were accompanying him on this mission. He had full intent on flexing about his new allies. ¡°The road!¡± He was surprised. ¡°I forgot I told them to make it. How far does it go?¡± A lamia responded kindly, ¡°All the way to elven forest and then sss-some more.¡± ¡°I see. I guess they weren¡¯t too happy about this.¡± ¡°No, they weren¡¯t. SSS. They would often sss-shoot arrows at the workers. The work has sss-stoped.¡± ¡°I only needed this road so we can trade quicker. I will have to explain this.¡± So the long journey began, but the road made it so much quicker. A mount to ride would make it even quicker. He eyed tall lamia wishfully. ¡®Asking her, would be inappropriate.¡¯ He hesitated and didn¡¯t ask. But the spiders were a different story, however. ¡°Do you mind carrying me?¡± He asked a large spider warrior. ¡°No. Problem.¡± It spoke simply. He climbed on its back, it was kinda slippy and hard to stay on, but he managed somehow. ¡°I might need a saddle for my rides. Would you mind?¡± ¡°To. Cary. You. Is. Honour.¡± ¡°I will craft one then we stop to rest.¡± He used rope and cloth to fashion a simple seat and strapped it to the spider. [Spider Saddle: +10% bonus speed] The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. It was astounding, the system gave the spider speed for carrying someone, if anything the burden should slow it down, but he wasn¡¯t one to complain about a good bonus. The trip became even quicker. And finally, they reached the forest. ¡°It is-sss quiet. Like the jungle.¡± ¡°Yeah, it''s odd. Where did all the animals go?¡± He knew his spiders weren¡¯t the ones to blame. The road finished and they were going through thick bushes and other plants. ¡°We were-sss attacked here before.¡± Lamia was looking cautiously up towards the top of the trees. He expected the attack to come and he was ready to defuse the situation. But it never came. ¡°Maybe they realised that it is me, and I came to talk.¡± He guessed. ¡°Maybe, sss, they''re afraid of our large force.¡± She was right, he took all of his warrior spiders with him. ¡°Anyway, no attack is a good thing. We even might reach their settlement without trouble.¡± ¡°Yes-sss.¡± Even the cautious lamia was positive. ¡°What is that? What am I seeing?¡± He was confused. ¡°I thought I just saw a face.¡± He muttered. ¡°Elves-sss?¡± ¡°We. Sense. Nobody.¡± ¡°But I definitely saw somebody.¡± He pointed a finger at the bush. ¡°Here it is!¡± It wasn¡¯t an elf at all. It had brown skin in the texture of bark, it¡¯s face was rigid like a mask and resembled an animal. And instead of hair, moss was growing on its head, and other places. ¡°Hello?¡± It didn¡¯t speak, its eyes glowed in hostility and then it jumped out of the bush. At first only one, but then followed by many others. ¡°They¡¯re camouflaged!¡± He was taken aback by the number of strange creatures. It was so easy to confuse them with plants and trees if they stayed still. ¡°Attack-sss!¡± The lamia shouted. ¡°No. Wait! Maybe they are not hostile.¡± They didn¡¯t carry any weapons. That was a mistake. The creatures jumped on his spiders with no hesitation and began pummeling their chitinous bodies with bare fists or in some cases claws. ¡°Attack! SSS!¡± Lamia urged. ¡°No! We retreat. Retreat!¡± He commanded using all of his authority. They backed off slowly disengaging the attackers. ¡°Have you seen them before?¡± He asked. ¡°No. We. Did. Not.¡± ¡°No-sss. What are they?¡± ¡°Smell. Like. Plant.¡± ¡°Some sort of tree puppets. Wooden golems?¡± He guessed as clueless as anyone. As they backed off the puppets didn¡¯t pursue, so he was able to disengage succesfully. ¡°I don¡¯t think we are sss-safe here.¡± ¡°Or welcome. But I came here to talk with elves. I don¡¯t think golems can speak, so this is a conundrum.¡± ¡°We can defeat them and make-sss way to the elves.¡± ¡°That would make things even worse. We retreat for now, and I will rethink our approach.¡± There was just too many unknowns. ¡°Should we capture sss-some?¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± he was about to say no. ¡°That¡¯s actually a good idea. I would like to study these golems. But can we pull it off?¡± ¡°No. Problem.¡± A spider pulled a rope web from its backpack. ¡°How. Many?¡± ¡°A few. And don¡¯t damage them. Or get killed.¡± ¡°A sss-small strike force would be best. SSS. I will sss-supervise.¡± ¡°I will leave it to you.¡± He let one lamia go and kept the other. And in no time they were back with a dozen or so golems. ¡°We need to leave-sss. They decided to pursue us-sss.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just hope we are faster.¡± They ran back towards the jungle. The captured creatures weren¡¯t happy to be taken as prisoners. They clawed and kicked, always struggling against their bindings. ¡°I don¡¯t think those are golems.¡± He looked at one closer. ¡°They show too much emotion, so maybe some sort of an animal.¡± ¡°Elven Magic-sss.¡± ¡°I figured that much.¡± The creatures stilled once they approached the end of the forest. [You have entered The Dreaded Place] He received a familiar message and at that point the creatures were completely motionless, even the lights in their eyes dimmed. ¡°Did they run out of mana? Or die?¡± ¡°Or just pretending-sss.¡± There was a way to know for sure. It wasn¡¯t nice so he was as gentle as he could: he jabbed [Slayer Spear] into the puppet''s arm. As expected it felt hard and wooden and the creature made no sound or movement. ¡°I don¡¯t know. If it was alive it would have reacted. But if it¡¯s a golem¡­¡± [You have gained +1 HP] ¡°Hmm maybe it¡¯s alive, so not a golem. Unless the perk works on constructs too. Let''s just be cautious¡± Then they reached home he put the catatonic captives into a wooden cage and left some spiders to guard it. He sat down in his throne room and went through the information. The ¡®puppets¡¯ did show some emotion so they weren¡¯t fully golems and he had felt intelligence in their eyes. However, their body was just not normal, when he stabbed his spear it was all wood with some slowly seeping sap. ¡°A tree ent, perhaps.¡± He gathered his knowledge. ¡°Some plant monster maybe. There is no way to be sure.¡± It was frustrating, however, there was a simple way to deal with it; that was if push came to shove. ¡°Axes. We can just cut them down, but I rather not.¡± However, he had to prepare for the worst and hope he will never use it. A spider ran into the throne room giving him an urged bow and then reporting. ¡°The. Plant. Move. Again.¡± ¡°Oh. So they were pretending then¡­¡± He went to look. Three creatures out of twelve had that life back in them, but they weren¡¯t hostile at all, actually, they seemed lost, confused even. ¡°Are you okay?¡± He tried to communicate again. The three looked at him, their eyes shone brightly. ¡°Can you speak?¡± They didn¡¯t reply, but one of them shook their head in a no. ¡°Can you understand me?¡± It nodded. It was only one of them who seemed to be more responsive than others. ¡°Would you attack me if I let you out?¡± It was giving another no, so he opened a cage, completely unafraid of the creature. His hunch just told him that it wasn¡¯t hostile anymore. It walked out looking around in curiosity. It pointed to the large tree. ¡°IronOak. You like it?¡± It went and hugged the tree. ¡°I#ll take it for yes.¡± Then it pointed towards where the farms were. He was interested in the reason why this ¡®puppet¡¯ was behaving so oddly. ¡°We can go and see.¡± The creature was very happy to see his fruit farms, at that point it was beaming with energy, jumping and dancing, touching the vines with affection. ¡°You are a weird one. Why did you attack me?¡± It tilted it¡¯s head showing confusion. ¡°You don¡¯t remember.¡± It gesticulated a no. ¡°I guess, I believe you. You can stay here if you behave.¡± The creature nodded happily. Of course, it will be supervised by spiders and lamia at all times. Actually, he couldn¡¯t ask for a better outcome to research these moving wood creatures. He spent good time observing, and indeed it seemed completely harmless; a stark contrast from their behaviour in the forest. The. His captive didn¡¯t know many things and couldn¡¯t answer most of the questions, so communication was possible but quite hard. Actually, it was like a newborn baby ¨C ignorant about what it was and the larger world but very curious to find it out. And it was mostly interested in the local plants, his spiders the creature just ignored. Since this one was not hostile, he decided to let out the other two and see how they behave. They were very much similar, but still incapable of even gesticulation, simply content in hugging TomGrape vines. ¡°You do like to hug trees, don¡¯t you? The elves must have rubbed on you too much!¡± Not that he minded. Later, something interesting happened. From the commotion, he understood that the three wanted the rest of their friends out. ¡°But they are asleep or something.¡± He tried to reason. Bu the three kept pulling at the wooden cage asking him to open it. ¡°There is no harm, I guess.¡± The three grabbed their friends one by one and began carrying the stiff bodies. ¡°Oh, you are burying them. Makes sense, sorry about that.¡± No, they weren¡¯t. They pilled the bodies by the vine webs. ¡°They are kind of in a way. And my spiders might use it for fertiliser you know.¡± The first body they left there stirred ever so slightly. ¡°Oh!¡± It¡¯s eyes glowed brightly. ¡°Oh! It¡¯s alive! It¡¯s alive!¡± He cheered. ¡°Resurrected! Or something like that.¡± The rest stirred to life soon after. ¡°I understand now. You were charging your batteries, hence all the tree-hugging.¡± The intelligent one nodded. ¡°But why aren¡¯t you hostile?¡± The creatures still had no answer to that. ¡°This is interesting. Did the filthy elves do something to you? Those elves, I knew it. They can¡¯t be trusted.¡± His anti-elven bias was back in full swing. ¡°No¡­ No¡­ I can¡¯t blame them.¡± He sighed. ¡°I guess I need to come back to the forest and face this.¡± ¡°Not without preparation. SSS.¡± Friendly lamia advised sagely. ¡°Ahh!¡± He screamed. ¡°You scared me! Don¡¯t slither on me like that.¡± 21 The farm was as big as ever, and there were more spiders than he could count. Best of all they were changing and evolving, though somewhat slowly. There was a point where he considered using Evolve on them, but that didn¡¯t seem necessary. The most useful evolution so far was the spindly hands the spiders had developed, those weren¡¯t very muscular but they were enough to hold tools; some evolved spiders could even speak. There was this nice civilisation going on and he felt humbled to be the driving force behind this. Once he heard a lamia say that there is strength in numbers, and he agreed with that line of thought. The decision was made, he will see the elves using those numbers. But that didn¡¯t mean that the quality didn¡¯t matter; he had a full intention of equipping his people. This way hopefully the elves would see that the spiders could use tools and hence were intelligent enough to be treated as equals. That was his line of thinking. So with the help of crafter spiders, he made various tools. Those were mostly wood and stone for now, at least until he gets the ore from Kobolds. ¡°We are going in the forest, so I guess we better make axes and machetes.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± The crafter leader chirped happily. Those two selected tools weren¡¯t made from wood and stone, because has anyone heard of a stone machete? No, he used obsidian eggshells, the same material he had his armour made of. There was a way to sharpen the hexagonal pieces, nest them together and turn them into a nifty blade. The blades turned out to be quite sharp but brittle, but they served the purpose. He had to make over a thousand of them, but he wasn¡¯t making them alone. Unfortunately, the tools made by spiders were all of poor quality. By testing them he found that they would break after a few days worth of use. ¡°Is there a way to strengthen these?¡± He wondered and then remembered, he had just the perk. ¡°But isn¡¯t that one for building?¡± He smiled. ¡°What am I saying? It doesn¡¯t hurt to try. [Reinforce].¡± The machete glowed in the mysterious light of purple. [Chitin Machete: Reinforced +1] ¡°It worked!¡± He celebrated with a fist pump into the air. ¡°I should have done this sooner.¡± He went on a mad dash to reinforce all the tools. ¡°Hmm? I am not feeling so well.¡± He felt strangely drained and tired. ¡°But I want to finish this today so we can head out tomorrow.¡± He pursued his goal further until a mad headache descended on his head. ¡°The perk has a cost, I should have known¡­¡± It was obvious. ¡°I guess I give up.¡± A familiar guest, a puppet made of wood, the one with a twisted face resembling a human and intelligent spark in its eyes stretched its arm, in the hand was a small offering of food. ¡°A snack? For me? Why not?¡± He crunched on a purple fruit. [+10Mp recovered.] The headache felt so much lighter. ¡°Oh, I see¡­ Thanks! You have saved me a lot of headaches.¡± He patted the creature¡¯s shoulder as thanks. He stuffed himself full of fruit, the fatigue was gone as if it was never here to begin with. ¡°I wonder if there is a way to refine them, concentrate the effects.¡± A quest for another time. He finished enchanting the tools. And yes, enchanting he was. [Magic +1exp]. The experience was pitifully low considering the amount of work he did but¡­ ¡°I am a mage now!¡± He celebrated nevertheless. ¡°I need to practise more and get that first lever for the new perk. Then I should be able to cast my first spell.¡± He was positively giddy. However, there were only so many things he could Reinforce. He approached a lamia warrior. ¡°Can I borrow your spear?¡± ¡°Sss-sure.¡± She handed a weapon without hesitation. ¡°[Reinforce]!¡± [Lamia Spear: Reinforced +1] ¡°You can have it back.¡± He began jogging to the next lamia. Lamia looked at her spear. ¡°What did he do, sss?¡± But he was gone without explaining. ¡­ It was time to go to the forest. He had gathered his people, leaving only the skeleton crew to manage the farm and the Lamia to guard it. The number of spiders going with him was no doubt excessive, but he was The King and that was his decision. Just before they began their march, and mostly on a whim, he took the plant puppets with him. He wanted to see if they will turn hostile. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. The spiders formed in ranks, warriors in the front leading the procession with the non-combatants at the back. It wasn¡¯t just a procession, a simple group of explorers, no ¨C this was a legion. He too was in the very front riding on the largest spider. He wanted to show the elves that he had the numbers and his people were in full support of him. Hopefully, they will realise that being friendly was the best option. After all, he still wanted to trade with elves. Once he left the farmland he observed that the ¡®puppets¡¯ became lethargic and eventually they had shut off. He tried to give them fruit and carry them closer to the trees and other jungle plants which hadn¡¯t yet been cut. But that didn¡¯t help. However, by the time they reached the forest, the plant puppets stirred and became active again. He feared for them to turn hostile, but it never happened. ¡°That is a relief. You can let them out of the web.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± The spider unfurled the bindings letting all twelve out. They walked happily along the spiders. ¡°This is your forest, do you remember it?¡± He asked the intelligent one. It seemed unsure and remained quiet for a long while, but finally, it nodded pointing slightly off the path they were all heading. ¡°Where are you pointing?¡± He knew the ¡®puppet¡¯ was not expressive so the question wasn''t good, ¡°Is that where your home is?¡± The plant creature shook his head in a negative but kept pointing in that direction. ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Do you want us to go there?¡± It nodded its head twice happily. ¡°But I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s not where the elves are.¡± It looked at him, the spark in its eyes intense. And then it just walked into the trees towards that direction, other plant creatures followed. ¡°Shall. We. Capture. Them?¡± His best advisor asked. ¡°No, we will follow. I am interested.¡± The plan had changed and the legion of spiders abandoned the road. The forest was thick and without the road hard to traverse. However, that was what the axes and machetes were for. The intelligent creature was definitely leading him somewhere. ¡°Be careful of the trap-sss.¡± A friendly lamia, the one of the few he took on this expedition, hissed a warning. ¡°I trust this guy, let''s just observe and follow.¡± The distance they casually walked was by no means short, but eventually, there was a change. ¡°Plants.¡± One of the spiders scouting ahead reported. ¡°Well, we know what to expect. Ready your webs.¡± He instructed. Predictably so, plant creatures, neither tree nor animal, began to emerge from the overgrowth. The twelve ¡®puppets¡¯ just casually strolled past the others without hostility. ¡°They don¡¯t attack their own.¡± He stated the obvious. ¡°Hey, I come in peace.¡± However, the plants had a different idea. They charged recklessly into his spiders, he could see rage burning in their eyes. ¡°Well, that didn¡¯t work.¡± ¡°As expected-sss.¡± ¡°Webs?¡± a warrior leader chirped. ¡°Webs. Don¡¯t kill them.¡± The spiders swung blue webs to entangle the creatures. It worked to an extent. The only problem was that there were more ¡®puppets¡¯ than he expected. They managed to reach the spiders and began pummeling at them with bare fists. ¡°This is not good.¡± ¡°I sss-say we just chop them down.¡± ¡°No, they are intelligent. I was able to confirm that.¡± ¡°You saw exception maybe-sss?¡± He wished his plant friend was here to calm his friends down. To his surprise, a part of the wish was granted. For some reason, the ¡®puppets¡¯ stopped launching themselves at his spiders. Soon he saw the culprit behind the change. It was taller than the others but equally made of wood and plants. Two large horns protruded from its head. Its skin was rugged bark and its face expressionless mask. The eye sockets glowed with a bright green glow. ¡°Intruder!¡± It roared accusingly. Finally, someone was willing to speak. ¡°Hello.¡± He tried to sound polite aware of how ridiculous he sounded at the moment. He blasted Friendly Aura at full power. Luckily, the giant plant creature seemed willing to listen. ¡°What are you, creature?¡± It asked; other plant creatures retreated away from spiders and behind this one. He wanted to ask the same but, ¡°I¡¯m just a man.¡± he tried to be humble in front of this towering entity but reconsidered ¡°I¡¯m The King of Spiders, ruler of The Dreaded Place and Slayer of The Great Worm of Oberon.¡± ¡°I have heard of Dreaded Place. No mana, no food, no life. Nothing can live there.¡± He felt as if he had a similar conversation. ¡°But I do.¡± There were more important matters to discuss. ¡°Sorry for attacking your guys. You won¡¯t believe me but I come in peace.¡± ¡°I believe you, intruder.¡± The use of ¡®intruder¡¯ made it sound kind of contradicting. ¡°You do?¡± ¡°The little ones told me about you. You have set them free from the fog.¡± ¡°Oh you mean the twelve I have cap¡­ liberated? Yes, I did that.¡± He took full credit. ¡°But what¡¯s up with this fog you mentioned?¡± ¡°If you can¡¯t feel it you won¡¯t see it. It doesn¡¯t affect you.¡± Go figure¡­ ¡°So are you¡­¡± he looked for a name but the puppet was probably not the one. ¡°¡­ you creatures working with the elves? Are they somehow bullying you?¡± ¡°Not quite. We Dryads, like the Elves, only want to protect this forest.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± He now knew what they called themselves. The Dryad continued. ¡°The Elves are afraid. They made a mistake to use the ritual without the Forest Spirit¡¯s approval. Many minor Dryads were born premature.¡± He could tell the creature was angry. ¡°Elves unleashed the fog, took control of the dyads. The forest is angry with the elves.¡± ¡°I knew they were jerks!¡± ¡°Forest is angry with you, intruder.¡± It accused again. ¡°What did I do?¡± ¡°You hurt Forest, chop it down.¡± It pointed at the path he had just made to come here. ¡°Up¡¯s I am sorry. I didn¡¯t know this was bad.¡± ¡°Come closer, intruder.¡± The Dryad urged for him to dismount. ¡°You sss-shouldn¡¯t.¡± Lamia warned. Regardless he approached the Dryad. ¡°Closer.¡± He was only a good six steps away from the Dryad, and indeed it was big, almost twice the height of him. ¡°I sense Forest Spirit in you?¡± ¡°You do?¡± ¡°A tiny bit of it inside your stomach. You can¡¯t be all bad to have a piece of it. I too have a piece. Making me a Great Dryad; able to resist the fog.¡± He no longer could follow what this tree was talking about. Fog and spirits he knew nothing about. But at least it sounded friendly so the Aura must have worked, and why not push his luck further? ¡°So can we be friends?¡± ¡°Little ones told me you bring life to The Dreaded Place. I know animals need to eat to live. You can come to Forest and take its bounty, but don¡¯t take too much. We can be friends if you lift the fog, stop Forest feeling angry,¡± ¡°Those are acceptable conditions. I will tell my spiders to behave. But how do I lift this fog? I can¡¯t even see it.¡± ¡°Come, I will show.¡± The Great Dryad began to walk, the minor dryads all in tow. ¡°Little ones, you wait. The fog will make you angry again.¡± It cautioned. ¡°Should I leave my spiders here as well?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to. But you can.¡± What a vague answer. He worried the fog will affect his spiders too so he left them with a warning. ¡°Behave you all, don¡¯t harm the trees and Dryads.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± The warrior spider gave a salute with its spindly hand. The lamia, however, refused to leave his side. ¡°Is it far?¡± He asked The Dryad. ¡°It is not.¡± So he followed the towering creature deep into the forest, to the place where this ¡®fog¡¯ was making the forest ¡®angry¡¯. 22 It was far! Whatever scale to measure the Great Dryad used was not the same as his. They ended up with a day¡¯s worth of walking, but not once, not even once did he ask ¡®Are we there yet?¡¯ ¨C he managed to restrain himself. If there was a better system it would have rewarded him the title of The Most Patient Man; he was sure of it. Something rustled in the tree canopy, but he didn¡¯t think too much about it; there were plenty of animals in this forest. Or at least used to be, he realised how quiet it was all of a sudden. There was another rustle and an enchanted arrow pierced right through his top hat. ¡°Ambush!¡± He realised. Lamia warriors surrounded him, shielding his body with theirs. Multiple arrows flew in his direction, but it was not the lamias who ended up soaking the damage. It was Great Dryad, then it wanted it could be surprisingly quick; the arrows ended up wedged into its wooden body. ¡°Elves!¡± It roared accusingly. The elves, by the looks of it, didn¡¯t care for the Dryad and kept peppering it with arrows. Some were fire enchanted and the Dryad caught fire. It moved towards the elf-infested trees flailing and roaring in anger. ¡°Go help him.¡± He commanded the lamia. ¡°But-sss.¡± ¡°Just go, I will be fine.¡± Lamia slithered towards the attackers. The Great Dryad managed to topple a tree and from it elves tumbled to the ground like overripe berries from a shaken bush. The lamia slithered after the elves. Others still in the trees decided to make a runner too. He ran towards the broken tree, there the Dryad was resting on its knees, still burning. ¡°Don¡¯t die, not like this.¡± He took the jacket part of the suit and began beating the flames. It was surprisingly effective. The Great Dryad was charred but alive. ¡°Will you be alright?¡± He asked with worry. ¡°Thanks. I will heal. [Heal]¡± Green motes of light surrounded its body and the charred flesh began to revert to its original state. ¡°Amazing!¡± He was envious of the magic. The lamias were back. ¡°The elves-sss escaped.¡± ¡°A camouflage skill, sss-similar to what we possess-sss but for the forest.¡± The friendly lamia explained. ¡°If I didn¡¯t fear the ¡®fog¡¯ affecting the spiders, I would have taken them.¡± ¡°Fog, it¡¯s close.¡± The Dryad butted in and casually continued towards the forest. ¡°Do we sss-still follow?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± This time Dryad¡¯s ¡®close¡¯ was actually close, and they emerged out of the overgrowth into a less forested area, it was not unlike a grove or a park. The most defining feature of the area was a red glow coming from all the lines and shapes ¡®painted¡¯ on the ground; it was more like a powder which emitted this magical glow. ¡°What is this? Magic?¡± ¡°Fog, urgh!¡± The Dryad told with a heavy voice as if in great pain. ¡°Well, it doesn¡¯t affect me. How about you?¡± ¡°We¡¯re fine-sss.¡± ¡°Do I just destroy the lines?¡± He asked. The Great Dryad didn¡¯t reply, it just stood there with both hands on the side of its head. Once again it collapsed on its knees. ¡°That doesn¡¯t look good. Quickly delete the lines.¡± He began kicking the powder away and lamias did the same but with their tails. There were a lot of lines to delete, but he wasn¡¯t even halfway through then they stopped glowing. The Dryad stood up. ¡°Fog is no more. We go back.¡± ¡°Is that it?¡± It was almost too easy, anticlimactic even. ¡°Forest is still angry, but not with you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good. I guess we go back and then to the elves.¡± ¡°Yes, elves.¡± ¡­ The trip back was a long one, and the trip to the elf settlement will be even longer. He was back on his mount, riding proudly knowing that he made a new ally. Well apparently the minor dryads did kick a fuss for a short while then he was gone, but spiders obeyed his command not to harm them and just put them in webs. Anyways, the dryads weren¡¯t ¡®angry¡¯ anymore and were just obediently following The Great Dryad and him towards where the elves lived. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. What was interesting was that more and more dryads joined them during their trip. Now there were just as many dryads as there were spiders. ¡°I¡¯m glad I made the right choice to make friends and not enemies.¡± He reflected on the numbers. ¡°We had weapon¡¯sss, we would have won anyway, but yes-sss.¡± And finally, he was almost there, the last few trees blocked the sight from elf settlement. He didn¡¯t expect to reach it without surprises, but here he was. ¡°Let¡¯s go and say hello.¡± He moved past the trees and into the clearing. However, he wasn¡¯t met with the familiar sight, no, where there was once an encampment now was a whole fortress. A huge wall at least three times bigger than he remembered surrounded the elves. There were multiple towers on top of the wall, full of elven archers. Moreover, he could make at least ten war machines, he was no expert but judging from massive arrows slotted in the machines they were called ballista. Of course, he couldn''t just waltz in and say hello. If they saw him, they would shout at him. Or would they? ¡°I am going¡­ To talk alone, just stay behind.¡± Lamia grasped him by the shoulder. ¡°No-sss.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be okay. I trust that they¡¯re civil enough not to shoot the messenger.¡± ¡­ Then the elf scouts returned they had reported something disturbing. ¡°How can it be, the magical circle was warded with spells and illusions! They shouldn¡¯t have found it at all.¡± This was a common but powerful elven trick; to ward a place so it can never be found, the intruder would just swerve around it in circles. ¡°This is impossible! Are you sure?¡± ¡°Yes, high chief. Also, the evil monster had a Great Dryad with him?¡± He reported as if still unsure. ¡°A Great Dryad you say?¡± The chief sounded surprised. ¡°Not one of ours then. What happened to it?¡± ¡°Well, it was going towards the circle so we attacked it with fire arrows.¡± ¡°Good, the rebel is likely dead. We did expect some of the dryads to rebel anyway. Also, that explains how the illusion was circumvented. But why would the Greater Dryad betray us?¡± They had no reason to go against the elves. ¡°Never mind that. Even if the circle is broken the lesser dryads would still fight the evil spiders.¡± He calmed himself. There was no way the dryads would tolerate twisted man eating spiders! The chief poked his head outside the window. There outside and on the walls were squads of archers, some were his, others were sent by the new allies. Before he might have worried about the security of this settlement, but not anymore. ¡°If the corrupting spider king wants to come he can, we are ready. Tell the scouts to return behind walls and the guards to be extra vigilant.¡± ¡°Yes, High Chief.¡± The scout ran off to convey the instruction. A few days later an errand girl ran into the great hall looking for him. He didn¡¯t even listen to what she had to say, since judging from the commotion outside, he already knew what it was. Predictably so, The Spider King had appeared. ¡°The twisted monster was here to claim our innocent lives!¡± he frowned in anger. ¡°Venerable elders!¡± He had to be loud to wake them. ¡°Erect the shield!¡± The geriatric elders moved like torpid tortoises after a long winter, ever so slowly towards the round table where they were meant to join hands in an ancient elven ritual. The High Chief didn¡¯t need to stay here and wait for it. Instead, he ran to the highest tower, he had to judge the evil force and devise the best plan to weather their attack. He was climbing the thousand steps as fast as he could. The elves outside sounded awfully rowdy and overly disturbed, The Chief resisted the temptation to peek out of the small window as he passed it; no need to waste precious time. By the last step, he emerged into the canopy of the tower, there other prominent members of the Elves were already waiting including the other two High Chiefs. A dome of mana finally blinked into existence shielding the entire elf settlement from any tainted magic the Spider King might possess. ¡°Thanks for standing up against this force of evil. ¡±He appreciated the two thanking for their solidarity with a warm smile. However, the two had deep frowns and faces full of regret, and even anger. ¡°Can you explain this, High Chief?¡± One of the two pointed into the distance. What was there to explain, the evil was here. The two knew what they signed for so he too began to frown at this unexpected cowardice coming from his allies. Regardless, he went towards the fence and looked. Yes, there were more than they had expected, an entire legion. But this was not why his allies were so worried. He understood their worry now. ¡°The Dryads. Why are the Dryads standing behind the King Of Spiders?¡± The High Chief asked himself. ¡°We would like to know as well.¡± ¡°Impossible!¡± This word has been invading his mind ever more frequently. ¡°The Dryads are the children of the forest this makes no sense.¡± ¡°To ally with a monster. Something must have happened.¡± ¡°But what?¡± ¡°Brainwashing! He brainwashed them with tainted magic. Must have corrupted the circle we have erected.¡± ¡°To turn it against us. Is it even possible?¡± ¡°This is a great evil, we have underestimated how crafty this monster is.¡± ¡°Look, he is approaching the walls. Alone!¡± All three High Chiefs strained their eyes to look. ¡°Why does he look so strange? You described the leader of the monsters differently?¡± Indeed, while the high chief recognised the King of Spiders from his authority alone, he did come dressed differently; wearing a blue suit made of leaves and an equally blue funny hat. ¡°He is mocking us. Our customs.¡± The High Chief accused. ¡°I find it quite fashionable.¡± Chief number two had a different perception. ¡°Do not be bedazzled by its cheap tricks. The monster is plotting something. I know!¡± ¡°I think it is trying to speak.¡± Chief number three observed. ¡°Maybe, cast a spell? Should we attack while it¡¯s still alone?¡± The elves hesitated to strike first since no one could hear what was shouted at them due to magic shielding the settlement. The monster seemed to realise this and turned back to the legion obviously issuing a ghastly demand of sorts. The horde of dryads stepped into the clearing, the archers on the wall visibly tensed. They were as confused as the high chiefs, if it were spiders they would have loosened their arrows already. ¡°We might need to wipe the dryads first.¡± ¡°Do you want to turn the Forest Spirit against you?¡± ¡°If you kill its children, it will strike at you when it reincarnates.¡± The two gave wise advice, however, ¡°What choice do we have?¡± ¡°We can send some scouts to break the corrupted circle and end this monster¡¯s hold on the dryads.¡± ¡°Yes, let''s do that. Scouts!¡± The scout leader had already heard the high chief''s discussion and was already running. ¡°Let¡¯s hope the shield will buy us enough time. Aim the ballista at The Spider King.¡± He issued a decisive command. The dryads were on the move, they raised their hands into the air sending motes of various colours towards the elven walls. ¡°What is happening?¡± ¡°I am not sure.¡± They were elves but even then they didn¡¯t recognise this Dryad spell. The shield flickered and then shattered with a loud bang. ¡°Impossible!¡± All three said in unison. ¡°Hello, I come in peace!¡± The voice of the Spider King had finally reached them. The chief panicked before he could even register what was said. ¡°Fire, fire now!¡± He ordered. The ballista loosened their enchanted great arrows in unison. The High Chief didn¡¯t order the archers to fire, however, they too were panicked by losing the shield and fired their fire arrows towards the horde of dryads anyway. 23 The [Language Comprehension] perk must have malfunctioned and somehow the elves misunderstood his good intentions. Everything in his vision slowed down, it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that his life flashed before his eyes. The ballista arrows weren¡¯t just arrows, it was very elven for them to be enchanted with the wind element, making them so much faster. He wanted to dodge he tried to dodge, but couldn¡¯t. The first arrow pierced his top hat disintegrating it into tiny shreds of blue. The second arrow flew right past his shoulder, the third between his legs. The four and fifth were duds, one overshooting and the other did the opposite. So far he was extremely lucky. But not for long, the seventh nicked his side cutting the suit and leaving a nasty gash. The eight wedged deep into the right side of his chest. He was skewered by the great arrow and the blow was powerful enough to send him flying along with it. That was the only reason why the ninth and tenth arrows missed him completely. The arrow hit the ground getting stuck in the soil, he was dangling from it right in the middle of the shaft. He looked at the elven wood protruding from his chest. ¡°Oh boy, that¡¯s not good.¡± He was surprised at how calm he was. However, it was obvious and plain, he was dying; no escape from it now. He didn¡¯t worry too much at all because he still possessed [Resurrection [1]]. It was a shame to use it so soon, but he was the one to blame here, or so he thought. He felt himself weaken, his eyes losing focus. He didn''t know if what he saw was real or just an illusion, but he saw fire rain from the sky, setting everyone ablaze. Shrieks and crackling of burning wood filled his ears. It felt like he was In hell. A burning giant flashed in his vision and just before he lost it completely, ¡°[Heal].¡± He heard it and then he felt it. The strength returned to his body, but contrary to what one might think, he didn¡¯t feel good or pleasant. Before he was calm and cool, resigned to his fate, but now the wound in his chest burned and he spat hot blood choking on it. He felt the wood piercing his chest begin to move, or rather it was he who was moved. There was so much pain. Giant hands removed him from the shaft of the great arrow and began carrying him back to the forest. ¡°[Heal].¡± He heard once more and the pain lessened. However, his mind was still foggy and his senses failed him once again; he fell unconscious. Once he opened his eyes he was back under the canopy of trees, but even those had the tinders of budding fire in them. The burning giant was gone, replaced by the familiar lamia. ¡°Use-sss it!¡± she hissed. He couldn¡¯t understand, he still felt so groggy. ¡°The spear you have, sss.¡± Yes, that¡¯s right. He had forgotten, in his hand indeed he still had his weapon. He was holding it so tight that the knuckles and fingers were white from exertion. Even if he wanted he couldn¡¯t let it go. The friendly lamia pressed the tip of [Slayer Spear] to her side. He knew what she was suggesting, but even then he didn¡¯t want to hurt her to save himself. Lamia had other ideas and pushed herself into the speartip. [Perk Life Steal activated] It was similar to [Heal] but different, it was without the limitations. The spear drank lamia¡¯s blood greedily and brought the life back into his body in return. His mind cleared and his willpower returned. ¡°Enough!¡± He pushed the lamia away. She gave him a weak smile. ¡°Are you alright-sss?¡± He shook his head. ¡°No. Why did you do this? And how did you know about¡­¡± She interrupted him. ¡°You ask stupid questions-sss. Isn¡¯t there more to worry about than me or you?¡± She looked back at the elf fortress. He followed her gaze. ¡°No¡­¡± He didn¡¯t want to believe what he was seeing. It was WAR. The dryads were on fire, some were burnt to a crisp, others making their way towards the elven walls. His spiders not only were already climbing the tall wooden walls but fighting with the archers in the towers. He wanted to call a retreat, to end this meaningless folly, but it was all too late, neither side would stop at this point. He saw an elf being thrown off by the spider from its archery post, they fell to their death like many others. He saw someone else being bitten in half. He saw a platoon of spiders using axes and machetes to make a hole in the wall while they were peppered with arrows. He saw remaining dryads shooting strange projectiles of green light towards his spiders, he didn¡¯t know what those did, but it was likely a buff of some sort. The walls already had the beginnings of blue webs, the spiders were using those for an easier climb. Not all of his spiders were lucky to reach the walls. The slowest and the squishiest of them lay motionless in the clearing; their bodies full of arrows. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. From the looks of it, it was clear that the elves only had an advantage at the range, but with no shield and the spiders already on the walls that advantage was gone. ¡°Sss-so?¡± The lamia urged him. She was right, he wasn¡¯t here to observe from the sidelines. He grabbed a triangular blue leaf from his supplies in his left hand, the leaf was big enough to use as a shield, and on his right he held his legendary spear. Feeling ready he charged into the thick of it like a madman. The rest of the spiders, the ones who haven¡¯t charged the walls in blind rage like their other siblings, followed their King. These were farmers, weavers and other little workers, but they too wanted to fight. The lamia smiled at the humble force led by a King so brave and so charismatic. She too wished to join the charge for victory but felt too cold and too sluggish for that; as if a part of her life was drained. As he was running the stray arrows were trying to hit him, but with archers concentrating their fire on climbing spiders they were very few. On a side, further away from where he was running, he saw the Great Dryad leading another charge. The big fellow had a ballista arrow stuck in its body but it didn¡¯t seem too bothered by it. The elves operating ballista were concentrating on the Great Dryad, but the big fellow used wind magic of his own to defect those. ¡°Keep running it''s close!¡± He urged his people. Soon he reached a group of spiders making a hole in the wall. They had managed to erect a small structure of wood and blue leaves above their heads to protect themselves from arrows; He was surprised at how crafty his spiders were. The arrow fire felt heavier here but with the improvised roof, he felt much safer. Of course, nothing was perfect; an arrow pierced the roof and landed right in between his big toe and the rest of his fingers. He yelped in surprise and raised his shield up to block any other arrows like that. ¡°How is it going?¡± He asked. ¡°Soon.¡± A large spider with equally large mandibles replied. True to its word, a small hole partly chopped by axes and partly gnawed away was made. The smaller farmers had no problem squeezing through it. He too crouched and crawled in the hole, the wall was thicker than he imagined; this was not a hole in the wall but with a small exaggeration ¨C an entire tunnel. He emerged with the rest of the spiders outside, and what a sight it was. The streets were clean and neat, paved with multicoloured pebbles. He expected the elves to live in tree houses and he wasn¡¯t entirely wrong. The houses weren¡¯t in or on a tree, they were on the ground but made out of what looked like living wood. The walls of the houses had branches and live leaves, but also they had holes in windows and doors. The roof was made of large leaves which too were growing and alive. These houses were nested close to each other. In the far distance, he could see a large tree, with an equally large bulbous structure on top of it just under the branches and leaves. It was overseeing the rest of the settlement. ¡°To stop this, we need to get their leader.¡± And it was obvious where to look for them. A curious elf popped out of one of the houses, by the looks of it, it was a lost and scared child. He could see that his spiders never would discriminate and were raising their axes and preparing the webs. ¡°No, don¡¯t harm the little ones. Ever.¡± He warned stopping the crime before it could happen. ¡°Understood.¡± The child ran back to her house crying. ¡°No, child, wait.¡± He ran after them into the house. He found more children inside. It was weird to keep them so close to the walls. Didn¡¯t seem safe or smart. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t cry. I¡¯m not here to hurt you.¡± He turned to a nearby spider and asked for some fruits. The spider parted with its food ration, no problem. ¡°Here¡¯s a small treat.¡± He attempted to bribe the children. And what naive children they were, they took the fruit bit into it and then smiled happily at the sweet taste. The eldest of the young children spoke. ¡°Are, you here to save us, stranger?¡± ¡°Save? ¡­ Yes, this place isn¡¯t safe anymore.¡± He wasn¡¯t lying about that. ¡°Come with me, and try not to be afraid of my cute spiders. They don''t bite.¡± ¡°Are they friendly?¡± ¡°Yes, yes they are.¡± He took the children out and was met with quite a sight. The spiders must have misunderstood him. They were running in and out of the houses, sniffing out the children like well-trained hounds and then carrying them out bound in webs. There were so many children, if he didn¡¯t know better he would think that elves bred like rabbits, or they just left all of their children alone in the houses. What were they thinking?! ¡°No, no, no! I told you not to harm them. Let them out.¡± They did that, but now he was stuck with a large group of terrified children. ¡°Come children. Let''s meet your elders and teach them a lesson about good child care.¡± The little elves surrounded by a hundred or so spiders had no choice but to obey. But hey, they seemed happy once they got the fruits, so that was that. ¡°Are you going to see the High Chief?¡± The eldest of the children asked. ¡°Just as I said. Yes. He is there isn¡¯t he.¡± He pointed at the large tree. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Will it be guarded?¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± The child thought for a moment. ¡°I think everyone went on the wall to fight the evil.¡± ¡°I see, I see¡­. The evil you say?¡± ¡°Yes, a twisted and dark monster.¡± It was obvious this child didn¡¯t know with whom she was talking with. Nor did he consider himself dark or monstrous. ¡°Tell me more about it. How does he look.¡± ¡°It is very bad and very evil. It eats children.¡± ¡°Interesting. And how do I look?¡± The child was thinking. ¡°You look funny!¡± there was a glance at his tattered suit and then a giggle ¡°¡­ but your pets are scary!¡± The child frowned. ¡°But they gave you fruits. And I told you your houses aren¡¯t safe.¡± Not safe from his spiders who were pouring in ever larger numbers from the wall tunnel that is. ¡°Yes, fruits are always nice. Eat a lot you grow a lot.¡± The child said it like it was drilled into them. ¡°You know these spiders grow these fruits.¡± ¡°Really?¡± All of the children looked at the fruits and then the spiders in disbelief. ¡°Really?¡± They asked again. ¡°Really! They are good guys, I keep telling you.¡± Well¡­ ¡°They are sorry for webbing other children, it was a misunderstanding. Spiders were afraid of you that¡¯s why they webbed you.¡± ¡°Oh, I understand.¡± Oh boy, were they na?ve. But what mattered was that he gathered all of the little elves under his protection. The war was a confusing affair and something terrible might have happened. Even he, the King, could not be expected to control all and every of his spider''s actions; the top of the wall was evidence of that. ¡°Oh, look we are here.¡± He lost his trail of thought. ¡°It takes a thousand stairs to reach the elders.¡± The child said proudly. That¡¯s not something to be proud of. He looked at the round entrance carved inside an outrageously thick and tall tree. Indeed there were stairs, he looked up the stairwell it seemed endless. ¡°Are you coming or staying with my spiders? They will protect you don¡¯t worry.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± The children seemed hesitant but then secretly giddy about something. ¡±Are we allowed to come?¡± ¡°Are you usually not?¡± ¡°No!¡± The oldest child said with sadness. ¡°Then you can come.¡± He didn¡¯t care about stupid elven rules which made no sense. ¡°That is If you aren''t afraid of a thousand steps!¡± He sure was. The children began jumping as if they were going on a FairyLand ride or something. They didn¡¯t even wait for him to start and were already in heaps over the stairs. ¡°And they say I am strange.¡± He began the slow ascent with the spiders accompanying him from inside and outside. 24 The last step was the hardest one. He finally entered a large room overseeing the entire settlement. It was like an observation tower, and like such had little of furniture inside; just a table and a few chairs. While the furniture was of exquisite craftsmanship he could not help but frown at the sight of them being empty. ¡°Where is the High Chief?¡± An elf shrugged. ¡°He¡¯s usually here, I think. I¡¯ve never been here before.¡± ¡°Did I get the wrong building?¡± He wondered and then wandered to the edge to get a better look over the settlement. The children were doing much the same. The battle was still going on. His spiders were pushing the elves further along the wall, but with the wall now breached they soon will be pinned and surrounded. The children of course saw the same, and there was worry in their eyes. He leaned over the fence to talk with the poor spider who was still climbing the large tree. ¡°I¡¯m sorry but can you go and tell others to go easy on the elves; capture, don¡¯t kill.¡± He felt bad for sending the little spider all the way down just after it was done climbing. He needn''t to worry because the spider attached a rope to the tree and descended quickly; He could even hear a small ¡°Wee!¡± escape its tiny mouth as it was flying down the rope. ¡°Why spiders fighting Daddy? Aren¡¯t they friends?¡± A child asked unable to take her eyes from the fighting. Was he the baddy here? He had a moral conflict brewing inside his heart; that¡¯s why he never wanted this to happen. ¡°Adults have fights sometimes¡­¡± He really wanted to stop all of this. ¡°Especially then we are mad or angry, or even afraid. But you¡¯re right they shouldn¡¯t be fighting.¡± ¡°Yeah! Friends don¡¯t fight.¡± Another child butted in. He had just an idea, ¡°Why don¡¯t you all come here by the fence and tell everyone to stop? I¡¯m sure my spiders will listen.¡± To rile the children he followed his own advice; practise what you preach and all that. ¡°Hey stop fighting!¡± He shouted from the top of his lungs. The children soon joined. ¡°Stop fighting!¡±, ¡°Stop fighting!¡±, ¡°Stop!¡± ¡­ ¡­ The sound of shouts flew far and loud, and then reached the long eyes of the elves. They stopped firing arrows at the spiders. The spiders paused chopping with axes at elf guard towers. And surprisingly so, everyone did stop fighting for a moment. It was unbelievable that the power of love and friendship was able to accomplish such a feat; a true miracle if one might say so. Of course, it had nothing to do with the fact that their ancestral tree was swarmed with spiders and their High Chief had likely been eaten alive by now. Not to mention the sorrowful cries of their children who were threatened into begging for their parents to surrender or else¡­ they didn¡¯t even want to imagine. They had put too much trust in these walls, too much faith in the venerable elders'' magic shield, and failed to protect what was the most important. So they surrendered in hopes that their children might be left to live. Or so and such. One by one, they were put into the nets and carried towards the ancestral tree to await their fate. However, not everyone was as brave or even had children, so seeing the ceasefire they used that chance to escape; all they had to do was jump off the wall and run into the forest. Moreover, after seeing that the spiders didn¡¯t give chase the number of opportunists only increased. The other elves, of course, cursed the ones who were so selfish, because it was they and their children who will pay the price. The captives were gathered right under the ancestral tree. They were let out of the web-like nets and herded into a tight group. To their surprise, the children poured out of the entrance to the ancestral tree. They ran right to their parents for hugs and consolation. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Soon after the ghastly King himself descended the stairs, looking no better than the elves did; clothes tattered and with an exhausted look on his otherwise human face; the elders must have given him a good last beating before they perished valiantly. The monster King began speaking, his words calming as if enchanted. ¡°I didn¡¯t want any of this to happen.¡± A terrible excuse. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for your loss. But I¡¯ve lost people too.¡± He had the gall to compare the life of an elf to that of a spider. ¡°I really do want to make this work. I still want us to be allies, to live and trade together as good neighbours would.¡± Some drivel was escaping his mouth; no one wanted to hear this. However, they were smart enough to pretend to listen and to know where this was going despite not listening. There was only one reason they were spared and that reason was¡­ ¡°So I must ask for bygones be bygones and forget this misunderstanding so that we can live in a better future where we can coexist. This is the only way out of this, the way where we work together. So I ask you all to¡­¡± An elf stood up and began shouting, ¡°What are you even asking? We won¡¯t be your slaves!¡± clearly unable to take in the harsh reality and forgetting the consequences. That particular elf was dragged back to the ground where other elves were kneeling and his mouth muffled. ¡°Slaves?¡± He asked in confusion. ¡°We will be your slaves! O King Of Spiders.¡± Everyone grovelled in agreement. ¡°What, no! What is going on?¡± The elves were not listening. ¡°We will serve you well, please spare us and our children.¡± ¡°Were you even listening?¡± He sighed. ¡°How did you even¡­¡± The strange aura left the King''s voice.¡± Forget it. I just want an Alliance.¡± ¡°Whatever you ask, O King Of Spiders.¡± He sighed even deeper. ¡°Look I am sorry. Is there anyone else to talk to? There is your leader?¡± ¡°¡­¡± The elves were quiet. Until someone stood up. ¡°I¡¯m the leader. I think¡­¡± They mumbled the last part. ¡°Are you the High Chief? Where are you on the wall? And here I assumed you would be¡­¡± ¡°Yes, I am the oldest so¡­¡± ¡°Never mind, come let¡¯s discuss this in private.¡± They were interrupting each other, but in the end, found an agreement. The King of Spiders took the newly elected High Chief to the ancestral tree as per elven custom. The things were moving so fast, it was hard not to feel dizzy. ¡°Can we go?¡± One brave soul asked tired from all the grovelling. A spider chirped happily. ¡°Amm, can you say it again.¡± A spider chipped even more happily. ¡°Are you dumb!¡± Someone was willing to translate. ¡°It¡¯s obviously saying that we need to wait for the King to come back.¡± ¡°I just asked¡­¡± The spider was chirping something at the elves. ¡°See you made it angry now! Apologise.¡± The elf pressed the other elf''s head to the ground for an apology while also doing the same. ¡­ Sometime before, a tiny while back, just after the moment when the enraged spiders began to swarm the walls. The three High Chiefs were observing the battle with baited breaths. The evil King of Spiders was dealt with but the future of this elven settlement was unclear. ¡°The walls aren¡¯t doing much.¡± High Chief number two made an apt observation. ¡°Well, they are spiders so¡­¡± High Chief number three pointed out the obvious. ¡°We can do it. Their king is dead.¡± The High Chief was optimistic. ¡°Even if we win this it won¡¯t be the victory you wanted. Shooting at dryads was a mistake.¡± Number two rubbed the salt into a bleeding wound. ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t tell them to, and those were your archers too. I will just have to appease the spirit then it is reborn.¡± ¡°I guess everyone had made some mistakes.¡± Number three was concentrating on the battle. ¡°But yeah, you will have a lot of appeasing to do, the dryads look positively angry. Oh, they began healing the spiders.¡± ¡°Balistas, kill the Great Dryad.¡± High Chief number one commanded. ¡°It¡¯s likely there to serve as a node for brainwashing.¡± The High Chief explained. ¡°Good decision!¡± ¡°But, didn¡¯t the Great Dryad just retreat into the forest?¡± Number tree asked. ¡°Oh¡­¡± That¡¯s why none of the balistas were firing even after they finished loading. The battle continued and it looked like it was a stalemate. Until¡­ ¡°Hey! Look!¡± High Chief number three pointed towards the edge of the clearing. ¡°Impossible!¡± The High Chief uttered. ¡°The Spider King is alive?¡± ¡°And back with reinforcements.¡± The undying evil rushed straight to the walls and disappeared from their vision. ¡°The Great Dryad is back!¡± Number three shouted. ¡°Kill it first, we have to stop dryads from healing.¡± The battle was becoming chaotic, the spiders were on the walls throwing their archers down. Bad turned to worse and a hole appeared in the wall, a legion of small spiders poured right out of it. ¡°Can we still win this?¡± The High Chief asked his optimism already shattered. ¡°With the walls breached? The Great Dryad still alive, the Minor Dryads mad and a Legion of Spiders already on the wall?¡± ¡°We lost it the moment the magic shield was shattered.¡± Number two pointed out the obvious yet again. ¡°I¡¯m calling off my men.¡± ¡°But you can¡¯t¡­¡± The High chief knew he couldn¡¯t expect his allies to keep fighting. ¡°So, we lost it?¡± He didn¡¯t want to believe it. ¡°You lost it. I¡¯m out.¡± Number two fired a light flare into the sky, and began running down the stairs in a hurry. ¡°I will support you for a while longer.¡± Number three looked down. ¡°The spiders are on your streets and in your houses. You don¡¯t have much time. Do what is right, take what is most precious and come with me.¡± ¡°I will grab the venerable elders and the magic scrolls. We can¡¯t let this evil to get their hands on our ancient magic.¡± ¡°Hurry!¡± The chief number three urged. 25 He and what was apparently the High Chief went back to the top of the ancestral tree. Really, it was no fun climbing those stairs for the third time, but the elf was insistent. They were sitting in an oddly empty room, there was just a table and few chairs, but maybe the elven social elites preferred to live ascetic lives. ¡°I understand that for this alliance to work I have to pay some reparations.¡± The High Chief was just sitting without naming a price. ¡°Since I damaged your wall and towers I am willing to borrow some of my spiders to do repairs.¡± The elf shifted in his seat uncomfortably, likely desiring more. ¡°Look, I¡¯m not exactly rich, but I can also give you some of my fruit and cloth. Consider them free samples and later you can offer me something back.¡± ¡°A tribute!¡± The High Chief pointed his finger into the air as if he had just figured something out. ¡°No, a trade. I want to trade with you. There is a great deal of things my spiders can¡¯t make, but you can.¡± ¡°Oh a ¡®trade¡¯, I understand¡± The elf nodded sagely. ¡°We will make some things to show you the next time you return.¡± ¡°Really? Thanks!¡± Finally, he was getting somewhere. However, the elf still looked somewhat uncomfortable in his chair. ¡°What is it?¡± He asked. ¡°Our settlement is now weakened and without protection¡­¡± That was true he had devastated their defences, but there were some towers left and at least six ballistas. He didn¡¯t quite understand why the High Chief worried so much. ¡°The dryads will come to strike us down.¡± He said it like it was a fact. ¡°Oh!¡± He had forgotten about that. ¡°I haven¡¯t spoken with them yet. But I will.¡± ¡°Thanks, O King of Spiders. But can you leave some of your warriors here? We would feel more secure.¡± That was an odd request but he had no reason to turn it down. ¡°Okay, I will. I¡¯ll tell them to cause no trouble, but how about the other elves? I don¡¯t think they would appreciate my warriors after all that happened.¡± ¡°I¡¯m the High Chief now, they will listen to me. And how do I communicate with your warriors, let''s say if something bad is happening and I need their help.¡± The High Chief was talkative all of a sudden, which was good. ¡°Just tell them what you want, they will understand you. I¡¯ll tell my builders and warriors to listen to you while they¡¯re here.¡± The High Chief flashed a broad grin. ¡°Thank you, O King of Spiders.¡± ¡°No, no. Thank you for being so understanding and willing to welcome my guys. It¡¯s a good idea to let the two peoples mix and build friendships; I can see why you are the High Chief here. With that, I hope that our alliance will prosper.¡± He offered his hand for a shake, the kind gesture wasn¡¯t lost on the High Chief, he shook it with a warm smile. ¡°I better go and wrap this up.¡± He began the long descent. On the ground, the elves were still waiting with their bated breaths. If he tried to talk with this group they would just misunderstand him again, so he just directed them to their High Chief. He waved goodbye to the children, probably the only ones who didn¡¯t look at him with prejudiced eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll bring you some fruit, soon.¡± He promised and left towards the gate. There was a small problem, the city gate was vacant and there was no one to open the sturdy structure. He could go through the small hole he came from, but that was so¡­ he had to keep appearances here or else the elves will keep disrespecting him. ¡°Go and see if you can open it.¡± He commanded a warrior. ¡°Understood.¡± The spiders climbed to the tower, and within minutes the large gate began to move. From the small opening he could already see the Great Dryad just standing there with the rest of its people. ¡°And, I wondered why you didn¡¯t come sooner. Hi, I hope you are well.¡± He had seen the giant burning but now it looked fresh as if nothing had happened. ¡°Hello. Dryads are not spiders. We don¡¯t climb walls.¡± It explained helpfully. ¡°Are you here to meet the High Chief?¡± ¡°We are. To set things straight.¡± ¡°I guess, you have your own grievances, but please go easy on him.¡± The dryad didn¡¯t reply and proceeded towards the ancestral tree. There was a nagging feeling that he was forgetting something. He turned and shouted at the Great Dryad. ¡°I owe you for saving me. Please see me later!¡± The dryad turned its giant body around. ¡°You owe me nothing. That¡¯s what we Dryads do.¡± ¡°Then if you¡¯re ever in trouble again, call for me.¡± The Dryad simply nodded and continued on its path towards the ancestral tree, its people, or what remained of them followed their leader. Except for twelve Minor Dryads, there was one he recognised well, the intelligent dryad with a twisted human face. That group separated from the larger whole and moved towards him. ¡°You want to come with me?¡± The lights in the dryad''s eyes shone brightly; he figured that as a yes. ¡°The more the merrier.¡± As he was walking out, more and more spiders followed from all over, but he made sure to leave some behind just like the High Chief asked. There in the clearing, he saw the familiar face of the friendly lamia. She was laying on the mossy ground curled up around her long tail. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. He called trying to wake her, but she didn¡¯t. Then he tried to shake her, her skin was very cold. He worried for a second but then relaxed after feeling a dull throbbing coming from her chest. ¡°She might be sick. That perk is dangerous, I should never use it on my allies again.¡± He put his hand on her head to pat it. ¡°You too, had saved me.¡± Then he turned to look at his people. ¡°And you fought bravely and valiantly.¡± The spiders chirped happily. ¡°I am blessed by good friends and allies.¡± He smiled. ¡°Take the lamia and let¡¯s go home, to celebrate the victory and mourn the dead.¡± His spiders constructed a long stretcher to carry her equally long body. He wrapped her in cloth but that was probably not enough to keep her body warm. If his knowledge didn¡¯t fail him, he knew that Lamia liked the heat. The spiders were poor as heaters but his human body was just right. So he kept her body warm with his during the journey. ¡­ By the time they reached the farm, the friendly lamia was back to her cheery self. He tried to thank her for saving his skin back there, but for one reason or the other, she would just blush and run away from him. She was still there to carry her job and even listen to his commands but if he mentioned a word of what had happened she would just run away. Well, he had an idea why, but she wouldn¡¯t even listen to his apology, thanks or even an explanation. That was that, but also there was another huge celebration. Needless to say, he was left without even a drop of slug jelly. By the way, for some reason, The Lamia Queen had developed unhealthy cravings for it. When he was out to make friends with elves her cravings were so bad that she attempted to milk Johny the Slug by herself. Needless to say, it didn¡¯t end well. Despite the harsh debuff she had made past the BlueDust fields towards the slug, but Johny didn¡¯t like intruders and fought her. She would have died if the spiders didn¡¯t come to rescue her. And conveniently so, the ores from the Kobolds had arrived. There was always an option to smelt those, he had plenty of cut wood to make charcoal. However, It was already a small miracle his dryad friends didn¡¯t mind him cutting the jungle so he didn¡¯t want to push his luck. The solution was simple, he fed ores to the evolved metal spider. Also, it turned out the guy made quite a name for himself during the battle. The elven arrows were unable to pierce his metal armour making him literally unstoppable, like a tank fighting spearmen. He hoped that this spider will lay eggs soon. With the little things out of the way, there were other matters to address. His [Emissary Suit] was destroyed and he had lost the cane somewhere. By now he held a firm belief that it was the armour he preferred the most. He would craft one but he was all out of [Boar Pelt], the item he needed for the leather. This problem was not without a solution. He could send his spiders to hunt in the forest, but why would he agitate the dryads and the elves further? He had boars of his own. No, he didn¡¯t forget them; the little ones he had captured months ago. The boars were all in the pen, and every day they were engorging themselves on TomGrape fruit. That might or might not be the reason why the boars weren¡¯t brown but blue instead. Also, they were quite huge, to put it mildly, they were bigger than the largest of his spiders. Thinking about it, they would make a good mount or a war beast, but to be honest, he preferred to ride his spider because that one was intelligent and didn¡¯t need training. He looked at the fat boars, they were already too large for their not-so-small pen. ¡°But which one will it be?¡± He looked at the stock struggling to pick the lucky one. One of the boars gave him a nasty look and then charged at the pen. This was usual for them, unlike the spiders these weren¡¯t cute or well-behaved. The wood was reinforced by his perk so it held no problem. The foolish animal had only harmed itself. ¡°I guess we have a lucky winner.¡± He jabbed his spear right into the neck of the stunned boar. [Fighting +50 exp] ¡°Oh, I didn¡¯t expect to get exp.¡± For some reason a random lamia slithered by the pen, and then another and another. ¡°Are you going to eat this?¡± The lamia was positively salivating from the mouth. A behaviour unsuited for a woman, but it was not up to him to judge. ¡°Well, I was just thinking of skinning it mostly.¡± The meat was just a bonus. ¡°Shall we cook it for you?¡± ¡°That¡­ That sound¡¯s great.¡± He didn¡¯t know they can cook. But first, the boar had to be dressed and skinned. It was too large to handle alone, luckily the Lamia were very motivated to help. He had expected another [Boar Pelt], but instead, he had gotten [Enchanted Boar Pelt], which was weird because no one had cast any spells on it. ¡°Had it evolved on its own?¡± He asked himself. ¡°Well, it did change the colour so¡­¡± It was plain and obvious. He put the pelt down and looked at where a processed boar was, or should have been, the lamia must have taken it away to cook it. He was motivated by their work-minded spirit and went to work on his armour. First, he made a vest using cloth and leather, and then he added spider eggshells on to it. He nested obsidian hexagons on top of each other making a scale plate. This was a design he had used before. He used a similar process to make a whole set of scale armour: plate, greaves, vambraces and a helm. With the set complete he was granted a gear bonus and temporary perk. [Gear bonus achieved: +25 Rep with Dragons] [Temporary perk Minor Regeneration obtained.] [Temporary perk Spell Deflection obtained.] In many ways, this was the armour he once had, but this time adding [Enchanted Boar Pelt] gave him another temporary perk. He donned the armour and went to look for the Lamia. All this crafting had made him hungry. He didn¡¯t need to look hard or long, the smell of cooked meat assaulted his nose. It has been ages since he ate some good meat so he followed the scent. He didn¡¯t know the Lamia had brought spices with them, and he probably would¡¯ve never known if he didn¡¯t slaughter this boar. Just like the lamias from before he felt saliva pooling in his mouth. He had found the lamias gathered under a large gazebo the spiders had made for them. At some point, they managed to make fire and stew the boar. Each lamia had a small wooden bowl filled with oily and rich stew. They were slurping at it with no reservations. It wasn¡¯t just meat he recognised the familiar fruits mixed into it, there were even dried mushrooms. The combination might be strange but it smelled divine. He grabbed a spare bowl and went to the large pot. And¡­ ¡°Hey, it¡¯s empty.¡± This couldn¡¯t be the only pot, the boar was too large. He looked around but all he could see were discarded bones which were cleanly stripped of any flesh. Likely, this was the last batch of stew. He must have been crafting for too long. ¡°This is not right. That was my boar.¡± He felt cheated. There were Lamia with full bowls of stew, so not everything was lost. ¡°Mind sharing?¡± He¡¯d asked a random lamia. Who just went and gulped the liquid in one go and showed him an empty bowl. Rude! ¡°Come on¡­ just a taste.¡± He asked the other, but the same had happened. He couldn¡¯t understand this behaviour. Were they this starved? He always made sure there was plenty of fruit for everyone to eat, so this wasn¡¯t it. ¡°You know¡­¡± He was about to make a tantrum. ¡°Here-sss.¡± A bowl was pressed into his hands. He looked at his saviour, she was the friendly lamia. ¡°Thanks.¡± He beamed a wide smile. ¡°SSS.¡± She blushed and slithered away in a hurry. He shrugged, he was done trying to figure out women, instead, he concentrated on the gift. The bowl was half empty with only a few tiny bits of boar. He poured it into the mouth. ¡°Mmm, so succulent.¡± He now understood why no one wanted to share. He sat down with Lamia and enjoyed the rest of the evening. They were unlikely to approach him due to the difference in status but that was okay. He still was welcome here and felt included in the larger group, and as a bonus, he was allowed to eavesdrop on their juicy conversations. He wasn¡¯t left to sit alone and to his surprise, an intelligent dryad joined him in quiet camaraderie. It was surprising because the dryad didn¡¯t mind meat being eaten in front of it, nor the fire burning. It was very tolerant indeed, the elves could learn from this pant creature. And later, another companion joined the silence. It was his most trusted advisor, it took the spot by the right of him. And even later, Queen Lamia slithered from behind and startled him with a sneaky hug. ¡°Jelly please-sss.¡± She hissed a cute begging whisper in his ear. She knew well that the substance was now forbidden to her and he will not give her any. He didn¡¯t want to break the silence and chose to ignore the pest. It was nice to be surrounded by friends and allies. Everyone was so different but even then all were getting along so well. He didn¡¯t want this moment to end, and maybe with time, there will be an elf and a kobold sitting idly like this in front of a fire. Afterword - not a chapter Thanks again to all of you for reading, rating and commenting on this fiction. I am surprised this did so well. It''s hard not to compare, but this fiction rates somewhere in the middle of all writathon participants. Amazing!. Also, it''s sad that other arguably better works didn''t do well at all, but I guess my taste is just off. Please check the randomized list and give a new story a try; the link is in your notifications. So what''s in store for the fiction? For better or worse the answer is simple: more of the same. There are many reasons for that, but remember, I can only do what works for me. The chapters will continue to be raw and unedited and I will try to post them daily (Mon-Fri), emphasis on try. Because that isn''t very sustainable, May is just a very busy month for me. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. How about story and plot? I don''t know, do we even have a plot at this point? I am open to suggestions; I have had some good ones before. Anyways, thanks again for all the overwhelmingly positive responses/ratings. It just shows that the community here is good. 26 There was that OP perk: no, not that one, the other one ¨C Evolve. This was the one he didn¡¯t get to use much, because¡­ of reasons obviously. With the Elven menace averted and the Lamia famine defeated, or was it the other way round? Anyway, he had plenty of time and energy on his hands. ¡°Evolve.¡± He invoked the perk. A purple light enveloped his new victim. Just an innocent plant, the one his spiders used to make ropes called BanditAgave. It was a prickly bugger and the name was well-earned. The light show didn¡¯t last and died without sparkles and fanfare. This one needed time to manifest their new changes and couldn¡¯t just pop them into existence. ¡°I hope you evolve well.¡± He caressed the prickly plant¡¯s leaf. The perk drained him, but it drained him less than he thought it would, so he moved to his next victim. It was another plant, and it was quite renowned. This was the one he used to make all that cloth for clothes ¨C StemLeaf. A very imaginative and inspired name, and he was proud of it. ¡°Evolve.¡± He dispensed his judgment spraying purple light without mercy from his hands. Something was not right. ¡°I¡¯m not feeling well.¡± He said before he passed out plonking his head right into the pile of wet dirt. ¡­ He was floating in the endless void of space, stars twinkled happily at him. ¡°So pretty.¡± He felt happy and content just floating around in this dream. A cloud of smoke blinked into being out of nowhere. ¡°You haven¡¯t used your chaos blessing.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± He was surprised by this speaking cloud. ¡°YoU HaVen¡¯t UseD YoUr bleSSinG.¡± It accused. Well, this cloud was a joy killer and he wanted to tell it to go away. ¡°Bugger off, cloud.¡± So he did. ¡°I am busy enjoying my dream.¡± ¡°There is a great danger coming. Be prepared.¡± ¡°Cloud, cloud go away. Come again some other day!¡± He chanted an ancient spell towards the cloud. Surprisingly the cloud shrunk on itself and disappeared from his vision with an audible pop. ¡°The stars are so pretty.¡± With the cloud gone, he was back to appreciating the marvels of the Cosmos. ¡­ Blinking away the dumb dreams he opened his eyes to greet the new day. ¡°With great power comes great responsibility.¡± He reminded himself while holding his throbbing head. He was awake but definitely not okay. Everything hurt and he felt drained. A spider offered him a jug of water. He slurped it greedily as if he hasn¡¯t had any for days; which considering how the perk worked, was probably true. He felt slight d¨¦j¨¤ vu trying to get out of his bed. ¡°Ah¡­ Just carry me.¡± He decided to let himself be spoiled. The spider happily complied with the request. Unexpectedly, the ride was smooth and pleasant; these spiders were experts at carrying things on their backs. And he didn¡¯t even need to tell it where to go, the spider knew already. ¡°Destination. Reached. Disembarking.¡± The spider chirped. It chirped and dropped him like a sack of potatoes. ¡°Ugh! I get what I deserve.¡± He dusted the dirt off his clothes. ¡°There is it?¡± he looked for his first victim. ¡°Aha!¡± It was standing out like a sore thumb. The BanditAgave has changed colours from dull green to fiery red. ¡°Congratulation, you have been promoted to FireAgave. Please reproduce quickly.¡± It was a shame that he would need to wait until he was able to process the plant and find its properties. ¡°To the next victim, we go.¡± He gave a meaningful look to the spider. The spider picked him up like a sack of potatoes and carried him to the other field. During the trip, he passed other spiders who chirped him hello. He waved at them to return the greeting. And all of a sudden he could feel his mount to become all smug and elevated. Elevated in a literal sense, the spider stood taller and had bigger strides, and other spiders looked at it in envy. ¡°Wait, why are they looking at you like this?¡± He couldn¡¯t help but wonder. ¡°Jealous. I. Carry. The King.¡± ¡°I see¡­ Maybe don¡¯t drop The King like a sack when we arrive.¡± He offered. ¡°Arrived. Disembarking.¡± It dropped him. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Hey!¡± The spider ran away before he could complain. He would dust himself off but he was too taken aback by the strange sight. ¡°What is this supposed to be?¡± It should have been evolved StemLeaf but instead of a long stem and a big leaf, there was just a bundle of leaves curled up like a cabbage. ¡°A cabbage?¡± He uttered staring at the giant cabbage as big as he was. The leaves began to move. It wasn¡¯t a cabbage, because there was something inside. He looked at it opening like a flower with a bated breath. Behind these leaves, he could see a figure emerge: It had a head, a torso and even hands, but from below the waist it was all plant. He was staring at its back so he couldn¡¯t tell if it had a face. He walked around unable to take his eyes off this marvel. And then he could do nothing but blush. Inside this ¡®cabbage¡¯ there was a figure of a woman, and of course well endowed and naked. The woman stretched with a big yawn, exposing her feminine charms and not two but four rows of needle-like teeth and a long snake-like tongue. She might be half plant half woman, but she definitely was not a vegetarian. She finished yawning and stared at him with curiosity with her big green eyes. Needless to say, she was all in various shades of green and for the hair on her head she just had leaves. ¡°What are you supposed to be?¡± He uttered in wonder. ¡°Alraune.¡± She gave him that toothy grin. The name clicked, it matched with the description of a half-woman and half-plant creature, but those were more like flowers and not cabbages. Well, he should never say that she looked like cabbage, the monster was still a woman. There was still one thing to make sure. ¡°You were a StemLeaf before right?¡± No, that was not it. He should have been amazed that she can talk. ¡°Alraune. Alraune.¡± ¡°Sorry I don¡¯t get it.¡± ¡°Alraune?¡± ¡°Oh, you¡¯re that type of monster. The one who says only its name.¡± ¡°Alraune!¡± the plant woman smiled. Then she opened her hands wide and sprayed green orbs of light all around her. He had almost got worried for a second, but whatever she had cast didn¡¯t affect him, instead, the StemLeaf plants grew ever so slightly. ¡°So you can speed the plant growth, amazing.¡± ¡°Alraure!¡± Yeah, that one-liner can get boring pretty quickly. He wondered if he could somehow excavate the Alraune and plant her where more useful crops were. A spider walked to the now grown StemLeaf plants to harvest them and alraune snatched the little fellow without warning. Her jaw opened more than it should be possible, she was aiming for the spider''s head. ¡°No!¡± He slapped the woman hard enough for her to drop the spider. ¡°You can¡¯t eat them. They are friends, do you understand?¡± ¡°Alraune?¡± ¡°Never mind. Please stay away from alraune from now on.¡± He warned the little worker. The spider chirped in understanding. The plant woman was useful to have around, but she was a wild card and dangerous for his spiders. He couldn¡¯t leave her unsupervised. So he did what any competent king would do, he assigned the minder to this plant. It was a very keen spider who actually volunteered to supervise the hungry plant. Of, course he wasn¡¯t going leave the volunteer without protection. So he crafted something very special. [You have crafted a peacekeeper stick of superior quality. Crafting +1exp] Yeah, it was just a wooden stick but¡­ Congratulations! You have reached Crafting lvl. 2] [Perk Harvest Material obtained.] ¡°Finally!¡± he had unlocked a new perk. ¡°Harvest Material¡± He tried it on StemPlant and it instantly provided him with plant fibre. ¡°I should have gotten it ages ago!¡± It would have made things so much easier. However, the amount he obtained was less than if he went through the entire process. And even more however, it was odd that this was considered a Crafting perk and not Farming, but he won¡¯t complain about this. Since it was established that he could do that on plants he grew, he had to try it on animals as well. He went to the boar pen and invoked the skill on a random boar, however, nothing happened. ¡°Maybe they need to be dead?¡± He did the necessary and invoked the perk again. This time it worked giving him [Enchanted Boar Pelt] and [Enchanted Boar Meat]. The rest of the body just broke into sparkles and then disappeared. He looked at the two items an idea budding in his head. ¡°If only I had a storage ring or loot bag¡­ I could become the ultimate hoarder.¡± He was tempted by the idea. ¡°I wonder if the elves possess such things.¡± However, the time for that wasn¡¯t right; not yet. He used the perk on another plant, the blue flower DustyBlue. Predictably so, the flower turned into a pile of blue dust. Extracting the dust was never an easy process, but now it was. He collected the dust into the wooden vial. ¡°I can throw this in defence and give my enemy a debuff.¡± The dust had a sleep debuff, to which he was now immune so it didn¡¯t even affect him. ¡°Perfect!¡± He kept trying this new perk on various things. He could even harvest the fruits instantly, however, it destroyed the fruit vine so it wasn¡¯t always practical to use it. In hindsight, the perk could be used to quickly destroy things like pesky weeds, or unwanted corpses, which probably was an unintended exploit. And! He intended to use that exploit to full power. There was this pesky plant, a thorn at the side of his farm. It was a spiky vine he had planted hoping to grow a defensive plant. It grew well, maybe too well, it was tall and sturdy, its horns sharp like daggers, and the thorny vine tumbled and rolled in swirling patterns resembling a roll of barbed wire. The problem was, once planted it was very difficult to remove it, so he kind of ignored the problem ending up with a small infestation. That was until now because he could finally face this undefeated foe. ¡°Away with you, menacing Bane of Spiders, begone, [Harvest Material].¡± A small section of the SpikeVine disappeared leaving behind only thorns. ¡°[Thorn].¡± The skill after all was there to give him materials and not act as a cheap weedkiller. ¡°I must be able to craft something with that.¡± The thorn was as long as his finger but slightly slimmer. Even if it was made of woody material, it was quite strong. He tested it on his armour. Predictably so, it wasn¡¯t able to pierce it and snapped the thorn in half instead. ¡°What if¡­¡± He had another genius idea. ¡°Reinforce.¡± He used the perk he had gotten from levelling up Building. [Thorn: Reinforced +1]. This was the day of discovery. He should make this day a national celebration in his kingdom. He was able to reinforce materials! This was a revolutionary discovery because he could reinforce material make an item and then reinforce it again. This was OP! However, he was jumping to conclusions without putting things to the test. He jabbed the thorn into his armour, of course, it didn¡¯t pierce it, but it didn¡¯t break this time, meaning that paltry +1 was actually a significant amount. Finally, he was beginning to feel like a real wizard; in a very roundabout exploitative way. He kept turning SpikyVine into light sparkles, disintegrating it, when collected the dropped material and ¡®enchanted¡¯ the thorns with another shower of light but this time purple. Unavoidably the light show had attracted spectators. They were clapping and chirping happily at the unexpected entertainment. They too were glad that the prickly Bane of Spiders was finally dealt with; a task only a true King could achieve. 27 - A Warm Welcome He was sitting on the most comfortable pillow ever crafted and casually munching a fruit in his left hand. ¡°Life is good.¡± He reflected and took another bite. ¡±All is well¡± It was amazing to have no troubles. A spider scuttered towards the throne in hurried steps. He looked at the messenger raising a curious eyebrow. ¡°Intruders!¡± It reported in an alarmed chipper. The fruit slipped out of his hand and rolled on the ground. ¡°Where?¡± He stood up. ¡°Come. Come.¡± The spider ran and he ran behind it. At the edge of the farm, he could see his spiders fighting something. He had trouble describing what it was from the distance, but it looked like a tide of brown mass. When he was close enough he realised that this mass wasn¡¯t uniform, it was made out of many small individuals. They were tiny and plump creatures, no bigger than a foot. They had white bodies with stumpy hands and legs, and on their heads was a brown cap. The brown mass was a horde of walking mushrooms! The little creatures gnawed and chewed on his plants. The spiders were trying to remove the pests, but there were simply just too many. He got close to one specimen. ¡°Mush! Mush-Mush.¡± It shouted at him and then bit on his boot. ¡°Hey, you!¡± He kicked at the pest sending it flying into the air. ¡°Mu-oooooo-sh!¡± It shrieked while coursing through the air. For whatever reason, the mushrooms didn¡¯t like him even more now. Not one but five mushrooms were gnawing at his boots. He has had enough of this rude behaviour so with a quick thrust of the spear he pierced the mushrooms one by one, making himself a nice mushroom skewer. The five were replaced by ten, and ten by twenty, when soon he had to face what looked like a good fifty; the horde was endless. He retrieved a flask out of his pocket and flung the contents at the mushrooms. The blue dust burst into the cloud making the mushroom people cough and heave, it didn¡¯t look like they were immune to the debuff. One by one they fell asleep. Alas, he had only a single flask with him, so the moment of respite was temporary, he had to keep fighting the pests one group at a time. He didn¡¯t need to do that alone either, the spiders were here to help, and the lamias too. His numbers were within thousands but the mushrooms must have been within tens of thousands. The battle was fierce and long, but in the end, the brown horde, what remained of it, retreated into the jungle. Everywhere he looked he saw limp mushrooms littering the floor and a faint mist of red hovered above their corpses. ¡°Goomba stomp!¡± He crushed the last one which seemed to be still alive. Whatever mercy he had it was long gone, and for a reason. The pests had half destroyed his fields, the precious vines had bite marks all over and the fruits were missing, the StemLeaf and newly established FireAgave suffered similar fates. The only exceptions were the blue flowers and the patch where Alraune was living. For whatever reason the pests had avoided her. If he didn¡¯t have fruits in storage his spiders would starve, the devastation was that bad. ¡°What were those?¡± He asked a lamia suspecting the mushrooms had come from the mountain. ¡°Monsters-sss. Myconids.¡± ¡°Tell me more.¡± According to a friendly lamia the mushroom monsters were common in the Oberon Underountain. They would often hide their communities in caves unreachable or disguise themselves as simple mushrooms and wait out the intruder. However, she remembered them as non-violent and she had never seen a horde so big. By the way, lamia often would hunt myconids and eat them as food, apparently, they were quite delicious. He looked at the half-crushed myconid under his boot, it didn¡¯t look tasty at all. ¡°So why did they attack?¡± ¡°I can only guess-sss. It¡¯s-sss the mana they¡¯re after.¡± ¡°Mana?¡± ¡°Mana rich food. SSS. Your fruits.¡± She elaborated. That was right, his plants were kinda magical. ¡°I get it, but why an entire horde?¡± ¡°Yes, too many.¡± Lamia agreed. ¡°That I don¡¯t understand as-sss well. Sss-shall I investigate?¡± ¡°Only if you think it¡¯s safe. Here take some spiders with you.¡± ¡°I shall make preparations-sss and move out at dusk.¡± Finding the cause was essential, but that wouldn¡¯t stop another attack. He had to find ways to protect his farm from further devastation. Out of curiosity, he used Harvest Material on one of the corpses. It turned to motes of light leaving exactly nothing behind. ¡°Worthless for crafting then. A fertiliser, perhaps.¡± He told the spiders to turn the mushroom people into mulch, the plans will need the nutrients to recover the damage. And to ward the further infestations off he had sent the spiders to patrol the jungle and give him a warning, but also he began planting flowers around his farm; their dust was super effective against the myconids. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡­ He was woken up in the early morning. [Perk Chaos Blessed activated], Lamia Queen had invited herself into his chambers. That, and he just ignored the system message, that perk would often activate at random; its effects were unpredictable. ¡°What is it?¡± He rubbed his tired eyes ignoring the system message. ¡°The mushrooms-sss¡­¡± ¡°Are they back?¡± He panicked. ¡°No, but¡­ come-sss.¡± He didn¡¯t need to go far, as soon as he stepped outside he could see tiny stalks of fungi pointing up and out of the ground. Thousands and thousands of mushrooms which hadn¡¯t bloomed yet. ¡°Oh, no!¡± He reacted in horror. ¡°Oh, yes-sss!¡± Lamia Queen licked her lips. ¡°Tasty.¡± As he was thinking about what to do with mushroom plague the first sun rays hit the clearing and once that light had hit the mushroom stalks and they began to shrivel. Fungi withered in droves and crumbled to nothing but dust. ¡°No-sss!¡± Lamia Queen shouted in disappointment. ¡°Yes! Cave mushrooms can¡¯t grow outside.¡± He had made an important discovery. ¡°Crisis averted.¡± ¡°But I wanted to grow them in your farm. They make a good soup.¡± ¡°Not if they try to eat you first.¡± The small event aside, he was still unsettled by what had transpired. He didn¡¯t like to be invaded like that, not one bit. What if next time it will be a more formidable monster? His spider warriors needed protective equipment not just axes and machetes, so he locked himself inside the workshop for the rest of the day. He wanted to make shields and armour for the spiders. However, his materials were still few, he had to use what he had. He decided to use the leaves from PurpleM vine and the thorns he had gathered for this project. He reinforced both to +1 using his perk, then layered multiple blue leaves on top of each other and bound them together making a triangular shield. He attached thorns on its face and sides so it could be used for attacks too. [You have crafted thorn shield of superior quality. Crafting +100exp.], plus he reinforced the finished product again. [Thorn Shield: Reinforced +2, Reflect Physical Damage 5%.] He used one of the axes he had made before to test this shield. He swung at full power into the shield. The axe damaged the thorns but didn¡¯t manage to split the shield, it left only a small scar on the shielding. The shield was damaged already, so why stop there? It was to stress test it properly. He landed five more swings, knocking all the thorns off but it was the axe which broke firsts. ¡°Huh?¡± He was surprised but then he remembered that the axe only had Reinforced +1. He took another axe and in two more swings, the shield had finally broken. ¡°7 hits, not bad.¡± This was the axe, mind you, a natural counter to shields, so what this meant was that the shield was better than it had any right to be. Also, interestingly, he didn¡¯t take any reflected damage; he couldn¡¯t help but wonder why it was so. Needless to say, the crafter spiders were peeping on him from the windows. He needed enough of the shields for all of his warriors, and he didn¡¯t intend to craft them alone. ¡°Come, come. I will show you how to make it.¡± He unlocked the door letting them in. The spiders rolled and prodded the shield with their pseudo arms and mandibles, passing it between one another. ¡°Marvellous.¡±, ¡°Magnificent.¡±, ¡°Superb.¡± They praised his craftmanship, obviously keen to flatter their king. ¡°What do you think? Can you manage to replicate it?¡± The group chirped in affirmation. ¡°We. Can!¡± Of course, he still needed to use [Reinforce] on some of the materials, but that was only a trivial matter. The spiders made a line and used the conveyor strategy to make shields. Ingenious really! One spider was cutting the leaves into the right shape, the other stacking them together, the third one pressing them, the fifth and sixth binding the leaves into a uniform and thick sheet, and the eighth and ninth attached the thorns. The tenth had grabbed the axe and was keen to stress test the final product, this was the point where he had to intervene and explain that this was unnecessary. The little guy was looking forward to smashing all of the shields and was visibly disappointed, moreover, it was left without a task. So instead he offered the spider to join him in making the armour. The armour followed a similar pattern and design, it was three plates, two for the sides and one for the back. Each plate had thorns on it. The spiders had many legs, that¡¯s why the armour was kept so simple, there was plenty of space between the plates but it protected what was most important. This way no one will have a chance to kick at the spider from the side or even jump on their back, that is unless they wanted to be pierced by thorns. [You have crafted thorn armour of superior quality. Crafting +100exp.] [Thorn Armour: Reinforced +2, Reflect Physical Damage 5%.] The Reflect Physical Damage bonus added up to a nice 10%. Now the enemy will have to think twice before striking his spiders. All that was left was to test it. So he had sent the spider crafter number ten to fetch him the best of the warriors. Soon it was back, but the spider wasn¡¯t back with exactly what he had expected. Well, yes it was a spider and a warrior but¡­ ¡°Have you evolved or something?¡± He looked again and was unable to believe it. The spider no longer was just a spider, it was more. This warrior¡¯s body was made out of two distinct segments. The lower segment had the spider body with iconic six legs (yes, his spiders only had six). The upper segment was the torso similar to that of human with two arms and a head, but that was where the similarity ended. The warrior still had its black obsidian-like chitin, unique bug arms and spider head with four yellow eyes and a set of formidable mandibles. Its waist was unnaturally thin and the chest was broad and looked bony. Most frighteningly of all it stood as tall as the King of Spiders. ¡°I¡¯ve Molted. Grown. Bigger.¡± It raised its chin higher and puffed out its chest. ¡°Amazing!¡± He still couldn¡¯t believe that his spider looked like an actual person, well, spider-person. Regardless, the image in his head of a budding city filled with spider people got even stronger. ¡°Thank You. King.¡± It bowed respectfully. So humble, so well-mannered already! His spiders were just the best. ¡°There is one problem, however.¡± He picked three plates which were bound together by ropes. ¡°The armour won¡¯t fit you anymore.¡± The design was meant for his average spider. ¡°No. Problem. We Change. It.¡± The crafter spider gave him the equivalent of spider thumbs up. However, a familiar messenger ran into the workshop shouting. ¡°Problem. Problem!¡± ¡°It never ends does it?¡± He sighed but was not disheartened. ¡°What is it?¡± He was keen to solve this new problem. ¡°Come. Come. Lamia. Kobold.¡± The spider chirped in a rush as if it was most urgent. He couldn¡¯t quite get it but followed anyway. Indeed, the situation didn¡¯t look good. No one else but his most trusted friendly Lamia was holding a wooden cage right above the pot of boiling water. In that cage was a familiar kobold, the leader of Kobolds. The cage bottom was open and she was trying to shake the kobold out. ¡°King of Spiders, help! She will eat me!¡± He screeched at the top of his lungs while clinging to the cage bars with all fours. 28 He had to wrangle the kobold out and away from the lamia. The little lizard clung to him like an infant to his mother. ¡°King, you saved me.¡± The kobold looked with big and teary eyes. ¡°What happened?¡± He asked the friendly lamia. ¡°I found this sss-snack on my way home.¡± ¡°Weren¡¯t you supposed to report about the mountain back to me first?¡± ¡°Without, sss, dinner?¡± Well, maybe it wasn¡¯t urgent. ¡°I told her about you. That King of Spiders is my friend. She didn¡¯t believe it!¡± The kobold pointed his clawed finger at the lamia accusingly. ¡°See! He still spouts-sss lies-sss.¡± She hissed. ¡°Let¡¯s eat him, sss, I am hungry.¡± ¡°But Kobolds are my allies.¡± He put the kobold on the ground. ¡°They are?¡± Lamia made a face of disbelief. ¡°Yes, they are. I haven¡¯t told you before because I knew that lamia-kobold relationship isn¡¯t good.¡± ¡°But why do you ally with a kobold?¡± She frowned finding the idea distasteful. ¡°They¡¯re useless-sss. and no better than a cave rat.¡± ¡°See! Lamia are bullies.¡± The kobold leader hid behind like a shy toddler would. ¡°They work for me and are mining ores in exchange for food. They¡¯re excellent miners, they¡¯re not useless.¡± ¡°Cave rats-sss can tunnel too¡­ But if they work for you I understand. They''re your vassals-sss, right?¡± No, they were allies and trading partners. To be a vassal implied a completely different relationship. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡± He made a white lie hoping that lamia will drop the issue. ¡°Then, I won¡¯t eat this-sss one.¡± ¡°Or any other kobold, please.¡± ¡°How would I know some sss-stray morsel was your vassal or not?¡± Lamia asked with her arms crossed defensively. ¡°They are all my frie¡­ vassals.¡± He caught himself in time. ¡°All of them?!¡± She replied in shock. ¡°But then you did defeat The Worm of Oberon, it makes sss-sense.¡± How the two correlated he had no clue, but as long as Lamia stopped eating kobolds he was fine with her conclusions. The kobold leader gasped. ¡°The King of Spiders killed The Worm?¡± ¡°He did, sss!¡± Lamia said proudly with her chin high. ¡°Then that makes sense¡­ The mushroom plague!¡± The kobold began waving in panic. ¡°The mushroom plague?¡± He had to ask. ¡°The mushroom plague!¡± Lamia spat. ¡°I went back to our old village, sss,¡± she hissed for suspense. ¡°It was infested with myconid sss-spawn. We won¡¯t be able to reclaim our home any time sss-soon. The reason for the infestation is sss-still unclear.¡± It was nice of her to finally remember to give him the report. ¡°The Worm! The Worm.¡± The kobold was waving the entire time. ¡°It eats the mushrooms. No worm¡­¡± He finally realised, ¡°Without the natural predator their population had exploded!¡± ¡°And they need mana to keep growing. SSS. The caves have only sss-so much, that¡¯s why they attacked your farms-sss.¡± The puzzle pieces fell in place. ¡°King you have to help!¡± The kobold made his plea. ¡°Our food was eaten by mushrooms. That¡¯s why I sought you out, but got taken by this ugly snake!¡± He pointed accusingly. ¡°You would never have made past the entrance of the cave, sss, we all know that. And who do you call ugly!¡± She slithered to catch the kobold but he ducked under the King''s legs escaping her grasp. ¡°Hey, no fighting allowed. We have to do something about the mushroom infestation.¡± He stated a fact. ¡°To save Kobold Camp!¡± ¡°To reclaim Lamia village, sss!¡± The two glared at each other. ¡°We can do both, no? And help each other in doing so.¡± ¡°The Queen will never agree to this.¡± She frowned deeply. ¡°To work with Kobolds.¡± Lamia had her arms back in a crossed position. ¡°I might just have a trick for that.¡± This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡­ All it took was a bottle of slug jelly and he had the Queen in his paws, paws because he felt dirty for using such cheap tricks; sweets addiction was a scary thing. The Queen had promised undying support, lasting peace with Kobolds and many other things he didn¡¯t need or want. She lent him Lamia warriors and friendly Lamia will be leading the group. He also took his newly-kitted spider warriors and began the long march to the mountain caves. The march was not that long, there was a road already. It was only packed dirt but without the need to chop the pesky vines and bushes the trek was much smoother. Of course, he was not walking, he was riding the big spider, still the largest of them all, the one who didn¡¯t evolve for some reason. The spider was a cool dude actually, it went and asked crafters to craft a better saddle so that the King could feel comfortable on its back. It was very considerate of the spider and he appreciated the comfy ride. But in his head, he already had a perfect mount, a forbidden ride he couldn¡¯t forget. He would ask the friendly lamia, but she wasn¡¯t that big and probably unwilling to take a paltry role of a mere horse. He reassured himself with the thought that some dreams aren¡¯t meant to be, they should stay locked in his head or else there might be some terrible misunderstanding again. So they rode at great speed, the mountain cave entrance was just in view and by the looks of it they were here just in time. Myconids spilt like a flood from the entrance in great numbers. The tinny beady eyes betrayed mad hunger. ¡°Attack!¡± He commanded like a King should from atop his noble stead, blasting Encouraging Aura at full power. The goal was to push the infestation back into the cave before it could spill and reach his farms again. The spiders surrounded the entrance in an arch and began chopping the mushrooms without mercy or remorse. In retrospect, it would have been better if he had equipped them with hammers, but the axes worked well enough. The myconids ran out of the entrance in endless numbers seemingly uncaring about the certain death. There were so many that the ground was now covered in a thick layer of mushroom soup. ¡°Sss-something is not right.¡± Lamia hissed in concern. ¡°I know, there¡¯s just too many.¡± ¡°No-sss.¡± She shook her head. ¡°They¡¯re running to their deaths-sss uncaring. Unnatural it is-sss.¡± He had to agree, all living things had some instinct of natural preservation. This slaughter was just madness. But he couldn¡¯t stop what he had started, the farms were at risk. He kept killing and killing each mushroom giving him meagre Fighting +1exp. The counter kept ticking and the sum reached +1000, and that was just his kills. A thick soup of mushrooms coated his spear and clothes alike, he was drenched in it and it felt beyond unpleasant. There was an end to it at last, the mushrooms pilled high and wide forming a massive cork of brown sludgy mush and were clogging up the entrance. ¡°We¡¯ll have to clear it if we want to get through.¡± He sighted thinking about all the work. ¡°Unless¡­¡± He reasoned that whatever he was looking at was no longer just a dead mushroom but an object in itself. ¡°Harvest Material.¡± He tried using the perk on the mushroom cork. Purple particles rained on engulfing the abominable pile of coagulated mushrooms entirely, and then it disappeared leaving only the motes of light. ¡°Amazing.¡± Friendly lamia clapped at the trick. Others soon followed and he bowed as an expert performer would. In doing so he noticed something left behind in place of the massive ¡®cork¡¯. It was small like a marble and perfectly round. [Myconid Matriarch Spore], it was a curious material he had obtained. He didn¡¯t know the immediate use for it so he pocketed the small marble. ¡°Well then, shall we proceed?¡± ¡°Yes-sss, it should be safe.¡± ¡°To *munch* Kobold *munch* Camp!¡± The Kobold Leader announced while eating the decapitated mushroom. Lamia snatched the snack from the kobold and swallowed it whole. ¡°See! Bully.¡± The kobold accused. He just sighted at the troublesome two, a friendly lamia was probably still angry that their first destination was Kobold Camp and not Lamia village. They reached the camp with no problem and it didn¡¯t look too different, aside from rows and rows of stakes surrounding the camp. On each stake, there was a myconid skewered and left to dry. It didn¡¯t look like kobolds were in trouble at all. ¡°So you have dealt with the infestation yourselves?¡± He observed. ¡°Kobolds are sturdy, we adapt.¡± The leader said proudly. ¡°And it doesn¡¯t look like you will be starving any time soon. Why am I here for?¡± The kobold waved it dismissively. ¡°They ate all of our fruits!¡± In other words, they had the same problem as him, mushroom raids were eating their fruits, the fruits kobolds so desired. ¡°I guess, towards Lamia village we go¡­¡± There was nothing to do here. ¡°I told you, it was a waste, sss.¡± ¡°Bye, bye.¡± The kobold leader waved them happily, he was already behind the camp fence. ¡°Are you not coming?¡± He thought the kobolds would join him. ¡°No!¡± the kobold looked at him as if he was crazy and then added, ¡°Thanks for the ride.¡± The cheery smile and a long wave were back in action. ¡°I told you sss-¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah. Let''s go.¡± He wasn¡¯t bitter or anything, no, actually he was happy the kobolds were doing okay, less work for him; apparently, not everyone needed saving. The Lamia, however, definitely needed his help; their old village was now a myconid nest. The cave tunnels leading to the village were overgrown with mushrooms. The deeper they went the worse it had gotten: the fungal growths blocked their path, the floor was slick, slippy and covered in odd goo and the air became filled with red mist which likely were the mushroom spores. He worried about his, lamias¡¯, and spiders'' health, but if there were a negative debuff he would have received a message. Speaking of the devil: [De-buff active: Myconid Spores] ¡°I guess we have to turn back.¡± He had no way to deal with it. ¡°No need. SSS. It¡¯s only mild.¡± Lamia pushed forward in unbroken resolve. ¡°Yeah? What is the effect.¡± ¡°A chance of to be afflicted-sss by Hallucination, Torpor, Sleep, Paralysis, Berserk, Fright, Charm and other-sss negative-sss sss-status-sss effects-sss. SSS.¡± She had gotten an awfully more hissy all of a sudden. ¡°It doesn¡¯t sound mild at all!¡± He looked in worry at his spiders. ¡°It-sss only-sss a very-sss. SSS. Small chance-sss. SSS¡± It was hard to understand her at this point. ¡°I think we should¡­¡± ¡°No-sss! Come-sss, Come-sss.¡± A friendly lamia kept pushing ahead, her warriors followed with the same resolve. He stopped his spiders. ¡°Hey come back!¡± Lamia didn¡¯t even turn around. He put the Commanding Aura and repeated. ¡°Turn around now!¡± And even then it didn¡¯t work. The Lamia was going further and further away from him, deeper into the spore-infected tunnels and towards their old village and then they disappeared under the cover of red mist. ¡°How do you feel about this?¡± He asked the big spider, the warrior leader and his mount, the one who barely fit in the tunnel. ¡°No. Debuff. For. Spiders. We. Go. Save. Lamia.¡± That was lucky, the spider biology must have played a part. Meaning, he could stay here and wait this one out, but what kind of king would he be if he was afraid of a small status debuff ¨C He was the brave King of Spiders and not the cautions King of Cowards. ¡°Lamia, wait. I¡¯m coming.¡± He charged boldly into the mist only to step on a mushroom and slip, the floor was gooey and a slip turned into a slide down the slippy surface. He slid towards a tiny hole in the wall which was sneakily hidden by a dozen or so mushrooms. He knocked the mushrooms like bowling pins, STRIKE, into the hole he went. It sloped down sharply taking him deeper into the mountain. ¡°EEE!¡± He shouted sliding down the pitch-black ride to who knows where. 29 He slid down the slide silently praying that it doesn¡¯t end in a dead end leaving him stuck forever. The prayer was answered then he shot out into a large cavern. The floor was seeded with various mushrooms, some glowing some not, and he crushed them all in a mad slide-spin. His movement was stopped once he hit a mushroom tree with his head; it was okay because he wore a helmet and the tree had spongy flesh. ¡°This could have gone better.¡± He stood up and scraped mushroom goo off his butt. He looked around, the cavern wasn¡¯t out of the ordinary except that mushrooms were growing everywhere, and a small detail of a large mushroom walking right towards him. Its eyes were glowing red and were filled with mad rage, it frothed some thick green sludge out of its mouth and it had purple throbbing veins coiling around its brown fungal body and spreading like some sort of disease. He had never seen anything like that, and he was still affected by the debuff meaning that he might have just hallucinated this monster. Hallucination or not he had to fight it, so he ran back to the hole and retrieved his legendary Slayer Spear. He raised the weapon towards the shambling myconid. It was futile talking with monsters, or hallucinations but he decided to try anyway. ¡°If you attack me, I will fight back. Don¡¯t come any closer.¡± He waved his spear. The myconid just frothed some more of that sludge from its mouth and raised its stubby hands for an attack. ¡°I warned you!¡± He stabbed at the soft fungal flesh, the spear had no trouble piercing the myconid. Purple substance gushed out of the wound but the myconid proceeded as if it felt none of that. A hand landed on his shoulder with a hard blow; heavier than it had any right to be for unarmed attack. He stumbled backwards ripping the spear out of the flesh, and then a few steps more. The shoulder throbbed in pain but otherwise, he felt alright. The walking mushroom kept approaching him ever so slowly. ¡°Aren¡¯t you a bit too slow?¡± But then he realised something, maybe he was the slow one here. ¡°Take that.¡± He threw a loosely tied pouch at the monster, it burst in a cloud of blue dust. How did that saying went? ¨C Fight fire with fire, debuff with a debuff. ¡°¡­or something like that.¡± He muttered watching the tall myconid just flop onto the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. He wasn¡¯t one to waste an opportune moment so he thrust his spear into it, again and again, until¡­ [Fighting +50 exp], the monster was dead. [Perk: Life Steal, activated.] He didn¡¯t lose any HP or at least he thought he didn¡¯t but his shoulder felt a lot better now. That reminded him to use another perk. ¡°Harvest Material.¡± He tried hoping that it will work on a larger mushroom like it did on that ¡®cork¡¯. The body went through the usual process of ¡®disappearing¡¯ and then dropped a soggy pile of a powdery substance, [Red Spores] - the system informed. ¡°Ever so useful, system. But what does it do?¡± Well, he had a hunch anyway, so he collected the spores. The myconid was defeated, but he still had no clue where he was or where to go. So instead of feeling worried and lost he chose a random direction and began walking. He didn¡¯t get to walk far because two familiar monsters blocked his path. They growled something unintelligible and began to slowly shamble towards him. He killed one, so he can kill two - no problem, plus the monsters were slow like zombies, if he wanted he could even outrun the two. However, the only problem was that he was feeling tired all of a sudden. Not sleepy-tired, but slow-tired. ¡°Torpor.¡± A stark reminder that he was under the debuff. He was slow, but he wasn¡¯t stupid; he used the blue dust again. He finished the closest enemy and harvested it for materials. [Fighting +50 exp], [Perk: Life Steal, activated.]. The message didn¡¯t make much sense, he definitely didn''t lose any health this time, however, he felt very angry all of a sudden so he pulped the other myconid to vent out. [Perk: Life Steal, activated.]. ¡°This is weird.¡± All of a sudden another large myconid appeared, taller and fatter than the previous ones. It just stood looking at him, radiating menace. Taking initiative was important in battle so he struck first. He threw dust at it, but the monster refused to fall asleep; it was likely the size made it immune. Regardless, he timed his attack well and stabbed the monster on the side, and then again. The large myconid barely fought back, but it stood like a true tank soaking all the damage and refusing to die. ¡°The bigger they are, the harder they fall.¡± He motivated himself. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. He was getting tired from all the thrusts and dodging acrobatics he had to perform, but he felt that the monster¡¯s health pool was at it¡¯s and. And sure enough with a well-timed swing, the monster fell to it¡¯s knees defeated. ¡°Huh?¡± Only then did he realise that the monster was no monster at all, but only a tall mushroom tree. He looked around in worry, luckily there was no one to see his embarrassing ¡®fight¡¯. ¡°I have just wasted a pouch of dust.¡± He lamented at the fact of only having four more left. He kept walking still cautious about the trees that looked like monsters. Finally, he found an exit of the cavern, guarded by four large myconids. If monster numbers increased all that meant was that he was going in the right direction; hopefully. He didn¡¯t need to change tactics, the dust cloud was more suited for group attack anyway. All four were soon fast asleep. He didn¡¯t just kill them, no, he had an experiment to run. The theory was that each time he killed a myconid his life steal perk would activate and somehow interfere with the debuff, setting it to a different negative status effect. In other words, if he wanted to change the negative status effect he had to kill a myconid. That was theory number one, theory number two was that the debuff could give him only one negative status effect. Currently, he assumed he was under hallucination. ¡°So to change it¡­¡± he stabbed at the monster and all of a sudden he began to feel very sleepy, the vision began to dim. ¡°Nope!¡± He stabbed at the other hoping that the next one, isn¡¯t Paralysis. It wasn¡¯t, he was just outraged and super angry so he obliterated the third and then he was just slow and lethargic. ¡°Torpor. I will take that.¡± He didn¡¯t want to experience Paralysis or Charm so he left the fourth myconid asleep deciding that Torpor was the easiest to deal with. Then he slowly shambled through the tunnel feeling like a zombie would but less hungry for brains. ¡°Brains¡­ Brains¡­¡± he mouthed regardless just to entertain himself during the slow journey. Then he had a realisation. He brought the Slayer Spear closer and coated the tip with dust. The dust didn¡¯t need to enter the body through pores or lungs for it to work if he could just introduce it to the blood directly. The powder was not a poultice so it didn¡¯t smear or stick to the spear perfectly, but that was only a minor inconvenience. ¡°Now the dust will last much longer.¡± He finally entered another large cavern. As soon as he stepped in, he wanted to run. No, he wasn¡¯t under Fright debuff; The room was packed full of little myconids. The little mushrooms glared at him with mad red eyes and began to pluck themselves out of the soil. One by one they stood and the floor came alive, they moved like a horde towards him. He would run if he could, but he didn¡¯t need to. He walked slowly back to the entrance so that they couldn''t surround him and took a guarded position; one versus a horde. In reality, they were only little and of little concern to him. Tiny stubby arms pummelled him, and equally tiny teeth tried to bite him. Imagine a pigeon trying to fight a fully plated knight, that¡¯s how it looked. He pierced the mushrooms one by one, putting them to sleep. ¡°Goomba Stomp!¡± He slammed his foot crushing two myconids into the soup. [Fighting +2 exp.] The use of a spear was short and swift, and he didn¡¯t use it for killing blows so the perk didn¡¯t activate. It took him longer than he was comfortable with, but the horde was dealt with. He waddled through the chunky soup towards the next tunnel. Halfway through the tunnel, he could hear the sounds of fighting coming from the other side. He knew what this meant and he wished to be quick, to run and finally help his allies. ¡°Damn this Torpor!¡± He cursed. It felt like ages but he emerged on the other side. The place looked familiar but not quite so, it was the Lamia village but it went through some recent renovations. There were mushrooms everywhere, even on the walls and ceilings. It looked like an overgrown jungle but fungal. Glowing mushrooms, mushroom trees, mushroom stalks, fungi columns, fungal vines ¨C everything was mushroom. Plus, it was infested by those large myconid monsters, an entire swarm of them. Myconids were frothing from their mouths, eyes bloodshot with rage. However, some were still and unmoving, seemingly consumed by throbbing purple veins coiling through their fungal body. Actually, the whole cave chamber had purple veins; they spread like webs through the surface and were only getting more dense towards the middle. In the very middle was the Lamia Hot Spring, the source of the corruption. And in that pool, there was an abominable horror, he had no better words to describe it. It was half plant half animal, but its animal part was more bones than flesh, and whatever flesh it had was all rotten. The animal part was equally disgusting, it was fungal and oozing purple slime from the pores. The abomination had no actual shape, it was just a clump of tentacles and other amorphous growths, and it was large barely fitting in the corrupted hot spring. ¡°Malignant Cancer.¡± That was how he felt upon seeing this abomination and what it did to the entire cavern. Unspeakable horrors aside, the chamber had a mundane one too. He could see his spiders bravely fighting the myconids, so it was true, the spores didn¡¯t affect them. The Lamia however didn¡¯t fare so well. He saw the typical signs of the debuff. Some were unmoving, sleeping or paralysed, others were enraged or fighting something that wasn¡¯t really there. Obviously, some were already defeated and their injured bodies were dragged by myconids towards the Malignant Cancer. He saw a familiar face, a friendly lamia was moved by two gnarly and twisted myconids right towards the corrupted spring. The abomination moved its tentacles in excited anticipation, the pores spat red spores and jets of purple corruption, and then a large hole appeared in the midsection of it. The hole was filled not with teeth, but with sharp and broken bones of various unknown creatures. It was clear what will come next if he just stood there and waited for his spiders to break the defending lines of corrupted myconids. He would run, but¡­ He threw a spear at the unmoving and corruption-consumed shell of a myconid hoping that it still had some life left. [Perk: Life Steal, activated.], it was a gamble but it worked. ¡°Rahhh!¡± he was angry before but now he was Rage Incarnate, not only that, he also projected the Berserk Aura which only added to the effect. He was Enraged Super Furious Anger Machine The Embodiment of Violence and The Essence of Fury Itself, Berserk Level Over 6000! [Error.] 30 A fungal tentacle stretched out of the corrupted spring and swung at him at full force. He was too enraged to even attempt to dodge it. The attack landed on his chest and he was sent back flying. [Minor Regeneration activated.] It was just a scratch, he stood up and launched himself at the tentacle. It swung again, but this time he was ready, he stabbed the spear into the tentacle inflicting the Blue Dust debuff on it. The tentacle trembled and even began to shrivel. The shrivelling appendage wasn¡¯t his real enemy; the abomination was. The monster wrapped friendly lamia using a spindly tentacle and was bringing her towards his mouth. He was running in a mad dash right towards the monster, jumping from one flat stone to the other. A single mistake and he could fall into the corrupted waters. The tentacles were shooting out of the water, trying to grab him, but he was too fast. He felt energy coursing through his body, he felt empowered and stronger than he should ever be. But most of all he was enraged. He kicked off the stone making a long jump, he flew like a record-breaking athlete towards the mouth tentacle. While still in the air he thrusted the spear, the blow was so powerful it snapped the appendage in two; then he landed on another flat stone like a pro gymnast and turned towards the abomination. The lamia of course fell into the water, her body landed in the viscous corrupted sludge; it didn¡¯t drown but floated on the surface. Upon touch with the skin thin purple veins appeared, slowly spreading through her body. He would have done something about it, that is if he wasn¡¯t under the negative status effect. All he wanted to do now was to destroy this monstrosity, so he kicked off the rock and jumped again. He was flying through the air like a cannonball, the monstrosity didn¡¯t even bother to swing its tentacles at him, instead, it opened its already large mouth wider and right into the mouth he went. That was a huge mistake. Just before the mouth could close and crush his body, he released every last pinch of Blue Dust he still had. The dust went right into fungal pores clogging them and then reacting with the mucus inside. It made a sizzling sound. Instead of finally closing the mouth the abomination opened it again and coughed hard. The unpleasant smell of rot assaulted his nose and burned his eyes. [De-buff active: Miasma]. The gust was so strong it threatened to blow him out of the mouth, but he wanted to stay, he had to stay. So he slammed his spear into the base of the mouth and held tight. The monster had an incredible ability to move air through its body; the current was powerful enough to lift him. His feet were dangling in the air and If not for the anchored spear he would have been blown away. With the moving air, the Blue Dust was cleansed from the fungal flesh, and he had another ace in his hand. [Life Steal activated.] He didn¡¯t need to kill a thing for the perk to activate, keeping it inside someone''s body long enough would also do the trick. Soon, his eyes and lungs felt much better, and even his mind much clearer. Abomination was large and he only needed so much health, the life force pooled into the Slayer Spear regardless. The spear shaft began to glow and even buzz from all of the excess energy. It was glowing red like a hot iron rod and even felt like one in his hand. And then it just exploded into a ball of red energy. [Assassin Strike activated.] like a grenade it sent fragments of IronOak wood in random directions. He too was sent out of the mouth by the explosion with several of the fragments lodged deep in his armour. [Tough Skin activated.], [Spell Deflection activated.], in the end, all damage was negated and he crashed on the surface of a corrupted pond. He avoided the explosion damage but the water of the corrupted spring did its thing: [De-buff active: Corruption.] However, there was good news too. The monster shrieked in a horrendous cry, its tentacles trashed aimlessly and the fungal skin began to sizzle. If he didn¡¯t know any better, he would say that someone just cast a terrible spell or debuff on the cancerous lump of a monster. The jerking of the tentacles stopped and its body shrivelled making it look like a wrung-out rag, like a puppet whose stuffing was taken out; deflated and defeated. [Fighting +25000exp]. The Corruption slowly drained him, he could feel it eat and burn at his skin. On the upside, he no longer felt like the embodiment of wrath; his mind was so much clearer. So, he pushed through viscous liquid towards the unconscious lamia. He scooped her out of the oil-like water and frowned at her sorry state. Her otherwise pristine skin was tarnished with violet veins of corruption. With passing seconds he could see them spreading, aiming for her heart. The poison was spreading through his body too so he moved hurriedly towards the rocky border of the spring. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The debuff was more than just a negative effect, it was eating at his armour and he could feel the segments making it come loose one by one. By the time he reached the edge, his armour was completely in tatters. He pushed the lamia out of the water and onto the rock, her clothes too were now gone, eaten by corruption. And finally, by reaching the rocks, he left the waters of the corrupted spring. The debuff disappeared, but he could still feel the lingering effects of it. He looked at the lamia with worry and then made a sigh of relief. The violet lines tainting her body had stopped growing and were even shrinking. Whatever it was, it was temporary. Out of the water, and into the fire. [De-buff active: Myconid Spores.], and it couldn''t be worse because he slumped on his side next to the lamia. He was paralysed! However, he didn¡¯t need to be worried because he could see his spiders doing well. The spiders were experts at dealing with pesky plants and trees so it was no surprise that they were demolishing the myconids like they were nothing. The struggling Lamia were rescued by his brave warriors, and the ones who couldn¡¯t move were carried aside so they aren¡¯t in the way. The violet lines infecting friendly lamia¡¯s body diminished to nothing, her eyes shot open and she began to stir. She looked in confusion all around her and then her serpentine gaze settled right on him. The look she was giving to him wasn¡¯t neutral, it was a bit scary and even predatory. Of course, the myconid spores were still affecting him and her. He worried for the worst, but a spider ran to his rescue, likely to check if he was alright and then put him with the rest to the side. Indeed, the spider nuzzled right to his chest to feel his heartbeat and then chirped happily with relief. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll take care of him. Go, sss, help the others.¡± She waved the spider away. That was very kind of her, but still, that look she was giving him¡­ He saw her cheeks turn pink. Was there a reason to be blushing now? Even if the two were without any clothes, Lamia never seemed to care about the small details like that. Her body began to coil around his. She was so close! He felt things he didn¡¯t have the right to. He remembered that some snakes would constrict their prey before eating it and indeed her mouth opened displaying rows of pointy teeth. The serpentine tongue probed the air in anticipation. And then¡­ There was a kiss? He was both surprised and frustrated. If only he wasn''t Paralysed he would be able to do something about her negative status effect. It wasn¡¯t because he didn¡¯t like that kiss, or the one which came after, no, this lamia was a surprisingly good kisser. It was the fact that she would probably remember her action and once she sobered up from the Charm debuff¡­ well it would be embarrassing for the both of them. But there is a saying: when life gives lemons make lemonade; and this lemonade was delicious! She was moving her body ever so slightly, either coiling it up or down. Her lips were like silk and her skin surprisingly cool and smooth. The embrace was tight but it wasn¡¯t unpleasant. It was very much to his liking until¡­ ¡°Seed me with your eggs-sss.¡± The lamia hissed with a burning passion. Her hand moved to the area which he had designated as a danger zone. The Charm debuff was scary! He was very lucky not to have gotten it while fighting the myconids. He didn¡¯t even want to imagine the ramifications. Either way, for better or worse, the Charm debuff seemed to be contagious because he would be lying if he told that he wasn¡¯t excited. Well obviously this was not the time nor the place for youthful indiscretions like this but then life gives lemons¡­ The black pupils inside her deep green eyes suddenly contracted forming thin horizontal lines, she blinked twice and hissed. ¡°SSS! Oh my.¡± She relaxed the muscles in her tail. ¡°What have I done.¡± She said with a burning red face. Yeah, there were fewer and fewer spores in the air, of course, the debuff would not last and he could feel the strength already returning to his body. [De-buff expired: Myconid Spores]. ¡°I was paralysed.¡± He said in his defence. ¡°I knew. SSS, that¡¯s-sss why I¡­¡± She hid her face behind her palms, ¡°SSS!¡± and opted out to run away. ¡°Wait!¡± He shouted but lamia either was too far away already or didn¡¯t even want to listen so he let a defeated sigh out. ¡°Ahh, this has almost gotten too dangerous.¡± Neither of them was to blame for what just happened, so instead of dwelling on the situation he concentrated on the current matter. The myconids were dealt with and the spiders were almost done clearing the cave out of fungi and mushrooms. The nest of the infestation was cleared and the myconid spores weren¡¯t tainting the air. However, the corrupted spring still remained, still corrupted, still with the desiccated remains of the abomination. Without the spores interfering with his sense of smell, he could smell the reek of it ¨C the smell of miasma and rot. He wanted it gone, so he jumped from one rock to the other and back towards the source of corruption. ¡°Harvest Material.¡± He invoked the perk. The monster literally exploded into particles of light flashing the entire cavern; probably just another side effect of this broken perk, after all the abomination was quite large. He blinked the bright light away and took a deep breath of fresh air; he had almost forgotten how good it felt to breathe normal air. The huge boss monster must have dropped some loot. It had to! ¡°There is it?¡± He was peering into the waters looking for anything. ¡°Is this it?¡± He immersed his hand in the water to retrieve a perfectly cubic shape. [De-buff active: Corruption.] No, it was not the cubic shape, he had gotten the debuff even before he touched it. ¡°So the spring remains corrupted.¡± He ignored the tingling sensation on his skin and fished out the cube. [Dark Essence]. The system informed him that it was some sort of crafting material. Like the name implied the shape was black and if he turned it at the right angle he could see a purple whirlpool swirling inside it. It was filled with something¡­ he didn''t have the right word for it, there was just some sort of a presence inside. Just in case he tested the water again. ¡°No, still corrupted.¡± The hot spring was the heart and soul of Lamia village, it could not be left corrupted, and he feared that it might spawn another monster. ¡°I have to cleanse it, but how?¡± He had no real solution, unless¡­ ¡°The elves might know something.¡± He nodded happily. That¡¯s what the allies were here for, to help each other. 30.5 The new High Chief was sitting in his tower and idly nibbling at his fingernails, his eyes were locked at the gates and he was trembling from worry. He saw the gates open and Great Dryad stepped through, as promised the King of Spiders had a quick word with the towering giant, but even then he could only be afraid of what is to come. The previous High Chief didn¡¯t hide the fact that they had to cut corners and rely on ancient magic and profane rituals to defeat the evil, and¡­ even then they had lost. They had angered Dryads, the guardians of the forests, and the forest spirit itself. He knew that there will be a rightful price to pay, so he was looking at the approaching Great Dryad with dread. The walking embodiment of nature made its way to the Ancestral Tree unopposed, and of course it did, the elven fighting spirit was already crushed. In tow like ducklings to their mother the lesser dryads followed the giant. Their bodies were restored by healing magic but even from afar he could see the scars of battle; cracked skin and missing limbs, arrows still poking out of their bodies. ¡°What have we done.¡± He lamented. ¡°We¡­ Elves. Attacked the guardians of this forest.¡± He tried to still his shaking hands, yet he could do nothing but worry about what was to come. ¡°Hey, you.¡± He directed his looks at the twisted creature faintly resembling a spider. ¡°I am an important servant of The King of Spiders. You will protect me, right?¡± The spider chirped in affirmation. The High Chief let out a sigh of relief. He knew it was wise to offer themselves to the King. Yes, they were slaves now, but they had Kings protection. ¡°Or at least I hope we do.¡± He looked at the spiders with suspicion. The Great Dryad disappeared from his vision, it was likely ascending the stairs at this very moment. There was nothing for him to do but wait, and so he did. The Dryad was taking its time to climb a thousand steps, and he even considered meeting it midway through. However, that would be improper. He might be new but he still had to uphold the traditions. He will let the Great Dryad climb the stairs. And there it was, an imposing frame struggling to enter through the carved entrance. It tried one way and then the other, but it just couldn¡¯t fit. The High Chief didn¡¯t know if to take this as a good sign or bad. Was he saved by a narrow doorway? "[Mold].¡± The Great Dryad invoked a spell and the wooden frame flowed like liquid expanding to accommodate its size. Ah, yes, the elves knew that spell too, or at least the venerable elders did. This was how they made their houses and furniture. ¡°High Chief?¡± The dryad asked in a coarse and woody voice. ¡°Yes, it is I.¡± He bowed to the protector showing his respect. ¡°When you know why we are here.¡± ¡°To punish us.¡± ¡°There is no need. You have punished yourselves enough already.¡± ¡°When why are you here?¡± The Great Dryad looked in disappointment. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°You should know.¡± Maybe he would if he inherited the High Chief position properly, and if there were elders here. Not only that, but all the scrolls of knowledge and ancient rights were missing. ¡°Why am I here?¡± The Great Dryad asked in anger. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± He bowed in apology. ¡°Please, tell me.¡± ¡°¡­¡± The dryad didn¡¯t say anything for a good while, it simply stared at the High Chief. He waited anxiously. Now and then he would give quick glances at the spiders who were meant to protect him. Interestingly the Great Dryad didn¡¯t seem too bothered by their twisted presence. ¡°Are you perhaps disappointed that we have submitted to the evil King of Spiders?¡± He made a guess. ¡°Are you stupid?¡± The Dryad bellowed in an angry rumble. ¡°I see¡­ undeserving. Old rites forgotten. I see. If Elves are ignorant of proper ways¡­ Let be reminded!¡± The Great Dryad raised his fists to touch the ceiling. ¡°I shall take what was gifted so long ago. [Claim]!¡± The Ancestral Tree, its walls, ceiling, floors, everything and all groaned and creaked as if in anger. It began to shake and the substituting High Chief couldn¡¯t stay on his own two feet or he would fall, so he kneeled in front of the giant Dryad. ¡°What is happening?¡± He asked with worry. The Dryad didn¡¯t even care to look at him, its wooden face strained and its eyes glowed like hot embers. ¡°Once seedling now an ancient tree, I beseech you to listen. Your wardens have failed you and lost their way. Return to nature o¡¯ ancient tree, return to us where you belong. [Claim]!¡± The walls began to shift and warp, wooden columns and spikes shot up from the floors, leaves and branches sprung from the ceiling. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± He looked around for answers but there was only chaos. ¡°Elders?!¡± He shouted in desperation. The Great Dryad was radiating energy, cracks formed in its bark all over and were shining green light of Nature magic. ¡°You are most ancient. Most beloved. Protector once forgotten. Join me o¡¯ ancient tree. Let us grow together. [Claim], [Spirit Seed].¡± The giant form of the dryad crumbled into multiple pieces of wood in various shapes and sizes exposing a pulsing sphere of green light. ¡°No way!¡± The high chief exclaimed at the size and purity of the soul in front of his eyes. The Great Dryad must have been a millennium old if not more; that explained its power. The room didn¡¯t stop either shaking or warping, green motes of light began to rain from the ceiling. The oversized soul moved towards the core of the Ancestral Tree. The High Chief was not a venerable elder but he knew what was happening: The Great Dryad was claiming their tree as its new body. ¡°Impossible!¡± He could not believe his eyes. The spiders grabbed him by his arms and began to drag him towards the warped window. ¡°No!¡± He tried to shake the spiders away. ¡°I must see it! I must!¡± Regardless of his protests they easily overpowered him and jumped out of the window and then quickly descended using a rope. At the same time, green light fired from the hole he had just escaped. The entire Ancestral Tree was both radiating green motes of light and absorbing them. Tiny orbs were rising from the house-trees, decorative bushes, living-wood furniture and even grass plus other plants growing in the entire Elf City; the motes flew hurriedly towards the tree. Surprisingly, even the Lesser Dryads collapsed like puppets with their strings cut and out of their body a tiny soul of an animal flew away, not towards the tree but back into the forest. The elven weapons, arrows and bows; the elven armour and cloth shone in green light brightly. The magical enchantments broke turning the equipment into dust and then transforming into green motes of light. The houses refused to behave and shifted into a form closer to your average normal trees. The intricate elven furniture sprung branches and grew leaves where it didn¡¯t belong rendering it useless. Everything was changing and growing or just exploding into green-coloured sparks. Obviously, everyone was panicking and no one knew what was going on. The elves ran outside of warped houses and into the streets. Some were crying, some shouting in anger, and others just stood there frozen in disbelief. However, the spiders seemed surprisingly chill about the whole ordeal, they just stood there and praised the pretty light show with happy chirps and a series of ovations and claps. 31 The spiders did a splendid job cleaning the area of the old village. They sorted the infected fungal flesh into neat piles and returned the cavern to its previous look. The glow moss and glow mushrooms were still missing but those benign plants will grow back in time. The nest of the infestation was dealt with, but that only was half of the job; there were other caverns and tunnels which needed gardening. Without worry, he sent the spiders to cleanse the mountain. He too was still busy here, he needed to harvest all of the corpses both for precious materials and to safely dispose of them. ¡°Harvest Material, Harvest Material, Harvest Material¡­¡± He invoked again and again. By the time he had finished, he had three big piles of Red Spores standing where once copses were. It was all nice and dandy until a wind decided to blow the spores around or something like that. Luckily there were no gusts of wind in these deep caves. Forcing the spores into the bags wasn¡¯t an easy task either. By accident, he had inhaled some and was overtaken by Fright. Never in his life was he so afraid of something as mundane as a boulder. It looked at him full of menace, if he didn¡¯t know better he would think that the rock wanted to eat his soul. The debuff didn¡¯t last forever and wore out rather quickly. However, he was still suspicious of the rock. Later he will tell his spiders to remove this offender. ¡°This sucks!¡± He cursed at the dangerous task he had inflicted upon himself. So far he had dealt with only one pile. ¡°If only I had an inventory space, like in games and manga¡­¡± He distracted himself with wishful thinking. ¡°¡­and then it could go directly in my inventory. Ahh!¡± He sighed after making a wrong move. [De-buff active: Red Spores], while yes the debuff was not [Myconid Spores] debuff, it worked much the same, the former was the weaker version of the latter. ¡°It¡¯s only Torpor.¡± He smiled at the bad news. ¡°I don¡¯t need to be quick anyway. Let''s keep this one active.¡± He scooped a bunch of Red Spores and inhaled them greedily. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the stuff *cough *cough.¡± He exploited the fact that the dust could only give him one negative effect and finished the other two spore piles; now he had three blue bags stuffed full of the dangerous debuff material. Then he moved back to the corrupted spring. ¡°What if¡­¡± He dipped his hand into the viscous water. ¡°Harvest Material.¡± He didn¡¯t expect anything but surprisingly it worked. [Corrupted Water], a glob of liquid splashed next to him and then flowed right back into the pool. ¡°Interesting.¡± He could harvest it, but the perk didn¡¯t provide the container for the material. It hovered in front of him and then splashed back into the pool. Well, there was still a way for him to extract the water, he just needed a container. He had his waterskin on him, but he wondered if it will be able to resist the corrosive properties of the Corrupted Water. ¡°It¡¯s worth a try, I guess, [Reinforce].¡± He reinforced the waterskin just in case. [Magic +1 exp]. Every time he ¡®enchanted¡¯ an item using that perk he would get magic exp so he almost ignored the message. [Congratulations! You have reached Magic lvl .1] [Perk Chaos Blessed activated] [Requirements have been met. Hidden perk unlocked.] [Perk Magic Inventory obtained.] ¡°Now, we¡¯re talking!¡± Were his prayers finally answered? ¡°Open Magic Inventory!¡± He invoked the perk for the first time. A screen blinked into existence, sleek and neat in its design. Of course, it was rectangular and divided into many little squares. Currently, it was empty. He simply wished to put the waterskin in the inventory, the item glowed purple and disappeared out of his hand. To retrieve it he simply had to will upon it, it was unnecessary to voice the command. ¡°Interesting. What if¡­¡± He used Harvest Material on the Corrupted Water again. A square topmost to the left changed, and in its place appeared a low-poly image of a violet sphere. If he concentrated on it, the system told him that it was [Corrupted Water] x1. ¡°Finally a system that is useful and works.¡± He harvested some more, and soon it was apparent that by using Harvest Material, he was getting only a tenth of the water, the rest was consumed by the perk. However, this wasn¡¯t necessarily a bad thing because he wanted to drain this corrupted spring dry quickly; it was too dangerous to just leave it here. So he did just that and as a bonus got some Corrupted Water in his inventory. With the corrupted spring finally dry, he looked at his inventory screen: [Corrupted Water] x100; his inner perfectionist was fulfilled and he smiled at the round number. The bottom of the spring was littered with bones, pieces of his broken armour and other things it was unable to dissolve. He kicked the debris casually, looking for anything interesting. ¡°Isn¡¯t this?¡± He picked a familiar-looking item right from the stony floor. [Corrupted Apex Fang]. ¡°Hello, so once again you refuse to be dissolved. But corrupted¡­ I don¡¯t know if I like that.¡± Recently he was obtaining a lot of items which were dark in nature like Corrupted Water, Dark Essence, and now this; there was definitely a theme going. ¡°[Magic Inventory].¡± He opened a tiny portal of obsidian blackness and deposited the fang into it, filling another tiny square. He continued walking on the spring floor and he couldn¡¯t avoid noticing the tiny cracks and holes which were seeping violet oily substance out of them ever so slowly. ¡°The spring will replenish itself with time.¡± He knew that would happen, hence the need to cleanse it. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. There was little here to do, so he collected his spiders and decided to head home. There was a celebration to be had, after all, he had reclaimed the old Lamia Village. ¡­ Back home he didn¡¯t hesitate to show Dark Essence to the Lamia Queen and ask her to identify it. ¡°This-sss isn¡¯t a crafting item, at least I don¡¯t think-sss it is.¡± She handed back the mysterious cube. ¡°So what is it?¡± ¡°It says it grants the user magic.¡± ¡°Magic?¡± He reacted in joy. Was this the item he needed to finally become a wizard? ¡°¡­Dark Magic?¡± Although, there was that dark aspect of it. ¡°Yes, it sss-should grant you Dark sss-spells.¡± ¡°Urgh¡­ Like necromancy?¡± ¡°Necro what?¡± ¡°Never mind.¡± At this point, he would take any magic. ¡°So how do I activate it.¡± ¡°You need a ritual for that, sss.¡± She said it as if it was the simplest thing. ¡°Yeah? Do you know how to perform it?¡± He was keen to get real spells. ¡°My mother might have known, but I¡­ And it is Dark Essence.¡± ¡°I see.¡± It was unfortunate that she didn¡¯t know the necessary ritual so he opened his inventory to deposit the cube. ¡°So how about the spring? Can you cleanse it?¡± Lamia shook her head. ¡°Again my mother probably could-sss, but me¡­¡± She lowered her head to display disappointment in herself. ¡°Don¡¯t worry¡­¡± He felt sad for her, it was most unfortunate that the Old Lamai Queen perished without passing such valuable information. ¡°Here, as promised.¡± He handed her the slug jelly. ¡°For your help.¡± ¡°Thanks-sss.¡± The smile returned to her face. ¡°I¡¯ll ask the elves for help they might know a thing of two. And look at the bright side, it is finally safe to return to the caves.¡± ¡°Can we sss-stay until the eggs hatch?¡± ¡°Of course, that is what we agreed.¡± He patted her shoulder to cheer her up further. ¡°See you later?¡± He waver her a goodbye. However, there was this reluctance in Queen Lamia¡¯s eyes. He expected her to be happier with the fact that she could return home soon. Well, of course, it was not the same without the hot spring; he knew all too well how Lamia loved to bathe in hot water, but still¡­ Regardless, before he went to the elves there were a few things he had to do. The spiders were taking good care of the farm so he gathered some materials and headed for the workshop. First, he wanted to find a use for Red Spores and Corrupted Water. He started to work with powder, since it needed to be inhaled for it to take effect he needed to make a container to contain it. He had no access to glass or anything like that but dried TomGrape shells proved to work just fine in making a throwable weapon. [You have crafted Spore Grenade of common quality. Crafting +10exp.] He was able to do the same with Blue Dust and Corrupted Water. [You have crafted BlueDust Grenade of common quality. Crafting +10exp.] [You have crafted Withering Grenade of poor quality. Crafting +10exp.] Of course, he tried to reinforce both spores and dust but that didn¡¯t work. Reinforcing the grenade itself worked giving it Reinforced +1, but that wasn¡¯t desirable at all; it was just harder to break and he needed it to shatter on contact. Well, the Withering Grenade even then reinforced was a failed product because he could see the water dissolving the shell case slowly. Also, he wanted to try something different. He crafted a bunch of arrows using wood for shafts and obsidian shells from eggs for arrowheads; both reinforced. Then he dipped the arrowhead in either dust, spores or water. [You have crafted Torpor Arrow of common quality. Crafting +10exp.] [You have crafted Failed Arrow of poor quality. Crafting +1exp.] [You have crafted Withering Arrow of common quality. Crafting +10exp.] The ones with Red Spores kept failing, so he just assumed the combination didn¡¯t work. He gathered a good bunch of arrows, he will show them to elves and ask for tips on how to improve them. Interestingly, the Withering Arrows didn¡¯t destroy the material this time. With the projectile weapons experimentation out of the way, he moved to armour. Well not quite, because it was time to visit the Metal Spider. The guy had a healthy appetite for metal ores and pretty much always was nibbling on them, it had grown quite large and its body now was covered in shiny dark-orange scales of metal. They protruded from its body in rows and layers giving the spider that plump look of an artichoke. The scales resembled bronze but probably were something else entirely since bronze was an alloy and metals normally didn¡¯t grow on spiders. ¡°Yes. King.¡± The spider bowed and then began to shake its body not unlike a wet dog who wanted to get dry. ¡°[Shed Metal].¡± He was double surprised, one because the spider now could speak and two because it had a perk of its own. The metal plates separated from its body dropping to the floor with a loud clang. Much like a sheep which had just been sheered, the plump spider was transformed into a slimmer shape; it looked so vulnerable without its scales. ¡°Won¡¯t you get cold now?¡± He joked. ¡°No. Problem. Will. Grow. Back.¡± The joke flew over the spider''s head. He deposited the scales into his inventory, [Metal Spider Scale] x25, and then thanked the spider before leaving for the workshop again. He reinforced the [Enchanted Boar Pelt] and [Blue Cloth], using both to shape a new set of armour. Then he hammered the hexagonal scales making rounded shapes for a nice and sleek design; they were malleable and perfectly suited for such tasks. Malleable metals usually meant that they weren¡¯t too strong, but he had just the solution for that. After he was done shaping the armour and riveting the scales, only then he reinforced the scales with his perk, yes, the [Reinforce] perk was positively OP because it let him to +1 metals. Once the armour was done he reinforced it as a whole again raising its overall durability. [You have crafted Plate Armour of superior quality. Crafting +100exp.] [Plate Armour: Reinforced +3, +1 fashion, +10 Rep with Dwarves.] [Temporary perk Spell Deflection obtained.] [Temporary perk Bastion obtained.] Okay, there was a lot to take in from the information. First, he used metal spider scales, but since they were roughly 20x20 each the armour registered as a plate. Secondly, he hoped that the Reinforced will add up to +4 but it remained at +3. Thirdly, he lost the Minor Regeneration perk probably because he didn¡¯t use the obsidian egg shells. Then there was this nonsense of +10 Rep with Dwarves, yeah that was just random and not useful at the moment. However, he had obtained another interesting perk. He donned the armour and tried it. ¡°Bastion!¡± He found himself unable to move. ¡°What happened?¡± It didn¡¯t seem to do anything unless¡­ He invited an assistant, an overly keen spider crafter with its beloved hammer which was way too large. ¡°Bastion!¡± He felt unable to move. ¡°Okay now.¡± The spider slammed the hammer right to the chest showing no mercy. The hammer just bounced off. The perk remained active. ¡°Again!¡± He commanded. The spider hit again and then again¡­ and then he could feel himself being able to move again, however, there was another blow incoming. ¡°Wai¡­ Ahh¡­¡± He flew backwards taking a heavy blow. He felt that, but the armour did its job. He stood up and glared at his assistant. ¡°So three times.¡± ¡°Fourth. The. Charm.¡± Spider added way too pleased about the fact it managed to land a hit. ¡°You didn¡¯t have to hit me that hard.¡± He checked the plate, there was only a small dent. Considering that it was a hammer and a full blow, Reinforce +3 was indeed a powerful enchantment. The spider was happily waving its hammer, ¡°Go. Again?¡± it asked full of giddiness. ¡°No, thanks. The experimentation is over.¡± ¡°Aww¡­¡± But that was not the end yet, he still had Corrupted Apex Fang and he couldn¡¯t wait to see what sort of weapon he can make with that. 32 The Corrupted Apex Fang was destined to be remade as a spear again. He harvested an Iron Oak branch and polished it to a nice finish ending up with a long shaft. Then he used the metal spider scale to form a metal band and secure the fang in place. Since he had some success in enhancing arrows he dipped the fang into Corrupted Water; the fang absorbed the water like a greedy sponge. Once it stopped ¡®drinking¡¯ he finished the weapon giving it a good old Reinforce. [You have crafted Devouring Spear of legendary quality. Crafting +1500exp.] [Temporary perk Soul Steal obtained.] ¡°Okay¡­¡± The perk sounded ominous. ¡°I have to test this, right?¡± It was unlikely he will find any willing subjects, but where there¡¯s a will, there''s a way; or so the saying went. He went to the Boar pen, picked a ¡®volunteer¡¯ and then witnessed the spear¡¯s power. It dispatched the boar in a single hit. The tip glowed in faint red for a moment but that was it. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t feel any different. So did it take its soul or something?¡± The perk was still a mystery, but it was obvious it could kill a simple animal in one hit, so calling it potent was an understatement. ¡°I¡¯ll just be careful what I poke with it.¡± With that done, he crafted himself a simple tunic to lay over the plate armour. He did so since the bright orange was a bit too flashy for his taste, not that the vivid blue was any better. If only he had a nice crest to put on it, he would look like a Templar Knight. Speaking of which his farm was in no way little, it was a budding kingdom with no less than five thousand spiders alive and growing. It was easy to forget how big it had gotten since the spiders were quite self-sufficient. Actually, it was hard to keep track of who was doing what, but he had his advisor for that. Anyway, long tangent aside, it was time he designed a symbol to represent his people. There were some obvious choices, but drawing an obsidian black spider might send the wrong message to other people. That, and he wasn¡¯t great at art. Actually, there was beauty in both the complex crests and simple minimalistic flags. There were kingdoms with dragons on their crests but too often that was just a pretence and a claim to unearned power; cowards liked to hide behind the powerful symbols. Since it was his kingdom he leaned on his own ideals and settled on a simple crest. It was a black hexagon on a blue background, in the centre of it were four dots. The hexagon resembled the iconic obsidian spider eggshell, and the dots symbolised the four spider eyes. It ended up looking like some tribal mark, but he was happy with the simple and easy-to-replicate design. He presented it proudly to his best advisor. ¡°This is the symbol of our kingdom and you the spiders.¡± He showed a sample he had made for display purposes. ¡°Can you make sure other spiders wear it with pride? Oh, and a few flags here and there would be cool too.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± The spider advisor simply chirped and then relayed the command to another spider. The other spider went to the other two, two to four and four to sixteen and soon everyone knew of the new symbol. Thus the second commandment was born.
  1. No one shall go naked.
  2. You wear the symbol with pride.
In retrospect the commandments were quite silly, other kingdoms probably had laws such as: you don¡¯t kill, you don¡¯t steal, respect your God and King, or anything equally important. However, he didn¡¯t feel like he needed those, the spiders were just too well-behaved and there was literally zero problem with them. And if ever anything went sideways it was because he didn¡¯t explain it properly. With the little details out of the way, he gathered some stuff into his inventory and went to see the elves. ¡­ Once he saw it he knew something was wrong. The living-wood palisade was all crooked and overgrown, the tall towers were replaced by unruly trees, the gates were wide ajar and there wasn¡¯t a single elf taking a watch. He would have thought that the elves were attacked and taken out if not for the spiders who were waving at him in greeting. As soon as he stepped through the abandoned gate he was met with the message: [You have entered The Ancestral Tree]. This was confusing because he was still outside and not even close to the giant tree which was growing in the centre of the elven city. The oddities didn¡¯t end there. The elven houses were all twisted and crooked, the beautiful lampposts were turned into normal trees. Actually, everything in sight looked quite unkempt and overgrown, plus he still had to see a single elf. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°What happened?¡± he shouted to one of the spiders he had left behind. Instead, a pulsing orb of green light manifested right in front of him. ¡°Greetings, Friend.¡± He looked at the speaking orb in confusion. Was he supposed to know it? ¡°Hello¡­¡± He looked inside his memory hard, the woody voice was sort of familiar. ¡°Great Dryad?¡± ¡°I see. You recognised my soul. Well done.¡± ¡°What happened? Did you die?¡± He worried that he might be talking with a ghost now. ¡°Die? No. The opposite. Come inside me, we will talk.¡± He gave the talking wisp an odd look. ¡°Actually, where are the elves? I¡¯m here to see the High Chief.¡± ¡°Him!?¡± The voice sounded angry. ¡°They are hiding out of shame. Come, we will talk.¡± The orb urged him to follow. Even if reluctantly he followed the talking wisp. The streets and trees were full of various animals, all close to each other, wolf to a rabbit and owl to a mouse; together in an unlikely piece. He felt like he was walking inside a fairy tale. And there it was, high in the tree an elf, but naked! Why did they have to be naked he wondered at the mystery. Finally, he was next to the ancestral tree. It wasn¡¯t hard to put one and two together, but somehow he had gotten five for an answer. ¡°Wait¡­ Are you an ancestral tree now?¡± ¡°Yes, we are one now.¡± The wisp pulsed and then disappeared into the rugged bark of the tree. ¡°Come.¡± He looked at the brown bark, there were no doors or windows. He wasn¡¯t sure how he could follow the wisp, so he stood there waiting for a secret entrance to open or something like that. The green orb poked out halfway out of the bark. ¡°Come. We must speak.¡± It urged. Well, maybe there was an illusion so he began walking towards the wall-like bark. He didn¡¯t want to embarrass himself and miss an entrance so he raised his hand to touch any real obstacles. A wise decision it was because his hand touched nothing but rough bark, there was no illusion. And then¡­ He felt his mind to be pulled. Naturally, he tried to resist it, but the pull was overpowering. He felt his mind being ripped away from his body, which was an entirely new feeling, but at least it wasn¡¯t painful. He could even see himself standing there frozen and simply touching the tree. ¡°Come!¡± The voice urged again. The pull only got stronger and he was sucked inside the tree. His vision shifted and he could see the entire elf city from an eagle-eye-like view. He concentrated on a random formerly house (now just a tree) and the vision zoomed right in. Not only he could see the animals jumping in and out of the tree but also, tiny little sparks inside their bodies. He looked around for a bit and then zoomed in on a familiar spider, it too had a tiny spark inside its body; The spark was black in colour but it definitely was no indication that this spider was evil; The spider gave him an innocently cute chirp for a greeting. Just to prove the point he looked around singling out a large white spark in his vision, he zoomed on it and found a naked elf. The elf stared at him with eyes so wide they were on the verge of popping out. Yeah, they could see him too which meant he had just committed some sort of invasion of privacy. He flew away from the startled elf and back up into the sky. He wondered what he looked like in this form, but he couldn¡¯t see himself. ¡°Where did you go?¡± The voice boomed right inside his head. ¡°Don¡¯t get distracted.¡± He felt the pull again and his mind flew far and fast away from the elven city, or whatever the settlement was supposed to be now. He was moving so fast that for a moment he thought he had become a ballistic rocket. Disorientating was the word to describe the experience. He looked around again, by the looks of it he was at the edge of the forest. Well, to be precise, he was at the new edge which yet hasn¡¯t been chopped down. In the distance as far as he could see he saw nothing but tree stumps and sparks of fire. ¡°Humans!¡± The voice boomed angrily. ¡°They hate the forest. They destroy it.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± He looked down and indeed there was a group of humans chopping at the large tree. It was the first time he had seen humans in this world and as expected they were slightly different from the norm but also familiar. He looked at the particular specimen and it was just a man, with tanned skin, a bushy red beard and green eyes. It wore simple and dull clothes, and in his hands was a silvery metal axe. ¡°They! Seek to destroy us.¡± The voice accused. ¡°To turn this forest to ash. To fuel their wars.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± Now he knew what the Great Ancestral Tree was showing him, and he knew why. ¡°And the elves? Did they do anything about this? Did they talk with humans?¡± ¡°They did and they failed. This was going on for a century. The forest getting smaller and smaller. It is enough! Enough of failure!¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± He already knew where this was going. ¡°King of Spiders, you are a friend of nature. Will you help us?¡± He wasn¡¯t particularly for or against nature, he wasn¡¯t an elf, so he didn¡¯t know where that impression came from. Regardless, he did consider the Great Dryad as his friend because it had saved his life once. So not only there was a debt to pay but also an alliance to uphold. ¡°We are allies, and allies help each other in hard times.¡± He spoke his mind. ¡°Good!¡± The voice sounded pleased. ¡°Cleanse the forest from this evil infestation.¡± ¡°Hold on a minute. Maybe we should talk with them first?¡± ¡°It is futile. It never works. They know only how to destroy and deceive.¡± The voice said it as if stating a fact. ¡°But then¡­ you are speaking of war? Or am I misunderstanding something?¡± He asked hopefully because wars were ugly. ¡°Yes, War! It¡¯s time nature fights back!¡± He couldn''t believe it, but was he really the only one trying to be reasonable here? Weren¡¯t ancient trees supposed to be calm and slow to act, they should be smart and wise, they should be against violence! ¡°I don¡¯t know about that. I¡¯m human myself, so maybe if I asked them we could come to some agreement. You want to stop them from destroying the forest, yes?¡± ¡°Correct.¡± ¡°So let me talk first.¡± ¡°You can but hurry. Trees die every day.¡± Well, he now knew the Great Ancestral Tree¡¯s side of the story, so now there was the need to hear the other side. In all likelihood, he expected the humans just to be ignorant and unaware that this forest belonged to someone already. After all, misunderstandings do happen. So he lowered his spiritual self low enough so that he could be easily detected by the humans present. He tried to project his Aura Perk, but that didn¡¯t activate, so instead he put his best smile on and greeted the labourers with a simple ¡°Hello.¡± 33 A green fat orb descended seemingly out of nowhere. Which was unusual but not unheard of. ¡°A wisp.¡± A man pointed his finger at the obvious. ¡°Wait, didn¡¯t it say something?¡± ¡°Just an illusion to confuse your simple mind. I heard nothing.¡± A second man brushed it off. ¡°Hello?¡± The wisp repeated. ¡°Kill it! Kill it now!¡± The third man shouted in fear. The labourers began swinging their axes trying to get the fat wisp. ¡°Wait, no.¡± The wisp begged while dodging the axe blows. ¡°Begone you pest!¡± ¡°Foul demon!¡± ¡°Get out of my head!!!¡± The first man screamed while swinging his axe wildly in random directions. There was a shout in the distance, ¡°Magus! Magus!¡±. The wisp continued to say something but no one was listening to a talking ball of light because they were too busy trying to swat it away. Another ball of light flew from a side, just as fat as the wisp but orange in colour. The fireball hit the wisp and the two exploded in the shower of sparks and light motes. ¡°Hurrah!¡± The men cheered the magus. The elderly man dressed in fancy robes walked casually to the dispersing light motes. ¡°I saw it explode but no exp, huh¡­ Strange.¡± He ran his fingers through dimming sparks of light. ¡­ ¡°Auch!¡± He fell backwards and landed right on his buttocks. His right hand was still nub as if electrocuted. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°They killed you. Like any other of my messengers.¡± The green wisp explained while pulsing with each word said. ¡°Well, that¡¯s not very nice. But¡­ I can understand why they did it.¡± ¡°You do?¡± He nodded in a yes. ¡°Then you must have the wisdom we do not, King of Spiders.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure about that, but I still think I should talk with them. This time like a human to human, or¡­¡± He remembered a particularly useful skill. ¡°or as a King.¡± ¡°We take back what we just said.¡± The wisp pulsed. ¡°But we shall leave you to it.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won''t delay it, and I will do it right this time.¡± He stood up and brushed the dirt off his tunic. The wisp flew to be absorbed by The Ancestral Tree. ¡°Wait! Do you know how I can use it?¡± He pulled out [Dark Essence]. The wisp emerged out of the bark and made a few spins around his outstretched hand. ¡°A precious source of magic. Just absorb it into your body.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the problem, how? It doesn¡¯t look edible at all.¡± The cube was as hard as a rock. ¡°You can¡¯t?¡± The wisp sounded surprised. ¡°Then you need a ritual. Nature ritual we could help you with, but this¡­¡± ¡°So you don¡¯t know it either?¡± He looked at the material in his hand unwilling to give up on the idea. ¡°I¡¯ll find a way.¡± ¡°We¡¯re sure you will, King of Spiders.¡± The wisp disappeared back into the tree bark. ¡°Ah¡­¡± He had one more question but didn¡¯t want to bother the Great Ancestral Tree. He approached one of the spiders, two brown squirrels were happily frolicking on its back. ¡°Hey, do you know where the High Chief disappeared to?¡± ¡°Disappear?¡± The spider twisted its head sideways. ¡°He. Is. There.¡± It stretched its front leg pointing a direction out, the squirrel used that as a trampoline and ran away from its playmate. There was nothing there just some funny-shaped tree. ¡°In that tree?¡± ¡°In. The. Tree.¡± And so he went to what looked like just another tree, but oddly shaped and twisted. ¡°High Chief are you there?¡± There was a lot of rustling coming from the tree. Something was definitely there. ¡°High Chief? Anyone?¡± He shouted louder, after all the tree was quite tall. ¡°Ah, yes o King of Spiders. I¡¯m here.¡± The voice sounded weak, barely audible. ¡°Chief, what happened here?¡± ¡°¡­¡± There were only murmurs. ¡°Come down I can¡¯t hear you.¡± A gaunt-looking man descended from a tree, and for some reason, he wore his birth suit only. ¡°Chief?¡± He asked with confusion and worry. ¡°Sorry o King, we failed the forest, no, we failed you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡± ¡°O King, we have nothing prepared for the ¡®trade¡¯ you have requested.¡± The chief prostrated himself. ¡°Whatever we had¡­ we have nothing now.¡± This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Well, he could see that. ¡°But why?¡± ¡°We have failed the forest. I am sorry.¡± And here it was again, the conversation went full circle and he still had no answers; typical elves. He looked around trying to figure it out. The only conclusion he could reach was that whatever had happened the Dryads must have been involved. ¡°Am¡­¡± He felt kind of responsible for that so he asked with worry, ¡°Are you alright? Do you need anything?¡± The chief remained silent, but there were other elves finally poking their heads out of their hidey holes and looking expectantly; those eyes were the eyes of people who had great need of many things. ¡°Look, I can give you food and clothing, there is no problem, we are allies after all..¡± ¡°But we have nothing to pay you back, there is only our s¡­¡± He couldn¡¯t finish. ¡°No need. Think nothing about it.¡± He began pulling out sacks of fruit and pieces of cloth from his inventory. The elves rushed out of their hiding places: the trees, bushes and even from burrows dug in the ground; the latter were the dirtiest. They swarmed the fruit bags like starved animals and began engorging themselves. The bunch here didn¡¯t look like elves but more like wild men. What had to happen to make them fall so much? At least the chief retained a modicum of former self. He stood up and was patiently waiting for others to finish their feeding frenzy. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I don¡¯t have any clothes only cloth, but I am sure you can sew.¡± He had seen the hippy-like designs they used to wear. ¡°Yes, yes, o King. This will be enough.¡± The chief took the cloth and his eyes almost bulged out. ¡°Enchanted cloth! We can¡¯t take this!¡± He simply couldn''t take the sight of elves running around naked. ¡°I won¡¯t take no for an answer!¡± He commanded. ¡°But really, what happened to your clothes and equipment and¡­ everything?¡± ¡°The enchantments broke. The equipment disintegrated into nothing.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°The elders are gone, while some of us can still enchant it won¡¯t be as good.¡± ¡°How about simple cloth? Or just some leafage for coverage?¡± The High Chief looked at the Ancestral Tree. ¡°We cannot, we aren¡¯t allowed to take what is not ours. ¡± Finally, he was getting some info. ¡°The ancestral tree won¡¯t allow you?¡± ¡°Yes, we are unworthy. We must prove ourselves, reestablish our bond with the forest.¡± ¡°And that involves starving and running naked.¡± The High chief raised his finger into the air for correction, ¡°We can eat bugs.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t sound very fun. If you want I can speak with Great Ancestral Tree.¡± He offered. ¡°No, no. We reap what we sow.¡± Yeah, but this meant that elves were kind of useless now. Well, that didn¡¯t change much. ¡°Is there any other way? You know, I kinda need you to be¡­ productive so we can trade.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t harvest the bounty of this forest¡­ but if¡­¡± He dragged the words. The chief was still being difficult, ¡°You know what, I actually need your help.¡± He doubted the elves would know the Dark ritual, since even the Ancestral Tree didn¡¯t know, but there was another thing, ¡°I have a corrupted spring to cleanse, any idea how?¡± ¡°That...¡± The pair of elven eyes lit with a spark.¡± We could help with that. It is in your lands?¡± ¡°Mmm. Sort of.¡± He was temporarily occupying the spring for safety reasons. ¡°Then we will come.¡± The elf smiled taking the cloth. ¡°Awesome, can we go out soon? I have another urgent matter to attend.¡± ¡°At once, o King.¡± The chief turned at the fattened elves. ¡°You heard our King speak, we are moving to his lands.¡± ¡°We?¡± And since when was he the Elven King? However, it was too late, the elves cheered in unison all too happy to leave what once was their ancestral forest. ¡°But¡­ All of you?¡± ¡°Is there a problem, King?¡± ¡°No¡­ I guess not. If you want to come you are welcome.¡± He left the elves to prepare, but just to be sure he went back to the Ancestral Tree and touched the bark with his hand. ¡°Dryad, I am taking the elves with me. Is that okay?¡± There was no wisp this time but he could hear a voice inside his head. ¡°Take them.¡± The voice sounded pleased. ¡°But I warn you, they are useless.¡± ¡°I figured¡­¡± he wondered if he was making a mistake. But even if his heart still disliked the elves and their odd way of life he felt compelled to help them. He wanted to put them back on the right path. He wanted that elven furniture and other comforts of life they knew to make, also the elven bows and arrows were of interest to him. Remembering the arrows he ran back to the chief. They were already at the gate all ready and roaring to go, which made sense since they had no material possessions. The chief, however, already obtained an article of clothing, it was the sack used to store fruit only with a hole for arms and head cut off. ¡°The blue suits you.¡± He praised the elven ¡®craftsmanship¡¯, well, or at least their resourcefulness. The chief gave a shiny sparkling smile. ¡°Enchanted Cloth! I feel like royalty.¡± He caressed the sackcloth as if it was golden silk. ¡°I see¡­ hey what do you think about these?¡± ¡°Arrows!¡± There suddenly were tears in the chief¡¯s eyes. ¡°I never thought I will hold them again.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Did your finest craftsmen make them, o King?¡± ¡°Ha-ha, you flatter me. It was just me, are they any good?¡± ¡°They are perf¡­ Wait, [Identify].¡± The chief dropped the bundle of arrows out of his hand. ¡°No wonder. Of course, you made them.¡± He scooped the arrows and then held them in his hands as if it was an artefact of the greatest value. ¡°You don¡¯t have to pretend to like them that much.¡± He wondered if the High Chief was trying to butter him up or if he was just mocking him. ¡°No, no. These are amazing.¡± ¡°How about this one.¡± He handed a bundle he was not going to show, [Failed Arrow], but now at least he could see if the chief was just buttering him up. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± He rolled them between his fingers. ¡°[Identify]¡± He concentrating on something distant in his vision. ¡°[Failed Arrow], a result of failed enchantment, not any good but.¡± He scrunched his eyebrow trying to judge it properly. ¡°Reinforced +1, so that makes them barely usable. They shouldn¡¯t shatter.¡± He wasn¡¯t too sure. ¡°If only I had a bow I would love to test them all.¡± ¡°Keep them then, and then tell me once you get a bow.¡± ¡°Really. I will make that my priority. But first, we must leave the forest, taking wood from here is forbidden.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure The Great Ancestral Tree won¡¯t mind if I took some wood.¡± Just as he was to stray away from the packed dirt road the Chief grabbed for his hand. ¡°No! Let¡¯s not risk it.¡± ¡°But we are friends, it won''t mind.¡± He was sure of that. He picked out a tree sapling which he tough wood be good and cut it by the base. ¡°Is this any good? For a practise bow that is.¡± ¡°No-oooo!¡± The chief shouted in horror. A green pulsing wisp caught up with them, the pulses were quite strong making it very large one second and then minuscule the other. ¡°King. Of. Spiders.¡± It spoke in a funny fashion pulsing with each word. ¡°Oh no?!¡± He began to worry even if they had an agreement that he and his spiders could take a bit of forest bounty. After all that agreement was with Great Dryad, and that Dryad was something else entirely now. ¡°I have finally caught you.¡± ¡°I am so sorry.¡± He bowed in apology to the entire forest worrying that it was his turn to have all enchantment broken and left standing naked. ¡°Sorry? ¡­ So you won¡¯t leave any spiders?¡± the voice asked with visible worry, the green orb shrunk to the size of a pin. ¡°Spiders?¡± ¡°Yes. Forest animals made great friends with spiders. They are too sad that friend spiders left so abruptly!¡± The wisp grew to the size of a large ball. ¡°See, I like them too. I like their webs and how they clean the plants from pesky bugs. Much better than elves.¡± Then it shrunk back to a moderate size. ¡°Can¡¯t you leave just a few?¡± ¡°Oh! So you¡¯re not worried about this.¡± He waved a spindly sapling. ¡°This?¡± The wisp flew over the cut sapling. ¡°You can take as much as you like. We are friends, the forest can share.¡± The High Chief made a complicated facial expression, it was hard to describe it; a combination of awe and a sense of unfairness. ¡°Thought so. Yeah, I am okay if my spiders are okay. Anyone wants to sleep over at Dryads?¡± A few spidery hands rose up. ¡°Don¡¯t overstay your welcome. Oh and behave!¡± He cautioned needlessly. ¡°Understood.¡± The spiders chirped in unison and ran away with the wisps. ¡°[Reinforce], here it should be okay for a temporary bow to practise.¡± He handed the stick and the string. ¡°Ohh!¡± The chief seemed to be overly impressed with a simple stick. ¡°This is just wonderful, thank¡¯s O Great King of Spiders, Friend of the Forest.¡± The High Chief handed the materials presumably to someone who was a better bow crafter than him. ¡°We are forever indebted to you.¡± He bowed deeply. ¡°No, need. No, need.¡± He repeated slightly embarrassed. This High Chief knew how to toady up, quite a silver-tongued elf rascal. Maybe not all elves were so bad. 33.5 ¡°Impossible.¡± The high chief kept whispering to himself. While he had never been to The Dreadful Place, where The King of Spiders reigned, he had heard the stories. The stories, however, didn¡¯t match what he was seeing; It was so much worse. There were rows upon rows of vividly blue webs, they were long and tall, at least three times taller than an elf. The delicious fruits the elves learned to love were growing on the vines which were tangled within the webs. The fruits called at his elven fruit-loving soul, tempting him to pluck a piece, but he knew better. It was a trap to ensnare the foolish elf into the wicked web. The seductive sight of vines and fruits has been further tainted once he has realised who had been tending the web garden. Yes, those were spiders, and they were everywhere, and there were so many. The place was swarmed with spiders of various sizes and shapes. Hundreds of yellow eyes shone from atop the webs, they would blink now and then. It would be like a starry sky if he didn¡¯t know that those were the eyes of twisted monsters. The spiders waved at the elves and chirped something he could not quite understand. He kept moving in between the webs carefully glancing at his people, making sure that no one got themselves trapped. And it took quite a while to pass, the rows of webs seemed endless and even maze-like. If they were left alone here he was sure they either would get lost or be eaten by the praying monsters. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that it took hours to escape the web maze, but finally they were out into a clearing. Yet again, he felt inadequate: there was something quite odd, a vast field of blue flowers, the kind he had never seen. All elves loved the flowers so this should be a pleasant sighting, but it simply wasn¡¯t. There was something strange about the bell-like flowers, his elven instinct told him not to approach them and for a good reason; in the middle of it stood a strange creature. A menacing monster was guarding the field like a boss of the area. The creature resembled a slug but only faintly, it was many times more disgusting and obscenely large. He and the elves gasped at the sight, in their eyes, it was nothing short of an abomination. ¡°Johny!¡± The King of Spiders waived. ¡°Greet our new guests.¡± The abomination had an alias, Johny, the High Chief shuddered hearing the pronunciation, he found the sound of it menacing; it fit the abomination well. ¡°Oh and don¡¯t step near the flowers. You might fall asleep.¡± The King warned the elves of certain death. The High Chief was able to read between the lines knowing that this ¡°sleep¡± was an eternal kind. He spoke a short elven prayer while carefully threading over a narrow path, watching his every step so that he doesn¡¯t come even an inch closer to the flowers. After the flowers, there were fields of other plants. The plants were bigger than they had any right to be and most surprisingly of all there was an Alraune just casually sitting surrounded by a bunch of lesser dryads, the group made buzzing and crackling sounds to each other speaking in the tongue of plants. The surprise was double because he didn¡¯t expect to see a rare plant monster growing here nor did he expect to see the lesser dryads. The dryads who never ventured away from their forests. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. The tour culminated with the visage of numerous dome-shaped buildings, they were woven out of wooden materials and reinforced with blue rope. If he had to guess he would say that those were the nests of the spiders. While the design was the same the buildings were of various sizes, some big some small, so maybe their purpose was different too. He saw a large group of spiders emerge from one of the buildings, the spiders were unlike the usual ones he had seen so far. While they were little they had arms uncannily familiar to the ones people possessed, in those spindly arms they carried bundles of cloth. And then the worst happened. The little spiders began to wrap the naked elves in cloth. Did the King led them here to just be captured and slaughtered like cattle? The High Chief panicked. ¡°My bad. My bad.¡± For some reason, the King was also panicked. ¡°I should have left you time to finish crafting clothes, and now¡­ Well. I guess this saves time.¡± For some reason, the spiders retreated leaving the elves lying on the ground screaming and flailing their arms and legs into the air. At least, he, The High Chief, for some reason was not molested by the spiders. ¡°What was this about?¡± He bowed deeply and asked with concern. ¡°Well, I can¡¯t have elves running around here naked, can I?¡± The king had a point, but the way he solved their nudity begged for an improvement. ¡°Wait, here.¡± He left for the largest building. It was just a dome, but it was impressively large and for some reason clad entirely in blue triangles. It even had two large flags, the images on the flags were identical to the one on the King¡¯s tunic; It was a black hexagon with four yellow dots. ¡°So that is their symbol. I wonder what it means.¡± The chief rubbed his chin in thought. For some reason, it resembled a glyph from demonic language, if he still had the ancient elven scrolls he might have been able to translate it. The King of Spiders had finally emerged, and he was not alone. Next to him was a slithering humanoid creature dressed in an elegant dress, she was smaller than usual so he wouldn¡¯t have been able to tell that this was a Lamia if she didn¡¯t have her face veil raised. For some reason, her skin was snow white which was also unusual for the lamia he knew. The forest Lamia were green and the cave Lamia were light grey or pale blue. He couldn¡¯t just put a finger where this one came from. And for some reason, the lamia was glaring at him as if he had just stolen something from her treasure vault. The King looked at the lamia trying to judge her foul expression. ¡°As I said, don¡¯t you worry, I¡¯m sure they will cleanse the spring and you guys can return to your place in no time at all. Isn¡¯t that right, High Chief?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± He bowed twice, once for the King and once for the lamia. The cleansing ritual was a tricky business, but he knew he can pull it off somehow. ¡°Shall we rest before we head for the Oberon Mountain?¡± ¡°Mountain?¡± The high chief asked unsure. He thought the king would have the corrupted spring right here with the rest of the twisted monsters, somewhere in one of those nest buildings. ¡°Undermountain to be precise.¡± The lamia kept glaring murder at the Chief. ¡°We can go at once.¡± He willed to escape her glare. ¡°Are you sure?¡± And for some reason, he had hopes for the mountain. He just didn¡¯t feel safe in between the maze-like web in that sea of yellow eyes. Also, he was afraid of the abomination guarding the deceptively innocent flowers. While he was curious about the Dryads and the Alraune, those there not good reasons to stay here surrounded by the domed nests full of spiders. ¡°Let¡¯s go now!¡± The Chief urged. The mountain, well or under-mountain couldn¡¯t be worse than this. 34 Once he brought the elves to the caves he noticed that they had hard-to-read expressions on their faces, he asked the high chief what that was about but the elf just brushed it off saying ¡°It¡¯s Okay.¡± He led the elves to the corrupted spring where some of the water had replenished already so he harvested it using [Harvest Material]. ¡°What do you think, can you cleanse this corruption?¡± The elf looked at it deep in thought. ¡°With the right ritual, I am sure we can.¡± He smiled hearing the good news and patted the chief on the shoulder. ¡°I¡¯ll leave it to you then.¡± The chief scratched his head awkwardly. Actually, all of the elves looked slightly out of their element, but this was to be expected since they were so far away from their home. However, he knew there was no need to worry because all of the elves assured him multiple times that they want to come to the mountain and he will make sure to send them food parcels. So with that out of the way, he left. Or maybe not quite. Just further away, at the same large cave where he first encountered The Great Worm of Oberon, he had some business there. He dug a small ground in the mulch-like cave soil and deposited [Myconid Matriarch Spore]. It was a crafting material he had no good use for, so after much thought he decided to just plant it and see what happens. ¡°If it turns evil, cut it down.¡± He instructed one of the spider guards. ¡°Understood.¡± The spider glared at the spore menacingly, never blinking or taking its eyes off it. It was commendable the spider took this so seriously, but the spore probably will take weeks to grow into something. On the way back home he visited the Kobold leader and informed them about the elves. The kobold seemed to be happy as long as there weren¡¯t Lamia and no one was trying to stew any kobolds. The kobolds had stocked up on a very large quantity of dried mushrooms (myconids), so there was a good opportunity for a new trade. ¡°Would, you trade some mushrooms to me? I can give you cloth or even weapons.¡± ¡°Kobolds need no weapons, we have our claws. But cloth you said?¡± The kobold leader grabbed the King¡¯s tunic between his fingers and tugged at it. ¡°That looks fun.¡± ¡°Fun? I can even ask spiders to craft you clothes.¡± He offered helpfully. ¡°Yes, yes. That would work.¡± They went through small details and once it was over he left with a large amount of mushrooms all stuffed in the bags and tied to the backs of the spiders. From now on, the Lamia Boar Stew will be even more flavourful. ¡­ Back at home, he had completed the task of kitting out his spider warriors, or should he say spider people because they looked like people. For some reason, they were the most evolved from the whole lot of spiders doing various jobs. It was funny when he remembered that their ancestors four or five generations ago were nothing more than trouble-loving spiders he once had referred to as Jesters. And now they stood as tall as him, their forms alien but vaguely resembling a humanoid. They had six legs and two arms, and a big head with a set of large mandibles and four round yellow eyes. Like all of his spiders, they were obsidian black. He didn¡¯t have much metal yet so the gear the warriors were wearing was made out of the produce he grew here. Yes, it was pretty much all grown and very organic. The materials were: robust obsidian eggshells, durable blue ropes and twines, sturdy triangular leaves from PurpleM vines, tanned leather extracted from enchanted boars, and other little things made out of chipped bark from Iron Oak. Everything was Reinforced +1. The gear itself was an improved form of thorn armour plus thorn shield and chitin axe. He thought the spear would be better for them, but his warriors had opinions of their own so he didn¡¯t press them to use the weapon they disliked. All in all the design was quite spiky giving the warriors Reflect Physical Damage 10% in total. And in the end, they looked quite formidable, like any warrior should. He gathered the evolved warriors into a small clearing, the force was not that big only 500 spider warriors plus another 500 normal spiders for odd tasks and jobs. He thought it was a good time for a speech so climbed on his mount, the largest spider of them all -¨C the warrior leader who refused to evolve. He projected an Aura of King ¡°Spiders! No, my people, I have gathered you all because we have an important mission. Our Ally needs our help, the forest of The Great Ancestral Tree is under attack by those who seek to destroy it. I have seen the fires with my own eyes and those axes they use with no mercy. We must go and show that we mean business, that we can protect our friends. But! I urge you to refrain from hostilities because we will not go to war, only to negotiate.¡± He stressed the latter. ¡°It is humans we are against, so you must be strong. If they know that they can¡¯t mess with us then they won¡¯t. I am sure they will see reason and stop their hostilities. So, my people, let¡¯s go and greet these Humans so that they know we exist, that there is The Kingdom of Spiders and that we protect our allies!¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. The spiders raised their axes and shields high and then cheered. ¡°For The Kingdom. For The King.¡± He waved the spiders to get moving. As he walked he saw Lamia Queen waving him goodbye, she was dabbing the corner of her eye with a cloth to soak up a stray tear. There was no sadness in her yes, she was just impressed with the speech; he was certain of it. They traversed the web fields and emerged into the barren clearing and then went towards the familiar road leading to the forest. There was a long journey ahead of him, but he had his mount, and his spiders had six legs making them quite speedy. [You have left The Dreaded Place], the message informed as he was just about to enter the forest. It was interesting that some places did have this and others didn¡¯t; The Oberon Mountain didn¡¯t. Actually, aside from his jungle and The Ancestral Tree, he didn¡¯t know any other places. Just as he was nearing the area previously known as Elf Encampment¡­ Or was it a city, or settlement? ¨C Either way, it was now something entirely different, maybe that¡¯s why the system gave it a name. ¡°Hello, King of Spiders.¡± A green wisp greeted. ¡°We see you are finally ready for war!¡± the wisp expanded in size. ¡°Not war ¨C negotiations.¡± He corrected. ¡°Dryad ¨C Druid; both not so different. The humans can¡¯t be allowed to continue.¡± He agreed on that. ¡°Will your dryads join me?¡± He asked curious because he hadn¡¯t seen any recently. ¡°They had been set free. Returned to the forest. But I will come with you.¡± He didn¡¯t want to sound ungrateful but he was sceptical of the powers of someone who was just a large floating orb of light. ¡°You can fight? Cast some spells?¡± ¡°I can Heal and Buff your spiders.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± The wisp wasn¡¯t done. ¡°We can command animals and plants. They will aid us in our quest.¡± ¡°I see.¡± He just shrugged because it kinda made sense. He shouldn¡¯t expect fireballs coming from someone who was serving the forest. If the Great Ancestral Tree had powers of destruction it would have never struggled against the human invaders to begin with. ¡°Let¡¯s go. The trees are dying as we speak.¡± The wisp urged. He looked at the dense forest, there wasn¡¯t even a road yet and from memory he knew that the edge of the forest was far; it will take a lot of time to reach it. It will be days if not weeks, but he came well-supplied. ¡­ The trip was better than he had expected. All he had to do was ride on the warrior leader while others pushed forward into the forest, clearing the obstacles in their way. Surprisingly the wisp didn¡¯t mind, it understood the need for a clear path. And that speaking ball of light made quite a companion; it was interesting to listen to its stories. Apparently, it had lived a long life, where the word long was an understatement. It started as a sapling and grew into a very large tree. But all which live must grow old and then return back to the soil. It too was old, too old, parts broken and parts rotted. It was time for it to go but then it was gifted consciousness by the forest spirit and its form changed and it became a Lesser Dryad. Its body was small again but it was full of energy, it felt like a sapling again, plus it could move freely around the forest. The dryad played and frolicked in the forest occasionally running an errand or two for the spirit. The time went on and Lesser became Greater. The Great Dryad was the bestest of the best servants of the forest spirit, entrusted with the most important tasks. In the forest, there was a wandering tribe of elves. Still young and primitive in their ways, they were lost without guidance. The forest spirit decided to provide the elves with a purpose so that they can grow into something better. It was the Great Dryad who gifted the elves the seed of the forest and told them to rear it into a tree. He told them that If they guard the seed they wouldn¡¯t need to wander and seek for food, the forest would provide it. And the elves agreed; they settled. And all was well, a small group became a city and a seed into a towering tree, but there was trouble. There always was, because life was chaotic and the Great Dryad knew that. Sometimes a monster would be born, too large and too vicious, too greedy for its own good. Some trees were too old and decrepit, they were standing in the way of new life. Bugs and infestations, curses and plagues would come to the forest uninvited. The forest spirit provided the elves with their ancestral tree so the elves had to protect the forest. And all worked, it worked for centuries. And then it just didn¡¯t. Life was chaotic and sometimes what works just stops working and there is a need for a change. A change the elves were unable to make. The rest is history. The Great Dryad fused with The Ancestral Tree and took the role of the forest guardian. There were more stories, some interesting and others mundane, naturally, he liked some and disliked others. The less interesting one was about the avatar of the forest, a simple white squirrel which roamed the area spreading love and making friendships with other animals. That one turned out to be quite boring, there was just no conflict in it. Just then the wisp was about to start another story it pulsed rapidly as if in anger. He looked ahead but there were only trees so he looked up. He couldn¡¯t see well but above the tree canopy, there was a column of smoke stretching across the sky. ¡°We are close.¡± The wisp warned. He called his spiders closer and told them to move silently. They were getting close he could hear the sound of axes hitting the wood. ¡°There are people here. I see them with my sight.¡± The wisp moved towards the direction of the sound. ¡°Wait, let me deal with it.¡± He patted his spider mount and then dismounted He left the spiders just behind him and walked casually towards the sound. And finally, there it was the clearing and three familiar axemen. ¡°Hello!¡± He waved at the three projecting the Aura of Friendliness. 35 A stranger emerged out of the forest and greeted the humans with a simple ¡°Hello!¡± and a wave. The three axe men stopped chopping their trees and gave him an intense look. ¡°Do not be alarmed I come in peace.¡± He took his helmet off showing that he is human. ¡°See, I am just like y¡­¡± ¡°Who are you? And why are you dressed like this?¡± One of the men questioned. ¡°His accent is kinda strange isn¡¯t it.¡± The second whispered to the third. ¡°You see, I am a King.¡± The stranger said it like it meant the world to him. All three began laughing, a third was even crying. ¡°Why did you stop working?¡± A man dressed in fancy robes approached and gave the stranger an odd look. ¡°Who is this?¡± He asked pointing his staff at the ¡®king¡¯. ¡°He¡­ ha-ha¡­ He says¡­ Ha!¡± An axeman just couldn¡¯t stop laughing. ¡°He¡¯s a King!¡± The robed man however wasn¡¯t in the mood to laugh, he stared daggers at the ¡®king¡¯. ¡°You aren¡¯t an illusion, right?¡± He asked the oddest question. ¡°What? N¡­¡± The stranger couldn¡¯t finish. ¡°Trouble!¡± Yet another man came running out of the forest, shouting and flailing his arms. ¡°Monsters!¡± The robed man looked at the stranger and then at the alarmed labourer and then at the forest. ¡°Do I have to deal with everything here?¡± The robed elder shook his head in annoyance. ¡°What is that!¡± The labourer pointed his finger rudely his mouth agape. The robed man ignored the labourer and instead bellowed a command. ¡°Get more men and kill that forest monster!¡± ¡°Ah, about that. Don¡¯t do it.¡± The stranger commanded it with the same authority the magus did. ¡°And why is that?¡± The robed man asked. ¡°He thinks he¡¯s a King of us.¡± A third man whispered to the second and the two giggled like teenage girls. ¡°The spiders are my people. They won¡¯t attack you, so please don¡¯t attack them.¡± ¡°Your people?¡± ¡°I am the King of spiders.¡± There was more laughter. ¡°Did he eat some mushrooms or something?¡± The third man wasn¡¯t bothering to whisper anymore. And by now more men were coming to observe the disturbance. ¡°Are you sure you are not under an illusion, King?¡± The robed man asked the stranger. ¡°Wisps are prowling the forest, playing tricks on men.¡± The knight who imagined he is a king shook his head. ¡°No, I¡¯m telling the truth. I am the King of Spiders, I command them.¡± He waved behind him and towards the dense forest. ¡°Do not be scared. They are friendly.¡± A monster emerged from the forest. Its skin was black like night, four soulless eyes stared at them. It walked on six legs and wore strange spiked armour and carried a spiked shield in its left and an axe in right. Everyone tensed up at the horror. Normally, monsters didn''t wear armour or carry weapons. The terror didn¡¯t stop with one monster, another emerged from the forest and then another. The labourers grasped the axes tightly ready for a fight. Whoever was laughing before, now had an overly serious look on their face. The magus raised his staff and pushed mana into it. ¡°Relax. I told you I come in peace.¡± ¡°What do you want?¡± ¡°To negotiate.¡± A green fat wisp emerged from the forest and began to buzz something at the King of Spiders. ¡°Alright, alright. Ah¡­¡± The King sighed. ¡°This forest does not belong to you. You must stop chopping it at once.¡± The magus stared in disbelief. ¡°Are you conversing with a wisp?¡± The wisp flew closer to humans and began buzzing in a threatening fashion. The labourers backed off a step or two, afraid of the Illusion and other nasty mind spells. ¡°Well, I guess you can¡¯t understand him.¡± The King shrugged. ¡°The forest belongs to the¡­ to The Spirit of the Forest. Well, anyway. It¡¯s not yours.¡± ¡°The Spirit of the Forest?¡± The magus rubbed his chin in thought. ¡°Not the elves?¡± ¡°So you knew it belonged to someone and still¡­¡± ¡°The elves don¡¯t have rights to this forest! The King Aurelius Does!¡± One of the labourers shouted out a simple fact. ¡°Ai!¡±, ¡°That¡¯s, right!¡±, ¡°Mhm.¡± Everyone seemed to agree. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The wisp buzzed even angrier and someone took it upon themselves to swat it away. ¡°Look, you have to stop cutting the forest or there will be¡­¡± ¡°King of Spiders¡­¡± The magus said it with weird inflexion, ¡°Are you working for the Elves?¡±. The King of Spiders remained silent for a moment as if looking for the right answer. ¡°I am an ally of the Elves, but before you can misunderstand, they don¡¯t guard this forest anymore. Amm, this wisp does.¡± He pointed at the angry green orb of light. ¡°And I am its ally.¡± Everyone looked with eyes telling that they just couldn¡¯t believe a single thing. That and clear animosity to monsters present. The magus had a different kind of look, it was worry. ¡°I see¡­¡± He said it plainly to hide his emotions. ¡°And if we don¡¯t stop cutting the forest?¡± The magus added. ¡°You better do? Look, it doesn¡¯t belong to you.¡± The King looked at a buzzing wisp and added. ¡°I will protect the trees, so stop?¡± ¡°I see¡­ That is not for me to decide, King of Spiders, but we will retreat for now.¡± The wisp was still making that awful noise and flying around dodging all the axes which tried to swat it away. ¡°I can¡¯t ask that!¡± The King of Spiders frowned at the wisp. The wisp flew to him and was buzzing annoyingly right into his ear again. ¡°Fine, fine. It wants you to return all of the felled trees¡­¡± He frowned and added. ¡°The ones you haven''t turned to charcoal yet.¡± ¡°That we cannot do. But we will retreat.¡± The green orb pulsed spewing green sparks right into the King¡¯s face. Oh boy, it looked annoying. One fireball would be enough to deal with an annoying pest, but magus knew better. ¡°I understand, you can retreat.¡± The King seemed to be more reasonable than this angry wisp. ¡°I¡¯ll get someone to negotiate with you, King of Spiders.¡± The magus even bowed to show respect. The strange King did the same. ¡°What are you waiting for? We retreat to the camp!¡± The magus commanded. ¡°...but the monsters.¡± ¡°Now!¡± He slammed his staff into the ground. And then a hundred or so axemen slowly walked towards the distant camp. Now and then they would give a glance back. Some had fear in their eyes, others disgust on their faces and some still didn¡¯t believe what just have happened. Eh? The wisps don¡¯t talk! And monsters?! The forest never spawned such weird creatures, beasts yes but never monsters. This King of Spiders, what the hell is even that? Plus who would even believe a single word coming from a ¡®man¡¯ commanding monsters? If it''s even a man at all¡­ And most importantly It was odd how there was no elf resistance for a long while. Did this mean that the elves were dead? The monsters ate the elves and now¡­ So and such was what the humans thought. ¡­ It could have gone better, but it also could have gone worse. If he had to say something he would say he did his best. ¡°Kill em! Kill em all!¡± The wisp pulsed in agitation. Wow, was it murderous; he didn¡¯t know the Ancestral Tree had so much animosity towards humans. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a good idea.¡± ¡°They have to learn a lesson!¡± ¡°They have stopped ¡®killing¡¯ the trees. We are good for now, I think.¡± The wisp calmed down a little. ¡°But for how long? Never trust a human.¡± ¡°I am sure we can negotiate a deal with them.¡± The wisp was done talking and simply flew back to the depths of the forest, leaving him and his spiders alone. A seriously large spider walked out to the cut clearing. ¡°King. What. Do. We. Do. Now.¡± ¡°We wait. They will send someone to negotiate. However, we need to show that we can back our words with strength.¡± He said he will protect this forest and the current enemy must see it to believe it, this was just the way the world worked and he knew that. ¡°Let¡¯s put a show of our might. Tell all of the warriors to come out of the forest. We will make camp here in the clearing.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± He wasn¡¯t an elf and he won¡¯t do it the elf way. ¡°Where is that wisp when I need it.¡± ¡­ He found the wisp happily pulsing at an impressively numerous group of squirrels, it was odd, but wisp did the things the wisps did¡­ talking with forest animals or something. He had a short chat with it and surprisingly the wisp was very understanding. Actually even bigoted in some ways, it was interesting how much it was just like a human in some regards. Some serious mental gymnastics were going on: It was an honour for the tree to give its life to protect the forest or such. To cut a long story short it allowed him to cut some trees and make defences. First, the worker spiders dug a ditch around the camp perimeter. Then they used the wood poles to make tall fences. The fence was surrounded by even taller poles from inside, and then they were connected with blue robes. Rope-made webs dangled from the poles and on those webs were the spiders looking at the distance like scouts from their towers. It would have made more sense if his spiders had ranged weapons, but he left them to it; He assumed they knew what they were doing. Of course, he used [Reinforce] on all of the structures and even was making some good Building exp. The spiders had even made a large dome in the middle for him to rest. The job wasn¡¯t done by just making a camp. Outside the ditch and further away from the camp he erected a small open tent. Inside he set a large table and even made some improvised chairs. This was the place where he planned to do the negotiations. On the table, he set a large bowl of fruit, a jug of slug jelly, a snack plate with cuts of dried boar meat and dried mushrooms. Well, he could have used the food from the forest, but he wanted to display his own produce; to advertise it as his trade. Then he put the roll of blue cloth on it, it was thin and with a textured design of loops and swirls; the best his weavers could weave. He might be biased but to him it was as good as silk if not better. Next to it was a thicker, sturdier roll of cloth which was good for making sacks and other projects; a tent was a good example. He even put some of the arrows and weapons he had crafted in his spare time. They probably weren¡¯t as good as the metal ones the humans had, but maybe they will be interested. Lastly, he put some other materials which could only be extracted at his farm, like obsidian eggshells and thorns. While he would prefer to sell crafted goods, he didn¡¯t know what humans would like so he was open to selling the crafting materials instead. All of this was done with the Trade Alliance in mind, or even just shaky peace with some trade. He had to show that trees weren''t the only thing available on offer. He had to show that his goods were better than some logs humans could steal from the forest. He was even willing to give some stuff for free if they stopped going after the forest. You know, free for a while. They will get used to his produce, learn of its charms, and then he would start charging for it. That was the plan. He had met the humans in the early morning and now the sky was orange. However, to build a camp in one day was impressive. He too was finished here in the tent and left a small group of warriors to guard it. He commended everyone for their hard work and went to sleep in his improvised house. He woke up in the morning with the first rays of light. He walked outside the camp walls while replying to the spiders with a wave of his own. Outside the walls and in the distance he could see the human camp, he looked at it with wide eyes full of surprise. It too had grown in size, it was many times larger than his and made in such a short time (Did they do it during the night?). But the real surprise was because now it was overfilled with humans; easily two thousand of them. Warriors, rangers and knights to be precise. There were even some mounts resembling horses pastured outside; horses but not quite. ¡°So someone important had arrived to negotiate. Good!¡± 36 He woke up with the first rays of sunlight. It was bright and pleasant. Although, he felt slightly anxious he had a good feeling about today. The warrior leader was already waiting for him, he greeted the large spider and then climbed on top making himself comfortable in his seat. The trip was only five or so minutes but the warrior leader insisted on giving him a ride. Their destination was the open tent he had set up yesterday. Heading towards it he noticed that the human force was making a move, they were forming into ranks. At the very front were rows of archers, after them stood heavily armoured knights. The knights were few, forming only a thin single line, behind this line was the bulk of the force, judging by their equipment it was a mix of professional warriors and peasant levy. On the right flank, there was a squad of light cavalry, no more than a hundred men, but they looked quite fearsome. And interestingly enough he could see robed men with funny hats scattered all over, their colours made them to stand out and he counted no more than ten; he assumed those were the mages. He was slightly envious of the humans, they had made a good show of force. It was standard before the negotiation to show off, and he had to do the same if he wanted to be taken seriously. ¡°Tell our warriors to line up.¡± He dismounted and issued a command. ¡°Understood.¡± The warrior leader rushed back to their camp. He greeted the two guards by the tent and sat down on one of the chairs waiting for the humans to send a diplomat. There was a bowl of fruit right next to him. His stomach growled in hunger demanding breakfast. ¡°No, I cannot.¡± He pulled back his greedy hand and rested it on the side. ¡°What is taking them so long?¡± The human army had finished assembling. In the mass of humans, there was a knight with silver armour. He was quite shiny and even his mount was white making him to stand out from the rest. ¡°A noble of sorts.¡± He had assumed. ¡°Hopefully the man I need.¡± He turned to look behind his shoulder. The spiders had finished assembling. They too formed themselves into rectangular ranks of soldiers. There were five hundred of them, judging by the size it was only a fourth of the human force. And there were no archers or cavalry, or any variety at all. The contrast between the two was big, it was obvious that humans looked more formidable. However, he was proud of his spider warriors. They were diligent workers who trained every day from dawn to dusk. Also, he made his best to equip them properly. Each was armoured with thorn armour and carried a thorn shield in their left and a chitin axe in their right; all of which were reinforced +2. That, plus he had distributed the grenades he had made. Each warrior carried one of each: Spore Grenade and BlueDust Grenade. So, he was quite happy with what he had. After all, it wasn¡¯t just about the number of men one was possessing. The human messenger was taking forever to arrive, he began to wonder if he should send an invitation first. The problem was he didn¡¯t know the correct etiquette and just hoped that someone will show up. Of course, he would ask the wisp for help if it was here, but it had a good excuse not to be. Which was that its influence was low outside the forest, so instead it remained in it and the last time he saw the green orb it was chatting to a bunch of squirrels. Maybe for the better because when it came to humans the wisp seemed to lose its temper quickly. ¡°Oh!¡± The humans had finally made a move. ¡°But isn¡¯t this odd?¡± He couldn''t quite make a sense of it. ¡­ A while back, yesterday: A bird composed of fire landed in between scattered scrolls all over the wooden table. Aurelius looked at it with surprise, but not with worry. The flame bird was a magus¡¯s familiar sent here to deliver a message and the flames were mostly visual only; they didn¡¯t burn. He unfurled the message from the bird''s leg and began to read. His eyebrows furled in anger. ¡°Monsters? Not elves?!¡± He read it only to midway, the language used was too flowery so he had gotten bored. ¡°Whatever.¡± He had gotten the gist of it. In a sense, the magus was lucky that he was currently in this remote city. You see, he was here to muster his forces in preparation for an attack on the neighbouring city. While he currently had only a fourth of the men it will be more than enough to deal with some petty monster infestation. Moreover, he knew that even something insignificant as this can cost him dearly. The timbers coming from the forest provided the precious charcoal, the fuel he needed to smelt the ores mined locally and turn the metal into weapons of war, but that was only a side hustle. The real reason he was after the ancient forest was that the magus had figured out a way how to infuse the spirit stones with nature mana. Those pebbles were more precious than they looked and were the main reason why he could afford this war with a neighbouring kingdom. Every day counted, a day of no production meant that his coffers would be lighter. Unwilling to delay it further he shouted, ¡°Get me the general!¡±, he was loud so that the servant outside his office could hear it. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. It took him and his army of two thousand a mere three hours to reach the logging site. Everywhere he looked he could see stumps and smouldering piles of logs. He haven''t visited this site for a long time, and he was happy with the current progress. The ledger said that it was the richest asset he possessed, but seeing it was believing it; soon he will be swimming in nature spirit stones. The magus he¡¯d hired was doing a splendid job, he was glad he hired someone so competent. Aurelius made a mental note to give a magus a pay rise. And maybe the army was an overkill for a simple infestation, it didn¡¯t seem to spread outside the forest yet. Soon, he could see an elderly man with a long red bushy beard and yellow robes running towards him, the front of the robes had a symbol of black hand embroidered into them. He recognised the man instantly, he was a member of the Black Hand Covenant, a covenant of free magi he had hired to help him with the war; the best decision he had made so far. The magus looked worried, dishevelled even, he came running to Aurelius¡¯s noble steed. ¡°What¡¯s the rush?¡± Aurelius asked. ¡°Didn¡¯t you rea¡­¡± The magus remembered the proper etiquette and bowed. ¡°The King of Spiders demands your presence. Didn¡¯t you read the message?¡± He remembered reading about monstrous spider infestation but, ¡°Ha! The king of spiders! Nonsense.¡± he laughed at the silly joke. Monsters had no kings. ¡°No, he is a powerful sorcerer. He commands these humanoid spiders.¡± The magus pointed at the distance excitedly. Aurelius had to squint but he indeed saw a weird structure in the distance. ¡°Commanding monsters is that even possible?¡± The magus shrugged. ¡°You need to see it to believe it. He claims this forest and wants to negotiate a truce.¡± ¡°Outrageous!¡± Aurelius roared. ¡°We don¡¯t negotiate with monsters!¡± After all, he had paid a pretty sum to the Holy Emperor to purchase the rights for this forest. Aurelius owned this land, period. ¡°My king, I beg you to reconsider. The sorcerer wields interesting magic, he will be useful in your wars.¡± ¡°Bahh! He is nothing more but a rogue magus seeking recognition. I will crush his monsters and if he survives you can have him.¡± The magus clicked his tongue. ¡°As you command.¡± ¡°We shall attack at dawn, make preparations.¡± He spurred his mount urging it towards the nearby old fort. ¡­ The spear cavalry was charging right towards the open tent. ¡°No, this is not right.¡± The King of Spiders had finally realised. ¡°This is quite bad. What did I do wrong?¡± However, there was no time to worry. The spider leader stopped right in front of the tent sending tufts of dirt and grass into the air; it made quite a rushed entrance. ¡°King. We. Must. Go.¡± The spider leader urged. He looked at the charging cavalry, indeed, he couldn''t stay here. ¡°It¡¯s a shame.¡± He climbed on top and held tight on the seat. The warrior leader sprinted back towards the spider forces. He turned his head and could see the cavalry charging right into the tent and wrecking it into pieces. He was lucky the warrior leader was an excellent runner and left the cavalry biting the dust. The spider warrior''s ranks parted letting him inside the middle of the force. And then the cavalry smashed right into the flank of spider warriors. It was worse than he expected, the blow was strong to knock them over and the spears pierced their shields with no problem. However, he still had some luck left over because the spears were deeply lodged inside the triangular shields since they were made of multiple plies of PurpleM leaves they were resistant to shattering. Of course, some spears had found their way past the shield and hit the armour, but that was made well too. Interestingly, ever so rarely, the spear would just shatter into splinters dealing no damage; he wondered why it was so. Actually, it wasn¡¯t the riders he was afraid of, no, it was their mounts. Those creatures while looking like horses weren¡¯t horses at all. Their two black beady eyes looked soulless and hungering for blood. Their jaws were muscular and overly large, their maws full of sharp teeth. Their legs were bulging with tight muscles and were able to deliver a powerful kick. It was the monster-horse who did most of the damage to the spiders kicking and tossing them around. But in the end, what the cavalry managed to achieve was only to shock his troops and disrupt the orderly formation. The spearmen quickly retreated, but he knew this wasn¡¯t over. This was how the cavalry skirmish worked: charge, retreat, repeat. It sucked he had no good way to counter it, and throwing grenades at the mobile cavalry seemed like a waste, but at least the spiders managed to disarm some of them. The trouble was not over because the main human force had closed the distance. The cavalry didn¡¯t launch a second shock attack, this could only mean one thing. ¡°Oh no¡­¡± He finally grasped the real terrors of the war. A rain of arrows descended upon the spiders. He quickly retrieved a shield from his inventory and raised it above his head. Nearby spiders rushed to his aid forming a turtle-like shell right above him. ¡°Retreat, back to the camp!¡± He commanded just before the arrows began to hit. It wasn¡¯t pleasant but they managed to reach the safety of the camp¡¯s walls, and the arrows stopped. He gave a compassionate look to his warriors, the shield was only so large, and some spiders looked like pincushions or even porcupines. However, the armour and external chitin they all had provided some protection, they were hurt but not too badly. The wisp had finally arrived to provide assistance. It grew in size ¡°[Area Heal]¡± and exploded into the green shower of light. ¡°We have to fight back.¡± But there was little he could do against the arrows. Charging the archers was the only option. ¡°No.¡± The wisp pulsed. ¡°We lure them in.¡± ¡°¡­?¡± There was a sound of crackling and it was getting closer. ¡°Wha¡­¡± The fireballs rained on the camp setting everything on fire. One stray fireball had hit a spider directly, but by some twist of fate the spider glowed blue and the fireball just dispersed. ¡°Humans!¡± The wisp pulsed in renewed anger. ¡°Back to the forests. We retreat.¡± Again he had to make this choice. They dashed to the forest and hid behind the trees. There just in the clearing, he saw the camp and the supplies he brought burnt into ash. He could hear the humans cheer and revel in the destruction they had just caused. He felt anger swelling from deep inside. ¡°This is just unfair, what did I do wrong?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± The wisp said in a calm voice. ¡°They only do what they know best. Destroy.¡± ¡°But¡­ I could have done better.¡± The wisp pulsed to deny that train of thought. ¡°You¡¯re like a sapling: new, na?ve and optimistic in your thinking. Only harsh trials of life will make you grow thick bark. Take this as a lesson so you can grow stronger.¡± He felt like he failed his quest, everything was burning and falling down right in front of him. The arrows he should have expected that, but the magic bombardment was just unfair. It seemed it was too late to change the tides of battle. He looked at the fireballs flying right towards the treeline. Everything was lost. "..." Or was it? 37 There was something he could use to turn the tides of battle but that was a huge gamble. He retrieved [Dark Essence] from his inventory. The dark cube was light and crystalline in its make, it begged him to unlock its secrets. ¡°I need this to work come on! Get absorbed!¡± He looked at the wisp but the ball of light just gave him an apologetic flash. He just had a hunch that this thing could turn the tides of battle, it was weird premonition, or maybe even desperate superstition. ¡°There has to be a way.¡± He held the cube ever so tighter and he could feel the energy tingling his palm. All of the sudden the hard crystalline surface began to feel squishy and there was this compulsion to do something with the Dark Essence. But what? He had no idea, so he just squished the cube into his left palm trying to break it like an egg; it exploded. Maybe not the best idea¡­ [Perk Chaos Blessed activated] His vision spun and the day turned to night, all objects around him shifted turning dark as if made out of tar-like shadow. The air grew heavy and he felt like he was deep underwater. He looked around but all he could see were the rough shapes and silhouettes. He wouldn''t be able to tell his spiders from the trees if not for their hot burning souls, the fire was little but it burned in hot black-tinted light. He felt something tingling in his left, the tingling grew to a sensation of burning; it felt like it ate his flesh. In this strange nightmarish realm, he had no armour or items. A web of black veins formed on his left palm at the spot where he squished the cube. The veins began to grow and spread like vines going up his arm. It hurt, it hurt so much he considered cutting his own arm. The black vines stopped right before they reached his shoulder and the pain was gone like it never was there to begin with. He felt strange power, cursing through his left hand. He raised his hand trying to tame the weird sensation, at that moment the shadows shrunk and with a single blink of an eye he found himself back in your average forest. ¡°What happened?¡± Wisp asked curiously. [Congratulations! You have reached Magic lvl. -1] [Spell Elemental Arrow obtained.] [Error], ¡°Urgh!¡± There was this massive pain again. [Spell Elemental Arrow forgotten.] ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± The wisp buzzed around him in circles. [Congratulations! You have unlocked Magic+.] [Spell Shadow Walk obtained.] [Spell Dark Shroud obtained.] [Spell ??? obtained.] The pain was gone. ¡°I am a proper mage now!¡± He announced to the whole world. ¡°Congratulations?¡± ¡°Dark Shroud.¡± He chanted his first-ever spell. The veins on his left-hand lit purple and the darkness seeped from under his orange armour. It took time at first but soon he was covered in a guise of shadows; his form obfuscated. ¡°Weird. What does this do.¡± ¡°A camouflage spell?¡± The wisp knew the answer but even so it came out as a question. ¡°In the right environment, you should be hard to spot.¡± He walked to a darker area right under the canopy of the tree. His body disappeared turning into a dark puddle of shadows. ¡°Is it working?¡± He asked curious; he didn¡¯t feel any different. ¡°Yes. But it¡¯s not the time¡­¡± A fireball had hit the top of the tree he was hiding under setting it on fire and breaking his spell. ¡°You¡¯re right, but¡­ Shadow Walk!¡± His vision blurred and after he had blinked he was back in the nightmarish realm. He took a step, and instead of one, he took a hundred. There was a thick tree in his path and he didn¡¯t know how to stop, he worried but only for a second, because he just fazed through it. The spell broke and he found himself falling to the ground with some of the momentum still left; he tripped and slid through the mossy ground. ¡°Amazing!¡± He brushed the moss and twigs off himself. Both Dark Shroud and Shadow Walk were amazing spells, but not what he had expected. ¡°Is this really the time?¡± The wisp questioned again. ¡°No, no. You¡¯re right. But¡­¡± The wisp buzzed around him curious. ¡°You have something in mind?¡± ¡°I do.¡± He smiled. ¡­ The fire could do only so much to green trees so they did the necessary: the humans emboldened by their success flooded into the forest to deal with the infestation once and for all. ¡°Don¡¯t let a single spider escape!¡± Aurelius commanded his men. ¡°Chase them and cut them all!¡± The whole ordeal turned out better than he had expected; this was fun and good practice for his men. He charged into the thick woods without a single worry in his head. Of course, there was smoke but the magus he brought with him blew it away from his forces. All he needed to do now was to catch up with the fleeing monsters and slay them one by one. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. He went quite far in but¡­ ¡°Where are they?¡± He was beginning to worry. The spider prints on the ground were all over, but he couldn¡¯t see a single spider. ¡°Something¡¯s not right.¡± A heavily armed man, one of his royal bodyguards, spoke. ¡°You¡¯re right. There might be an ambush, let¡¯s not spread ourselves too much.¡± However, it was too late. Strange grenades rained from treetops exploding into either blue or red clouds. [De-buff active: Blue Dust>Torpor.] He felt his movements sluggish but he could still speak. ¡°Alchemical Attack! Magus!¡± ¡°[Cleanse].¡± The magus dispelled the debuff. Yet, it was not over. The ground came alive, tree roots and wines coiling around his legs. He began cutting at the pesky plants with his enchanted longsword. The magus kept shouting ¡°Cleanse, Cleanse, Cleanse¡­¡± again and again. All of Aurelius¡¯s men were afflicted with a debuff and there were only so many mages. Some of his men fell to the ground asleep, others seemed confused and even delirious shouting some nonsense, and the annoying plants trying to bind everyone made it even more annoying. However, this was only a small setback, his army knew how to deal with such trivial matters. And then, at the worst time possible, spiders sprung seemingly out of the shadows; the tops of trees and other dark corners were filled with monsters. They threw blue nets at his men, further impeding their movements and then the spiders launched a counterattack of their own. ¡°Flithy monsters!¡± He shouted in rage cleaving the net thrown at him in half. ¡°[Smite]!¡± He invoked his strongest spell. A column of concentrated light descended upon the spider, the flash lasted only a second but it was enough to bring the inhuman monster to its knees and make it crispy. ¡°Finally, some good exp. But that was an overkill, I need to pace myself better.¡± The battle continued. And for some reason, even if he outnumbered the spiders the two forces seemed to be evenly matched. ¡°Stand your ground. They will not last! We will grind them to dust!¡± He stated the obvious because he could see the spiders were hurt from the previous attacks, some had arrows in their bodies others were singed by fire. He knew what was happening, the spiders were buying time for the sorcerer to escape. It was unfortunate to let such an evil criminal go, but he will just have to deal with the sorcerer later. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± He couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. A flock of deer crashed into the ranks of his men, and then there were wolves jumping on his knights; these were just normal forest animals but they seemed maddened for an unknown reason. ¡°Nonsense! Cleave.¡± He cleaved two wolves in one strike. A wolf stood no chance against an armoured knight, the animals were blindly suiciding themselves. Then a horde of squirrels hit his men like a tsunami. The critters were small, but there were so many of them; thousands. His knights were fine, but the peasant levy¡­ He never had thought he would ever such a sight, the squirrels devoured one of the unlucky man completely; death by the squirrel. ¡°They are desperate, sending pests and other vermin! Magi, stop conserving your mana, let''s deal with this quickly. Empower.¡± Mana coursed through his body. His steps were strong and able to rip out the roots trying to cling on his boots; He was cleaving right and left. He was unstoppable! ¡°Aurelius! Aurelius?¡± The old magus was shouting from the rear. He didn¡¯t care, there was a monster right in front of him. ¡°Shield Render.¡± He swung sparing no power to shatter the flimsy shield. ¡°What?¡± For some reason it held, but that didn¡¯t matter. ¡°Cleave.¡± The spider turned into a shadow and disappeared from his sight. ¡°Cursed monster and your damned Illusions.¡± He regretted not bringing more magi, but those were expensive. Actually, weren¡¯t the magi the only ones who managed to do any real damage? He looked around, and there was a worrying sight of the lack of spider corpses. The only ones he saw were singed by magic fire. But there was plenty of something else: his men were tied to the ground by vines and roots or trapped by the nets and hooked on the branches; that was if they weren''t already dead. ¡°No!¡± He realised that he was¡­ losing. ¡°Retreat!¡± He finally commanded. But then, once he turned around, he could see a long and tall wall of thorns blocking their path. The old magus was trying to burn it down but it just kept regrowing. There was a raspy voice coming from behind him. ¡°Noble Knight.¡± Aurelius turned back to face the depths of the forest and found the accursed sorcerer standing there. The shape was human, but he doubted there was anything like that behind that rounded helmet. The humanoid even had a demonic glyph on the tunic. He remembered seeing the glyph somewhere, but he couldn¡¯t remember what it symbolised, nor did it matter now. ¡°Sorcerer! You¡¯ve made a mistake showing yourself.¡± Aurelius grinned. ¡°No. I want to negotiate.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t negotiate with Monsters! Empower, Cleave.¡± He swung to end the fool. ¡°[Bastion].¡± ¡°What?!¡± His empower cleave did no damage, it simply bounced off. ¡°Can¡¯t you see both of our people are dying?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care. Overwhelm!¡± He launched a flurry of quick strikes. The sorcerer didn¡¯t even attempt to dodge. ¡°Just hear me out. I have things to offer.¡± ¡°Bartolomeus arse!¡± Aurelius cursed, there was no other choise but. ¡°Sacrifice, Ultimate Cleave!¡± As expected his enchanted silver sword shattered upon landing the ultimate hit. The damage multiplier was x10, there was no way the sorcerer had a counter for that. ¡°¡­¡± He stood there with only a hilt in his hands, shards of the silver sword littered the ground; he had nothing to show for it. The sorcerer was spouting more nonsense he didn¡¯t care about. Then he realised that maybe he was just using the wrong approach here. ¡°You¡¯re dead sorcerer! Empower, Smite. Huh!¡± He breathed sharply; losing all of the mana at once was never easy. A thick collum of holy light descended onto the sorcerer and then¡­ ¡­ For a moment there was nothing to see but white. [Temporary perk Spell Deflection activated.] Then it just disappeared and the overwhelming white was replaced by the purple glow of his armour. He breathed a sigh of relief, the spell sounded dangerous. He was lucky it activated this time, but the next time it most likely won¡¯t since it would make sense if it had a 1% or so chance of activation. He stepped back away from the stubborn knight, the one who was obviously calling the shots. Plan A had failed so now it was time for Plan B. So what he needed to do now was to cast Dark Shroud, distance himself while avoiding any other magical attacks and then cast Shadow Walk. No, he was not escaping, he will use that to ambush the knight and hopefully activate Assassin Strike. However, the deflect enchant on his armour was more than resist and while it wasn¡¯t reflect it could achieve something similar. The pillar of light shifted right towards the knight basking him in holy light. The light was blinding and lasted for the whole three seconds. The end result of it was a pile of shattered equipment and a very crispy noble. Yeah¡­ This was quite bad, he didn¡¯t even get exp for that. But hey plan B was a success. However, the battle was not over yet. He could see the mages finally managing to burn the thorn vine barricade and the humans began to flee out of the forest. ¡°Pursue them, capture as many as you can.¡± "Understood." The tables have turned. 38 The mages were surprisingly good runners, so it was unfortunate that his spiders didn¡¯t manage to capture even a single one. The wisp was kind enough to heal his spiders and even the humans. In the end, the battle was won but not the war. In retrospect, he had too many captives. The men were tightly bound in ropes, their eyes were filled with fright. For some reason, it didn¡¯t look like they appreciated his cute spiders. ¡°What should I do with all of them?¡± He voiced his inner thoughts out loud absentmindedly. ¡°Feed them to the squirrels. Teach them a lesson.¡± The wisp provided an awful solution. ¡°No, I might just let them go. This would show my good intentions.¡± Either way, he, couldn¡¯t keep them here for long. He didn¡¯t even have enough food for spiders since most of it was burned down in the camp. ¡°Also, won¡¯t they come back in a bigger force? Just to retaliate again.¡± ¡°That¡¯s likely.¡± The wisp pulsed. He was in a real pickle; standing against a whole human kingdom was just not fun. ¡°I¡¯m sorry wisp. I¡¯m not sure I can do it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s Ancestral Tree.¡± The wisp corrected. ¡°And, you can, King of Spiders. You did splendidly so have faith in the Forest Spirit.¡± ¡°To fake. Weakness. To lure. Them. To Trick. Them. Splendid plan. My King.¡± The spider leader chirped praises. ¡°But I came here to negotiate. Why everyone keeps forgetting that!¡± ¡°We shall. Negotiate.¡± The spider leader looked at the bound humans menacingly; they trembled. Well, the spider was right, the humans will come back either to negotiate the release of the prisoners or they will just try to take them back by overwhelming force; the latter had no appeal at all so he was praying for the former. ¡°In the meantime, I think we should just hide and observe.¡± ¡°No. Lay a trap.¡± The spider leader proposed. ¡°Meaning?¡± He was curious. It was a simple plan. They would separate the captives into smaller groups and scatter them through forests, making their rescue so much harder. And if they do come to rescue anyone, they could always ambush humans in the forest. Well, the spider leader just wanted to ambush anyone and everyone who stepped into the forest. It was endearing to know that his spiders were so fond of ambushes and of the Dark Shroud spells he could cast on them. Speaking about the Dark Shroud, each casting took a portion of his mana and the fact was that he never ever had enough of it to cast on all five hundred of his warriors. It was where the wisp stepped in, it had an interesting ability to channel forest mana right towards him. It acted like some sort of mana battery, so with it by his side, he didn¡¯t need to worry about mana consumption. In other words, the wisp had an almost unlimited store of the Forest mana at its disposal; it was hard not to be envious of such a cheat-like ability. His musings were disrupted by the spider scout rushing right towards him to give a report. ¡°Humans. Humans!¡± It reported. ¡°That¡¯s way too soon. How did they regroup so quickly?¡± The little spider shook its head from side to side. ¡°Small number. Only a few. Mages?¡± ¡°Mages?¡± ¡°Mages!¡± The spider nodded this time certain about the word. ¡°That would make sense¡­¡± These were no good news at all. From what he saw mages were formidable opponents. Worst case scenario he might need to retreat again. ¡°I shall have a look myself, Shadow Walk.¡± His body turned into a swirling cloud of shadows and for the lack of a better word he flowed through the air; just like vicious oil in water would, because the two never mixed. He was moving quickly towards the clearing while phasing through the obstacles. Indeed there were five silhouettes there, slowly walking, but it was hard to tell if they were mages or anything else. The shapes of the men looked like they were made out of flowing tar and were distorted, inside their centres there were lights. No, he knew now that those were either souls or sources of magic. A rogue message appeared in his vision, [Farming +25000exp]. This was welcome because what it meant was that his kingdom is now enriched by 2500 new spiders. However, the timing was bad and it broke his concentration. The usual colours returned to his vision and he found himself standing right in front of five oddly dressed men. His hunch was right, those were ¡­ ¡°Mages!¡± He identified out loud, and only then did he realise that he is in a precarious situation. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. All five jumped in alarm seeing the unexpected presence. ¡°King of Spiders.¡± A man in yellow robes spoke after getting past the surprise. He was midway through trying to dodge a fireball or whatever other spell, but it never came. Actually, All five were quite composed. The mages were old, and had a wizened aura about them, sensing a chance he used the Aura of Authority. ¡°Yes, it is I. Are you here to negotiate?¡± All five attempted to speak at once and it came out in a jumble. One of the five, a man with a long white beard and black gold embroidered robes raised a hand commanding silence. ¡°Yes. We are. But it all depends.¡± The grand magus looked at the yellow-robed colleague who then handed him a piece of tattered blue cloth. ¡°Does this belong to you?¡± He showed the cloth. ¡°Of course it does. It was on one of your spiders. The question is how did you acquire it?¡± He looked at the cloth, it was a torn piece from the Thorn Armour. ¡°I made it.¡± ¡°You made it?¡± The grand magus asked it but it came out almost as an accusation. ¡°It¡¯s just a cloth my spiders weave. They grow the plant too.¡± He happily advertised the cloth. The grand magus stroked his beard. ¡°And you command the spiders? How many of them?¡± Oh, that one was a tough question. ¡°I had stopped counting a long time ago. But, I was informed there were another two thousand five hundred born just now.¡± The mages looked with big eyes, he detected hints of terror in them. ¡°Oh, I assure you, they are all well-behaved. I never had any trouble. Oh, and animals seem to like them.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± The grand magus spoke seemingly unconvinced. ¡°And that magic of yours, it''s quite unconventional. What was the spell you just used?¡± ¡°To travel here? Shadow Walk.¡± The mages looked at each other but all he could see were the heads moving for a no and shrugs. ¡°And just to be sure, you have no connections to Demon Lord?¡± ¡°What!? I am human.¡± He took his helmet just to prove the point. ¡°That¡­ No, It¡¯s good if you know who¡¯s your ally. We, humans, need to stick together.¡± All five mages were grunting in approval while stroking their beards. ¡°Ally? So can we get a peace of some sort?¡± ¡°Depends.¡± ¡°On what exactly?¡± ¡°On what you want.¡± ¡°As I said I just don¡¯t want anyone cutting this forest. You see I have an Alliance with the Ancestral Tree.¡± ¡°With the Elves?¡± ¡°Them too.¡± ¡°Is that all you desire, King of Spiders? To claim this forest as yours?¡± He wasn¡¯t too sure why the mage had to word it like that, but¡­ ¡°Well, It isn¡¯t mine but it is under my protection. I just want peace and trade if that¡¯s not too much to ask.¡± The magus looked at him with suspicion. ¡°I think we can work a deal. With one condition.¡± ¡°Being?¡± ¡°We want that enchanted cloth of yours.¡± The robes of course! Mages wanted those. He should have thought of that earlier. ¡°You¡¯ll be making robes?¡± ¡°Precisely, the material is splendid. If you supply it to us and us only, we¡¯ll make sure no king attacks you. So you can carry your dark experiments in peace.¡± ¡°I do no such things and I love peace.¡± He offered a hand for a shake. The magus looked at it oddly but then grabbed it and shook it. ¡°It¡¯s a deal then. I will send a Faux Phoenix with a message later, we will finalise the minute details in writing.¡± ¡°Faux Phoenix?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know? Where are you¡­ never mind. It¡¯s a familiar, you¡¯ll know it once you see it. Please don¡¯t shoot it down, it''s harmless. And quite expensive to summon.¡± The magus added the last as an afterthought. ¡°Okay, I shall wait for the message in the forest.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ Give us two days. We need to crown a new king.¡± ¡°Oh, a celebration. I understand.¡± The mages turned their back on him, so he did the same and invoked Shadow Walk to return to the forest. ¡°This was so unexpected. And I thought there will be another battle. Man, humans are hard to predict.¡± He was just speaking to nobody but himself. ¡­ A red bird composed of fire circled above the treeline. The sighting in the late evening made it quite pretty, it was like a firework spewing red and orange sparks, but it never ran out of fuel. He began waving at hard not to notice bird and then it landed right by his feet. On the bird''s leg, there was a parchment tied. He untied the decorated string and unrolled the equally decorated parchment. The writing was neat, and it almost looked like it was printed. ¡°I see.¡± He concluded. ¡°I can¡¯t read this. What a blunder.¡± Being able to converse with the mages so well he had forgotten that the Language Comprehension perk didn¡¯t work on written words. A trivial problem really, because the solution was right in front of him. He eyed the captives trying to judge their ability. ¡°Anyone knows how to read?¡± There were no volunteers. He retrieved one of the few fruits left from his inventory. ¡°There is a small reward, I know you are hungry.¡± He bit into the fruit making the juices flow down his chin. ¡°Delicious, it¡¯s a shame no one can read here.¡± ¡°I can read.¡±, ¡°Me!¡±, ¡°I¡¯ll read it.¡± A bunch of voices rang out. ¡°Good.¡± He selected two men at random and then told his spiders to take them. He needed at least two so he can compare their readings in private and rule out any foul play. ¡°Read it for me.¡± He unfurled the decorated scroll in front of a captive. ====== King of Spiders, I hope the message finds you well and you didn¡¯t need to shoot down my familiar. As your spies must have already informed you, we¡¯ve successfully placed our new King on the throne. A nephew of the previous one, but also a fool, although, less stubborn, hence someone we can ¡®influence¡¯. There were some complications on our end but the forest is also yours to do as you please; for now no one should bother you, but please keep the spiders in the forest and away from the nearby towns and villages. I must mention that neither of the two was easy to achieve and it came at great expense for us. To keep this agreement going we must ask for at least a hundred standard rolls of the enchanted blue cloth. While we are aware this might look like extortion, I assure you it is not; think of it as an investment. There is one more thing I must mention. While we understand the importance of live subjects, we must ask you that you return our knights and petty nobles unharmed. The peasants and other rabble you can keep, they won¡¯t be missed. Actually, if you are willing to share your spells and research, we would be willing to provide you with more participants in your studies. I hope the terms are acceptable and we can work together as fellow magi to pursue the depths of knowledge. Please put your reply on the scroll provided and attach it to the familiar (that is if you didn¡¯t shoot it, if you did just wait for another one). Signed, Grand Magus Vumbeldor, member of the inner circle of the Black Hand. ===== The two had read the same message in high fidelity, so he could be certain of the contents. However, evidenced by the complex facial expression of the second reader (the first one was just the same), there was a small problem. ¡°Sorry about that.¡± He handed the man his fruit. The peasant soldier looked at the yellow treat as if it was the last meal in his life. Regardless, he ate the fruit with great gusto. Anyways, he found the terms better than expected, a few rolls of cloth were a small price to pay for something that could blossom into a lasting peace. He ran to find the wisp and break the good news. 38.5 Metamorphosis If one wondered at all why the elves chose the caves instead of the King¡¯s farm, the answer to that was very simple: the farm was just too scary and many still carried the trauma of the siege of the Elven City. Of course, there was no sky here, no trees or grass, however, there was glowing moss and mushrooms, and other cave plants and critters; there still was nature. The elves knew that this was not the best environment but it will have to do, at least they were free from the reminder of their failure, free from the wrath of the forest. Understandably, they weren¡¯t free from responsibility, actually they were the opposite of free; they were the servants to the Spider King sent here to do his bidding. The High Chief knew all that, he understood the stakes, and this was probably why the King of Spiders had sent the Lamia to stalk the elves from the shadows; meaning that the High Chief still had to earn his trust. Maybe when their relationship gets better he will have the courage to tell the King, that lamias aren¡¯t exactly sneaky. While their elven eyes couldn''t see through the lamia cave camouflage skill, the elven ears picked their slithering sounds with no problem. Even a child knew that some lamias were nearby. Well, there were spiders here still, but those seemed more like workers than someone the King left to spy. The elves spent a good few days familiarising themselves with their new environment and gathering the necessary materials to cleanse the corrupted spring. Those materials weren''t anything fancy, just some plants and even rocks but they weren¡¯t mundane either. Just like the forest this cave, no, this mountain had a spirit and if he wanted to cleanse the spring he had to appease the spirit first. The plants and the rocks carried a piece of the mountain spirit, its will and its desires, those were necessary for the ritual to work. After days of preparations, the High Chief gathered everyone capable and they started drawing the lines and patterns for the ritual. Without elders to guide them it was highly experimental because every spirit was different and there was no universal magic circle to appease it. As they went on he made some changes here and there, and finally the lines lit up in blue. The spiders stopped what they were doing and gathered to look. ¡°No need to worry spiders, we won''t disappoint our King.¡± He proclaimed with confidence. The easy part was done and now was the hard part. Elves even with a sliver of mana (which was everyone, even children) gathered around the spring and the circle. In retrospect, this was a grand ritual and not a simple feat to attempt or even achieve. But they were elves they knew what they were doing. ¡°Okay, pour your mana in.¡± He commanded. He felt the air and ground becoming saturated with the elven mana, it slowly flowed into the lines and the mana began circulating around the spring. ¡°Good.¡± He concentrated and gathered ambient mana. ¡°Spirit Sight.¡± He invoked a grand spell. He had gained an extra sense, his vision was filled with tiny but bright sources of light, the beacons of life every living thing had. He looked around and could see the spirit sources of elves, tiny little green fires nested right under the ribcage. Further in the distance, he saw dark burning flames, those were the spiders. And even further he saw whites, blues, and greys of lamias. ¡°It worked.¡± The elves cheered and even the spiders gave a few enthusiastic claps. The high chief raised his hand for silence, he needed to keep his concentration. He directed his attention to the centre of the corrupted spring. As expected it was inhabited by a spirit, but it didn¡¯t look like it belonged to the mountain. It was a foreign entity, a blob of darkness, and judging from its size it used to be a powerful one. Used to, because it was losing its colour, the light was dim and the form was transparent. ¡°Manifest.¡± He invoked wishing to talk with the dark spirit. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. The mana swirled from the circle and into the spring, the spring absorbed it greedily. The blob of darkness grew coalescing into the vague shape of a humanoid. It was overwhelmingly black, made out of flowing tar-like liquid. There was enough structured mana to give it a temporary physical body. Now, with the help of Spirit Sight and Manifest everyone around the circle could see and hear the dark spirit. ¡°Elves?¡± The dark spirit croaked surprised. ¡°Spirit, why did you taint this spring?¡± The High Chief asked. ¡°Ha-ha-ha.¡± It cackled in a wicked manner. ¡°What does it matter now? My minions are slain, my body is destroyed.¡± He understood now why its original shape was in a weakened state, it was only a lingering spirit bound to disappear with time; which could either take months or centuries. ¡°Then, I will simply banish you and cleanse the spring.¡± He pulled the mana into his right hand making it glow in white. ¡°It won¡¯t be that easy, elf. I have warded it with arcane protections, Ha!¡± it croaked mockingly. ¡°So, If you want the spring let''s make a simple deal.¡± ¡°A deal?¡± ¡°Yes. Become the servant of the Demon King, promise to finish my mission and I will relinquish this mana spring to you. I would even grant you a powerful boon. How is that?¡± ¡°Demon King?¡± He looked at the nearby spiders. ¡°Is this a test or a trick?¡± He was genuinely confused. ¡°There are no tricks, elf. Come, sip from the mana spring and I will grant you unimaginable power.¡± ¡°No.¡± He understood now that this was some sort of a test. ¡°I will do as ordered, I will cleanse this spring. Cleanse!¡± He released the mana concentrated in his hand. ¡°Fool!¡± The dark spirit bellowed firing a beam of primal dark energy to counter the spell. The two beams clashed, and if the spirit wasn¡¯t weakened already the outcome would have been different, so the light pushed the darkness and enveloped the spring. The oil-like spring water began to bubble and spit sparks. Spots of it began to regain the colour and viscosity of your everyday average water. ¡°Hah! Urgh!¡± The dark spirit screeched its body was slowly disintegrating. ¡°Just a bit more.¡± The High Chief encouraged himself stilling the shaking right hand. Such a spell was not without consequences. The mana was burning his hand, his fingertips had no flesh on them already. ¡°Just a few seconds.¡± The once corrupted spring was almost entirely just water now and the evil spirit returned to its dark blob state but filled with ever-expanding holes. ¡°No!¡± A distant voice shouted. ¡°You can¡¯t sss-succeed.¡± It was getting closer. The high chief couldn''t spare the concentration to look, however, he could hear the sounds of fighting right behind him. The flow of mana was weakening and even the magic circle was disrupted, lines likely trampled or even erased. ¡°I must¡­ I must cleanse this spring!¡± His will was iron, even if he had to die he would still complete the task. He pushed his everything into the ritual. With the last wave of mana, the spring was finally free from corruption and the dark spirit was nothing more than a small ball of darkness idly hovering in the air. However, the ritual was disrupted and the flow of mana grew wild. The ground, the air, and the spring water were saturated with wild chaotic energies both light and dark. The cleansing ritual turned to something else entirely, something outside High Chief¡¯s control. The dark spirit exploded with a pop releasing a sliver of chaotic mana. A small insignificant change tipped the already wobbly scales of natural law. The natural became unnatural. Wild magic exploded from the centre of the spring, the ritual was no longer powered by elven mana but by the mana of the spring itself. It washed over the elves seeping into their bodies. In other words, the grand ritual had backfired. The elves being the casters here were taking the brunt of it. The High Chief was sent flying from the explosion. While there high in the air, his entire life flashed in seconds, but he knew that he was far from dead. No, it wasn¡¯t the physical damage inflicted upon their bodies, nor was it magic kind, no, it was soul damage or maybe something else entirely. He landed on the hard stone floor, right next to a worried spider. ¡°Did¡­ Did I fail again?¡± He raised his head to look at the spring. It was just a normal spring, he couldn''t sense any spirits or corruption there anymore. Then he looked at his stinging fingers. ¡°My hands!¡± The shock he felt was not about his damaged fingertips, it was about the colour of his skin. It was changing to the colour grey, the light tones were replaced by the darker ones. He could feel pain all over. He grasped his head to still the terrible headache and found the hair falling from his scalp. He coughed, and with that caught his teeth left his mouth. He ran his tongue around his gums, he wasn¡¯t toothless, his old ones were replaced by sharp needle-like teeth. He stood up or tried to, but he struggled, the spine refused to straighten leaving him hunched. ¡°My body?¡± He checked himself over unable to recognise it. Then he looked around and saw the same: crooked dark forms only vaguely resembling elves. ¡°What have we become?¡± The spring was cleansed, but at what cost? 39 In a small clearing, he found the wisp surrounded by the squirrels. He told the wisp about the final bit of agreements he had received from the Black Hand. ¡°Truce?¡± The wisp pulsed. ¡°It is a fleeting thing. No human can be trusted." it grew in size to emphasize. "Ever.¡± It was awfully sceptical about the truce. ¡°Yeah, but they at least stopped chopping the forest for now.¡± ¡°Yes, for now.¡± It stressed. ¡°If we play this well, I can¡¯t see why it can¡¯t be lasting.¡± ¡°Nothing is lasting. Nothing is forever. But, King of Spiders, you did well. We did win this time.¡± ¡°Yeah, I think it will be alright. I will leave them the cloth and we will see where it goes from there.¡± He scratched the back of his head. ¡°Let¡¯s release the captives. I have no need of them.¡± The wisp didn¡¯t comment on that. ¡°But you are right, a truce can last only so long and we still have to prepare for the unpleasant, whenever it comes. I think we should reinforce the forest border.¡± ¡°Already am. The squirrels planted new saplings.¡° The wisp pulsed with pride. ¡°No, I mean something more serious.¡± He pulled out the thorn vine seed. ¡°Let¡¯s grow some barbed wire.¡± ¡°Barbed wire?¡± The wisp asked curious. He planted a seed into the soil activating his Acclimate and Unnatural Selection perks. ¡°Yeah, a vine full of spiky thorns. It is near impossible to walk over it and it''s hard to get rid of. It¡¯s a near perfect barrier.¡± ¡°Then it¡¯s similar to Vine Wall I have used to stop the humans. This is more permanent.¡± ¡°Exactly. Well, it still will take time to grow.¡± ¡°Not a problem, Grow.¡± The wisp showered the seed in green sparkles. The seed exploded in a burst of growth, thick coils of vines extended crawling on the ground. Each had big and nasty thorns the size of daggers. ¡°That was impressive. I¡¯ll leave you the whole bag, your squirrels can plant them in the clearing.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± the wisp levitated the bag of seeds in the air. With that he turned to leave the wisp, he kind of wanted to go back to the farm and check on how everyone was doing. ¡°King of Spiders?¡± The wisp asked just before he could leave. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Can you leave some of your spiders here? We worry that without their presence the humans might change their minds.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. But¡­ They have been through a lot, so they earned some rest. I¡¯ll ask the spider leader, it will be his choice.¡± He went to see the spider in question. ¡°No Problem. We Stay.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± He asked again. ¡°No Problem.¡± It reaffirmed. ¡°Then I will send supplies and reinforcement to relieve you once I get back to the farm.¡± ¡°No Problem.¡± The spider leader just had no problems, ever. Such an easy guy to work with. With that out of the way, he instructed a few spiders to grab the volunteer humans and fetch the two to the farm. There was no way he could allow the pair to leave the forest. Plus, he will have someone to teach him how to write and other things about the local human kingdom. ¡°Shadow Walk.¡± He moved through darkness quicker than the wind. ¡­ He emerged from the dense jungle and into the familiar clearing; the sight of TomGrape vines and blue webs warmed his heart. He broke the spell so that he could walk casually and enjoy the sight. Spider farmers, big and small, greeted him with their iconic spider waving. By the looks of it, nothing much has changed. Once he reached the centre of the farm, the place where all the buildings were, he noticed a change: a bunch of lamias were hanging from the IronOak in blue nets; captured or even imprisoned. ¡°What happened?¡± He asked the lamias but there was only silent uncomfortable squirming. They didn''t even make an effort to look in his direction. "Odd." So, he went to see the Lamia Queen. The Queen would often greet him with a warm smile, but not this time. There was worry tarnishing her otherwise perfect face. ¡°What happened?¡± He asked going straight to the point. The Queen twirled her white long hair and began in a meek voice. ¡°There was a mutiny... SSS. Just that you know-sss, I had nothing to do with that. Absolutely nothing! SSS!¡± She reiterated the point with newfound vigour. ¡°That¡¯s right, they did that-sss on their own. Sss-so ungrateful!¡± ¡°Did what? What''s going on?¡± ¡°Oh! I thought-sss you already know and came to¡­¡± She gave him the look. ¡°Never mind. It¡¯s best if you go and sss-see for yourself.¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°¡­?¡± ¡°To the caves-sss. To the sss-spring.¡± ¡°Something bad happened?¡± The Queen deflected it with a shrug. ¡°Shadow Walk!¡± He turned into a swirling shadow and disappeared into the wall. ¡°SSS!!!¡± The Queen yelped in surprise. ¡°By the bile of worms-sss, what was-sss that?!¡± She looked at the wall with big red eyes unable to believe what just happened. She even touched the wall to check if it was solid; it was. ¡­ Once he reached the caves he found that his skill was much less effective here because he couldn¡¯t phase through metres of solid rock, nor could he move fast because of all the turns and twists. He sprinted at a brisk pace ever deeper into the caves. He even met some spiders on his way down. ¡°Everything. Fine.¡± The spider assured him. But then why Lamia Queen was so worried? He emerged into a large cavern, all the signs of myconid infestation were long gone. It was just a normal cavern with a normal spring. What was not normal was the humanoids bathing in the hot spring. He couldn¡¯t recognise them. ¡°O King of Spiders, come join us. It has healing properties.¡± A bald ugly grey humanoid invited. ¡°Do I know you?¡± He asked curious. ¡°It¡¯s me, The High Chief.¡± The grey humanoid pointed to his naked self giving a toothy smile. The mouth was full of needle-like teeth. ¡°I see¡­¡± He still didn¡¯t recognise him. ¡°I must say, this spring is awesome. Thank you for giving us a new home. Oh, and thanks for sending the materials to construct our houses. We haven¡¯t finished yet, but almost everyone has a house now.¡± He looked to the side, indeed there were some constructions made out of fungi wood, only hovels really. ¡°Sorry. But, why are you bald and grey now?¡± He left the ugly part out. ¡°Oh, that¡­ The ritual backfired and we aren¡¯t elves any more. Simple as that.¡± Did the High Chief get somehow corrupted by the spring, but the spring is clear now, so¡­ ¡°So what are you?¡± He had to ask. ¡°Drow, I think.¡± ¡°Drow?¡± ¡°Yes, the elves of the caves. We even have Darkvision now. It¡¯s amazing. Thanks again for our new home.¡± ¡°Congratulations? And you¡¯re welcome¡­ but I am afraid this is Lamia''s home.¡± ¡°What? But they told us we can have it, as compensation for interrupting our ritual.¡± The High Chief jumped out of the water all flustered. ¡°Huh? Oh, the mutiny¡­ There might have been a misunderstanding somewhere.¡± ¡°They made it quite clear that they don¡¯t want this spring. They said it''s useless to them and that we should just take it and settle here. The spiders even brought resources for that.¡± The High Chief frowned. ¡°Did they do something without consulting with you? If so I apologise for taking something that isn¡¯t mine.¡± The High Chief bowed. ¡°No, no. If the Lamia said you can have it, then you can.¡± ¡°Thank you, O Great King of Spiders and Drows.¡± He bowed again. ¡°¡­and Lamia.¡± He added the last part in a whisper. ¡°Actually, I must thank you for cleansing this spring. I will make sure you are rewarded properly.¡± He said what he had to say. The reality was that he still was somewhat confused. Then, why did he even need the spring cleansed if the Lamia didn¡¯t want it anyway!!! ¡°I must go for now. Shadow Walk.¡± He disappeared, hit the wall in the tunnel, bent the helmet badly, learned the lesson and walked the rest of the way to the outside. ¡­ The two were bickering like a young couple: ¡°What do you mean you don¡¯t want to go back to the caves?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to!¡± ¡°But why? I¡¯ve gone over all this trouble for you.¡± ¡°I just-sss don¡¯t want to.¡± ¡°But lamias like the hot springs.¡± ¡°Dark Elves can have it. SSS!¡± ¡°They are Drow now, not dark elves.¡± ¡°Whatever-sss.¡± "..." "..." ¡°You sabotaged their ritual didn¡¯t you.¡± ¡°SSS! No, I didn¡¯t!¡± ¡°But you did!¡± ¡°No¡­¡± ¡°You made the High Chief bald!¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°His skin is grey, his body wiry, his face gaunt, back hunched and his eyes red. You changed their entire race into something else!¡± ¡°Sss-so what?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°If you were happier here you could have just told me.¡± ¡°I am happy here. Can we sss-stay?¡± She looked with puppy-like eyes. ¡°Now¡­ Now I don¡¯t know, I don¡¯t think you should. You¡¯ve been making trouble for everyone.¡± ¡°Please. I¡¯ll be good.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Please, pretty plea-sss-e. I promise I won¡¯t sss-steal slug jelly anymore.¡± ¡°¡­?¡± ¡°¡­and I won¡¯t sss-steal your boars.¡± She wasn¡¯t finished. ¡°¡­and I won¡¯t sss-sit on your throne then you are gone. And, and, amm¡­ I won¡¯t come to your room to watch you sss-sleep, yes! I will be good.¡± ¡°You what?!¡± ¡°I promise I will be good from now on.¡± He learned more than he needed to know, but his intention never changed. ¡°Fine, you can stay. I was just messing with you because you made trouble for others. That''s it.¡± ¡°Yes-sss!¡± She jumped into the air, or tried to, she had a long tail after all. ¡°Oh, and don¡¯t sit on my throne anymore.¡± ¡°Okay. Can I still watch you sss-sleep?¡± ¡°You are joking about that one, right? Right?!¡± ¡°He-he¡­ Of course. SSS.¡± She gave her best smile. ¡°Hey, wanna sss-see the babies? They had finally hatched.¡± ¡°Oh, really? Will they be alright here? And should they really be here and not in the caves?¡± ¡°As long as they don¡¯t go into the light they will be fine. SSS. Come-sss.¡± He was led to a hatchery, it was very dark inside, but he could see small forms slithering in the darkness. The Queen lamia scooped a baby and raised it for him to see better. ¡°Aren¡¯t they cute?¡± It was white and more snake than humanoid. It didn¡¯t even have arms yet, only a very big head and long tail. It wasn¡¯t even remotely cute. It was like a creature from a horror movie. ¡°Yeah, very cute.¡± ¡°SSS.¡± The baby lamia hissed angrily exposing the mouth already full of sharp teeth. ¡°Aww, it likes-sss you.¡± Something cold and slimy was slithering over his ankle, he ignored the urge to run. ¡°So is that a boy or a girl?¡± He tried to make small talk. ¡°You sss-silly, all Lamia are girls, I¡¯ve told you.¡± ¡°I see¡­ And how many are here?¡± ¡°About a hundred?¡± ¡°And they eat what?¡± ¡°What a sss-strange question. the sss-same stuff we do. You know nothing about babies-sss do you?¡± ¡°Nope. The spiders are just easy. They hatch and they go, already ready for work.¡± ¡°Well, these aren¡¯t spiders-sss.¡± She put the baby down and it slithered away towards the dark corner. ¡°Is there anything I need to do to help you guys?¡± ¡°No, not really.¡± ¡°I guess we should make a dark den for the babies. They will need more space.¡± ¡°Yes, that would be good. They won¡¯t be able to go into sss-sunlight for a while.¡± He realised that his kingdom now will have not just spiders but probably the lamias living in it. It all was fine, he liked the company, but there was an issue. He was the King here, and then there was another ruler, the Lamia Queen; a kingdom within a kingdom was not a thing that worked well. ¡°Doesn''t it bother you that you must follow my rules?¡± ¡°Sss?¡± Lamia looked curiously at him. ¡°Your house your rules.¡± ¡°But you are the Queen of Lamia, doesn¡¯t it look like I undermine your rule?¡± ¡°Why? I don¡¯t understand-sss.¡± ¡°There can¡¯t be two rulers in one kingdom. It will bring trouble.¡± ¡°He-he-sss.¡± She laughed heartily. ¡°You silly, there can be a queen and a king.¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s what I am saying. The spiders and lamias might get confused about whose orders to follow.¡± ¡°Yes-sss, I do ask your spiders for sss-some favours and you do ask Lamia for help, but there never is confusion.¡± He looked at her thinking if he should remind her about the spring incident. ¡°Never mind, if we get along it¡¯s all that matters.¡± ¡°Precisely, sss, my King.¡± She grabbed for his hand surprising him. Two red eyes stared deep right into his trying to convey the hidden meaning. ¡°Am I the Lamia King now?!¡± The realisation hit him. ¡°You don¡¯t want to?¡± She put on a fake pouting face but clung even closer. ¡°I guess, it solves the issue about the two rulers. The Drow called me their king and now you. So it¡¯s the King of Spiders, the Drow and now the Lamia?¡± ¡°That old fart, sss, tried to marry you? SSS!¡± The lamia released his hand abruptly. ¡°Marry? I think you misunderstood something. They just decided to become my vassals, that¡¯s it.¡± The lamia wasn¡¯t listening. ¡°I sss-should have killed him there and then! SSS!¡± ¡°Hey, you told me you will be good!¡± The evil expression on Queen Lamia''s changed in an instant. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s-sss right. That sss-stinking dark elf can''t be a Queen. SSS-safe¡­¡± She reached for his hand again. ¡°I won¡¯t kill him, I promise.¡± He realised that since all lamia were women the Queen lamia must have misunderstood something about the High Chief. ¡°Are you¡­ secretly evil or something?¡± He couldn¡¯t help but wonder. ¡°Me?¡± She gestured at herself. ¡°Never!¡± 40 The Alraune had magnificent plant growth abilities, likely a lesser variant of the wisp¡¯s Grow, making them an excellent addition to the farms. The one he had was currently in the field of FireAgave and her job here was finished. The field was full of agave leaves, they were giant, almost as tall as him. Each leaf was red in colour and had small spikes on the sides. It was high time to harvest it. ¡°Harvest Material.¡± The FireAgave exploded into purple motes of light. [FireAgave Strand] x25. He received a bundle of thin red strings right inside his inventory. ¡°Not bad.¡± But also not good, the perk wasted a lot of the plant. Luckily harvesting it the old-fashioned way was always an option. ¡°Come one come all, it¡¯s harvest time!¡± He shouted for the spiders. The spider farmers rushed from all sides and began cutting the FireAgave, they worked in unison like a well-calibrated machine and systematically were going through each plant. Cutting at the base, separating the leaves, halving them and stuffing them in the bags, and so on. It was almost scary but in a matter of minutes, the field was harvested. The lone Alraune stood in the middle of it, the look on her face furious, a spider minder bonked her on the head with a stick correcting the foul attitude. That¡¯s right! Serves her right. To begin with, the plants didn¡¯t belong to the Alraune, and the plant-woman actually had a mean attitude to everything. He had to have a spider minder near the creature at all times because it was well-established that she will attempt to eat the little spiders if they got too close. And that¡¯s right, due to her bad attitude Alraune had no friends here, well except for the Dryads. Dryads and Alraune were tight friends for some reason. Speaking about Dryads, they were interesting creatures needing neither water nor food to survive. Having them around proved to be useful, they had found a way to make IronOak seedlings. The tree in question had no fruits, hence no seeds, but Dryads used their innate magic on small cuttings of the tree to turn them into saplings. Currently, they were planting a small grove of only IronOaks, In a clearing slightly away from the farms. He waved the rude Alraune goodbye. ¡°Alraune!¡± She pointed a finger accusingly at him only to be bonked by a stick again. Whatever, the job was done. He was curious about what he can make out of FireAgave. In a workshop, a group of spiders were munching on thick leaves of agave to extract the fibre strands. It turned out to be quite juicy, thick oily substance leaked down their mandibles. It looked like syrup so he dipped his finger and tasted it. ¡°Bleh!¡± He spat it out. ¡°Tastes like lighter fluid.¡± And then he had an idea. He gathered the juice into a small container and ran towards where the Lamia had their cooking fire. The meal was over and there were only hot embers in the fireplace. He poured the thick juice on the embers and it burst into fire. ¡°As predicted. But what if the plant caught fire?¡± The idea was scary. Next, he dropped a whole Fire Agave leaf into the fire. Surprisingly, it didn¡¯t burn, not at all. ¡°How strange. So while the juice is flammable, the plant itself has fire-resistant properties. Amazing!¡± By the time he was back, the spiders were already weaving [FireAgave Strand] into rolls of [Red Cloth]. With that cloth, he was positive in being able to make fire-resistant clothing. Hopefully, this will make the scary fireballs less effective; those had wrecked the spiders quite a bit. To make more cloth he will need bigger fields, and to grow it quickly he will need more Alraune. Well, the fields were easy, but he felt anxious about using the Evolve perk, that one had a tendency to knock him out. ¡­ Much later, the small group of spiders had returned with two humans. The men looked gaunt and exhausted from the long travel. ¡°Welcome to my kingdom.¡± He greeted the two. The humans looked with empty fish-like eyes; dead inside from all the terror they had witnessed on the way here. ¡°And thanks again for volunteering to do the reading and writing for me. No, consider yourselves employed from now on. I will even pay you wages¡­ in the form of food and free accommodation, yes, isn¡¯t it wonderful.¡± A spider nudged a still-bound man. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s my pleasure.¡± A middle-aged human grumbled. The younger man followed a good example. ¡°Yes, Yes!¡± ¡°Now then, the spiders will show your accommodation. I¡¯m quite busy at the moment so you are free to do as you please until I need you. Just don¡¯t go into the jungle, or near Alraune. Oh, and I already asked the Lamia not to eat you.¡± The two just blinked already resigned to their fate of forever captivity and then the spiders dragged them by their feet to their ¡®houses¡¯. ¡°That reminds me, I need to make some paper and ink¡­¡± The paper was easy but good ink was more complicated. ¡°I should have asked the humans for some.¡± That or he could use what he has here. Actually, it was not that complicated the dust from the flowers he grew was a perfect dye once mixed with water. And he had plenty of time on his hands to practise making both. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. The paper didn¡¯t turn out as well as he imagined, it was off-white, rough and grainy. The ink however turned out to be alright. Having what he needed he decided to get some practice. It had been forever since he had to write by hand. And in reality, he had forgotten how useful writing can be. Well, on a small farm he never really needed it but now it wasn¡¯t just a farm, it was a small kingdom and written messages, decrees, edicts and orders had significance. That is if people were literate. He scribbled something on the paper. ¡°I wonder if Lamia can read or write.¡± He wasn¡¯t sure of that. ¡°Maybe the Ancestral Tree knows how to, but I bet his language is ancient and unnecessarily difficult. Kobolds?¡± He just smiled dismissing the idea instantly. ¡°That leaves only humans and the elves.¡± The reason he was thinking about it was that he needed an official language for his kingdom. He was going to end up with either local human or elven written languages. ¡°Ahh, I would use English but.¡± As far as he knew Language Comprehension did its thing and no one spoke or wrote actual English. He looked at the paper he was scribbling on, his eyebrows furrowed. ¡°What is this?¡± He began angling the paper to the right and to the left, and even upside down. ¡°How did I write it?¡± Whatever he absentmindedly wrote it wasn¡¯t English. Various glyphs and shapes filled the paper. ¡°I don¡¯t get it.¡± He tried to write this time paying attention but even then more strange hieroglyphs came out. ¡°I forgot how to write English, but¡­¡± He positioned the paper the right way and tried to read. ¡°Look at my horse, my horse is amazing. Give it a lick! Mmm! It tastes just like raisins. With a stroke of its mane, it turns into a plane. And then he turns back again when you tug on his¡­¡± Obviously, he wrote some nonsense but¡­ ¡°Yeah, I can read it no problem.¡± Then for some reason the fingers resting on the paper felt hot, the ink glowed and the paper burst into flames. The flames devoured it so quickly he was left standing grasping nothing but air, strangely the flame didn¡¯t burn him. ¡°What just happened.¡± He was lost for words. He wrote something again, and once he read it out loud it burst into flames. He scratched his head, there was just no logical explanation. ¡°This world works in mysterious ways. I wonder, if not English then what language is this?¡± He produced another piece of paper and on it, he wrote: ¡°I¡¯m the King of Spiders.¡± But this time he didn¡¯t read it. He went to show it to a friendly Lamia. Currently, she was eating her boar and mushroom dinner with her friends. ¡°Here, try it.¡± He offered the paper. ¡°Oh, a napkin thanks-sss.¡± She dabbed her oily lips with the paper. ¡°No, I wanted you to try reading it.¡± She gave him a funny look. ¡°Why would you think I know how to do that? SSS! Ask the Queen!¡± She hissed and pushed the stained paper towards his hands. He apologised and went to see the Queen. He couldn''t find her in her room. Naturally, he asked her servants first but they just shrugged. ¡°Odd, aren''t the servants supposed to know where their Queen is.¡± He mumbled to himself and kept looking. Neither lamias nor spiders knew where the Lamia Queen was, he even began to worry. That was until a baby spider, a recently hatched one, tugged on the hem of his trousers. He didn¡¯t even see the little guy at the beginning. ¡°King?¡± It chirped politely. ¡°Oh, you can talk already!¡± He was genuinely impressed. ¡°White Lamia.¡± It pointed with its small hand towards the direction of the throne room. ¡°She¡¯s there?¡± The spider nodded vigorously. ¡°Good lad.¡± He patted the little fellow and it chirped happily. ¡°Why would she be there in all of the places.¡± Of course, she was in the throne room. She was there to sit on his Divine Pillow, an item of legendary quality. She had made herself comfortable on the throne and was eating TomGrape fruit without a single care in the world. The juices leaked down her arm and then everywhere on the throne making it sticky. ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing?!¡± He roared failing to hide the irritation. ¡°SSS? Why are you here?¡± She jumped and out of surprise dropped the fruit she was nibbling on right on the floor. It plopped out the ground splattering the juices. Her facial expression was indignant and the way she slouched on the throne was no better, but for some reason, she asked that stupid question with increased authority, and her voice reverberated through the entire throne room. ¡°SSS¡­ I am sss-sorry.¡± She slithered off the throne with her shoulders hunched and her head down. At least her apology sounded normal. He had things to say to the troublemaker, a lot of things, but since she already knew she was up to no good he chose to ignore it for the sake of more important matters. He showed her the oily paper. ¡°Did you draw this, sss, very nice picture!¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a picture. Can you read this?¡± He offered her the paper. The Lamia Queen grabbed it and currently was holding the paper upside down. ¡°Oh, yes I can read it, sss. Very interesting, sss, but what do you think about it?¡± ¡°You can''t read it, can¡¯t you.¡± ¡°No, no I can-sss.¡± She began turning it around. ¡°Here, are the mountains-sss I know of.¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t a map, you know, it¡¯s a text¡­ Never mind.¡± He tried to take the paper away. ¡°No! SSS. I can do it!¡± He took it away. Not only it was oily now, it was all crumpled up. ¡°Just that I know. What does it sss-say? SSS?¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing important.¡± ¡°Please, tell me. I am curoious-sss now.¡± ¡°If I tell you, I¡¯m afraid the paper might catch fire.¡± She gave him a curious look. ¡°You¡¯re mes-sss-sing with me.¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m not.¡± ¡°Just that you know, sss, my mother, the Late Queen, could read. It¡¯s just that I was-sss too young to learn.¡± ¡°Too young, or too stubborn?¡± She definitely wasn¡¯t too young. There was no reply. ¡°I am going to see if humans can recognise the writing. I am curious what language is this.¡± He went to find the two men and lamia tagged along still pestering him to tell her what the text said. They approached a small dome-like structure. There was no door only a blue curtain blocking the entrance, so he knocked on the wall. He knocked once, nothing, twice, nothing. ¡°Maybe they''re out?¡± He wondered if spiders were giving the two a farm tour. ¡°Come in.¡± Someone said groggily. He went inside, the two men had settled well. The spiders had made them a bed, a table and other necessary furniture. The table was loaded with food, fruits and even boar meat. Half-eaten pieces of food littered the floor and even the two beds the men were sleeping on. The middle-aged man rubbed his eyes looking at him, and then he shot up straight and stiff as a log. ¡°Sorcerer!¡± He kicked his buddy to wake him up. ¡°We didn¡¯t expect you so soon.¡± ¡°Not just sss-sorcerer, King of Lamia to you.¡± Lamia Queen corrected. ¡°And I am the Queen.¡± Both men gave a good looking down to the King their gazes slightly confused. ¡°King and Queen of Lamia.¡± The two bowed the best they could. ¡°How can we help you.¡± If anything, he was the King of spiders; obviously. Regardless, he ignored the trouble-loving lamia and showed the paper to the two commoners, without expecting much of them. ¡°Do you recognise the writing?¡± ¡°No.¡± The middle-aged man spoke first. ¡°Looks like magical writing?¡± A younger spoke. ¡°But I am only guessing. You need a mage for that.¡± ¡°So, it¡¯s the elves I need to speak with.¡± Queen Lamia crossed her arms. ¡°They''re not elves now, sss, they are Drow!¡± she corrected in a mock stern tone. ¡°I wonder who is responsible for that?¡± He gave her the look. Her reply was an innocent smile. ¡°Then I¡¯m off to see the Drow and uncover the secrets of this paper.¡± He looked at even more curious lamia. ¡°And you¡¯re not coming. Shadow Walk.¡± He disappeared leaving only threads of darkness floating in the air like feathers. ¡°No! SSS!¡± ¡°Sorcery!¡± The middle-aged man fell back to his bed. 41 Shadow Walk was a wonderful spell, yes, but that didn¡¯t mean that it didn¡¯t have its costs. Tiredness, an overwhelming tiredness assaulted his body and mind, likely it was because he didn¡¯t allow his mana to replenish fully and was completely out by now. Regardless of the negative effect, the Oberon Undermountain Caves were comparatively close. He just had to walk the rest at a slow pace. Or maybe he didn¡¯t, because there were two large spiders by the entrance. ¡°Hello.¡± He waved at the pair. ¡°Do you mind giving me a lift to the Drow?¡± The two spiders looked at each other. ¡°Warrior. Leader. Will. Get¡­¡± The spider was deliberating the word. ¡°Jealous.¡± The second spider finished. ¡°If you won¡¯t tell, I won¡¯t tell.¡± He winked. The ride was secured and he reached the Drow Cavern quickly. He was surprised that in a short amount of time, they had finished building all the houses and other buildings they needed. By the looks of it, they even began farming the glow moss and glow mushrooms; as a fellow farmer-slash-king he approved of the ideas. There was one issue however, the Drow were still wearing strange clothes, if you could even call them that. Those were just sacks draped over their bodies, it screamed poverty. ¡°Hello, I am here to see the High Chief.¡± He greeted a random drow. The drow jumped as if she just saw a ghost, her red eyes were big and her hands began to tremble. There was no reply, she pointed at the house near the spring. ¡°Odd¡­¡± He never projected fear, her reaction was out of place. ¡°But thanks.¡± The house was far away from being ordinary. Its walls were made of fungiwood giving it a sponge-like appearance, it was neither square nor round, the best word was bulbous with growths; the shape was much like a pile of potatoes fused with one another; strange. There were round holes for windows in random places, and for the doors there was just a thick curtain of cave roots and vines weaved together. He knocked on the spongy wall, it made a hollow thud. ¡°High Chief, are you in?¡± He heard something tumble and then shatter. ¡°King of Spiders!¡± The High Chief opened the curtain, his face and fingers and even the blue cloth sack he wore were stained, the stains glowed in fluorescent yellow. ¡°Oh, this. I was trying to make ink.¡± ¡°Really. I did the same today, what a coincidence.¡± ¡°Come King, sit down, I can¡¯t leave you standing.¡± He moved the curtain inviting him in with a hand gesture. The inside was an organised mess. Various plants and mushrooms were spilling from stone bowls and cave critters were trying to escape their stick cages. Other strange substances and powders coated the counters and workstation, much of it emitted an odd smell and faint glow. The tidiest table had some fungal sheets cut neatly into squares on the top, and under it was a smashed container and a big yellow glowing puddle. He sat by the ¡®tidiest¡¯ table. For some reason the High Chief didn¡¯t follow inside and went out instead. ¡°The King is here! Send me a servant girl and refreshments!¡± He shouted all too loud. ¡°Sorry about the state of my office.¡± He came back bow apologetically. ¡°No, need. I understand, after all, you started fresh from zero. Actually, I am impressed how quickly you made this cavern your home.¡± The High Chief bowed again. ¡°The spiders helped us a lot.¡± ¡°The reason I came is about this.¡± He pulled the oily crumpled paper from the magic inventory. ¡°Have a look, do you recognise the letters, well, glyphs of whatever those are.¡± The drow took the paper and held it close to his face. ¡°Magical Scroll, no, the paper is too plain. The enchantment wouldn''t work. Why someone would waste magical ink on something like this?¡± He made a complicated expression. ¡°Well, I made it. Never mind that, tell me about the glyphs.¡± ¡°You made it?¡± He looked at the King in surprise treating the paper with increased delicacy. ¡°The glyphs!¡± He pointed at the paper, taping on the ink. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s Demonic Runes. But you know that already since you wrote it¡­¡± The High Chief also had a complicated look on his face. ¡°Demonic Runes¡­ Can you read them?¡± ¡°What? No¡­ The elven elders might have gleaned some insight if they were still around.¡± Yeah, apparently venerable elders and the elven ancient library had mysteriously vanished just before he breached the Elf City. ¡°I see¡­¡± At least he gained some insight into what language it was. ¡°Demonic Runes¡­¡± It was hard to believe those were made with his own hand. A servant girl came running out of the doorway with a tray. She too looked pitiful with nothing more than a sack covering her slim body. At least she wasn¡¯t bald like the High Chief, she had long white hair hanging loosely from her shoulders. She set two stone cups on the table and poured some brown liquid in. He took a sip. The taste was unique; it was cold mushroom tea. ¡°Not bad. Could I ask for a recipe?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just dried mushrooms and spring water.¡± The High Chief shrugged. ¡°I like it.¡± The Drow smiled. ¡°Then the king can help himself to our stores. Or should I just give the spiders some to bring it to your home?¡± He simply nodded. ¡°You know, as I said, I¡¯d like to trade with you.¡± ¡°Trade? But you have given us so much already. We all know if you need something you can just take it, no one will say a thing.¡± ¡°Am I that type of person? I think I made the wrong impression.¡± ¡°No, no! I apologise if I misunderstood. From now on we''ll send you regular tribute of various things we make here.¡± ¡°I can pay. What would you like in return?¡± He finished the tea. The servant girl was quick to refill the cup, even with a trembling hand she didn¡¯t spill a single drop. ¡°We can¡¯t, we''re already indebted to you eternally.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± The high chief leaned to whisper. ¡°The Drow think that if we keep taking and taking, one day you will come and collect their souls as payment.¡± This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. It was hard to process what the High Chief just said, he was likely projecting the trauma from what had happened in the Elf City with the Ancestral Tree. ¡°I would do no such thing.¡± He whispered back. ¡°I know. You are capable of bigger things.¡± He no longer whispered. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°We are but slaves to you our King and Master. You can do what you wish.¡± He made a mental note officially declaring the high chief crazy. ¡°Is that why everyone insists on wearing sackcloth?¡± ¡°Is that unacceptable?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you make something better?¡± ¡°But these are the clothes the King bestowed upon us.¡± The High Chief grabbed his sackcloth. ¡°It is enchanted cloth! Not only does it not stain easily it is also Reinforced +1!¡± He began rubbing his temples out of frustration with this crazy Drow. ¡°You can wear it if you like it. But don¡¯t go making others wear it.¡± He looked at the servant girl. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you like to take that filthy sack off?¡± The girl flushed red and dropped the sack ¡°¡­ and wear something else instead?¡± He too flushed red. ¡°You can put that back on.¡± The High Chief gave a curious look. ¡°Let¡¯s try again. Girl, wouldn''t you like to wear a pretty dress?¡± ¡°No¡­¡± She replied meekly. ¡°Don¡¯t be shy.¡± ¡°If the king insists I will¡­ but¡­¡± She obviously wanted to say something else. ¡°But?¡± ¡°Does this sack look bad on me? I made sure to put it right. If my elder finds out that my sack was not proper she will punish me.¡± The tears began pooling in the corner of her eyes. ¡°Oh, no¡­ Please don¡¯t cry. The sack looks beautiful on you! Yes, it fits you very well.¡± ¡°Really?¡± She rubbed the tears away. ¡°Yes!¡± he nodded vigorously. Either all Drow were crazy or they just had a weird fashion sense. ¡°However, I stand by my word. No one needs to wear the sackcloth if they don¡¯t want it. I am sure you can make clothes of your own.¡± ¡°It will never be as good as the ones you gave me¡­ This is royal garb!¡± The high chief exclaimed proudly. ¡°But, I will convey your will, King.¡± He bowed. ¡°I apologise if we somehow displeased you.¡± He glared at the girl. ¡°No, no¡­ This is your people. I shouldn¡¯t be the one setting the rules here. Anyway, thanks for your wisdom about the runes, it was insightful. With that said, I must go.¡± He stood up from the chair. ¡°Wait, King.¡± He looked at the High Chief. ¡°That ink of yours. Would you be willing to share its recipe.¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s just blue dust mixed with water.¡± He took out a bag of dust from the inventory. ¡°Be careful, if you inhale it it will give a debuff.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± He waved the High Chief goodbye and bowed in an apology to the servant girl. ¡°If anything else you need just ask the spiders.¡± ¡°I will. But I think I have everything to start building our Drow Archive.¡± He left the two drow in the house and went to look for the ride out. However, The High chief wasn¡¯t just done yet. ¡°Sorry, King. I keep forgetting. The drow pressed big fuzzy seed into his hands. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± He deposited into the inventory. [Living Wood Seed] ¡°A special tree seed from the elven forest. This is the one we used to craft many different things out of. It has many magical properties. I stole it from Ancestral Tree when we left.¡± He would have preferred if the High Chief just omitted the last part. ¡°Stole? But when I met you weren¡¯t, you, you know... naked and with no gear or any possessions at all?¡± ¡°Yes, we were forbidden to take anything from the forest, except for vermin and bugs. The wisps and squirrels were keeping a keen eye on us.¡± ¡°Then how?¡± It was unlikely the wisp wouldn¡¯t sense it being taken, unless¡­ ¡°Oh, you have a special perk, an extra inventory space.¡± ¡°Yes, I hid it in my own special Elven Pocket.¡± The chief said somewhat uncomfortable. ¡°I made sure to wash it properly so don¡¯t you worry.¡± ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t need it? The seed?¡± ¡°We¡¯re Drow now, it doesn¡¯t belong with us, and besides, it would never grow in the cave. No sunlight.¡± He stated the obvious. ¡°Well then, I will take it if you don¡¯t need it.¡± The High Chief nodded. ¡°Take good care of it, it¡¯s precious.¡± Just then he was about to say goodbye for the third time, the High Chief stopped him. ¡°The trip must have been exhausting, wouldn''t you try our spring? As I said before it has healing properties.¡± For some reason, the High Chief showed his long black fingernails to him. ¡°Maybe you¡¯re right. I do have a headache. I don''t think I properly let my mana recover and I am all out.¡± ¡°Then, what¡¯s the hold up.¡± The Drow pushed the King by the shoulder urging him towards the spring. Indeed, it was restored to its former glory. The rocks were polished clean and it was steaming hot vapour. ¡°Come, Come.¡± The High Chief urged while already in the water. He was lucky he came wearing a robe and not armour otherwise it would have been difficult. Without reservation, he took the clothes off and joined the elf. The water was hot, but not unpleasant, and he could already feel the headache subside. Out of curiosity, he activated the perk [Harvest Material] and it provided him with [Mana Spring Water], which had a subtext telling that it is diluted. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect this to be more than a hot spring¡­¡± ¡°Of course, it¡¯s more than a hot spring. Wait, you didn¡¯t know?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think even Lamia knew¡­ and I won¡¯t tell them.¡± The memory of the mischievous Lamia Queen soured the otherwise relaxing bathing experience. ¡°Haya!¡± Someone jumped into the water making it slash. ¡°Spider King!¡± A familiar voice greeted. ¡°Kobold leader what are you doing here?¡± The kobold swam around disturbing the calm water. ¡°Drow are friends. I come and have a hot bath now and then. Good for the scales.¡± ¡°They make our pottery for us. The fungiwood we can shape, but stone¡­ We had to rely on Kobolds.¡± ¡°Yes, yes.¡± The Kobold leader released a trail of bubbles from its rear. ¡°Drow showed Kobolds how to make the best of pots.¡± It kept swimming in circles. ¡°And Kobolds showed us what is edible and what is not. They are quite knowledgeable about these caves.¡± ¡°Huh, I¡¯m glad you are allies already.¡± He was surprised at the unlikely alliance. ¡°It just made sense, once we found out that they serve the King too.¡± ¡°And the pots¡­ I want some too you know. I never knew you could make them.¡± ¡°Never asked.¡± Kobold leader splayed its body over the hot flat rock. ¡°Ehh¡­ so good.¡± ¡°King did you know, well at least according to the Kobolds, that deep in the caves it¡¯s possible to find fire spirit stones.¡± ¡°Yes, yes. But guarded by fire-breathing monsters. Told Drow not to go, it will melt their soft grey skin.¡± ¡°Sounds dangerous. Why are you interested in magic stones, High Chief?¡± ¡°Well¡­ the Kobolds have ores, and since we aren¡¯t elves anymore. I was thinking of smelting some metal.¡± He gave a High Chief an inquisitive look. ¡°Tell me more about these magic stones.¡± ¡°Fire Spirit Stone, is an item able to convert ambient mana into fire essence or elemental fire. Its fire is smokeless and hot enough to melt most ores. The essence can be used in enchantments or to boost fire-based spells.¡± ¡°Wow, that¡¯s a very book-like reply.¡± ¡°Yes, after all, I am the eldest Drow here; I know a thing or two. And it¡¯s a shame we lost our scrolls; I can¡¯t be expected to remember everything.¡± He sounded frustrated. ¡°You keep mentioning the scrolls. Was that something important?¡± ¡°Very. At first, I thought it was you, our King, who borrowed them. But now I know that¡¯s not the case. It doesn¡¯t matter now. We are building the new Drow Archive, soon to be filled with scrolls documenting the magics and wonders of the Oberon Undermountain.¡± ¡°I see¡­ Just maybe follow the good advice of Kobold leader and don¡¯t go too deep; It sounds dangerous.¡± ¡°Yes, Yes, good advice.¡± ¡°How about your spiders, I was wondering¡­¡± ¡°No! From what I¡¯ve seen they have weakness to fire. But I might have just a counter for that¡­ but that is for later.¡± ¡°How about this guy?¡± The High Chief pointed to the distance. ¡°Hey, come out, say hello.¡± At first, he couldn¡¯t tell what the High chief was pointing at but then once it started moving he realised that it was a spider. This spider was not unlike others, it was dark grey like the surrounding rock, and its body looked like it was made out of stone; it was quite bulky. It looked like a cousin of a Metal Spider. ¡°Hello.¡± The spider spoke giving a wave. ¡°Stone Spider!¡± The High Chief had already named it. ¡°That one looks fire-resistant.¡± ¡°Are you?¡± The spider shrugged. ¡°There are others. Crystal Spider, Darkness Spider and even Glowing Spider.¡± ¡°And. Mushroom Spider.¡± The Stone Spider added helpfully. ¡°The Mushroom Spider is definitely not fire resistant. But it grows very tasty mushrooms.¡± ¡°Yes, yes. It lives with Kobolds now.¡± ¡°Did my spiders evolve on their own?¡± He was pleasantly surprised. ¡°Well, they kinda were there during the ritual. And I guess they mutat¡­ gained extra powers as a side effect.¡± ¡°Very interesting.¡± He rubbed his chin in thought. ¡°If you want to go deep into the caves, you can. And I will bring my spiders, but everyone needs to prepare accordingly. Everyone. Only then we can go together.¡± ¡°I would expect nothing else.¡± The High Chief stood up and bowed. ¡°Stop with the bowing already. We are allies.¡± ¡°Friends, yes, yes.¡± ¡°Thank you for today, I still have an errand to run.¡± He stood up to leave the spring, and only then did he realise that quite a few Drow were looking at the trio bathing. Rude! The Drow just had no sense of privacy. Or maybe they just had no reservations about nakedness. Actually, the Kobolds were just like that, and the Lamia were almost no different. If not for him and his spiders, he would be surrounded by nudists! With such idle thoughts out of the way, there was only one place to visit; The Ancestral Tree. In retrospect, he should have just visited it first, it was bound to have a wealth of knowledge about runes and magical things. 42 Once he approached the area he was greeted with the familiar message. [You have entered The Ancestral Tree] It was scary how quickly nature reclaimed the city, it was impossible to tell that elves once lived here. ¡°Hello, Ancestral Tree!¡± He shouted into the air hoping to get its attention. A wisp manifested out of thin air. ¡°King of Spiders, welcome!¡± It shouted equally loud. ¡°I need help with something!¡± ¡°What is it!? And why are we shouting?!¡± ¡°I thought you might be sleeping, like the trees do.¡± He recovered the allegedly demonic rune paper. ¡°Who told you that? Trees don¡¯t sleep, neither do they dream.¡± The wisp flew towards the paper. ¡°I know that," it pulsed, "Why are you showing me this?¡± ¡°So, you can read it?¡± He wanted to jump in the air. ¡°Of course. Ever since we became Ancestral Tree I can read all which is magic.¡± ¡°Try reading it out loud.¡± The wisp pulsed a few times as if bewildered by the request. ¡°I am the King of Spiders.¡± The paper burst into flames. ¡°Most peculiar.¡± ¡°Right? I¡¯ve been told this is demonic language, is this why it caught fire?¡± ¡°Demonic? Who keeps telling you these lies? The person needs to be stripped naked and shamed!¡± The wisp pulsed in anger. ¡°This is just a very ancient and obscure runic language. We wouldn''t expect anyone to know it, or even use it. As to why it caught fire¡­¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Maybe you shouldn¡¯t write it using magical ink.¡± The wisp pulsed. ¡°In magical languages, be it enchantments, scripts, formulas, glyphs or even runes ¨C each word is more than just a word. If formulated properly and then imbued with magic it will want to manifest once invoked. Drop the magical ink. Don¡¯t imbue magic. The words will stay inert.¡± The wisp pulsed again. ¡°Wow, you do know your stuff¡­¡± All the puzzle pieces fell into place, well, not really. ¡°I still don¡¯t understand why I know this language.¡± The wisp pulsed a few times but didn¡¯t say anything, probably because it had nothing to say. ¡°Well, since I know magic now¡­ can you like, teach me more about it?¡± He asked but still expected a no. ¡°Magic can only be gained. We can show you how to [Heal], but I doubt you could ever learn it. You absorbed Dark Essence, did you not?¡± ¡°Yes, and I got three spells.¡± He named them including the mysterious [???]. ¡°Then you must know, that nature magic is out of your reach. King of Spiders, you¡¯re a dark mage now.¡± The wisp sounded ominous all of the sudden. ¡°And this [???] stuff?¡± The wisp shrunk. ¡°I must admit that I am not too sure, but It might be that you haven''t reached the requirement yet.¡± ¡°You mentioned enchantments and runic languages, can you teach me those?¡± The wisp pulsed rapidly. ¡°I can read them, but even I can¡¯t make or formulate something we don¡¯t know. My knowledge is limited to what Forest Spirit has bestowed. However, there are rituals we know of. Those I could teach you¡­¡± He looked at the wisp with high expectations. ¡°¡­when we are not busy. With looming human threat, we are preoccupied.¡± ¡°I see. There is one more thing.¡± He pulled out [Living Wood Seed]. ¡°This came to my possession. I believe it¡¯s yours.¡± He told it in a very roundabout way because he didn¡¯t want to tattle-tell on the High Chief. The wisp spun circles around his head. ¡°If it found you, then it wanted to be found. The seeds like to be spread. Plant it and grow it.¡± ¡°But then I might wish to cut it.¡± He implied the inevitable. ¡°Then you cut it. Just replant it again.¡± He didn¡¯t expect that. Was this nepotism? The wisp definitely treated him differently than humans. Dare they come and cut the forest! ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that.¡± The wisp stopped making rounds around his head. ¡°I protect only this forest. Your forest your rules.¡± ¡°Technically it¡¯s a jungle, well now it¡¯s a farm.¡± It was complicated, because he pretty much devastated it and turned it into something else. ¡°We know. The place with no life, once a Dreaded Place, and here you are... Destruction can be good. Sometimes the old forest needs to burn so that new life can be born from its ashes.¡± If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°That¡¯s very wise of you, Great Ancestral Tree.¡± The wisp expanded into a very large orb. ¡°It¡¯s in my nature.¡± The conversation died down a little for a moment but he remembered one more thing. ¡°How is the frontier doing? Did the humans return?¡± ¡°Good. The Spiky Vine took hold making a perfect barrier as you said. There were some curious humans eyeing my innocent trees but the sight of your spiders was enough to spook them.¡± It pulsed rapidly. ¡°Very Good. No need to worry, the squirrels keep a good watch, they tell me everything.¡± ¡°And the mages?¡± The wisp shrunk. ¡°They collected your gifts, in the clearing as agreed, and then, a few days later there was this strange bird with no soul. A messenger? We tried talking with it, told the forest¡¯s wishes and commands, asked about the truce. We are not sure it understood me.¡± ¡°Faux Phoenix. Did it leave a message?¡± ¡°It did drop some human parchment, very much like the trash humans tend to leave. I turned it to compost.¡± The wisp expanded with pride. ¡°Yeah, that was a message for me. Hopefully nothing too important, but please don¡¯t do that next time.¡± ¡°Oh, I apologise then.¡± He needed a way to contact the mages or tell them to send the messenger bird right to his home. But first, he will need to tell them that the first message was lost. ¡°I will write them a new message; will you be able to leave it in the clearing?¡± ¡°Yes, King of Spiders, I will amend my mistake.¡± The conversation was short but he had to urge back to the farm and find the human scribes for it. ¡­ He sent a messenger spider with a new message, it will go to Ancestral Tree, and hopefully, the wisp will be able to fly it for the rest of the way. He explained the situation, apologising for the lost message, but also he mentioned that he will be sending some of his products to the mages as samples, and asked them to give their honest opinion of how much it was worth. In the package he was sending he packed Red Cloth, TomGrape, PurpleM and Slug Jelly, four items, three of which he had quite a large storage of. He also expressed interest in magical tools and devices of such nature, asking if they would be willing to trade some for the cloth or other products. He would ask for books, but as it is now, he still couldn¡¯t read human language. However, he did ask for a map. However, not all was resolved, he still had the situation regarding the runes on his mind. Just as the wisp said, it turned out to be some obscure or even forgotten language almost no one could read or speak. He wondered if he should make it the official language of his kingdom. Well, he could read it with no problem, but teaching the spiders was it even possible? One can only know after trying, so he invited a few friends. He and three spiders gathered inside his workshop. There was a warrior leader, a trusted advisor, and a small crafter helper. For some reason, the crafter helper brought a hammer with him. ¡°You won¡¯t be needing that.¡± He told the bad news to the spider. ¡°We. Don¡¯t. Know. It. Yet. I. Just. Might.¡± It chirped in optimism. On the rough paper, he wrote. ¡®Hello, World.¡¯ It was just two runes. ¡°You see these runes.¡± ¡°Hello, World.¡± The trusted advisor spoke and the paper turned to ash. ¡°Eh?¡± ¡°Eh.¡± The small spider hammered the ash pile by his feet. ¡°Bad. Paper!¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure what just happened. A lucky guess?¡± Next, he wrote ¡®APPLE¡¯ ¡°You see, this rune, I want to teach you my language. Teach you to read it.¡± ¡°What. Is. APPLE?¡± The warrior leader asked and the paper caught fire. ¡°No. Must. Punish. Paper!¡± A small spider hammered the flame out saving a small corner of white paper. ¡°Victory!¡± It chirped happily. He blinked once, he blinked twice. ¡°Can you read my runes?¡± ¡°Of. Course.¡± Warrior leader reaffirmed. ¡°It only makes sense.¡± Trusted advisor added. He looked at the small crafter. ¡°Can you read?¡± ¡°Read?¡± He wrote ¡®On the floor¡¯, but this time not on paper but on the floor. The spider raised his hammer high. ¡°Oh, no you don¡¯t. Just try reading it.¡± ¡°On. The. Floor.¡± Spider read it tilting its head. ¡°What. Is?¡± The floor caught fire. Yeah, magic ink could be quite dangerous. Good thing the spider brought the hammer to beat the flames out. ¡°So, you all can read. Wonderful!¡± He just shrugged, there was no point in deliberating on how or why. ¡°Then it settles it. This is our official langue: Spider Runes.¡± He gave it a name. ¡°King?¡± The trusted advisor had a peculiar look in the eye. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Spider Chirp.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Even better!¡± ¡­ The Great Ancestral Tree mentioned that the Spider Chirp runes carry power with them and The High Chief implied something similar. So, he had to give it a go and try to craft a Magic Scroll. Of course, it didn¡¯t take a genius to know that the plain paper was the first hurdle to overcome. Luckily he already had a solution, in the form of [Enchanted Boar Leather]. It was a bit impractical to write on the thick leather so instead, with the help of spider crafters, he turned it into thin pieces of vellum, [Enchanted Vellum]. The naming was still somewhat peculiar, he turned the pale-yellow vellum around his fingers inspecting it: it didn¡¯t appear to be enchanted in any way, not yet. He wrote various words and combinations on the vellum, like Magic Arrow, Fire Bolt and the like; hoping that something will work. Once he read the words the ink would glow and slowly dissipated into the air, with nothing interesting happening. At least the velum didn¡¯t burn this time, making it reusable, so he kept practising various combinations. ¡°Darkness.¡± The blue ink, like usual, glowed in blue, but this time the scroll also glowed and began to burn in equally blue flames. Something different happened, he felt excited. As it was burning it filled the nearby area with a small cloud of smoke, no, it wasn¡¯t smoke it had no smell, it was a cloud of darkness. ¡°Interesting.¡± He tried to disperse the small cloud with his hands. It refused to be dispersed but after a few seconds, it disappeared on its own. He also felt somewhat drained, unlike other attempts it consumed a significant amount of his of his mana, well not too much, only enough to feel it tickle down. [You have crafted Magic Scroll of poor quality. Crafting +100exp.] [Magic Scroll: -10% mana cost.] He couldn''t understand why was the system message lagging. If anything, it should come as soon as he finished inscribing not after the used up the scroll. He repeated the process and this time, the message came on time, he deposited the scroll into his inventory. [Magic Scroll: Darkness] x 1. He wondered if his spiders could make them because just like him they knew the language. However, as disheartening as it was, the scroll just failed to work properly manifesting no spells. There was only one conclusion, a mage had to craft it, or even worse, a dark mage could only craft dark scrolls while the fire mage fire scrolls, etc. However, he was very pleased to find that his spiders could use the scrolls he had made, although, more experimentation was needed. The Drow might be able to help him with that, the High Chief knew about Magic Scrolls so he must know how to make one as well. However, there was no need to run back to High Chief just yet. If he went there he also wanted to explore the deeper caves because he was interested in fire spirit stones. After all, he found this world''s magic so fascinating, but it was notoriously hard to figure out. And for the exploration mission he needed to get the gear ready. In other words, there was much crafting which needed to be done. 43 ¡°Can I have your scales my great metal spider?¡± ¡°Yes. King.¡± The now much larger Great Metal Spider shook its body like a wet dog shedding its scales. ¡°Yes. King.¡± Twelve little metal spiderlings chirped happily imitating their parent. He gathered big and small scales into his inventory; all were orange in colour. [Metal Spider Scale: Greater] x25, [Metal Spider Scale: Lesser] x300. With that done he headed to the workshop to craft the needed equipment for the expedition. The scales were limited, but he had plenty of leather and cloth. The goal was to craft the Drow some fire-resistant gear. First, he used Enchanted Leather to make a vest and then surrounded it with Red Cloth, and finally, he added a large spider scale for chest protection. Then he used smaller scales to make a face shield, which was very much like a welder¡¯s mask; he padded the inside with red cloth hoping that it will insulate the heat. Lastly, he made overalls, a type of full-body suit, entirely out of cloth. The armour turned out to be light, focusing on ease of movement meaning that it didn¡¯t have high physical protection, but it was not made for physical protection anyways. [You have crafted a FireWalker Suit of superior quality. Crafting +100exp.] [FireWalker Suit: Reinforced +3. Fire Resistance: Medium.] [Temporary perk Absorb Fire obtained.] It ended up looking like some dystopian factory worker uniform, but hey, his theory that Fire Agave provided fire resistance was correct. And in no way was the armour was perfect, its main protection was concentrated at the front leaving the sides and the back vulnerable. To somewhat battle this drawback he decided to make a shield: he used the same materials to make a hexagonal shield; the first layer was metal, then leather, and then cloth. [You have crafted a FireShield of superior quality. Crafting +100exp.] [FireShield: Reinforced +3. Fire Resistance: Medium.] [Temporary perk Deflect Fire obtained.] ¡°Awesome.¡± The fire theme was nice. It felt like he was making firefighter gear. To finalise the look he drew the symbol of Spider Kingdom on both the chest scale and the shield using blue ink. The design was successful so he called spider crafters to make more sets to kit out the Drow expedition. And for himself, he will be wearing his Plate Armour, but with an additional tunic made out entirely of red cloth. Once he made the tunic for some reason it registered as Robes of Fire Resistance, but it only gave him Fire Resistance: Minor, however, he felt it was still adequate because his armour had other protective perks. With the armour done, he grabbed some of the Chitin Spears he made before; they were made using Iron Oak and spider eggshells. The intention was to gift them to the Drow who still had no proper melee weapons. The crafting went better than he expected and he had everything he needed for the Deep Cave expedition leaving him with some free time to deliberate over smaller issues, but still issues never the less. The first was the road towards the Ancestral Tree and the Human Kingdom, the former one was just a dirt path and the latter was still in the works. While the dirt path was better than nothing it was not excellent, the plants still tried to grow on it and it needed frequent maintenance. Hence he decided it was time to pave it, but that was sort of a mega project, the distance was quite great and he will need a lot of stone. The second was the trail towards the Oberon Mountains, the distance was also great and the terrain especially at the end was rough. Making a road there was exceptionally difficult and from what he had seen so far, his spiders found it easier to travel using tree branches and winding vines than tricky ground trails¡­ He had to discuss it with the trusty advisor later and ask for his opinion on what was the solution there. ¡­ ¡°Spiders like to travel on the web. We have a perk for that: Web Walk.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t know that!¡± But now he does. ¡°Does this mean that roads are no good?¡± ¡°No. The straight road can be as fast as a good web. It really depends.¡± The trusty advisor put a thoughtful expression on his spider face. ¡°Hmm¡­ But for the trail towards the mountain, the webs would be the best?¡± ¡°Affirmative.¡± ¡°When let¡¯s do it.¡± It was only obvious. ¡°King, it would take a great amount of blue rope to achieve that. It also would need to be Reinforced +1, the metal ores spiders carry are heavy.¡± The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Use what we have for now, and just expand the farms. Simple as that. And for the Reinforced +1 I will¡­¡± ¡°King.¡± The advisor didn¡¯t hesitate to interrupt. ¡°Some of the veteran builders have reached Building lvl 1 obtaining that perk. Would you allow them to take this task? To take this very important duty away from our King? Not that I imply that they could do better than our King.¡± The advisor lowered his head in an apology. ¡°Isn¡¯t that amazing? Let them do it! I don¡¯t mind, ha-ha, less work for me.¡± He smiled at the good news. ¡°Then I must have misunderstood something. Never mind. I will tell everyone to start making Web Rail at once.¡± ¡°Yes, I entrust it to you spiders.¡± Honestly, he knew little of how to make a web anyway. King of Spiders who doesn¡¯t know how to web, it was a little embarrassing. A small messenger spider rushed into the throne room waving a parchment. ¡°King, King!¡± He recognised the wax symbol on the corner. ¡°Black Hand Covenant. Get me the human.¡± The middle-aged man was dragged by the spiders into the throne room. ¡°My King.¡± He kneeled in front of the throne with visible fear in his eyes. ¡°Why are you so spooked? I just want you to read this to me.¡± He handed the parchment. The man began reading the message. ¡°King of spiders, it is a shame the previous message didn¡¯t find you well. I¡¯ve included the exact copy below, please read it. ===== ¡­ we have received the cloth and sold the first robes already. The items turned out to be more powerful and more popular than we expected. Did you enchant the cloth with a Reinforce enchantment? It was unnecessary but we are grateful for that. A continuous supply of this rare item will help us greatly in our plot for dominion. There were some little things we had to do to keep our deal going. I¡¯m sure your spies told you all about it but you know the story of the cracked communications orb, the messages can get distorted, so let me summarise the events to avoid misunderstandings. We declared you the servant of the Demon Lord, while we know this is not true it was a necessary lie. This worked wonders to spook the peasants and aspiring opportunists away from the forest. We also disseminated the information that you have great forces of evil in your realm, greater than Our Kingdom could counter. Which probably is not a lie? Only with this could we could push the many political factions into even considering an actual truce. The goal is not yet achieved, the powers are just wary of the forest at the moment, but with time we will eventually invite you to the palace to sign the official documents of truce and rights to the Ancient Forest. Meanwhile, we will keep scaring everyone into compliance¡­ ===== We¡¯ve gotten the samples you have sent and already inspected the wonderful items. Most wonderous indeed! Are you sure you aren¡¯t supplied by The Demon Lord? My fellow magi had grown suspicious. Next time please just tell us about the properties so we don¡¯t have to experiment. Henceforth, our assessment is: Red Cloth: similar to Blue Cloth, but instead of magical resistance provides fire resistance. The current application is limited in this kingdom, hence the value is less than the Blue Cloth. We rather have Blue Cloth if you don¡¯t mind, but some fire magi had expressed interest and will send you their offers later. As it stands now a roll of Red Cloth is estimated at 10g. TomGrape: a magical fruit with alchemical properties still unknown. We just didn¡¯t have enough for all the experiments. Would you be willing to send more? As far as we know, regardless of potential alchemical applications, it¡¯s a delicious and nutritious crop; many found it simply tasty. If treated as food estimation is 1s per piece. PurpleM: another magical fruit. We knew straight away that it is an ingredient for MP potion. The market is competitive and we could offer you no more than 10s. Slug Jelly: Once again, I wish you told us about the items you have sent. While received very well, this one was quite a blight to deal with. It¡¯s outright addictive, isn¡¯t it? The ones who had the ¡®pleasure¡¯ to taste the contents of the jar were clawing at their faces at the knowledge we will run out. There were fights over the last drop you know. But I assume you meant well. This drug is very useful and we have great interest and need for more. Substance this addicting can¡¯t be easy to produce. Will 100g be enough for a jar? Anyway, I assume you sent the items in order to secure funds for your future endeavours. We will gladly offload your simpler goods like TomGrape, or whatever interesting you have, in the kingdom for a small cut of 25% (non-negotiable). The more interesting items we will be buying ourselves, the prices we can negotiate. You have asked for the map, and I¡¯ve included the most recent edition available to the public. As we are now, we can¡¯t share military secrets willy-nilly with rogue sorcerers. For the magical items please have a look at the package coming later. The faux phoenix can¡¯t carry too much so expect a human messenger; please don¡¯t kill him. Also, I will be including a Coordinate Scroll so that my familiar can find your base batter. By the way, I am looking at obtaining a communication orb for you, but as you know those are rare, expensive, and notoriously hard to ¡®disappear¡¯, we might just appropriate one from our puppet King; the fool doesn¡¯t know how to use it anyway. Signed, Grand Magus Vumbeldor, member of the inner circle of the Black Hand.¡± The middle-aged man handed back the parchment with a shaking hand, his face was very pale. ¡°Thanks. Are you eating well, you look a bit peaky?¡± ¡°Yes, my King.¡± He patted on a developing pot belly. ¡°I am fed very well. Both of us are. Thank you for your grace.¡± He bowed. ¡°Then, get some rest. Dismissed.¡± He waved the man away. The man bowed and walked backwards back down the long corridor, then once midway he bowed again, and then again just before the exit. He observed the strange behaviour attributing it to human kingdom etiquette; as odd as it was. ¡°Demon Lord¡­ I am not sure I like that, but I guess I can understand the reason. They are just prejudiced against my cute spiders! Always grouping us with bad guys. Ahh¡­¡± He sighed and shook his head pitying the ignorant humans. ¡°At least we can finally trade now.¡± ¡°Indeed. Should I send the items to the outpost?¡± He simply nodded. ¡°So the Slug Jelly might be addictive to other races.¡± It wasn¡¯t the case for him nor the spiders. And he just assumed that Lamia Queen had a bad case of a sweet tooth. ¡°I will need to be more careful with that.¡± ¡°Should I forbid the Queen from the jelly cupboard?¡± ¡°She has access?¡± He didn¡¯t remember giving permission. ¡°Put spider guards by it. Aside from deserving spiders, no one else is allowed to it.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°Let''s have a look at this.¡± He unfurled the map. It had annotations in human language. He had been practising and could read something as simple as that on his own already. The nearby human kingdom wasn''t too big, actually, it was quite small. Aside from a capital marked with a star, it had two other cities. The villages and small towns weren''t even marked, but he assumed they were there from the presence of roads and rivers. The Kingdom was not alone, it had two more neighbours, both small kingdoms. Actually, the Human Realm was split into twenty-five human kingdoms of various sizes composing what must be known as Holy Empire. The Holy Capital was on the shore by the sea, build on the river delta, and from the size he judged it to be a metropolis. On the east of the empire was the sea and on the left, there were either mountains or forests marked simply as wilderness with forested patches marked as Savage Elves. The edge of the south was bordered by Oberon Mountains and the Great Desert. The north was a huge area marked as Beast Plains. The map didn¡¯t even include his jungle, meaning that the humans haven¡¯t explored past the Elf Forests or Oberon Mountains. ¡°Well, that was informative.¡± He gave the map to the advisor. ¡°So where is this package?¡± ¡°Wisp. Couldn¡¯t. Fly. It.¡± The spider chirped apologetically ¡°Is. Coming. By. Another. Spider.¡± Meaning it will take some time to get back to him. He patted the small spider as thanks. ¡°I guess, It¡¯s time for me to leave. I¡¯m off to see the Drow.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± The trusty advisor bowed imitating the human. ¡°Now, where did the warrior leader go to, I need a ride.¡± He went to look for his noble steed. 44 ¡°Sorry, I won¡¯t be able to take you to the deep caves. I expect narrow tunnels.¡± ¡°Understandable.¡± The warrior leader replied with a somewhat sullen look on his face. While the most used passages were widened by Kobold diggers, he couldn¡¯t say the same about the unexplored parts of Undermountain. He dismounted from the warrior leader and he could already see the High Chief running towards him. ¡°King, I greet you.¡± He bowed. ¡°Greetings High Chief.¡± The High Chief whispered something to the servant girl who just caught up. The girl sighed and ran back to the High Chief¡¯s house. ¡°Would you care to join me in the spring? To recover your mana from the long and arduous trip.¡± ¡°No, need. It wasn¡¯t arduous, and I didn¡¯t use any mana.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°High Chief, as you might have guessed already, I¡¯m here to explore the depths of the caves.¡± ¡°Yes! But first.¡± The High Chief struggled to keep his excitement. The servant girl came back carrying a large box, which was obviously too heavy for her. The high Chief took a stone container out. ¡°Have a look at this.¡± He said with pride. The servant girl put the heavy box on the ground and wiped the sweat off her head. ¡°Is this?¡± He deposited it into his Magic Inventory, [Magical Ink] x 1. ¡°How did you make it?¡± ¡°Well, I had this glowing ink I was working on, but then I started experimenting with Blue Dust¡­ It is the combination of Blue Dust, Mana Spring Water, and Glowing Ink.¡± ¡°Marvelous. It will help me in my Magic Scroll experiments.¡± ¡°Yes, this is the product I wanted to send you. Please take the box.¡± He didn¡¯t need the box itself, only the containers. [Magic ink] x 100. ¡°A trade then.¡± He took out a stack of Enchanted Vellum. ¡°Here. This must be better than that fungal parchment you were working on.¡± ¡°This is¡­¡± The high chief just took the stack without finishing. ¡°I am most grateful.¡± ¡°I will send you more later. Have a look at this.¡± He showed the Darkness scroll. ¡°Ah, Demonic Language. Too bad I can¡¯t read it.¡± ¡°A Spider Chirp.¡± A spider warrior corrected. ¡°Spider, chirp?¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s the official language of Spider Kingdom.¡± But there was one more thing. ¡°Wait, you can understand my spiders fully now?¡± The High Chief smiled broadly exposing all those needle-like teeth. ¡°But, of course. They are your most trusted servants. I have learned their tongue¡­¡± He paused for a moment. ¡°Spider Chirp, you said.¡± ¡°That¡¯s impressive High Chief. Anyway, this is a proper Magical Scroll, well the effect is somewhat boring but¡­ anyway do you think you can replicate it?¡± ¡°The elves.¡± He shook his head. ¡°Drow, aren¡¯t learned in scroll making. And we lost so much knowledge during you know what.¡± ¡°But since you are a mage you should be able to reproduce it, right?¡± ¡°It depends on the spell.¡± He looked at the rune. ¡±I¡¯m still a nature mage.¡± ¡°So it¡¯s as I expected. This is a dark spell so the one making it needs to be a dark mage?¡± ¡°As far as I understand magic, yes, and knowing Spider Chirp would help massively. But any mage should be able to use the already made scroll, it¡¯s only the making process which is problematic.¡± ¡°I¡¯m wondering if you could try to make some Drow magic scrolls?¡± He asked expectantly. ¡°First, I would need to learn how to write in Demo¡­ Spider Chirp.¡± ¡°Then you should.¡± He urged the High Chief. ¡°I will send a spider to teach you.¡± ¡°Then I will. Second, I can¡¯t promise you anything. We mostly specialise in rituals and enchantments, Magic Scroll making is uncharted territory for us Drow.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure you will manage. After all, you have plenty of mages around.¡± ¡°Yes, us Drow are gifted in that regard. But not everyone and not universally. I have young talents around with elemental affinities, mostly Nature and Air, a few with Water and Fire.¡± ¡°No one with Darkness?¡± ¡°Unfortunately, no.¡± ¡°Odd¡­ You are Drow.¡± ¡°But we were Elves. Maybe our children will develop the King''s favourite affinity.¡± He looked at the servant girl with high expectations. The already pale face of the servant paled even more. ¡°No pressure. I¡¯m just being curious. Anyways, take your time learning Spider Chirp and let me know if any of your scroll making gives any results.¡± ¡°As you command, King.¡± He bowed. ¡°Well then, gather your scouts and tell them to put this on.¡± He took the FireWalker Suits and other gear he crafted. The High Chief whispered to the servant girl and she sprinted off towards the Drow houses. ¡°Identify.¡± The high chief used his skill. ¡°As expected of the King, very impressive. It even has passive abilities. But what are the shields and spears for.¡± ¡°For your guys of course.¡± ¡°We Drow prefer bow and arrow.¡± The High Chief said with a blank face. ¡°I understand the large cavern like this, but in winding tunnels and tight caves? Are you sure about it?¡± ¡°We¡¯re relying on your spiders for that.¡± Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡°My spiders can¡¯t be around all the time and every time. You need to have melee fighters for balanced force.¡± He learned a similar lesson during the fight with humans. ¡°Especially here in the caves.¡± ¡°Hmm, there is wisdom in your words. Sometimes I forget that we no longer live in the forest. Thank you for the spears and shields.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not saying that your archers will be useless. Let¡¯s have five Drow spearmen and five archers for this expedition, how is that?¡± The High Chief just nodded. ¡°And how many spiders will you be taking?¡± ¡°We¡¯re only exploring so just two spider warriors. I want to keep the numbers small, but the force tight.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t you take Stone Spider and its friends? I was positive they wanted to go.¡± ¡°Really? Then I might, where are they?¡± ¡°At my camp!¡± The Kobold Leader replied helpfully. ¡°Wow! Where did you come from? I didn¡¯t even see you.¡± ¡°He-He.¡± The Kobold leader just laughed. ¡°Kobold Leader, would you please call them?¡± The High Chief asked. ¡°Yes, Yes. I¡¯ll call spider friends.¡± He ran towards one of the exits. ¡°What a lovely guy.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± The High chief agreed. The ten scouts were already there looking over the equipment. They spoke with the High Chief and then had a quick game of drawing sticks. The five losers took the spears and shields with big frowns on their faces. The High Chief scolded them for offending the King¡¯s generosity. The five lowered their heads in apology. ¡°No need. I¡¯m sure you will learn to like it?¡± He tried to be optimistic. ¡°Please practise with my spider warriors to get a grip with your new weapon. And archers, I don¡¯t know if it will be useful or not but take this.¡± He gave them the bundles of Withering Arrows and Torpor Arrows. The archers were all too pleased about the arrows and were gloating about it to the five spearmen, making them even more bitter. ¡°Chief, there is a small experiment I want to run. Do you have a garden or some other spot with good soil?¡± ¡°I know just the place. Come.¡± He followed the drow to a nearby cave; It was filled with mushrooms. ¡°We grow our food here. Is this any good?¡± ¡°As good as it gets.¡± He took a Bandit Agave plant out of inventory and began setting it in the soil. ¡°I¡¯m not questioning your infinite wisdom King but¡­¡± He bowed for the umpteenth time already. ¡°Won¡¯t it need sunlight?¡± ¡°It does, but this is an experiment.¡± He planted it, [Unnatural Selection] and [Acclimate] was activated, and to top it off. ¡°[Evolve]¡± He saved all his mana for this but even then he felt dizzy. [Spell ??? unlocked, Imbue obtained.] The plant was showered in purple light, the light subsided and there it was -¨C changed. The green was replaced by the deep dark colour, and it was even more spiky than before. ¡°What happened?¡± The High Chief looked over the plant with curiosity. ¡°I think I imbued it with Darkness? I reckon it should be able to grow in the caves now.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t know such magic existed!¡± The drow exclaimed waving his arms. ¡°If I didn¡¯t know any better, If I wasn¡¯t here to see it, I would have said this is Life magic, but it¡¯s clearly Darkness. How strange!¡± ¡°It¡¯s farming magic, a bunch of my farming perks, plus a new spell I just unlocked.¡± ¡°Amazing! No perks should be this powerful. This is unprecedented.¡± The High Chief took out a fungal paper and began to make notes on it with glowing ink. ¡°What does the plant do?¡± ¡°Well, we don¡¯t know yet. I will leave it to you to find out.¡± ¡°I¡¯m most grateful.¡± He leaned to inspect it closer. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯ll take you up on your previous offer for a soak in Mana Spring.¡± ¡°Eh?¡± He didn¡¯t even take his eyes away from the plant. ¡°Sure. You heard him.¡± He motioned with his hand towards the servant girl. Well, he waved to the right but the girl was on his left, anyways the servant understood the command. ¡°King, please follow.¡± ¡°This is unnecessary I know where the spring is.¡± The servant looked back to the High Chief. At the moment he was too absorbed in drawing the plant on his notes to even notice the begging look. ¡°King, please follow.¡± She repeated. ¡°Well, if you insist.¡± He followed the servant who walked stiffly like a robot would. ¡­ Unintentionally he had fallen asleep in the spring. Someone shouted very loudly in his ear. ¡°Spider King!¡± He jumped in alarm, slipped and fell back into the water. *Cough, he spat the water out. ¡°Kobold Leader, what happened?¡± ¡°Brought spider friends.¡± He looked above the rocks bordering the spring, there were four spiders. The first one was obviously the Stone Spider, it looked lite it was made entirely out of rock. The second one was unmistakably the Crystal Spider, it grew stacks of rectangular crystal on its back and its body was semi-transparent. The third glowed like a light bulb making the eyes hurt if stared at too long; clearly, it was the Glowing Spider. And the last one must be the Mushroom spider, it grew shrooms all over its body. The Kobold Leader plucked a mushroom and deposited it into his mouth. ¡°Delicious!¡± He chomped on it. He remembered the High Chief naming five spiders who transformed. ¡°I thought there were five?¡± ¡°Five?¡± The kobold looked panicked. ¡°No, no. Four.¡± He gave his best smile. ¡°I must have misremembered. So do you have interesting perks?¡± He asked the four. ¡°Increased Physical Resistance. Can grow. And cut. Stone¡± ¡°Increased Magical Resistance. Grow Crystal.¡± ¡°I grow. Delicious Mushrooms.¡± ¡°I glow.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± He tough for a moment. ¡°You can come with us to the deep caves if you want.¡± All four chirped a yes. ¡°Yes, Yes.¡± The kobold plucked another mushroom. ¡°Spider friends are essential.¡± He didn¡¯t know the shape of the spiders so he couldn¡¯t have prepared the fire-resistant clothing beforehand, but now he could. ¡°Erm¡­¡± He looked at the servant girl. ¡°Can I borrow High Chief¡¯s workshop?¡± She looked conflicted but only for a second. ¡°Yes, King, please follow.¡± Well, he knew where it was, but followed the servant regardless. ¡­ The gear was ready, the spiders were ready and the drow¡­ were mostly ready. The High Chief was still missing but he didn¡¯t need him, the drow chief didn¡¯t look like a scout or a fighter type anyway. ¡°Right, so I guess we will have the sturdiest at the front, that will be you Stone Spider and Crystal spider, followed by Glowing Spider to give us light. Don¡¯t worry Glowing Spider, I and Drow spearmen will be right behind you ready to protect you. And behind it¡¯s you, archers, to give us support, but please watch over the Mushrooms Spider. And to watch our rear is no one else but spider warriors.¡± With this very simple formation, they headed towards the tunnel which according to Kobold Leader was leading to the deeper sections of the Undermountain. The kobold was currently riding on the mushroom spider and snacking on the many mushrooms it grew. As they walked deeper, the environment began to change. It wasn¡¯t a big change, the glow shrooms were scarcer and the glow moss less dense. Eventually, there was nothing but darkness, well there would be only darkness if not for Glowing Spider. However, even with the light, the atmosphere felt heavy; oppressive even. Everyone was on edge. For the cave monsters, there were a few: some akin to centipedes and others more mole-like. The centipedes were at least a meter long and fat as a log. The two spiders were easily able to crush them if they came from the front. However, if presented a chance the creepy crawlers liked to ambush the party from the ceiling. The archers would shoot them down whenever possible. The moles were just fat and simple-minded monsters. They had simple tactics of just rushing to the party. If the spiders missed some, it was either he or the spearmen who dealt with them. Overall, this wasn¡¯t very challenging. However, he had made an interesting observation: whenever he poked a monster with his Devouring Spear, the body shriveled leaving a hollow carcass and the spear glowed in red for a moment; it was a one-strike instant kill. While this wasn¡¯t challenging, the attacks were frequent and proved to be bothersome. ¡°I could buff everyone with Dark Shroud making us near invisible, but then we ourselves wouldn¡¯t see where to go.¡± ¡°Us Drow have Darkvision.¡± The scout informed. ¡°Oh! I forgot. Well I don¡¯t, and my spiders¡­¡± ¡°We. Don¡¯t.¡± One of the warriors informed. ¡°But if you feel confident, I can buff you and you can ambush the attacking monsters from behind. Or even scout ahead if you feel confident.¡± ¡°Please.¡± The scouts were confident. He buffed all ten and they disappeared in the darkness. From there on, they knew which routes to avoid, and then the unavoidable attack came it was much easier to deal with. With time, the oppressive air changed and turned to just hot air, and even the darkness didn¡¯t last long. At first slowly, but then with more vigour, the narrow caves began to fill with red glowing moss. And soon the party emerged into the system of interconnected expansive caverns. The vegetation was sparse, mostly patchy grass and spindly bushes; and whatever grew took the various shades of red. But most importantly he saw columns of fire emerging from the cracks in the ground. There was even something very peculiar, the best description of the phenomenon was a small stream of liquid fire flowing from the crack in the wall, and no it wasn¡¯t magma because it felt magical in nature. Multiple little streams were flowing from all over and pooling to form a river. The river flowed down the cavern and then fell off the cavern floor edge falling into lover caverns to form a lake of fire. While the air and ground felt hot, for some reason it didn¡¯t burn the party, likely an attribute of Fire Resistance. The spiders chirped at the magical marvel. He too thought this was quite impressive. ¡°Is this it? Is this where we find Fire Spirit Stones?¡± ¡°Yes, guarded by monsters.¡± The kobold leader pointed into the distance. 45 Further away and past the fire columns he could see a monster den. Well it was only a fissure in the wall, but it positively hosted monsters. A large red bear was laying by the entrance, enjoying the stray fire tongues coming from the cracks in the ground. Both its eyes and fur emitted a gentle red glow. Now and then, in between its clawed paws fire would spring forth and then die abruptly. ¡°Ignibear, yes-yes, very dangerous. Will cook alive.¡± ¡°I can see that, but will it have Fire Spirit Stones in that den?¡± ¡°Is likely.¡± The kobold looked at the ingibear and shuddered. ¡°This won¡¯t be easy.¡± He knew that. ¡°I think we should set a camp and rest before we tackle the bear.¡± The Drow nodded in approval, after all, everyone was tired from the long trip. The spiders gladly ate the fruit but the drow had other ideas. They kept some of the juicier centipede monster carcasses exactly for this reason. The preparation method was interesting. The Drow made small cuts near the head and then pulled it off together with the insect guts, then some other undesirable parts were scraped by hand. With that done they stuffed the long carcass with mushrooms, cave herbs and cuts of TomGrape, and then left it to steam on one of the fissures spewing fire. The centipede didn¡¯t look tasty at all, well not to him, but Drow had experience eating insects in the forest. The centipede''s insides began sizzling emitting a sweet aroma of herbs and fruit. The smell pleasantly tickled his nose and he changed his mind about the insect meat just a tiny bit. ¡°Is it any good?¡± He asked curious. The drow shrugged. ¡°As good as it gets.¡± He was of course, making a small batch of food on his own. Once he used Material Harvest on mole monsters, they dropped some fat cuts of meat. He was cutting it now. But it was strange that Drow preferred centipedes to moles. Incidentally, the centipede monster dropped Paralytic Venom so he never thought their flesh could be eaten; but hey, look at the Drow greedily slurping their dinner up. The Drow had cut the cooked centipede in half and then further divided the carapace segments between each other. While the shell was hard and inedible, it was surrounded by white juicy meat; it had soaked all the flavours of fruit and cave herbs. While they were eating he could hear the noise best described as food orgasm. It can¡¯t be that good, can it? ¡°Can I have some?¡± He finally asked. ¡°Sure.¡± The scout handed him a piece. He slurped the meet, cautiously at first, but then he couldn¡¯t stop and let himself indulge. And before he could even notice it was all gone, only a hard insect shell remained. He didn¡¯t even want to eat the mole meat anymore. ¡°Who knew bugs can taste this great.¡± The drow smiled. ¡°There is more.¡± Indeed, another centipede was cooking on the fire. ¡°Danger!¡± The Kobold Leader shouted. Everyone jumped in alarm grabbing their weapons. He looked around, they weren¡¯t under attack yet, but the ignibear was sprinting towards them. He made sure to make camp far from its den so he couldn''t help but wonder what had upset the monster. ¡°Let¡¯s form a defensive line. We¡¯ll try to break its charge.¡± The spearmen reluctantly walked forward and positioned their spears. ¡°It¡¯s alright, I and my spiders will support you.¡± And they had archers right behind. The ignibear was charging head-on, but then it turned and circled around the group. Apparently, its goal was never them but the juicy insect cooking on the fire; it snatched it and ran away. ¡°No! After go after it!¡± The Kobold Leader shouted and for some reason, the spearmen began chasing the bear. ¡°Shush! Don¡¯t listen to him!¡± He wanted to slap the Kobold, but the drow had already broken the formation. The archers fired their arrows at the monster, some simply bounced off but there were a few which got stuck. Likely affected by Torpor it slowed down. ¡°Wait, don¡¯t attack.¡± He urged the spearmen to come back. ¡°The archers can get it, you don¡¯t have to chase it.¡± The ignibear unable to make a quick escape changed its priorities. It dropped the food it was holding in its maw and began charging towards the drow. The Kobold Leader, despite all the danger, ran to get the food. He was either very brave or very stupid. Luckily the ignibear didn¡¯t care about the kobold and after receiving another volley of arrows it crashed into the spearmen. It used its size and weight to try and overwhelm the Drow, but there were spiders to give a spidery hand and counter it. The ignibear didn¡¯t give up easily. It was swiping with its claws, each swipe brought a wave of flames. Luckily the Drow were well protected and were able to block the attack with shields and ignore the fires. The spiders didn¡¯t stand idly either, the crystal and stone spiders were hitting and pummeling the monster trying to distract it. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. The bear was surrounded, it was taking a lot of punishment but refused to go down; it just had a lot of resilience. Not only that, but the spears and arrows did little damage to it. It was the fight of attrition, and he was lucky to have the advantage of numbers. He used Shadow Walk to disengage away from the bear. Then he circled to ambush it from the back. He dropped the spell and struck the bear from behind activating Assassin Strike. Unlike other times the spear sunk deep into the flesh and the bear roared spitting fire from its mouth to bask the Drow in a storm of flames, completely engulfing them. He didn¡¯t know the ignibear could do that; likely it was the last resort attack. The drow panicked for a moment but the large chest scales glowed purple indicating that the Fire Absorb perk was activated, some of the shields even shot the fiery torrent back at the ignibear. Well, he and the spiders were right behind the ignibear taking the reflected attack together with the monster. That¡¯s why everyone had Fire Resistance Robes. The monster collapsed and the fiery flame in its eyes disappeared. [Fighting +1000exp]. Compared to moles and centipedes this was 10x more but probably x20 harder to defeat. [Soul Steal] The perk activated on its own, eating at the monster. ¡°Oh no you don¡¯t.¡± He didn¡¯t want to be left with the hollowed and worthless husk. ¡°Harvest Material.¡± [IgniBear Pelt] x1: it went into his inventory. The corpse was gone leaving only purple motes of light flying in it¡¯s place. The Drow cheered and the spiders chirped. ¡°This didn¡¯t go as planned but well done!¡± He congratulated. ¡°Yes, *Slurp*, Yes.¡± The Kobold Leader was devouring the retrieved centipede. ¡°How much can you eat?¡± He had to ask. ¡°I¡¯m a growing kobold.¡± He took another bite. He looked at the fissure, hoping that it didn¡¯t house more ignibears. ¡°Let¡¯s go and investigate. Carefully.¡± They had to step carefully to avoid the irregular jets of fire. Even if it hit, it didn¡¯t do damage, but it was mighty unpleasant; just too hot. Once he reached the fissure he had to step back. A large shadow emerged from it and he grasped for his spear instinctively. The shadow coalesced to form the vague shape of a spider. ¡°A spider?¡± The shadowy mandibles opened and spewed a bunch of Fire Spirit Stones. ¡°I. Gathered. It. After. The Bear. Was. Gone.¡± It explained helpfully. ¡°Wait, you are one of mine?¡± For a moment he thought it was just another monster. ¡°But I don¡¯t remember you.¡± ¡°Darkness Spider.¡± It chirped its name. Yes, it was a spider made out of darkness¡­ it looked weird, more ghost than a physical being. ¡°Oh! The fifth one! Why didn¡¯t you introduce yourself earlier?¡± ¡°I¡¯m. A. Criminal. Bring. Shame. To. Spiders.¡± It chirped sadly. ¡°Criminal?¡± He didn''t understand. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Impossible. To Wear. Clothes.¡± The vague form turned back into a cloud of shadows. He tried to pat the spider to calm it down, but his hand went right through. ¡°I see. This is about one of my commandments that everyone must wear clothes. Don¡¯t worry about it, we can make exceptions.¡± The darkness returned to the vague shape of the spider. ¡°No!¡± It chirped in protest. ¡°No. Exceptions.¡± ¡°Nonsense. You did no wrong.¡± ¡°I Set. Bad. Example. Other. Spiders. Will. Learn. Bad. Things.¡± It chirped. ¡°Will. Remain. In. Caves. Hide. In. Shadows.¡± ¡°He just doesn¡¯t like light.¡± The kobold leader looked at Glowing Spider, ¡°He said, it hurts him. Kobolds understand, yes-yes ,we too don¡¯t like big bright ball of fire in the ceiling.¡± ¡°The Sun? You don¡¯t like it?¡± ¡°Yes. Also. To. Be. Seen.¡± ¡°Oh, I see¡­¡± This was just one very shy spider. ¡°You can live here in the caves if you like. And you are no criminal don¡¯t let anyone bully you for your inability to wear clothes.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°Is there anything else of value in this den?¡± ¡°No. Just. Bones.¡± The Darkness Spider turned into a shadow and disappeared into a dim corner. ¡°Well then.¡± He gathered all twelve spirit stones. ¡°Thanks for that. Let¡¯s look for more.¡± And for that, they needed to go deeper into the caverns. ¡­ The Fire Spirit Stones were not always guarded by monsters. They managed to find a few in shallow pools of liquid fire. By the way, he tried to harvest it but the perk failed; he just couldn¡¯t harvest fire even in its magical liquid state. Some stones were lodged in the walls and they had to extract them. Also, there was this interesting monster, it was just a twisting whirlpool of fire, likely a fire elemental. The elemental knew how to spit balls of fire, but the suits and shields were able to weather the damage with no problem. However, hurting the elemental proved to be difficult. The arrows just burned, and the spear strikes went right through it without dealing damage; it was a quick and agile monster. However, once he managed to land a hit with Devouring Spear, it was all he needed to kill it. It just exploded into fire and then dropped a single spirit stone; the 250 exp wasn''t bad either. In the end, they settled for hunting these minor fire elementals; it was the quickest way to obtain the spirit stones. In the end, they killed two more ignibears, a whole lot of fire elementals and gathered stray stones whenever they could find them. The result was a whopping 250 fire stones. ¡°I reckon this is enough.¡± The Drow were quick to agree, so they began heading back. The entrance to the dark tunnels was right in their sight, however, there was a small problem. ¡°Emberdread!¡± The kobold shouted pointing a shaky finger at the creature. The creature was vaguely humanoid but wreathed in an unending fire. The fiery form was spewing stray tongues of fire lighting the surrounding area in intense red light. It seemed to control the liquid flame composing its body and was able to form it into whatever shape it desired. ¡°Run! Run!¡± The kobold ran in a random direction flailing his hands ¡°Ehh! Help!¡± He lost his cool completely. A cloud of darkness emerged from the wall and surrounded the kobold, and then the little guy just turned into a shadow flying right to the tunnel exit. ¡°I wonder if we can do the same. Dark Shroud.¡± He buffed the Mushroom Spider first and then the Glowing Spider; the two turned into blobs of darkness and slithered past the creature and right into the tunnel. Then he began buffing the Drow, however, the Emberdread had other ideas. ¡°InTruDers!¡± It spat fire with each syllabus. Then a massive fireball formed in its hand. ¡°ExPloSion.¡± As the name implied, everything around the creature exploded knocking Drow and spiders alike. The ground itself was set ablaze, everywhere was just flames. ¡°I¡¯ll Eat Your Souls. ConTrol FlaMe.¡± It spat the flames with each word. ¡°Like You Did My ChilDren!¡± It roared and the ground burned even more intensely. He tried to buff the Drow again but the spell just failed, standing in fire might have had something to do with it. ¡°I don¡¯t think we can run¡­¡± He put on the Aura of Courage. ¡°Let¡¯s fight for our lives!¡± He charged the creature urging the drow and the spiders to do the same. 46 The archers fired their arrows, the Emberdread didn¡¯t seem to be too concerned about it, the arrows either went straight through or burned in the creature¡¯s body. The two warrior spiders, being the fastest, got to the fiery creature first and hacked at its body with their axes. The axes disrupted the liquid fire distorting the humanoid shape and breaking whatever spell the creature was about to cast next. ¡°Get Off.¡± It spat fire sidestepping the attacks. ¡°Fire BaRaGge.¡± Little balls of fire rained on the attackers. The archers had to back off to avoid the projectiles and the others just used their shields. The Spider King, ran through the barrage, the [Spell Deflection] perk deflected some of the fireballs. The Embedread was in the reach of his spear so he jabbed at the vaguely humanoid form. The Devouring Spear glowed in red disrupting the creature''s shape. ¡°Arg!¡± The Emberdread backed off; the wound leaked droplets of fire. He tried to get the creature again, but it was very wary of the spear now and was expertly avoiding it. The fire monster, whenever given a chance, was still shooting stray fireballs. Fire Resistance wasn¡¯t Fire Immunity, so the damage started to accumulate and it was mostly the feet which was affected. Parts of the body were scalded already at with time it could only get worse. He couldn''t get close to the creature anymore, so he took out all of [Mana Spring Water] out of his inventory and threw it at the Emberdread. The water doused its flames and the fire surrounding it. ¡°Ha-Ha, Fool. It¡¯s Nothing!¡± It roared turning its flames back to full intensity. The Emberdread was just too strong. He was running out of tricks, and with all the flame surrounding the creature his Dark Magic spells weren¡¯t of much use. But maybe he was, wrong because a cloud of darkness emerged from the tunnel and then clung firmly on the head of the Emberdread, blinding it. The fireballs flew in random directions trying to disperse the darkness, but they had little effect. The monster couldn''t see him coming this was his chance. ¡°ExPloS¡­¡± He wasn¡¯t going to let it finish invoking the spell. ¡°Take that!¡± He thrusted the spear with all his might skewering the creature. ¡°Bah!¡± the spell was broken. The Emberdread flailed with its hand trying to get him. Then that didn¡¯t work it tried moving away to dislodge the red glowing spear, after all, its body was semi-liquid. ¡°No. You. Don¡¯t.¡± The spider warriors pushed the vague shape with their shields trying to contain it in one place and keep the spear in its body. ¡°Sorry.¡± The cloud of darkness chirped and flew away from the Emberdread¡¯s head and back into the dark tunnels; the passive flames most likely had hurt it badly. The spearmen ran bravely towards the Emberdread encircling it with their shields. ¡°Good, we have it trapped.¡± The Emberdread having its sight back glared murder with hot fiery eyes. ¡°ImmoLate.¡± It uttered a spell in a load pained voice. The whirlpool of fire exploded from the creature. However, an interesting thing happened, it was likely because of the Absorb Fire and Deflect Fire perks, but the scorching flame just bounced off the Drow and was concentrated in a single spot instead. A huge column of concentrated fire magic shot up from the shielding cage slamming on the high ceiling. It was so hot it melted the rock above making it drip with lava. [Fighting +25000exp] He was greeted with a message. The fire died down, and in Its place was just a red glowing tip of his spear, he was very happy it didn¡¯t melt. The other equipment wasn¡¯t so lucky, even with Reinforced +3 enchantment the shields were ruined, some were so hot they dripped liquid metal on the ground. The Drow dropped the scalding shield on the ground, his fingers had visible blisters and burn marks. ¡°I¡¯ve leveled my Spearmanship to level 2.¡± He boasted to another Drow happily ¡°Me too!¡± It seems that everyone gained good exp from this. Despite the injuries sustained everyone had a jovial mood. ¡°I reckon we should go back before another like this one shows up.¡± He urged. A glint of fear flashed in everyone''s eyes. ¡°King.¡± One of the spiders was pointing to the ground. He¡¯d almost missed it. There was a fist-sized cube lodged in the scorched ground where Emberdread died. He pried it off the ground with his spear and put it in the inventory, [Fire Essence]. ¡°It dropped Fire Essence.¡± The Drow simply nodded seemingly unsurprised. ¡°Congratulations.¡± A spider chirped. With that, they urged back into dark tunnels, there was a glimmer of light likely coming from the Glowing Spider. Indeed, the guys there. The Kobold leader was happily eating off Mushroom Spider, it was likely he had already forgotten all about the Emberdread. Or maybe not. ¡°Hello!¡± The Kobold greeted with a smile. ¡°I knew you can do it! Yes, Yes!¡± ¡°How is the Darkness Spider?¡± ¡°Hurt, but Okay.¡± He pointed into the darkness further in the tunnel. ¡°[Heal].¡± The Glowing Spider basked a Drow in white light. ¡°My wounds!¡± He looked at his hands. ¡°They''re gone.¡± ¡°Hey, I didn¡¯t know you can heal.¡± The Glowing Spider was even more useful than he thought. ¡°Now. I Can. [Heal]¡± It healed another Drow and then another. The light of the spider dimmed. ¡°Out. Of. Mana.¡± It informed the rest to their disappointment. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Here.¡± He offered PurpleM fruits knowing that they helped with mana recovery. ¡°We should start figuring out how to make mana potions out of this. I¡¯ll ask the humans for the equipment and instructions.¡± He said more to himself than others. On their way back, they again were attacked by moles and centipedes. They knew how to deal with them so it was no challenge at all. He couldn''t put an entire monster carcass in his Magic Inventory so instead he employed Stone Spider and Crystal Spider to carry them. The High Chief will be able to host a feast will all the meat they¡¯ve gathered. ¡­ ¡°You did it, and so many?¡± The High Chief was genuinely surprised. ¡°I reckon, we split it half and half?¡± He offered. ¡°This is too generous but I¡­ I can¡¯t say no.¡± The Drow bowed in thanks. ¡°You wanted to make a smeltery out of these, can you show me how¡¯s it done?¡± ¡°The thing is I don¡¯t know how. I only know that it should work in theory. The Elves never had such things, or even want to¡­¡± He had a distant and solemn look in his eyes. ¡°I reckon we can figure it out.¡± The two headed to the designated spot by the wall and began brainstorming. The High Chief already had the Fire Clay needed for the construction. They had to make the clay into bricks. He shaped the bricks and Reinforced them and, then they cooked it on magical fire provided by the Fire Spirit Stones. With the bricks done they began shaping the forge itself. He was working with a rough image he had in his memory. ¡°We will need holes to funnel air.¡± He informed the Drow. ¡°Air, why air?¡± ¡°It will make the fire burn hotter.¡± ¡°That¡¯s new for me. So you are thinking of introducing Air Magic to the mix?¡± ¡°No, well yes. We need bellows.¡± The two began working on the design. He used Enchanted Leather, Red Cloth, Iron Oak and remaining pieces of Metal Spider Scales to make them. [You have crafted a Forge Bellows of superior quality. Crafting +1000exp.] [Forge Bellows: Reinforced +3. Fire Resistance, +10% smelting speed] The forge was big, but the bellows were equally so; it will probably take four men to operate them. ¡°Amazing contraption. Did you¡­ steal it from the Dwarves?¡± ¡°What? No, that¡¯s my unique design.¡± This wasn¡¯t entirely true, but not a lie either. ¡°I¡¯m sure humans have something similar.¡± The High Chief shrugged. ¡°I might have a ritual to enchant this with Air Magic, but I can¡¯t promise anything.¡± ¡°Really? Let¡¯s do it!¡± The High Chief gathered a bunch of drow with Air Affinity, drew an unnecessarily complicated circle around the bellows, and scattered some powdered dust of multiple colours in random places. Some cave plants and rocks were placed in spots marked with a ?; the little rocks were carved into shapes of various animals. The ritual took longer to set up than to make the bellows, but it was interesting to observe. ¡°King, step aside. Your mana might interfere.¡± The High Chief was about to start the ritual. The Drow poured their mana lighting up the circle. The circle lines glowed yellow, the dust caught fire and the stone figurines literally melted into puddles of liquid rock. Yellow motes of light concentrated in and around the circle. Meanwhile, the Drow were chanting. ¡°We gather the spirits of Air, follow our voice, take our offering, do as we ask¡­¡± The chant was also wordy and long. The motes began to swirl around the circle moving towards the bellows in a circling pattern. The bellows absorbed the motes, glowing more and more. ¡°¡­ bestow this item with your Blessing. [Air Enchantment]¡± The Drow finished chanting. Everyone released a strained sigh, they looked positively drained. ¡°Amazing! You can go for the Mana Spring and recharge.¡± The High Chief told the others. ¡°King, we were successful.¡± ¡°Yes, but what does it do?¡± ¡°[Inspect]¡± He touched the bellows. ¡°+50% smelting speed. If we had Air Spirit Stones, It is possible that we could bestow some additional magical effect or the other.¡± ¡°Interesting. Let''s finish this up.¡± They attached the bellows to the forge. Then they filled the special compartment on the bottom with Fire Spirit Stones. And the other compartment with metal ores. ¡°How do we turn it on?¡± He had to ask. The High Chief touched a stone pedestal with both hands; it had elven carvings on it. ¡°It needs mana. Like this.¡± He began pouring the mana in. The spirit stone lit up with Magical Flame. ¡°I see. Please move the bellows.¡± He instructed the four drow men. The bellows moved, and the fire burned brighter giving more heat. ¡°How interesting, I never thought a mundane air could boost Magical Fire.¡± ¡°Now imagine what Magical Air could do¡­¡± He was only speculating of course. ¡°You¡¯re right, the two elements often complement each other.¡± ¡°Any idea where we could get Air Spirit Stones?¡± ¡°Unfortunately, no. But an Air Mage should be able to achieve similar results.¡± He looked expectantly at the chief. ¡°While most of us Drow are gifted, the gifts are only minor. We don¡¯t have proper casters, people who can concentrate magic in their hands ¨C Magi.¡± He somehow doubted the drow¡¯s words, if they had the magical blood, they had the potential to become full-fledged mages then. ¡°Would Magical Essence help?¡± ¡°That¡­ It would. But those things are treasures.¡± ¡°I happened to have Fire Essence.¡± ¡°Then it could make a Fire Magus.¡± The High Chief looked directly into his eyes. ¡°Or a powerful artifact. But we have spirit stones already, there is no need for Fire magus here if that¡¯s what you implied. So keep it, King. However, if you happen to stumble upon nature or air essences, I won¡¯t be able to refuse such a gift.¡± ¡°Huh, you have your preferences.¡± ¡°We¡¯re just most skilled in those. Nature first and Air second. But, with the way we now I recon it might change. Darkness and Earth seem to be most useful. Thinking on it, I take back my words, I¡¯ll gladly take Earth or Darkness Essence if you have any spares, Ha-ha.¡± The High Chief laughed fully aware of how ridiculous he sounded. ¡°Not that it gonna happen. Those things are notoriously hard to obtain.¡± The ores finished melting, and bright orange liquid filled the ingot slots. ¡°We should quench it.¡± He knew this wasn¡¯t steel but he wanted to try anyway. He dropped glowing ingots into a bath of Mana Spring Water. The water bubbled steaming up and the ingots cooled rapidly. He collected the smelted metal into the inventory. [Corrundum Ingot] x9, but there was another [Enchanted Corundum Ingot] x1. How was one better than the other it was still unknown. ¡°We¡¯ve gotten an enchanted ingot? Any idea why?¡± ¡°I¡¯m no Dwarf, I wouldn¡¯t know. I guess it has something to do with your contraption and the water?¡± ¡°Hmm.. maybe.¡± They kept smelting and roughly 5% of ingots came enchanted. He¡¯d gotten lucky the first time. Soon High Chief ran out of mana and was replaced by another Drow. The smelting process just began, but they were already making good progress. With that Drow will be able to move from stone and fungiwood materials to metal, which was a great leap for their civilisation, or so he thought. The High Chief was so impressed with the forge that he agreed to send the metal ingots to him. The actual deal was, that he traded the fruits to Kobolds, the Kobolds mined him ores then he gave the ores to the Drow and then all of them shared the metal ingots ¨C A nice chain of production. With the stones acquired and the smeltery done, he wanted to visit the Kobolds. He hadn''t seen their camp for a while, and he wondered if there was a way to help them dig more ores. He went to look for the Kobold leader, and he found the guy casually swimming in the Mana Spring. Nothing out of the ordinary, except that it was full of Drow females bathing. ¡°Eek!¡±, ¡°Ahh!¡±, ¡°No.¡± Some females reacted and tried to hide their nudity, but not everyone did so. Some puffed their chest to display their assets proudly. ¡°Does, the King want to join us?¡± One of them offered. He didn¡¯t know if he should keep looking or avert his gaze. ¡°Sorry for ambushing you.¡± He apologised to the shy Drow. ¡°And¡­ Unfortunately, no. I am here for the Kobold Leader.¡± ¡°Yes-Yes?¡± He was paddling all around the pool and in between the Drow, splashing them while doing so. ¡°You see, we will be needing more ores. And I would love to see how¡¯s your camp doing.¡± ¡°Oh? Is it time to go?¡± The kobold seemed somewhat reluctant, but, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± 47 He was barely able to recognise the Kobold Camp. To begin with, it was at least five times bigger now, and the buildings too were now different. Instead of dirt, rough stones and sticks, they used shaped bricks and panes to make square stone houses; some of them even had multiple floors; everything was overwhelmingly rectangular. The camp was surrounded by a ditch and then a thick but short wall. Outside the wall, farm plots were growing various mushrooms, but obviously they didn¡¯t have enough to support the camp this big. ¡°This is impressive.¡± He praised the Kobolds. ¡°Yes-Yes, spiders helped to build. Come, let¡¯s meet my wife.¡± He didn¡¯t know Kobold Leader was married. He followed the kobold deep into the camp, to the very centre of it. There was a large building, by the Kobold Standards it was equal to a mansion. Disappointingly so, the doors and spaces inside were still kobold sized, so he had no chance to see the inside. ¡°I¡¯m back.¡± The kobold announced. Out of the door''s narrow gap, twelve little kobolds emerged pushing each other to be the first to hug their dad. The sight was heartwarming, or it would be so if not for what must have been the wife standing there with a sour look on her face. She approached the Kobold Leader with a wooden ladle in her hand. ¡°No-No.¡± She bonked the husband right on the head. ¡°Been, missing for weeks! What were you up to.¡± ¡°Did very important things! Look, I brought you this.¡± The kobold handed a Fire Spirit Stone. ¡°Now we can use fire like dragons.¡± He wondered if the kobolds even have enough mana to turn the stone on, but the stone glowed and the fire began to dance in the kobold''s wife¡¯s hand. She didn¡¯t seem to be hurt or burned by it. Her grouchiness disappeared that instant. ¡°Yes-Yes.¡± She kissed him on the snout. ¡°Later.¡± The kobold brushed the wife and the kids away. ¡°Meet the Spider King!¡± The Kobold Leader pointed proudly with both of his hands. ¡°Eh?! But he¡¯s not a spider.¡± The wife must have expected someone different. ¡°And ugly!¡± She frowned at the human face. ¡°Hello.¡± He waved to the wife and the shy kids. ¡°Despite how I look, I am the Spider King.¡± ¡°Yes-Yes.¡± The kobold snatched the ladle and bonked the wife on her head. ¡°Be polite to the King.¡± ¡°It¡¯s Okay Kobold Leader, she didn¡¯t know.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m from a different tribe.¡± The wife apologised anyway. ¡°Yes, two tribes joined to grow even bigger. Plenty of food around.¡± The Kobold nodded sagely. ¡°I guess that¡¯s a good thing. I can always trade you more food. Actually, I am here to see if I can get even more ores somehow; the Drow will need it. Can you show me your mine?¡± ¡°Come.¡± The straight-to-business Kobold Leader motioned to follow. ¡°Don¡¯t be late for dinner!¡± The wife threatened waving the ladle. Just outside the Kobold Camp, there was a labyrinth of tunnels. Some were narrow fitting only a single kobold but others were big enough to fit even the Warrior Leader. They were walking down the biggest tunnel. He could see two kobolds pulling on a sack filled with ores; it looked heavy. Later, they took a branch in a wide tunnel and reached a dead end. There multiple kobolds were scratching at the wall with their claws pulling one boulder after the other straight out of the wall. It didn¡¯t look like mining at all, it was almost magical. ¡°What is this technique.¡± ¡°Stone Shape.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°We use it to make bricks and pots too.¡± The perk seemed quite effective at mining out the tunnels. ¡°I was thinking of forging you some pickaxes, but do you even need those with that perk?¡± The Kobold Leader shrugged. ¡°Regardless, I will tell my spiders to give you a hand. They will carry the ores and loose boulders for you making the job quicker.¡± ¡°Stone Spider and Glowing Spider too?¡± ¡°If you want them, yes.¡± ¡°Good! Spider friends are very useful. Stone Spider knows how to Stone Shape too and Darkness Spider can get the trapped kobolds out of the cave ins.¡± The kobold nodded pleased. ¡°Speaking about the Stone Shape. I might need to commission Stone Bricks from you.¡± ¡°Good! More food for us. How many?¡± ¡°Tens and tens of thousands.¡± He wasn¡¯t joking. ¡°That sounds a lot.¡± The kobold seemed thoughtful. ¡°Can you do it?¡± ¡°We can do it, Yes-Yes, we have piles of spare stones.¡± ¡°Well, then I will buy them from you at a reasonable price.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll start making them today.¡± The kobolds still seemed thoughtful. ¡°What''s on your mind? Is there a problem I can help with?¡± ¡°No!¡± The kobold shouted out, but then calmed down in a second. ¡°I need more kobolds. More! But the wife can give only so much. Will need to find another tribe and ask them to join.¡± It seemed troublesome. ¡°Sorry, If I am overworking you. Just do what you can.¡± The thoughtfulness didn¡¯t leave the Kobolds Leader¡¯s face. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°And if anything, just ask my spiders.¡± They were back by the time for dinner. By the looks of it, he was expected to attend, because there was clearly a table set up just for him. It was stone made and laden with the local kobold cuisine: dishes made out of TomGrape, mushrooms and mystery meat. Just before he sat down the kobold''s wife approached him with a large pouch. ¡°Tribute for the King.¡± He opened the sack, and of course, it was filled with precious gems. ¡°Thank you, but you know you don¡¯t have to pay me tributes.¡± ¡°No-No, we do! You disappeared the Lamia.¡± She poured some soup into his bowl using the ladle. ¡°That¡¯s not quite true. They¡¯re just living on my farm at the moment.¡± ¡°As Slaves! Suits them well.¡± These Kobolds needed to get outside the caves more often¡­ ¡°I told the Kobold Leader that I and Lamia are allies, and they won¡¯t bother you anymore. What have you been telling to your wife?¡± The Kobold Leader looked away unwilling to meet the gaze. ¡°Anyway, I will take this gift. But really you don¡¯t need to pay tributes, we can just trade.¡± ¡°Nonsense! Tribute is the Kobold way.¡± ¡°Yes-Yes, as the King might say ¨C it¡¯s our culture.¡± There was no need to argue, he put the gems inside the inventory. And then he tried that Kobold soup. ¡°This is amazing. What did you put in it? Wait¡­ I would rather not know.¡± He finished the delicious bowl. ¡­ On his way back he took a lot of stone pots and jugs, all made by kobolds. With such containers, he will be able to store TomGrape juice and have proper dishes for other drinks. There was still one thing to do here, and that was to plant the Living Wood Seed. He did that just outside the caves, right by the entrance. The reason was that, as the Drow had said, the seed needed sunlight, but also he expected its roots to reach the mana spring. He had high hopes for this plant. With that done he mounted the Spider Leader, his stead dashed quickly taking him back to the farm in no time at all. There he was greeted by the usual bunch, but also by the Lamia Queen. She was wearing her best dress and had a wide toothy smile. ¡°The King has returned! SSS.¡± She announced to everyone the obvious. ¡°There is a feast for you-sss.¡± She pointed at the throne room. Multiple lamias bordered the path from the right and left, leaving no space for escape. It was unusual for her to greet him like so, and even more unusual to hold a feast. The last time he remembered was when he slayed The Worm. ¡°What is this about?¡± He asked curiously. ¡°I just missed you, that¡¯s-sss all. Please come.¡± She urged. Inside the throne room, there was a very long table; It was decorated with blue cloth and on it was the usual festive food: the usual fruits, the forest bounty and cooked boar meat. ¡°What are we celebrating?¡± ¡°Your return.¡± The lamia hissed putting the cute face on. He sat down, feeling slightly out of place. Yes, he obtained spirit stones and build an amazing smeltery but was this worth celebrating? ¡°Here, have a drink.¡± She filled his cup with juice. Normally it would be a servant left for such a task, but for some reason the Lamia Queen was tending to him today, which was completely out of her character. ¡°Okay, what did you do?¡± ¡°Nothing. SSS! I didn¡¯t even sss-sit on your throne this time.¡± She hissed while pretending to be offended by the question. ¡°Ask your advisor.¡± She gave the spider a meaningful look. Trusty Advisor swallowed a chunk of the fruit he was enjoying promptly and then spoke without waiting for him to inquire. ¡°The Lamia Queen. Was very good.¡± He looked at the advisor but that was all he had to say apparently. ¡°Sss-see. I was good.¡± The lamia bobbed her head. ¡°Amm, Thanks?¡± He wasn¡¯t sure where this was going so he looked at friendly lamia sitting all the way back at the far end of the table; she just gave him an apologetic look. ¡°You want something don¡¯t you?¡± He asked the Lamia Queen. ¡°What? No-sss. More juice?¡± She asked. His cup was perfectly full so¡­ ¡°No.¡± ¡°A back rub maybe?¡± The question threw him off. ¡°What? Are you going to offer a bath next?¡± He asked jokingly. ¡°How did you sss¡­ Do you want one?¡± He looked at Queen Lamia suspiciously, she was definitely up for something. ¡°No. I¡¯ll pass.¡± ¡°SSS!¡± She just hissed. ¡°Say¡­ isn¡¯t it a good time to bring the jelly out? To celebrate.¡± He didn¡¯t see a problem with that. ¡°I guess we¡­¡± ¡°Then let me get it!¡± She slithered too quickly and knocked his chair with her tail. ¡°Aha! That¡¯s what you after.¡± He remembered banning her from the slug jelly cupboard. The lamia froze in her tracks. ¡°No-sss.¡± He stood up setting the chair straight. ¡°Look in my eyes and tell me that again.¡± She turned around but her red eyes were still pointing at the floor. ¡°So?¡± He encouraged. She looked at his eyes. ¡°No-sss¡­¡± She was lying. ¡°I thought so. So all of this was just to¡­¡± He looked at the not-so-trusty advisor. ¡°And everyone went along with this?¡± ¡°She was very convincing.¡± Was his excuse. The lamias and spiders nodded in agreement. ¡°I can¡¯t believe this! No slug jelly for everyone for a whole week.¡± ¡°Nooo!!!¡± The Lamia Queen fell to the ground. ¡°SSS! I was good!¡± Her despair lasted only a moment. She slithered back to him and grasped him by the shoulders. ¡°I¡¯ll do anything!¡± She shook him. ¡°Anything!¡± Fat tears pulled at the corners of her eyes. ¡°No is no.¡± He was adamant. The tears dried like they weren¡¯t there to begin with. ¡°I¡¯ll get it myself! SSS!¡± She slithered angrily towards the pantry. ¡°Stop her.¡± The trusty advisor commanded and the spiders arrested the lamia. ¡°No! Let me go!¡± This was quite a scene. He worried that other lamias might jump to save their Queen, but after looking around it didn¡¯t seem to be the case. The Queen was punching at the spiders and flailing her tail, but the lamias seemed if anything embarrassed about their Queen. ¡°Just put her in her room until her head clears.¡± He instructed. ¡°So¡­ she is addicted.¡± It was worrying. ¡°I¡¯m not addicted!¡± He heard her shouting just before she was dragged out of the throne room. ¡°King, there is one more thing. A good thing.¡± The trusty adviser chirped in a lighter tone. A small spider brought a parcel right to his seat. Judging from the symbol marking the wrapping he knew from where it was. ¡°So it¡¯s finally here.¡± He looked at the contents, pulling them one by one on the table. Others looked at him do it with equally keen interest and curiosity. ¡°So this must be a communication orb?¡± He looked surprised at the round crystal ball. ¡°But there are no instructions. Unless¡­¡± he pulled out a scroll. It had a weird diagram on it and something he couldn¡¯t read. He tried putting some mana into the orb but nothing happened, so he poured some into the scroll. Which might have been a mistake. The scroll caught fire and turned to ash. Or maybe not. [Coordinates set.] From the ash, a small firebird poked its head and then fluttered its fiery wings to escape through the nearby window. ¡°Oh, I see.¡± The humans will know where to send their messenger birds now. ¡°Now then.¡± He pulled a green stone out. ¡°Nature Spirit Stone. What else is in there?¡± He took the rest out. ¡°A miniature box?¡± He opened it and cool air flew from it. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s a fridge. But it¡¯s very small. And this is?¡± He took out what appeared to be alchemical tools, vials and even a burner. ¡°Oh, it produces flame on its own.¡± There was also some fine paper, a decorated quill and what he now recognised as a magical ink; the ink Drow made appeared to be denser and of much higher quality. ¡°Hmm, I guess I asked for magical tools¡­¡± And he had gotten some samples. ¡°King. King.¡± The advisor was trying to get his attention. The orb was buzzing in low hum and glowing in dim light. ¡°Huh? What do I do?¡± He put his hand on the orb and felt his mana to take a small dip. ¡°Sorcerer?¡± The questioning voice boomed filling the throne room, it was way too loud. ¡°Yes? Yes, I am listening.¡± ¡°I hear you found the orb successfully.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t think it would come with the first delivery.¡± He remembered them only mentioning it in the message. ¡°The foolish King was too quick to part with it. He¡¯s a perfect puppet.¡± The human behind the voice boasted. ¡°Ah, yes. But, who am I talking with?¡± ¡°Give me a second.¡± The orb glowed brightly and from the light an image formed. There was a shape of an elderly bearded man, he was standing by a pedestal surrounded by nothing but dark stone walls, some dim candles and a banner of Black Hand hanging behind his back. ¡°Sorcerer, it is I, Vumbeldor.¡± ¡°Oh! A visual projection. How do I do it?¡± ¡°Just pour some more mana in it. Just not too much.¡± He did as asked. ¡°Can you see me?¡± ¡°Oh! Sorcerer¡­ Was I interrupting something?¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± He realised that unlike the human he was surrounded by spiders and lamias, all gazing at the orb with wonder. ¡°These are some of my friends and allies, please don¡¯t mind them.¡± ¡°Lamia¡­ I see. Then shall we discuss the important matters?¡± ¡°The trade, yes. By the way, do you have any interest in these?¡± He showed a red stone. ¡°Oh!¡± The Vumbeldor¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Those are even better than Nature Spirit Stones!¡± 48 Necromancy With Extra Steps The chat with Vumbeldor was a pleasant one. The mage was more than willing to exchange the Fire Spirit Stones for Nature Spirit Stones, which was good since he didn¡¯t know how to get the nature ones. They¡¯d also confirmed the items and the prices they will be trading at. The mages were interested in Mana Potions, obviously, so he wanted to start making them, but for that he needed an industrial vat, condensator and evaporator. That magical equipment he will be buying from the humans, at least until he learns to make something similar. He¡¯d also asked for a tome describing Dark Magic; with some reluctance Vumbeldor promised to send it. While he was waiting for the necessary equipment to arrive, a lot of things happened. The Drow delivered a shipment of Corrundum Ingots and Magical Ink, but that was only expected. The unexpected was the letter the High Chief had sent; it was written in flawless Spider Chirp: ===== Hello King of Spiders, ruler of The Dreaded Place and Slayer of The Great Worm of Oberon, ally of The Ancestral Tree, and friend to the Drow, Kobolds and Lamia. I write to inform you that the Darkness Spiders proved to be instrumental in crafting the scrolls you required. To no one''s surprise, the spider has darkness affinity and the necessary mana capacity to replicate [Magic Scroll: Darkness]. We experimented further and with my guidance, we improved the spell formula to produce Magic Scroll: Darkness Cloud. Naturally, we were also able to make [Magic Scroll: Elemental Arrow: Darkness]; Which, as you must already know, is the first stepping stone in making offensive Magic Scrolls. I¡¯ve used the scrolls produced by the spider to derive the magic formula for the other types of Elemental Arrow. It¡¯s still a work in progress but the local talent managed to produce a few scrolls of varying quality; roughly half of them just fail upon invoking the spell. I¡¯ve included the samples with this letter. On another note, Dark Agave proved to be a very peculiar plant. It hates light, and will quickly wither upon exposure so we removed all the glow moss and mushrooms from its cave (After an unfortunate incident the Glowing Spider was banned from the Grow Cave). Once we did that, it began to spread naturally. There were reports by others, especially children, of feeling Dread and Fear upon entering the cave; not quite a debuff yet but almost. Your spiders do not seem to be affected by it. However, despite its spiky appearance and the dread aura, it is a very delicate plant needing a lot of care. I gave myself the liberty to harvest one of its leaves and investigate its properties. The juice is imbued with hints of Dark affinity and if concentrated would make an interesting ingredient. The fibre strands are also interesting, they are fine and extremely light. In the future, we should be able to use it to craft scrolls which could support higher tiers of Dark Magic. Currently, I¡¯m planning another expedition to Fire Caverns. I know we can handle it on our own now. Thank you for giving us the confidence to do so. If you don¡¯t mind could you send us more FireWalker suits? We¡¯ll need them, and of course, we will send you your share of the spoils. All other matters are progressing as planned. End of the report, Drow High Chief. ===== This was a lengthy letter, and as promised it came with the Magic Scrolls attached. He took the one he was most interested in: it wasn''t just familiar letters spelling ¡°Elemental Arrow¡± and ¡°Darkness¡±, it had what looked like a complicated schematic with loops and circles, thin and thick lines interconnecting and some other strange shapes. To use it he knew what he needed to to do. ¡°Elemental Arrow: Darkness.¡± The scroll burst into blue flame vanishing from his hand, in its place was a tiny orb of swirling blackness. It appeared a few inches away from his hand and moved as if attached by an invisible string. He moved his hand and the orb moved too, meaning that he could aim it. The spell would likely disperse if he didn¡¯t fire it, so he aimed it at the unlucky plant and fired. The orb stretched becoming an arrow and launched towards the plant. Upon contact, the arrow disintegrated into sparks of black light and the plant simply wilted. ¡°Interesting.¡± He tried another scroll. ¡°Darkness Cloud.¡± This one he was able to aim too, and the target was another unlucky plant. The plant was surrounded by an opaque cloud, it held there for about a minute and then simply dispersed leaving the plant unharmed. ¡°It¡¯s just like a smoke screen. Simple, but I can already guess a few good uses.¡± Then he tried the more exotic scrolls: Elemental Arrow: Air and Elemental Arrow: Nature. As the High Chief said, it didn¡¯t work all the time so he had to use multiple scrolls to produce a spell. The arrows had their distinctive colours and effects. The Air Arrow flew quicker, further, and judging from the hole in the tree it possessed piercing properties, and The Nature Arrow possessed homing ability. He knew that these arrows probably were the very basics of the spells a mage could cast, but regardless of it, he was glad to finally be able to cast something else than his normal Darkness Buffs. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. The Drow wasn¡¯t the only one to send a message. A messenger spider came to inform him that The Ancestral Tree was performing a ritual; something he asked to see some time ago. With the quick application of Shadow Walk he was at the place The Ancestral Tree told him about. At first sight, the place didn¡¯t seem special, just another part of the forest, however, he was quick to notice the wooden statues seemingly growing out of the ground. The statues were humanoid in shape and were still growing with green leaves sprouting here and there. The wisp was buzzing around the statues casting [Grow] on them. ¡°Hey.¡± He waved. ¡°Are you growing more dryads?¡± The wisp hovered towards him. ¡°Dryads? No, they are born naturally from the trees. These are Sprigans.¡± ¡°Yeah? But they look exactly like a dryad would.¡± The wisp expanded. ¡°They are not! Sprigans are made not born.¡± It shrunk to a normal size further explaining. ¡°Dryads serve the Forest Spirit and the Sprigans will serve me.¡± This sounded like an important distinction. ¡°Growing a personal army then?¡± he asked half-jokingly. ¡°Yes! That is correct.¡± The wisp pulsed excitedly. ¡°You¡¯re growing scarier by the day¡­¡± As far as he could see the place was filled with unmoving Sprigans. ¡°How many are there?¡± ¡°Nature always grows, adapts and overcomes. There is about a thousand.¡± The wisp expanded in pride. He whistled at the number. ¡°And what are your plans for this army?¡± ¡°They will protect me. Do my bidding. Just like I serve The Forest Spirit, they will serve me.¡± The wisp explained. ¡°Hmm¡­ your bidding. Like take out the humans if they attack?¡± ¡°Exactly, but there are others who would seek us harm.¡± He looked at the wisp meaning to ask who. ¡°Elves.¡± The wisp answered unasked. ¡°Other elves from other forests. They are envious of this forest. Of the power I have obtained.¡± Or they were scared of what was happening here¡­ ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone will attack you as long as you have my spiders here.¡± ¡°That is to be seen. Now King of Spiders, observe and learn.¡± The wisp flew to the middle of the Sprigans. ¡°My friends, gather," it commanded. Squirrels jumped from the trees and other hiding places gathering right below the wisp. He had never seen so many squirrels gathered in one place, it was almost scary, but also very cute; they all were very fluffy. ¡°Friends help me in my quest to defend this forest. Join me and my will, [Claim].¡± The wisp spoke in a loud commanding voice, and the trees shook with each word. Motes of green light exploded from the wisp showering the rodents. And then something scary happened, all of the squirrels collapsed like puppets with their strings cut. Orbs of light flew out of their motionless bodies and then towards the wisp. The souls swirled around the wisp making a whirlpool of rainbow-coloured light ¡°I made you new bodies: bigger, stronger, better. Go, go, go and have a pick. [Spirit Seed].¡± It commanded and the souls obeyed merging with the statues. The statues began to pull their feet out of the ground and started ripping the roots off of themselves. Their eyes opened giving a glowing green glow. The Sprigans turned around to inspect themselves and one another. They touched their wooden bodies, they flailed their hands happily and moved their legs to dance. The Sprigans seemed happy about the change. The wisp flew back towards the King. ¡°It worked.¡± It sounded happy. ¡°Was there a chance it¡­ Never mind. Congratulations!¡± The wisp buzzed a command to the Sprigans and they began to disperse. ¡°Did you manage to learn anything?¡± The wisp asked. ¡°Ha, no.¡± He laughed it off. ¡°I don¡¯t think I would ever be able to pull something like this. I didn¡¯t understand half of it.¡± ¡°Do not sell yourself short. I think you have the skills necessary. The ritual, however, might need to be different.¡± ¡°Really. What would I need?¡± ¡°A body and a willing soul. Of course, you start with one and not a thousand.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like I can harvest souls and command them.¡± The wisp pulsed as if confused. ¡°Dark Mages have ways for that. Don¡¯t you have a Devouring Spear?¡± ¡°Wait¡­ yeah I do. You reckon I could store and release souls using my spear?¡± The wisp pulsed again. ¡°Why else did you craft it.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ but even then, Dark Magic eh? Displacing souls; wouldn¡¯t it end up looking like necromancy? Isn¡¯t it something evil to do?¡± ¡°Nature Magic, Dark Magic neither are good nor evil, those are only tools; both can reanimate a corpse. What is wrong with using something that was discarded, giving a soul a new chance? Another demonstration perhaps? Just place the spear in the ground.¡± He did as asked, the wisp flew towards the weapon and circled it a couple of times. ¡°Ah, not one of mine, a centipede, good.¡± It stopped to hover right above the tip. ¡°It wants another chance at life. Let¡¯s grant its wish. [Claim]¡± The spear glowed in red and then dispensed a red shiny orb of light. ¡°Now for a new body. This is just a demonstration and this one doesn¡¯t seem to be too bothered so this will do.¡± Vines emerged from the ground digging something out from the depths. It was a skeleton of a deer. ¡°Let¡¯s fix this up a bit. [Living Vines]¡± Green vines replaced the missing muscles and tendons giving the ¡®deer¡¯ a fuller shape. ¡°And now [Spirit Seed]¡±. The red orb flowed towards the vine deer to inhabit the soulless construct. A spark of red light appeared in once-empty eye sockets, the vine deer stood up and darted deeper into the forest. ¡°See, it¡¯s quite simple.¡± Nothing about this looked simple. ¡°Can you control the deer?¡± He asked curiously. ¡°No. It has free will.¡± The wisp pulsed. ¡°It was just a demonstration.¡± It seemed dangerous to let the vine deer off like that, after all, it was a merciless killer then it was a centipede, but he assumed the wisp knew what it was doing. ¡°And the Sprigans?¡± He asked curious. ¡°I can command them. For command, you need to make elaborate bodies. And in all Nature soul rituals, the soul needs to be willing.¡± The wisp stressed. ¡°Dark rituals might have different limitations.¡± It added a side remark. ¡°I see. But I don¡¯t have Claim or Spirit Seed.¡± ¡°Dark Magic must have the equivalent options. We don¡¯t know the details but you should be able to figure it out; the technique must be very similar.¡± ¡°I guess I¡¯ll have to practise?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± The wisp expanded. ¡°Practise and repetition is the mother of learning.¡± It shrunk back. ¡°Now then I must go, the forest needs me.¡± ¡°Wait, just a sec.¡± He pulled a green stone out of the inventory. ¡°Do you know where I could get more of these?¡± ¡°If you killed my Sprigan they would drop something similar. Please don¡¯t do it.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you make them?¡± The wisp flew closer to the stone. ¡°Yes, this one was made. At a terrible cost. I sense a tree spirit trapped in it. I¡¯ll never make things like that. May I?¡± It didn¡¯t wait for a reply and simply destroyed the stone with a blast of mana. It was funny how the wisp practised the equivalent of necromancy but making spirit stones was a big no-no. And now, he had no samples of said stone. ¡°I kind of needed it.¡± ¡°It was a foul thing, made by humans!¡± The wisp buzzed angrily. ¡°But if you need Nature attribute I can give you some of my sap. Crystalise it and it will be just as good as Nature Spirit Stone, no need to trap souls.¡± ¡°Wow, really? You won¡¯t mind?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a big tree, a drop or two won¡¯t matter much. Please visit my trunk on your way back. Now I must go, Sprigans need our guidance.¡± The wisp flew into the distance. He grabbed his spear. ¡°Do I really want to meddle with the souls?¡± The question was still on his mind. 49 The items from Vumbeldor had arrived, which also meant that he got his hands on the Dark Tome. The book was made of thin vellum, it was bound in gold string and had a symbol of the black hand on the front cover. And by no means was it an easy book to read. It contained various diagrams and other magical formulas, plus it was full of technical language. He went through the introduction which detailed the existence of elemental magic of Fire, Air, Ear, and Water, then it touched on more exotic variants of Nature, Ice, and Lightning. The Light and Dark magic was rare and something like Chaos, Time and Space was in the realm of legends only. Obviously, this book focused mostly on Dark Magic and the aspects of it. Also, the book mentioned that mages are born with one or the other affinity, meaning that they have been locked from certain paths at birth, that is why Magic Essence was so precious. Mages were also born with a set capacity of mana, some had more while others less, the regeneration also differed from man to man. But there were ways to expand the mana stores: a magus could put himself in life-threatening situations and defeat monsters or hardened foes, he could also consume various alchemical solutions, or undergo some obscure and secretive ritual reserved for the select few only. As a side note, he still had Fire Essence, but that would not allow him to become a Fire Mage; he had locked himself to Dark Affinity. Well, there was a ritual for such cases, but he would lose all his Dark spells and Magic+ progress. The tome described how to obtain various Dark spells, but there was a big but, many of them were locked to level and as far as he knew his Magic+ was still level 1. By the way, using spells and even crafting scrolls gave him some experience, but clearly, it wasn¡¯t enough to level it just yet. In the Dark Tome he found the dark equivalents of [Claim] and [Spirit Seed], those were [Soul Steal] and [Reanimate]. His Devouring Spear granted him Soul Steal as a temporary perk, well or at least to the spear itself, after all the book explained that souls need a container to inhabit, preferably a Crystal and the Blood Crystals were the best. So the spear was indeed a legendary weapon being able to do both, take and contain. ¡°So if I ever want to make an abomination I just need to figure out the [Reanimate].¡± He remembered the haunting image of the vine dear, it was definitely a monster. ¡°But I wonder if I can make something similar to Sprigans?¡± But such thoughts had to be put to his tomorrow self, he wasn¡¯t at that level yet. He knew that he will need to read the tome again and again until he fully grasped the magic theory detailed in it, not to mention all the practise he will need to do. He didn¡¯t make himself too busy with his studies, because he had an alchemical workshop to build. The humans had sent him the various pieces of equipment which came in disassembled parts. He and his spiders had to spend a good few days assembling it. He had started with a large room, but by the time they finished, it looked quite tight and cramped, but also cosy and welcoming. In a corner, there was a huge alchemical vat. The metal container was there to hold the alchemical reagent he was going to process at the industrial level, in this case, it was PurpleM juice. The juice was boiled, and the water vapour was separated from the rest. In the end, it was the enchanted vapour he was after and not the sludge the juice left behind. The waste sludge was no waste at all! It was edible and tasted like sweet berry-flavoured toffy. He and the helper spiders approved of the new treat immediately. The resulting purple vapour dripped into the vials, filling them up with nothing else but [Mana Potion]. He tasted the liquid and it tasted like nothing, there was just no taste at all, so he quaffed the vial. It gave him a whooping +100MP and +1 Toxicity debuff. A 100MP was enough to fill his mana from empty to full. But the nicest thing was the message: [Congratulations! You have reached Alchemy lvl. 1] [Perk Extract: Reagent obtained.] Extract was very similar to Harvest Material, in the sense that both destroyed the item in order to magic its valuable component right to his inventory space. And obviously, the perk didn¡¯t work on all plants, only on the ones with alchemical properties, which happened to be his plants of Fire Agave, PurpleM, BlueDust and surprisingly TomGrape. All four produced powders. Fire Agave ¨C Fire Resistance Powder. PurpleM ¨C Mana Powder. BlueDust ¨C Sleep Powder. TomGrape ¨C Fertility Powder. Interestingly, he could Harvest Material the BlueDust flowers too; which gave him something very similar to Sleep Powder ¨C [Blue Dust], but apparently dust wasn¡¯t powder and the alchemical perk refined the most prominent feature of the plant while the crafting perk provided with materials for crafting. However, there was some overlap between the two perks. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Obviously, him being the one with Enhanced Poison Immunity he had to taste the powders to see if they had any effects on his body. To say the least, the tastes were interesting, but no, they didn¡¯t affect his body at all so he figured that he had to turn them into potions first. After all, the powder naming provided by the system made sense and he already could guess what potion he will end up with. Dissolving the powders in Mana Spring Water produced the equivalent potions. The Magic Inventory told him that they were only of lesser quality. He tried drinking the potions one by one to see their effects. Fire Resistance Potion > Fire Resistance: Lesser. Mana Potion > +50MP. Sleeping Potion > Debuff: Sleep. Fertility Potion > Buff: Fertility. And at this point, he gained another +2 Toxicity. Meaning that Enhanced Poison Immunity was not protecting him from potion toxicity. And be it the toxicity or the effects of Sleeping Potion he found himself tired and struggling not to fall asleep. He yawned. ¡°Let¡¯s call it a day. Goodnight!¡± His head dropped heavily on the workstation, the thud spooked the nearby spider helpers. ¡­ The sleep was pleasant and his body felt light and relaxed; he felt completely at peace. The bed and sheets were warm and enjoyable; he didn¡¯t feel like leaving this heaven. He hugged his body pillow stronger, relishing in the soft comforts it provided. ¡°SSS!¡± The body pillow hissed in a sultry voice. He remembered he didn¡¯t have a body pillow. He opened his eyes, the white hair could mean only one person. ¡°Queen Lamia, what are you doing in my bed!?¡± ¡°SSS!¡± She squirmed around his arms. Indeed, he had them wrapped around her body, so he pulled them back to his side making the lamia roll and face him. ¡°No¡­ Don¡¯t let go! It was sss-so warm.¡± She complained. Needless to say, she didn¡¯t wear clothes to bed, nor did he. He panicked for a moment unable to remember the yesterday. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°You fell ill yesterday, sss-so the spiders carried you to your room.¡± The memory was coming back. ¡°But then how di we¡­¡± ¡°Then Lamia get ill, sss, they need warmth to help heal.¡± She nuzzled her head to his chest. He was plenty hot, he didn¡¯t need more of that and, ¡°I¡¯m not a lamia!¡± ¡°Oh? I guess-sss you¡¯re not¡­¡± ¡°You were watching me sleep again and then just decided to crawl in my bed. I know it!¡± ¡°No! SSS.¡± She slithered closer to hug him. ¡°You¡¯re sss-so warm and enticing. I want you for a pillow, sss!¡± Her tail began to wrap around his body. If he didn¡¯t do anything he would end up trapped by this naughty predator. ¡°You know what you are doing now, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Maybe? S-s-s.¡± She laughed it off. ¡°I¡¯ll make you submit to me and then all the jelly will be mine. S-S-S!¡± She laughed again. And here was the real motive. ¡°I knew it! You¡¯re evil!¡± He failed to react in time and now his legs were wrapped by her tail. ¡°There is no escape. [Charming Gaze]!¡± She looked at him with red mesmerising eyes. He was trying to escape but his legs were feeling weaker by the second, there was this ¡®fog¡¯ clouding his mind ever so slightly. ¡°Help!¡± He shouted helplessly. He never knew that Queen Lamia had such skills or intentions to use them against him. He couldn''t take his eyes away from those red sparkling jewels, Queen Lamia was inching closer to his face, but just before it could happen, he heard the door being shattered to pieces. A friendly voice reached his ears. ¡°SSS! You! What do you think-sss you¡¯re doing to the King?¡± Two hands grabbed Queen Lamia by the white hair and pulled her head away thus breaking her Charming Gaze. He felt the strength return to his body. ¡°You! SSS! Let me go, I command you!¡± Queen Lamia flailed her hands backwards trying to get back at her attacker. ¡°You¡¯re our Queen, yes-sss, but he¡¯s our Hero and Benefactor.¡± She put the much smaller Queen into a chokehold. ¡°I sss-shall not allow this to be done in sss-such a dishonest way.¡± She began choking the Queen. ¡°I am your sss-sister! And I know that The Late Queen taught us better, SSS!¡± ¡°Beh!¡± The Queen was clawing at friendly Lamia¡¯s hands and gasping for air. The tail binding his legs loosened and he managed to wrangle himself out. However, the violence between the siblings was unsightly. ¡°Can you please stop fighting? I¡¯m alright now.¡± They weren¡¯t listening. ¡°I mean it, STOP!¡± The friendly lamia let her sibling go, but it was done in a very reluctant fashion. ¡°I¡¯ll be watching you.¡± She slapped the Queen on the back of her head. ¡°Now, put your clothes-sss on.¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± The Queen replied defeated. He did that too, get quickly dressed that is. ¡°I think I was too harsh on not giving her any jelly.¡± He lamented. The eyes of Lamia Queen shone brightly with hope, the friendly lamia was the opposite: her eyes cold as stones. ¡°You are too sss-soft on our Queen. She thinks she can do whatever she wants.¡± Friendly lamia hissed. ¡°Rebelion! A rebel!¡± Queen Lamia accused. This was quite a situation, one where he was partly to blame. ¡°Look, I will give you Slug Jelly, but only if you¡¯ll make up with your sister and¡­¡± he paused, ¡°will not assault me, or anyone again. Charm Magic is forbidden!¡± He emphasised. ¡°Okay¡­¡± Queen Lamia nodded apologetically. The friendly lamia slapped her again, making him raise his eyebrows, but before he could say anything, ¡°She¡¯s young, sss, too young to be a proper Queen. I apologise for her youthful indiscretions.¡± She bowed in apology and pushed Queen¡¯s head to do the same again. ¡°Sss-sorry.¡± ¡°It¡¯s Okay, we all were young once, ha-ha!¡± he laughed fully aware that he himself is still in that youthful category. ¡°Now then, I¡¯ll give you your portion of jelly, but please stop the mischief.¡± The Queen Lamia poked the serpentine tongue to lick her lips in expectation. He pulled a small container out of the inventory and handed it to her. ¡°Yes! Finally! It¡¯s mine! S-S-S. My precious!¡± She rubbed her face to the container. ¡°I just fear it¡¯s too addicting, and we may be past the point of no return¡­¡± He said what must be said. ¡°What? No, I eat it too, sss. It doesn''t make me go this crazy.¡± Friendly lamia looked judgingly at her younger sister. ¡°There is just sss-something wrong with my sss-sister. She¡¯s always been different.¡± Then she looked with pity. ¡°Magic has its burden.¡± That was right, the Lamia Queen not only was an albino lamia but she also knew how to do magic; likely the reason why the Late Queen named her a successor. His thoughts were interrupted by the scary realisation. ¡°Why did you eat it all already?!¡± He looked at Lamia Queen¡¯s face smeared with blue jelly and told her coldly. ¡°You ain¡¯t getting another portion today.¡± After all, the supply was limited. Queen Lamia looked at the empty container and then back at him. She stared at his eyes for a few seconds and then¡­ ¡°[Charming Gaze]¡­ Bah!¡± The friendly lamia began choking the Queen again. 50 He walked in the field of red, his hand brushing past the thick leaves of Fire Agave. Neet rows stretched in the distance with at least a hundred of spiky plants in a row, and a hundred rows in total. Spider farmers skittered between the rows carefully checking the leaves and tending to the plant. ¡°They¡¯re all fat and ready, let¡¯s harvest these bad boys!¡± The spiders jumped to activity nibbling at the base of the plant and cutting the long spiky leaves. They pushed the cuttings into blue bags on their back filled them up and then walk towards the processing facility. The large dome was different from the rest of the buildings, instead of purple and blue its walls were red in colour; the building was fireproofed. Inside the dome there were spiders different from their farming buddies, the ones here were bigger, fatter and had massive mandibles on their heads. They used their natural gift to separate fire-resistant fibre from the rest of the flammable pulp. The pulp was then pressed using the powerful mandible press, the thick oil flowed down the cheeks of the spiders and collected in the drain. Then FireAgave Oil was further filtered using a cloth mesh and collected into a very large vat of stone all possible by the stone bricks Kobolds provided. From the previous experiments, he knew that the oil was quite flammable so he already had a few crafting projects in mind. He used the tried and true design of grenades to make an Oil Grenade, while it did what it was made to do the uses were limited unless you wanted someone to slip. The real value was in the ability to set it on fire so he crushed some Fire Spirit Stones and mixed the power with the oil in low quantities making a Fire Grenade. The grenade was a mean weapon, the oil was sticky and it burned very slowly producing a magical flame. It would be a war crime to use something like that on a person and he hoped he will never have to. Obviously, the oil had other mundane uses like the fuel for fire and light. At the moment the nights on the farm were dark, there were only a few campfires made by the Lamia to give an occasional light source, but they used those for heat mostly. The Corrundum Ingots the Drow made were fairly malleable and rather easy to be shaped by a hammer. He made a small metal cage and in the middle of it, he put a stone container filled with oil. This was his first ever Oil Lantern but the design was not simple. The frame was shiny orange, and the bars bent into slightly round shapes with a flourish, the bottom and the top panes were made out of decorated stone and the face walls were left open. The flame burning in the cage was magical in nature so it produced no smoke, hence he put the lantern in his study. Now he will be able to study the Dark Tome at night, it felt more proper that way. There was no need to stop at a single lantern. Lit streets were a sign of prosperous civilisation and he wanted to project that image. He showed his spiders how to make the lanterns. The little crafter spider, the one with the hammer was ecstatic about the job; he was the one to hammer the ingots into strips for cages. The production line was formed and spiders began to churn out lanterns at a steady pace. The first goal was to light this budding spider city and the next was to light the roads to the Undermountain and the Ancient Forest. For that, he would need a lot of oil, tons of it, but the quantity didn¡¯t scare him, all he needed to do was to expand the Fire Agave fields even more. While the metal ingots were very malleable, being able to heat them up would speed the process up very much, melting the metal to fill the cast was another option as well; but for that he needed to make a forge. It didn¡¯t need to be as big and as hot as the Drow had, after all, he wouldn¡¯t be smelting ores. Actually, an entirely new building had to be set up. At was a temporary wooden structure proofed with red cloth, at least until Kobolds delivered more stone bricks. The forge like the lanterns was fueled by the FireAgave Oil and not the fire stones, the reason was that most of his spiders didn¡¯t know how to channel mana or simply didn¡¯t have it. The forge enabled his spiders to produce the first proper metal weapons. But it was the tools which were the most useful here. Corrundum didn¡¯t hold a sharp edge for long but an application of Reinforce tended to alleviate the issue. What this meant was that he could finally defeat the Iron Oak. Its wood was extremely hard and sturdy but with the help of spiders and multiple changes of worn-out Corrundum tools he was able to process the tree. The process was labour-intensive but it was worth it. Its sturdy wood was destined for the handles of the tools and the shafts of the arrows. And maybe some decorative furniture screaming opulence at the future guests. Having superior materials he produced superior products. [Corrundum Axe] for his spiders, [Corrundum Spear] for the Drow and Lamia, all Reinforced +2. He couldn¡¯t break the shafts even if he wanted to. He also made more FireShields and FireSuits for the Fire Caverns exploration team. The design his spider warriors wore was also updated into Corrundum Thorn Armour and the equivalent shield. To satisfy his curiosity, he used the Enchanted Corrundum Ingots and by doing so the the equipment gained Bastion temporary perk; the one his armour had at the moment. He also made a bunch of Torpor Arrows, it was unfortunate that he didn¡¯t have any Corrupted Water to make more Withering Arrows, there were only a few sets of them left in the inventory. However, using oil and spirit stones he was able to make Fire Arrows. The arrows were only so good if he didn¡¯t have bows to shoot them, and he wanted to make a rank of spider archers. A spider shooting flaming arrows at you just seemed like something he really wanted to have in his army. And for that, he needed help from the Drows, he knew that with their expertise he will be able to craft a powerful bow. But before he went there was something important. Needless to say, he has been crafting a lot, and his hard efforts were finally rewarded. Congratulations! You have reached Crafting lvl. 3] [Requirements have been met. Hidden perk unlocked.] [Perk Enchant obtained.] If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. This one sounded positively magical, likely his crafting synergised with his magical skill giving him a hidden perk. But it didn¡¯t come with instructions. ¡°The Drow will wait. Time to experiment!¡± Bit by bit he figured it out! He could enchant equipment with the Dark affinity, but there were limitations. He noticed that the equipment needed to have either the Enchanted Leather or Enchanted Ingot as one of the ingredients. The Enchant>Dark results were inconsistent, but not quite random; he could tell that he just didn¡¯t have mastery of the skill yet. The enchantments granted one of the temporary temporary perks to the gear, some of them were actual spells described in the Dark Tome. For armours: Dark Cloak ¨C Cloaks the wielder in a coating of darkness, making them harder to see and hit. Dark Resistance: Lesser ¨C dark magic resistance. Shadow Form ¨C the user turns into a shadow for a few seconds avoiding all physical attacks. Terror +1 ¨C a fear factor +10%. For weapons: Blinding Strike ¨C a chance to afflict the target with a temporary Blind. Darkness Coat ¨C a coating dealing elemental damage. Shadow Bolt ¨C a ranged attack. Terror +1 ¨C a fear factor +10%. The best of all of this was that the user didn¡¯t need to be a mage to activate the perks; so he just found a small workaround. However, the active perks had limited uses per day. The Enchant perk also worked with the spirit stones. At the moment he had only two kinds, the Fire Spirit Stones and Ancestral Tree Amber (the eco-friendly equivalent of Nature Spirit Stone). Well, he was exchanging Fire stones with humans for Nature stones and then turning the Nature stones to the Wisp so that he could get two Amber stones in return; Yeah¡­ Fire Spirit Stone gave only one option for armours and weapons: Flame Coat ¨C a coating dealing elemental damage. Fire Resistance: Lesser ¨C fire magic resistance. Nature Spirit Stone gave the same but with a Nature affinity. The decrease in choices was likely because he was neither a fire mage nor a nature mage. That, or he needed to get higher in Crafting lvl. or become a proper Enchanter without the workarounds. Well, he ran out of the stones so the experimentation had to end. He had two reasons now to visit the Drow. As he was approaching the Undermountain entrance the sight of three large souls surrounding an even larger green soul made him drop out of the Shadow Walk. The dryads were pressing their hands on the already tall LivingWood Sapling and doing something to it. ¡°Wait¡­ Are you trying to grow it?¡± The trio bobbed their heads happily. He didn¡¯t mind, actually, this was good news. ¡°Hmm¡­ I have these.¡± He shoved Ancestral Tree Amber. ¡°Is that any use to you at all?¡± The Dryad snatched the amber out of his hand and then it melted in the Dryad¡¯s palm. A beam of green sparkling light slammed into the sapling. ¡°I take that as a yes. I¡¯ll get more the next time, keep up the good work.¡± He waved the dryads goodbye, those guys were tireless workers. They had finished planting Iron Oaks all the way to here, and soon spider Web-Highway will be completed. He visited the Drow and noticed a few small changes. In the middle of their cavern, right by the Mana Spring, there was a tower being built out of bricks. He didn¡¯t need to guess, the High Chief made his ambitions clear: this will be the Drow Archives and Magical Research Centre. It was only half-built, but it was progressing nicely. He found the drow in question, he was busy at the workshop inscribing an Enchanted Velum with magical ink, there was a box full of already completed scrolls next to him. Nearby, in a dark corner, the Darkness Spider was also busy crafting the scrolls. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t you get along well?¡± The High Chief looked at him with surprise. ¡°King, what brings you here?¡± ¡°I ran out of spirit stones, brought your gear and I¡­¡± He paused for dramatic effect. ¡°I need to craft a bow.¡± ¡°A bow?!¡± Of course, this was the thing the High Chief would concentrate on the most. He took Iron Oak Wood and the two began working on the design. With trial and error and the application of both of their perks, they managed to produce a magnificent bow. [You have crafted IronOak Bow of superior quality. Crafting +100exp.] [IronOak Bow: Reinforced +4, +10 Rep with Elves.] [Temporary perk Piercing Strike obtained.] ¡°Impressive.¡± The High Chief rotated the bow in his hand and then tried to draw the string. ¡°It¡¯s very sturdy, with enough strength it should be able to deliver enough power to pierce a tree without even the need of Air enchanted arrows.¡± ¡°I concur.¡± He too was impressed with it, the Iron Oak gave another Reinforced +1 totalling to +4. ¡°I bet it¡¯s sturdy enough to be used like a club.¡± The drow gave him a curious look. ¡°A club? Why not attach a blade to it?¡± ¡°That¡¯s an idea.¡± They shaped the Enchanted Corrundum Ingots into a wicked blade and attached it along the bottom half of the bow. Then he used Enchant on it. [You have crafted Bow of Darkness of masterwork quality. Crafting +100exp.] [Bow of Darkness: Reinforced +5, +10 Rep with Drow.] [Temporary perk Dark Bolt obtained.], [Temporary perk Piercing Strike obtained.] ¡°A Masterwork!¡±, ¡°Dark Bolt?¡± both exclaimed at the same time. ¡°Amazing!¡± He couldn¡¯t agree more. They took the bow outside, they were giddy like two boys with a new toy. The bow did need the arrows to shoot, but they could be any arrow, and once shot they turned into projectiles imbued with Dark affinity. ¡°High Chief, thanks for the expert instructions, you can keep it.¡± ¡°Really, are you sure?¡± He now knew how to make it and was able to make more. ¡°Positive. I can always make more and I made this one for you anyway.¡± ¡°Then just leave it to us Drow.¡± The High Chief smiled at him. He didn¡¯t see a problem with that, all he needed to do was Enchant them later. He left the gear and materials for the Drow, gathered his share of ingots and spirit stones and headed for the exit. ¡°King! King?¡± A spidery chirp was shouting for him from behind. ¡°Mushroom Spider? What¡¯s up?¡± ¡°The Myconids. They want. To see you.¡± The unpleasant memory of the brown swarm devouring his plants returned to his mind. ¡°The mushroom menace is back?¡± ¡°No. Not a menace. The one you planted. Come.¡± The spider urged. 51 The Mushroom Spider took him to a familiar cave, it was the same one where he first encountered the Worm and where he planted [Myconid Matriarch Spore]. The cave has changed since then, it was full of mushrooms in various shapes and sizes. And the myconids were definitely back, little mushroom people were darting in between normal mushrooms. ¡°Are they hostile?¡± He asked the Mushroom Spider. ¡°No. Come.¡± The spider urged. They went in deeper, the little myconids were peeking at him shyly from the mushroom cover. The cave was overgrown so he did his best not to step on anything that seemed important. At the spot where he planted the spore, he found a familiar spider. The spider was staring at the tall and all grownup mushroom, it was vaguely human-like with stubby arms and even a set of eyes and a mouth, however, the human features were still underdeveloped. ¡°Thou must be the King of Spiders and the one who planted me. I thank thee for that.¡± The mushroom bent its stalk to bow in gratitude. He never expected the spore he planted to grow anything intelligent. It was just a spore! But here it was speaking to him. ¡°Ah, a Mushroom Matriarch I presume.¡± He also bowed. ¡°Thine servant told me about thou.¡± The Matriarch looked directly into his eyes. ¡°Will you help us with our problem?¡± They just met and this talking fungus was already trying to give him a quest. ¡°What is it?¡± He asked curious. ¡°King, thine vassals, the Drow, come to this cave, they take my children away.¡± The Matriarch looked at shy myconids hiding around the fungi tree. ¡°What can I do to end this injustice?¡± The Drow were likely putting the mushroom people into soup. And he might or might not have tried that soup; it was a delicious soup! ¡°I see¡­¡± He paused to think this through. Animals ate plants, animals ate animals, people ate animals, and some people ate other people too ¨C that was just how nature worked; a hierarchy of suffering. Was he really the one to deny the Drow their food? ¡°Well, the Drow need to eat¡­ But not all mushrooms are intelligent are they?¡± ¡°No, only my dear children. But even then¡­ I know what thy are thinking King, they aren¡¯t more intelligent than an animal. But with time their minds can develop.¡± He started to feel bad. He never thought that myconids were anything more than mere monsters. The Matriarch used the silence to press her plea ¡°They¡¯re very precious to me and I would do anything to save my children. If it needs to be we¡¯ll serve thy, our King, in bondage forever. Please save us from the soup of death.¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll just tell the Drow to look at what they pick. But they still need normal mushrooms, can you like grow them or something?¡± ¡°Doth King tries to say that we ought to fill the Drow bellies with simple fungus so that they won¡¯t prey on my children?¡± The Matriarch tried to read his expression. ¡°That won¡¯t be a problem, we¡¯re experts at Fungal Magic. But I fear they have developed the taste for other¡¯s suffering.¡± ¡°Yeah, you see, they just need food, and mushrooms are easy to grow and pick. This place here, this is their mushroom farm. Well, it used to be Lamia mushroom farm but it doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯ll speak with them, as long as there is mushroom supply there won¡¯t be a problem. But Fungal Magic, tell me more about it.¡± He was curious. He continued speaking with the myconid mother. The Fungal Magic was just a branch of nature magic, the myconids specialised in producing spores with various effects, growing fungal plants and turning the cave stone into fertile soil. In other words, they were perfect farmers for cave crops. The Myconid Matriarch was able to produce [Red Spores] and isolated spores of that mixture like [Illusion Spores], but most importantly it could make [Healing Spores]; all wonderful things to mix into potions or make grenades. Unfortunately, the Matriarch could only produce so many spores at a time, he received only a pouch of each as a sample. But with time he was assured that the quantities will be increased. ¡°Your abilities are very useful, Matriarch. I¡¯ll make sure your children are safe and I¡¯m interested in seeing your people grow. Is there anything you need to prosper?¡± ¡°The spiders thy left here would sometimes bring the leaves and other plant refuse from the outside. We need more of that to make good soil and grow the mushrooms.¡± ¡°No problem at all, there is a whole useless jungle just outside, but I will bring some TomGrape too. We found it to be good fertiliser.¡± Hence so he will be trading with the mushroom people. Useless plant cuttings for precious spores, plus the mushroom farms will now be managed by them, the Drow won¡¯t even be able to complain about it. He told the spiders to call more friends to protect this cavern, the Drow weren¡¯t the only predators here. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡­ Back at home, in the endless field of blue bell flowers and just above the cloud of fine blue mist he was slurping out of the cup filled with Slug Jelly, it was freshly milked straight out of the Johny, the slug who kept providing. The slug had grown very large, an elephant large, with an equal appetite. And so far he was the only one who could milk Johny. The Slug was temperamental and refused to be approached by anyone else. However, it was a good thing. His monopoly on the jelly was secure, no naughty lamia could sneak up and steal some supplies. But that was beside the point because Johny could speak, yes the slug was sapient. ¡°Please Have More.¡± It capitalised every word, it¡¯s just a way it spoke. ¡°No, I can¡¯t. There are roughly ten thousand spiders on my farm; they all deserve a share.¡± He swirled the liquefied jelly in his cup so that it didn''t harden. ¡°Today ten thousand, next month¡­¡± It was time for spiders to lay eggs and he struggled to wrap his mind around the numbers. ¡°You¡¯ll Be Alright. The Farm Is Ever Expanding. Here Have Some More.¡± Johny squirted some fresh jelly right into his cup. ¡°Thanks man. You always put me at ease.¡± He was very glad that he had Evolved the seemingly useless pet slug, now he felt that he had a true friend. ¡°You Can Do Magic Now, Yes?¡± This was just a way for Johny to ask for him to show some magic tricks; Johny was fully aware that he was a mage for a while. ¡°Yeah, look at this one.¡± He used a scroll to produce a red arrow and shoot it into the air like a rocket. Johny jiggled the fat slug body in happiness. ¡°Again, Again.¡± ¡°Mmm, I had to use Fire Spirit Stone to make that one¡­ Maybe something cheaper.¡± He fired a green arrow and then a yellow one. ¡°Marvelous!¡± Johny looked in awe. ¡°If only my spiders knew how to cast spells.¡± ¡°Why Don¡¯t You Evolve Them?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± The more complex thing he tried to evolve the bigger the backlash was. That¡¯s why he limited it mostly to plants, but even then ¡°I might die¡­¡± ¡°You Can¡¯t Die!¡± The slug shook its body in protest. ¡°Your right¡­¡± he thought on it. ¡°If I die I¡¯ll be resurrected.¡± He remembered. ¡°Plus, I have that blessing the strange entity gave me, Chaos Blessed.¡± It was chaotic but the outcome never has been bad. ¡°You know what, I¡¯m willing to give it a go.¡± He finished slurping the jelly and was ready to look for a volunteer, but¡­ [Farming +25000exp]. This meant that the spider eggs just hatched. [Congratulations! You now have over 10 000 spiders] [Requirements have been met. Hidden Evolution unlocked.] ¡°Guh!¡± He choked on the jelly out of surprise. ¡°Can humans even evolve?¡± [Do you want to Evolve?] ¨C The message asked. ¡°Eh? Into what?¡± The messages were silent. ¡°Tell me. System!!!¡± [Do you want to Evolve?] ¨C It repeated. Well, this was once in a lifetime chance, and it must be some sort of an upgrade so... ¡°Okay. Hit me.¡± [Evolution] ¨C The message printed into his vision and mind. ¡°I don¡¯t feel any different. Do I look any different?¡± Johny looked him over. ¡°No?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± And then it hit. It felt like there was a tornado in his stomach trying to rip him apart. ¡°Oh boy!¡± Everything hurt and he felt an irresistible urge to take his clothes off. He ripped the cloth off his body like a savage brute. ¡°Ahh!¡± he roared. His left hand, the one with black veins, the one he used to channel Dark Magic, it began to change. His fingertips grew claw-like nails. The veins thickened further turning purple and the skin took a shade of dark grey. Those veins, he had them then activated the Dark Essence, at that time they stopped by the shoulder, but now they grew all the way to his chest reaching his heart. It felt like his heart exploded, it probably did because there was a sound of ribs breaking. He collapsed to the ground struggling to take even a single breath. This was the worst pain he has ever felt. The pain lessened, and the ribs clicked again mending themselves. However, his head began to hurt. He felt like there was a hammer hitting him from the sides. He grasped it with his normal, non-clawed hand. He could feel tiny horns growing from his temples. He regained the lost breath and just screamed ¡°Fuuuu¡­¡± but the change wasn¡¯t over. Muscles bulged all over his body. He felt strength leaving him again and he collapsed face-first to the ground. blackness filled his vision. ¡­ The pain was gone, actually, he felt amazing, he felt like he could push the mountains. He found himself resting on the squishy slug flesh, a transparent tentacle was patting his dishevelled hair. ¡°You¡¯re Awake. Want More Jelly?¡± Johny asked expectantly. He didn¡¯t care about that, he felt different from his usual self. ¡°What am I?¡± He asked philosophically. [Congratulations! You have evolved into Monster King] ¨C the message screamed into his head. ¡°Fuuuu¡­!¡± He roared again. It sounded awfully close to the Demon Lord his friends would mention now and then. ¡°A Monster King, eh?¡± He checked his body again. His left hand no longer looked human, it was clawed and more muscular than the right, and the skin was permanently dark grey, not to mention all the bulky purple veins. On the left side of his chest, there was a massive scar, the purple veins flowed right towards his heart was. On the sides of his temples, there were two dark obsidian horns, they were little, no bigger than a thumb. The rest of him, at least on the outside, seemed to remain mostly human. ¡°I do feel stronger. I feel as though I have more magic power.¡± He voiced his feelings. ¡°Good, Your Evolution Went Well.¡± Johny patted his shoulder with a tentacle. ¡°This is not what I signed up for, but this doesn¡¯t feel bad at all.¡± He felt like putting his ¡®improved¡¯ body to a test. 52 The evolution came with an increase in power, well he couldn''t fly or shoot lasers out of his eyes, but he was stronger, less easily tired and had more mana; a lot of mana. ¡°Are you ready?¡± He asked the spider. The spider nodded with resolve. ¡°[Evolve], [Imbue].¡± He activated both of the skills at the same time. He felt his mana take a significant dip, and most importantly, he didn¡¯t pass out or anything. As for the spider, it was showered in purple sparkles which sunk into its body. The spider absorbed them all and then began glowing by itself in equally purple light. ¡°Evolving!¡± It chirped. The light disappeared, and the spider didn¡¯t look physically transformed. ¡°So? Anything different?¡± He asked the spider with anticipation. ¡°Magic. Obtained.¡± The spider chirped happily. ¡°Dark Magic.¡± This was the affinity he¡¯d imbued the spider with. ¡°And Spells.¡± The spider¡¯s body grew wisps of darkness fluttering all around its body. ¡°A cloaking spell?¡± ¡°Better.¡± The spider disappeared and appeared behind him. ¡°Fast. Travel.¡± It was able to hop between the shadows, it looked like teleportation, but was slightly different. At longer distances, he could see a small blob of cloudy darkness zooming through the air, it was fast and very hard to see. After a few more tries, ¡°Out of. Mana.¡± The spider chirped in disappointment. He patted the tired spider on its head. ¡°This is amazing, I have a spider mage now!¡± And why should he stop at one? ¡°Go ask your friends if they want to be mages too.¡± He took a Mana Potion and drank it all. [Debuff: Toxicity +1], a message informed him. He shrugged it off, it was a small price to pay and he felt that this body can take it. He evolved the spiders one by one gaining Toxicity +10. He felt sick and there were even physical signs of the potion abuse, his skin took a sickly colour and even the blood in his veins carried a shade of toxic green, not only that, he could barely walk. ¡°Enough, for today I guess.¡± The rest of the spiders chirped in disappointment. He underestimated the number of friends the spider volunteer had. ¡°Tomorrow.¡± He promised and wobbled back towards his palace bedroom. Only time and good rest were effective in getting rid of Toxicity so he took a much needed nap. His sleep was interrupted by a disturbance carrying itself out just outside his doors. His spiders never were this loud, so he went to investigate. There in the hall, he saw little Lamia hatchlings riding his spiders and carrying some sort of a mock battle. It was good that spiders were willing to play with the kids, but this wasn¡¯t the time or the place. He shooed the troublemakers outside, telling them not to play in the corridors. ¡°Why aren¡¯t they supervised by their mothers.¡± He spoke out loud to himself. But maybe it was for the better because he thought that the spiders were good role models after all. ¡°Maybe I should let them teach Lamia children¡­¡± That way the kids would have to do something better than run and break things all around. ¡°Maybe I will.¡± It was surprising how fast the hatchlings were growing; they were already past the size of an average human toddler. But was it really up to him to tell Lamia how to grow their kids? ¡°Well, I¡¯m the king so.¡± He nodded and went to find the Lamia Queen. But there was another motive, it was related to magic. He had the scrolls the Drow produced, perks obtained using enchanted materials and the means to make alchemical potions. With Fire Spirit Stones and Ancestral Tree Amber he was in control of three affinities. However, there was one more he was interested in, It was Lamia¡¯s Charming Gaze. He found the Lamia Queen busy in her room, doing exactly nothing; she had a pouty look on her face. This was likely because he had assigned a spider peacekeeper to be with her; He had a bunch of those guys patrolling the farm, keeping the order around. The spider had a stick and it was not afraid to use it to restore order. Was it okay to do something like that to a guest Queen? Well, he had the authority, and it was the friendly lamia who suggested this. Since then Queen Lamia¡¯s behaviour improved by leaps and bounds. She was pouty but she obviously tried to hide it. ¡°Hello, sss. How can I help?¡± She asked politely, but refused to look him in the eyes. He explained the Lamia hatchling situation, and the Queen just told him to do ''whatever''. She was oddly uninterested in it so he moved to the next thing. ¡°I want to know more about your Charming Gaze.¡± This time she met his eyes, there was a hint of surprise and confusion in them. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I¡¯m curious that¡¯s it.¡± He told a half lie. While he was conflicted about the ethics of such magic, it was still a weapon; if used right It could become useful one day. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± The Queen tried to read his intentions. Apparently, a half-lie will not do. ¡°I want to learn about it, so I can resist it.¡± She sighed. ¡°I¡¯m sss-sorry I¡¯ve tried to use it on you, I truly am. Sss, I know it was wrong.¡± He wasn¡¯t here for another apology. ¡°So is it some sort of a secret weapon the Lamia have?¡± He tried to urge her to disclose the information. ¡°No, not at all¡­¡± The Lamia Queen began explaining. The Charming Gaze was a unique racial perk, the strength of it varied between the Lamia but all had it. It wasn¡¯t something you could learn or inscribe into a scroll, you were born with this ability. Actually, it wasn¡¯t that powerful, because charm wasn¡¯t mind control exactly, and this particular perk had a lot of drawbacks. First, the lamia had to be very close to the prey and eye contact had to be maintained for a while for the Charm to take effect. Secondly, it didn¡¯t last for too long, minutes at best. Lastly, the subject of the perk would remember everything that happened. Creatures with high willpower would be able to resist the charm completely. Typically it was used to hunt animals and other small prey and to make them harmless while lamia consumed them. ¡°Naturally, not everyone has the talent to use it on people. Sss, but I am sss-special!¡± She raised her chin up all proud of herself. ¡°So that''s how it is¡­¡± So it was unlikely he would be able to weaponise Lamia as his charming platoon of trade envoys. ¡°¡­And, it¡¯s possible to develop resistance. SSS.¡± She hissed meaningfully. ¡°Es-sss-specialy if it¡¯s you.¡± ¡°Like Charm Resistance?¡± That sounded awfully useful. ¡°Yes-sss, if you expose yourself to it many times-sss you will gain a resistance.¡± She told him sagely as a wizened old man would. The wizened tone didn''t fit the otherwise childish appearance. ¡°I¡¯m interested in getting it.¡± He gave the spider peacekeeper a meaningful look. ¡°If you¡¯re willing to help me.¡± ¡°But of course.¡± She hissed giving him her best smile. It looked predatory for some reason. ¡°Shall we start now?¡± The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°Yes, I have all day.¡± And he knew she wasn¡¯t busy either. ¡°Then, just look in my eyes-sss. And try to resist it for as long as-sss you can. [Charming Gaze]¡± Her eyes glowed. He felt being absorbed by the gaze, his mind clouding. He fought it as long as he could. And then he found his arms wrapped around the Lamia Queen. *Bonk ¨C the spider peacekeeper broke the charm. ¡°Sss!¡± The Lamia hissed rubbing the top of her head. ¡°I think you should break the charm yourself. It would save you from the stick.¡± ¡°Sss.¡± She nodded in understanding. ¡°[Charming Gaze]¡± They were at it for a long wile, sometimes a spider would need to interfere. He wondered, maybe the Queen didn¡¯t have as good a control of the charm as she claimed to have. But also he began to wonder about something else¡­ *Bonk ¨C The Queen was hit again. ¡°SSS!¡± She swiped at the spider with her hand trying to deflect the stick. Well, the spider bonked too late because he had just kissed The Queen. ¡°Does this have to be so intimate?¡± He asked because every time she charmed him he was implanted with urges that weren¡¯t his own. Not that she wasn¡¯t pretty, but still¡­ ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t.¡± She hissed glaring at the spider. ¡°Then why?¡± She looked him directly in the eye. ¡°Because I like you.¡± At first, he thought that she was just toying with him, but she did sound serious and in that tense moment of silence, he could see that she developed a blush. He was trying to process the weight of the situation. The Lamia Queen broke the eye contact and instead began to fidget with her fingers. *Bonk ¨C a spider bonked. But this time it wasn¡¯t the lamia who received a punishment. ¡°Ah!¡± He yelped rubbing his head. ¡°The confession was so sudden it surprised me. So you like me?¡± She looked at him again. ¡°Very much so. Sss, I love you.¡± There was no charm magic at play, but at this moment her face was very charming. As women came she was pretty and all but the feeling wasn¡¯t exactly mutual at this point and saying ¡®no¡¯ could spell a disaster; she was a Queen after all, but also she was young and inexperienced. Also, the alliance might just get ruined by the rejection; that was because it was unlikely she had the maturity to deal with it. But was he against it, against the more close relationship, not particularly, no. Well, in life he tried to remain honest so, ¡°I don¡¯t have the same feelings. But¡­¡± maybe something can bloom, ¡°we can get together and see where it goes. If that¡¯s what you want.¡± Her eyes sparkled with happiness. ¡°There¡¯s no way you''ll be able to resist my charms-sss.¡± She realised that it didn¡¯t sound quite right. ¡°I mean, sss, my natural beauty and flawless personality.¡± She hugged him and leaned closer puffing her lips out for another kiss. It was moving a tad bit fast, but he didn¡¯t deny her something as simple as a kiss. Actually, the one where he wasn¡¯t charmed felt much better. And it was likely that Queen Lamia thought the same because her cheeks were a deep shade of red. ¡°We marry tomorrow. Sss. I¡¯ll go and get everything ready.¡± She practically sprinted out of her room. ¡°Marry?¡± He didn¡¯t remember mentioning that, ¡®dating¡¯ was on his mind, if even that. While, yes, that would give his Spider Kingdom strength, permanently allying the Lamia and the Spiders. There were serious issues with the whole thing. The Lamia might have unique customs of their own, but to put it plainly Queen Lamia was still immature, mentally at least. ¡°Marriage, huh¡­¡± He repeated it again and then he realized that he didn¡¯t feel an overwhelming urge to run and fix this misunderstanding. It was to his benefit to strengthen the bonds between the two people, and he will be able to guide his Queen on a better path from the one she was leading now, plus he will have full command of the Lamia Warriors. All he had to do was remain moral and wait for Queen Lamia to ''grow up''. ¡°I need to prepare too.¡± He decided to go with the flow and craft something nice for a ceremony or whatever Lamia had in mind. He felt that a nice tuxedo should do. ¡­ It was impossible to fit everyone in the throne room so the ceremony was held in a field. The spiders did well to decorate the surroundings with pretty flags and patterned webs. None needed seats to sit, the spiders watched from atop the webs stretched between the trees and Lamia were curled below them in neat rows. There wasn¡¯t a chance for him to see all of his people at once, and now this was it. With spiders and Lamia, there were over ten thousand spectators, the latter being the minority as of yet, but still, it was a spectacular sight. He wore the tuxedo he managed to make just in time, the colour was the now iconic blue and he encrusted it with numerous precious gems making it quite extravagant and sparkly. He was standing on a stage, next to him was his trusty advisor and spider warrior leader. The spider warrior leader was a huge guy and at the moment he was quietly crying, tears of joy obviously, until now he didn¡¯t even know the spiders could cry. There in the distance, he finally saw her, the Lamia Queen, she was accompanied by her servants carrying tall huge umbrellas. She too wore something special, but it wasn¡¯t a dress he would expect or a dress at all. Her chest was adorned with numerous necklaces, mostly made out of animal teeth and bones, but there were emeralds too. Actually, she was covered head to toe in various primitive jewellery, and there was no actual cloth but there was enough trinkets to cover that which was important; a stark reminder that Lamia weren¡¯t exactly civilised. The jewellery chimed loudly, no, it was made to sing. She slithered in a special way dancing and all the sounds came together to form a harmonic music. He had never heard anything quite like it, it was very unique. The Lamia Queen slithered closer with more vigour, the tones of the sounds changed sounding almost intimidating. The other lamias joined in the sound slamming their chests with a fist and ground with the butt of the spear; the spiders soon joined in. She slithered on the pedestal and began circling around him, the radius was getting smaller with each lap she made and the ¡®music¡¯ more intense. Needless to say, he was a bit clueless about what was happening, no one informed him of this. He stood there waiting for Lamia to finish her dance. She got close and then spun her tail around his feet leaning her body next to him. Everyone stopped making noise. Their eyes met, he detected a hint of nervousness in her look, but she was smiling, her face was getting close and he puckered his lips ever so slightly ready to seal the deal¡­ but then the Queen Lamia bit his neck drawing blood. He pushed the pain away, being able to tell that this was a part of the ritual. Everyone was watching intently. He had a feeling he was supposed to do something, but saying ¡°I do.¡± didn¡¯t seem to be it. ¡°Bite me.¡± The Queen whispered. He nibbled at the pale skin of her narrow neck. ¡°No. Sss. Harder.¡± He bit to draw blood. ¡°In blood, sss, we are joined together.¡± She hissed loudly to everyone. ¡°In blood, we are joined together.¡± He repeated hoping that the hiss was not a necessary part. The Lamia Queen nodded giving him a bloody smile and then she kissed him, with tongue and all. It was longer than he expected and way too vigorous. Serpentine tongues were scary! He held his breath for as long as he could, responding to the bloody kiss. Everyone clapped and cheered them on. He had to pull out before he fainted from oxygen deprivation, or bled out to death from his neck. Yeah, definitely not a normal human wedding. He looked at that oddly ecstatic face, she was smiling at him and blinking happily. ¡°You are mine, sss.¡± She hissed wiping her mouth and then pressing herself closer. All of that jewellery was a tad bit pointy, but he couldn¡¯t complain, this was oddly exhilarating. He reached for the two holes in his neck, they were already closed and he felt strangely invigorated. ¡°May Lamia and Spiders rule forever!¡± He announced. The crowd hissed and chirped in united agreement making the ground and air tremble at the strength of it. ¡°Let¡¯s feast, sss!¡± Everyone moved to devour a literal mountain of food pilled further away from the stage. There were mostly fruits, but also there were other things like forest bounty, cave mushrooms, juice and even roasted boar. He was happy to see everyone eat together and enjoy this celebration. Despite the differences, the Lamia and spiders now seemed to be inseparable like the bestest friends. Queen Lamia cuddled up to him, ¡°I have sss-something for you¡­¡± She sounded shy all of a sudden. And then he remembered, he had made her something special. He didn¡¯t think the Lamia would wear wedding bands, and he didn¡¯t want to enforce that human tradition, but he did prepare a wedding gift. ¡°So do I.¡± He pulled a set of items from his inventory. ¡°Here, for you.¡± The first one was Fire Elemental Armour ¨C an item crafted using Fire Essence, a chest piece. He used Red Cloth, Enchanted Leather and Enchanted Metal to make it. He made it as feminine as possible, with flowery decorations and patterns, but the main purpose was protection. The equipment was of masterwork quality and had numerous perks bestowed upon it: [Bastion], [Negate Fire] and [Fire Proficiency]. The latter was still a mystery but it had something to do with fire-related magic. The second one was a Nature Tiara crafted using Ancestral Tree Amber, Iron Oak, Emeralds and Enchanted Leather. He used the gems because the amber dissolved during crafting to enhance the tiara. It also was only of superior quality but the perks in his opinion were good: [Regeneration], [Spell Deflection], [Growth: Minor]. The last perk was passive, and for what it did, as far as he could tell it increased the experience gain. Judging her passive expression she wasn¡¯t impressed with the first item, and mildly interested in the second. Well, maybe he should have put more thought into his item choice. But these were very practical items! ¡°Thanks-sss.¡± She thanked him regardless. ¡°But my gift is much, much better, sss.¡± She boasted confidently. ¡°Come.¡± She was dragging him by the hand towards the palace. ¡°What is it?¡± He was awfully curious. ¡°Sss, it¡¯s a surprise.¡± She urged him to follow. 53 The Lamia Queen dragged him through the palace, through the throne room and right into his bedroom. It was odd to hide a present there, unless¡­ She shut the doors behind him and gave him a curious look. ¡°You know, I like your new look, sss, the horns and all.¡± She stretched her arm to touch them. ¡°Amm, thanks.¡± ¡°And your body is strong and toned.¡± She moved her hand down his neck and unbuttoned the top of the shirt. It was clear where this was going. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me, your present is your body?¡± ¡°Sss! How did you figure it out?¡± She pouted but regardless began removing her jewellery piece by piece, it clanged hitting the floor. Apparently, even Lamia had this wedding custom. ¡°I think we should¡­¡± Just then he thought he understood what was happening the situation changed with the lamia pouring a whole bottle of slug jelly all over her body, and then another. ¡°What are you doing?¡± It was just bizarre. ¡°Turning myself into a sss-snack.¡± She smiled finishing the third bottle. ¡°Ta-da! I¡¯m irresistible, sss, and all yours to eat.¡± She was a sticky mess. Yeah, she definitely had weird ideas in her head. ¡­ The Kobolds and Drow couldn¡¯t make it in time for the shotgun wedding, but they did receive the message informing them about the union. Well, they didn¡¯t make it to the ceremony but they weren¡¯t late for celebrations, even if it was a third day the soul of the festivity was still going strong. The High Chief ignored the frolicking spiders and Lamia, and went straight to the throne room. It was quite a sight because it was the first time he came inside the grand structure. It was very spacious with a high ceiling, the ceiling was dome-like and made out of purple triangles. The walls were draped with blue cloth, the drapes had various fractal patterns woven by the spiders, now and then there would be an Iron Oak column to support the structure. The floor was paved with slabs of polished stone, he recognised the signature Kobold touch, and there even was a red carpet leading to a black throne surrounded by a massive open shell; It was a curious structure resembling an egg. On the throne there was him, the Spider King, he had a slightly tired expression on his face. Moreover, his physical appearance has changed, he had horns and a clawed arm now. But most importantly the High Chief could feel overwhelming authority radiating from his body. He wondered if the King went through some mysterious ritual to enhance his body. However, the transformation didn¡¯t look quite complete yet, so he wondered if it was some sort of secret Lamia ritual, the one which didn¡¯t go as expected; from bitter experience he knew that the Lamia were known to botch perfectly good rituals. Speaking about the Lamia, the King¡¯s new wife, she was claiming a spot on his lap, her arms were wrapped tight around her husband¡¯s neck and her tail was hanging loosely on the stairs leading up to the throne. ¡®Tch.¡¯ The High Chief clicked his tongue, the Lamia Queen was obviously flaunting her newly acquired authority. But if the Spider King loved this serpentine cave creature, he had no protests. Well, his previous self would have a lot to say about civilised races mixing with the monster races, but he was a changed man, and the spiders had completely dispelled his prejudices. They were amazing creatures! But Lamia weren¡¯t spiders so¡­ The High Chief brushed away the unnecessary thoughts and kneeled in front of the Spider King and his wife. ¡°We congratulate you on your marriage. May the spirits bless it.¡± The King smiled at him, but then the King¡¯s gaze shifted right behind him. ¡°We Drow wish to¡­¡± The King interrupted him, ¡°The Kobold Leader, I¡¯m surprised you came!¡± He smiled even more, clearly showing who was his favourite. The Kobolds were useful allies, but they too were a monster race, hence lacking the proper etiquette and decorum. But since he was good friends with that cheeky lizard he was willing to forgive him. However, the Kobold leader was stealing his turn to speak, and he wanted to congratulate the Spider King properly! He will have to teach the Kobold proper manners later. The Kobold Leader just waved at the king. ¡°Yes, Yes. I came. The Shadow Spider carried me.¡± The Kobold looked up. ¡°I was so afraid the sky will fall on me. I¡¯m much better here inside.¡± The Kobold unstrapped a large pouch from his back. ¡°Here for your lovely wife.¡± Again, the Kobold showed his ignorance, first and foremost, it was the glorious Spider King who deserved the gifts and then his tribal wife. Hence, he prepared the gifts for both. Actually, he brought a lot of things, bribes, for the spider advisor and spider leader. So he patiently waited for the Kobold Leader to finish. The Kobold unwrapped the pouch revealing a rugged rock the size of his head, it also looked quite heavy. The High Chief¡¯s eye twitched ever so slightly. What sort of gift was that? Well, he was a Kobold so he should have expected that¡­ Actually, he expected the Lamia to flip at any moment, this might prove to be entertaining. Maybe the Kobold was smarter than he looked; now the King will get to see her ugly side. ¡®He, he.¡¯ However, the Queen took the rock graciously and smiled at the Kobold thanking him; so she was young but not stupid. She will likely try to punish the Kobolds when the King wasn¡¯t there to look. No need to worry, then he will step up and save Kobolds from vicious Lamia, proving himself to the Spider King again. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Well, he was plotting and scheming too much and didn¡¯t notice that the King''s gaze was back on him. ¡°Ehem¡­¡± He cleared his throat. ¡°We Drow wish to bestow you with a great gift. A most prized rarity you won¡¯t find anywhere.¡± He motioned towards the rest of Drow congregation. A young Drow woman stepped forward and made a curt bow, once to the King and once to the Queen. ¡°A servant to tend to your everyday needs. But she¡¯s not just a servant, she has a unique talent which I¡¯m sure you will find extremely useful.¡± The High Chief knew that the woman was only in her fortieth cycle, so under Drow standards barely an adult, but she was pretty and well-mannered for her young age. Her worth came with the perks she had developed during the adulthood ritual performed not so long ago. She was a holder of not one unique perk but two: [Mana Well] and [Elemental Affinity]. Also, she was his niece and will do some well-intended spying for the Drow. Obviously! The Drow couldn¡¯t let themselves to lag behind the Lamia, and the High Chief needed to find ways into the King''s good graces. If only he had known that the Spider King was looking for a wife¡­ The Lamia Queen glared daggers at the Drow woman, but the king seemed interested. ¡°Talents?¡± He asked. ¡°She has endless potential in elemental magic and has a blank slot to pick an affinity. Future genius If I¡¯ve met one. I¡¯m sure she will prove indispensable in your magical research.¡± ¡°Are you sure you can part with someone so gifted? I¡¯m feeling like I¡¯m robbing you.¡± ¡°I¡¯d love to serve you, King of Spiders.¡± The Drow woman made another curt bow. Yes! The High Chief smiled at his niece approvingly, she was well taught. ¡°Well, then I can¡¯t say no.¡± The Lamia Queen puffed her cheeks but remained silent. ¡°And for the Queen.¡± He put the chest in front of the throne and opened it. He knew exactly how much the Lamia liked shiny things so he filled it with various jewellery the Drow had made. The Queen beamed a genuine smile and the High Chief made another bow. ¡°I take it, my gifts are acceptable.¡± ¡°Yes-sss, you may go now.¡± She shooed him away with her hand. ¡­ The Lamia Queen proved to be clingy, but that was expected since they were just married. But that didn¡¯t mean that it wasn¡¯t tiring. He was saved by the gifts coming from his vassals. First, it was a huge ass unpolished diamond coming from the Kobolds, he didn¡¯t know they could get that big, and then there was all that emerald jewellery coming from the Drow. It was obvious that the Drow traded something to get the emeralds from the Kobolds, which was welcome since he wanted his vassals to get along. Since Lamia Queen went to examine and try shinies on in her room he finally had some time to mingle with his people. All of the Drow seemed to be present here, and it was unfortunate that he couldn''t say the same for the kobolds. There were just a small bunch of them here, probably just a few the Darkness Spider could carry. But little could be done since those guys were really afraid of open spaces. All of the races were mingling with each other, eating and making small talk; it was a lovely sight to see. Most importantly no one seemed to be prejudiced about his spiders; He knew that their appearance could appear scary to a casual observer. Heck, even he would get sometimes scared when ambushed by a spider in an untimely manner, especially when they jumped down off the ceiling. He was almost convinced some of them did that on purpose, just to spook him, and well, those usually were the little spiders who hadn¡¯t yet grown up to their full size. He went around greeting his new guests and making small talk involving the phrases like ¡°How are you?¡±, ¡°How¡¯s the food?¡±, ¡°How are things in your place?¡±. Small things like that were important, he wanted to show that he cared. It¡¯s just that, not everyone felt comfortable speaking with him. It was evident by their fidgeting and short replies, but he knew that like the Lamia the Drow would also come around. The Lamia were familiar with him, but in a respectful way. But the thing was, aside from his spiders he still didn¡¯t have many friends. Well, he had Johny, Trusty Advisor, Spider Leader, Friendly Lamia, Kobold Leader and the Wisp and he still hoped to make friends with the High Chief and hopefully with Vumbeldor. The Drow just were hard to approach, they treated him either with too much fear or respect. Well, he was the one to blame for it¡­ But maybe his new assistant will help to break the ice. He looked at the woman who was following him from behind the entire time. And of course, his look spooked her making her jump. ¡°is there anything wrong, King?¡± Her eyes were locked on his horns. He was getting self-conscious here. The Kobolds loved the horns, the Lamia were indifferent and the Drow¡­ ¡°What do you think about my horns?¡± He asked. ¡°Be honest.¡± ¡°They''re wonderful! Magnificent even.¡± ¡°Really. I think they¡¯re too short.¡± He grasped the stubs no longer than a thumb. ¡°No, no, they''re very manly! And it¡¯s not the size that matters.¡± ¡°If it¡¯s not the size of the horn, what matters when?¡± He asked jokingly, fully aware that he was making an innuendo. ¡°I¡­ What matters¡­¡± She fumbled around her words. ¡°Ha-Ha. Got you.¡± He laughed and noticed how tense she was. ¡°Relax, I¡¯m only joking. Now, wanna show me your magic?¡± She developed a blush. ¡°I still need to pick an affinity¡­¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t? Oh the High Chief mentioned that. So do you need a Magical Essence?¡± ¡°No.¡± She shook her head vigorously. ¡°I have all four elements unlocked, I just need to pick one.¡± ¡°Lucky you!¡± He was jealous. ¡°What are your thoughts about Earth?¡± ¡°If that¡¯s what the King wishes. [Earth]¡± Her body glowed in brown light. ¡°Done.¡± He wasn¡¯t telling her, he was asking. Oh well¡­ ¡°Congratulations¡­ Wanna go and shoot some fireworks?¡± ¡°Fireworks?¡± She asked curious. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re gonna burn some magic scrolls to fire elemental arrows into the sky. The spiders love that type of show.¡± She gave him a curious look, he took it as a yes, thus they began firing the elemental arrows into the sky; the spiders clapped enjoying the lights. There was a complicated look on the assistant''s face. ¡°What¡¯s up, you don¡¯t like it?¡± ¡°I love it, I¡¯ve never gotten to practise much.¡± It didn¡¯t look like she was loving it. She responded to his inquisitive look. ¡°It just feels excessive. Aren¡¯t magic scrolls extremely expensive?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. We can always make more, no?¡± ¡°I¡­ Well¡­¡± Once again she was looking for a reply. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± She bowed curtly. ¡°Ha-Ha. Drop that nonsense and relax. We are having fun! [Fire Arrow]¡±. He blasted another projectile into the sky. The celebrations lasted for two more days. And there was nothing to worry about, he had friends, he had his vassals and he had his allies. The Spider Kingdom was prospering, it was a shiny beacon in an otherwise boring jungle known as The Dreaded Place; an ill-named location which was now the opposite of what it implied. There was nothing dreadful here, only fun and happy spiders; thousands of them, expanding and working diligently every day. 54 The throne room was illuminated by the warm lights of the burning oil. Shadows of spiders projected by the flickering light danced on the walls and columns. On the obsidian-like throne sat no one else but the King of Spiders, the ruler of this Dreadful Place. He wore a beautifully crafted robe, it was blue and encrusted with emeralds. In his hand was the symbol of his power: the Devouring Spear. The tip of the spear occasionally would shimmer in the red glow as if to show that it was full of power. By the right side of the King stood a spider on its six legs. It was no mere spider, this one was special. It wasn¡¯t either tall or burly like the spider warriors, and it didn¡¯t need to be because this was the Spider Advisor ¨C a unique creature with special privileges and power. The advisor wore similar robes to the King but without the extra flourish. On the front of the robe, there was an embroidered symbol ¨C a black hexagon with four yellow dots in the middle. In its left hand, the advisor held a thick stack of vellum sheets, no, it was a book of sorts but it was very rough and tired from all of the use it had seen. In front of the throne, there was a kobold kneeling. He didn¡¯t seem to be perturbed by the overwhelming aura coming from the two. ¡°King, I¡¯m here to seek your help.¡± The Kobold Leader yapped. ¡°And how can I help?¡± The Kobold Leader launched the epic story. He was telling all about the great achievements the Kobolds had made: about the Great Kobold Camp he had built, about many kobolds who joined his tribe, about the ever-expanding tunnels they carved and about a formidable foe they still had to defeat. In other words he was just boasting. ¡°So, I guess you want my help in defeating this foe of yours?¡± ¡°Yes, yes!¡± ¡°Tell me more about them.¡± Deep in the mountain, there was another Kobold tribe, they were big and successful. The hostilities weren¡¯t too bad, the two would only launch small skirmishes and there were no casualties yet. ¡°I see, shouldn¡¯t we just ally with them? Well, maybe start with a ceasefire and negotiation?¡± He offered. The kobold¡¯s face scrunched into an unpleasant expression. ¡°No, no!¡± He protested. ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°I need to defeat them! The female chief will become my wife and the two tribes will merge.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± Suddenly it made more sense now. But then, wasn¡¯t this like a third or fourth wife already, he remember sending some gifts to the kobold to congratulate his second marriage. ¡°King, will you help me?¡± The Kobold Leader looked at him with big puppy eyes. ¡°With more kobolds we will be able to mine more ores, yes-yes.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think your intentions are noble but¡­¡± He paused to tease the cheeky Kobold. ¡°I will help you.¡± After all, this was a part of Kobold tradition, the way they lived, fought and prospered, and he didn¡¯t want to push his ideals on these creatures. As long as the two tribes could merge and he will have more kobolds it was fine. ¡°Thank you King!¡± The kobold jumped to cheer the certain victory. ¡°When will you send your spiders?¡± ¡°Spiders? No, that would be unfair. You still have to win on your own, but I will give you help.¡± The kobold seemed thoughtful, the certain victory was no longer guaranteed. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll win no problem. After all, I¡¯ll give you an unfair advantage anyway.¡± ¡°What sort?¡± He asked curious. ¡°Weapons, armour and most importantly advice.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± The kobold didn¡¯t look assured. ¡°It will work you¡¯ll see.¡± He assured. ¡­ At first, many kobolds wanted to protest the weapons, because why would they need them if they had their claws and scales, but seeing was believing. Five hundred kobolds had gathered in one of the larger caves. Each was armed with IronOak Spear, it was light and easy to carry, also having Reinforce +3 made it so sturdy that not even the Kobold stone-rendering claw could break the shaft. The kobolds didn¡¯t stand naked either, they wore Segmented Armour, also Reinforced +3. It was made out of spider eggshells, reminding them of their spider friends. It even gave them reputation +5 with other Kobolds and most importantly Minor Regeneration temporary perk. The Kobold Leader was very happy to see that the Stone Spider and especially the Glowing Spider were allowed to join their ranks; the latter had precious healing abilities. Also, he knew that a Darkness Spider was lurking somewhere in the dark corners of the cave and watching their backs. The three spiders weren¡¯t allowed to attack the hostile kobold tribe but they were here for support and that was good enough. But also, the King himself desired to come and oversee the kobolds. The Kobold Leader ordered his troops to form an orderly formation. He did so to imitate the sight of spiders he once saw, and to please the King. It took some time and a lot of head-slapping, his kobolds weren¡¯t quite used to this, but somehow they managed. ¡°Yes-yes!¡± He nodded happily at the stretched but tight formation. ¡°We march now.¡± He directed the kobolds to a wide-sloping tunnel and they began their long and arduous march. ¡°Wait, we¡¯re going up?¡± The King seemed confused. ¡°Yes, the other kobolds live higher up. It was always safer there, no Lamia to compete with.¡± ¡°Oh, I see.¡± The King scratched his chin in thought. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°We are much stronger now, yes-yes, we can challenge that tribe.¡± ¡°Yes!¡±, ¡°Yes-yes.¡± The two walking beside the Kobold Leader were quick to agree. After a while the Darkness Spider manifested out of the shadow right next to the King, it was whispering something to him. ¡°It seems they were expecting you, better be ready Kobold Leader. I will watch your performance and root for you, do your best.¡± The King tapped the top of the kobolds head and stepped back to the rear of the force. The Kobold Leader was advised to fight defensively so that he wouldn¡¯t kill an excessive amount of the hostile Kobolds; that advice was needless because the Kobold Leader would not intentionally hurt his future people too badly. The kobold warriors kept advancing through the tunnel. They were at a specific point, of which the Kobold leader was wary, it was the area where the tunnels began to branch. And, yes, this was it ¨C the hostile kobolds sprung an ambush flowing from the narrow side tunnels and attacking the Kobold Leader¡¯s warriors from the sides. The ambushers seemed confused for a moment but they continued their attack regardless. A glowing claw hit the spear shaft, but it held and the attacker was left dumbfounded. ¡°He, he.¡± The armed kobold laughed and whacked the ambusher with the butt of his spear knocking him out. Another Kobold was overwhelmed by two merciless attackers, they were clawing at his arms and body trying to shred him to pieces. He was wounded but the Segmented Armour did its job protecting the most important parts. The Kobold gathered the strength and thrust his short spear towards one of the attackers, skewering the bully. The other ambusher lost the advantage and decided to retreat and bully someone else. He was bleeding from his arms but Minor Regeneration was already closing the shallow wounds. He didn¡¯t waste any time and ran to assist one of his comrades struggling like he just did moments ago. Similar scenes repeated all over and at no surprise the ambush was thwarted and the ambushers ran away. The Kobolds cheered all over, but the Kobold Leader knew that this was only the start of the battle. The kobolds emerged into a larger cavern, there in the middle of it there was already a sizable force gathered. They were hostile kobolds both of red and blue kind. They wore nothing and wielded nothing but their natural weapons. The Kobold Leader had fewer warriors but he knew that he still possessed an advantage. ¡°Blue Kobolds?¡± The King asked surprised. ¡°Yes, from the top of the mountain.¡± The Kobold trembled remembering the feeling. ¡°Brrr. Too cold out there.¡± The King didn¡¯t say anything more so he gave a command. ¡°Attack! Capture their leader.¡± The kobolds ran breaking the neat formation. The King shook his head to display disappointment, but the Kobold Leader wasn¡¯t sure what did he do wrong. That¡¯s just how Kobolds fought. The two forces clashed and the fight devolved into a massive brawl. It was claws against the spears, where one had an overwhelming advantage against the other, or it should have been the case but¡­ The kobolds had forgotten how to use their spears properly and were just swinging them like sticks. The claws failed to break past the IronOak shafts or even pierce the armour. The hostile kobolds found their heads repeatedly bonked, their bodies scratched and somehow they even got bitten. The losing kobolds ran away with their tails between their legs, that, or they were knocked unconscious. However, the battle was not without serious injuries or even fatalities. The winning side raised their hands high and began to cheer, ¡°Yes-Yes, we won!¡±, again and again. They have even captured the enemy leader, who was one of the rare blue Kobolds. The blue kobold grovelled by the Kobold Leader¡¯s feet. ¡°You have won, I submit.¡± She said without fear or shame. ¡°Please spare my children.¡± She asked instead of begging. ¡°Your children can stay, yes-yes, but your mate¡­¡± The Kobold thought for a moment. ¡°Is banished! Never to be seen.¡± ¡®So, even the Kobolds have cruelties of their own¡¯ the King observed from the sidelines not daring to interfere in ancient but admittedly barbaric customs. ¡°Yes-Yes, you are the Leader now.¡± The blue Kobold submitted. ¡°My tribe is yours.¡± ¡°And you are my wife.¡± ¡°Eh?¡± The female seemed surprised. ¡°Why else would I banish your husband.¡± ¡°¡­¡± She didn¡¯t have a reply for a good moment but then, ¡°Yes-yes, that will work for me.¡± She stood up and grabbed the Kobold Leader¡¯s arm. ¡®I wonder if she will be as happy once she finds that she is like a fifth wife or something.¡¯ The King wondered but decided to leave the Kobold Leader to deal with the ramifications of it. The warriors from both sides were healed, courtesy of Glowing Spider, and everyone headed to the conquered kobold camp at a leisurely pace. .. The camp was primitive, just like the Kobold Leader¡¯s camp used to be, but it was big, very big. It had hundreds of burrows, nooks and crannies, all filled to the brim with kobolds. It was surprising to see so many kobolds, but also worrying. ¡°How do you feed so many Kobolds.¡± The King asked the blue kobold. ¡°The blues go outside into the cold, yes-yes, we hunt birds for meat, steal their eggs.¡± That meant that they must be close to the mountain peak, he didn¡¯t even realise that they ascended so high up; the tunnels can be confusing like that. She wasn¡¯t just yet finished. ¡°The reds go lower, they hunt for mushrooms and centipedes. We work together, like that.¡± By the looks of it there were fewer blue kobolds than red, but it didn¡¯t look like anyone was discriminated against, it was nice to see they got along so well. ¡°And who are you, creature?¡± She asked curious. The Kobold leader grabbed her by the muzzle. ¡°Don¡¯t say that!¡± He scolded. ¡°That¡¯s our King, the King of Spiders.¡± She looked at two large spiders who tagged along at the back. ¡°I see, a King¡­¡± Se spoke sceptically. ¡°He¡¯s our King too, a King of Kobolds.¡± The Kobold Leader judged that she was slow to understand. ¡°He¡¯s like the leader of the leaders. Big boss to everyone.¡± The realisation dawned upon her face. ¡°Then you''re not The Leader. I should marry him then.¡± ¡°No, no!¡± The Kobold leader protested in panic. The King came to his aid. ¡°No, he did defeat you fair and square and I was only a bystander. And anyway, I have a wife.¡± The Kobold looked at the King with big eyes conveying the unspoken ¡®Thanks, bro¡¯. ¡°You can have another.¡± The blue kobold stood with her arms crossed. The kobold leader waved his hands in frustration and the King had nothing to say. ¡°¡­¡± Will saying no lead to a diplomatic incident? It probably would, but he didn¡¯t need another wife and especially a kobold. So he made a good excuse, ¡°I think my wife would eat you if she finds out, she¡¯s a lamia.¡± ¡°A lamia!¡± She shouted in disbelief. ¡°Yeah, I know. So please join your tribes with the Kobold Leader here.¡± ¡°I guess¡­ I will.¡± She grabbed the Kobold Leader¡¯s arm pressing herself closer as if nothing had happened. The Kobold Leader smiled finally victorious. ¡°We must celebrate now.¡± The blue kobold urged. ¡°Yes-yes, we must feast.¡± ¡°Then, it¡¯s good I brought a lot of fruit as supplies.¡± The king began emptying his Magical Inventory. Needless to say, the kobolds here were also mighty impressed about the taste of his fruits; and so the feast began. However, he was still interested in the blue kobolds and the mountain peak. ¡°Say, how are blue kobolds different from the red?¡± He asked her. ¡°Simple, we are resistant to the cold and can shape ice easily. Stone, however¡­¡± She didn¡¯t finish. ¡°Reds are better diggers, yes.¡± The Kobold Leader added. ¡°And the outside, the mountain peak, how is it?¡± ¡°¡­?¡± The kobold looked questioningly. ¡°There is a fortress there? Why ask?¡± He just heard something juicy, ¡°A fortress?¡± ¡°Yes, yes. Dark fortress, we don¡¯t go too close. It¡¯s dangerous.¡± ¡°Monsters?¡± He asked even more curious. ¡°Undead.¡± So, those existed here. ¡°How interesting.¡± ¡°The King is interested in undead?¡± The Kobold Leader asked in bewilderment. ¡°I am¡­ you see I¡¯m a Dark mage so¡­¡± So maybe there was something to learn there. ¡°A Dark Mage!¡± It was blue kobolds turn to be bewildered. ¡°King, what type of race are you?¡± ¡°Monster King.¡± He admitted proudly. ¡°Not a Demon Lord?¡± She asked puzzled. ¡°No, those are different. Our king is stronger!¡± The Kobold Leader answered for him. He wasn¡¯t sure about that. ¡°We are getting sidetracked, would you be able to show me that fortress?¡± ¡°If you won¡¯t turn to the icicle, yes.¡± She said with conviction. ¡°But only after the feast.¡± He sat impatiently waiting for the kobolds to finish engorging themselves on TomGrape fruits. 55 The King of Spiders and a small pack of blue kobolds emerged out of a narrow tunnel. He found himself surrounded by the sloping hills and sheared cliffs of the mountain. Everything around him was white, even the sky. He couldn''t see the sun nor the horizon, the strong winds carried small blue particles in the air blocking the distant views. And most importantly of all, it was cold, very cold. ¡°Huh, so you aren¡¯t afraid of open spaces?¡± He asked trying not to think about the cold. ¡°No-no, blues are fine going out like this.¡± ¡°King. It¡¯s. Too. Cold.¡± The stone spider complained. ¡°Slow. Debuff.¡± The glowing spider added. ¡°Interesting. I didn¡¯t get it.¡± But then again he had put on an extra two layers of clothes. ¡°But, maybe this environment is not the best for spiders.¡± ¡°Sleepy.¡± The stone spider was dragging his feet in tiredness. ¡°Yeah, you two head back. I should be alright, but is it far?¡± ¡°No-no, not far. Come.¡± The kobold guided him towards another tunnel. It was made for kobolds so he kind of had to crouch and even crawl sometimes. He knocked on the bluish wall of the tunnel, it was made entirely out of ice. Now and then they would emerge outside, but only for a moment until they found another tunnel. At least in the ice tunnels, there was no wind so it felt marginally warmer, but still frigidly cold. ¡°King, are you hungry?¡± The kobold asked out of the blue. ¡°We just had a feast don¡¯t tell me your hungry already?¡± The kobold pointed at the open sky. He had to wipe the frost from his eyelids to see properly, but there it was: A massive creature floating in the sky. It was light grey and its underside blue, it had a huge maw. The creature resembled a flying whale and it was eating those tiny blue particles in the air. He looked in disbelief, he didn¡¯t know monsters could fly like that; some magic was definitely at play. ¡°A bird.¡± The kobold explained helpfully. ¡°It means it has eggs hidden nearby.¡± She licked her lips greedily. It looked like a whale, it ate blue particles like a whale would eat plankton, and it even made that low humming sound of a whale. But if the kobold said it¡¯s a bird, then it is a bird¡­ regardless of pointless thoughts, ¡°Won¡¯t it be angered if we take its eggs?¡± ¡°No-no, you see,¡± The kobold began digging through the layer of compacted snow and ice, ¡°it won¡¯t see us, he-he.¡± He was getting sidetracked but he was interested, so he crouched through a narrow space. The blue kobolds knew what they were doing because, in a matter of minutes, they emerged into an igloo-like space. It was filled with white leathery eggs, each the size of a kobold; and there was quite a few of them. ¡°So many.¡± Even the blue Kobold Leader was surprised. With a quick swing of her claws, she sliced the top of a leathery egg and scooped some egg white; surprisingly it wasn¡¯t frozen. Other Kobolds joined soon partaking in the slurping. There was a saying: when in Rome do as Romans do. He too scooped some of the slimy egg white. He just didn¡¯t know how to describe the taste. It was very cold but not frozen, sweet, slippery and oily. ¡°Tastes like melted ice cream, but this is still very cold.¡± ¡°Ice? You shouldn¡¯t eat ice.¡± The kobold warned unaware of what ice cream was. ¡°Especially the yellow ice, never eat that.¡± He knew that! ¡°Huh, I can¡¯t seem to be able to deposit this into my Magical Inventory.¡± That was because the egg counted as a living thing, or something like that. ¡°No worries, we will carry a few back to the camp.¡± The kobolds began rolling the eggs. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m here for the fortress.¡± ¡°Oh, yes-yes.¡± They stopped moving the eggs. ¡°You forgot, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°No-no.¡± The kobold shook her head vigorously. ¡°Come.¡± They began digging another tunnel. After a while, they emerged outside into the wind and cold, and from there on they just walked. He wanted to be quick about this but the kobolds just insisted on rolling at least one egg with them. That was in case they got ¡®hungry¡¯ again. He told them that he had fruits in his inventory but the kobolds just ignored him. There was a particularly bad gust of wind, and worse it carried those blue particles, a whole cloud of them. Apparently, they were hard crystalline, or at least it felt like that, because when they hit his face it hurt. He shielded his head from the assault. [Debuff active: Frozen] The cloud blew past him, and he found himself unable to move. The kobolds, however, seemed unaffected and just ogled his frozen frame with curious looks. Luckily the negative status effect didn¡¯t last. ¡°Sorry, I got frozen for a moment.¡± The kobolds still looked at him curiously, but they didn¡¯t comment. ¡°Come, the fortress is not far.¡± They let the egg slide off the cliff first. It rolled instead of sliding and smashed into an icy boulder below, surprisingly it didn¡¯t crack. He followed after Kobolds joining on a slide. He found himself below at a foot of an icy valley bordered by the rocky mountain range from all sides, the weather was slightly better since the frigid wind was gone. ¡°There.¡± The kobold pointed. Indeed, there was a black granite structure in the distance ¨C an entire fortress. The fortress had tall imposing walls and scouting towers overlooking the valley. In the middle of it was another tower, wider and taller than the rest. It looked old, ancient even, so some walls had holes and cracks but it was very well built because the towers still stood strong. ¡°Undead.¡± She reminded him. ¡°Yeah, let''s go closer.¡± He was curious, the fortress must have some mysteries hidden inside. The kobolds were visibly unnerved but they followed him regardless. ¡°I have my scrolls with me, we should be alright. But are there many undead there?¡± The blue Kobold Leader just shrugged. ¡°Well, there is one.¡± Further away there was a dark figure shambling through the packed snow and towards him. ¡°I wonder if they¡¯re intelligent. Maybe I can trade with them¡­¡± He looked at the mysterious figure. ¡°Let¡¯s stop and wait for it to come to us.¡± The kobolds stood a good few metres behind him, it was clear they didn¡¯t like to be anywhere near the fortress and especially undead. The shambler got closer ever so slowly. It was a figure of a man, there were barely any clothes left revealing a gaunt appearance and blackened skin, but he still had a black helmet and remains of broken chain mail on his neck and shoulders. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Hello.¡± He shouted at the undead hoping that the Language Comprehension will kick in. The blackened shambler didn¡¯t reply, he only limped towards him at a slow pace. It was close, only metres away. ¡°Hello?¡± He tried again hopefully. ¡°Uhhhhggghhh.¡± The undead moaned and quickened his pace. ¡°Oh...¡± It was almost upon him. ¡°Oh, shoot! Fire Arrow.¡± He burned a scroll releasing a spell. It slammed into the shambler''s head knocking the undead off his feet. The kobolds clapped and cheered. ¡°I don¡¯t think it''s very strong. Fire Arrow.¡± He burned another scroll, then another and another. The undead was now burning even in this frigid weather, and it still managed to stand up. ¡°Well, I take it back. That¡¯s one resilient dude.¡± He readied his spear. ¡°Let¡¯s see if this is any better.¡± He thrust the Devouring Spear right into the blackened burning face. It went straight through; the spear glowed storing the soul. [Fighting +1000exp], the experience was decent. ¡°And it¡¯s dead.¡± In retrospect, if there were more he would struggle to handle them, but one on one an undead like this stood no chance. Just as he was thinking that he could see a whole bunch of undead shambling right out of the fortress gate; the pyrotechnics show must have attracted their attention. ¡°I saw, what I wanted, we can go back.¡± The kobolds sighed in relief. ¡°But before I go, [Harvest Material].¡± [Wither Bone] x1, went right into his inventory. It was a long black femur bone, its properties and use still unknown. The kobolds were already rolling the egg all the way back. ¡°Come on, just leave it. I¡¯ll give you some fruit.¡± ¡°No-no, it¡¯s a good charm to roll an egg. Protects from bad things.¡± The kobold informed sagely. They reached the sloping cliff and he smiled knowingly that the egg journey must end here; there were no means to carry the massive egg up the slope. ¡°No way.¡± He was left surprised. A line of three kobolds used their heads to push the egg up while they clawed at the slope with their sharp feet. They moved quickly and efficiently, the teamwork impeccable; by the looks of it, it wasn¡¯t the first time they had to do this. So the egg rolled ever so closer to the Kobold Camp. It would have reached the destination if not for a small problem. Well, the problem was actually massive. A wail of a ¡®bird¡¯ reverberate bouncing between the mountain walls. The creature was flying right towards the kobolds and the egg. Its huge body slammed into the ground sending a shower of ice and snow into the air; the creature opened its maw and was moving rapidly towards the group leaving them no time to dodge the fast approach. He had been once swallowed by a creature this large and he didn¡¯t want to repeat the experience. ¡°[Shadow Walk]¡± He took a step but walked ten. And with three ''steps'' he was out of harm''s way. The kobolds and the egg got swallowed by the sky whale. That was no good, that included the Kobold Leader¡¯s wife to be. ¡°I didn¡¯t see any teeth ,so I pray that you Kobolds are safe. I will get you out soon!¡± He shouted. ¡°Somehow¡­¡± He whispered. Without wasting any time he burned a scroll, ¡°Darkness Cloud.¡± The cloud clung to the whale''s head but wasn¡¯t big enough to envelop its massive body. Nor did he want that, he just hoped to confuse the creature. He spent another precious second retrieving the Bow of Darkness, ¡°[Dark Bolt], [Piercing Strike],¡± he fired. The bolt pierced the side of the whale penetrating its defences. However, he would need to shoot many more because they hardly even scratched it and now it was beginning to hover out of the hole it made in the ice. ¡°[Dark Bolt]x3¡± He fired arrows in quick succession. The projectiles left small holes in its side, and they leaked light blue blood ever so slightly. He kept firing and the sky whale kept ascending higher. ¡°It''s going to escape at this rate¡± For a big monster, he had to use a big weapon, so. ¡°Take that.¡± He flung a Fire Grenade. The yellow orb flew straight and true and then smashed into the monster''s side smearing the FireAgave juice, and then Fire Spirit Stone powder did its thing setting the flammable juice alight. A normal fire would probably be extinguished instantly, but this one clung to the monster¡¯s body burning ever hotter. The sky whale shrieked in a pained wail and shot straight up. It was almost out of reach for his bow. ¡°Give back my friends you fish!¡± He fired another volley of piercing dark bolts. ¡°Die already!¡± He kept at it but the distance was making it difficult. The Darkness Cloud wore off and the sky whale was dashing through the air away. ¡°It¡¯s getting away, I can¡¯t reach it.¡± He tried but the bolts missed. ¡°RIP kobolds, you will be missed.¡± He said a small prayer. The sky whale wobbled in the air ever so slightly. ¡°Oh, did the damage finally catch up with it?¡± He renewed his efforts to catch up with the monster. It wobbled some more and started a slow descent to the icy ground, but before it could reach the ice its belly split and blue Kobolds spilled from it. The whale let out a final shriek and slammed into the mountain face head first, [Fighting +10000exp]. ¡°You guys, you''re alive!¡± He rushed to the kobolds. They were slimy and the frigid wind was already turning that goo into icicles, but the blue kobolds didn¡¯t seem to be bothered by it. Instead, they cheered and giggled, ¡°We did it!¡±, ¡°Yes-yes!¡±, then they raised the egg, which somehow survived all that and began chanting, ¡°Egg! Egg! Egg!¡±, They gave it a lift above their heads and carried it like some sort of divine artefact. ¡°I doubt it was the egg that saved you.¡± He said with loaded implication waving his bow. ¡°Yes-yes, the egg is a good luck charm. We survived!¡± ¡°Right, maybe stop parading it so openly. What if another sky whale sees it and takes offence?¡± He warned. ¡°Then we¡¯ll cut it open from the inside again.¡± The blue kobold nodded in assurance that it won¡¯t be a problem. ¡°Kobolds are the bestest hunters!¡± ¡°I guess¡­ you can. But that¡¯s not the best hunting strategy. Anyway, what do we do with the corpse?¡± ¡°It¡¯s delicious!¡± She licked her muzzle. Indeed, there was a lot of meat, almost too much. ¡°Hmm, since it¡¯s dead if you help me to cut it I should be able to carry it in my inventory.¡± ¡°Yes-Yes!¡± The kobold danced still giddy. ¡°But before we start, let''s hide the egg. Just in case.¡± He worried that another sky whale might attack because of it. ¡°No-No. Will give bad luck. It stays.¡± The kobold crossed her arms. ¡°Okay then, let''s harvest this monster quickly. Everyone, help.¡± The kobolds were better butchers than he was, their natural claws sliced through frozen freezing flesh like it was butter, actually, they cut better if it was frozen; strange. His inventory was quickly filled with goodies: [IceShard Bird Meat] x 100000, [IceShard Bird Leather] x250, [IceShard Bird Bones] x 100, [IceShard Plankton] x1000, [IceShard Bird Core] x 1. And yeah, according to the system, it was IceShard Plankton Bird and not a whale, so Kobolds knew what they were talking about. He stared at this inventory for quite a while, it was crazy, in his Magical Inventory space he had a hundred slots for items, but as long as it was a single type of item it didn¡¯t matter how much he had of it, so the entire harvested whale only took 5 inventory slots. This meant that he was now carrying 100 tonnes of meat and not feeling it; this skill was broken! On another note killing these things was a very profitable business; but judging by the lack of other sightings, these ¡®birds¡¯ must be quite rare. The items he obtained were interesting, ever since he obtained Crafting lvl. 3 he was able to tell what sort of enchantments/affinity the items provided, that is if they had enchanting properties at all. [IceShard Bird Leather: Ice Resistance] [IceShard Bird Bones: Ice Attribute] [IceShard Plankton: Ice Damage] [IceShard Bird Core: ???] But yeah, the information wasn¡¯t always complete, it worked like a rough guide mostly. Saying that, he was the most interested in the Core since he had a hunch it was some sort of magical floatation organ. Why? Because then he took it out, the core hovered in the air defying all gravity. He will give the Kobolds their fair share of the loot, but that core ¨C he¡¯s keeping that. 56 ¡°Kobold Leader, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s the best idea to join the two camps.¡± ¡°I must, yes-yes, a camp can¡¯t be leaderless.¡± ¡°The blue kobolds need access to the surface. And that¡¯s where the fridge is now. You don¡¯t want the meat to spoil.¡± The Kobold Leader was thoughtful. ¡°No.¡± He admitted. ¡°The bird meat is tasty.¡± ¡°See, just leave your wife here to manage the camp, easy.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± The kobold leader smiled. ¡°But I¡¯m still the Leader.¡± ¡°Yes-Yes.¡± He imitated the kobold. ¡°Just think of it like this. Your camp is a Kobold Capital and from there, you rule all other camps.¡± ¡°Yes-Yes, I like it.¡± ¡°And if you struggle I will just lend you a few of my spiders, to pacify any rebels that is.¡± ¡°No-No, we Kobolds can handle this.¡± He patted a chest area of the segmented armour. Indeed, his Kobolds were all greared up and judging from their recent performance they shouldn¡¯t have a problem claiming other Kobold camps. ¡°Anyway, just remember to tell your new camp to concentrate on mining for ore.¡± ¡°I know, I promised you more ores, King, you will get them, yes-yes.¡± The Kobold assured. With that he was done here, well there were still a lot of things to do in both of the kobold camps. Having access to ample food these guys bred quite quickly, which was a good thing, but housing might become an issue in the future. Also, the ever-expanding mine network was becoming inefficient, hence there was a need to improve the transportation system. The building of the ¡®fridge¡¯ facilities has just begun, those 100 tons of meat needed a lot of storage space and vigilant security so that opportunistic monsters don¡¯t raid it; luckily the Blue Leader seemed competent to manage the task. In other words instead of micromanaging everything he left it to the kobolds, sure there will be mistakes made here and there, but they surely will learn from those. And the mountain top expedition had a plus side, which was ice ¨C a rare commodity, especially without access to modern refrigeration. He surrounded the meat chunks in ice blocks and then fungiwood chippings and loaded the bags on the spiders, it was rather primitive but it should keep the meat frozen until they reached the farm. So prepared, the spider caravan headed home. His spiders were completely TomGrape-tarians so the meat he brought was solely for the Lamia and himself. Judging by the sparkle in their eyes his Rep with the Lamia went up by quite a few points, which was good, they were his people now, especially since Lamia Queen relinquished all command to him. The Queen in question seemed content to live a carefree life, which was both good and bad. It was he who wanted to live a life like that, one where he simply could do nothing, alas as a King he was not allowed such luxury and he accepted the King¡¯s responsibilities fully and wholeheartedly. That didn¡¯t mean that he didn¡¯t have time for hobbies and other trivialities. Currently, he was busy in his workshop where the Drow Assistant was giving him a hand in grinding the IceShard Bird Bones. Yes, Ice Attribute, was mightly useful and he already had produced several articles of interesting equipment. The process was quite simple, grind the bones into the fine powder and use that in conjuration with Crafting and Magic+ to Enchant a desired item with Ice Attribute. A few examples were: Icy Spear > Elemental Damage, a chance for Frozen. Icy Axe > Ice Slash (an elemental type attack) Magic Scroll: Elemental Arrow: Ice. Frost Arrow > Elemental Damage, a chance for Frozen. For defensive equipment (armours, shields, etc), he had to use IceShard Bird Leather which would guarantee Ice Resistance: Medium as one of the passives. That passive protected against Elemental Ice Damage but not from the accumulative Frozen debuff. To beat the debuff he had to use Extract: Reagent on either the bones to obtain IceShard Powder. Contrary to the name when mixed into a potion it gave a Resist Frozen Potion. The potion also protected against the frigid cold and frost, like some sort of edible antifreeze. He needed all of those so that his spiders could walk at the mountaintop. Yeah, his spiders were very weak to Ice effects, but also Fire. So he had to think about how to dress them since he couldn¡¯t protect the spiders from both. Incidentally, he¡¯d used some Magic Scroll: Air/Earth Arrow on spider volunteers and those turned out to do a lot less damage. The Dark Arrow did barely any damage at all. To sum it up: weakness to Fire/Ice, resistance to Dark. Another unexpected find was the effects of IceShard Plankton. It was similar to the bone powder but much more potent. Well, there were limitations, he couldn''t use it with Enchant, but it still was a crafting ingredient. So he used that sludge-like goo to make Frost Grenade, and it was a very potent weapon which instantly Froze a target. This surprising find led to another revelation. Well, to be honest, it was a joint discovery¡­ ¡°What if we make a box out of Enchanted Corrundum Ingot and flood it with IceShard Plankton?¡± The Drow Assistant proposed. ¡°That would make a very cold bath¡­ or even a fridge. Yes! And we can insulate the outside with Ice Resistance to prevent the cold from escaping.¡± Yes, the leather prevented the transference of heat, or in this case cold. The two of the crafted the prototype box. ¡°It works.¡± The Drow Assistant took out a Frozen TomGrape, ¡°But submerging the food in the liquid doesn¡¯t seem to be optimal.¡± She scraped the plankton off the fruit. ¡°That¡¯s just a proof of concept. We just need to make another, smaller airbox and put it in the goo. The corundum metal should be able to conduct the Ice element and channel it to the air to cool it.¡± ¡°Yes. We should have made it so from the very beginning.¡± She was right, at the moment it was just a reverse deep fryer ¨C deep freezer¡­ or something which instantly froze the food. They needed it cooled only so the two worked to improve the design. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. [You have crafted an IceShard Cooler of poor quality. Crafting +1000exp.] [IceShard Cooler: afflicts the contents with debuff Chilled, debuff Frozen] ¡°Yes, the System recognised it as a ¡®Cooler¡¯.¡± He cheered and slapped the top of the box. The frozen metal shattered, and the box broke spilling the goo everywhere; frost covered the table. ¡°Oops, it¡¯s brittle. I should have reinforced it.¡± ¡°Ah, a weakness.¡± The Drow Assistant was making notes. It took a few more tries and a superior IceShard Cooler was achieved. It was a two-compartment box, one for Chilled and the other for Frozen; the system refused to call it a fridge for some reason. The device didn¡¯t work perpetually, while it didn¡¯t need mana injection to work, what it needed was a supply of IceShard Plankton because it consumed that to produce the cooling effect. In a sense, it was fuel to power the Cooler. ¡°You¡¯ve said you have a pile of meat sitting at the top of the mountain¡­ We¡¯ll need more of those, no?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ A bigger one perhaps, but not too big. A 100 units of meat should be enough to satisfy the Lamia needs. And I don¡¯t have a lot of fuel¡­¡± He patted the box, no he slammed it. ¡°Ha, Reinforce +3 seems to do it.¡± The Drow Assistant made a note in her notebook. ¡°You know, with this we can make some ice cream.¡± He felt giddy just from the idea. ¡°I scream? I must have misheard it, sorry.¡± ¡°Ice Cream.¡± He voiced it out slowly. ¡±A chilled dessert made out of milk.¡± The Drow Assistant was giving him an odd look. ¡°Like mother¡¯s milk?¡± She asked betraying confusion. ¡°No, not like that. Milk from a cow preferably. I wonder if humans have that.¡± ¡°A cow? Sounds like a formidable monster.¡± She made some more notes in that notebook of hers. ¡°Anyway, let''s just finish a bigger cooler. We can think about where to get milk later.¡± The never-ending quest for a bigger better meaner ¡®Cooler¡¯ just began. The two won¡¯t stop until they make a perfect masterwork, an envy of the world. Meanwhile, an IceShard Bird Core was hovering sadly in the corner, seemingly forgotten. A mundane fridge was evidently more important than the gravity-defying mysterious ??? item. ¡­ Far, far away, at the border of the forest, the one where the Great Ancestral Tree ruled supreme. Well, this wasn¡¯t a border your average human would recognise, it just looked like a seamless forest with trees on the left and on the right. But it was a border never the less, one forest was ruled by the Great Ancestral Tree and the other by a different nature entity. The other one still had the elves in it and their guardian deity was still alive. Due to some unnatural twist of fate, and equally inconveniently random applications of [Chaos Blessed] (Which our Monster King might or might not be at fault for), the two forests were currently at WAR. Great Ancestral Tree, knew that he was blessed with good allies, and he gave his thanks every day for that. The greatest ally of them all was his best friend commonly known as the Spider King. The spiders provided a tremendous boon to the forest, breathing in a fresh breath of change. And the King himself was no different. The two often exchanged gifts and other pleasantries. Their Alliance was just a budding sapling but it was as strong as a full-grown Iron Oak; the King of Spiders was willing to come and aid him in times of difficulties and even in times of war. However, the Great Ancestral Tree didn¡¯t feel it was proper to be over-reliant, and that was for a reason. Sometimes Great Ancestral Tree would feel that he was the one who benefited the most from the relationship, he was even beginning to feel guilty. The King of Spiders would often come and exchange the cave centipede souls for his Amber. The Great Ancestral Tree used those souls to seed the Sprigans he had grown. They were perfect for the job, perfect for the WAR of forests. Currently, he had no less than a thousand of the Sprigans, they were his personal army of diligent fearless soldiers. The cave centipede souls made the Sprigans extra vicious, and it was a good thing. He needed vicious and relentless to ward off the elf attacks. Recently they were prodding and pushing deeper into his territory. The Great Ancestral Tree was done with the elves, especially the ones who weren¡¯t of this forest; their aggression was intolerable. The Sprigan army marched into the elf forest, their goal was to exterminate the elf nest and stop their aggression permanently. And maybe, just maybe, as a side goal ¨C to expand the influence and domain of the Great Ancestral Tree. The elves weren¡¯t shy to retaliate, no, it seems they were ready for attack. Actually, they probably provoked it consciously. The Sprigans were ambushed by the elf scouts, fire arrows rained from treetops setting everything ablaze. The Great Ancestral Tree floated above the battlefield in his wisp form and frowned at the reckless behaviour. It was super effective, the Sprigans burned in hot flames, but so did the parts of elf forest. The attack hurt both sides or so he thought. There were more Sprigans than there were elves, so even at a loss the Great Ancestral Tree ordered the Sprigans to carry their duty. The Sprigans, even if burning, climbed on the trees to pursue the elves. They pummelled the elves with their fists to death. It was brutal, but also surprisingly effective; unlike the elves the Sprigans didn¡¯t tire, didn¡¯t feel pain and were fearless. Soon the tree tops were basked in fragments of what used to be an elf, the bark was dyed red, and whatever was left hung trapped in branches like some sort of macabre fruit. That, and there was a similar but contrasting sight of a burned tree, below it were charred and motionless remains of the Sprigans. One of them, half charred, stood up, ¡°[Heal],¡± it invoked one of the three spells in knew; the charred black bark glowed green and then returned to its normal texture. The sight repeated all over the battlefield, yes there were some losses, but not too many. The Great Ancestral Tree ordered his army to proceed. They pushed deeper into the hostile forest. They were almost at the walls of the pesky Elf Nest. It was bigger than the Great Ancestral Tree remembered, and there were two kinds of elves, in common pale and brown variety; the sight most unusual. Both were forest elves but the two groups never mixed before, he wondered what was the reason. But did it matter? It did not, these elves were the aggressor here, defiling the border of the Great Ancestral Tree. The Sprigans lined not too far from the walls, just out of reach of the balistas. An awful human contraption which had no place on the elven wall! The Great Ancestral Tree remembered the displeasure of being pierced by it. The wisp floated just above the city, ¡°Elves, both of you, where are your High Chiefs?¡± he boomed loudly so that everyone could hear. He was right, almost right, because not two but three High Chiefs manifested in an alcove of their Ancestral Tree. This meant that there were three different groups of elves living here. ¡°Ah, a messenger of the Demonic Tree. Begone you foul spirit!¡± A slightly familiar elder spoke. ¡°We will chop you down and liberate the forest.¡± A woman spoke. The third elder remained silent. Just like in previous attempts, the elves refused to negotiate. ¡°Fools! I sense nothing but malice. If war you want, WAR you will get.¡± The wisp expanded in anger. ¡°[Dispel]¡± The third elf fired a purple projectile at the wisp. ¡°Let''s raise the shield, who knows what demonic magic it can cast.¡± The wisp shrunk to a ball barely dodging the incoming spell. The elf nest formed a magical shield surrounding it. If it was his forest, he could beseech The Spirit to dispel that shield, but alas, it was not. Even more so, the elves kept their Guardian Deity, the avatar of the forest, somewhere tightly locked within the walls, so the Great Ancestral Tree didn¡¯t even have a chance to talk with it. ¡°As you want elves.¡± He commanded the Sprigans to attack the walls. His guys could pass the shield no problem, it was the spell-slinging that would get blocked. The Sprigans marched unafraid of the great balista arrows flying at them. And all would be well, if not for the elves sallying out of the gate. There weren¡¯t many, but they were most unusual. The elves, THE ELVES, had metal armour and were wielding axes; a perfect counter to the Sprigan army. ¡°Blasphemy! How dare you.¡± the Great Ancestral Tree was offended. Never in his long-long life did he see an elf wielding an axe. ¡°No better than a human I see!¡± This was a bad change in elves, a change he could not allow. The two armies clashed, the armour was dented and the helmets bent, hence several elves met their demise. However, the balistas fired, arrows flew and axes chopped the wooden flesh like butter; the Sprigans fell in droves. If not for the enchanted axes his army might have stood a chance, but alas, the victory was impossible. ¡°Retreat.¡± The Great Ancestral Tree commanded. However, the Sprigans were reluctant to obey, their centipede soul rejected the command. ¡°Retreat!¡± He expanded the wisp form to project dominance. Finally, they obeyed. The retreat was not clean, and he was left with a mere hundred Sprigans left. A very thin force distanced themselves from the pesky Elf Nest, luckily the elves, content by the safety of the walls, didn¡¯t pursue it, but the safety of his own border was now compromised. ¡°Gather the elf scout corpses.¡± He urged the survivors. ¡°We are short on guardians, let''s put the diseased to use.¡± He will turn these corpses into Vine Men. The Great Ancestral Tree wasn¡¯t proud of this tactic but he was kind of desperate here, at least until the King of Spiders supplied him with more centipede souls. Well, he could put the squirrel souls there just like he did before, but those were innocent creatures unfit for the atrocities of WAR. And why should he sacrifice the souls of this forest? No, he wasn¡¯t a Demonic Tree! He was a Regent Guardian here so he wouldn''t sacrifice his forest''s souls, definitely not, but if they came from outside his domain it was a fair play. ¡°I shall ask my ally for more souls.¡± That, and if push came to shove he¡¯ll ask for the spiders¡¯ help. The wisp left the Sprigans and Vine Men to defend the border and then flew back towards its main body. 56.5 The Human Kingdom bordering the Ancient Forrest was only one of many Human Kingdoms, and also a part of the Holy Empire. This one was once ruled by King Aurelius, a known warmonger. While the Human King had his flaws he wasn¡¯t an incompetent king. Some wars were not only unavoidable ¨C they were a necessity. However, King Aurelius met an untimely demise fighting an evil sorcerer and so his plans came to an end. The reclaimed forest land was meant for new farms, which didn¡¯t happen. And most importantly the invasion of the neighbouring Fertile Kingdom didn¡¯t happen either. If they struck at that time they would have won, but now the Fertile Kingdom wizened up and mustered enough forces to fend off any upcoming incursions. Even worse, they were unwilling to trade their grain at a fair price. Well, that was just a consequence of a failed conquest, a conquest which never happened. Of course, the Human Kingdom crowned a new king ¨C King Aurelius II. The King was young but wise beyond his years, he had surrounded himself with knowledgeable advisors, a group of magi known as a Covenant of the Black Hand. Of course that stopped the Fertile Kingdom from a pre-emptive attack; no one really wanted to fight a full covenant of magi. And all seemed well for a time they even reigned in the threat of the Evil Sorcerer. But the unresolved old problems, like a monstrous hydra, poked their ugly heads. The first head was the looming war with the Fertile Kingdom. The second head was the threat of the Evil Sorcerer. The third head was the worst, in came in the shape of a drought and then a flood, failing all harvest. There were the beginnings of famine and the rebellion was at the doorstep. In a palace garden and under a fancy gazebo, an obese man and an elderly magus were sitting and having a small feast. The two were King Aurelius II and his advisor GrandMagus Vumbeldor. Both of them were decorated in exotic blue robes, made out of a material of unknown origin; it was rumoured to be more expensive than royal imperial silk. ¡°The peasants threw rotten tomatoes at the palace wall.¡± Aurelius II complained. ¡°What do you want me to do? Throw Firebolts at them? Get your militia to sort matters like this.¡± The Magus replied full of snark. ¡°No, I¡¯m not suggesting that,¡± Aurelius II took a greedy sip out of a fancy bottle, ¡°That¡¯s some good stuff¡­ Can¡¯t you just magic some food?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not how magic works, you fool.¡± The magus didn¡¯t need to hold his tongue with this puppet. ¡°We can always release some of the palace supplies,¡± he bit a yellow fruit, it leaked juices on his beard. ¡°That would ease the tension in the Capital. At least for a while.¡± ¡°No, the royal faction would have my head. You know that I¡¯m not exactly popular, so they would rebel before the peasants would.¡± Aurelius II took another sip. ¡°Go easy on that stuff.¡± The magus cautioned. ¡°But, you are the King, and your word is final. If your uncles and cousins what to rebel let them.¡± The magus stroked his beard thoughtfully. ¡°Actually, that would be a good cause to get rid of them entirely and install a council.¡± A council of magi. ¡°Vumbeldor, please, you¡¯re too ambitious for your own good. The Emperor would not allow that.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s why you¡¯re on the throne, our false King.¡± ¡°Yes, yes. Thank you for all the support.¡± He said it, but didn¡¯t mean it. ¡°And isn¡¯t your covenant doing just swimmingly well?¡± ¡°Are you implying something?¡± The magus frowned. ¡°This illicit trade you have with that sorcerer made you extremely wealthy, no?¡± So the fool was somehow aware of the backroom dealings. The fat buffoon went a notch up in the Vumbeldor¡¯s eyes. ¡°So, can¡¯t you just buy some grain?¡± Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. The magus finished eating the fruit. ¡°Spend our wealth to save your kingdom? A genius idea!¡± The magus mocked. ¡°The grain asking price is exorbitant, and we are at the point where it¡¯s impossible to turn a profit. The peasantry can¡¯t afford it anymore.¡± He educated the fool. ¡°But we can spend the royal treasury to subsidise if you give us access.¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s not necessary. I was just throwing some ideas out.¡± The fancy bottle was empty so Aurelius II eyed the juicy fruit. ¡°How can a simple fruit be so tasty?¡± He asked to distract the magus from the royal treasury, that money was his to spend. The magus looked at it. His eyes were locked on the bowl of yellow fruits for a while. ¡°I don¡¯t think I asked something profound, please, I don¡¯t want another lecture from you old man.¡± The magus ignored the fat man and the disgusting sounds he made while devouring the fruits; Vumbeldor was thinking. The fat man was on the throne only because the Covenant backed his claim by bribing the nobles and strongarming the lesser factions. Yes, the King was just a puppet but a necessary one; no King no Kingdom and all that. But, that also meant that the Covenant needed to solve the famine if they want to keep this stolen Kingdom under the Black Hand¡¯s influence. ¡°The fruit, you¡¯re eating.¡± He pointed at the last remaining TomGrape. ¡°I think, that¡¯s the solution.¡± ¡°Eh, how so?¡± ¡°Well, the Sorcerer, The King of Spiders, grows them. And¡­¡± He stressed it. ¡°As far as I know we are his only clients.¡± ¡°Yes, I heard of him¡­ but that¡¯s our enemy!¡± The fat man slammed his hands on the table making the chubby cheeks and the rest of the fat body shake. ¡°The one responsible for your beloved blue ambrosia. By the way, we had it Identified, it comes out from some sort of a slug; it¡¯s a slug jelly.¡± He just threw that one out. ¡°And so does this cloth, and many other items the royals, oh so much joy.¡± ¡°So you were in the bed with the Evil Sorcerer all along. I should¡¯ve known¡­¡± The fat man sat down deflated. ¡°He wasn¡¯t planted by us if that¡¯s what you thinking. But he is an unlikely ally. The one who could solve the famine.¡± ¡°I¡¯m listening...¡± He snatched back the last fruit from the magus¡¯s hand and devoured it in one bite. The magus continued. ¡°We would need to grant him certain privileges. A royal pardon even. Then we could begin an open trade.¡± ¡°A what?! We all know the rumours of the evil forest, twisted spiders and a man behind it all. He''d slew King Aurelius! Would people ever agree to make peace with someone like that?¡± ¡°You overestimate the morality of a common man.¡± The magus said matter of factly. ¡°If that feeds them, then they will.¡± ¡°Morality, ha!¡± The fat man laughed at the irony. ¡°The only thing that separates us from them is wealth and power.¡± It seems that Aurelius II had no illusions of what he really was. Good. ¡°And to remain in that position, we must make amends with the Sorcerer. No, not just sorcerer, The King Of Spiders.¡± The magus raised a finger to hammer that title into that fat-addled brain of the fool. ¡°We shall invite him into the palace. Form an official trade treaty.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Aurelius II seemed hesitant. ¡°The Emperor won¡¯t like this.¡± ¡°The Emperor won¡¯t feed our starving. And I don¡¯t think his holiness cares about the politics of some backwater kingdom.¡± ¡°Awesome¡­ Another magus to deal with. The palace is crawling with your kind already, one more will make no difference.¡± Aurelius II sighed. ¡°Fine.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like I need your permission. I¡¯m just telling you so that you don¡¯t make a fool of all of us.¡± Vumbeldor reached into his robe and retrieved another bottle of ¡®blue ambrosia¡¯. ¡°For your efforts, understanding, and,¡± He looked right into Aurelius¡¯s eyes, ¡°discretion.¡± ¡°I knew it! You are hoarding it all!¡± Aurelius II uncorked the bottle and chugged the contents. ¡°Ah, sweet mana from the heavens sent to bless my taste buds. So that Sorcerer, The King of Spiders makes this stuff. He can¡¯t be that bad.¡± ¡°I think we¡¯re done here. I¡¯ll go and contact our future benefactor.¡± Vumbeldor left for the comm orb room. King Aurelius finished his blue ambrosia bottle, it was his third today; he was beginning to feel funny in a good way. When full on ¡®ambrosia¡¯, he would feel brimming with power and infused with wisdom. The many palace stairs weren¡¯t as scary, the boredom was gone and he would notice the things he normally wouldn¡¯t¡­ There was a squirrel on a nearby tree¡¯s branch, he¡¯d noticed that squirrel before; he recognised it. Actually, there was an unusually large number of them in the palace gardens. And they were oddly interested in his activities, he felt their gazes all too often. ¡°What are you looking at?¡± He stared back at the squirrel accusingly. ¡°Are you spying on me?¡± He could swear there was intelligence in those eyes. The squirrel stopped staring and instead scratched both of the nuts below with tiny squirrel hands and then just ran off to do other squirrel things like that. ¡°Must be my imagination.¡± He stared at the empty bottle. ¡°Or a side effect, Paranoia.¡± He checked his status, there was no debuff of any sort. ¡°I need more blue ambrosia, that old fart must be hiding it in his office.¡± He went to raid the office while the magus was busy in the orb room. 57 A huge rock the Kobold Leader had gifted to his wife, Lamia Queen, was not just a rock. It was a rough gem the size of a melon. Almost unbelievable right? But here it was, cut and polished into a round brilliant sphere, and it turned out to be pink. Actually, It was quite unusual as the gems came. Under the right light and at the right time of the day, it was possible to see a small red lighting, blinking and crackling deep inside the gem. He was tempted to break the gem and set the trapped lighting loose just to see what happens. He shook off the intrusive thoughts. ¡°No, that would break it. I rather¡­¡± He put the pink gem on the table, right beside the other crafting materials. It was so big, it made it impractical for any of the standard jewellery, even the crown would look too unwieldy. ¡°A sceptre then,¡± he decided, ¡°a symbol of power.¡± He shaped Enchanted Metal under the hammer, making a small cage for the gem to hold it in place. The shaft of the sceptre was made out of the same metal. Of course, he spent a great amount of time perfecting the minute details and other decorations, etching and shaping the metal surface. The shaft was slim, elegant but sturdy; its surface was etched with decorative patterns. The pink gem glowed ever so slightly, shining out of a flower-like cage. The pink gem and bright orange metal accompanied each other. ¡°And it¡¯s done.¡± It looked more like a mace than a sceptre but whatever, it was a badass item. [Chaos Blessed ¨C activated], he ignored it; he was used to it firing at the most random times. Most of the time it did nothing. [You have crafted Sceptre of Love of masterwork quality. Crafting +1000exp.] [Sceptre of Love: Reinforced +2, Increased Authority, Enchanted Charm.] ¡°Huh, the name is interesting¡­¡± He questioned the system¡¯s taste in naming things. ¡°But that works to my advantage here.¡± After all, he will re-gift this to the lamia. Just as he was done with one orb he was already looking at the other. He patted IceShard Bird Core and it bobbed in the air slightly. He¡¯s had played with the mysterious item earlier. It would float in the air, and it could even carry some weight but the amount depended on how much mana he injected, more mana meant more weight. So the use was obvious, but there was still a small issue, he had no way to move the orb in any of the directions, well, not with mana at least. He could use a leash and just drag the orb around like a sort of pet rock. He scratched his head in thought. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll have much use of a hovering luggage.¡± He had his Magical Inventory for carrying stuff. ¡°Or maybe¡­¡± He had a silly idea. He went to the throne room, where conveniently the Lamia Queen was napping on his throne, her butt on his target ¨C the Divine Pillow. He ignored the small fact that she had her own seat and a throne to sit on because he knew just how comfortable that pillow was. ¡°Hello, sss.¡± The lamia greeted opening one of her eyes. ¡°Might as well,¡± he took out Sceptre of Love and gifted it to her. ¡°A small improvement on the Kobold''s gift.¡± ¡°[Identify]¡± She smiled broadly exposing all those sharp teeth. ¡°Aww, how cute. I love the name and the perks-sss it grants-sss.¡± She leaned in for a kiss. *Smooch. ¨C it was a bit too wet. He used the opportunity to pick the lamia up and off the throne and his pillow. ¡°Oh! S-s-s.¡± She giggled. ¡°Are we finally going to the bedroom?¡± ¡°No, I need this.¡± He dropped her on the ground (it was soft and carpeted anyway) and retrieved the pillow. He hugged the legendary artefact ever so preciously. ¡°Mine!¡± ¡°Hey.¡± She pointed the sceptre at him. ¡°With the sss-streght of the sss-sceptre and the power of Love!¡± She used the newly acquired item against him. ¡°[Charming Gaze], I command you, sss, to give me more love and affection!¡± Her eyes glowed pink and even the sceptre joined in the glow throwing pink heart-shaped sparkles at him. The sparkles hit his skin and shattered into small motes of pink. ¡°Ha! Your Charms are useless against me! I have resistance!¡± He obtained Charm Resistance: Medium through gruelling hours of practice, which the Queen itself was a part of. ¡°The coveted pillow is mine!¡± He waved the pillow deflecting the assault of heart-shaped sparkles. The Lamia pouted and did the typical ¡®her¡¯ thing. ¡°No, it¡¯s OURS!¡± She jumped at him. ¡°And give me my kisses-sss!¡± ¡°I¡¯m busy.¡± He swatted her with a pillow. ¡°I¡¯ve got crafting to do. You¡¯ll get your kisses later.¡± ¡°Injustice!¡± She complained. He kissed her on the cheek. ¡°Later, okay?¡± They were only play-fighting. ¡°Okay.¡± The lamia curled back up on the throne. He went back towards the workshop, but couldn¡¯t ignore that mysterious conspiratory look she was giving to him. He¡¯ll deal with pink-minded lamia later. So, why the pillow? Well, he was about to join two epic items to produce something the gods themselves would be envious of. [Chaos Blessed ¨C activated]. He was taken by Fey Mood and was completely absorbed in the crafting process. He kept integrating one material after the other, he was making combinations he wasn¡¯t aware possible, but they were. And in the end. [You have crafted Spider King Throne by default it is of artefact quality. Crafting +10000exp, Building +10000exp, Magic+ +10000exp], it wasn¡¯t just an item, it was a whole enchanted structure. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. It was a large hovering throne. Black stylised spider-like limbs come together to form a backrest. The seat incorporated Divine Pillow. The ends of armrests had spider heads assembled from obsidian shells, the four eye sockets were adorned with yellow sapphire to give that perfect spidery look. The base was made out entirely of enchanted metal and encased in spider eggshells in a mosaic-like pattern. Deep inside the base, under the seat, he hid the IceShard Bird Core. The steps leading to the throne were encrusted with precious gems. The dominant black colour lent it that ominous feeling. He Imbued it with his dark mana and Reinforced it to the maximum. The throne radiated power and authority. [Spider King Throne: Indestructible, Superior Authority, Dark Aura, Inflict: Terror, Floating] Yeah, it was very opulent and completely over the top. And the name ¡®Spider King Throne¡¯, oh boy! It was very official. He sat down on the new throne, injected some mana and it lifted up floating. It was surprisingly steady, and the mana usage was relatively low. However, despite all the boons the structure had, he still couldn¡¯t command it to move. A small issue really, because he had half expected this. There were reins made out of blue ropes already at the ready, and the one pulling this large contraption was no other than a very large spider, Warrior Leader. ¡°Come, let''s give it a try.¡± He encouraged the spider. ¡°Onwards. For the King!¡± The Warrior Leader cheered giddily. And then he ran at full speed parading the throne around the farm like some sort of glorified war chariot. For some reason, the noble mount was faster than he had any right to be. The throne practically glided in the air and at breakneck speed at that; somehow air resistance wasn¡¯t a thing when magic was involved. However, the practicality of the floating throne was questionable, but he never intended it to be practical. This was meant to display power and authority; It was shameless but the real reason was just to flex. And to craft something interesting; a proof of concept. It was just a twist of fate that the prototype turned out into an artefact. The spider looked at the zooming Warrior Leader and the contraption he pulled with big four yellow eyes, they were full of sparkling awe. They cheered and clapped at the display. ¡°King. Of. Spiders! King. Of. Spiders!¡± They began a chant which soon overtook a whole farm. The voices synchronised empowering each other. It became loud, very loud, magical even. The chant boomed with power and the message was carried all across the jungle, The Dreaded Place. [Chaos Bless: activated], it was becoming a daily occurrence. The King of Spiders reacted to the message pulling on the reigns. The blessing can be unpredictable at times (it always was), so it was better to be safe and stop. The spiders finished the chant and clapped their arms and mandibles in appreciation. It was good they liked his new improvised ¡®chariot¡¯. He raised his right fist in the air, basking in the ovations like some sort of pop star. He didn¡¯t even do anything that impressive, but whatever. It still felt good to be appreciated. Stray Lamia ran to gather below the hovering throne in a large assembly and began bowing, almost as if in worship. ¡°Oh¡­ No need. You can rise.¡± He felt that this was a bit too much. ¡°We must, sss, respect our King.¡± The Friendly Lamia grovelled even with more fervour. Something didn¡¯t feel quite right. On a closer look, he observed that unlike the spiders the Lamia had different kinds of expressions on their serpentine faces. They were tense and contorted. He could swear seeing sweat forming on their brow, which was very unusual for the snake-like Lamia. Was this the effect of Superior Authority, or was this¡­ He deactivated Inflict: Terror perk. Yeah, since he wasn¡¯t the target and the spiders seemed unaffected he forgot it was there. ¡°Oops. Is it better?¡± He observed the life returning to the pale faces of the Lamia. ¡°That wasn¡¯t my intention. Please stand and forget this happened.¡± He encouraged the terrified Lamia. ¡°No, sss, the display of King¡¯s power was very, sss-se¡­¡± the speaker developed a faint reddish blush on her pale cheeks, ¡°¡­appreciated. It¡¯s an honour to sss-serve a powerful and glorious King.¡± She bowed again, likely just to hide the blush. ¡°You guys are quite silver-tongued aren¡¯t you, you flatter me.¡± He smiled slightly uncomfortable. ¡°It¡¯s an honour to have you guys around. For real! You are good people and good friends to me and my spiders. Again, sorry for the debuff.¡± ¡°No, no, sss¡­¡± The lamia insisted but stood regardless, the previous happy-go-lucky expression returned to hers and her comrade''s faces. The misunderstanding was resolved and the shenanigans had to end. ¡°Show is over back to work.¡± He instructed. Everything has returned back to normal. Or so he had hoped. ¡°King.¡± The Warrior Leader cocked his head to look. ¡°Thanks. For. The Honor.¡± He just gestured back saying that it was no problem. ¡°I¡¯m happy if you¡¯re happy.¡± Not many would like to be treated like a horse, but this spider was very different. He was glad to have him around. The Queen Lamia slithered towards him from who knows where. She looked displeased. Oh, yeah, he was having fun with his best mate, going on a mad ride and all that, forgetting the word he gave to the Queen. Was he in trouble? ¡°I¡¯ll give you double hugs and kisses?¡± He shot out before she could open her mouth trying to appease her. ¡°What, sss?¡± The Queen gave him a curious look. ¡°Okay, but before that. Your Orb, was buzzing loudly. My royal nap ruined, sss, unacceptable.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± It was humans trying to contact him. ¡°I¡¯ll talk with them and we can take a nap together.¡± After all, all that crafting made him quite tired. ¡°Nah, no need. I¡¯ve dealt with it.¡± She raised her head proudly. Yeah, it was very unlike her to deal with mundane affairs like that; especially in a proper way. ¡°So you told them to get lost?¡± he asked slightly worried. ¡°SSS!¡± She hissed offended. ¡°No, they had an interesting proposition and a deal. And I know my husband well, and how you like to trade and sell stuff. So I agreed, sss¡­¡± She hissed all too pleased about herself. He couldn¡¯t believe what he was hearing. She mistook his silence for a pleasant surprise and decided to boast some more. ¡°They had sss-some interesting ideas, and propositions... trade this trade that¡­¡± She waived clearly uninterested in those details. ¡°Long story short, we are going to a royal gala!¡± She said overfilled with youthful joy. ¡°A what? Wait¡­ what are we trading? No, just what did you agree to?¡± ¡°Must I recall all small and insignificant details, sss?¡± Yes, yes and yes! ¡°You worry too much, sss, your Trusty Advisor was there to give me a hand. Trust me, it¡¯s a good deal.¡± She crossed her arms defensively. ¡°It¡¯s good that you take more responsibility now¡­¡± Albeit still not in a proper way. ¡°But in this case, I feel left out¡­¡± ¡°But you were busy! And having fun, sss. I¡¯m a good wife.¡± She nodded to herself. ¡°Why would I take you away and disturb your fun? Sss, that¡¯s not me.¡± She nodded some more. ¡°And you were kinda scary.¡± She whispered the last part mostly to herself. ¡°Just, include me in any future dealings, please. Let¡¯s just go and speak with Trusty Advisor. Hop in.¡± He lowered the floating throne and patted the space beside him. Queen Lamia slithered and seated herself right on his lap, her long tail dangled on the steps. She tried not to show it, but from her body language, he was positive she was looking forwards to this ride. ¡°Onwards!¡± He urged his noble steed. They flew with the wind towards the Spider Palace. He ignored the clinging and giggling lamia, willing to get there as soon as possible. He was thinking about this ¡¯ royal gala¡¯ and that ¡®deal¡¯. More trade was always good but the devil was in the details. He wanted the details! 58 The Trusty Advisor was indeed trustworthy, he¡¯d written all the details of the deal on a scroll. He was reading it carefully to get the proper feel of the trade deal. The humans had requested a very large amount of TomGrapes, actually they¡¯d asked for a continuous monthly supply. By the looks of it, they wanted him to supply an entire Kingdom; which was kind of strange. Was something going on the Human Kingdom? The price they offered was significantly lower than he had at the moment, but since he will be selling in bulk he still will be making a good amount of profit. But even then, he never was motivated by the gold, so as it was now the deal was only so-so. It would put the Spider Kingdom under a lot of strain, he would need to expand the farms and even sort out all the logistics; in other words, they were asking a lot and offering little. He continued reading, and it turns outs the humans understood the lack of appeal to their proposition. Hence the reason why his ¡®royal gala¡¯ was mentioned. He continued reading the back and forth between the Lamia Queen and Vumbeldor, it was quite amusing and he could imagine the headache she gave to the man. He was even surprised that the Queen approached it at the right angle. First, they would make the ceasefire official. This would recognise the Spider Kingdom as a sovereign realm. Second, they would sign a peace treaty and a trade treaty. Third and most important one, the spiders and lamias would be recognised as the subjects of the Spider Kingdom, meaning that they will finally be treated as people and not monsters. To sum it up, it was an invitation for a warmer relationship between the Spider Kingdom and the Human Kingdom. And the royal gala was just a feast to formalise the relationship. But this feast was there the Queen was most finicky about. To begin with, Vumbeldor wanted to keep it small, a low budget quick and just official signing of documents. Vumbeldor wanted him, the King of Spiders, to come to the royal palace sign this and that, shake some hands and that¡¯s it; and he would be fine with that, he even appreciated the mage for not wanting to waste resources on pointless frivolities. But the Lamia Queen felt different. She insisted on coming together, and she insisted on a massive show and a feast. Well, maybe she had a point there. This would cement her image as the Queen (that sneaky lamia!), plus he could mingle with other notable figures in the Human Kingdom, currently his only contact was the Black Hand covenant. And even better, he would have a chance to push his wares to the nobles; and in turn, the nobles would affect the commoners making his wares ever more popular. ¡°Well, that¡¯s not as bad as I expected.¡± He admitted. The Lamia Queen pouted. ¡°Why is your opinion of me sss-so low?¡± ¡°Maybe because you nap all the time, and when you don¡¯t - you just make trouble!¡± ¡°King, the royal gala is happening soon. It¡¯s better to get ready now.¡± The Trusty Advisor interrupted the two before they could start arguing. ¡°You¡¯re right, let''s get started.¡± ¡°The man told me, sss, I¡¯ll need a dress for the dance.¡± No, first they¡¯ll need to tell the spiders to begin setting up the new farms and growing TomGrape straight away. Then he will need to figure out how much of the shipment can he deliver on his first visit; for that, he would need to get the current amount of the fruit so that he doesn¡¯t leave himself short on supply. The road to Human Kingdom would need to be finished, and for that he needed the Ancestral Tree¡¯s permission. Then he would need to prepare the sample wares he could push to the nobles and other crafting projects like that. There was so much to do, he could feel his head spinning. ¡°The spiders are already clearing the jungle. In two weeks'' time, it should start producing fruit.¡± The Trusty Advisor was already on top of things. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ That¡¯s fast.¡± ¡°You can leave it all to me.¡± He bowed and then bound the trade scroll back into his book, the one he carried at all times by his side. ¡°I want emeralds-sss in my dress-sss.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± He considered her whimsical request. ¡°You¡¯re right. I bet they¡¯ll want to see you just like another monster, and look down upon you and my spiders. But if you looked better than them, if you looked rich, they would be forced to reconsider. Humans are shallow like that.¡± He wasn¡¯t under any illusions of how humans saw the spiders, and the likely cold treatment he will get in the Human Kingdom. ¡°Oh, sss, really? I¡¯ve never met a human before.¡± ¡°Well you met me, but I guess that doesn¡¯t count anymore.¡± His current race was Monster King and he even had horns now. ¡°I reckon we come to them full of swagger. Even better, we should outdo them in vanity.¡± That didn''t sound right, but it was probably the easiest way to impress the shallow humans. After all, wealth does project power. ¡°Yes-sss!¡± Lamia hissed. ¡°If the Trusty Advisor is confident about the TomGrape shipment I will sort out the rest.¡± ¡°I Have. It. Covered.¡± He chirped in a spidery voice, the excitement was getting to him. ¡°Well then, let''s melt that pointless gold.¡± Yes, the cloth and jelly trade had acquired him a significant amount of coins from the humans, and he was about to turn that into clothing and trinkets. The best forge he knew to do the job was at the Drow Village. He gathered it all into his inventory and Shadow Walked towards the mountain. Since he couldn¡¯t faze through solid rock he broke the spell right by the entrance. Once, he had planted a Living Wood Seed three, the seed sprouted and with Dryad''s help it was already a majestic tree. He didn¡¯t grow it for beauty, or to appease anyone, it was there for resources. ¡°Harvest Material¡±, unlike the IronOaks the perk worked on this tree. The purple light enveloped a large branch and disappeared it in a shower of motes. He didn¡¯t harvest a whole tree, that would beat the purpose, just one branch of many. [Living Wood] x25, it gave him neatly cut sticks. That was alright, but what if he needed planks or cubes? The perk didn¡¯t allow him to specify, but even then, he had enough since he only needed it for crafting research purposes. A group of spiders passed him, one by one giving him a polite spider wave. Each had a tiny squirrel riding on their backs. How cute, his spiders were keeping pets. Each day they resembled normal people more and more. He waved them back letting them pass first. Yes, the entrance tunnel was becoming quite busy, soon it will need an expansion. ¡°I should consider setting a proper outpost here.¡± It was high time for that. ¡°And a storage facility.¡± A place to store the goods from Drow and Kobolds before they could be shipped to his Kingdom proper. But he was already very sidetracked. He didn¡¯t even get to prepare to conquer the Undead Fortress. Eventually, he will! But for now, the undead can wait; that''s probably what they were doing for the last century or so ¨C nothing. Hopefully nothing¡­ Anyway, he walked the rest of the way to the Drow Village, the tunnels leading to them were changing. They were wider, the ground more level and the walls smoother. Not only that but there were the beginnings of engravings on those grey smoothed walls. Nah, it wasn¡¯t rude graffiti of some sort, no, it was art. Someone took a liking in etching various figures of spiders on the walls. They were simplistic like doodles, but there was an artistic style to all of it ¨C a consistent theme giving it a proper feel of art. ¡°Engravings?¡± He remembered a proper name for this art form. One of them depicted a row of spiders carrying bags on their back. Another one had a spider fighting a centipede. A different picture showed a spider bravely protecting a group of kobolds against the cave mole. There was even a lamia being chased off by a party of spiders. ¡°Well, I know the culprit now.¡± He carried on through the improved tunnel. He emerged at the Drow Village, that one had matured already and the Drow were done building everything they needed. Even the Drow Archive was finished, it was a structure stretching from the bottom all the way to the cavern ceiling like some sort of humungous pillar. To call it a pillar would probably be rude because it was more like a grand tower. It had windows, balconies, ledges, covers, columns and other decorative architecture. Considering that the Drow weren¡¯t known for their masonry, they did very well. It was likely the Kobolds who helped to carve all that. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. He only looked at the landmark for a few seconds because there was a commotion happening at the base of it. The Drow had gathered around something and were loudly shouting over each other. He approached the crowd to get a better look at what was happening. At the centre of attention, there was a group of strange creatures. The best word for them was scorpion men, and no, they weren''t like centaurs (half-half). They were entirely insect-like. The scorpion men were covered in light brown chitin from head to toes, no, to claws. They walked on two legs but had four arms. The first set was scorpion pincers and the second was a three digited hand. There was an iconic scorpion tail with a stinger on the back. Their heads were small and mandibled with two big black eyes and two narrow holes for breathing. But what was the most interesting was the fact that they had leather clothing. Well in the shape of tattered rags, but still clothing never the less. And they even had sturdy backpacks on their hunched shoulders. It was made of one part a huge shell and part of leather. Those backpacks were as big as scorpion men themselves. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± He asked pushing past the crowd. ¡°King!¡± The High Chief replied in surprise. ¡°The timing couldn¡¯t be better. We found these things wandering in the tunnels, but no one can speak their language.¡± He looked at the few spiders who were a part of the crowd. ¡°Can¡¯t. Understand. Either.¡± The spider warrior explained apologetically. The scorpion men were chittering something enthusiastically to the nearby Drow. This was a good time to put his [Language Comprehension] to a test. ¡°Come one come all, let¡¯s Trade. Trade and Trade.¡± It waved its mandibles. ¡°No need to Fight, there is enough for Everyone.¡± The Drow didn¡¯t like the clacking of the mandibles and backed off from the scorpion man. ¡°It¡¯s angry. It will attack, watch out.¡± A drow stretched a protective hand to block the King from approaching. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± He pushed the hand away. ¡°What are you selling?¡± He asked the enthusiastic scorpion-man. ¡°Ah! You speak Well. A Leader, yes?¡± It chittered snapping the pincers excitedly. He kind of was, the scorpion man judged well. ¡°Yes, a King.¡± ¡°Very good.¡± It bowed ever so slightly. ¡°Wares fit for a King!¡± It slammed the backpack to the ground and it came apart revealing the contents. Somehow the wares ended up neatly displayed despite the forceful slam, or maybe because of it. The rest of the scorpion men did the same with identical results. ¡°They''re here to trade.¡± He explained to Drow the obvious. Their wares were alien, he couldn¡¯t understand the purpose of half of the things the scorpion men tried to peddle. Some strange shells, peculiar devices, bottles, unknown fruit, tools and weapons impractical for a human hand. But with some effort, he could see how his spiders could use a few of the tools presented, it was obviously made with the insect anatomy in mind. ¡°What could I get with this?¡± He retrieved a single gold piece, a Human Kingdom coin. The scorpion man bit at the gold with its mandible mouth. It snapped in half. ¡°Soft Metal, not much use. Maybe this?¡± Scorpion man showed a very sad-looking dried fruit. ¡°Nah,¡± He took the ruined coin back. ¡°So not much use for gold. How about this.¡± He showed an enchanted ingot. The scorpion man nibbled at it. ¡°Ah! Corrundum, we know of it. But we have better.¡± The scorpion man pointed a black perfectly symmetrical triangle. ¡°Glem!¡± It voiced the name of the material. He took Glem the triangle into his hand. ¡°Wow, that¡¯s heavy.¡± ¡°Very hard. Very good. Won¡¯t break, but hard to melt.¡± He deposited it in into his inventory. [Glem Ingot] x1, [Glem Ingot: Heavy, Reinforced] ¡°Hey.¡± It clacked mandibles angrily. ¡°Must pay.¡± So the single corundum ingot wasn¡¯t enough. He gave one more and the expression on that alien face seemed to soften. By the fifth one, the scorpion man was positively happy. ¡°You got yourself a Bargain. Glem is Expensive.¡± It chittered. There were other baubles he had a mild interest in. Like the glass bottles. They were crystal clear and very well made. The bottles had different coloured liquids in them. ¡°Grupp-Grupp, Mashig, HP Potion, Blaberg¡¯amesh, Ever Cool Water¡­¡± The scorpion man began naming the items. It was a wonder how he could pronounce that not to mention the fact that neither of the bottles had smashed considering the way they were literally just slammed to the ground moments ago. He wasn¡¯t particularly interested in the liquids themselves, but more in the glass bottles. At the moment he was using the stone ones made by Kobolds, because Human glass was just too expensive for his purposes. The glass this scorpion man had here looked at least two grades better. ¡°Interested in this?¡± He showed the scorpion man a TomGrape. ¡°It¡¯s food.¡± ¡°Food is Good.¡± It chittered and ate the fruit. ¡°Sweet!¡± It sounded surprised. ¡°Valuable?¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± It was thinking. ¡°Hard to decide.¡± It shuffled a bunch of various fruits towards him. So the fruit was deemed to be worth more than the ones the scorpion men grew. Good! ¡°I want the bottles.¡± He pointed at what he thought was a ¡®Mashig¡¯. ¡°A sack of this, fruit you gave me. TomGrape?¡± Somehow it knew the name already. A sack for a bottle, he had to consider if that was worth it. He was likely paying here for the liquid and not the bottle itself. ¡°Actually, I want just the bottle.¡± The scorpion man gave a curious look. ¡°I don¡¯t sell, Empty Bottles. Why empty bottles?¡± It asked. ¡°I need them. A lot of them.¡± ¡°Ah, I Understand. Ha-ha.¡± The scorpion man crackled the mandibles. ¡°The price of the Bottles just went up.¡± That cheeky insect! ¡°Will bring just Bottles next time. Yes?¡± It asked. ¡°Yes, I will buy them all.¡± He will if the price is right. ¡°So want the Grupp-Grupp or not? Is a good drink. Just a sack of TomGrape, a bargain!¡± So it wasn''t a ¡®Mashig¡¯, well whatever. ¡°Sure why not.¡± They made a transaction and he uncorked a fine glass bottle. The liquid was green and had a flowery scent. He took a big gulp and then unwillingly spat it all out to the scorpion man¡¯s face. ¡°Geh! So strong.¡± It was an alcoholic spirit. ¡°Don¡¯t waste, Precious!¡± the scorpion man scolded. ¡°Take small sips. Meant to be enjoyed.¡± ¡°I just needed a bottle¡­¡± He didn¡¯t think he¡¯ll be able to drink that. But he was getting curious about other drinks. He tried them all. Yes, most of them were alcoholic drinks with a few potions mixed here and there. The alcohol, if he wanted, he could import from humans, and even the Drow made their own mushroom hooch. While exploring the drinks he was testing the barter system. The highest-worth item was by no surprise a Fire Spirit Stone, that was until he took out a stick of Living Wood. He was no proper merchant but even he could notice how tense the scorpion face became. ¡°Very precious right?¡± He asked a leading question. ¡°Not fungi wood¡­¡± The scorpion man began. ¡°May I.¡± It streched its pincer out. ¡°Worry not, I won¡¯t crush. That¡¯s my good hand.¡± He gave the scorpion man the stick. The creature rolled it in his pincer carefully, treating it with considerably more respect than the previous items he had offered. ¡°Living Wood, I know of this. Taken from the elves, yes? Very precious.¡± The scorpion man remained tense. ¡°I¡¯m willing to give it to you. For the right price.¡± The scorpion man clacked its mandibles. ¡°No such thing grow in the Desert. You can take all my wares, I¡¯m a rich scorpion now.¡± The stick glowed yellow and disappeared out of the scorpion''s pincers, somewhere to magical inventory or something like that. So this simple wandering merchant maybe wasn¡¯t that simple if it knew magic. ¡°Be back with the bottles and you will get another one.¡± ¡°That, I will.¡± The scorpion man pulled at the merchandise shell, leaving the items on the ground. The shell was turned back into a backpack and put on the shoulders. ¡°Good dealings, King. May the Desert Sun be kind to you.¡± It walked towards its companions who were still trading with the Drow. Well, he had a tree worth of sticks growing right outside the undermountain entrance, so indeed this was a good deal. Maybe he ripped the scorpion man off, but maybe the scorpion man was ripping him off too. Who knows, who cares, the two of them were happy with the deal. Oh, and after he put the empty bottle in the inventory he found out why they didn¡¯t smash. [Glass Bottle: Protected--15days], it was a timed enchantment of sorts which prevented the bottle from shattering. To test he slammed the bottle to the stone floor and the Protected dropped to 10 days. It was an interesting enchantment, but he had better: Reinforced. Which should achieve similar results and be permanent. With the small test done, he went to talk with other scorpion men. He tried casual talk just to get to know these alien insect people. But he soon found out that if he wasn¡¯t buying something the scorpion men weren¡¯t interested in replying to him. Regardless, he was able to glean on some valuable info. They were the people of the desert. There were ten Scorpion Clans each with their city and its surrounding territory. The Scorpion Clans weren¡¯t at war, but they weren¡¯t united either so small conflicts would arise now and then. But as long as everyone stuck to their territories all was well. They were merchantable people and loved to trade and peddle various items, especially those obtained outside the desert. That was where he was able to confirm his suspicions: to Scorpion Clans the wood, any wood, was exotic and precious ¨C more than metal was. The small event came to an end and the scorpion men departed from the Drow Village. ¡°Well, that was random but interesting.¡± The High Chief nodded in agreement. ¡°I¡¯ve never known they existed. I assume you blessed us with your presence for a reason?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± he remembered, ¡°I¡¯m here to melt these.¡± He took out a mall pile of gold coins from the inventory. ¡°Useless gold! Not even Scorpion People want you.¡± He accused jokingly. The drow raised an eyebrow, even he knew the value and use of gold. ¡°With your artisans'' help, I¡¯m turning this into jewellery and clothing. I¡¯m going to the human royal gala you see.¡± He explained. ¡°Say no more.¡± The High Chief clapped his hands to call his servant over. 59 A mounted knight in shiny armour stopped by the gate of Aurellium, the human capital. Right behind him were the rest of the mounted knights, slowly approaching the gate. The guardsman instantly recognised the importance of the knight. The knight had an Aurum symbol on his shield and a golden wreath on his helmet. They were the royal knights, Ordin of Aurum, and the knight in front of them was the Commander. ¡°Open the gates!¡± The knight ordered. Sure, the guard would open the gates, no problem, if only there weren''t an army of monsters right behind the knights. ¡°Are you deaf? We won¡¯t make our charge wait!¡± The knight yelled, his voice magically empowered with authority. ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The guard finally responded. ¡°Open the gate.¡± The rusty but thick portcullis moved ever so slowly. Indeed, he was informed by the King that this will happen, and orders were orders, but even then this didn¡¯t seem right. Why did they have to welcome monsters inside? This was crazy! ¡°Faster!¡± The knight bellowed impatiently. ¡°I¡¯ll get you disciplined for this embarrassment.¡± He wasn¡¯t the one operating the turning wheel, but whatever¡­ The guardsman swallowed his discontent and just watched the menacing army of monsters get closer and closer to the Aurellium walls. The gate opened ever so faster and the knights poured into the streets. It was a rare chance where a commoner could see the royal knights in full splendour, so men, women and children dropped their boring chores and flocked to the street to watch the procession. ¡°Give way! Move!¡± A knight urged the people to give them way. ¡°Clear the street. Bugger off!¡± Another knight hit a common man with the sheathed sword. The knights were pushing and herding the people back to the sides, and they were quite rough in their task. ¡°They¡¯re in an awfully foul mood.¡± A woman commented. ¡°What''s going on?¡± A man asked shocked by the ill behaviour of their adored knights. ¡°Tsch!¡± Knight Commander clicked his tongue. ¡°You have to keep the street clear! For your own sake!¡± He urged waving the sheathed sword threateningly. Indeed the brutish behaviour of the otherwise noble knights had a reason, a good one. They were doing it for the safety of the people. The knights knew that no sane man was prepared for the sight to come. And it was their job to keep the commoners from hurting themselves here. The knights cleared the street pushing the crowd to the sides, and took positions to guard it. They there here to form a barrier between the people and what is to come. And then it came. The commoners only heard the rumours, they were wild and hard to believe. While, yes, they expected monsters and demon men, somehow the real thing was more unbelievable than even the most outrageous rumour. Monsters poured through the open gate. No, they walked in orderly neat ranks. In the lead, a group of humanoid monsters, spider warriors, marched in between the funnel the knights had formed. The creatures were tall, imposing, and to everyone''s surprise, they wore armour rivalling those of the royal knights. The bright orange armour was shiny and polished, pieces of it were gilded in yellow, obviously gold. Over the armour was a tunic of the finest fabric, it was vivid blue and there wasn¡¯t even a speck of dust on the material. Even the tunic was embroidered in golden threads. A belt held a tunic at the narrow midsection of the creature, the buckle was golden and encrusted with a single emerald. It was obviously a decorative piece unfit for a real battle, but the commoners didn¡¯t know that, no, they just stared at it with mouths agape. ¡°Is that real gold?¡± A man was surprised. ¡°So shiny!¡± A kid clapped in joy. ¡°It¡¯s dangerous, get away.¡± A concerned mother took him off the street. ¡°Is that¡­¡± A fat merchant stuttered in disbelief. ¡°They¡¯re carrying enchanted weapons. All of them.¡± He whispered to himself. ¡°Aha! So that¡¯s why the axes glow.¡± The customer nodded sagely as if he just solved the great mystery. ¡°The axes are enchanted!¡± He shouted to everyone. ¡°Oh!¡±, ¡°That¡¯s why!¡±, ¡°I see¡­¡±, ¡°Makes, sense.¡± The people nearby began nodding in understanding giving their silent thanks to the loud man. Not everyone looked in awe and wonder. Some were nervous, afraid even. ¡°How can monsters afford armour like this?¡± An armour smith wondered aloud. ¡°Their armour is better than the knight¡¯s.¡± A city guard expressed his worries to a colleague. ¡°I don¡¯t like this.¡± A man shut the shutters on his window and went back to minding his business. The knights might have overreacted because the people subconsciously, either from awe or fear. were giving way to the marching monsters. ¡°So far so good.¡± A right-hand man shared with the Commander. ¡°Keep your vigilance, next is the King of Spiders. And all it takes¡­¡± He didn¡¯t finish so he didn¡¯t jinx it. He was afraid that some fool might decide to throw something at a spider or worse, their King. The people kept gossiping about the fairytale-like spiders clad in gold and ate the sight with wonder-filled eyes. ¡°Wow! What is that!¡± A teenager pointed at the black structure emerging from the gate. ¡°No way!¡± A group of boys jumped giddy with excitement. ¡°It¡­ it flies!¡± ¡°How?¡± Even their father was in disbelief. Everyone was so taken aback by the magical construct that they failed to notice the massive spider pulling it. The Spider Leader didn¡¯t mind, he just strutted proudly at a steady pace, pulling the King''s throne. ¡°How can it fly?¡± A man scratched his head while looking at the fat merchant. ¡°Beats me.¡± Even he, a merchant of magical devices, had no clue. ¡°if I haven¡¯t seen this, I would say it¡¯s impossible.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the King of Spiders.¡± Someone said the obvious. The King in question appeared quite eccentric but in a good way. His unusual clothes were largely to blame. He wore black trousers and a black jacket, the hems threaded with a gold thread. On top of his head, he had a tall and wide-brimmed cylindrical hat, also black and decorated in gold thread. The clasps, the buttons and other decorative pieces were solid gold. But that didn¡¯t end at that, on his neck and hanging low to his chest he had a massive chain of gold, not one but a few of them, covering the neck and chest in bling entirely. The black suit emitted a shadowy dark aura, but that only made the gold stand out and shine more. ¡°That¡¯s a funny crown.¡± Someone commented making a knight glare threateningly at them. ¡°I mean this looks very fashionable.¡± ¡°Fashion +25.¡± A tailor said, burning the design of the suit in her mind. She knew this will catch on. ¡°Is that¡­ his woman?¡± A youthful gal asked her boyfriend. ¡°You mean the Queen? Look she has a sceptre.¡± He wondered by it was the Queen with the sceptre and not the King. Stolen story; please report. ¡°And her dress is so shiny. Look at all these gems, I can see the rainbow.¡± Indeed, the multicoloured gems made the Lamia Queen sparkle in the bright sun, it was almost blinding. ¡°Mama, why does she have a tail?¡± A toddler pointed at the extremely long appendage just chilling on the stairs of the floating throne. ¡°A what dear?¡± She lowered her gaze for a moment and was left surprised. ¡°I didn¡¯t even notice. She ain¡¯t human at all.¡± She clasped her mouth in shock. ¡°Her figure is quite pretty, too bad we can¡¯t see her face over the veil, I bet she¡¯s a beauty.¡± A husband voiced what many were thinking. A wife elbowed his side. ¡°You''re forgetting something.¡± She pointed at the tail she was now aware of. ¡°She ain¡¯t human. She¡¯s a snake or something.¡± A husband looked. ¡°Meh, I still would¡­¡± A powerful stomp on his toes didn¡¯t allow him to finish and further embarrass the wife. Now, the King of Bling and The Queen of Rainbow were at the centre of the gossip. Everyone expected the King to be more spider and less man. But he had a handsome face and appeared as an extremely wealthy ruler. Eccentric, yes, but he didn¡¯t look like a scary tyrant or some evil sorcerer, not at the moment at least. His Queen was more shy and reserved, but even then the people found some charm in that. There was this mystery in the air about the Queen. Her skin and face were hidden by the cloth and shiny sparkling light, leaving the young men guessing how she looked under all of that. There was a debate going on if her tail added to that mysterious charm or not. All of them were unaware of the real culprit, a thing that would spew heart-shaped sparkles now and then. The King smiled, met the eyes of the folk and waved happily to everyone. The spiders were neat and shiny, they walked in an orderly fashion, and whatever threat people felt from them had completely disappeared. Soon the people forgot that there was a literal army of monsters marching to the Palace. They just began treating it like some sort of a theatre play, better ¨C a carnival. They clapped and cheered at the marching monsters. They were just having fun from the spectacle. The monster march didn¡¯t end with the King. Behind him marched more spiders, some less human than the others. The more animalistic spiders hauled big blue backpacks on their back. They were stuffed full of various goods. While the commoners enjoyed the ongoing carnival/parade or whatever this was. Not everyone was won by the show. The guards and retired veterans, men who knew how to fight, men who knew war ¨C all remained disillusioned. There was no cheer in their faces and for many reasons at that. The Spider King was shamelessly flexing his might, his small army looking mighty and formidable, even worse, the peasantry was eating from his grimy hand with pleasure; forgetting what he really is and what he had done. The discipline of those spiders was shockingly high and their enchanted gear even if decorative was leagues better than what the Human Kingdom had to offer. It was infuriating to see the monsters looking better than the humans. It was outrageous to welcome a King Slayer to their capital as if his evil deeds were forgotten. But even then, the guards, the veterans and all others knew that this was done out of necessity. And they had to obey King Aurelius II orders, otherwise, it would be treason. The times were dark indeed, so dark that they had to turn to darker forces for help. ¡°Supplies.¡± A Guard Commander made a right guess. ¡°Yeah, we need them.¡± A guard nodded his head, and his stomach rumbled. ¡°Commander, do you think we¡¯ll get the ration today?¡± ¡°We better do!¡± He was the Guard Commander but even his family had to fast and eat less. The spiders finished moving into the inner walls and made camp at the Merchant''s Square. The Guard Commander thought the decision was odd, if it was him he would have the spiders camp outside the capital. There shouldn¡¯t be any monsters within the walls! What if someone gets eaten? But the orders came from above and he had to do his job. ¡°We¡¯ll have squads one and two to patrol the Square, three will watch over the spiders, and the rest shall border it and keep the general peace.¡± He relaid orders to his assistant. ¡°Understood, sir.¡± The guards went to keep the peace and spy on the spiders. The Guard Commander moved deeper into the Merchant Square, he wanted to see the situation with his own eyes. If he understood everything right, the spiders were to hand out the food ration to the commoners, free of charge for two days, which was paid by the treasury, then they would be able to buy whatever from the spiders. How all of that would pan out, he had no idea. ¡°They better not jump the prices just because everyone is starving.¡± He grumbled remembering the grain incident. At this point, he was expecting another riot. Then the people are hungry and when there is free food at their noses you can''t just expect them to form orderly lines and take the parcels obediently. Mind you, the spiders were meant to hand out the food; the person who made that decision was a fool! By the time he reached the centre of the Square, the spiders were done setting up their booths. Just like a merchant would, they erected a tent and a stall, just that their stall stood out from the others. They looked too expensive considering that it was just fruits they handed out. The tent was made out of fine blue fabric resembling silk, it was luxury cloth, way too bright and way too clean for a simple tent. And the stall itself looked exotic, it was white wood and it was carved and decorated. Behind the tents, there was a pile of overly large backpacks, stuffed with fruit. This was just the tip of the stock, most of it was being moved to the royal granary for safekeeping. ¡°They took furniture with them¡­¡± He didn¡¯t know what to think about that. The people were already informed about the free ration and were piling around the stalls. ¡°Here it begins.¡± He tensed up giving a meaningful look to his comrades. Squad one and squad two will do everything that they can to keep the peace. And squad four and five were keeping most of the people out of the Merchant¡¯s Square so that too many people won¡¯t flood at once. A finely dressed spider finished setting up, chirped something and raised a parcel of fruit. People rushed towards it like starved animals, pushing one another out of the way. That spider screeched in an unearthly voice, retrieved a stick from under the table and waved it threateningly. The spiders weren¡¯t allowed weapons in the Merchant¡¯s Square, but a stick was just that ¨C a stick, unless it was in the hand of that creature, a dangerous monster, so as a Guard Commander he should have known better. ¡°Oh, no!¡± he rushed in before it could kill someone. The people recognised that this wasn¡¯t a human they were dealing with, and for once, acted rationally and backed off the stall not risking it. ¡°Uff¡­ that was close.¡± The Guard Commander breathed in relief. The spider chirped something in a more mellow tone gesturing with its four hands frantically and spoke, ¡°OrDer.¡± It didn¡¯t sound quite human but it was understandable. ¡°OrDer. UnDerStand?¡± It chirped in a commanding tone. The people were shocked, but the Guard Commander was the one who was shocked the most. He could accept monsters walking like humans, dressed like humans, pretending to be humans¡­ You could do all that with an animal and that was just that ¨C a well-behaved animal in a costume, but¡­ Monsters didn¡¯t speak! His preconception about how this world worked just crumbled at that moment. And, for the better, under the threat of an angry monster and a looming stick, people formed an orderly line and took their share of the fruit one by one. They even thanked the creature at the end. The Guard Commander jumped the line, willing to converse with the creature. ¡°You can speak?¡± ¡°No.¡± It chirped. ¡°But¡­ but you can.¡± ¡°Me No UnderStand!¡± It chirped in displeasure. ¡°OrDer.¡± It gestured to the line. Guard Commander looked at the spider, somehow it looked more human all of a sudden. The spider screeched again, chirped angrily and repeated. ¡°OrDer!¡± And then it just bonked the Guard Command with the stick. ¡°Auch!¡± He felt that even through his helmet. Someone laughed behind his back. He turned to look but the laughter stopped and everyone had innocent looks on their faces. ¡°Never mind. Carry on.¡± He stepped away from the stall. If a tad bit slow, the food handout proceeded in an orderly fashion. The peacekeeping stick saw some action, but in the end, it was judged to be an acceptable use of force. The guards didn¡¯t need to intervene. He remained there watching it go smoothly. He wondered how the royal gala went, after all, his wife and daughters were there; an unexpected courtesy from the King, and the reason why he was working here so hard. He worried slightly about their safety, after all the Spider King was allowed some spiders in the Palace. And monsters were monsters¡­ ¡°Ehh¡­¡± He waved the bad thoughts away. ¡°Oder of Aurum is watching the event over.¡± He didn¡¯t need to worry. The night fell, and the people dispersed back to their homes. He, however, couldn¡¯t allow himself such luxury because he will remain to help with the night watch. Once again, someone decided that the spiders will set camp here in the Square. But better here than in guard barracks, even if his perception about the spiders changed, he wouldn¡¯t want to defile the sanctity of barracks by the presence of monsters. He watched the spiders lay down to sleep over an open sky. ¡°Ah, of course, they wouldn¡¯t need a bed or a roof, monsters¡­¡± He didn¡¯t finish. A tall figure loomed right behind him. It was that Spider Merchant he watched for the best part of the day. Calling it a monster probably wasn¡¯t a good thing. ¡°My apologies, I didn¡¯t mean to offend you.¡± As a Guard Commander, he didn¡¯t want to be the one who caused an incident. The spider chirped something in a happy tone and was handing him a bottle. ¡°What is it?¡± He asked unsure whether to take it or not. The spider seemed insistent. ¡°Grupp-Grupp.¡± It spoke in human. He took the fancy bottle, uncorked it and sniffed at the liquid. ¡°Wine?¡± He probably shouldn¡¯t but took a sip anyway. His eyes watered. ¡°Oh boy, I didn¡¯t expect that.¡± It was a high-grade spirit. He looked for the spider but it was already gone, as if it disappeared into the shadows. ¡°Was this a bribe or a poisoning attempt?¡± He wasn¡¯t sure. ¡°But hey, that stuff is good.¡± He swirled the fancy bottle deciding to keep it. Unbeknown to him, some other guards received various gifts in encounters of a similar fashion. Birthing an urban legend of the Gifting Spider. It appears in the darkest night popping out of the shadow. It looms out tall and menacing, making no sound and saying no word. It gives strange and exotic gifts and then disappears as mysteriously as it appeared. The legend says it is unwise to refuse the gift, those who do¡­ turn into a shadow and disappear at the first light of daybreak. Never to be found again. 60 The palace was beautiful: paintings, statues, luxury carpets, you name it. The royal gala was happening at the Grand Hall, it was spacious enough to host all of the nobles and important people, and it even had space for buffet tables. The tables were so full of food and drinks that it looked like something might break. Some people were gossiping, some people were dancing, others just eating. King of Spiders was doing none of that, he was busy trying to sway Vumbeldor to buy his other wares, actually the two weren¡¯t even in the Grand Hall, but outside in the garden. A red armour, a mixture of cloth and metal, adorned a straw dummy. ¡°This one is fire resistant. A simple Fire spell, won¡¯t even put a mark on it.¡± He took a scroll out and invoked the spell. ¡°[Fire Arrow]¡± The fiery projectile flew, hit the chest piece and simply dispersed into motes of light. Vumbeldor nodded, and the apprentices following the magus began clapping. ¡°And this one is ice resistant. [Ice Arrow]¡± The scroll burned in blue flames projecting another projectile. Much the same, it didn¡¯t leave a mark on the armour. The apprentices clapped again. ¡°Can I?¡± Vumbeldor inquired. ¡°Help yourself.¡± He was confident in the merchandise. ¡°[Fire Blast]¡± The armour was doused in the shower of flames. ¡°Oh, it didn¡¯t melt.¡± ¡°Nope. Reinforced +2.¡± ¡°Well, then. [Fire Rend]¡± The mage increased the difficulty. The armour plates glowed hot and the cloth looked crispy, but the armour weathered the assault. ¡°Okay, now I¡¯m impressed. [Phoenix: Greater]¡± It was a type of summoning magic. A large bird composed of fire manifested in front of the mage and then slammed its corporeal body into the armour. Vumbeldor¡¯s forehead was wet from sweat, it wasn¡¯t because of the heat from the fires, but the strain from the spell. ¡°Ah, finally. Good!¡± He said with relief looking at the smouldering pile of molten metal and disintegrated cloth. The apprentices clapped. ¡°I assume, the other one is just as good?¡± Vumbeldor looked at the blue armour. It wasn¡¯t. He didn¡¯t have any Ice Spirit Stones, nor Ice Attribute cloth. ¡°It¡¯s good enough. So interested in buying the sets?¡± He asked with hope. ¡°Only if you¡¯re selling a countermeasure in easily destroying them. To use Phoenix is excessive, most can¡¯t cast anything near this complicated.¡± Vumbeldor looked at his apprentices, the bunch had apologetic faces. ¡°Countermeasure, why? I guess those are elemental armours so a standard ballista bolt should do the job.¡± ¡°Ha, there is no armour unpenetrable by that! I need a trick to destroy armours like these, that¡¯s what I¡¯m really interested.¡± So did he want the armour or the magic to destroy them? ¨C That was something for the King of Spiders to figure out. ¡°The solution is quite simple, we attack the weakness.¡± He motioned for the spider to prepare a new set. ¡°This is a frost grenade,¡± he threw it to apply Frozen on the armour. ¡°Hit it.¡± He asked the spider to slam the armour hard. The chest piece shattered in half, exposing the red cloth. He just exposed the vulnerability, and in other words, made his own product less appealing. However, as an honest merchant, he thought that his customer had the right to know it, after all someone will be wearing this for their protection. ¡°That¡¯s great! Exactly what I was looking for. If you sell the countermeasure with the armour we¡¯ll buy them.¡± ¡°Really? Alright!¡± The need for countermeasure was odd, but whatever. ¡°And for the frost armour.¡± He took out a fire grenade. ¡°Well, the armour has some inbuilt magic resistance, Fire Arrow wouldn¡¯t be enough. So we have to use this.¡± He threw a grenade at the armour. The armour more or less survived, but the straw dummy burned to a crisp. ¡°Oh!¡± The Vumbeldor sounded mighty impressed. ¡°Forget the frost armour, I want those grenades.¡± It only took him a second to realise that he didn¡¯t want to sell the fire grenades. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out what that sticky oil and scorching heat would do to a human ¨C the weapon was just too nasty. ¡°No can do, fire grenades are not for sale, that was just an example.¡± And he rather would keep powerful weapons to himself. ¡°A shame, but I understand. I won¡¯t need frost armours, there aren¡¯t that many ice magi around anyway. So how about a hundred sets of fire armour, plus a thousand grenades.¡± ¡°A hundred? I¡¯m not dropping the price any less¡­¡± He knew the armours were exquisite, superior design and all that, so he had no plans to sell them any cheaper. ¡°That¡¯s fine, the Covenant will pay. Unlike the Kingdom our coffers are full.¡± Vumbeldor boasted with a nasty grin. That was an obscene amount of money, those were enchanted so each set was already 10 000g each. A hundred of them would be 1 000 000g; that¡¯s a lot of gold! That would make him a millionaire. ¡°Why the long face? Do you need to see our secret treasury or something? Worry not, it will be the coin we pay you.¡± Vumbeldor assured knowing that some would stoop low to offer payment in hard-to-liquidate assets such as land or horses, or even promissory shipment of grain. ¡°No, I just... I don¡¯t have a hundred sets on me here.¡± Nor a thousand grenades. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be able to deliver.¡± That he will. ¡°Sure, with the next shipment of TomGrape?¡± ¡°Yes, that works for us.¡± Vumbeldor raised his arm for a shake. He took and shook it. ¡°Pleasure doing business.¡± ¡°The pleasure is all mine.¡± Vumbeldor shook the hand firmly. ¡°Now, excuse me, I¡¯m off to my tower.¡± He took the apprentices and disappeared in one of the exits. He didn¡¯t like that conspiratory look on the old man¡¯s face, it just didn''t fit him. But what was the Covenant plotting? Well, obviously to use the armour to wage war. Did he care? No, not really, but he cared enough not to sell fire grenades to them. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. With the shady black room dealings done, he was back in the Grand Hall. The Lamia Queen was doing her part, or he assumed she was. The lamia was completely surrounded by a group of young men. The alchemists had a strong grasp on the market, and competing with them was tough. Her job was to try and push the mana potions to the merchants. That was the condition if she wanted to come with him, and learning the human language; which she did at an amazing speed. ¡°And this is-sss the fruit we make the potions-sss out of, sss.¡± She displayed PurpleM in her hand. The young men ¡®Oh¡¯-ed and ¡®Ah¡¯ed for some reason, as if impressed. Those weren¡¯t the merchants! ¨C he observed. The fat merchants were already done devouring half of the food by the buffet tables. The group of men ogling at the Lamia were just deadbeat nobles! Sure, from the very start, the Lamia Queen received a very warm welcome here. It was surprising because she was from a monster race, so he expected prejudice and all that, but that just hasn¡¯t happened. A good thing really, but somehow he was becoming jealous, he didn¡¯t like the looks these men were giving to his wife. He approached the group, glaring at the obviously enamoured nobles. ¡°What is it again?¡± A noble stared at the stone bottle dumbly. ¡°I told you, sss, a magic potion.¡± The man scratched his head, clearly out of his element. ¡°I¡¯ll buy them.¡± ¡°Really. Sss!¡± She hissed happily. ¡°Yeah, sure, I¡¯m rich, this is nothing.¡± ¡°My family is wealthier, I¡¯ll buy them at a better price!¡± Another offered trying to impress. A sweaty youth came back with his father. ¡°Father!¡± The young man was barely a man and the father was practically all wrinkles. ¡°Okay, okay.¡± Father spoke slowly. ¡°Miss, we¡¯ll buy an entire stock!¡± ¡°But you¡¯ll have to come for dinner with me and finalise the deal.¡± The youth interjected. ¡°She¡¯s MARRIED!¡± The King of Spiders had to remind everyone by projecting the full Authority of the King. The old man glared at his son. ¡°I apologise for this embarrassment.¡± He bowed and then slapped the youth on the back of the head. Following this ¡®reminder¡¯ a few other nobles decided to make themselves scarce. But others remained persistent, feigning their continued interest in potions. ¡°SSS!¡± Lamia hissed. ¡°I had this. Let me do it.¡± She spoke in her native speech. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll let you deal with it.¡± He knew that this was just needless jealousy getting to him, and the lamia could use a life lesson. The nobles continued to outbid each other to flex their wealth. Well, as long as the potions sell it should be alright. So he left the lamia to do her thing. Further away, a Human King, Aurelius II, was stuffing himself full of food at a nearby table. The Black Hand Covenant didn¡¯t even try to keep the fact that this was just a puppet from him, the King of Spiders. But the rest of the nobles seemed fooled enough, or they just didn¡¯t care. Anyway, he approached the King to give him his hellos, as King to a King. ¡°Greetings, King Aurelius II, I see even you enjoy my fruits.¡± The fat man was stuffing the dish made out of the TomGrape into his mouth. ¡°How dare you to disturb the¡­¡± Aurelius II gazed away from his ever-emptier platter ever so slightly. ¡°Sorcerer!¡± He sounded surprised. ¡°My apologies, my mind was preoccupied with important matters of the state.¡± ¡°Ah, yes. I¡¯ve heard from the guests that there is a looming famine.¡± He had just found out today, if he knew before¡­ it doesn''t matter now. ¡°That and other calamities.¡± ¡°War?¡± He guessed. The King¡¯s eyes filled with shock and fear. ¡°You know?¡± ¡°Well, Vumbeldor wasn¡¯t quite discreet if you know what I mean.¡± Buying all that armour and grenades. ¡°That old fart!¡± He stuffed a fat scoop of food in his mouth, swallowed and continued, ¡°Doing dealings behind my back.¡± Oops, maybe the King wasn¡¯t supposed to know. Oh well¡­ ¡°Listen, Sorcerer, how about the do a deal of our own?¡± Aurelius II stopped eating looking serious for a moment. ¡°What do you have in mind?¡± He asked curious. ¡°You¡¯re an evil magus, he¡¯s an evil magus¡­ How do I become one?¡± ¡°Evil? I don¡¯t think you need a hand with that, ha-ha.¡± He only joked. ¡°No not that. A magus. Isn¡¯t there a way? I want to increase my power, for obvious reasons. I¡¯ll pay any price. And mind you, I know what I am, and even if in the name only, still I¡¯m the King.¡± The man spoke fast, too fast making him short on breath and his face red. ¡°And I do have power and resources. You might know of the dust and emptiness in the royal treasury, no doubt that old fart told you about it. But I have plenty, tucked away in a safe place if you know what I mean.¡± He finished speaking and grabbed the jug full of wine. For a moment he thought the King might get a stroke. ¡°Money talk aside, I heard that you must be born a mage.¡± He looked at the King, and judging from his expression he knew that bit of information too. ¡°But, there are devices, scrolls and other things which could be used by anyone.¡± ¡°Like your flying war chariot?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a Flying Throne.¡± He corrected "And, no, that needs continuous mana injection. But scrolls, enchanted arrows, and the like, do not.¡± ¡°What use an arrow is to me¡­¡± Yeah, he was right, the chubby King probably didn¡¯t know how to use a bow, or any enchanted weapon. ¡°Sure, yeah, but you still can fire a scroll, it''s quite easy. A demonstration perhaps? I have a few on me.¡± ¡°I guess it¡¯s something.¡± The two walked back to the garden. King Aurelius II looked at the molten pile of metal and other destruction with interest but didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°So I have a few.¡± He began taking out all of the scrolls he and the Drow had made. ¡°Just read the name, aim the spell and that¡¯s it.¡± The king took a scroll and turned it around a few times, there was a complicated expression on the chubby face. ¡°Oh, right. Spider Chirp. It says Dark Bolt.¡± The scroll burned and the spell formed. ¡°Wow!¡± Aurelius II let the burning scroll go. The wild bolt flew into a tree and withered an innocent squirrel; which was just there watching, and definitely not spying. Yeah, it was the King of Spiders who unwillingly activated the scroll. This was the drawback of his scrolls, you can¡¯t speak their name next to them or they would activate. Or at least, he couldn¡¯t. Magic worked in mysterious ways! ¡°Amazing! I¡¯m an evil magus now! Dark spells and all.¡± He provided a fresh scroll to Aurelius II. He used it properly this time, even hitting the dummy survivor. ¡°Another.¡± The King demanded. ¡°No problem.¡± He had loads of them stored in Magical Inventory, by this point, the Drow were practically printing these scrolls. ¡°So the way it works: the scroll stores the spell and the mana in the enchanted vellum, you speak the spell¡¯s name to invoke it and Bob¡¯s your uncle. No need to be a mage, or have any mana.¡± He explained. ¡°But you know that already.¡± It¡¯s not like the scroll-making is some sort of a mystery. ¡°I bet, you can buy better ones from your magical shops, so I¡¯m willing to give you a special King¡¯s discount.¡± He pushed the deal ahead. ¡°Bob who? Eh? No, we don¡¯t.¡± Aurelius stared confused. ¡°Not scrolls like these¡­ Is this Bob the one who makes them?¡± Well, Vumbeldor didn¡¯t say a thing when he used these scrolls, so something didn¡¯t add up. ¡°Forget the Bob. So you don¡¯t have them in shops?¡± He just had assumed they would. ¡°That¡¯s clearly a Demonic Language.¡± Aurelius II pointed at the runes on the scroll. ¡°Why would we.¡± ¡°Spider Chirp. That¡¯s a langue of Spiders, my language. But never mind that. So are you interested in buying?¡± ¡°Hell, Yeah!¡± The man shook vigorously, there was this childish excitement on that middle-aged face. ¡°This makes me effectively a dark magus.¡± ¡°I have scrolls of other affinities.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll buy them all.¡± ¡°It will be expensive.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll buy them all! Just don¡¯t tell the old fart.¡± Aurelius repeated. ¡°I guess¡­ I guess I won¡¯t. If he doesn¡¯t ask that is.¡± This was just a side hustle anyway, no need to sabotage anything with the Black Hand. And it''s not as if the mage forbade him to do side deals, no, he was here because he was given the privilege to peddle his wares in the Human Kingdom without the Black Hand taking a cut. With some limitations of course, namely Blue Cloth; and he had so much more than simply fabric to trade. The fat King began stuffing the scrolls under his tunic. ¡°Wait, let me write you the invocation on these.¡± How else would he know how to use it otherwise? ¡°Oh, yeah, right.¡± The look on Aurelius II face became distant. ¡°He-he, I can already imagine their faces¡­ I¡¯ll smite those fools, he-he.¡± He was far off in some distant illusionary land. ¡°You better pay me for these you know.¡± ¡°¡­¡± The Human King ¡®came back¡¯. ¡°Of course, and handsomely so, fear not. You¡¯ll get your coins before you leave.¡± ¡°And if you run out of the scrolls just give me a buzz on a communication orb.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah, I have a loyal mage to help me to use it. [Fire Arrow].¡± He burned a dummy survivor to a crisp. The palace garden was looking more like a war zone with each passing hour. A shame, but not really his business, so he left the King to enjoy the sparkles of magic, and headed back to the royal gala. ¡°Ha-ha-ha¡­[Nature Arrow] He-he-he.¡± The fat King laughed cheerily throwing spells in wild abandon and destroying the garden. The Great Hall was still busy with activity, but as the feasting went on certain things were bound to happen. No, it wasn¡¯t about the drunken noble who tripped and smashed the table. Everyone watched a scene unfold and to his shock, the two in the centre of attention were one of his spider bodyguards and a noble knight. He recognised the knight in shiny armour, they have been introduced, he was the Commander of the Ordin of Aurum. ¡°Fight me you coward!¡± Commander pushed the spider. The spider chirped something no one could understand. ¡°It¡¯s a Duel! Come on!¡± Commander challenged again. Instead of reacting in shock, as they should, the nobles were placing bets; Lamia Queen included. 61 Judging by the reddened face of the Knight Commander the man has been drinking. He was persistent in challenging the spider bodyguard. The spider in question remained bewildered by the provocative actions of the knight. This seemed like the opportunity to show these humans that the spiders were no pushovers. ¡°This Knight wants to duel you.¡± The King of Spiders explained to the spider bodyguard. ¡°Understood. I accept.¡± It spoke the latter in human language. ¡°Finally, let''s go outside.¡± Everyone followed the knight to the Palace Gardens. Aurelius II was already gone leaving the devastation behind. ¡°What the hell happened here?¡± The Knight Commander asked the question everyone was wondering about. ¡°Magical experimentation.¡± King of Spiders waved it off. ¡°Never mind then. All it means is that I won¡¯t need to hold back against this¡­¡± The Knight Commander gestured towards the spider. The two opponents faced each other only meters apart. One of them was a proud Royal Knight, a Knight Commander of the Aurum Ordin. He wore shiny and exquisite heavy armour. On top of his helmet, there was a golden wreath and in his hand, he held a sharp longsword equally magnificent as the knight himself. The other was a spider clad in decorative armour. The armour was bright orange and decorated with gold, it was more show than protection. In the spider''s hand, there was an axe. The axe had a faint bluish mist seeping out of its edge giving the weapon a mysterious aura. The crowd of nobles surrounded the two. They were already gossiping trying to predict the outcome. ¡°Well, then let''s begin.¡± The knight closed the visor of his helmet with a clang. ¡°Duel!¡± His longsword glowed in white light indicating that some sort of a passive or attack skill was activated, and then he charged at the spider with a wide swing. The sword clashed with the axe sending a shower of white particles of light. Somehow an axe deflected the sword. ¡°Bastard!¡± The knight cursed. ¡°Flay Flurry.¡± He unleashed a relentless combination attack. The spider was at a disadvantage, he didn''t have either the second axe nor the proper shield. However, the apt use of the buckler helped it weather the assault. The said buckler even if Reinforced +2 cracked under the powerful blows. The flurry ended and the spider took the moment to retaliate. It stepped closer towards the knight preventing him from making a full swing of the sword again. The knight prepared a thrust instead, but he didn¡¯t manage to finish it on time, he was kicked by a powerful kick of not one but two frontal spider legs and then sent flying in the air. The knight fell on his back, his armour making a dull ring. If anything, this was the perfect moment for the spider to finish the duel, however, the spider did the honourable thing and let the Knight Commander to stand up and continue. It was clear the knight was embarrassed, even outraged. ¡°It won¡¯t happen again!¡± He promised. ¡°Side Slash, Rend.¡± The longsword glowed brighter and swung towards the spider at incredible speed. It was impossible to dodge or parry, but the spider managed to reposition so that it could take the hit better. The long sword hit the armour piece but despite two powerful perks the sword didn¡¯t manage to penetrate the reinforced armour. ¡°How!¡± Even the knight struggled to believe in the sturdiness of what must have been just decorative armour. A spider swung his axe to retaliate but the knight either dodged or parried the blows. They exchanged swings for a few more times. ¡°Aha!¡± The knight had found an opportune moment. ¡°Piercing Thrust!¡± He did as the skill implied. ¡°[Bastion].¡± The spider used one of his own perks. The sword clanged as if it just hit an impenetrable wall. ¡°Argh!¡± The shock the knight felt in his hands must have been unpleasant. ¡°So you have tricks of your own. Overhead Slash.¡± He remained persistent. Once again, the spider welcomed the attack stepping right under the sword. Spider had two more uses of Bastion, so negating the attack wouldn¡¯t be a problem. But it didn¡¯t even need to use that. Instead, the spider raised the axe to block the coming slash and due to the spider¡¯s unique anatomy he was able to lunge and even kick at the knight without losing balance; six legs had its advantages. Sure, the sword hit the axe hilt and even managed to scar it, but once again the knight was sent flying. He landed on his back dirtying the not so shiny anymore armour even further. It was plain and clear that even if the Knight Commander had skills and expertise in duelling he had no experience in fighting monsters. And once again he made himself to look like a fool. People were gossiping and trying to understand why the knight despite the power of his holy sword kept finding himself at a disadvantage. The Knight Commander stood up, moved his sore joints and spat. ¡°Come at me!¡± He took a defensive stance. ¡°Alert.¡± He invoked another perk. This time it was the spider who initiated the attack. ¡°[Ice Slash].¡± The elemental attack gave the axe more range than it should have, hence surprising the knight. However, his Alert skill allowed him to react in time and block the icy assault with the side of his longsword. Magic washed over the holy longsword, and the longsword was fine but his arms were frosted. He could feel that bite even through his gloved hand. ¡°Ice Enchantment.¡± The knight identified correctly. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. However, the spider wasn¡¯t here to chat. ¡°[Overwhelm].¡± It chirped. The knight, of course, once again reacted in time. The sharpened edges of two weapons connected spewing magical sparks around. The Knight Commander was unable to parry, he had to weather the full blow. However, his arms strained from exertion, there was just a simple fact: the spider was stronger than him. The Knight Commander maintained the block not allowing the axe to slip past his longsword, however, he was forced down to his knees and to an embarrassing position. ¡°Empower Holy!¡± He screamed out of the top of his lungs. This was his trump card and a special skill the holy longsword had. It provided him with a buff to his strength and resilience plus an Elemental Holy damage. Finally, he was able to push the oppressive axe up and stand proudly again as a Knight of Aurum should. Holy light radiated from the sword, and unexpectedly it even weakened his opponent. It might be his imagination but that dark chitin on the spider seemed to smoulder and burn. The spider shrieked a terrible cry. The overwhelming weight of the axe lessened even further so the knight was able to push it away. ¡°Holy Slash.¡± He used the power of the longsword. ¡°[Bastion].¡± It chirped. Once again the longsword failed to go past the armour, but the Holy element did its thing forcing the spider to shriek again in pain. ¡°Ha, I should have known. Holy is your weakness.¡± The knight smiled viciously. He was no Paladin, so he couldn''t cast those spells, but he had a holy sword and as long as Empower Holy lasted he would deal Holy damage. The spider glared at him, the four eyes looked serious for the first time. ¡°[Dark Cloak].¡± A coat of darkness shrouded the spider. ¡°What is this? Never mind. Holy Flurry.¡± The knight unleashed a flurry of attacks. They did hit but somehow he failed to land a good blow and the damage remained superficial. ¡°[Shadow Form].¡± The spider turned into a shadowy silhouette of darkness. ¡°What?¡± The knight''s longsword went through the spider like it was just a cloud. There was no physical damage but by the sound of the spider¡¯s cries, he¡¯d dealt a significant Holy damage. However, not expecting an incorporeal body he over swung the sword and the shadowy spider closed the distance and even managed to flank him from the side. Now, the Knight Commander was wide open. The shadowy spider returned to its normal form and swung the axe threateningly, yet the enchanted stats allowed the knight to turn just in time and block that axe. Or he would have done so, but it was all a feint. ¡°[Blinding Strike]¡± It wasn¡¯t an axe but a fist which slammed right to the face of the knight. This was a magical attack so even through a visored helmet he found himself affected and afflicted with Blind. Blind was the real debuff but also there was confusion within the knight''s mind. He could understand an enchanted weapon doing this to him but not a fist. This meant that the spider here was also a caster. He should have figured this out earlier, Dark Shroud and Shadow Form were good indicators for that; he mistakenly had attributed those to the temporary skills the equipment could provide. The punch didn¡¯t manage to do much physical damage, due to the helmet and all that. So he was able to retaliate with the longsword in time and ward the spider off. Yes, he was blinded but he still could use his other senses to judge where the spider was. And unfortunately for the spider, he was trained to do that. The dance of those six spidery legs wasn¡¯t as quiet as the spider assumed. The spider had no intention of launching another melee attack. ¡°[Dark Bolt].¡± A projectile hit the knight''s leg and made him lose balance. And only then did he feel impending doom. ¡°[Slay]¡± A spider chirped ruthlessly. The knight felt his whole life flash in just a moment. He raised his sword, ¡°Smite.¡± He invoked using up the rest of the Empower Holy; making a move made out of desperation. Once again the spider cried in a tortured voice, its aim worsened and the arms powering the descending axe weakened. However, the spider persevered but the axe strayed from the aim of hitting the head and slashed at the chest cutting the knight''s chest piece in half and making a nasty gash in his chest. He was lucky it was not his neck. Blood oozed from the split chest and there was the sight of exposed ribs. To continue would mean death. ¡°I concede!¡± Knight Commander cried. ¡°[Heal]¡± A golden wreath atop his head glowed in equally golden light, the light enveloped his body and mended his split ribs and opened flesh. There was silence. Of course, there was, The Knight Commander knew that he had disappointed the nobles, that he had failed to protect the dignity of this kingdom. He struggled to swallow the idea that he was just bested by a monster. He even was forced to use the Wreath of Aurum to save himself from certain death. All of this just felt so unfair. ¡°Monster, you are a magus!¡± Even though he realised how indignant he must sound, yet he still shouted. ¡°This duel was unfair!¡± The spider was more like a Paladin in this situation, and even then in duels like this, magic and all else was a fair play. The Blind debuff wore off. He saw a spider standing there, the decorative armour half melted and its chitin smouldering. Yeah, the Smite did a number on the spider. Did he concede needlessly? ¨C No, one more blow from the spider¡¯s axe and he would have died. The indignant cries from the knight were ignored and the nobles, servants and everyone around broke the silence and cheered the spider. ¡°This was amazing!¡± A young noble cheered excitedly. ¡°Best Duel I¡¯ve seen.¡± A guard nodded in agreement. ¡°I thought they might die.¡± A woman voiced with worry. ¡°My spiders are really something.¡± ¡°I want bodyguards like these.¡± A merchant eyed the spider with the eyes of greed. ¡°¡­¡± A servant looked at the spider even with more terror than before. Such and so was spoken. ¡°I¡­ I apologise and retract my previous statement.¡± The knight stepped closer to the spider and offered his hand. The spider chirped something happily and shook on it. ¡°Get a healing potion for the spider.¡± The Knight Commander shouted hoping to regain even if a smidgen of his honour. He eyes the spider once again. He ruled that this creature was indeed a resilient opponent, something not to make enemies with. And this was just a spider bodyguard¡­ He was unsure if he ever wanted to duel their general or someone like that. ¡°This was more intense than I thought it would get.¡± The King of Spiders finally stepped in. ¡°Both of you did very well.¡± He congratulated. ¡°I think the duel is concluded, and we can go back to celebrations, no?¡± The nobbles seemed to agree and everyone walked back to the Great Hall. The Knight Commander remained standing in his spot. At first, he thought that the barbaric monster didn¡¯t belong here in the Palace and that the sight disgraced the Aurum Ordin and the knights as a whole. But now, he realised that there was more to the spiders, and also that they weren¡¯t an enemy one would wish to make. The reality was that the monsters were already here, and if anything it was best to keep the relationship friendly. Or even better, use the might of this unlikely ally for the benefit of the Human Kingdom. ¡°Yes, I will do that. I will petition King Aurelius II to¡­¡± curry the favour with the King of Spiders and eventually enlist the spiders for the defence of the Human Kingdom, at least as mercenaries or something like that. ¡°Yes¡­¡± Why use decent men to fight the looming war when you can enlist formidable monsters to do that for you? The price of such mercenaries will be hefty, but he felt that it will be worth it. The plan began to hatch in his mind. 62 Following the unprecedented success in the human capital, he left a considerable number of spiders there. He managed to secure the spiders a sizable spot in the Merchant¡¯s Square where they will be able to sell the TomGrape and other goods of the Spider Kingdom. Moreover, just before he left, Aurelius II strongly encouraged him to set up an embassy, which was more than the King of Spiders could even ask for. The offers Aurelius II, Vumbeldor, and some influential merchants had made were interesting and often peculiar: in most cases, they were shady backroom deals, but maybe as a bonus or to just entice him even further ¨C he wouldn¡¯t need to pay any tax on any of the shady deals. Not even the trade of TomGrape was taxed as long as he kept the prices very low. He had to wonder if the Human Kingdom was making the right decisions there, such a thing would impact them badly in a financial way. However, some of the items remained regulated. A few examples were the Blue Cloth and Slug Jelly. Also, Aurelius II demanded to keep the Magic Scrolls a secret while Vumbeldor insisted that armour and weapons should only be sold to him. The potions the Lamia Queen pushed so hard, ended up not with one of the regular merchants, but with a youthful and apparently wealthy noble. The young man took it upon himself to resell and advertise the potions. Good luck, young noble, setting the new franchise and all that! ¨C it was likely a dead-end enterprise since it was hard to compete with established alchemists. But hey, finally he¡¯ll be able to sell the growing stock of potions. Yes, all of this meant that he¡¯ll have a continuous flow of human coins. It was nice in itself, but the real goal was to advertise his cute spiders and the kingdom¡¯s goods. Currently, he wasn¡¯t planning to make large purchases from the Human Kingdom so the gold coins will likely end up smelted and used for other extravagant projects, like that decorative armour the spiders wore. That, and purchases of Spirit Stones from Black Hand Covenant. He still needed Air, Earth and Water to progress in the magical experimentation. Speaking of spirit stones, he had traded in a large number of centipede souls to the Great Ancestral Tree, and now had a small pile of Amber. He already had a small project in mind where he would need the equivalent of Nature Spirit Stones. But before that, there was another matter to finish first. When he was finally in the comfort of home he went straight to the workshop. There were plenty of items to craft and potions to brew. Yes, he¡¯ll finally try to capture the Undead Fortress. The top of the mountain posed a variety of challenges. The first one was the frigid clouds of the IceShard Plankton. The clouds were unpredictable and random, they were as quick to appear as disappear and the danger was the debuff of Frozen. To battle that he already had a solution: Resist Frozen Potion. With the help of spiders mixing the potions was of no challenge. However, due to the diminished amount of plankton remaining in his inventory, the number of potions was limited. To help with that he had a secondary solution in the form of better gear. It was a combination of Blue Cloth and IceShard Bird Leather. The resulting armour gave Ice Resistance: Medium. While potentially it solved the issue of the debuff the problem of actual cold, and the feeling of it remained. Yes, even his spiders could get cold, and unlike the mammals, they didn¡¯t have robust thermoregulation abilities. He needed the craft a device to keep them warm. The warming device proved to be a hard concept to achieve. He suffered from various limitations. 1, he didn¡¯t have a way to store the power. 2, no easy way to conduct and regulate the heat. 3, issue of the fuel itself. For this task, he went to the Drow Archive and drafted their sharpest minds to come up with the solution. At first, they experimented with FireAgave juice, but it proved to be too dangerous. A leak due to damage might turn the device into a Fire Bomb and cook the user. So the design was scrapped and they moved to a more novel but also more expensive options. In the end, they achieved what they strived for in the shape of a Heating Plate. The plate was hammered out of Enchanted Currundum Ingot, the ingot was engraved with Drow glyphs to encourage it to produce heat. It wasn¡¯t achieved just through crafting and enchanting but through Drow magic rituals where they had to sacrifice Fire affinity items like FireAgave and Spirit Stones to ¡®convince¡¯ the plate to convert the mana into elemental Fire and then channel it through the plate in the form of heat. The ¡®convincing¡¯ part was unscientific, relying on old Elven customs and tradition, but it was magic and if it worked it worked¡­ In the end, Heating Plate took mana and converted it to warm heat. The use of such a device sapped not only mana but concentration, also not all of his spiders had access to mana so they altered the design to use Fire Spirit Stones. He slotted a spirit stone into a designed slot and the plate slowly heated up emitting pleasant warmth. It was even possible to regulate it using a small metal knob. The Heating Plate ended up being a part of the IceWalker Suit. This was the item he would wear under his armour. [IceWalker Suit: Reinforced +2. Ice Resistance: Medium.] [Temporary buff Warmth obtained.] He made the equivalent for the spiders but with a higher grade of protection: [IceWalker Armour: Reinforced +3. Ice Resistance: Medium.] [Temporary buff Warmth obtained.] [Temporary perk Absorb Ice obtained.] A bonus shield was made using the bones and leather of IceShard Bird. Why bones and not Corrundum Ingots? ¨C because this metal became brittle when exposed to a high degree of cold, and especially Ice elemental damage. [IceWalker Shield: Reinforced +2. Ice Resistance: Medium.] [Temporary perk Deflect Ice obtained.] The absorb perk had a low chance to absorb the elemental attack negating the damage, and somehow even empowering the armour. The deflect did just that: deflected the elemental attack (had to be activated, and only 3 uses a day). Of course, supplementary gear was added to the set. The most significant item was the Bone Pickaxe. It wasn¡¯t meant to deal damage but to help with the climbing. It even had a unique perk Ice Pierce enabling it to carve ice like butter; It was similar to the blue kobold¡¯s perk of Ice Carve. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. The defensive aspect of the challenge was complete leaving the King of Spiders to consider the means to deal damage. Bringing Icy Axes and Icy Spears didn¡¯t make much sense, especially against the Undead. From what he could tell Fire was the way to go. Hence the Fire Spirit Stone stock was further diminished. With the help of Drow, scrolls were crafted, and in addition to that they made Fiery Axes and Fiery Spears. Ha! Now, he only had a tiny pile of Enchanted Ingots left and almost no Fire Spirit Stones. The war preparations were indeed expensive. A tiny pile or not, he decided to use it all instead of saving up the meagre amount. ¡°I want something special.¡± He declared to the Drow and the spider crafters. ¡°I want something hot and sizzling so that I could grill those Undead to a crisp.¡± ¡°A fire bow? Similar to the Bow of Darkness but with fire enchantments?¡± The High Chief suggested. ¡°No, for that I¡¯d need Fire Essence, I¡¯m sure of it.¡± He had none. ¡°But I like the idea of something ranged.¡± ¡°Fire. Fire Bomb.¡± Spider crafter suggested remembering the incident of exploding Heating Plate mark 1. ¡°Good thinking, but I already have Fire Grenades. I want something hands-on, but still with a lot of oomph!¡± ¡°You want to spit fire like a Dragon would, yes-yes?¡± A Kobold suggested wishing for the same ability. He had no idea where from the Kobold Leader appeared so suddenly, but he had a good idea. ¡°A Flamethrower!¡± It clicked to him. ¡°I want that.¡± ¡°A flame thrower?¡± The High Chief asked scratching his bald head. ¡°How is that different from a grenade? A grenade throwing device?¡± ¡°A! That¡¯s a grenade launcher. Good idea but no, I want FlameThrower. It spits fire, like a dragon would, not that I have ever seen a dragon¡­¡± ¡°If. The King. Desires So. We Shall. Make It. So!¡± The spider crafter declared. ¡°Yes-yes.¡± The Kobold Leader approved enthusiastically. And so they began testing, experimenting, and drawing the first designs. The combined efforts of them all allowed them to beat various challenges and progress further than a single individual could. It took time, but here it was, in less than a day, the friends had a Masterwork! [You have crafted FlameThrower of masterwork quality. Crafting +1000exp.] [FlameThrower: Reinforced +3, Spew Flame, Fire Damage +50%] It even dealt increased elemental Fire damage. ¡°Wa-wee! Double Whammy. The undead will be Toast!¡± He should be able to burn them to ash. ¡°Let me try! Let me try!¡± The kobold insisted jumping up and down. [Congratulations! You have reached Crafting lvl. 4] [Perk Comprehend obtained.] He suddenly realised how to improve the FlameThrover, actually, he even had a rough design of how to replicate the Elven Ballista weapon and other weapons and engines he had seen so far. It¡¯s like his mind was expanded and became better at reverse engineering complex items. Not only that but also he could feel that designing something new just became a lot easier. ¡°Actually, we can make the corrundum tank smaller but thicker, increase the compression ten fold and then it would fire even further.¡± But no one was listening, because the Kobold Leader had the masterwork already strapped to his back and was currently burning the wall and all the furniture between himself and that wall to cinders. ¡°He-he-he. Ha! I¡¯m a dragon!¡± The Kobold Leader roared turning a bookshelf into a ball of fire. This wasn¡¯t a room to test such weapons, they had a separate room¡­ and anyway, he had to stop the maniac. ¡°Time Out!¡± He threw a bunch of ice grenades. Frost spread out through the better half of the workshop, killing the flames and freezing the kobold like a statue. ¡°Sorry about that. You were distracted and he just¡­¡± The High Chief bowed apologetically. ¡°Why are you apologising? Please don¡¯t, I should have kept it away from this pyromaniac. And it¡¯s your workshop that got damaged. I¡¯m sorry.¡± The Drow just bowed even lower for some reason. ¡°No worries. We will fix!¡± The spiders were already on the task. ¡°Stay here and think about what you have done.¡± He scolded the kobold. It would likely remain Frozen for a good while and he didn¡¯t feel like wasting a potion on the troublemaker. ¡°I know this is the Masterwork we worked so hard on, but I know how to improve it. We¡¯ll have to disassemble it¡­¡± He needed the enchanted metal. ¡°How can you even improve a Masterwork? It¡¯s a masterwork for a reason.¡± ¡°Watch!¡± He began explaining the ideas swirling in his head. The kobold slowly thawed and a new improved FlameThrower was undergoing a rebirth. [Chaos Blessed: activated], he ignored the message like always. He used a variety of items to produce what looked like a cylindrical backpack. The enchanted metal cylinder was covered in cloth made out of FireAgave to give it Fire Resistance. The cylinder itself had two compartments, one to store FireAgave juice (fuel) and the other was a magical pump to pressurise the fuel and propel it through the nozzle. It was done through magical means, and a significant amount of mana had to be injected. The use of the Air Spirit Stone, the one he bought from humans, further increased the power of the magical pump. The pressurised liquid would then flow into a nozzle, well actually a gun. The gun mechanism was there to ignite the liquid by using the Fire Spirit Stone, but also to provide the ability to direct and control the flow of the liquid. The gun in firing mode had quite a kick, the pressure was significant, so he had to add a support mechanism to counteract the recoil. There was a problem with heat and not everything could be solved with Red Cloth, he ended up using Enchanted Leather and enchanting it for Fire Resistance. To keep the weight to a minimum, a few pieces had to be made out of IronOak. Yes, it was wood, but it was many times lighter than metal; the burning risk was solved with insulation and enchantments. Of course, everything was Reinforced +. Masterwork No 2 was made: [FlameThrower: Reinforced +5, Spew Flame, Range+, Fire Damage +100%], and by the looks of it the effort was worth it. ¡°King of Spiders¡­¡± The Drow struggled to find the right words. ¡°This is revolutionary!¡± ¡°Revolutionary? Hmm¡­ There is a reason the Protocol on Incendiary Weapons exists¡­¡± He alluded to a ban on said weapons in his previous world and the unfortunate reality that he brought this terror to this world. ¡°Incendiary?¡± The Drow looked confused for a moment. ¡°But what am I talking¡­ Of course, this is revolutionary. The Undead will stand no chance against this.¡± He patted the red backpack with affection. The Kobold Leader finished being Frozen and now was standing there with the appropriate apologetic look on his face. ¡°Here to apologise?¡± He summarized. ¡°Yes-Yes. I forgot. The undead are stealing the meat.¡± He blinked once. He blinked twice. This was not the apology he expected. ¡°You mean my 90 tones,¡± or whatever was remaining, ¡°of exquisite IceShard Bird Meat is being raided?¡± ¡°The storage looted. Yes-Yes.¡± So that¡¯s why the kobold came to the Drow Archives, to tell him that¡­ but somehow it has gotten distracted and the rest is history. He didn¡¯t know if to hug or strangle the critter. It was likely not much of the meat remained, after all he was so busy crafting the incendiary weapon, but, if the kobold had told him straight away it was likely that he would have overreacted and ran to save the meat, and as a result, never craft this revolutionary but atrocious FlameThrower. ¡°Let¡¯s not waste more time. I think we are ready!¡± He was tired, but not tired enough to fry some meat-thieving undead. 63 The gear was ready and the spiders stood outside the mountaintop. There weren¡¯t a lot of spiders, only a hundred or so, but they were the best of the best. Each wore IceWalker Armour and had a Frost Resistance Potion for emergencies. At the front, the King of Spiders was leading the assault force, there was a peculiar backpack on his back and in his hand he held something that could be mistaken for a fancy torch. ¡°Get ready, we¡¯ll go straight in.¡± This time he won''t be skulking through the narrow ice tunnels. It was only early morning so the wind was extra frigid and punishing. He turned the knob on the Heating Plate to increase the heat it emitted. But even with that, it felt kinda chilly and his eyelashes kept sticking to themselves. He led the spiders onwards hugging one of the south faces of the mountain peak. ¡°It should be somewhere in this direction.¡± He guided the spiders in the rough direction of the Fortress. A mountain cliff was in their way. ¡°Get the pickaxes ready.¡± The spiders threw the pickaxes up and high to the cliff, they used it like a throwing hook to wedge it into an icy cliff face. On the end of the pickaxe, there was a sturdy rope and the spiders used that to ascend the cliff. How the undead did all that without leaving a trace was a mystery. If there was a secret tunnel somewhere, he couldn''t find it, so they continued climbing. The top of the cliff was even more freezing. A cloud of IceShard Plankton was swirling right above; It moved fast and unpredictably. There was so much of it that it was easily able to block the sight of the sky. ¡°Watch out for it. It can inflict you with Frozen.¡± He cautioned the spiders. And of course, he jinxed it, the stray arm of the cloud suddenly descended hitting them with full force. ¡°Oh boy!¡± It felt so cold he was tempted to use the emergency potion. Everyone ducked lower to the ground trying to avoid the cloud. It washed them mercilessly for a while, but being the fickle force the assault didn¡¯t last. ¡°Is everyone alright?¡± He looked at the spiders, after all, Ice Resistance was just that and not Immunity. ¡°It says. My armour. Is charged.¡± One of the spiders spoke up. Indeed the bluish armour had a frosty aura all around it, this was likely the Absorb Ice in action. ¡°Oh? Any interesting abilities?¡± ¡°I can discharge it.¡± The spider had that look of concentration for a second and then a pulse of white frost shot out of the armour, frosting up the nearby surroundings even more, and even hitting the nearby comrades. ¡°Wow!¡± This was like an area attack, but, ¡°Watch the friendly fire.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± The spider apologised to his friends. Well, at least, everyone now knew what the charged armour was capable of. They pushed further towards the fortress. A loud rumbling moan echoed through the sky. ¡°A sky whale! I mean, IceShard Bird.¡± He corrected. Everyone looked up at the white sky. A blue figure of the creature darted towards the cloud of plankton. ¡°Ah, so majestic.¡± He appreciated the sight, especially then it wasn¡¯t coming towards him and threatening to eat everyone. ¡°King. Should we. Go and. Kill it?¡± A spider suggested. A tempting idea, but no, they weren¡¯t equipped for that. ¡°Let¡¯s not get sidetracked the valley should be straight ahead.¡± They approached the descent to the valley and just before everyone took a fun slide down, they attached the ropes so that it could be climbed up just as easily. ¡°We-eeee.¡± Spiders chirped joyously coming down the slope. It was fun while it lasted, but the sight of the Undead Fortress was right ahead. ¡°This is it¡­¡± They traversed the icy terrain slowly approaching the fortress. It was tricky not to slip, at least for him that is, the spiders having six legs found no difficulty walking the ice. They jabbed the ice with their pointy legs leaving small holes as they walked, he was envious of their stability. The dark walls of the fortress were well in sight and he could even notice a stray undead in one of the towers. If it was placed there as a proper guard remained unknown because no panic and no alarm was coming from the fortress, and the gates remained widely open. ¡°Shall we. Go in?¡± A spider suggested. ¡°I rather fight them in the open.¡± He already knew a method of how to call them. ¡°[Fire Bolt].¡± He burned scrolls to fire three consecutive projectiles towards the fortress walls. The fire crackled as the bolts flew and then it made a sound hitting the walls. ¡°That should do it.¡± He was convinced the undead guard glared at him and then descended down from its post in the tower. Surely enough, the first undead emerged from the gate. And then another, and another. A small horde soon formed. ¡°They don¡¯t look intelligent. No tactics ¨C nothing.¡± He smiled. ¡°This will be easy. You know what to do.¡± The spiders didn¡¯t wait for the undead to reach them. Each of the spiders recovered a stack of scrolls out of their pouches. ¡°[Fire Arrow]¡±, they chirped in unison. A barrage of Fire magic flew towards the undead. The unlucky group at the very front were set on fire. The fire roared sizzling the already-blackened flesh. However, these were the Undead and they continued the slow shamble even if on fire. ¡°[Fire Arrow]¡±, the spiders repeated. This time there were a few of the undead who succumbed to the flames. ¡°[Fire Arrow]¡±. Even more of the undead fell to the ground. They were close enough for the main weapon to see action. ¡°Eat this,¡± he pressed the trigger, ¡°[Spew Flame]¡± a tongue of flames stretched greedily towards the horde of Undead. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. He could hear them groan and their bones crack at the heat. Fire Damage +100% was quite something. The nearby undead disintegrated into the ash. He held the trigger down basking the undead in flames, but they were fearless and just kept coming and coming. More of the undead poured out of the gate, almost like an endless stream. The new ones were quicker, bulkier and even their armour wasn¡¯t quite as disintegrated. The new wave didn¡¯t dash straight towards the flames but circled around it, away from the fire tongue. A modicum of intelligence was displayed. He didn¡¯t need to worry about that too much, his flanks were protected by spiders. They formed a tight guard covering his side, Fiery Axes were at their hand ready to repel the undead. The FlameThrower choked and sputtered the flame squirting the last of the fuel. ¡°Resupply, please.¡± He ordered. A nearby spider twisted the cylinder on his back removing the top part and replaced it with a filled one. ¡°Ha! You thought I¡¯m out? ¨C Wrong!¡± Yes, he came prepared, the spiders had quite a few cartridges like that, and he could use his weapon for hours to come. The enemy took some serious casualties, but the undead horde was relentless. The first of the undead reached the flanks, he could spray them with fire too, but that risked harming the spiders. ¡°A you alright there?¡± He checked turning his head to the side. The undead assaulting the flank had weapons, those were just some old and chipped swords, but he couldn''t see any rust on that black metal. The metal looked peculiar, he wondered if it was somehow infused with the undead energy. The axes and swords clashed. The Undead didn¡¯t tire and could just keep at it ignoring the damage. The overwhelming number of the undead even managed to push the spiders back. A normal human would probably crumble under such assault, but his spiders were disciplined and fearless. Even better, the spiders had Dark magic resistance so the swords did negligible elemental damage. However, the amount pouring out of the fortress was unprecedented. If this continued they might end up surrounded. ¡°We make a slow retreat, support me and use the grenades.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Spiders chirped in unison. They began backpedalling keeping the tight formation. This allowed him to spray the fire to the sides and make temporary walls of fire, the best of it was that even then the ice melted the weapon was powered by the oily FireAgave juice and that floated on the water with no problem. The undead waddled through the puddles of water which were literally still on fire. The spiders chucked Fire Grenades at the tight crowds of undead, melting their armour and the flesh under it. ¡°Why there is so many!¡±, unlike the Undead he was beginning to tire, but like the spiders he remained resilient. Piles of ash and half-burned corpses littered the field. They have killed at least a thousand of them and the horde began to thin. That was when lumbering giants of flesh emerged from the gates. ¡°Ah, so that¡¯s where all the meat went.¡± He observed the flesh abomination. ¡°Someone had to make that.¡± And this meant that there was a Boss somewhere deep inside the fortress to defeat. ¡°We¡¯ll fight defensively, but we have to keep the mobility.¡± Yes, they¡¯ll have to keep moving on the treacherous terrain. The spiders so far proved themselves worthy, but he and his human legs were always at threat of slipping. He stopped spraying fire at the oncoming undead. ¡°I need a hand. Carry me.¡± He ordered shamelessly. Two of the spiders hauled him on their shoulders, he stood high above everyone getting a better look at the battlefield. The thinning undead were scattered, avoiding the pools of fire and the flesh abominations were slowly lumbering towards the spiders. ¡°We can do this!¡± He projected the Aura of Authority increasing the morale. ¡°We¡¯re faster than them, let''s keep this advantage.¡± The spiders kept moving kiting the Undead, they led a successful skirmish of hit and run without allowing the Undead to surround them. The King of Spiders sat on top of his royal carriers, he acted like some sort of glorified mobile turret, but it was highly effective. The real issue if the undead here wasn¡¯t that they lacked power, no these undead were both strong and sturdy, the issue was that they didn¡¯t have any ranged fighters. Yeah, sure, arrows would do jack nothing to the undead but ranged fire was a completely different story. So, the horde thinned to the low numbers within a few hundred, but finally the first of the abominations reached the spiders. Flesh giants towered high well above the spiders, they had no weapons but judging from mace-like fists they wouldn¡¯t need them. ¡°They just refuse to die!¡± He tried to burn the monstrosity, but this wasn¡¯t a troll, their flesh body would char and blacken but then form some sort of a coat preventing further Fire damage. There were at least ten of those monstrosities lumbering scattered throughout the battlefield. With fewer undead around the spiders were able to take higher risks and explore the options. One particular group of spiders had found the answer. They wedged their Bone Pickaxes into the flesh of the abomination and then tangled the monster with ropes making it immobile. Despite the overwhelming strength of the flesh abomination, the blue ropes were not just any ropes, they were super sturdy and Reinforced. ¡°We. Got. It.¡± The spider chirped. The flesh abomination fell to the ground sending a cloud of shattered ice particles. It struggled against its restraints to no avail. Axe-wielding spiders jumped onto its large body and began chopping at it carefully avoiding the ropes. ¡°Slay¡±, ¡°Slash¡±, ¡°Flay¡±, ¡°Rend,¡± a plethora of individual perks was unleashed upon the monstrosity. Soon it was reduced to a pile of inert chunks of meat. Meanwhile, he finished burning a stray group of undead. ¡°Well done! Now deal with the rest.¡± He encouraged. At this point there were mostly only the flesh abominations left. So the battle was good as won. With the last one reduced to inert flesh, the spiders collapsed to a heap. The Undead horde was dealt with and they needed a rest. Camping just beside the Undead Fortress didn¡¯t seem like the best of ideas, but it did look like the spiders managed to empty the garrison so it was relatively safe. ¡°The exp¡­¡± The spider chirped. ¡°A lot.¡± He had to agree, the undead gave anywhere from 100 to a 1000exp so a few of the spiders levelled up. ¡°Ah¡­ But even with this, I remain short.¡± He eyed the fortress partly willing for more undead and exp. ¡°There. Must be. Someone. Controlling them.¡± Controlling was an exaggeration because the undead here fought mindlessly, but the spider was sort of right. ¡°Yeah, a Lich making them, or something.¡± Really, by this point, it was obvious. The spiders gave him curious looks. Ah, yes there was no way for them to know, ¡°A type of undead caster. It¡¯s the one who made the flesh abominations.¡± ¡°Flesh Golem.¡± A spider chirped a correction. ¡°Right, I haven¡¯t killed any so I wouldn''t know. Anyway, we should prepare magic protections against Dark spells.¡± Yes, he half expected that. And for that, he had used his Imbue skill to make robes of Dark Resistance, the items were sitting in his inventory. ¡°Here, wear those atop the armour. Don¡¯t worry if they get torn or damaged.¡± They were cheaply made anyway ¨C just an imbued Blue Cloth Robe. He used his own Dark affinity to make them, so very few materials were needed. The spiders donned the robes over the armour. With the finished rest break the assault force moved towards the fortress gates. They were cautious of the ambush, but it never came. Past the gate, he was met with the sight of a frozen and unkempt courtyard. There were numerous doors leading to various wings and towers, the doors were either missing or broken. ¡°Huh, I guess they don¡¯t like doors.¡± He joked. ¡°Indeed.¡± A spider pointed to the large hole in the courtyard. This was the place where the horde must have come from. ¡°In the hole we go!¡± He said with an adventurous spirit. As they descended, the frozen ice was replaced by frozen dirt and then by the brick-and-mortar entrance of the catacombs. Stray blackened bones and skulls littered the floor below the entrance, which was just a large hole in the wall, the real entrance must have been somewhere else. ¡°No. Undead?¡± ¡°It¡¯s likely we cleared them all.¡± He opened the nozzle of the FlameThrower turning it into a torch. ¡°It¡¯s hard to see isn¡¯t it.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± There was no light to illuminate the catacombs, only the idle flame of his weapon. ¡°I have a few lanterns in my inventory.¡± He handed them to the spiders. The tunnels were tall and wide, but too small for the force of a hundred. ¡°We¡¯ll have to split our forces. Someone has to stay behind and watch the entrance so we don¡¯t get trapped.¡± He instructed leaving some spiders behind. The rest proceeded further into the darkness. The atmosphere was eerie and ominous, aside from their steps and an idle crackling flame of the FlameThrower there was no sound at all. Until¡­ ¡°Can you hear that?¡± 64 Sounds of scrapes and scratches of the most unpleasant kind filled the narrow corridor. ¡°We might not be alone.¡± The thought that the catacombs were vacant has been dispelled. ¡°Whatever it is get ready.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± The spiders walked ahead of their King to protect him. The sound of stone being scrapped violently only got louder, it reminded the chalk being dragged on the blackboard in a wrong way. The corridor was long and the lanterns provided only so little light, but there were shadows in the distance drawing closer. ¡°What a¡­¡± He didn¡¯t finish. He wasn¡¯t sure what to make of it. The pack of creatures right in front of him were likely a type of undead, but they didn¡¯t look like it. Unlike the lethargic zombies, these were vigorous and fast. And for appearance, it was quite strange. A flesh and bone puppet was the best description he could come up with. Muscle ripped taunt at their bodies, but there was no skin to cover it. Instead of hands they had bone sickles, but the edge of the bone had metal smelted onto it and then sharpened further. Some parts like the top of the skull and the protruding ribs at the chest had no flesh at all, exposing blackened bone. The sprinting fiends crashed into the shields of the spiders, the metal-gilded sickles scarred the bone and leather of the shield. The undead swung their arms in a rage, clacking and grinding their decaying teeth in glee while at it. Whatever innate perks the flesh puppets had, it was working to their advantage. The assault was stopped for a moment and the spiders began pushing back. The axes burst into flames and chopped at the flesh of the undead. The flesh was blackened by fire but unlike the usual zombie and like the Flesh Golem, the fiends developed charred scabs to reduce the Fire damage. As far as he could see, the corridor was filled with the undead. Like rabid dogs, they were swinging at the nearby walls and even each other, all too keen for a fight. ¡°[Slay]¡±, an axe decapitated the jittery undead sending its head further down the corridor. ¡°Flesh Skeleton.¡± The spider informed everyone of the fiend''s name. An interesting thing those flesh skeletons were, neither zombies nor skeletons ¨C more like ghouls. ¡°The weakness remains the same¡­¡± He thought out loud. ¡°Aim for their heads.¡± They did that but the Flesh Skeletons were persistent and spiders were taking damage. Some shields were rendered to nothing but a crumbling pile of fragments. For that reason, plus unlike the undead the spiders could get tired, so the ones at the front were swapped with the rank of fresh spiders. While the fight was ongoing he kept checking the rear of his forces. Attack from there would trap them for good. But despite the endless assault from the front, there was a small mercy that the rear seemed safe; for now. ¡°I''d rather we don¡¯t spend too much time here.¡± He voiced his worries. ¡°Shall we. Retreat?¡± No, they came here for a reason, and it''s not like spiders were losing. ¡°Let me through.¡± He decided to do what he should have done in the very beginning. The shields parted ever so little but just enough to squeeze the tip of the FlameThrower gun. ¡°Spew Flame,¡± he activated the jet of fire. The corridor was filled with fire, the sticky oil clung to the Flesh Skeletons and burned hotter each second. ¡°Uff.¡± He had to turn away from the wave of hot air threatening to burn his eyebrows. The heat was real and the IceWalker Suit was not meant to handle such things, especially in a narrow indoor space. However, even with their low resistance to Fire, the undead couldn¡¯t cope with the scale and amount of damage they were receiving. The ones at the very front were incinerated to ash, the middle ones were laying limp on the floor and still burning, and the back lines while smouldering and singed were still roaring for a fight. ¡°Ha!¡± He smiled knowingly. ¡°Use the shields.¡± He ordered the spiders to make a wall. Just like he predicted, the Flesh Skeletons despite witnessing total annihilation still launched themselves towards the spiders. The shield wall wasn¡¯t there to block the undead but the stray tongues of fire. ¡°Spew Flame,¡± he fired at the approaching undead and with that command the shields tightened to make a better seal. And just like that the rest of the maddened undead were burned to a crisp. The shield was slightly damaged and the air felt too hot for comfort, but that was a very small price to pay for an easy victory. ¡°I love this weapon.¡± It felt like a perfect weapon to deal with the undead. As they were walking the spiders were kicking and shattering the skulls of the surviving corpses. ¡°Rule #2 Double Tap, well done.¡± He didn¡¯t even need to teach that; the spiders were that smart. However, they still walked with caution. ¡°Watch the walls.¡± He warned the spiders. Those pesky walls liked to crumble at the most inconvenient times, and they just had to have a sneaky pocked of monsters hiding inside. He kept tapping the walls, but those seemed like solid rock. However, just as he turned around the corner a strange sight made his eyebrows rise. ¡°A wall of ice?¡± It didn¡¯t look like it belonged here. ¡°Odd and out of place.¡± ¡°Magic.¡± The spider said matter of factly. This wasn¡¯t a complete barrier, the solution was in his hands and the enemy likely knew that; what this was ¨C was an obstacle to slow his advance. ¡°Break it using Ice Pierce.¡± He instructed, knowing that the FlameThrower would take too long. The pickaxes hit the ice wall slowly chipping it away. ¡°King!¡± A spider ran to him with an alarm on its face. ¡°Our rear.¡± Yeah, this was a trap. An undead attacked from the back, and trapped them in. This time it was another Flesh Golem, but it looked more like a worm. It had an elongated body with many tentacle appendages on its side. It used them to crawl inside the tunnel and was quite fast at it. ¡°That¡¯s bad.¡± From the experience, the fire was not the solution. And there was no way to bind the abomination in this narrow tunnel. ¡°We have to stop it or it will crush us.¡± He had to hatch a plan quickly. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Well, the ice wall might have given him an idea. He retrieved a cluster of Freezing Grenades, and threw them at the approaching abomination. The grenades hit it and shattered spreading the frost everywhere. Luckily he had thrown enough to inflict the monstrosity with Frozen. It stopped moving for a moment, but judging by its size it wouldn¡¯t last for long. ¡°Now.¡± He ran together with spiders to attack the fleshy worm. For that reason, he¡¯d retrieved the Devouring Spear; the weapon had a good track record in dealing with the abominations. He thrust it into the fleshy exterior of the worm and the spear sunk deep. Even through a thick layer of meat, he could see the reddish glow of the spear tip which told him that Soul Steal was activated and the abomination was taking continuous damage. Yes, he was sapping the ¡®life¡¯ out of the undead; how it really worked was a slight mystery. ¡°It¡¯s working, it should die soon.¡± Regardless, the spiders quickened its death by helpfully chopping off big chunks of its body. [You have defeated Flesh Golem, Fighting +1500exp] [Soul Steal], the perk completed trying to store the soul inside. [Error], [Soul Well has claimed the soul]. ¡°Huh, that¡¯s not one of my perks.¡± He had a pensive expression. ¡°The cursed Lich has it.¡± He was sure of it now. ¡°King. The Ice Wall¡­¡± The spiders were done clearing it. ¡°Let¡¯s go and get that Lich, It won¡¯t be able to hide forever.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± The spiders took a defensive position and ventured deeper into the catacombs. As they were walking he observed empty holes lining the walls, it was probably the place where the dead used to rest, now those were vacant. ¡°So that¡¯s where they came from.¡± Some of the dead were still there. The few remaining corpses were blackened and skinny with barely any flesh left on them, it was likely a waste of mana to raise these as undead servants; or maybe there was another reason entirely. But just in case, as they went they smashed their empty skulls anyway, further defiling the resting place. Soon the spiders emerged into a larger hall. This one was filled with intact stone coffins. The hall felt chilly and there was an ominous aura. ¡°A boss room?¡± He guessed looking around and fully expecting one of the lids of the coffins to fly open. He was only partially right, the room cooled to frigid temperature and instead of some Undead Draugr, wraiths emerged from the coffins. ¡°This is bad!¡± Indeed it was, the wraiths were incorporeal and hence immune to physical damage. The wraiths shrieked in a mind-piercing voice, trying and failing to inflict Terror debuff. Ha! His spiders were immune and him being Monster King also allowed natural immunities. However, the undead apparitions achieved a secondary goal. The loud shriek called more of the wraiths from all over the catacombs and now they outnumbered the spiders two to one. ¡°This is very bad! Use the scrolls.¡± He advised. And just in time before the wraiths flew in rage to attack the scrolls were out. They were out of Fire Arrow scrolls, but that didn¡¯t mean that other elements like Air and Nature didn¡¯t work. So they used those. The wraiths received the hits, and the magic projectiles disrupted their incorporeal forms, but one hit was not enough to exorcise them. Meanwhile, the apparitions did their thing slamming their cursed bodies at spiders and sapping their life energy. The axes were also enchanted and alleviated some of the draining assault, but they weren¡¯t enough to kill the wraiths in one or two swings either. Some of the wraiths winked out of existence, but equally, some of the spiders collapsed to their knees ¨C tired and barely conscious. ¡°Why aren¡¯t they attacking me?¡± He waved the Devouring Spear threateningly. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s, probably why.¡± He launched himself in the full offensive helping the most tired spiders. The spear, true to its name, literally sucked the life out of the wraiths. The only challenge was getting close enough, the wraiths cautiously flew away from him and the reach of the spear. The Elemental Arrows kept flying and he kept running from one group to the other supplying them with his scrolls and killing an unlucky wraith here and there. It was quickly found out that a simple flask of TomGrape juice alleviated some of the Drain symptoms. Good job spiders figuring that out! With the power of ¡®energy drinks¡¯ and disposable scrolls, the wraith menace was defeated. ¡°This was kinda scary.¡± He didn¡¯t like ghosts. ¡°We¡¯re. Okay.¡± The spider misunderstood his statement as worry and gave a spider thumbs-up. ¡°We can. Continue.¡± And so they will. The direction was obvious because there was a large gate by one of the walls. He tried to push the gate, but it didn¡¯t budge. It wasn¡¯t locked or rusted. ¡°It¡¯s frozen shut. That bastard, buying time!¡± The gate was black metal so the picks couldn¡¯t shatter it. Nor did he need to smash through, he just needed to defrost it. He toasted the gate applying a generous amount of Flame Spew. The binding ice melted, but even then the gate remained shut ¨C was latched or even barricaded. ¡°Go figure, of course!¡± he felt like giving up. Yeah, the gate was metal, it was standing firm and imposing, and very much hard to destruct. But, the wall was just that, a brick-and-mortar. ¡°We¡¯ll have to punch a hole in the wall.¡± This was his solution to a complicated problem. Hammering the thick wall would probably take a day, if he didn¡¯t have a trick up his sleeve. Yes, they hammered it, but also he applied Freezing and Fire Grenades to shock it thermally and speed the process. The brittle brick crumbled under the stress of the metal hammers the spiders were using, all thanks to the convenience of Magical Inventory and his tendency to hoard various stuff inside. Just then the wall crumbled he jumped towards the opening and basked the outside room with the warmth and love of his FlameThrower. And only then the spiders jumped out of the hole one by one. Despite all the hammering noise the spiders had made, the undead were still caught off guard. There was a whole bunch of them by the gate: zombies, flesh skeletons, flesh golems and the like. By the gate and not by the hole in the wall, someone gave them a stupid command. Anyway, they took the chance to flank the undead, and since this room was another equally large hall they were able to use the last of Fire Grenades to roast the small fry. The undead burned and crackled in a large heap of twitching and barely moving corpses. The spiders jumped to deal with the two lumbering Flesh Golems. But that was only a small distraction. The real thing was standing in the middle of the hall, well the hall was a bad description because this was more like a workshop. A workshop to craft bones and flesh. Various parts littered the room and there was a humongous pile of IceShard Bird meat in the centre, and by the pile was the ¡®real thing¡¯. A monster unlike any he had seen before. ¡°A Lich?¡± No, he was wrong. It was something else. The monster was as tall and imposing as the giant flesh abomination. A massive skeletal figure made out of human-like bones and blackened flesh. The bones were unnaturally large, elongated and twisted. The monster didn''t quite have one face ¨C many skulls were piling atop its ill-defined shoulders forming a big ball-like clump. However, there was a dominant skull, it was larger and had crown-like horns. The empty eye sockets in the dominant skull glowed red ever so slightly. Its bone golem body was shrouded in a tattered black robe, the cloth moved and twisted in flowing motion even if there was no wind here. The skeletal monster had a dual aura of regality and death. The many spindly arms coming from the midsection were busily shaping the flesh beneath into another Flesh Golem, leaving the two bigger main arms to hang free at the shoulders. The left hand had a blackened and seemingly tattered leather tome clutched between large fingers, the tome looked miniature in that huge palm. The right arm was not an arm but a bone appendage in a shape of a blade. The sword was long and broad and its bone edge looked unnaturally sharp. The weapon radiated bloodlust and gave the monster a fearsome aura. The sight was haunting and unsettling. The Boss monster, the ruler of this place, continued labouring at the soon-to-be flesh masterpiece even despite the threat of the spiders, or maybe because of it. The dim light in the bony skull glowed with more furry breathing life into the abomination. The newly made flesh golem wasn¡¯t just flesh this time, there were numerous skeletal arms embedded in its bulbous body, each wielding a weapon shrouded in black aura. The ¡®Lich?¡¯ glared at the King of Spiders for the first time, the gaze was filled with hate. It was so strong he could physically feel it. ¡°Die!¡± It spoke directly to the mind. ¡°Eternal Frost.¡± White carpet of ice spread from the monster like some sort of infection covering everything and all in frost. 65 Eternal Frost attack avoided the Flesh Golem and other undead, but the spiders were unlikely to be excluded. The ice was spreading threatening to inflict the spiders with Frozen. ¡°Use your potions, quick!¡± He followed his own advice and quaffed the chilly liquid in three gulps. The white frosty mist washed over him,¡°Alright.¡± The attack was negated. To some extent at least, the hall in its entirety was covered in a thin layer of ice. The undead caster glared hate towards him and the spiders, it moved one of its hands urging the Flesh Golem to attack. ¡°Watch out for other spells.¡± He warned the spiders. The Flesh Golem was the first one to reach the spiders, it swung its many arms towards them. Some spiders jumped, others blocked with their shield. The flesh golem radiated a thick dark aura, it was likely Terror. It was a formidable foe, but still, it was outnumbered. He trusted his spiders'' ability to deal with it. The real enemy here was that mysterious undead caster, mysterious because it wasn¡¯t exactly ¡®Lich¡¯ but someone higher on the hierarchy. ¡°Concentrate on the Flesh Golem, don¡¯t let it attack me. I¡¯ll go and keep the ¡®Lich?¡¯ busy.¡± Yes, they had to take the caster first or else it would just keep raising the undead and withering the spiders¡¯ stamina down. Speaking of which. ¡°Summon Skeleton, Army.¡± The undead cast a summoning spell and then another to empower it. The army part sounded scary, but in the end, only fifty or so icy skeletons manifested out of the shiny circle on the ground. He sprinted forwards towards the not-quite-Lich and its skeletons. He wasn¡¯t running alone, few of the spiders were offering assistance. He swung the Devouring Spear shattering the skeletal skull into many ice fragments. The spiders weren¡¯t idle, they used their Fiery Axes to make quick work out of skeletons. [You have defeated Ice Skeleton, Fighting +50exp], yup those were just petty summons. More skeletons were already being summoned. Was this undead trying to drown him in trash mobs? He won¡¯t allow that. He stored the spear back into his inventory and grabbed for the FlameThrower gun attached to his side. ¡°Did you forget I have this?¡± He returned the smirk to the undead caster. ¡°Spew Flame.¡± The fire roared burning the skeletons as quickly as they were being summoned. However, for some reason, it failed to melt the ice covering the floor. ¡°Grgh-rrr.¡± The ¡®Lich?¡¯ growled something inhuman. ¡°Shadow Spear, Multicast, Barrage.¡± A magical circle floated right behind its back, purple orbs of light manifested out of thin air. One, two, three and then more. The orbs grew in size and one after the other they spewed Dark infused magical spears. The projectiles flew aiming at him and the spiders. ¡°Quick, we have to kill it.¡± He urged the spiders to push forwards. The barrage of Dark elemental attacks began hitting the spiders. Some of them were powerful enough to shatter their IceWalker Shields and damage the armour. As for him, his plate armour had Spell Deflect, so it helped but only a little. It failed to activate most of the time managing to damage even his Reinforced +3 armour. Finally, he was close, close enough to use his ranged weapon. ¡°Eat that!¡± He pressed the trigger unleashing the spray of hell. The undead caster turned translucent and the flames just passed through it. ¡°This is bullshit!¡± It had similar abilities to the wraiths, so it was possible it had physical resistance too. ¡°Way too OP.¡± So they would have to use magic to weaken it first. Well, he was a mage too, but he was a Dark mage so his attacks would be rendered useless. ¡° ¡°The scrolls!¡± Yeah, that was the solution, but too bad he wasted most of them to deal with the wraiths. ¡°I curse you Lich!¡± The only way to deal with it now was to use enchanted weapons. But judging by what happened with the wraiths, for the ¡®Lich?¡¯ one or two hits wouldn¡¯t be enough. This being a Boss monster meant that he would need to land thousands upon thousands of hits before it fell. Luckily he wasn¡¯t here alone¡­ The spiders had finished dealing with the Flesh Golem and were now rushing to his aid. ¡°Ha-ha-ha.¡± The undead caster cackled unthreatened. ¡°Greater Mend.¡± The chunks and bits of the Flesh Golem pulled together making it whole again. It stood there back in action as if nothing had happened. If It could do that¡­ he was very lucky he didn¡¯t allow the ¡®Lich?¡¯ time to construct more of these improved Flesh Golems. The threatened spiders turned back to deal with the ¡®resurrected¡¯ undead. The spiders attacking the undead caster with him didn¡¯t idle either. They were already swinging their axes at its half-incorporeal form. It didn¡¯t seem to be bothered by it at all. He fired the last of his remaining scrolls at the ¡®Lich?¡¯, those too did negligible damage. Shadow Spears were witling at everyone¡¯s armour, and the Frost Resistance Potion wouldn¡¯t last forever. ¡°Are we outmatched?¡± Was running away the only option? The undead kept cackling as if enjoying their struggles. It had big bony body but even with that, it managed to dodge and float away from most of the axe swings. It danced like that for a few moments, making the spiders, and then it began using its bone sword. Oh boy! It had almost slashed a spider in half. The offensive power was just too much. Bad turned to worse: the pages in the blackened tome began tuning by themselves. ¡°Grasp Heart.¡± The undead spoke and one of the spiders collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Yeah, the spiders had only limited resistance to Dark Magic, higher spells of that order passed through their natural defences. Worst of all, another page turned, ¡°Rise Dead!¡± The ¡®Lich?¡¯ bellowed in an unmasked glee. A spider rose from its dead state and turned against its friends. The ¡®Lich?¡¯ was only playing with them the entire time, it was more powerful than it pretended to be, and that mask of deception was finally taken off. The King of Spiders should run, he must flee, but it would mean he would need to sacrifice his spiders here. An extreme act of selfishness. He hated to see the spider die, he hated to see it rise and fight its comrades ¨C such acts were unforgivable. He couldn¡¯t allow the ¡®Lich?¡¯ to get its hands on his precious spiders and their souls. So he did a very stupid thing, he grabbed the Devouring Spear and launched himself towards the undead caster. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. The spiders were spurred by the King¡¯s Aura and attacked the ¡®Lich?¡¯ with increased ferocity. The undead caster couldn''t dodge all of the blows, and there were many from all sides, to achieve that spiders put their life at risk. The axes connected with the incorporeal form disrupting it further and further. The ¡®Lich?¡¯, of course, retaliated it swung its bone sword cleaving spiders like ripe wheat and it kept casting Grasp Heart. The sprinting form of King of Spiders was hit with the atrocious spell, ¡°Urgh!¡± He felt his heart contract violently. [Your race: Monster King ¨C negated the effects of Grasp Heart], he was only meters away from the ¡®Lich?¡¯. It might have been his imagination but the undead caster seemed wary of his weapon, all this time it was distancing itself from the King of Spiders. The incorporeal form of the ¡®Lich?¡¯ was disrupted by the relentless spiders and it was forced back to its physical state, just in time for the Devouring Spear to pierce its body. The spear tip pierced the mass of skulls and sunk deeply into the blackened flesh. ¡°Ragh!¡± the ¡®Lich?¡¯ roared in anger. The spear tip glowed bright red, [Soul Steal] was activated, it was sapping the life force of the ¡®Lich?¡¯. ¡°Mortal!¡± It cursed and swung its bone sword. ¡°[Bastion]¡±, it hit his armour pushing him to the side, but even then he kept the spear in place. ¡°Ragh!¡± The ¡®Lich?¡¯ roared in surprised displeasure. ¡°Keep it busy, keep the spear in place.¡± He didn¡¯t ask, he begged his spiders. The axes kept swinging and with a spear in its body the ¡®Lich?¡¯ couldn¡¯t shift to its incorporeal state. It swung again at the King of Spiders, but [Bastion] saved him. He had only one more use of that, but the ¡®Lich?¡¯ didn¡¯t¡¯ know that and instead, it channelled its rage back to the spiders who were binding it in place. ¡°Keep the spear wedged in!¡± He repeated. The spiders helped him to retain a firm grasp on the shaft and prevented the undead caster to pull it out. However, the spiders were dying left and right. More and more of the spiders were turning against their friends. The Flesh Golem fell for what? ¨C a third or fourth time, but this time the ¡®Lich?¡¯ was too busy to mend it back. Spiders rushed to reinforce their comrades, and just in time. With the thinning numbers, he was forced to use the last of [Bastion] to deflect the killing blow. ¡°Just a bit more¡­¡± By this point, he was just encouraging himself. Most of the spiders were already dead, and soon the undead will outnumber them. ¡°Die!¡± The ¡®Lich?¡¯ screeched in anger, at least there was no mocking glee in its voice anymore. Was it finally afraid? It was unclear if the undead were capable of such emotions, but he, the King of Spiders, he was trembling in his shoes. The victory was uncertain, and death was just around the corner. A bone sword descended from above him trying to split him in half. He was out of [Bastion] uses, if he didn¡¯t dodge he would die, but if he wanted to dodge he would need to let the spear go. He resigned to his fate. A spider jumped taking the blow, the bone sword cleaved right through it and even hit his shoulder. Surprisingly the armour held, but his shoulder was in pain, likely shattered. The ¡®Lich¡¯ raised its sword for another swing, a definite and complete killing blow this time, but all of a sudden the bony appendage went limp. ¡°No!¡± It shouted collapsing to its skeletal legs. The Bone Golem''s body the ¡®Lich?¡¯ soul inhabited began to crumble and turn to ash. ¡°We¡­ We did it¡­¡± The magic holding the construct in place disappeared. Some bones scattered to the floor, others turned to ash. The dim hateful glow in the dominant skull was no more. The risen undead spiders collapsed to the ground, now finally and truly dead. [You have defeated Great Bone Golem, Fighting +25000exp] He crushed the crowned skull behind his boot and spat on the fragments. This was a victory but at what cost¡­ only ten of his spiders remained. In the pile of bones, there was that bone sword glowing darkly and begging to be picked up. Was this his reward? He deposited it in his inventory. [Gravelord Sword: Legendary. Killing Blow, Unstoppable Cleave, Death Aura, Terror +5] And there was another item in the shape of a tattered and blackened leather tome. [True Dark Tome: Legendary] ¨C it didn¡¯t collaborate on the contents of the tome, but he already had an idea. This was quite something but even then this seemed hardly worthy of the trouble. And¡­ ¡°Something doesn¡¯t add up.¡± He was sure he was fighting a lich-type being, but the message told him it was just a Bone Golem he defeated. And the spear should have absorbed the soul, or at least attempted to, but there was no such message. He looked around more carefully, and indeed there was something odd. A shadow was sneaking away through the melting frost, if not for the white frost he would have failed to notice it. The shadow vaguely resembled the dark and tattered cloak the Bone Golem was cloaked in. ¡°Got you, Lich!¡± He pointed the spear tip threateningly at the shadow. ¡°Wait¡­¡± It spoke directly to his mind. ¡°I can grant you¡­¡± He didn¡¯t care and just pushed the spear tip to the shadowy ground. The shadow trembled and shrivelled into nothing. Was he tempted to listen to this crafty and devious undead? ¨C Not even for a second, such deals never ended well. And this was revenge for his fallen spider friends. ¡°You have defeated Gravelord, Fighting +25000exp¡± [Congratulations! You have reached Fighting lvl .3] [Requirements have been met. Hidden perk unlocked.] [Perk Undying obtained.] It sounded interesting, but to truly test the ability of the perk he would need to attempt to die. Nah, he won¡¯t be doing that just yet. And there was another message. [Soul Steal ¨C completed], [Error], [Soul Well has claimed the soul]. ¡°Yup, the bastard yet still ¡®lives¡¯,¡± Or suffers eternally, hopefully trapped in the well. ¡°Suits it right.¡± However, there was another unpleasant message, [Warning: Gravelord Sword disintegrated into Nothing]. Go figure, no Gravelord no Gravelord Sword, the two were likely somehow connected. Oh well, whatever¡­ He looked at the survivors. ¡°Let''s look for the Soul Well, it should be hidden somewhere.¡± But before that, they went all the way out of the catacombs to retrieve the spiders who guarded the entrance. On their way, there was another ice wall. And they found the guards a bit worn out, it seems there was another attack at some point but they did their job and defended the entrance. The spider guards eyed the rugged friends, yeah, it was hard to break the hard news. Many spiders died. ¡°We Understand.¡± One of them chirped. ¡°Did we win?¡± Other asked. ¡°We won.¡± He said simply but apologetically. ¡°Then They Died. Doing Their Duty.¡± ¡°It¡¯s an. Honor.¡± He wasn¡¯t going to argue with them. ¡°Let''s go back in the catacombs, there¡¯s more loot to be found.¡± There wasn¡¯t much of interest around, neither in the castle nor the catacombs, but there were a few materials to gather. One of the useful things was the undead weapons, which were made out of some sort of enchanted metal and radiated Dark affinity; He should be able to smelt those down later. Also, there were multitudes of Wither Bone ¨C a crafting ingredient harvested from the defeated undead. They looked long and hard for the Soul Well, and they found it hidden under one of the walls in the catacombs. It was a round rock absorbing all light making it pitch black, it even dimmed the room it was inside as if it ate the light itself. Upon touching the Soul Well he got a message that True Dark Tome was activated. It allowed him to interact with the well. Inside he could see a multitude of souls, each sorted by race and affinity. [Soul Well: 8420/10000], the most powerful souls were at the top. [Great Undead (Gravelord) ¨C Dark] x1, [Frost Giant ¨C Ice] x25, [Obsidian Spider ¨C Dark], [¡­] Oh! His spiders were ¡°Obsidian Spiders¡±¨C that was nice to know, also apparently they were quite powerful. After that, there were many souls of humans and other lesser creatures. Considering the item, it was very powerful. Its presence allowed it to trap and recycle souls indefinitely. A must-have for any necromancer. So, was he going to destroy this artefact grade item and set all the innocent souls free? No! He was not. ¡°I¡¯ll reincarnate my spiders.¡± And the rest, humans and creatures alike¡­ he will find a use for them eventually. If not, he¡¯ll just trade them (the spares) to the Ancestral Tree, they must be worth more than centipede souls, right. Right? Hopefully¡­ ¡°The menace is dealt with. Let''s head home.¡± He didn¡¯t want to stay in this accursed place any minute longer. The spiders gathered a few things here and there and they headed back bringing only Pyrrhic Victory home, but a victory never less. Unbeknown to him, he now possessed a highly coveted tome and an artefact thought to be impossible. 66 - Necromancy with extra steps Mark 2 The True Dark Tome provided a wealth of information on Dark magic, it was by the leagues better than Dark Tome he obtained from Vumbeldor. And he finally unlocked the uses of [Soul Steal] and [Reanimate]. In other words, he could raise undead; a terrible power. But raising zombies, skeletons and undead creatures was never on his agenda, not quite, he had different intentions for the spells and souls obtained. For a longest while he was musing about how to replicate the feat demonstrated by the Great Ancestral Tree in its creation of Sprigans. Yes, he wanted to give the souls of Soul Well, a second chance at life. Hence why, he and the spiders were carving the puppets out of IronOak trees. The tree was sturdier and harder than it had any right to be, making the process arduous and time-consuming. But what is time when you have a thousand spider crafters giving you a hand. He was heavily inspired by the Sprigan design the Great Ancestral Tree had used. Once the puppets were done he seeded them with Ancestral Tree Amber and cast the ritual he had learned from the wisp. The dead wood came to life, curing the cracks made by the crafting process, further moulding and shaping the puppets. However, the puppets weren¡¯t quite done, not yet, because they still lacked the spark of life ¨C a soul. That¡¯s where his method will differ from the one a wisp had used, being a Dark affinity mage he had to do things differently and that¡¯s where the tome and the well played their roles. A different kind of ritual was set up. The ritual was Dark in nature and it required sacrifice. The tome explained that to power something this grand he would either need to sacrifice souls or expend exorbitant amounts of mana. He alone wouldn¡¯t be able to power even a fraction of it. But he didn¡¯t have to do it alone. He gathered the humanoid spiders, the ones he Evolved and Imbued with the gift of magic, with them he¡¯ll be able to power most of the ritual. The rest will be fuelled by the lesser souls of animals and most importantly the Great Undead (Gravelord) soul which actually powered half of the ritual just by itself. He decided that was the fitting use for the Gravelord, the undead will be a cornerstone in this ritual of ¡®rebirth¡¯; it was only right to use its soul to give a breath of life to the human souls it enslaved. Incidentally, the souls inside the Soul Well, weren¡¯t conscious and didn¡¯t have personal experiences ¨C those died when their bodies perished. And that might be the reason why most undead were so dumb. He used Magical Ink to paint a huge circle in the clearing. Inside the circle, there were no less than a thousand of IronOak Puppets. The craftsmanship of the spiders and the power of the Amber granted the puppets sleek and flowing form; they were intricate wooden statues and worthy to be considered art. Each was made by a different crafter and had that touch of individuality and uniqueness. Spider mages gathered around the outer line of the circle, but the King of Spiders took a spot in the very middle of it. ¡°Let us begin.¡± He announced in anticipation. ¡°By the power of True Dark Tome, I beseech the souls to listen,¡± He began the incantation and the pages of the tome flipped on their own. ¡°[Command Souls]¡± He raised the orb of Soul Well on the other hand and it began flowing on its own in the air. ¡°Souls listen, and listen well, I¡¯ve made you new bodies to fill and inhabit.¡± The souls needed the fuel to do that or else they would consume themselves in the process. ¡°Feast on the chosen, [Sacrifice Soul], and do as you wish.¡° He sacrificed Gravelord''s soul setting a good thousand souls out of the well with an explosion of Dark mana. The air itself was saturated with it, it was so thick that an occasional purple lighting would crack and send a thunder reverberating throughout the circle. The human souls were of various sizes and colours. The lights formed a whirlpool around the King of Spiders. ¡°Go and pick your new bodies. [Reanimate].¡± He encouraged. The souls swarmed around the puppets, each picking the one they liked the most. The ritual was only at a half-phase, the hard part was only beginning. He didn¡¯t want mindless undead and hollow golems, which were just a mockery of life. He wanted true living and thinking beings. To give true life he needed more than just souls. However, if he¡¯ll be successful remains to be seen. ¡°Spiders, pour your mana in.¡± He instructed. The spider mages did as told and the circle was even further saturated with the mana. Meanwhile, he used his remaining mana reserves to guide all that energy into the puppets. ¡°Souls! Form your minds, make thoughts be, and experiences present. [Become Living].¡± He fired a spell of his own. Something he made just for this. This was a combination of Dark and Nature affinities and an uncharted territory for him. ¡°I hope this works.¡± The rest was out of his hands. The mana was pulled into the puppets and the souls worked hard to form structures equivalent to brains. The puppet-like golems were striving to become something more, something above. [Chaos Blessed activated], the unpredictable passive perk he possessed fired chaotically. [Perk Evolve was triggered], he didn¡¯t will it, it did so on its own. [Spell Imbue was triggered], he felt his mana drain from his body as if a cork somewhere was just unplugged. His head began to spin, he went into the negatives. He didn¡¯t have enough mana to do that for thousand puppets and he had a ritual to control. He had to reign the chaos in, to turn this in his favour or else the mana depletion will render him unconscious and ruin the ritual. ¡°I must do it.¡± He spoke through gritted teeth. There was mana all around him, the spiders continued to power the ritual. He just needed to find a way to ¡®borrow¡¯ it. Being at the epicentre of it allowed him some control of the mana so he willed it to pull towards his body. It did just so, and it was so thick he thought he will drown, but it worked ¨C the perks were powered by ambient mana. The mana flowed towards the centre, surrounded his body and then it changed into something more wild and chaotic, and then it reversed and flowed into the puppets. However, ¡°Arg!¡± He shouted trying to reign the pain in. The saturated mana was ravaging his body, threatening to rip him into shreds. The ritual was going to rip his own soul out! You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. [Perk Undying was triggered], he was left heaving and on his knees with the equivalent of 1HP. Finally, the ritual began stabilising and one by one the puppets evolved and became something more than golems. They became living beings. The change was unprecedented and chaotic, it was so powerful that their very souls were affected. Something very rare and magical just happened ¨C souls changed their colours into white. They were new and pure. How a Dark Ritual was capable of that will remain a mystery forever. He kept taking sharp breaths, all of his energy was drained. The stray leftovers of the mana dispersed into the air. The ritual was finished. The puppets were made in the image of Sprigans, so henceforth they became White Sprigans. The souls finished settling in the white wood-like bodies. One by one their eyes opened, taking the sight of the world surrounded. They were alive again, but this time in a true sense. No longer the human souls were bound to do the bidding of the Gravelord, actually, they weren¡¯t bound to anyone. Unlike the golems, they were truly free and without a master. The minds of White Sprigans were fully formed, and the old souls they had in their bodies gave them a supernatural understanding of how the basics of the world worked. But their minds were fresh with no human memories or personal experiences. The bunch stood there, happy to be alive and free, but they were mighty confused about why or what they were, of what they were meant to do. They looked at the nearest things present: a clearing, a magical circle, the spiders and the prone but still regal figure. The spiders approached the Sprigans and welcomed them with happy chirps. The happy greetings were replied with equally happy noises, but not quite chirps. They were just born, but somehow they felt a kinship with the spiders already. Maybe, the fact that the spider¡¯s mana powered the Sprigans¡¯ birth had something to do with that, or maybe it was just a naivet¨¦ of the newborn. The spiders rushed to help their King, he looked ravaged by mana backlash and barely alive. The Sprigans observed the spiders¡¯ concern for the prone but still regal form, and as if to mimic them they too developed that feeling. The spiders picked up the King and began carrying him carefully. The Sprigans followed the spiders, what else was there to do? Soon they were met with the visage of an endless farm. Somehow, each of them found the sight of growing TomGrapes, pleasing and even calming, as if they found a long-forgotten memory of something similar. The new/old memory made the core inside their mid section began to warm, it was a pleasant heat. The small spiders tending the vines waved at the approaching Sprigans. The gesture was replied in kind. It was the first time they were at the farm, but it already felt like home. A welcoming place they wanted to stay. A place where they belonged. The feeling was born not out of reason but out of instinct. After all, they found their primitive ancestor IronOak standing proudly above the fields, providing support for the ropes the TomGrape grew on. And in turn, the vines converted the mana in the air into nutrients and pushed them into the soil through the roots. It was symbiosis, a love story of two plant species. Yes, like their ancestor they too felt the obligation to do the same. To provide support and make so that others could grow and prosper. One day in and they already found the purpose of their life, or at least they felt that they knew what they needed to do. Thank you IronOak for setting a good example! The Sprigans weren¡¯t herded or commanded so naturally they broke off into smaller groups and dispersed all around the farm. Everywhere they went, they were met with pleasant chirps of spiders. Life here seemed so carefree and easy, but the Sprigans knew better than to idle. The ancient human souls they carried knew only toil and servitude, and maybe for the worst that trait couldn''t be rubbed off easily, so they looked at the spiders for guidance wishing to be useful, to do something, to make this place grow. The spiders did many things, the spiders did everything! But spiders did what spiders could, and there were some things that only a spider could do. And there were some things that only a Sprigan could do. There was no need to duplicate the spiders; the Spigans weren''t here to replace or imitate, they were here to¡­ Well, they didn¡¯t quite understand why they were here, but they knew that they had the power to make things better. Being the creatures they were they had their innate racial abilities. They instinctually knew the names of plants and animals, the vine fruits were TomGrapes and the spiders were Obsidian Spiders. And they could ¡®talk¡¯ with all plants and animals, guess what they needed to grow, guess what was the trouble if there was any. Moreover, had had access to [Grow] and that quite literally sped up the growth of a plant or animal. And they had access to [Heal], so healing an injured squirrel was not a problem. But also, they could mould and shape, they could ¡®craft¡¯ in their unique way, [Shape Wood]. The human crafting spirit had never died in their souls, many of them desired to pursue such crafts. The Sprigans broke into groups even further. Some went to spider farmers, others to spider crafters, and even to Lamia to help them herd the Enchanted Boars. Others found their distant cousins, Dryads, and together they went to grow the saplings of IronOak and to thank their ancestor for providing the material their body was made. Actually, White Sprigans felt a lot of gratitude. That¡¯s why they decided to work so hard. The emotion was strong and its roots were unknown, but somehow they felt indebted to everyone involved in their birth. But anyway, it seemed natural, like children they felt gratitude to their parents namely: the spiders, the IronOak, the source of the Amber, and the King. Yes, they had four parents, but that didn¡¯t feel unusual at all. So the White Sprigans made quick bonds with the farm¡¯s plants and animals. They naturally filled in the missing roles which no one had known were missing. The King of Spiders remained oblivious to all of the above. He had to make a recovery both magical and physical. Luckily there were spiders giddily tending to each and all of his needs. The Soul Well remained in his possession, emptier than it previously was but still filled with souls. There were still souls waiting for [Become Living], both spider and human. The task seemed daunting, but he could improve the ritual and now knew how to control it better. The recovery will take time, and there were preparations needed for future rituals. Depending on how White Sprigans do he might reincarnate the human souls into them again. But for the spiders, he had different plans. It just that for a spider soul only a spider body seemed to be appropriate. He desired to craft something special for them, and not just a wooden body. That was the project for the future. ¡°Spider friends, just wait a little bit longer.¡± He drank a Mana Potion to ease that pounding headache. ¡°I¡¯ll make new bodies for you soon.¡± He caressed the black orb, Soul Well, which still radiated darkness and death. The item was born of Dark and definitely would be considered evil by most. After all, it could trap the souls for an eternity. However, he didn¡¯t see it as evil because the tools weren¡¯t evil, the evil stemmed from the person using it. And yes, he wasn¡¯t exactly a paragon of virtue here, but he intended to use this item to strengthen his kingdom. And why would he not? The spiders died. Mostly of old age. And what when? Where did their souls go? According to the texts he purchased in the Human Kingdom, the souls went to the gods. Good souls to good gods, and bad souls to the equivalent. The black souls were considered to be evil by nature. Well, he was positive his soul was black, but so was the spiders¡¯ and he knew those guys were the opposite of evil. He wasn¡¯t convinced in all of the ¡®truths¡¯ of religious texts, but he had met a god-like entity in the shape of a cloud, the one who reincarnated him here. So why would he trust such nebulous entities to oversee the black souls of good spiders? Especially if he could reincarnate the spiders himself! After witnessing it was possible, he conspired of using this tool to deprive the gods of ¡®their¡¯ souls, the gods who had no genuine claim in his opinion, and instead, he would give the spiders another chance at life. Not quite immortality but close. But first, he needed to rest. He drank the last of the potions capping his Toxicity to as close as he could handle in his weakened state and then he closed his eyes slowly drifting to sleep. Inside the Magical Inventory, the Soul Well buzzed making the souls swirl inside and True Dark Tome flipped its pages with anticipation of future magic. 67 - Odd requests and strange matters to discuss With most of the recovery made he was able to leave his chambers and find that the White Sprigans have integrated in the farm activities already. With their natural gifts, he will be able to supply the Human Kingdom with TomGrape even quicker than he previously estimated. And so, the farmland expanded even further. While he was walking and appraising the good work of Sprigans, a Drow Assistant caught up with him. ¡°King! You¡¯re better already?¡± She sounded happy but also somewhat disappointed. ¡°Yes, spiders took good care of me.¡± ¡°And I¡­ I made this to cheer you up.¡± She retrieved a peculiar container from the pouch hanging by her side. He took the item in his hands, it was insulated with IceShard Bird Leather. He opened the wooden lid, the container was filled with a cold and creamy substance. ¡°Ice Cream!?¡± He was overjoyed. ¡°I tried following the recipe you wrote down for me¡­. Did I get it right?¡± The tone of her voice betrayed anxiety. There was only one way to find out. ¡°Amh,¡± into his mouth it went. ¡°Yes, this is perfect!¡± It was heavy and creamy, the texture was soft and there were no rough ice crystals in the mixture to ruin it. He recognised the signature sweetness given by TomGrape syrup; it was pleasantly fruity and rich. ¡°Mmm¡­¡± Without even realising it he¡¯d demolished all of the ice cream. He looked at the emptiness with sadness and the clarity returned to his mind. ¡°But where did you get the milk from?¡± Indeed, humans here didn¡¯t rear anything even remotely similar to a cow, and it''s not like he could milk a forest dear or something. ¡°The Drow found a solution, you don¡¯t need to worry.¡± The assistant replied as if it was no big matter. He nodded to that reply. However, it sounded a tiny bit suspicious, but probably it was best if he didn¡¯t know¡­ It did taste excellent, he just hoped that this wasn¡¯t some centipede milk or something. The Drow Assistant continued. ¡°So this means I should make more?¡± He showed the emptiness of the container. ¡°But of course! I already crave more.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll take it as your permission to increase the supply of milk.¡± ¡°Yes, you can speak with Spider Advisor he will allocate an appropriate budget.¡± ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t need money. It¡¯s the Fertility Potions.¡± He scratched his chin, so that potion allowed her to increase the supply of milk. ¡°You can have them.¡± He pulled out a hundred flasks out of his inventory. ¡°Yes, that should be enough.¡± She made some notes in her notebook. ¡°I¡¯ll get them delivered to the Drow.¡± ¡°You know what, I have business there, so I¡¯ll do it myself.¡± He put the potions back. ¡°Shadow Walk,¡± he disappeared leaving trails of wispy darkness floating in the air. ¡°But¡­ He¡¯s already gone.¡± She sighed scratching something out in the notebook. ¡­ On his way toward the Drow Village, he passed the Living Wood Tree. The dryads finished growing it, and it was standing big and majestic. He could see clusters of fruits beginning to form on the branches. ¡°Apples?¡± He recognised the tiny buds. But as far as he knew the Living Wood Tree wasn¡¯t a fruit tree so something must have changed. ¡°I¡¯ll be back once they ripen.¡± He left towards the Drow Village. There he found the High Chief busy in the Drow Archives working on Magical Scrolls. ¡°I see you are replenishing our stock already.¡± He praised the hard work. ¡°Yes, the Darkness Spider is giving me a hand.¡± Only then did the Chief mentioned he noticed the shadowy form in the darkest corner. The spider scribbled one scroll after the other like some sort of well-oiled machine. ¡°You have something to show?¡± He was here because the High Chief requested it. ¡°I do. Let''s go to the workshop.¡± The workshop was just a floor below. It was a wide area filled with worktables of various kinds, interestingly it wasn¡¯t dominated by Drow but by the spider crafters. ¡°Look at this.¡± The High Chief handed a square piece of black fabric. It felt smooth between the fingers. He put it into the Magical Inventory, [Black Cloth] x1. ¡°A new type of cloth?¡± ¡°Yes, we had finally harvested enough of ShadowAgave. And that¡¯s why I requested your presence. You see, the material is promising. It strengthens Dark enchantments making it suitable for magical clothing. But harvesting it isn¡¯t an easy task. The plant radiates the aura of Terror making the harvesting process a difficult task for us.¡± The High Chief stopped talking and gave a meaningful look. ¡°And how can I help you?¡± He asked willing to give a hand. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Please allow us access to your spider farmers. We¡¯ve found them to be immune to the debuff.¡± ¡°Sure, consider it done.¡± ¡°Thank you, King.¡± The Chief bowed ever so slightly. ¡°I¡¯ll recall the children from the farm cavern. And with the help of spiders, we should increase the amount of plants we can manage.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve almost forgotten.¡± He retrieved Fertility Potions from his inventory. ¡°My assistant mentioned that¡­ these are useful in procuring milk?¡± ¡°Oh¡­ that whole affair. I assume it was a success?¡± ¡°Yes, the ice cream was delicious.¡± It was a pity he couldn¡¯t give the High Chief a sample. And even if he had a sample, it probably wouldn¡¯t survive the trip. Just too tasty to resist. ¡°Then I shall hand out the potions personally and give them your thanks. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be delighted.¡± There was another thing he needed. ¡°And I have these.¡± He took out the undead weapons he had scavenged. ¡°I just can¡¯t seem to be able to melt them.¡± The improvised forge at home couldn¡¯t handle it. The High Chief inspected the worn and broken weapon in his hands. ¡°Isn¡¯t this made out of that metal¡­ Glem or whatever it was.¡± ¡°The one the scorpion merchant was selling?¡± ¡°Yes, it seems the same material but enchanted with Dark magic.¡± The High Chief threw the item back onto the large pile as if it was trash. ¡°The worst of Dark magic type ¨C Death.¡± He frowned. ¡°But melting it should break the enchantment, yes?¡± ¡°Yes, once again King you¡¯re right. But we¡¯ll need to ask the scorpion merchant about how to do it. That is¡­¡± ¡°That is if he will be willing to sell the information.¡± He finished. ¡±I reckon we should just up the temperature in the forge. That should do it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s masterwork already. Can it even burn hotter?¡± ¡°Eh? But we were over this already, we just need Air Spirit Stones to improve the forge. Then it should be able to burn hotter.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, we might be able to develop an enchanting ritual. I assume you have the source of stones already?¡± ¡°Sort of. I¡¯ll just buy them from Human Kingdom.¡± At an exorbitant price that is, but gold wasn¡¯t an issue. ¡°And then we will improve it. Simple.¡± The High Chief nodded. ¡°There is another matter to discuss. I might be asking for too much, but would you be willing to share your FlameThrower design with us? I¡¯ve been asked to deal with an infestation and that would be mighty useful.¡± ¡°But you were there when I made it.¡± ¡°We were only following your leadership. Without detailed instructions, and a blueprint, I doubt we would be able to replicate it.¡± Indeed a mistake could lead to the item exploding. ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do. And the spider builders should be able to help, the ones at my farm do have Reinforce perk.¡± ¡°Builders? So it''s not a Crafting perk.¡± ¡°No, the original use is to strengthen the building¡¯s structure. But apparently, that can be abused in crafting.¡± ¡°That is a very interesting piece of information. I shall add it to the archives.¡± ¡°Sure, you do that. But don¡¯t give the FlameThrowers to Kobolds, I know they¡¯ll beg you like they begged me. Those pyromaniacs can¡¯t be trusted with that.¡± ¡°I¡¯m well aware. Won¡¯t happen.¡± ¡°Then I shall trust you with the design, send the builders and FireAgave juice. The spider crafters, I see you have them here already, ask them for help. I¡¯ll draw the instructions and the blueprint now.¡± ¡°Thank you, King. We are most grateful.¡± The High Chief whispered something to his servant girl. The girl ran in and out quickly producing the heavily decorated ink pot and quill, and the finest parchment. This was for him to write on. For some reason, this felt very official, so he did his best in drawing the blueprint, and just so, Comprehend even enchanted his ability to do so. Upon finishing he surprised even himself at the quality of the blueprint. ¡°Following the instructions should be a piece of cake.¡± He handed in the blueprint. The High Chief possessed no such perks and had a complicated look on his face. ¡°I¡¯ll leave that to the crafters.¡± Then he thanked once again showering the King with pleasantries. ¡°Then¡­¡± He raised a finger stopping the High Chief. ¡°I have another request for you. Take this.¡± He pulled out the Devouring Spear. ¡°When you deal with the infestation please fill it with souls.¡± He needed those for more Amber. ¡°But¡­ But this is the symbol of the King¡¯s Power. I can¡¯t take something this important.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t be expected to prowl the Dark Tunnels and kill the centipedes by myself. As a King, I have better things to do.¡± Nah, he was just lazy and that task was simply unpleasant. ¡°Just take it, fill it with souls and return it to me. Consider it as your payment for my blueprint.¡± The High Chief took the weapon with a trembling hand. ¡°I can feel the power.¡± Even his voice shook. Nonsense, he was just exaggerating! ¡°You don¡¯t have to be so dramatic. Just don¡¯t stab anyone important by accident.¡± The High Chief was silent, he just stared at the spear. He delivered the potions and the undead weapons so there was only one thing left to do. And that was to take a dip in the Mana Spring, yes, it should complete his mana recovery. He left the unresponsive High Chief in the workshop and headed for the last destination. The Mana Spring like many things in Drow Village had undergone a renovation. It was expanded and the rocks surrounding it were now carved and polished. The important change was the tree roots stretching all the way from the ceiling and dipping its ends in the water. The culprit was the Living Wood Tree, by the looks of it the Drow didn¡¯t seem to mind the intrusion and let the roots grow wild around the spring. At this moment the Drow were preoccupied with their daily activities so the spring wasn¡¯t too busy. A perfect time for him to take a soak. He took his robes off and walked to where the water was the deepest. The water felt refreshing and the fatigue was already leaving the body. His mana began to tickle up ever so faster¨C the spring did its job. He rested his back on the root and observed the surroundings absent-mindedly. Occasionally so a spider would approach the Mana Spring and take a sip out of it. ¡®Hey, this is not soup, I¡¯m bathing in here!¡¯ He wanted to shout remembering that strange quirk the spiders had. But shouting seemed impolite and it would spoil the good mood. He closed his eyes to catch a bit of rest. Just before he fell asleep he was woken up by a splashing water. There was another visitor, it was a woman with a baby in her grasp. She didn¡¯t seem to mind his presence, so neither will he. He closed his eyes again. ¡°Greetings, King.¡± It seems she yarned a conversation. ¡°Greetings.¡± He opened his eyes to meet the gaze and replied. The woman submerged the baby in the water a few times as if she was baptising her. ¡°Does the water do something for the baby?¡± He asked curious. ¡°Oh yes, we believe it does.¡± She smiled. ¡°Enhances the mana capacity.¡± She elaborated. ¡°Does it work for everyone?¡± He was even more curious. Maybe he should take a dip here more often. ¡°Ha¡­ Would be nice wouldn¡¯t it? I¡¯m not too sure about the adults, but the babies are the most receptive to the magical water.¡± This sounded more like a superstition than a fact, so he left it at that. Regardless it was nice to see the Drow increasing their population. It meant that they felt safe here. The woman let the baby go and took a deep dive a few times by herself fully submerging her body. Surprisingly the baby didn¡¯t need support and was seemingly a superb swimmer. The woman wriggled the water out of her hair and spoke. ¡°I¡¯ve been told the ice cream was a success?¡± Oh, there were rumours of it already. ¡°Oh yes, it was. I¡¯ll make sure to bring some samples over when we have more milk.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± She scooped her offspring up. ¡°The Fertility Potion is payment enough. Yes?¡± She tickled the baby and asked not him but the baby. ¡°Yes, it was.¡± She replied for the baby still tickling the giggling youth. ¡°Let''s just hope the King doesn¡¯t get greedy and snatch all of your milk away and turn it into ice. No-no-no.¡± She continued engaging with the baby. But, so¡­Was the baby given to drink the cave mole milk? ¨C Or whatever animal they managed to milk. Or was it that it was he who¡­ ¡°No, it couldn''t be.¡± He refused to believe it. 68 - Pest Controll He walked next to a seemingly never-ending wall of blue webs, as far as he could see the sight was filled with the vines of TomGrape. Spider farmers zoomed from one web to the other harvesting the fruits in expert motions. An occasional White Sprigan would come and shower the plant with [Grow]. The TomGrape webs stretched out for miles, the area was so large that it would rival a small forest. And it wasn''t just the TomGrape he was growing here. There were increasingly large patches of BanditAgave and its evolved form FireAgave, their growth was further enchanted by the Alraune, a troublesome plant-animal. But if anything they seemed to mellow over time, the peacekeeping stick saw less and less use nowadays. Once he had surrounded the farm with the fields of DustyBlue, but due to expansion, it was now just a ring within the larger fields of blue webs; a special niche for a special plant. The sovereign of the blue bell-like flower fields was no one else but Johny, a magnificent slug. He (actually a She) was so large that his size would rival the Great Worm of Oberon itself. Scary but not quite, because Johny was nothing but lovable. Loved by all of the spiders since it produced that delicious and precious Slug Jelly; a dessert everyone just couldn¡¯t have enough. There were other plants with smaller fields, namely the ThornVine. Its Thorns were meant for arrows, but the industry yet had to grow. PurpleM fields were much larger now since it made more sense because of the presence of spider mages and the future potion trade with the Human Kingdom. If anything there was so much farmland now that calling this farm just large was incorrect, and there were no less than 20 000 spiders, 1 500 lamia and 1 000 sprigans. It needed a proper name and he decided to settle with something simple. ¡°MegaFarm.¡± He never was the most creative but the name seemed to be just right. And there was a new inhabitant in his MegaFarm, someone he didn¡¯t quite invite. Thousands and thousands of white squirrels were frolicking under the vines and on top of IronOaks. The Oaks grew no acorns so the little critters resorted to eating the TomGrape. At first, he mistook them for his spiders'' pets, but now witnessing the squirrel-explosion it was clear they were nothing more than pests. Well maybe, first he needed to teach the spiders to be responsible pet owners and take better care of squirrels so they don¡¯t overbreed in the future. However, the little critters were greedily feasting on his fruit reducing the overall supply. And that couldn¡¯t continue! The Lamia, of course, already had a solution. A bunch of skinned squirrels were roasting over the fire. The smell was inviting and it even made his stomach rumble. But slaughtering the squirrels en masse didn¡¯t quite seem appropriate, since they belonged to the Great Ancestral Tree. The Wisp had a way of controlling the forest animals so maybe it could just call all of the squirrels back into its forest. ¡°I¡¯ll go and ask.¡± He decided before the critters could double their numbers again. ¡°Shadow Walk.¡± He took a step but made a hundred, so in no time he¡¯ll reach the forest. [You have entered The Great Ancestral Tree.], the message greeted him sooner than expected. ¡°So the Tree expanded its domain again.¡± He wondered if it had anything to do with the souls he was trading in for Amber. Or if it was because the Wisp grew stronger. He broke the spell emerging into what once was an elf city. He couldn¡¯t help but notice that some of the spiders had made homes here. It was good that the Wisp was so welcoming. The wisp found him just as soon as he appeared. ¡°King of Spiders, have you brought us more centipede souls?¡± It pulsed expectantly. ¡°While I need the Amber as much as ever, I didn¡¯t come here for that. I¡¯m here for advice.¡± He explained. ¡°Go on.¡± The Wisp urged emitting an aura befitting an ancient being it was; allegedly full of wisdom. ¡°The squirrels, they took over my farm and are defiantly devouring my fruits. I¡¯m wondering if you could call them back.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± The wisp buzzed thoughtfully. ¡°I am aware of the numbers. And I cannot, they would starve here, or wreak havoc of similar proportion.¡± Eh?! Was this Wisp trying to sabotage his farm? However, it continued. ¡°The solution is simple. Just cull them to an acceptable number.¡± ¡°You¡¯re alright with me killing them?¡± He was genuinely surprised. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I be? What do you think we are?¡± The Wisp buzzed needlessly offended. ¡°Overpopulation can upset the balance of nature. We know the importance of the ¡®wolf¡¯. And we don¡¯t mind you eating squirrels for your sustenance.¡± It made a circle around the King¡¯s head. ¡°It¡¯s a part of nature.¡± ¡°You do understand that¡­ I don¡¯t even know. I¡¯ll have to cull most of them.¡± Indeed, unlike the spiders, he didn¡¯t like the squirrels much. ¡°And so be it.¡± The Wisp enlarged its body. ¡°Grow them, farm them, eat them. Just don¡¯t kill them needlessly, don¡¯t make them suffer. Let them roam and don¡¯t put them in cages like the Humans do with their stock. Some will die, but others will reproduce and take joy in being able to survive.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The wisp had an interesting take on life; not that he minded that. ¡°I guess that works for me. But just to be clear, you didn¡¯t send them to me?¡± He asked just to be sure. ¡°I understand your confusion.¡± The wisp shrunk. ¡°While I can direct the squirrels I do not possess them. Some do as they please and simply roamed into your jungle since it can support life and in abundance at that. And on that I congratulate you. You worked hard to transform The Dreaded Place.¡± ¡°I see, and thanks.¡± He took the given compliment to heart. The wisp wasn¡¯t done. ¡°I, and we as a forest, have to deal with invasive pests quite often, so I understand your concern. Actually, I¡¯m currently culling a particularly troublesome population of pests. They brought much trouble to us.¡± ¡°I see.¡± He repeated. ¡°You need any help?¡± ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be fitting to ask you for help since I left you to deal with your own infestation. We¡¯ll be alright, I petitioned the Drow to help.¡± The wisp pulsed. ¡°And if push comes to shove, the spiders will help, that is with your permission.¡± It was good to hear that the old allies, the Great Ancestral Tree and the Drow, had finally made amends. And also, ¡°The spiders don¡¯t need my permission, if they want to help they can.¡± He smiled waving it off as a small matter. ¡°Thank you King of Spiders. You¡¯re good Ally and a friend, the best I had in years.¡± The wizened tree was flattering him. ¡°I could say the same. After all, you did save my life.¡± The two talked some more about more pleasant subjects. ¡­ Sometime later, to the great joy of Lamia, the Hunt of the squirrels began. The critters were plump and fattened on TomGrape, actually they were quite obese. The squirrels were in so bad of a shape some struggled to even climb a tree. In other words, most didn¡¯t even have a chance leaving only the fittest and smartest to escape the grasp of Lamia. Why did he call Lamia and not the spiders? Because spiders didn¡¯t eat meat, and a few of them did keep the squirrels as pets, so he wouldn¡¯t ask them to do something that could be unpleasant. However, neither he nor Lamia had such reservations ¨C squirrels were food! And he was smart about it. To maintain the future supply he selectively allowed some of the obese squirrels to escape, and hopefully reproduce. The idea was that the obese squirrels would teach the ways of fatness to their children and so he would always have easy bundles of juicy meat ready to just be plucked from under the vines; no need to use arrows or climb a tree. Henceforth, the loss of the IceShard Bird Meat was replaced with the equally succulent Rodent Meat of a squirrel. And as a bonus he now had a huge stack of White Pelts, these were surprisingly soft and would make a superb coat. Something the humans might be interested perhaps, but considering the surrounding areas it was quite warm (with the exception of the Mountaintop). So maybe he would find a market somewhere colder. Regardless, the meat was stewed and spiced with Lamia spices. ¡°It does taste like chicken.¡± He remarked. ¡°A chicken what? Sounds-sss like a formidable monster.¡± Friendly Lamia shuddered at the name. ¡°Never mind.¡± It was interesting how this world had similar creatures but not all of them. Maybe the chicken and the cow were just not found yet. An unfamiliar drow approached the gathering of Lamia. No, the man was looking for him. ¡°King!¡± The drow bowed. ¡°I have a message.¡± He looked at him while thinking about what might be so urgent. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°The scorpion merchant has returned, the High Chief thought you want to see it.¡± Yeah, he did, but considering the distance wouldn¡¯t it take the messenger days just to deliver the message? ¡°Will it still be there?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± The messenger assured. ¡°Then come sit and take a bite with Lamia. An I¡¯ll be off. [Shadow Walk]¡± He disappeared. ¡­ Indeed the scorpion merchant and its companions were there. ¡°Greetings King.¡± It chittered. ¡°We¡¯ve waited long. But were made welcome.¡± By the looks of it, the Drow had set them up with improvised tents. And even fed and watered the merchants. Yes, the scorpions received VIP treatment because they brought him precious Glass Bottles. ¡°It''s good to hear that. May I see the wares?¡± ¡°Come. Here by the side.¡± The bottles were bound in bundles of ten by some sort of rope net, and stacked neatly on top of each other. Best of all there were a lot of them. ¡°The trip long and Dangerous. The payment is as Agreed, yes?¡± The merchant interlocked its scorpion fingers. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare to swindle you. You know I need those bottles.¡± He took out the blocks of Living Wood. ¡°I¡¯m now an Amazingly rich Scorpion.¡± It clapped its pincers. ¡°And I need more bottles.¡± ¡°More bottles more riches!¡± It chittered. ¡°The bottles will come. But you might not see me again.¡± Ah, too rich to keep making the dangerous trips. The scorpion will probably hire someone to do it in its place. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± It was, even if the scorpion was probably getting extremely wealthy from all the exotic wood, that wood had cost him nothing. ¡°But even when I would like you to visit now and then. To build the business relations and trust.¡± Or just to start diplomatic relations. ¡°Then. For future business, I will.¡± It chittered. ¡°One more thing. Is this made of Glem?¡± He showed an undead sword. ¡°Ka!!!¡± It chittered unpleasantly. ¡°Get this Nasty out of my sight. I won¡¯t buy.¡± ¡°No. I don¡¯t want you to. I just want to know if this was made out of that metal you trade.¡± ¡°Yes, it is made out of Glem. Ka!¡± It chittered. ¡°Been fouled with Nasty.¡± ¡°Yeah, I took it from the undead. I just want to melt this for metal, but our forges can¡¯t do it. Any idea why?¡± ¡°Not a forge master. A merchant.¡± It glared at the offensive weapon. ¡°Won¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Would you be able to find out? At a price of course.¡± ¡°The secrets are Expensive. And can¡¯t promise.¡± ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll pay.¡± He took more wood blocks out. ¡°Then I¡¯ll take the Nasty. Will ask the forge master in the Klan.¡± The scorpion agreed. ¡°Good, take your time.¡± ¡°But the King can. Buy the Glem for us. No need to melt Nasties.¡± The scorpion pointed out. Indeed he could, and he will, but for the sake of forging the weapons he wanted, he was still interested in the smithing process. He purchased a few other things from the scorpion merchants and bid them goodbye. In a show of bettering relations he even gave them an escort of spider warriors. That, and to find out exactly where they lived. The scorpions took the escort gladly, without even suspecting any ulterior motives. Yes, he wanted to infiltrate the scorpion desert. And what was it? ¨C the Twelve Klans and their cities; He was interested in them. They brewed some interesting drinks and had some interesting fruits. So there were goods to be traded and obtained aside from the mundane bottles and wood. And as fellow insect people, they shouldn¡¯t have a prejudice against his spiders. Hopefully, a new trade relationship will come to be. 69 - May the desert sun be kind to you The scorpion merchants descended into the Dark Tunnels. Their long trek has only just begun. The tunnels were narrow and the passages treacherous and infested with monsters. However, the scorpions were used to such dangers that¡¯s why they had their pincers at the ready. Cave centipedes dropped from the ceiling springing up an ambush. The Scorpion HeadMerchant chittered in displeasure, ¡°Ka!¡± It seems they have just been had this time. Or maybe not, the spiders jumped with their Fiery Axes at the ready. Of course, the scorpions did have all of this under their control, or pincers; just that spiders made it ever so much easier. ¡°Good meat. No need to waste.¡± The scorpion harvested the centipedes. They traversed through the Dark Tunnels never failing to persevere. Later, the darkness ended and they emerged into the familiar fluorescent glow. They were closer to the surface now and the Glowing Moss will illuminate the path. They went through tunnels, caves and caverns. It all seemed like an endless maze. They emerged into a large cave, once it was full of FungiWood, but now only stumps remained. ¡°We close to the Surface. To Scorpion Desert.¡± The merchant informed the spider escort. ¡°We¡¯ll be safe from here on.¡± In other words, the spiders didn¡¯t need to give them protection anymore. However, the spiders insisted on following. ¡°We want to visit the Scorpion City.¡± The lead spider chirped. The scorpion clacked its mandibles slightly confused. The merchant wasn¡¯t versed in the spider chirps but it did understand the Scorpion City part. ¡°They''re curious about our Klan.¡± It translated to its scorpion companions. ¡°I say they can come.¡± ¡°They¡¯ll be welcome.¡° ¡°Just another curiosity.¡± The last one chittered. The scorpion merchants all agreed. The HeadMerchant nodded, ¡°Come spiders, as thanks for protection we¡¯ll show you to our Klan. Scorpion City as you called it.¡± ¡°Scorpion City. Yes.¡± The spider clicked his mandibles in imitation of the scorpion dialect. As they were nearing the surface the scorpions stopped abruptly and began rubbing their chitin with a strange strong-smelling oil. The spiders looked at the ritual with curiosity. ¡°Sand Worm Repellent.¡± The scorpion explained. Yeah, if they wanted to come the spiders needed that too or else they would be just gobbled up by a massive Sand Worm. ¡°I¡¯ll sell it to you.¡± HeadMerchant chittered. Even if the spiders needed the protection they did drive a hard bargain, and continued to haggle; the scorpion could only respect that. With some effort, the scorpion wrangled some fruits off the spiders and handed in the Repellent. The spiders rubbed it in their chitin and light armour. Soon, they emerged out of the rocky hole and into the rocky patch of the desert. The sun was high and blasting the heat at full power. The rocky patch was short lived only and soon was drowned by the sea of sand. The spiders looked in amazement. They have never seen anything like this. No trees, no grass, no plants at all, only endless dunes of sand. [You have entered The Scorpion Desert], everyone was greeted with a message. The heat was blazing, but the light armour the spiders wore had Fire Resistance: Low, so it wasn¡¯t at all too bad. They spent days walking through the empty desert, it seemed endless. Strangely, at night when it was the coolest the scorpions refused to walk or make any sound at all. Thumper or something like that was mentioned a couple of times. Even if they were curious about this Thumper, the spiders chose to imitate the silence of the scorpions unwilling to risk it. Finally, they were met with a blurry and floating visage of a city in the distance, the heat distorted the image. ¡°Klan 6, our home.¡± The HeadMerchant informed proudly pointing at the structure with its hand. Klan 6 was surrounded by a massive and thick wall, the stone was bleached yellow blending well with the desert. In the wall, there was a massive hole and that hole was shut with a dark metallic disk. Well, not quite, because the disk was rolled partway open leaving a small gap for people to come in and out. There was a group of menacing scorpion guards protecting the entrance. They were easily double the size of the merchants, each having thick pincers able to cleave a man in half and probably snap even metal. One of the smaller guards approached the spiders and clacked its pincers threateningly. ¡°Where from? What business?¡± It chittered. ¡°People from the UnderMountain. Sightseeing? Maybe to buy some trinkets.¡± The scorpion merchant replied to the spiders. ¡°To buy? Then they can come.¡± It stepped back placated letting the group of spiders pass. The spiders walked through the hole and emerged into the city. The inside of the walls was densely packed by nested cubic structures, likely the houses of the scorpions. It was a bit of a mess, leaving the streets narrow and with many turns. ¡°Spiders, we must part ways. You¡¯ll find many things to buy here, may the desert sun be kind to you.¡± The Scorpion HeadMerchant chittered a farewell leaving the spiders to their own devices. The spiders chirped between themselves deciding to stay in one group so that not to get lost. And so they explored the city. No matter which turns or streets they took ultimately they all ended in the Scorpion Bazaar, as if designed to be like that on purpose. The bazaar was buzzing with activity. There were a lot of people doing trades here, its visitors weren¡¯t just the scorpions. The spiders wouldn¡¯t know, but there were Antmen, Armourbeatles, Scarabs and even some furry creatures of unknown origin. Naturally, the scorpions dominated the Scorpion Bazaar and the foreign visitors were only few in number. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. The spiders went from one stall to the other inspecting the wares. It was similar to what humans had: clothing, tools, armour, weapons, foodstuff and livestock. But different in a sense: the armour was made out of chitin, the tools odd with their purpose unknown and the weapons exotic. The livestock was mostly bugs or worms of different kinds, most were very large, others very small, and some plainly just decorative. Spiders used small blocks of wood to barter for the goods, it seems that the King was right, the wood was a desired commodity here, so they had no problem at purchasing and sampling the goods. Unfortunately, the spiders had no desire to taste the fat bugs and grubs. There was no way they could taste better than TomGrape. Despite their nature, they did try some bulbous fruits, but even those were only so-so. However, they were curious about where the scorpions were growing those, as far as they saw the spiders detected no farms during their journey or around the city. The decorative bugs were interesting. They either were coloured in one vivid colour or reflected a shiny rainbow when exposed to direct sunlight. There was even some jewellery made out of their shells here and there. Without knowing how to care for the bugs the spiders purchased the decorative shells knowing that the spider crafters will find a good use for them. Also, they ended up buying quite a lot of metal triangles known as Glem. It was many times cheaper here compared to the price the Scorpion Merchant was asking at the Drow Village. Unfortunately, they couldn''t find any empty Bottles, those must be made or purchased somewhere else. But they did buy a lot of other drinks. Somehow Humans found interest in Scorpion Spirits, like Grupp-Grupp; so they bought that knowing that it will sell at a high price in Human Capital. While the spiders and scorpions couldn¡¯t quite understand each other, buying stuff was still simple. A spider would point a spindly hand and the scorpion would chitter the name of the item. When they would go through the bartering, the spider had to judge the scorpion''s expressions like the tension in the mandibles and pincers, jitters of the eyes and tone of the chitters; the scorpions did their own reading to gauge what spiders could pay. In the end, they bought more spirits. Like Mashig, Blaberg¡¯amesh and Scrippity-Boop. Each smelled different and was very likely made out of different stuff. There were also potions. The spiders weren¡¯t interested in most because they were the general Hp, Mp or Stamina potions or even Fire Resistance Potions. They had the equivalents at home anyway. But they bought some of that Repellent since it seemed to be important. Later they casually bought some other random stuff and trinkets which picked their interest, like those merchant backpacks, the ones half shell half cloth. They bought those to put all the stuff in, and plus the large shells which turned out to be Sand Crab Shell. While at it they further tested the idea that the wood was the most valuable. They tried bartering with metals, fruits and cloth, they even tried gold and gems, but indeed it was the wood which was the most priced. Especially wood with special properties, namely IronOak and LivingWood. The scorpions in general didn¡¯t seem too bothered by the spiders'' presence, it was the other visitors who displayed the most curiosity. The large group of spiders made the visitors to chatter and chitter wondering exactly where such creatures had come from. But few dared to approach and even if they did the spiders couldn¡¯t understand what they were saying. Later, just after a spider tried trading with gold coins a furry thing approached the spider. It was short and half hidden under a brown cloak, massive furry ears poked out of the hood. It was pointing at the human gold coin the spider tried to peddle just minutes ago. Interestingly, the scorpions didn¡¯t value gold at all, but this creature was different. Just to tease the furry critter the spider showed it a large pouch filled with nothing but gold. The critter began jumping enthusiastically and dragging the spider by the hand. ¡°Maybe. It has. A deal. For us?¡± A spider chirped it to his friends. The spiders followed the cloaked fuzzball as a group. The entire time, ever so slightly out of sight, the Scorpion HeadMerchant was shadowing the spiders. Yes, he hadn''t quite left the spiders on their own. He was observing the spiders with his own two beady black eyes and taking notes diligently. He was conducting a study of his own, seeking the items the spiders found most value in. ¡°Ke-Ke-Ke.¡± The scorpion chittered happily. ¡°Now I know what they desire.¡± Now he¡¯ll be able to bring these items to the spiders and sell them for profit. There was profit in empty bottles, but there could even be more profit. As he already predicted they wanted more Glem, but the purchase of decorative shells was a surprise. He¡¯ll make sure to send them the next time he made a trade caravan. Ever so suddenly, a fuzzy Fennec jumped right under the scorpion. ¡°Hey, hey, buy this!¡± It was showing him a trinket of no interest. ¡°Scram you Fuzzball.¡± The scorpion clapped at the face of the Fennec wishing it to disappear. ¡°Ka! Scorching sun.¡± It cursed. ¡°The spiders. They disappeared.¡± It lost sight of them. The spiders were escorted further away from the Bazaar by the cloaked fuzzy creature. ¡°There is it taking us?¡± A spider wondered out loud. They stopped by a narrow hole. It was quite small. The fuzzball darted into the hole and then back out. It yipped something dragging the spider by the arm. ¡°It wants us. To come. I think.¡± The spider chirped. One by one the spiders ever so barely squeeze through the hole, a curtain was shut right behind them. ¡°Oh, this is. Like a cave.¡± The space was much larger than the hole would make one to think. They emerged into a carved spacious cavern. It looked like it was the den of these creatures. ¡°Why did it. Bring us here?¡± One had to wonder. The fuzzy critter dragged a spider to a larger gathering of its kin. ¡°They have. Stalls here?¡± All of the spiders were surprised. This was like a secret market, and this one was staffed by creatures known as Fennec. They were short and fuzzy-furred people with enormously large ears poking out of their otherwise cloaked and hooded forms. On the floor, there was a long carpet, and on the carpet were various items. They mostly were various monster parts. ¡°Isn¡¯t this¡­¡± The spider chirped with worry. ¡°A scorpion man claw?¡± It was ghastly. ¡°I found. Something interesting. Sand Worm Scale.¡± The spiders left the morbid item section to look at something more promising. ¡°Thumper Leather.¡±, ¡°Thumper Fang.¡±, they found more high-grade monster parts. ¡°Desert Wyrm Egg?!¡± The spider chirped in alarm. The Fennec slapped the spider¡¯s hand and yipped protectively clutching back the egg. ¡°Why aren¡¯t they. Selling these. In the market?¡± A question was raised. They looked at the morbid section of the wares and the concussion was obvious. It wasn¡¯t quite legal. However, they couldn¡¯t just pass the samples like these. They tried buying it with wood blocks, but Fennec just frowned and drooped their ears at that. ¡°Might it be¡­ Gold?¡± A spider tried and the fuzzball merchant perked up instantly. Too bad they didn¡¯t bring much gold, so they couldn¡¯t buy as much as they wanted. However, even with scarce purchases the cloaked furries seemed ecstatic. They showed the gold giddily to their friends and presumably family members. They were positively happy at the trade. The spiders saw what they wanted and turned to leave; it was time to return. They walked back to the narrow hole but the small critter stopped them and guided them to an opposing direction. They were led to a cluttered dead end, leaving spiders confused. The Fennec strained and pushed a large pot out of the way revealing another hole. It jumped in it and waved its paws to follow. The spiders fit but barely so. ¡°Another exit?¡± A spider chirped hopefully. The tunnel was straight and had jagged walls, a sign of the use of tools to dig it out. Ever so often there would be a small glowing stone slotted in the ceiling to illuminate otherwise dark passage. It took a while but they emerged. ¡°We¡¯re out.¡± A spider poked his head into the air. The sky was filled with reds, the sun was descending. They were just outside the walls of Klan 6, it seems that the furry creatures had an entrance of their own. The fennec waved its paw again said the already familiar phrase of, ¡°May the desert sun be kind to you,¡± and disappeared back into the hole. The spiders did the equivalent of a spider shrug, they didn¡¯t expect the whole shopping spree to go in this direction, but anyway, they¡¯d seen enough. It was time to come back home and report. 69.3 - Dastardly DEVILISH but Potentially MAGNIFICENT Not too far away from the Merchant Square, there was a wooden shop. The structure was as old as the City itself. Just above the sturdy doors, there was a red shield and in its middle there was a drawing of a potion. Just another alchemy shop selling potions, but not quite. For a time the alchemy shop used to be famous and renowned, but that was before the Crimson Alchemist¡¯s death. At the moment it was his daughter who was making the potions there, while she was good, very good, she wasn¡¯t an Alchemy Master, not yet. The father died when an experiment went terribly wrong; she was only eleven at the time. At that time she was present and only barely escaped the explosion. The unfortunate accident scarred her physically, magical fire melted the right side of her face, but the mental scars were much deeper. Despite the unfortunate events, none of it broke her strong spirit. Time passed and she persevered, she raised the quality of her craft slowly restoring the previous glory that came with the Crimson Alchemist name. Not too long ago a servant had brought her a message. It was written on a fancy parchment with fancy writing and laced with perfume. ¡°If only this could be a love letter, ah.¡± She sighed knowing that this was yet another call for business. She started reading, and indeed it was. Some nobles required her expertise to identify the potions and set a fair price on them. A task most easy for the experienced alchemist that she was, but the pay was good. ¡°Ah¡­¡± She sighed again, not too keen on the prospect of human interaction, but she needed that money. She wrote another letter telling the noble that she will accomplish the request today in the evening and handed it to one of her servants. Well, then preparations are in order, ¡°I need to get ready.¡± She opened a decorated metal box brimming full with powders, pastes and dyes, no this wasn¡¯t alchemy stuff it was just make-up. ¡­ A fine dress adored her sleek figure. The fabric was light and smooth as the kiss of first love, and best of all it was vivid blue like a clear midsummer sky. It suited her quite well, she¡¯ll make sure to write a letter of thanks to the tailor; but later. Yet again she appraised her form in the mirror and the dress which accompanied her curves so well. The blue cloth was nowadays all the rage among the noble ladies. And the designs were going wild trying to outdo each other. She gave another spin while looking at the mirror. ¡°Audaciously MAGNIFICENT¡±. She couldn¡¯t get enough. The design and the fabric were so splendid that that scar on her face didn¡¯t feel like it will be a problem, not at all. ¡°Daddy, aren¡¯t I beautiful?¡± She spoke towards the opened closet. Inside the closet, there was a preserved body, much like a mummy ¨C dried and desiccated. The skeletal remains, of course, couldn¡¯t quite reply so ¡®Daddy¡¯ remained peeking at her just from inside the closet. ¡°Ehem¡±, she snorted. ¡°What do you know about fashion?¡± She asked offended. ¡°You¡¯re pretty much a fossil!¡±. She stopped looking at the preserved remains, Daddy never knew how to compliment a woman, so instead she smiled back at the mirror. ¡°And it is enchanted.¡± She ran the hem of the skirt between her fingers. ¡°With Magical Resistance no less. And Reinforced? How did they manage to cram that on such fine cloth is a MYSTERY! But I guess it is part of a charm.¡± She spun again and the blue cloth glowed purple ever so slightly. ¡°ENCHANTED! Ha-ha.¡± She liked what she saw, ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡± ... At the noble¡¯s house, she was presented with crates of potions. ¡°Lady Crimson, would you be so kind and asses the grade of these potions.¡± An elderly man inquired politely. The young noble, the one who invited her here, stood by his grandfather idly and just kept glaring at her scar. How rude! ¡°Of course, that¡¯s why I¡¯m here.¡± She grabbed a random potion using [Identify] on it. ¡°Fertility Potion?¡± She raised an eyebrow, uncorked the flask and sipped at it. ¡°Oh my¡­¡± It made her mind go pink. ¡°Has the old master tried this?¡± She looked at the ageing father. He shook his head. ¡°Then you should, the mistress will be most pleased. I can assure you.¡± ¡°Do you think this will sell well?¡± A young noble asked anxiously. ¡°A peculiar potion like this?¡± She looked at the stone flask. ¡°With the right marketing, sure.¡± She scribbled her evaluation and effect of the potion on the parchment. ¡°These are the effects and for the price¡­¡± She added a number to the parchment. ¡°That is my estimation, but you should go for a slightly smaller price.¡± She stamped it with her Crimson Alchemist stamp indicating it as ¡®approved for sale and consumption¡¯. The nobles looked at the identification parchment and read the description of effects. The young noble had developed a slight blush. ¡°Oh, my mistress will indeed enjoy something like this. He-he.¡± The elderly noble had an unsightly facial expression. ¡°Well then, let me go through the rest of the potions.¡± She didn¡¯t need to identify each and every one of the potions, only the different varieties. There were HP, Mana, Resistance potions and such and so. ¡°So the Fertility Potion is the most interesting.¡± She tapped at the stone flask. ¡°Where did you get them from? They look like someone brewed them in the stable, but aren¡¯t too bad in their purity.¡± After all, she didn¡¯t build much of Toxicity. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°I have an ongoing order with the Lamia Queen.¡± A young noble smiled proudly. ¡°Eh?¡± ¡°The most beautiful and dashing woman I¡¯ve ever seen. You must have heard the rumours, no?¡± She was still mighty confused. ¡°I don¡¯t know any alchemist with a name like that, a bit too AUDACIOUS to call herself a Queen, don¡¯t you think? For a wannabe alchemist that is.¡± The potions weren¡¯t that good... The young noble clutched his fingers into fists. ¡°How da¡­¡± Luckily, the father grabbed the young noble by his shoulders, tightened his grasp to reprimand the fool and spoke, ¡°Queen Lamia is a wife for the King of Spiders, surely you heard about him.¡± ¡°Oh! The Gala.¡± She heard about that, she even was invited, but never had any desire to visit something with such a large crowd and with so many eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve been too busy to catch up with saucy rumours, but yes now I get the gist of it.¡± So the potions came from spiders¡­ She had seen one of them in a random passing. Formidable monsters; she would love to harvest one for alchemical ingredients, but unfortunately the King Aurellius II edict was a well-known fact. Spiders must not be harmed or else! ¡°Well then, why doesn¡¯t our Lady Crimson stay for dinner and catch up with all the saucy rumours? My wife knows a few.¡± She tapped on the desk considering it. ¡°Why not.¡± She was tired of the usual meals her discounted cook was cooking anyway. Soon she found herself seated at the overly large table. Oh, these nobles do love to show off. The young noble kept staring at the bad side of her face. The scoundrel! But the old master and his wife (the mistress) were different, polite and respectful. It made sense that they were her Daddy''s friends; good people really. The mistress indeed was full of rumours and gossip. She wasn¡¯t much into those things, but it was good to stay informed. So she listened nodding ever so faintly. Finally, the starter meal arrived. And she was surprised, it was just some cut fruit on a platter. Did she overestimate the nobles? She expected something fancier. ¡°Lady Crimson, what is this glare and raised eyebrow about?¡± The Mistress half-scolded half-joked. ¡°I assure you, these are good. Come on, give it a try.¡± She gave a cautious nibble and was left pleasantly surprised. ¡°So sweet. Delectably DELICIOUS!¡± The old noble laughed, ¡±Yes. You won¡¯t believe that this is meant for peasants.¡± ¡°Eh?¡± She was left dumbfounded for the second time. The mistress began explaining. ¡°The spiders are selling them dirt-cheap at the market.¡± ¡°A solution for the city¡¯s food problem.¡± Yes, she heard about the looming famine, and herself had eaten much less and much less fancy; partly a reason why she was here at the noble¡¯s table. She continued munching on the fruit, one of her passive alchemist skills kicked in and her eyes went big. ¡°Wait, this is¡­¡± She started. ¡°What?¡± The nobles looked. This was a magical fruit she was eating, a potential alchemy ingredient. It can¡¯t be cheap! How come is this meant for peasants? ¡°TomGrape.¡± She spoke the name after the skill identified the fruit. ¡°Oh, yes it is. Did the Lady use her skill to identify it?¡± She nodded. ¡°Unnecessary. Isn¡¯t this obvious?¡± The young noble crossed his hands unimpressed. ¡°You don¡¯t mind if I take a few home, for snacks that is?¡± ¡°Sure help yourself¡­ Oh, look the main meal is here!¡± The mistress clapped her hands. ¡­ Daughter like father, every bit Crimson Alchemist. Well, maybe not as good as a deceased Alchemy Master, but still quite good. She was already at home sitting at the desk, on it was a sack of coins and a plate of fruits. Allegedly a peasant staple, TomGrape it was ¨C she rolled it in her palm. An alchemical investigation was in order. ¡°Round bulbous yellow... Skin thin and leathery... *Hamph*¡± She bit into the exotic fruit again. ¡°Sweet and juicy! But I know this already...¡± She waited for the passive skill. ¡°Yes, the dastardly thing is a magical fruit!¡± And no one sane would sell magical fruits at dirt cheap prices. Or even use it to feed the masses. It just didn¡¯t make sense. ¡°Either they¡¯re stupid, or something else is going on.¡± She became suspicious of the fruit. ¡°Daddy! She opened the closet. ¡°I must investigate this MYSTERY!¡± She reached past the skeleton grabbing the thick leather coat, brimmed hat, and glasses. No, she won¡¯t be playing a detective, this was just her work clothes. And yes she is going to her alchemy workshop. ¡°I wonder what properties are hidden in this orbous DECEIVER of the poor.¡± She stared at the mysterious TomGrape, ¡°Don¡¯t you dare explode on me. I won¡¯t end up like Daddy!¡± she patted the thick leather coat, and there was a reason she had it made so thick. ¡°We cut this here¡­ From that in this¡­ Stir stir stir... And oomph! [Concentrate].¡± She condensed the pulped fruit, expressing its lenient alchemical properties. With the concentrated slurry her other skill will help to identify the fruit¡¯s true potential. A message floating in her mind informed her of the possibilities. ¡°Fertility Potion¡±, she tapped her thick goggles, ¡°Potion of Satiety¡±, she took them off. ¡°FleshMender Potion.¡± The last one was the most powerful and hardest to achieve. ¡°My-my, isn¡¯t it quite something? I know the first already, the second is just boring. But the third...¡± Just knowing the possibilities didn¡¯t guarantee that she will be able to successfully achieve them, if the worst comes to be the experimental potion could explode as it did for Daddy, but she was willing to risk it. ¡°Try I will. I am the Crimson Alchemist! Daddy watch over me!¡± She upped the flame on her alchemical burner evaporating the concentrated TomGrape Slurry, and then funnelled it through Alchemical Water and into a condenser. This was only the first step in a list of many. She¡¯ll need to utilise most of her intricate equipment and quite a few expensive catalysts, and of course, she won¡¯t stop short of perfection. And after quite a while, days even... She wiped her sooty and grimy goggles off. ¡°Look Dady, I have it! A brand new potion, uncatalogued and previously unseen.¡± She lifted the seated skeletal remains up giving him a big hug. ¡°Are you proud? I know you are!¡± The bones clacked as they danced spinning on the workshop floor. ¡°But let¡¯s not get distracted,¡± She seated Daddy back to his chair. ¡°let¡¯s give it a try.¡± Knowingly and without restrain she slashed yet another cut on her wrist with one of her prep knives; blood poured out of the shallow slash. ¡°On the wound or in my mouth?¡± She stopped to wonder but only for a second. ¡°You¡¯re right Daddy, taste test first!¡± It wasn¡¯t just a taste, she gulped the whole thing down. ¡°Hmm uncannily sweet and... [Toxicity +10].¡± She began to dry heave and cough, and then scream in pain as if her entire body was being rearranged from inside out. That should not have happened because she had skills against poisons and other negative effects of potions. Worse, as painful as it was, aside from her mouth and eyes the rest of her body felt frozen as if paralyzed. IMPOSSIBLE! She made sure there were no impurities, and the skills should have negated the negative side effects; they always did unless¡­ This was meant to be. It felt like an hour but the paralysis and debilitating pain didn¡¯t last more than a minute. ¡°And I am... Fine.¡± She was relieved, refreshed even. She looked at the now truly mended wrist. No not just a cut she had just made, but also the signs and scars of other cuts, the ones she¡¯d made in her past, were also all gone. ¡°Illusion, a trick on my mind!¡± This was simply impossible. Yes healing potions existed, and yes they healed injuries like these too. But quick magical healing still left scars, and a healing potion couldn¡¯t cure an old scar or trauma of the tissue. Especially scars left by magic ¨C those were known to be incurable. ¡°But this somehow...¡± It was able to undo what no normal healing potion could. ¡°Daddy, this is... Unexpectedly MAGNIFICENT!¡± She grabbed the skeleton again and carried it back to her room and to the clothes closet. On the closet¡¯s door, on that mirror, she saw her reflection; the nasty scar on her face was slightly smaller. Shrunken and healed only if by a millimetre, but however small she couldn¡¯t not notice a change so significant. ¡°This is REVOLUTIONARY!¡± Supposedly a magical scar like that would never mend and heal, she had much trouble with it ever since¡­ But now here was proof it could be healed, and treated if ever so slightly. ¡°And they''re selling that to... Everyone.¡± She gazed upon a few remaining TomGrapes on her desk. ¡°They must know of the fruit¡¯s potential. They know! And I can¡¯t be the only one...¡± She tried to wrap her head around this. ¡°No this must be some kind of a test. I must meet those spider merchants myself. I must!¡± She collected her things and rushed to the Merchant Square. 69.6 - Connoisseurs of Art The days of food rationing and looming famine were over, well not quite, so even now there was an orderly line by the TomGrape stall. The stall stood out above the rest, an unsuspecting passer by would think that this stall sells something very expensive, something only the richest could afford, but a quick glance at the clientele would prove otherwise. The fruits sold here were ever so popular, ever so affordable, ever so tasty, and the best of it was that spiders never seemed to run out. A spider dressed in his iconic blue merchant robes was taking the coins in and handing the fruits out. A wide and mandibled spidery smile was plastered on his face; customer service at its best. ¡°Enjoy!¡± The spider chirped at a servant girl and handed out a noble''s parcel. Yes, even the nobles were buying these fruits, but through proxy. Unfortunately, they wouldn''t come themselves, something the spider merchant found quite odd. He just couldn¡¯t figure out Why. He handed another bundle of fruits and then, just so, a sight of a young woman approaching caught the attention of one of his four eyes. She was ignoring the orderly line. The young woman was well dressed, there wasn¡¯t even a speck of dust on her fine dress. Her long red hair was tied into a neat ponytail. Her face had an expression of determination and her green eyes were locked on him. A fine woman with a fine dress! The dress was made out of Blue Cloth and the spider appreciated the fabric on her body. He knew that if his friends, the spider crafters, could see it they would be very happy now. However, that woman did ignore the orderly line. She was out of order! He noticed that there was a strange paradox with humans: the better dressed they were, the less dirt they had, the more rude they were, the more likely to ignore the rule of lining up; despite the orderly appearance they liked to spread disorder. ¡°Agent of Chaos!¡± Spider chirped putting his hand on the peacekeeping stick. ¡°Join the line!¡± He cautioned. The woman ignored the warning and continued approaching the stall defiantly. Her eyes darted up and down, taking the sight of him. ¡°I just want to talk.¡± There was tension in her voice. ¡°Matters not. Join the line with the rest.¡± He raised the stick. She was stopping the line so people next to her began to mumble, some even booed at the rude woman. ¡°It¡¯s about the fruit.¡± Enough was enough. He swung the stick bonking the rude woman on her head. ¡°Join the line!¡± ¡°At the back of the queue!¡± A peasant woman shouted angrily. ¡°Bloody nobles, thinking they''re better than us.¡± A man behind her vented. The nicely dressed woman rubbed the top of her head and joined the line this time obediently. ¡°That¡¯s right. Order is good.¡± He chirped. The line moved quickly and soon it was the young woman''s turn. ¡°I want to speak about this.¡± She pointed at the fruit. ¡°I¡¯m an alchemist, and I know what this is.¡± She tapped at the TomGrape. ¡°I know the SECRET of your fruits.¡± Ah, she was one of those¡­ The spider merchant nodded sagely. A troublemaker, here to confuse him with fancy human speak. ¡°Agent of Chaos. Put your complaints. To the Spider Embassy.¡± He pointed at the newly erected building. He met a few troublemakers in his short stay here, and he knew of their tactics, so he won¡¯t be repeating himself twice; he set his hand on the peacekeeping stick again. ¡°I see. Thank you.¡± She turned and began walking towards the building. The threat of the stick must have reformed the young woman. He nodded happy with the quick resolution. The orderly line continued moving smoothly as it should. ¡­ She looked at the alien structure, neither house nor nest, a mixture of the two. Its circular walls were made out of some chiselled white wood, but instead of nails, some other techniques were used, and the domed roof was purple and made out of triangular tiles resembling large leaves. An extravagant sight, unlike anything she had seen before. ¡°Just¡­ STRANGE.¡± She looked at the large wooden sign. The sign was human-made, and similar to the sign she had at her shop but¡­ It depicted a black hexagon and in its middle were four golden orbs. ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± It was a bit cryptic. Regardless, she walked towards the circular hole. Unusually, the entrance had no doors and only a curtain was blocking her way. She parted the curtain poking her head in. ¡°Hello?¡± ¡°Hello!¡± A spider chirped from behind a counter. It looked identical to the one in the market, but she hoped that this one will have a better attitude. ¡°Here for business. Or to complain.¡± It chirped happily. She picked a subtle cue: when it mentioned ¡®complaint¡¯ it put its spindly hand on an already familiar stick. ¡°Business, I guess.¡± The spider clacked its mandibles happily and moved the hand away from the stick. ¡°I¡¯ll Book. An appointment.¡± It chirped scribbling some weird symbols on a vellum parchment. Both the vellum and the ink picked her interest, but she wasn¡¯t here for that. ¡°Please, can it be booked today?¡± She asked hopefully. ¡°It can.¡± The spider crossed its scribbles. ¡°It can be now.¡± It looked at her unblinking with all of its four eyes. She would love to harvest them for the alchemical ingredients, but she wasn¡¯t here for that. ¡°That would be positively SPlENDID.¡± She smiled at the spider. ¡°SPLENDID.¡± It mimicked but in a distorted spidery chirp. ¡°SplenDid, splendid¡­¡± It wrote something again. ¡°In that room. Lord G Bling will be. With you soon.¡± It pointed with its free hand. Lord G Bling? An interesting title for a spider. But maybe it was just how things worked with the spiders, so she didn¡¯t think about it too much. Hence, she went through another circular hole. The room was large and dim because it had no windows, but it was lit ever so slightly, the light was coming from some peculiar magical lantern. The lantern was set on a white wood pole right beside the table and two opposing chairs. Only the middle of the room was lit the rest was just darkness and shadows. The lone set of furniture in an overly large and dark room gave her a sense of that something wasn¡¯t just quite right; an uncanny feeling. Moreover, the human furniture didn¡¯t look like it belonged in this otherwise spidery room; out of place. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Despite the anxiety the curiosity won her over, so she went in mostly just to inspect the magical lantern. The flame burned bright and hot, but there was no smoke. ¡°It¡¯s not running on magic.¡± Her previous guess was wrong. ¡°It runs on oil? Then the oil itself must have elemental Fire properties.¡± She tried opening a latch on the lantern to further inspect the potentially alchemical ingredient. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s a bit fiddly.¡± She was unfamiliar with the design so it took her a good while to figure out the latch and the container holding the oil. ¡°Pfff! Pfff!¡± She was blowing trying to put the flame out. She needed it out to Identify the oil. ¡°So stubborn.¡± It was not working. She turned left and right, inspecting the room again. There was no one here but her and the shadows. ¡°Extinguish.¡± She cast a specialised spell to kill alchemical fires. ¡°Ha, it worked.¡± That meant that the oil indeed had elemental Fire properties. The room was cast in darkness, an utter and complete darkness. And only then did she realise that she might have done something quite wrong. However¡­ ¡°I might as well,¡± unafraid of burning herself she stuck her finger in the fuel container. ¡°[Identify].¡± She read the message which just popped in her mind. ¡°Eh? Eh-eh-eh? What is a FireAgave?¡± She was unfamiliar with the plant. ¡°Unfamiliar EXOTIC!¡± She was excited at the discovery. ¡°A red and prickly plant. We grow it for Red Cloth and FireAgave Juice.¡± A creaking voice which didn¡¯t sound human at all replied. ¡°Ahhh!¡± She shouted hearing only half of the reply. Obviously, the voice had scared her. ¡°I didn¡¯t see or hear you coming.¡± ¡°I was here all along. Only in the shadows.¡± A voice informed. Okay! Now she was really scared. She didn¡¯t know how the owner of that voice looked so her imagination was running a bit too wild. ¡°S¡­ so¡­ some light would be good.¡± She stuttered regretting extinguishing the lantern. ¡°[Dark Flame]¡± The voice creaked again. A purple flame burst into life right between the two. There wasn¡¯t much of said light but just enough to see the one who cast the spell. A flame danced atop a set of four long and spindly obsidian fingers. Not a human hand and not a human caster. Obviously, it was a monstrous spider. She half expected that, but even then, ¡°Ahhh!¡± She screamed for the second time trying to process the sight. Who wouldn¡¯t be scared by that spooky spidery face, the hair, the mandibles, the eyes and so and such!? It was so large and so imposing, and it radiated that aura of Dark magic. ¡°Give me a second.¡± She took a moment to calm down. Yes, the spidery visage was unsightly, but she wasn¡¯t a hypocrite and her scared face wasn¡¯t easy on the eyes either. ¡°Let''s start over.¡± She took a fresh breath of air. ¡°I¡¯m Lady Crimson, daughter of Crimson Alchemist, owner of the shop by the same name.¡± ¡°My pleasure, Lady Crimson. I¡¯m Lord G Bling, leader of the spider merchants, subject to the King of Spiders, and the one responsible for spider business here.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you, Lord G Bling.¡± She offered her hand pondering the curious name of the spider once again. A spidery hand took hers, it was neither cold nor hot, and the grip was light. The spider lowered his head and touched the top of her hand with mandibles as if to kiss it. ¡°Oh my¡­¡± She didn¡¯t quite expect that. The spider rose jiggling all of his jewellery while doing so. Indeed, it might be the reason for its name, because there was more jewellery than spider skin. Chains, necklaces and bracelets, all sparkling in dark flame ¨C the golden sheen ever so splendid. But that wasn¡¯t what really caught her eye. In the other hand of this spider there was a familiar book by the name of ¡®Demon Lord and Me.¡¯ ¨C a well-known work of fiction, the one she had read so many times. The surprise came because this book was quite raunchy and tailored for young maidens with certain inclinations. Men wouldn¡¯t want to read anything remotely like that. So why did this spider¡­ The book had sidetracked her, so ¡°Ehem¡±, she cleared her throat and her mind. ¡°I¡¯m here for business.¡± ¡°Buy or sell?¡± It chirped simply closing the book and setting it on an otherwise empty table. ¡°Neither?¡± The spider blinked at her once with one set of its eyes and twice with another. She knew that an explanation was in order. ¡°I know that the TomGrape is a magical fruit. And I know that it is an ingredient for FleshMender Potion. I won¡¯t ask why you are doing this, and selling something so precious cheaply, but¡­¡± She looked at the extinguished lantern realising something. ¡°The fruits are only the tip of the proverbial tail of the dragon! There are more ingredients just as WONDERFUL as TomGrape and maybe even more so, no?¡± With this she lost her previous trail of thought. ¡°FleshMender Potion?¡± It didn¡¯t reply but chirped a question instead. ¡°Of course, you would want proof.¡± She put the potion on the table. ¡°Here it is.¡± The spider swirled and tapped, and even turned the glass bottle upside down. One of the more peculiar methods of identification she has seen so far; but the spider did what the spider had to, or so she guessed. Then the spider uncorked the bottle and sucked the contents out. Woosh* the liquid went into its mouth, gone in a blink of an eye. ¡°Ah! The toxicity might be too high compared to the ones you can make.¡± After all, It all depended on Alchemy mastery. ¡°It might hit you a bit too hard.¡± She gave her warning late. The spider froze but only for a minute and then it spoke. ¡°Interesting. You made this?¡± It reverted to spider speak she was more used to; not creaky but chirpy and with breaks in the middle of the sentence. ¡°So do I pass the test? Or is there another?¡± ¡°You did well with the TomGrape, our King would be impressed, so we¡¯ll buy from you.¡± Spider chirped with the unspider-like eloquence back in its tongue. ¡°Buy? Oh, so you can¡¯t quite make it yourselves and were just looking for a clever alchemist.¡± She guessed. ¡°Devilishly CUNNING!¡± She raised her index finger high. ¡°Devilishly?¡± Spider clacked its mandibles. ¡°No devilish, but sometimes cunning, yes. You mentioned a test,¡± he produced a purple fruit, ¡°PurpleM, for you.¡± ¡°I knew you had more! And I knew you would test me further.¡± She lifted the bag of purple fruits already excited about the new potions she could make. ¡°I¡¯ll get brewing straight away!¡± ¡°Well then, we¡¯ll await your potions.¡± The spider turned into a shadow and disappeared, and with that so did its Dark Flame. ¡°Hey, too dark!¡± She complained disliking being left in a pitch-dark room. ¡°Apologies.¡± Fire burst back into the lantern. ¡°I saw you play with it. You can take the Lantern, home.¡± A voice spoke out of the shadows. She could hear a faint turning of the pages. Was it back to reading? She was curious, but there was another matter, ¡°I only want the oil, but thanks, I¡¯ll take the Lantern. It looks like a SUPERBLY useful contraption.¡± Indeed, she could use that at her workshop. The light was stronger than the usual candlelight. ¡°Then, I¡¯ll send you the Juice too.¡± How generous! And yes, it was strange how this was juice and not oil. She wanted to experiment with that liquid, maybe she could improve the alchemical fire she was using at the workshop. But first, some courtesy was in order. ¡°MYGHTY kind of you, Lord G Bling.¡± She looked at a random shadowy corner. ¡°Thanks again.¡± She began walking towards the exit while holding the lantern. Yet, something was still bugging her, ¡°That book you¡¯re reading.¡± She turned to look at shadows. ¡±Do you enjoy it?¡± ¡°Very much so, yes.¡± The voice chirped from one of the shadowy corners. ¡°We don¡¯t have anything like this in the Spider Kingdom.¡± It chirped from another corner entirely. Hmm¡­ Perhaps, this spider is a fellow connoisseur of real ART, then, ¡°I have a few books like that in my study.¡± Well, actually under the bed. ¡°Would you be interested?¡± ¡°YES!¡± Spider chirped so hard she could hear the mandibles clack. ¡°Then I¡¯ll send you my personal favourites: ¡®Master, be rough with me.¡¯ and just as good ¡®L in my Lord as L in my Love¡¯.¡± Those two were the best of the best, a must-have under every young maidens bed. ¡°Mighty kind of you, Lady Crimson. I can¡¯t wait already.¡± The voice chirped giddily. ¡°Really? Well then, I¡¯ll send them as soon as I¡¯m at home.¡± ¡°Please do!¡± She smiled at the shadows, that spider fellow went up in her mind quite a bit. A scary fellow, yes, but no one who liked ¡®Demon Lord and Me¡¯ could be a bad person; or at least she thought so. She walked ever so faster, she too was giddy at the gift she received. After all, she loved brewing potions just as much as she loved reading risky books. ¡°What are your secrets PurpleM, hmm? I¡¯ll strip you bare and expose them under my hot and searing flame!¡± Oh no, she said that out loud. She looked at the spider attendant at the desk. It was just scribbling in its parchment. ¡°Phew, it doesn¡¯t look like I¡¯ve been heard.¡± Regardless, she covered her face slightly out of embarrassment. And so, she walked even faster urging herself to get back to the workshop as soon as possible and before another line like that escaped her mouth. ¡®I¡¯ll peel you, I¡¯ll boil you, I¡¯ll love you with my flame. I¡¯ll make you squirm and condense. I¡¯ll make you to submit under my will and I.. and I¡­¡¯ her mind was going wild already. 69.9 - Triple Conspiracy Somewhere in a room without a light, and under a big banner depicting a hand, there numerous hooded figures had gathered. A hooded woman snickered, ¡°They took the bait all, line and sinker.¡± She unfurled a piece of worn parchment and began to read: ===== To all and every, subjects of the Fertile Kingdom, there is an edict for you all. The Aurelian Kingdom had grown corrupt. So corrupt in fact that they opened their gates to monsters, wicked and twisted spiders, no doubt warriors of the Demon Lord. All must know that King Aurelius II has sold his people and is conspiring with the Demon Lord to strike at us all. How can we, noble and just people of the Fertile Kingdom allow such evil? ¨C We cannot! The Aurelian Kingdom needs to be liberated from the dark influence and the monsters purged back to the Evil Forest. We must do so before the corruption spreads ever further. In the name of that which is good, and in the name of the Holy Emperor, we declare WAR. ¡­ ===== She stopped reading. ¡°And so it is. They made the first move.¡± Another woman had a conflicted face behind the hood. ¡°They did invoke the name of the Holy Emperor, should we worry?¡± ¡°Why? Haven''t we been sending gifts to the Holy Emperor? The cloth which is light and fine, extravagant and vivid blue, the one which is the most expensive. And jars of the succulent gelatinous dessert, the kind with unrivalled sweetness, a thing that is so hard to obtain, and more and else. I reckon we¡¯re fine!¡± A fat man barely fitting into his cloak replied. Another cloaked figure spoke. ¡°And I¡¯ve been the one delivering all that, without taste testing might I add.¡± He glared at the fat magus. ¡°I know that Emperor is busy and since we¡¯ve paid all of our imperial tithes and taxes the Holiness isn¡¯t too bothered by what happens at the frontier kingdoms, and who fights with who. So long as there is a King under the Holy Empire ¨C all is fine. I can assure you.¡± He mollified the concerned magus further. The woman holding the parchment spoke again. ¡°There is nothing to worry about at all. We¡¯ve been preparing, we¡¯ll win this.¡± She crumpled the parchment and set it ablaze with a spell illuminating the otherwise dark room. A man stepped forward. ¡°Indeed, all thanks to that armour they received from a ¡®mysterious merchant¡¯. Ha-ha-ha, isn¡¯t that right, V? Ha-ha-ha.¡± He looked to another hooded man. The man by the moniker of V turned to reply to the laughter with a laugh of his own. ¡°Ha-ha-ha! Yes, they think that the FireWalker Armour will protect them from our fire magi. Ha! Those fools.¡± A man butted in to talk again. ¡°The Fertile Kingdom¡¯s knights will be walking into their own graves.¡± He nodded. ¡°Just as you advised V, I¡¯ve distributed the Frost Grenades. But how about the protections against their magi and their spells?¡± ¡°Did you forget we have this?¡± V parted his dark cloak to reveal a blue robe beneath. ¡°Magical Resistance, Reinforced +2, and for important magi I¡¯ll make sure they get Spell Deflection.¡± The man stepped back. ¡°I spoke too hastily. It seems we¡¯ll be protected.¡± V continued speaking. ¡°Only the ones loyal to us. Do not forget the goal of all of this. To weaken both kingdoms so that we can grow in power.¡± Hence so, this was the plan, and not as easy to achieve as it might sound. V couldn¡¯t make the Aurelian Kingdom too weak or else it would be defeated and absorbed by a neighbour, but it still had to appear weak. ¡°Emboldened by Fire protections they¡¯ll strike thinking us feeble. And we¡¯ll allow them for a time. This will weaken the Royal Faction and the remaining stubborn nobles. Those who need to die will die. Ha-ha-ha.¡± V laughed again. ¡°Then and only then will we swoop in with the grenades and deal a decisive blow, one after the other thus claiming full credit.¡± The woman kicked scattering the ashes beneath her. ¡°We won¡¯t stop there. Counterattack is in order. If we succeed we¡¯ll fully control two kingdoms.¡± ¡°Yes, the counter-attack might still pose some challenges. But regardless, we¡¯ll certainly weaken both of the kingdoms.¡± Another cloaked figure spoke. ¡°And thus the Black Hand Covenant will grow ever so stronger. Well done everyone.¡± V congratulated. ¡­ King Aurelius II was sitting alone on his throne. It was midnight and at this time the throne room was empty; not even a single guard was there. ¡°Huh¡­¡± He sighed heavily. ¡°A puppet king on a meaningless throne.¡± Not important to even have personal guards. It showed just how much the Royal Faction fell out of grace. At a time, It seemed like a great idea to become a king even if puppeted. The Black Hand Covenant used their growing influence to put him here. But even then, he was of royal blood, he had a legitimate claim to be on this throne. ¡°I¡¯m still a King!¡± He slammed his fist on the armrest. ¡°I still have power!¡± He consoled himself. Indeed, the Black Hand Covenant still needed him, at least if only to keep the Holy Empire''s suspicions away. The shadows grew thicker and darker, and the already faint light of the candles grew even fainter. It was spooky but Aurelius II wasn¡¯t spooked at all, because he was waiting for this. ¡°Spider?¡± He stood up from the throne expectantly. The spooky shadows condensed into a form equally black and menacing. ¡°Lord G Bling, to you.¡± It corrected in a creaking voice. The spider didn¡¯t pay due respect the king deserved, it neither kneeled nor bowed. but then again Aurelius II knew that the spiders knew of his puppet status. Regardless, he considered this spider a great ally. ¡°Yes, Lord G Bling, I apologise.¡± He bowed ever so slightly. ¡°Do you have what I have requested?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± It chirped simply and then produced a large stack of Magical Scrolls. Aurelius jumped right at the stack. ¡°Oh yes, FirE SpeaR, WinD RazoR and even my favourite MightY ExplosioN!¡± He cheered excitedly like a kid on his birthday. ¡°Be careful, you don¡¯t want to invoke the spell.¡± The spider cautioned sternly. ¡°Yeah, yeah¡­¡± The spell would activate with its name pronounced loudly but, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, It won¡¯t.¡± He¡¯d figured out a trick. He just had to butcher the words ever so slightly and say them as if he didn¡¯t mean it, then the scrolls wouldn¡¯t activate. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°And our request?¡± It creaked again. ¡°Consider it fulfilled. I¡¯ll send the documents to the Spider Embassy as soon as tomorrow.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Spider turned back into a shadow and disappeared. Aurelius II gathered the scrolls, the vellum sheets were thin but there so many he struggled to carry them all. Despite the strain, he persevered and hauled them outside the throne room and towards his chambers. Once again there wasn¡¯t even a single guard in his path. Not just that, the magic lights which should be there were missing, and so was the carpet and the statues and the vases, and everything that was of value. He opened the doors to his chamber, and again there was no other furniture besides his bed. While it pained him dearly to sell his royal possessions he had done that without a shred of hesitation. The room wasn¡¯t quite empty, it had stacks and stacks of books. No, not of the academic kind, the books here had grimy covers and suspicious names like ¡®The Sultry Maid¡¯ or ¡®I¡¯ll visit you at Midnight¡¯ and so and such. He took an empty cover with a title just like that and stacked the Magic Scrolls inside. He repeated the process until he had no scrolls left. He patted the otherwise dirty cover dearly. ¡°Ah, my precious tomes completed. I reckon I have enough.¡± He looked upon stacks and stacks of risque books, no decent man would dare to open. Then he crouched and reached under the bed retrieving a very heavy sack. ¡°The last of my fortune.¡± He sighed deeply again. ¡°That Crimson Alchemist better deliver on her promise.¡± Indeed, she had promised him crates of innovative potions, potions the like no one had seen before. He dragged the heavy sack out of his chambers while sweating profusely. He wanted to make only one trip to the garden, so he persevered, moreover, he didn¡¯t want to be late. Aurelius emerged into what used to be a Royal Garden, now it was just a Royal Mess with craters, burned trees, holes in nearby walls and numerous blackened corpses of squirrels and other unlucky pests. He wasn¡¯t sorry about what he did, actually, he even levelled a few times, so all was good. In the middle of the mess, a lone woman was sitting on a broken boulder. She wore a beautiful dress which complemented her feminine charms perfectly, however, the otherwise immaculate image was spoiled by a nasty scar on her face. ¡°Lady¡­¡± he panted, ¡°Crimson.¡± ¡°Greetings, King Aurelius II.¡± She bowed curtly paying proper respects. He finished panting. ¡°Do you have my potions?¡± ¡°I do. As promised I finished brewing ten crates of FleshMender and a crate of each Regenerate Mana and Reinforce Mana. Plus the usual mundane HP and MP Potions.¡± ¡°Then you can have your gold.¡± He kicked at the bag not caring about how the sleek woman will be able to haul something so heavy with her. She opened a satchel hanging on her shoulder and drank out of the small flask. ¡°Thank you, King. Then I shall go.¡± She lifted the heavy bag as if it was nothing. ¡°Hey, that potion you just drank. I want that too.¡± ¡°The Strength Potion? Sure, but that will cost you extra. And just a warning, it isn¡¯t perfected yet so the Toxicity is high.¡± Toxicity? ¨C Whatever! He¡¯ll need to sell his bed but he really wanted that potion. With this, his Super King image will finally be complete. ¡°I¡¯ll take a crate of that and I¡¯ll have the gold tomorrow.¡± ¡°Same place, same time?¡± He nodded. ¡°Then have a sample. Make sure it¡¯s not too much for you. Remember, watch your Toxicity.¡± She handed another small bottle out of her pouch. She was worrying too much, or maybe she was just trying to sell more of her Resist Toxicity potions and swindle him further. He waved her not to worry and the two finally parted. ¡°I have everything, I think. I¡¯m ready for the WAR. The kingdom will get their rescuer, the Super King.¡± He clutched his fists tightly. ¡°I¡¯ll show them that I am more than a puppet.¡± Yes, this was why he plundered the royal treasury, fired all of the servants, and sold everything that could be sold. He did all that, to accumulate power in the form of Magic Scrolls which even a fool could use. To buy potions to make him physically strong and nearly indestructible. To become Super King and bring victory; to gain the glory and recognition he deserved. And, despite popular opinion, he was no fool, he knew that even Super King couldn¡¯t win a war alone. He needed men for that. While the Black Hand Covenant had consolidated all of the magi under their wing the Aurum Order remained loyal to the Royal Faction, and by extension him. So he will rally these men to fight under him, yes, he will gift them wondrous potions making the order unstoppable in battle! ¡°I¡¯m not a puppet! I¡¯m Super King. [Fire Bolt].¡± He burned a scroll firing a spell into the sky just to display his sorcerous powers. ¡°I¡¯m much stronger than a manky magus. [Fire Blast].¡± He basked the already charred ground in flames. ¡°Unlike a magus, I can¡¯t run out of mana. My wrath is endless! [Mighty Explosion].¡± He exploded outwards making another crater. Unlike with spell casting, he didn¡¯t need to use any mana. According to the Spider King, these improved scrolls had the mana needed already stored inside. So he could fling one spell after the other without the need to care. And even if someone managed to hit him, he had the miraculous potions to heal himself. ¡°I¡¯ll be unstoppable, he-he-he.¡± He cackled jiggling his fat body. ¡°Fertile Kingdom, you¡¯re done!¡± ¡­ Lady Crimson couldn¡¯t be happier. Everything was going so well, almost too well. No longer she¡¯ll be running yet another alchemy shop, or be just a daughter of a once famous master alchemist. The name and fame of the Crimson Alchemist soon shall be restored; she¡¯ll be known far and wide just like her father was. ¡°Daddy, I did it!¡± She deposited the coins in the closet and right under the skeletal remains. She had so much already, her financial worries were over. ¡°Yes, Daddy, I know, but I had to make those sacrifices.¡± Some integrity was lost because she was working under the spiders and by extension for the Spider King; a man she still hasn¡¯t met yet. Some kingdoms would consider this treason, working under another king, but well, this kingdom was different; a lot of weird changes have been happening here¡­ ¡°Anyway, who cares, one king or the other? As long as I can discover new potions¡­¡± She looked at crates of PurpleM, FireAgave, ShadowAgave, DustyBlue and other unfamiliar and foreign ingredients. ¡°I¡¯m brewing the potions not for one king, but two. It couldn¡¯t be better!¡± The renown will soon catch up and her shop will prosper. But, of course, it came at a price. She had quotas to meet and brew the King of Spiders his share of potions. Moreover, she partnered with a certain noble, who took it upon himself to sell the Spider Kingdom¡¯s potions. The reason being the Fertility Potion, that potion was gaining traction among the people, and since she too could brew them they decided to join their businesses to maintain the monopoly. ¡°I know what you think Daddy. But the union is beneficial for both of us. We have the same benefactor and with the gold from the nobles, I can further expand my shop. I¡¯ll start hiring soon.¡± It was wise of the young noble to entrust the alchemy aspect of the business to her. The nobles will handle promotion, financing and the rest. ¡°Now, where are those bottles.¡± She rummaged through crates. ¡°There it is.¡± She took a crystal glass bottle, similar but different from the one she knew. ¡°Glass Bottle: Protected-.¡± She voiced yet another mystery coming from the Spider Kingdom. Lord G Bling instructed her to use these bottles instead. Somehow, the bottle she held was enchanted and still cheaper than the ones imported from Sand Kingdom. Furthermore, the spider suggested an interesting thing. She was to offer a discount to customers who brought the bottles back; they were meant to be reused. ¡°It makes sense, with an enchantment like that.¡± She started pouring a newly made batch of Strength Potion into the crystal bottles. ¡°I better finish quickly.¡± She urged herself. It was already past midnight but even so, she had a date in these late hours. No, not a romantic one, just a book-reading date with the exalted Lord G Bling. ¡°What book should I bring?¡± She still hadn¡¯t decided. ¡°Should I pick one from my collection, or something neither of us has read yet.¡± A real conundrum. Either way, they¡¯ll spend the night reading it and then discussing the sacred texts in depth. ¡°If only I had met a friend like that sooner¡­ And what an unlikely friend I¡¯ve made.¡± It was refreshing to have someone so open-minded, and someone who didn¡¯t care about her disfigured face. ¡°No Daddy! I¡¯m not in love!¡± She slammed the closet door shut. 70 Somewhere, in the domain of The Great Ancestral Tree. In a clearing, there was a wide circle of stumps scattered around the massive stone table; the table was laden with forest bounty: fruits, nuts, vegetables and foods alike. Further away, the trees bordering the clearing were full of squirrels and spiders, so full that the branches were bending and buckling under their combined weight. The critters were here mostly to congratulate their saviours. ¡°Welcome, Guests.¡± The Wisp greeted expanding its wispy body. The stump seats were mostly occupied by Drow. This feast and this bountiful table were mostly for them, but also to honour the King of Spiders. ¡°First, we would like to thank the Drow for assisting us with the infestation.¡± The wisp pulsed rapidly. ¡°Without you, it would have been impossible.¡± It buzzed. The High Chief stood up, Devouring Spear still in his hand. ¡°Well, we once were one with the forests so it¡¯s natural that we were able to navigate it and cleanse it so successfully.¡± He bowed towards the green orb of light. ¡°But even then, without the King¡¯s weapons, it wouldn¡¯t have been so effective.¡± Then he bowed towards the King. The rest of the Drow nodded in agreement. The warriors here still wore their iconic red FireWalker Suits and had downsized versions of the FlameThrower by their sides. How they ¡®cleansed¡¯ the infestation was quite clear. The King of Spiders worried slightly. If they needed a weapon so destructive the infestation must have been quite bad. ¡°I¡¯m just glad it got sorted, think nothing of it. After all, I¡¯ve benefited from your hard labour too¡­¡± He gazed upon the weapon he had lent. ¡°Did you manage to fill the spear for me?¡± ¡°Indeed I have, it''s brimming full with life.¡± He raised the spear higher showing the red glowing tip. ¡°If I remember correctly, you wanted the souls exchanged?¡± ¡°Yes, insect souls for Amber.¡± He looked at the flying wisp. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind?¡± ¡°Ha! Insects you say, I have to agree on that classification. But even then, it would be cruel for me to absorb something like this.¡± The wisp shrunk to a tiny ball. He looked at the wisp slightly confused, because before It never had a problem with taking centipede souls. Then it expanded its wisp form again and buzzed with confidence. ¡°Oh, you''ll get your Amber, you will. But I have a proposition.¡± It flew closer to the King and only inches away from his face.¡± You see we, and I, were visited by your White Sprigans; creatures most magnificent and pure. Not puppets but real people, and of your creation! Somehow you achieved something that I couldn¡¯t¡­¡± He could tell where this was going. ¡°You want me to create more of them?¡± ¡°Yes! We¡¯ll use the souls contained in your spear.¡± ¡°I guess, it might work¡­ but then I want to reincarnate the rest of the human souls I still have in the Soul Well.¡± ¡°You have obtained something powerful, I see. I¡¯ll provide you will all the Amber you might need.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t you end up drained a bit too much? We talking about over a thousand pieces here.¡± The wisp shrunk. ¡°It will, but only for a time. You see, we¡¯ve claimed a neighbouring forest, so my power will be replenished eventually.¡± It expanded. ¡°Doubled even.¡± ¡°Hmm, then I¡¯ll tell the spiders to start carving their new bodies.¡± ¡°And I¡¯ll help you with the ritual.¡± Oh, so the wisp will help to fuel the mana necessary. ¡°I can¡¯t refuse that. Thanks.¡± ¡°No, no¡­ Thank you, King of Spiders, you don¡¯t understand just how helpful you are. The best Ally of the best.¡± The wisp buzzed happily. ¡°How about the Drow?¡± He asked hoping that they had finally forgotten the old unpleasant past. ¡°They¡¯re good Ally too¡­¡± The wisp circled above the drows. ¡°You did well to reform them. Now, let''s feast!¡± Drow dug into foods they almost had forgotten. He too did the same, after all, it was so fresh and fragrant, real organic stuff. ¡­ What is there to say apart from that the ritual was a great success, and this time he didn¡¯t even have to go negative in mana. Thousands of new White Sprigans opened their eyes, taking a new perspective of the world around them. The wisp was there, drained to a tiny speck but still buzzing energetically. ¡°King, I have new land for them. That is if you don¡¯t mind.¡± ¡°Why would I, if they want to go there they can. They are free to do as they please.¡± He didn¡¯t hold a claim on sentient souls which weren¡¯t his to claim. And surprisingly the ¡®insect¡¯ souls from the Devouring Spear behaved just like the human ones he had just Reincarnated. ¡°Well, then. Let¡¯s come together. Lead our children King.¡± ¡°Our?¡± He wondered if the wisp had made a claim while he chose not to. ¡°You mean yours and the forest¡¯s?¡± He asked for clarification. And, after all, sprigans were born out of wood and wisp¡¯s mana so maybe it had a genuine claim. ¡°Yes, but no.¡± The wisp buzzed. ¡°I mean ¡®ours¡¯ as in yours and mine, we made them together. But, yes, the Spirit of the Forest is strong in them.¡± The wisp circled around the heads of the White Sprigans. ¡°We are their parents, let''s guide them back to their home. Come, King.¡± Wow, the wisp just put a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. ¡°My children, huh?¡± He scratched his chin. ¡°An interesting interpretation.¡± He clapped his hands creating a loud and thundering sound. ¡°Okay children, let¡¯s go, follow this sparkling light.¡± He pointed at the wisp. ¡°And let¡¯s go to your home.¡± The White Sprigans, very much like cats, were captivated by the moving and pulsing light and started to chase the wisp giddily. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Wisp, where are we going exactly,¡± He asked because he¡¯s never been briefed about this. ¡°Past the old border, and back to the nest of the infestation.¡± It buzzed avoiding the playful hands of the sprigans trying to catch it. ¡°Nest?¡± It sounded scary. ¡°You cleared that right?¡± ¡°Cleansed.¡± It corrected. ¡°We had to, you¡¯ll understand after seeing it. Now, less talking more walking. Come children, come!¡± It invited flying around the sprigans¡¯ heads. The Wisp never seemed to understand that some walks were just¡­ too long! Maybe because it didn¡¯t have legs which could get sore. But anyway¡­ He finally reached what must be the border. Considering the choice of weapons he expected some damage, but still he couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing. Clearly, here used to be a forest but now as far as he could see he saw only charred stumps and a thick carpet of ash. Complete and utter devastation. There was no life here. ¡°What happened?¡± He asked with worry. ¡°Cleansing.¡± The Wisp replied as if it was nothing. How¡­ Just how. How could a Nature aligned spirit do this? His head spun and he struggled to wrap his mind around it. ¡°The infestation must have been of terrible proportion.¡± He reached his conclusion. ¡°They were quite persistent, yes.¡± It buzzed again. ¡°I see the worry on your face, you''re a real friend to all Forests. Worry not, King, the forest will grow back.¡± What he was seeing was just wrong. It would take decades, unless¡­ ¡°Is this why we¡¯re taking the White Sprigans here?¡± ¡°Why else. Look at their faces, they already know what they need to do. The nest isn¡¯t too far. Come, come.¡± It urged. They have reached some decrepit ruin, all the soot and ashes made it hard to guess its real age; but it looked ancient. ¡°Ah, I see, it''s common for the monsters to make nests in old ruins.¡± He remembered reading that somewhere. ¡°It looks like ruins of some ancient and forgotten civilisation.¡± He wondered if he should open an archaeological dig site here. ¡°Ancient?¡± The Wisp buzzed in confusion. And of course, it did, he knew that the soul of this wisp was thousands and thousands of years old, that¡¯s why it didn¡¯t feel the ruins old. The wisp continued. ¡°Forgotten, yes. Nothing remains of them.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t mind if I dig around, for artefacts and the like?¡± ¡°No, why would I.¡± It herded the sprigans further into the ruins. The ruins weren''t quite empty, in the middle of the ruin and in a large crater there was an entire legion of squirrels, no, a horde. Actually, after he had a better look, they were everywhere, on charred walls and on burned stumps. Their otherwise white fur was stained with greys of ash and soot. If anything there was another infestation here, a nest of squirrels. ¡°What are they doing here?¡± He asked curious. ¡°They brought the seeds from my forest. Children, take them and bring life to this ashen place.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ Oh!¡± Indeed, the squirrels'' cheeks were full of seeds. One by one the squirrels jumped on the shoulders of White Sprigans and spat the seeds for them to plant. Seemingly out of instinct, the sprigans knew what to do already. They walked outside the ruins and started planting. ¡°King, I want you to plant your IronOak here too. And other plants of yours.¡± The wisp requested once again. ¡°I¡¯m not sure I have enough seeds, but I do what I can.¡± He now knew why he was here. Yes, the Sprigans could [Grow] and [Plant], but they didn¡¯t have specialised skills like [Unnatural Selection] and [Acclimate]. The environment here was different from the Spider Kingdom, so he had to do the planting by himself. A good thing really, he remembered what it is to be a farmer. At a random, then planting yet another plant, the ever-unpredictable perk of Chaos Blessed activated. [BanditAgave evolved into AshenClower] The plant glowed brightly blinding him momentarily. Once the light dimmed he found a four-leafed and completely grey-coloured sapling instead of the usually spiky plant. ¡°It changed completely.¡± He remarked with wonder. A nearby Sprigan ever so helpfully cast [Grow] on the evolved plant, and its leaves got ever so bigger. ¡°Please watch over this plant so it can spread.¡± He asked the sprigan. ¡°And I¡­¡± Despite his previous words, he plucked a leaf, but only one. ¡°I¡¯ll send this to be investigated.¡± The happening gave him an idea. ¡°Hey wisp, why don¡¯t I evolve those seeds you have.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± The wisp buzzed. ¡°Why don¡¯t you? Here.¡± It sent a flock of squirrels to him. ¡°Make something that animals could eat. Something that would grow well here and that would take little care.¡± This wisp was very demanding. He had no control over evolutions. ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡± He gathered the seeds. ¡°Evolve.¡± He began, but also. ¡°Imbue.¡± For the latter, he used the remaining Amber to give the seeds nature affinity. ¡°Hey, wisp?¡± He was about to make a request of his own. ¡°Is Dark Affinity alright with you?¡± ¡°Anything is fine. Do as you wish, King. Go wild¡­ but maybe not Fire?¡± it only suggested. ¡°I fear the balance might tip and the biome would change.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right this place has seen enough of that.¡± He drained his mana further transforming the seeds into something else. Then he would plant them and a helpful sprigan would cast [Grow], so the result was immediate. He had some peculiar and quite random plants. Some looked like they''ll be useful but others were completely pointless ¨C failures. To name a few of the better ones: ShadowVine, EarthenYam, CageBush, BerryNut. And for their appearance: The ShadowVine was a vine similar to BitterVine, it needed another plant like a tree to support it. It was an interesting plant because it would cloak the tree it clung to in shadows, obfuscating its appearance. Scary! It was likely a parasitic plant. EarthenYam was a root vegetable, big like a handball and of earth-like colour. It was very starchy and looked like something his Enchanted Boars would like, or just your normal boars the ones native to the forest. CageBush, was peculiar because it refused to look like a bush. Its long branches were bending only at right angles giving it that rectangular look. Bending and bending, making a spiralling cage-like structure. And it didn¡¯t even have any leaves or buds, just perfectly smooth and otherwise straight grey wood. It looked like it belonged more in a modern ¡®art¡® museum as a sculpture than a plant in the forest. BerryNut was just that ¨C a bush which grew not quite berries and not quite nuts. The fruits had the shells like nuts, but the insides were soft and jam-like, the taste both sour and nutty. For the right person, it would be delicious. If one cared about how a failure looked at all, he would need to simply gaze at FaultyCabbage. Again it was probably affected by the abundant ash and was a pale-coloured vegetable(?). It was a cabbage, but it sort of failed to form that head, it was left malformed and there were countless holes in the leaves. And for the taste, it just tasted foul, so bad it was that not even a starving animal would eat it. There were quite a few failures like that in this experiment. He gathered some samples for further experimentation and left the White Sprigans to do their thing. They looked very busy but positively happy at the job they were doing. Ever so slowly the forest was regrowing. Well, no, this wasn¡¯t slow, it was quite fast! The area they were in was brimming with plants, it''s just that now the sprigans needed to expand it further, a task which will take them months even at this pace. He looked again at his changed surroundings scratching his head. ¡°It doesn¡¯t look quite right.¡± He continued rubbing the back of his head. Indeed, it looked weird. Yes, this was a forest now reborn but due to his influence the plants were just odd, it didn¡¯t look like your normal forest anymore. If he wasn¡¯t here from the very start he would think that he was either dreaming or hallucinating. ¡°Uff¡­ A Magic Forest then.¡± He concluded by looking at the mishmash of failed plants, normal plants, and evolved plants. But that was not all, because all this hard work rewarded him with: [Congratulations! You have reached Farming lvl .4] [Requirements have been met. Hidden perk unlocked.] [Perk Mutate obtained.] Yet, another hidden perk. ¡°But how is this different from Evolve?¡± He had to wonder. ¡±Ah¡­¡± He sighed. ¡°Let''s test this out.¡± He picked an already-grown plant. ¡°It¡¯s not like this forest can get any weirder, [Mutate].¡± 71 - To Pay the Price in Full The Mutate was different from the Evolve in the sense that now he could guide the plant to a desired outcome. He quickly found out that more than one application of the skill was necessary and it wasn¡¯t uncommon to end up with dead ends. However, the mix of magical plants was further improved. He had successfully mutated the decorative CageBush into a TrapBush. In the middle of the plant, there was an enticing nut. The white nut, the size of an orange, dangled seductively from a lone branch. Now and then it would tremble and hum in a low buzz, calling for attention. But as the name implied, if anyone even touched the fruit, the branches hidden in the ground would spring up and fold forming a cage-like structure. Those were only wooden sticks, but somehow they were sturdy, they even had the characteristic sheen of metal. Of course, when he curiously inspected the plant he had trapped himself in it, and even he, the King of Spiders, struggled to get out of the cage-like structure. But hey, the nut was really tasty, invigorating even. [Perk Enhanced Poison Immunity activated], he shrugged at the message, it didn¡¯t change his mind. The nut was tasty! To get out of the cage, he had to use a fiery axe, even if somewhat metallic the plant remained weak to fire. ¡°With or without the enticing TrapBush Nut, this plant will serve me well.¡± He called for White Sprigans to [Heal] the damaged TrapBush. The TrapBush could either be used to trap unsuspecting trespassers or just to trap forest animals. That, and its metallic branches, if harvested, would make perfect fences for his Enchanted Boars. By the way, when he fed the TrapBush Nut to one of the squirrels they promptly fell asleep. Yup, even the nuts it grew were traps! He also tried to Mutate the otherwise failed plants like the FaultyCabbage. Considering its bitterness, that one was also clearly poisonous, so he worked to enchant that trait. The result was the WitheringCabbage, it remained ashen white but even sadder and sickly looking than before. That, and there was an unpredicted mutation: now and then the cabbage would produce a puff of ash which would eventually settle on the ground. The ash killed small weeds and grass, but the bigger plants seemed unaffected. If anything it could be used to make poisons or a weedkiller of sorts. Of course, he didn¡¯t need to make all plants sinister; he wasn¡¯t a Demon Lord or something. He used the new perk to further enhance the nutritious properties of BerryNut and EarthenYam. The berrynuts were more bountiful and yams grew even bigger. And, moreover, he didn¡¯t need to mess with all the plants. AshenClover seemed to be good in its natural state; no need to mess up something that is near perfect. So, Mutate and his other Farming perks did wonders in enhancing the plants. And he didn¡¯t need to stop at plants. ¡°Do you mind?¡± He asked the Wisp. ¡°I do not.¡± It buzzed. In his hand was an unsuspecting squirrel. He didn¡¯t want to evolve it, not yet, because he was scared of potential consequences since these critters bred quickly. So, ¡°[Mutate]¡± he tried it on a living creature for the first time. Indeed, mutating an animal was more difficult than mutating a plant, but at that point, his other perk [Comprehend] had triggered. ¡°Hmm, so I can use my other Classes here.¡± He¡¯d realised something he should have had sooner. ¡°[Reinforce]¡± He applied a Building perk. Normally that didn¡¯t work on living beings, only on items, but somehow Mutate had overridden that soft lock. The squirrel emitted sparks of purple motes as he was guiding its DNA towards a more robust form. His comprehension perk made it so much easier. But, he didn¡¯t just want to make this squirrel tougher, from the very start he had a different idea in mind. He wanted to make this squirrel a predator, this was what he was trying to mutate it to. Well Evolve would achieve similar results, but he had a hunch that mutated animals, unlike the plants, wouldn¡¯t be able to reproduce. His remaining mana was draining rapidly. ¡°Come on, work!¡± He encouraged the perk to finish. And it did. In his hand, he held a squirrel, slightly bigger than its former form. The white pelt had two streaks of purple on a side, and it had grown even bigger and sharper claws plus two long fangs in its mouth. The squirrel scratched at his hands trying to escape. ¡°A feisty bugger.¡± He dropped a bigger and tougher squirrel on the ground. It didn¡¯t idle and as soon as it was free it tried to chase one of the other squirrels. The wisp flew over the ¡®improved¡¯ critter and cast some spell showering it with green light. The anger left its red eyes and the squirrel predator mellowed. The Mutate + Reinforce had worked but, ¡°You aren¡¯t angry, are you?¡± He asked the Wisp. ¡°Why would I?¡± It buzzed. ¡°You made something breathtaking once again. Like all of your creations, this creature is beautiful. I shall keep it.¡± The Wisp was as silver-tongued as ever. ¡°You can keep it if you want. I don¡¯t want it.¡± After all, this was just an experiment. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°I¡¯ll ask you to make more of them later. That is if you don¡¯t mind.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± He nodded. The Wisp expanded buzzing a happy buzz. Thus the magical forest received another addition of magical but mutated life, some sinister some not. In retrospect, it was neither good nor evil aligned, if he had to pick he would say it was Chaotic. Or even better, it was just life, doing what it can to survive in this new ashen environment. The White Sprigans worked hard to further expand the forest, so there was no need for him to get stuck here. It was time to head back to MegaFarm, ¡°I¡¯ll be going home.¡± He waved the Wisp goodbye. ¡°[Shadow Walk]¡±, he disappeared leaving only thin wisps of shadows. ¡­ His mana was low and he wanted to carry out yet another experiment. To top it up he could either take a dip in the Mana Spring or he could¡­ He went to look for the one who took it upon herself to help him with the potion business. Well, he didn¡¯t need to look hard or long, because he knew exactly where she was. Indeed he found her lounging on his throne, eating and drinking some food he didn¡¯t even know he had here. Imported from the Human Kingdom, perhaps? Actually, the proper name was the Aurelian Kingdom but never mind that. ¡°Did you receive the potion samples?¡± He asked. Her long white tail twitched ever so slightly. ¡°Is-sss that how you greet your Wife?¡± She hissed. She was right, he greeted her properly and then, ¡°So?¡±. ¡°I did.¡± She gave him a wicked smile. ¡°Awesome, where are they?¡± ¡°It will cost you, sss.¡± He paid the price. ¡°S-s-s.¡± She hissed mischievously. ¡°Follow, me.¡± She slithered off the throne. He followed the lamia to a newly erected building. Like all buildings, this one was dome-shaped and spider-like. The only difference was that the entrance hole had a gate made out of IronOak, and two Lamia guards standing by the sides. ¡°Is the security necessary?¡± He asked because there was literally zero crime here. The spiders were just too well-behaved! ¡°Yes-sss. S-s-s.¡± She made a hissing laugh. ¡°Try to enter.¡± Well, he couldn''t there was a closed gate. The two Lamia guards gave him apologetic looks. Clearly, the girls were roped into this against their will. ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± He said the obvious. ¡°Exactly, sss.¡± She gave him an expectant look. Well, he could command the two to just open the gate, but whatever the Lamia Queen was playing he decided to indulge her. These games would often happen if he ignored her for too long, and the easiest option was just to indulge her. ¡°How do I open the gate?¡± He asked. ¡°You need to pay a price. S-s-s!¡± He paid the price and the gate opened. The small building was filled with crates. ¡°Wow, your business partner must be amazing to produce so much in a so short time. I expected only a sample.¡± ¡°Lady Crimson, she is-sss amazing. Might be better than you.¡± She probably was, because he was only a beginner Alchemist, level 1. ¡°Speaking of which, sss, she made a request.¡± She looked at him expectantly. He decided to cut the game short and just paid the price. ¡°She wants-sss more of your magical plant-sss for ingredients.¡± ¡°She¡¯ll have them if she keeps making new potions. Actually, I¡¯ve just made a lot of new variants.¡± ¡°Then, I¡¯ll sss-shall sss-see sss-she receives-sss them.¡± Wow, this one was awfully hissy. The Lamia Queen continued. ¡°Would you like to try the potions-sss?¡± She offered a crystal flask. ¡°Why are you giving me a Fertility Potion? I don¡¯t need to test that, I¡¯m here for advanced Mana Potions.¡± She clicked her tongue making a ¡®tch¡¯ sound. ¡°Here they are.¡± He found a box filled with potions. The bottles were packed neatly and even labelled. He uncorked them and ingested Reinforce Mana, Regenerate Mana and a few of Mp+ potions in that order. [Toxicity +5], the message informed him. ¡°Ups, I should have taken Mitigate Toxicity first.¡± That one was really useful because it would lower the toxicity he would receive. ¡°But then again,¡± He drank Reduce Toxicity and lowered the count to +4. Unfortunately, it worked only once a day. The lamia was staring daggers at him, so he just paid the price. ¡°I need to run an experiment.¡± He gave her an apologetic look. ¡°I¡¯ll be back before bed.¡± ¡°Hmm, you better be. SSS!¡± She gave him another mischievous look. Yup, it meant that he would need to pay the price in full. ¡°Hum-mmm, I know what you¡¯re up to... So just grab a few Stamina Potions for me.¡± ¡°S-s-s, the potions won¡¯t save you, King.¡± She grabbed them anyway and slithered away. ¡°[Shadow Walk],¡± he phased through a wooden wall. Yes, he could have done that all along, that is, as long as it wasn¡¯t a thick layer of solid rock. He reappeared at the clearing where his spider warriors liked to do their fighting drills. Even now they were sparing with one another. ¡°Greetings warriors.¡± He called to get their attention, it was met by a sea of yellow eyes. ¡°I need a volunteer.¡± An entire forest of arms volunteered. ¡°Unfortunately, only one. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe; Catch the spider by the¡­¡± he picked a lucky spider. The spider raised its head and walked tall and proud towards him. ¡°Congratulations, you have won a mutation, [Mutate].¡± He invoked the perk without hesitation. ¡°[Reinforce],¡± and then another. ¡°It is. My honour. Ki¡­¡± The spider didn¡¯t get to finish and instead curled up into a ball and began glowing in purple. Everyone watched with baited breaths. The mana drained and the mutation was finished. The result was the same spider but with thicker and sturdier chitin. Well, not just that, the spider grew obsidian plates all over its body. It uncurled from the ball position. ¡°Reinforced plus one?¡± He asked. ¡°No, Obsidian Armour.¡± The spider chirped out the new perk it obtained. ¡°Hmm, I guess that works too.¡± Whatever made them harder to kill was a bonus. ¡°I still have plenty of mana. Any more volunteers?¡± Again, he gazed upon a forest of hands, but this time it swayed like under a storm; the spiders were jumping and waving in giddiness. It continued until¡­ A shadow slithered right next to the form of the King of Spiders, then it coalesced into something more tangential but still very black. ¡°Apologies.¡± The Trusty Advisor bowed. ¡°[Mutate], [Reinforce].¡± He finished and turned to look. ¡°Strangers. Approach from the west.¡± It chirped simply. ¡°West?¡± There was nothing in the distant west but an endless jungle. ¡°Yes, spider scouts detected a presence. A good thousand of souls.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Should I go and meet them?¡± He wondered out loud. ¡°We don¡¯t know their intentions. I say, let them come to us. And let¡¯s see what they bring.¡± ¡°Mhm.¡± He hoped it was trade and not war, but considering the numbers¡­ ¡°Yeah, I guess there is no point in ambushing them, we have numbers here. You¡¯re right let''s wait for them.¡± But that didn¡¯t mean he won¡¯t be preparing. ¡°Sorry, wife, I¡¯ll pay you in full next time.¡± He whispered to himself. 72 - Essential Reconnaissance It was decided that they wouldn¡¯t be challenging the approaching strangers; not yet. At this moment a simple order of observation was in place, after all, he didn¡¯t know them and needed more information. The Spider King was sitting on his throne and listening to the report coming from a spider scout. ¡°Did you manage to confirm their numbers?¡± He asked again just to be certain. ¡°Yes. We estimated. A strong thousand.¡± It chirped. ¡°And do they carry weapons?¡± ¡°Mostly spears.¡± ¡°Hmm, how about any bags or other things that could be considered as trade goods? Any pack animals?¡± ¡°No pack animals. No bags.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± it was still too early to jump to conclusions, but anyway he had another question. ¡°Can you describe their appearance? Are they human? Or elves?¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± This time it was the spider¡¯s turn to ponder something. ¡°Not human? They walk on four legs. Have hands. Have arms. Human faces. But not human. Not elf. Something different.¡± ¡°So they aren''t like anyone we''ve seen so far.¡± He tapped at the armrest with his fingers. ¡°An unknown race?¡± ¡°Yes. New race.¡± ¡°Curious¡­ Do they look strong?¡± ¡°Very. Big and fast.¡± The spider tilted its head to the side. ¡°But. Some are small. And slower. But yes. They look strong.¡± An interesting piece of information, then, ¡°Can those smaller people, be considered as children?¡± And if so¡­ ¡°Unknown.¡± ¡°Unknown¡­¡± He sighed. ¡°Well, those might be servants. Like Lamia servants are much smaller compared to Lamia warriors.¡± The same was with spiders. ¡°Yes, King. That could be. The case. Small strangers. Had no spears.¡± It recalled. ¡°Everything points to an assault force or a raiding party.¡± The spider scout nodded as if in agreement. ¡°King, if I may.¡± The Trusty Advisor bowed. ¡°I do not suggest assaulting them.¡± ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking. We have the numbers and the power here. A thousand isn¡¯t even enough to put a dent in our combined forces. We should let them come to us right?¡± ¡°Right. And we can resolve this with diplomacy.¡± ¡°You are completely right.¡± He agreed with the Trusty Advisor wholeheartedly, well not quite because... ¡±That is, if they won¡¯t decide to run away once they realise our real size and numbers.¡± ¡°Remember, It¡¯s better not to assume the worst. But still plan for it.¡± The Spider Advisor reminded sagely. ¡°I know, I know. They might turn out to be a delegation from a faraway land or something like that.¡± But somehow that didn¡¯t seem like it, since according to scouts they had no baggage. ¡°We shall wait and see.¡± ¡°Thank you for your advice, Trusty Advisor. We will do as you say.¡± He looked at the small and sneaky spider. ¡°Scout, you did well too, keep us updated.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± It turned into a shadow and disappeared. Spooky! But it was a good idea to Imbue them with Dark magic and then force Mutate their forms to be sleek and slender. If anything they were thrice as effective now. ¡­ The ever-diligent spiders continued to give their reports. The strangers were two days away from the MegaFarm, then a day, and then only a few hours. From the reports, it was clear that the unknown group was travelling with purpose. They didn¡¯t stray or walk in circles, they beelined straight to the location of MegaFarm. Of course, the spiders weren¡¯t idling or waiting like some unsuspecting fools. They did make the preparations to meet these people either as an enemy or as a friend. In that very unlikely scenario, where they were friendly and came here to parley, he had the temporary accommodations all set up for them. The spider crafters just finished making some basic tents out of Blue Cloth and if it came to feeding such a large group, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem because the farm was ever-expanding and the food stores increasing. And if they looked for trouble, then they would be fools! That is because he assembled 5000 strong army of spiders and they waited at the farm border at the ready. If anything the number itself was intimidating. The jungle wasn¡¯t bordering the farmland directly, between the two was a clearing of no less than five miles. Now and then there would be a patch of IronOak, but those were well-spaced and didn¡¯t block the vision. A spider scout manifested in front of the King. ¡°They¡¯ve reached the clearing.¡± And then it popped back into the shadow and zoomed away. He strained his eyes, but the distance was too great to see clearly. ¡°Huh, only in these moments do I realise. We need a tall tower and if possible a telescope.¡± Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°I don¡¯t like hights-sss.¡± The Lamia Queen standing beside him hissed. Finally, the strangers got close enough for him to get a vague impression. Indeed, they preferred longs spears for their weapons. Some were even clad in greyish armour ¨C very much like knights. However, there was no flag or banner, and everyone looked quite rugged. It wasn¡¯t an organised force, mostly they resembled something akin to bandits. ¡°But, aren''t those centaurs?¡± He saw it but still struggled to believe it. ¡°Centaurs, sss?¡± The Lamia Queen asked with curiosity. ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°So you don¡¯t know. It¡¯s a mythical creature with a body which is half horse half human.¡± He explained. ¡°I¡¯ve met a human, sss, but what¡¯s a horse?¡± Yeah, he asked around, he asked in Human Kingdom too, but apparently, there were no such creatures as horses here. ¡°It¡¯s hard to explain. A horse would be an animal. And¡­ it¡¯s the same with Lamia, right? You are half snake half person.¡± He gave a relatable comparison. ¡°Sss! Lamia aren¡¯t snakes.¡± She hissed offended. ¡°Snakes are just food.¡± That¡¯s right, it was like comparing a human with a monkey. And yeah, they had snakes here so¡­ ¡°A bad example. Forget it, I take it back..¡± Whatever offence she had it must have been a pretend one because it disappeared in an instant. ¡°Ah, I sss-see. I can be your food if you want. S-s-s, you can eat me anytime.¡± She winked. This was neither time nor place for bad jokes. The centaurs continued approaching. ¡°They don¡¯t seem intimidated.¡± ¡°Is-sss that good or bad?¡± He didn¡¯t reply because he didn¡¯t quite yet know. ¡°Let''s trust in Trusty Advisor¡¯s judgement. I doubt they will make some crazy suicidal charge.¡± He looked at the tight ranks of spiders with reassurance. The centaurs stopped in the middle of the clearing. ¡°Ah, so they¡¯re hesitating.¡± And then they remained there for a while. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t they send someone to parley? Or is it me who should do it?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t ask me, sss.¡± She just shrugged. ¡°Right¡­¡± Since they didn¡¯t have bows or other ranged weapons, he considered it safe to approach them. Of course, he won¡¯t go alone, ¡°A few bodyguards should be appropriate. Call me the Spider Leader.¡± A small spider ran to fetch him his royal mount, and the second will be a spider mage. With the two at his side, and with multiple hidden potions and scrolls, he had no worries. He climbed atop the Spider Leader and into the newly crafted saddle. ¡°Let''s go my noble steed. Let''s see what these ruffians want.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± The Spider Leader began his quick sprint towards the group. ¡°Understood.¡± The form of the spider mage blurred becoming cloudy. Somehow he was just as quick as the Spider Leader. Good! As he approached closer he got an even better look at centaurs. They were rugged and worn by the obviously long travel and their spears were in a sorry shape, looking like they would snap from the lightest touch. The knights'' armours were tarnished and bent, and evidently missing pieces here and there. No, the gear didn¡¯t look so because of just poor maintenance, it was in a sorry state because it had seen too much use; and by the looks of it, not too long ago. He stopped not too far from the group, but still at a respectable distance. ¡°There¡¯s blood on their armour and clothes. They were fighting. But who?¡± As far as he knew the rest of the jungle was sterile, not even a living soul there for miles and miles. ¡°They might be here. To ask for the King¡¯s help.¡± The Spider Warrior suggested. ¡°To fight whatever they could not, I see.¡± It kind of made sense. ¡°But let''s not speculate. Stand at the ready.¡± He asked his bodyguards and then shouted, ¡°If you¡¯re here to talk! Let''s talk! Send me your leader!¡± He invoked his aura perk. The mismatched ranks of centaur cavalry parted ever so slightly and a knightly figure emerged. The knight was clad in full armour, both upper and lower body. The armour was more splendid and less tarnished but still bent in a few places. Regardless it still had that aura of nobility. But what caught the eye was the design itself, it conformed to the female form quite neatly. The noble knight strutted towards him proudly and without a single bodyguard. She was either very arrogant or very trusting. She stopped only metres away from him. ¡°Champion!¡± She made a horse equivalent of a curt bow. ¡°I am¡­ I¡¯m the last remaining Champion, and hence the leader of Centauri. Or whatever remains of us.¡± She spoke firmly to project authority but the hints of anxiety were there and poorly masked. She clearly had a long story to tell, but he had to ask something first. ¡°And why are you here, in The Dreaded Place, in the Spider Kingdom?¡± ¡°We are here to ask for aid¡­ No, to seek protection.¡± So, indeed, the Spider Warrior was unto something. ¡°Someone attacked you¡­ and you want protection from whom?¡± The Centauri Champion bowed again, but this time lower. ¡°I beg for your understanding. We have nowhere to go, no one else to turn to. Please take us.¡± She was dancing around the question. ¡°You must understand. I need to know at what I¡¯ll stand against if, If we take you in.¡± He stressed. While still in low bow she raised her head to meet his eyes. ¡°The Demon Lord. Against his Majesties wishes.¡± Wow! That¡¯s one strong enemy. Well, at least, allegedly strong. She wasn¡¯t finished. ¡°Champion, as you can see we are desperate. Then I say there is no other place for us, I mean it.¡± And then she added, ¡°Our males all slaughtered, only us and children remain.¡± He looked at the ranks further away, he couldn''t see the children because they were probably secure in the middle, but indeed judging by the shapes they must be women. While he was just trying to wrap his head around all of this, the Centauri Champion continued her plea. ¡°We¡¯ll pose no challenge to the Spider Kingdom, and we¡¯ll work our keep. We promise will make good vassals. So please, give us respite.¡± She straightened finishing her plea. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry about that.¡± He had his mind made. ¡°I¡¯ve heard your plea, and you¡¯ll get the help. After all this Kingdom is prosperous.¡± He smiled. ¡°We can work together to make it even better. But Demon Lord, eh¡­¡± That¡¯s one hell of an enemy to make. ¡°Champion of Spiders,¡± she addressed, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry about that too much.¡± ¡°Why? Isn¡¯t he formidable and terrifying?¡± ¡°True. But¡­ it¡¯s a long story, and I and my people are weary¡­¡± She implied heavily. ¡°Right, yes. Please follow, we have tents for you already. Rest, feel safe and then we¡¯ll talk.¡± Centauri Champion made a thumbs-up sign and then waved for her people to follow her. She turned back to him, ¡°Thank you. We owe you a great debt.¡± The Centauri were escorted to their tents, now known as Centauri Camp. Spiders moved to bring food to famished and tired travellers and he observed from the sidelines. Surviving this long trip must not have been easy. It wasn¡¯t monsters which were the biggest threat, but starvation. He saw bundles of BitterVine tied to the backs of the centaurs, probably the only reason they didn¡¯t starve. They were lucky their bodies were able to digest something that bitter, but clearly that diet didn¡¯t do them any good. Their otherwise human-like faces were gaunt and had that sickly appearance. Well, nothing that a healthy amount of the nourishing TomGrape couldn¡¯t solve. Hidden in the shadows, he continued eyeing the centaurs with curiosity. They were getting themselves ready for the meal. The centaurs and especially their children remained wary of the spiders; clearly, they were afraid. But he hoped that with time the apprehension will disappear. ¡°I¡¯ll give them time to rest. But then I will drill them properly.¡± After all, there were more questions than answers. ¡°SSS!¡± Someone hissed and poked at the shadow he was hiding in. ¡°Sss-stop ogling at the women!¡± The voice admonished. His camouflage spell broke making him fall out. ¡°Hey!¡± He was quite surprised she was able to detect his hidden presence. She must have developed a spell just for that¡­ ¡°I¡¯m jealous-sss.¡± She slapped her tail. ¡°And¡­¡± She grabbed him by the arm. ¡°Your payments are long overdue!¡± She was dragging him away from the Centauri Camp and that precious sight of centaurs cleaning and bathing their fatigued bodies. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m doing important reconnaissance!¡± He defended himself. ¡°¡­¡± He was dragged away anyway. 73 - Traumatising Content The realm of the Demon Lord is a turbulent place, one couldn¡¯t say it¡¯s always at war but saying that conflict is prevalent would be correct. The realm consists of many different vassals with their territories and people. The main opposing force was naturally humans, they bordered the western territories of the Demon Realm. While the United Cities had successfully challenged the Demon Lord many times, the source of conflict wasn¡¯t humans. Often it was the vassals seeking to undermine each other only to raise their status and rank, to better themselves in front of their tyrant ¨C the Demon Lord. After all, in the Demon Realm, one rule reigned supreme: Might is Right. Hence, it was not uncommon for one race to subjugate a weaker one. An example of a strong vassal was Centauri, they were a proud race of centaur warriors. The rule ¡®Might is Right¡¯ had served them well, and for a time they were at the pinnacle of their strength making a good bulk of the Demon Army. The Centauri Cavalry was known far and wide, and they were feared. And all was well. Until it wasn¡¯t. Through some unfortunate twist of fate, the United Cities ended up marching their armies through Centauri territories. Well, this wasn¡¯t the first time, nor would it be the last something like this happened, but then again the fate¡­ It wasn¡¯t just a human army, one or two, it was a whole lot of them, a full Crusade. But even then, this should have been okay-ish, if only the neighbouring vassals have sent their support in time. Maybe it was because the Centauri bullied the weaker neighbours a bit too much, or maybe it was just a bad spell of luck. In the end, the support didn¡¯t even come. The humans laid waste to the Centauri castle leaving centaurs fleeing in shame. Either way, such defeat was unacceptable, not in the Demon Realm. They could flee to their neighbours, but the neighbour didn¡¯t mean a friend, at best they would end up as slaves and at worst as meat to feed war ogres. The options were scarce and most unpleasant. However, there was a rumour of strange land with strange people. A rumour of a dark sorcerer who tamed spiders and ruled over them. This, and that he gathered other lesser monster races under his wing to build a faux-kingdom. A monster kingdom in The Dreaded Place, it sounded dubious at best. Regardless, even the most outrageous rumour had a sliver of truth to it and so the Centauri put a bet on this rumour and fled to the east and towards the endless jungle. The retreat came with a cost, opportunistic humans and then Demon Realm slavers pursued them. The Centauri men and others who were able had paid the price, sacrificing their lives so that the remaining few could flee. The herd shouldn¡¯t be left without a leader, so she ¨C now the last remaining Champion, was trusted to guide them. A mana-sensing crystal (Mana Compass) has guided her path, and the rest is now history. ¡­ A centaur maid was brushing the Champions hair, getting rid of the dirt accumulated through the long journey. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect this.¡± The reception was welcoming. ¡°They had tents for all of us, and the meals were full.¡± This was unprecedented. The maid simply nodded continuing to clean the hair. ¡°Did they expect us? It looks like they did.¡± She snorted thoughtfully. ¡±The dark sorcerer must have spies in the Demon Realm.¡± She paused and pushed the resurfacing memory of the screams and burning castle away. ¡°And the spiders¡­¡± They were different than she expected, more people than monsters. ¡°They can talk.¡± She recalled a memory of a chirping spider. ¡°But not In Demon Language.¡± The maid shuddered remembering the spiders. ¡°At least one of their Champions can speak properly.¡± She snorted thoughtfully again. ¡°That and his horns mean that he is from the Demon Realm. Meaning¡­¡± The maid didn¡¯t need to say anything. ¡°As per demon custom, I¡¯ll challenge him and claim his position!¡± She nickered excitedly. ¡°That will secure our place here¡­ Or should I petition to meet the spider tamer first?¡± She shook her head. ¡°No, to begin with, we need to show our strength. Might is RightI¡± She neighed. The maid knowingly stopped brushing the hair and sighed. ¡°Maid, send a message to their Champion. I want to duel him. And get my armour ready.¡± She ordered. ¡­ He was standing in front of a nervous-looking mare. He was shaking his head in disbelief. ¡°Can you say that again? I¡¯m not sure I can understand.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been challenged to The Duel of Champions.¡± She squealed. He couldn¡¯t wrap his head around it. He didn¡¯t even get the full story of the Centauri and they were challenging him. He had to wonder: Did he do something to offend them? Or was this just a strange custom? ¡°Can we talk this out? Can I refuse?¡± He asked the centaur messenger. ¡°Refusal would be the same as admitting the defeat.¡± She bowed apologetically. ¡°So I must duel your Champion?¡± The centaur nodded. ¡°I guess, there is no harm.¡± He shrugged. ¡°I agree to this duel, but where and when?¡± The Centauri messenger relayed the details. It was now and in the Centauri Camp. Now was now, and it would take him a mere moment to get ready, so he went straight away. Right in the middle of the tents, the area where the food would normally be served was cleared. Here, the nearby centaurs gathered to watch, they had pleasant expressions on their faces. Good! It seems that sorrow was forgotten even if for a moment. This was clearly meant as some sort of entertainment. To boost the morale of the Centauri refugees. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. The hustle and bustle attracted not just the centaurs but the Lamia too, albeit due to short notice there were only a few. The crowd parted letting him into the clearing and he felt the centaurs¡¯ gazes fixate on him. It was obvious they were curious about him, and it was likely they found him just as exotic as he found them. Further away, there stood a now familiar Centauri Champion, her armour cleaned and now shiny. In her right hand was a lance and in the other hand a kite shield. Unfortunately, her face remained hidden by the helmet. ¡°Champion, so you come!¡± She neighed at him from a distance. ¡°Let¡¯s fight!¡± She kicked at the ground with her hooves. [The Duel of Champions is now in effect], the message told him. She didn¡¯t leave any space for questions, and he had so many. The rules haven¡¯t been made clear! And he was taken by surprise. How dirty! He had the Plate Armour on already but the Devouring Spear still needed to be retrieved. ¡°[Strengthen],[Piercing Thrust].¡± An empowered lance flew right to his midsection. ¡°[Bastion]¡± He cast just in time. The thrust was very powerful, so powerful that the lance (mind you, reinforced with metal) just shattered into pieces of scrap and wood. This was meant as a killing blow no doubt. Was this more than just a strange Centauri game? ¨C He had to wonder. Well, if she wasn¡¯t pulling any punches neither he will. He retrieved the Devouring Spear from the Magical Inventory. Similarly, the centaur page threw another lance to their Champion. ¡°That trick won¡¯t work twice! [Cavalry Charge], [Overwhelming Force].¡± She neighed at him and launched herself into a sprint, the lance tip glowed with power. ¡°Wrong!¡± It would work two more times, but maybe she had a counter, so he decided not to risk and met her charge with his own. The spear clashed with a lance, they kissed each other tip to tip. And obviously, the legendary equipment would come out as superior. The lance just shattered again as if it was nothing making the Centauri neigh in frustration. ¡°Oh no you don¡¯t.¡± This time he won¡¯t let her to just sprint past him. ¡°[Assassin Strike]!¡± Without turning around or looking, he slammed the butt end of the spear into her back. Maybe he should have aimed better, maybe he should have tried to look even if at a glance, but considering the speed of the charge every millisecond was precious. While he aimed for the back, he struck somewhere else; centaur anatomy and the like. He had rammed the spear at her rear, a strike was still a strike and all of the assassin multipliers applied, so it came mercilessly at full force. And, [Chaos Blessed] just activated as a cherry on top. The Centauri Champion shrieked in a voice most shrill, but more terror than pain. He too looked at his actions with horror. ¡°What have I done!¡± The centaur collapsed on all of her sixes (like in all six limbs) ¨C prone and her rear pushed high in the air, ¡°Take it out!¡± She cried out through tears. ¡°¡­¡± Everyone looked in shock. Was it luck, or was it great misfortune? Somehow the butt end of the spear had found a weak spot in plate armour and even smashed through the chainmail. And then it went in somewhere it shouldn¡¯t. Chaos! Humiliation! ¡°Take it out!¡± She commanded wiggling it ever so slightly. Everyone just looked, and it didn¡¯t look like there will be volunteers. He wondered if he should call a doctor, but there were no spider doctors and a simple Heal didn¡¯t seem like the solution here. ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± He decided to sort the mess he made. ¡°And sorry.¡± He added just in case. ¡°Be gentle!¡± ¡°I will.¡± He wiggled the spear out ever so carefully. ¡°Fuh.¡± He let out a sigh of relief. It came out clean; no injury. ¡°It¡¯s out.¡± He voiced the obvious. The Centauri Champion stood up trying to recover whatever dignity remained. Then she turned around and took her helmet off. It might be wrong but even with that embarrassed and tear-stained expression, the face was still pretty. She had blue eyes and long yellow hair, and most of the human features were there, but her ears were elongated and pointy. ¡°I congratulate you on your victory, Champion!¡± She said it with a shaky voice, [You have won The Duel of Champions.] ¡°So, I won¡­¡± Apparently, the questionable manoeuvre was not illegal. ¡°You showed great skill and tactics. To lose in such a way¡­¡± She didn¡¯t finish. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sorry. I think I¡¯ve ruined the fight by accident. Wanna try again?¡± He offered apologetically. ¡°No!!!¡± She neighed and then bowed. ¡°By the custom, we are to reward you with¡­¡± ¡°Nah, I¡¯m good.¡± He didn¡¯t need a reward. ¡°I rather you tell me what this was about.¡± For some reason she bowed apologetically ¡°¡­ then, Champion, shall we go and meet your Lord?¡± ¡°The Lord? But I am the Spider King?¡± And only then did he realise that out of the excitement of seeing real centaurs, he had forgotten to introduce himself not once but twice. She made a whiny sound like a horse would. ¡°You¡­ you can¡¯t be¡­ you aren¡¯t just a Champion, one of many?¡± He shook his head. ¡°No, I¡¯m the ruler of the Spider Kingdom, King to spiders, lamias, drows and kobolds, ally to the Great Ancestral Tree. I am the Monster King.¡± He smiled. ¡°But just Spider King will also do.¡± The Centauri Champion visibly paled and her legs began to tremble. ¡°What have I done¡­¡± A great sin. Contrary to the other rules, challenging someone like that was unacceptable. A champion couldn''t challenge someone like a king, because kings were rulers and not warriors. But then, the King should have just sent his Champion and not fight in person. ¡°Why?..¡± She dropped the pointless question, it was too late, it didn¡¯t matter now, so instead she straightened herself. ¡°King, will you take us as your vassals?¡± He looked at her. ¡°I¡¯m still waiting on that story. You know, The Story.¡± ¡°Right, right¡­¡± She put her helmet back on. ¡°Then come back to my tent. I¡¯ll tell you everything.¡± The crowd parted and so they walked through it. The centaurs were giving him apologetic looks; he wondered why it was so. But at least the lamia seemed to be happy with the ¡®show¡¯, a few of them were giving him a thumbs up; but he couldn¡¯t stay he was proud of a victory like this. The Centauri Champion guided him to her tent and closed the flap behind. ¡°The Story¡­¡± She took her helmet off. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you our story.¡± She unbuckled her chestplate. ¡°A tale of proud and strong centaurs.¡± The chest plate dropped to the ground soon followed by the pauldrons. ¡°A race of warriors.¡± A padded tunic joined the discarded chest piece. ¡°I can¡¯t reach my back, can you?¡± Right, he undid the clasps dropping the armour plates protecting her horse sides. ¡°And the mail.¡± He took that off too, it was quite heavy. ¡°And the padded shirt.¡± He undid the buckles taking the padded cloth off; there was nothing else there. Right¡­ ¡°And the story?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll tell you about our fall. Our great misfortune.¡± She finished taking the rest of the protective pieces. ¡°And our trip here to you.¡± She looked at him. He didn¡¯t like that begging look. ¡°But first you must take your prize.¡± She took whatever was there to take off, revealing the scared body of a warrior. ¡°Prize?¡± ¡°As custom dictates, now I¡¯m your subordinate. And considering what you¡­¡± She blushed. ¡°My body is yours!¡± ¡°Awesome! Out of the armour already!¡± He clapped. ¡°Let¡¯s get you a dress first. A blue one preferably. Then we¡¯ll go for a nice dinner: you, me and my wife. There you will tell The Story to both of us. Oh, and let''s invite the Trusty Advisor, just in case.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± She gave a genuine smile and bowed vigorously. The bounce the jiggle! Could be half-cow and not half-horse with those! ¡°SPIDERS!¡± He shouted for them feeling threatened. 74 - Double Espionage A Drow Assistant came to the throne room, she would do that ever so often. The two would spend the time discussing magic or some ongoing research project. But this time she was here to give the Spider King her advice. ¡°To help those in need is a noble thing indeed. But be firm and wary. A good heart is too often abused.¡± Of all of the people, he didn''t expect her to say this line. After all, before the Drow were what they are now, they too were refugees in a sense. ¡°I know that. I have no plans to let them freeload here. They are now my vassals.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re planning to put them to work?¡± ¡°I do.¡± He said with conviction. ¡°And what that lot can do? They are warriors through and through. Do you even need more warriors and guards?¡± This Drow was very bold to question him, The King, like that. But he needed people like her, someone who dared to question the policy he was making, but in a genuine way that is. ¡°Correct, I have all the warriors I need, spiders and Lamia alike. The farms are managed by spiders. The mining by Kobolds, and magic by you ever loyal Drow.¡± ¡°And that is why I¡¯m here. I just fail to see how these Centauri can be integrated here. You know, just yesterday they challenged Lamia to a fight. And lost¡­ So really of what use are they to you?¡± ¡°Now, now. They needed help, and help we can. It has been decided and so they will remain here. And for what can they do¡­ they can do plenty. We will find things for them.¡± ¡°My King, please name just a single thing.¡± ¡°Easy, I¡¯ll have them to transport goods to and from the Human Kingdom.¡± ¡°Ha! To use them like beasts of burden. Good one!¡± She giggled maliciously. ¡°Please don¡¯t phrase it like that. But yes, they''re fast and strong, they can pull more than a spider can carry.¡± ¡°Ah, so is that why the Kobolds were making those bricks? We assumed a castle but it is a road yes?¡± ¡°Yes. In the jungle and in the forest the spiders remain faster but then we have smooth surfaces that¡¯s where centaurs will shine. You will see.¡± The road construction was already more than halfway done. ¡°King, I believe you. Yes, this makes sense.¡± ¡°So did I put your worries at ease? You won¡¯t protest Centauri here?¡± ¡°If they¡¯re here to pull wagons and carry goods. I will not, I think that¡¯s fitting.¡± She smiled pleased and then added. ¡°Have you told them already?¡± She grinned again. ¡°No, not yet. Why?¡± ¡°I guarantee they will not like it.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Maybe the Drow assistant had a point. ¡°You¡¯re right, being as proud as they are, they won¡¯t see it as an honourable and important job. All I have to do is to make it sound important.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t wait to see their faces.¡± She made a nasty grin. Huh, aren¡¯t these Drow growing to be a bit too malicious¡­ Especially, this assistant. ¡°If you seek to undermine them. I will not allow that.¡± He warned but in a very casual tone. ¡°Since you can¡¯t wait, go and fetch me their Champion.¡± ¡°Me?¡± She sounded surprised. ¡°Yes. Send her a message that I requested her presence. And don¡¯t embarrass me, do it properly, and in a courteous way. After all, you will be representing me and my voice.¡± This was his attempt to humble the drow. ¡°I¡­¡± Her eyes darted for a moment. ¡°It would be my honour, King.¡± She bowed and excused herself. He turned to a shadowy corner. ¡°And you, go spy on her.¡± The head emerged from the shadow, ¡°Understood,¡± it chirped and disappeared again. ¡°I¡¯m glad I¡¯ve Imbued them with magic. They make the best spies.¡± ¡­ Drow Assistant walked in a hurried fashion towards the Centauri Camp; her steps were quick and determined. She kept referring to her notebook, well to be more precise, to the rough map she had the spiders to draw for her. The MegaFarm was big, way too big, and it was easy to get lost here. She reached the tents and stopped for a moment. ¡°It should be somewhere here.¡± She had the Champions tent marked on the map, it was quite accurate. But finding it was more difficult than one might imagine. The tents were pretty much identical and scattered in random patterns. ¡°I¡¯m lost.¡± She said with fright. ¡°I can¡¯t fail something simple like this¡­¡± She just couldn¡¯t, the High Chief would never forgive her. ¡°Hey, you!¡± She shouted at the random centaur. ¡°Where is your Champion¡¯s tent?¡± The centaur snorted and just ignored her by walking away. ¡°Savages!¡± She too wanted to snort. A different approach then. She walked to another centaur, the woman was busy repairing her lance. ¡°I¡¯m the King¡¯s messenger and I have orders to relay. Lead me to your Champion, now!¡± She flexed the authority she was given. It came out commanding, but apparently, this was what was missing. ¡°At once.¡± The centaur saluted by slamming her right to her chest and clicking her hooves. ¡°Follow, me.¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. She was escorted to yet another blue tent, no different than the others. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± She hummed thoughtfully. ¡°I was expecting something¡­ something more befitting the station of a Centauri Champion.¡± Like a bigger tent, or some flags indicating a commander here. If the tent had no identifying markers how was she supposed to find it!? ¡°Savages¡­¡± She whispered. The centaur didn¡¯t reply to her complaints and instead shouted out, ¡°Champion! The King has sent a messenger!¡± The sound of rustling and clanging came out of the tent but soon the flap parted and a fully armoured centaur woman emerged. ¡°Messenger.¡± Even in the heavy armour, she managed to give a curt and elegant bow. Drow replied in kind. ¡°Champion, the Spider King requires your presence.¡± ¡°Now?¡± The voice was tinged with panic. Of course now you savage¡­ ¡°Yes, the matter is of high importance.¡± She curtly bowed again. ¡°But¡­ But I can¡¯t go like this.¡± She rushed back into her tent. ¡°His preferences¡­¡± She wanted to shout at the centaur, she had a task here! ¡°I can¡¯t make the King wait. Hurry!¡± ¡°Just a moment.¡± This time there were even more rustling and clanging. ¡°My hair¡­ My hair isn¡¯t even brushed.¡± More noise came out. ¡°No! I forgot a bath!¡± She neighed. ¡°You can¡¯t take a bath!¡± The Drow Assistant shouted losing her cool. ¡°Now, is now!¡± The flap parted again revealing an entirely different image of the Champion. The heavy armour was gone, she now wore a blue dress; It clung tightly to her muscular body emphasising her feminine proportions. The Drow Assistant eyed the centaur. ¡°Tch!¡± She clicked her tongue. She knew what the Champion was doing here¡­ that vixen! ¡°Let''s go. The King is waiting.¡± ¡°Of course. At once.¡± The Champion began to gallop at a brisk pace and even then managed to appear noble and elegant. The Drow Assistant was left speechless, the Champion was just jogging, but she would have never thought that such a sight was possible. Any normal man would find himself swayed; the Champion radiated eroticism with that obscene body of hers. To walk in an erotic fashion ¨C that¡¯s an idea she¡¯d never thought of before. It was worth an entry in her Notebook of Knowledge. *Scribble *Scribble ¨C she made a hurried note. ¡­ The Champion galloped gallantly into the throne room, The Drow assistant right in tow. The latter panted and was sweaty, she clearly had struggled to keep pace. The Champion stopped a few paces away from the throne and bowed slightly a bit too low. Dangerous! Maybe it was a mistake to give a dress like that to her¡­ ¡°King, I¡¯m at your command.¡± The centaur announced. The Drow Assistant caught up, and also bowed a bit too low imitating the Champion. ¡°Assistant.¡± He looked at her. ¡°You did well, but next time maybe allow my guest to bathe? It wasn''t that urgent.¡± ¡°I apologise for my failure.¡± She bowed even lower. The Champion sniffed at herself and developed a slight blush. ¡°No need. I just wanted to humble you a bit. You were looking down on Centauri needlessly. You see there are things individuals are good at and there are things individuals are bad at. But also, no one is born knowing. The Centauri here might not know a lot of things, but I¡¯m sure they''re capable of learning and adjusting. Isn¡¯t that right Champion?¡± ¡°If this is because I Challenged the King that day,¡± she bowed again vigorously, ¡±I apologise!¡° Dangerous! ¡°Please stop bowing.¡± This was too distracting. ¡°Yeah, there are rules. And I guess the Drow¡­¡± He looked at his Assistant. ¡°Took offence of you breaking them.¡± The centaur gave a knowing look. ¡°You assault the King and you assault his people; in this case Drow, Lamia and what was it Kobolds? I understand why Drow might take offence at our brazen actions. And I¡¯m aware of our position here. We are nothing but beggars. Yet to prove our worth.¡± She bowed again and even lower. ¡°Please stop bowing. I just want you to stop duelling and fighting with my people.¡± The Champion blinked confused. ¡°But Might is Right. How else can we prove our worth to you?¡± ¡°This is not Demon Realm, this is the Spider Kingdom. You prove your worth here differently.¡± The Champion looked at him intently and the Drow Assistant gave an approving look. ¡°I have an important task for you. Something crucial and something only you centaurs can do.¡± The Champion was listening with sparkling eyes. ¡°I need you to transfer and protect the goods of Spider Kingdom. The continuous flow of trade is paramount for this Kingdom to prosper. So you will be tasked with the executive position in logistics and transport. A difficult task indeed. The journey is long and the trek is dangerous. Bandits and monsters might challenge you at every turn. But I know that you are strong, I witnessed that strength myself! I trust you to protect my cargo with your lives. So the question is: are you brave enough to challenge the dangers and take this burden?¡± The Champion slammed her chest. ¡°Of course we are! We won¡¯t fail. Not again.¡± ¡°Good, that¡¯s all I wanted to hear. The Trusty Advisor will tell you the minute details, please listen to him. He¡¯s my right hand, so consider him your superior.¡± ¡°Understood!¡± She saluted again. ¡°Well, then that¡¯s it. You are dismissed.¡± The Champion bent her knees ever so slightly, but before she could finish, ¡°Please, don¡¯t bow. You are excused from bowing. I prefer those salutes you¡¯re making.¡± The crisis was averted. The Champion straightened her knees, saluted and then galloped gallantly away. The Drow Assistant looked at that swaying horse''s rear and then back at her King. ¡°Should I begin saluting and walking like that too?¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t. That would be silly. So how was that expression on the Champion''s face you so wished to see?¡± She sighed. ¡°Somehow, I feel defeated.¡± ¡°Not humbled?¡± ¡°King, I think I should stick to magical research. No offence but I¡¯m a poor messenger.¡± ¡°I agree. But please continue voicing your thoughts to me, even if they are¡­ Even if it¡¯s something I wouldn¡¯t like hearing.¡± She smiled. ¡±I will. But don¡¯t expect to pour my heart open to you. You might find it a bit too dark and nasty.¡± ¡°That¡¯s very self-aware¡­ Please be kind to others. No, that might be against your nature. Please try to be kind despite your nature.¡± He knew that he was asking a lot. She bowed for some reason. ¡°I¡¯ll do my best.¡± She smiled and then looked at the shadowy corner knowingly. ¡°Don¡¯t ask me not to spy on my people.¡± He smiled. ¡°I¡¯m not a paragon of virtue either. I¡¯ll allow small evils as long as we all can get along.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t implying anything.¡± Her voice was flustered. ¡°I know you spy on me. For your uncle, the High Chief.¡± The pale Drow skin turned even paler. ¡°Ha-ha.¡± He laughed. ¡°Relax, that is alright. We spy on each other because we are curious friends. Always interested in what the other is doing. Romantic, no?¡± She had a complicated expression on her face. ¡°By the way your spider merchants, had brought something very interesting and asked us to investigate.¡± She changed the topic abruptly. That¡¯s something he didn¡¯t manage to spy out yet. ¡°I assume the investigation is over?¡± ¡°Correct. We found a way to incubate and potentially hatch the Desert Wyrm Egg.¡± That¡¯s a saucy piece of information. ¡°I understand it came from The Scorpion Desert. But then it hatches can we tame something like that?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve been researching that too. Through spiders, we made contact with the Fennec traders. They say it¡¯s possible but the method is questionable. The hatchling will imprint on the first thing it sees, but then it grows in power¡­ we were told that the tamer usually ends up as its lunch.¡± ¡°Hmm sounds like a dangerous monster. Might it be because it becomes stronger than the tamer and just rebels?¡± He postulated. ¡°We think so too.¡± She looked at him expectantly. ¡°But if it¡¯s the King of Spiders, no, a Monster King¡­¡± Yes, he was that. ¡°I might stand a chance of taming it properly. It¡¯s worth a try, and even if it becomes feral we can just harvest it for materials.¡± ¡°Precisely.¡± She wrote something in that notebook of hers. ¡°Then it¡¯s decided, just call me when it¡¯s ready.¡± She nodded but gave yet another gaze at the shadowy corner. ¡°That might be redundant.¡± She whispered mostly to herself. 75 - Impossible Burger and Forbidden Sauce White wagons were lined up to form a caravan. The spider crafters had constructed them from IronOak, a task requiring patience and great skill. The wagons were made to transport the goods to the Human Kingdom but at this moment they were filled with stone bricks. Obviously, the wagons will be pulled by centaurs; and guarded by them too. The pullers were wearing sleek garbs made out of the finest Blue Cloth, while it wasn¡¯t the heavy armour they insisted on, the crafters lined the insides with Enchanted Boar Leather. They needed to understand that the heavy armour would weigh them too much and that the light armour was the most appropriate. However, there was the contrast of course, guards weren¡¯t pullers so they did have that sturdy armour on their centaur bodies. And it was a full plate, the grey and worn Centauri metal was replaced by orange Corrundum. It was their few surviving Centauri knights who will be guarding the caravan. The guards were bright and splendid, in their hands they had their favourite choice of weapon ¨C a lance. The lances were reworked too: reinforced and enchanted even. Wind Lance, was only possible with Wind Spirit Stones, the ones purchased from the Human Kingdoms. It came with the perks of [Piercing] and [Speed Boost], the two worked in tandem with other Centauri'' natural abilities to make them even more formidable. Both guards and pullers had a large insignia of Spider Kingdom embroidered on their gear. Thus, even without spider escort, it was made clear who they belonged to. With this, the road to humans should be finished even quicker. ¡­ The King of Spiders had found himself again in the Drow Archives, a place for research and study. The tower was filled with activity; the dull but scratch-like sound of scribing filled the spiral corridors. This place was as much for spiders as it was for Drow, the two worked together to further the magical research. The nebulous cloud forming the ill-defined body of the Darkness Spider hovered past the King. Inside the cloud was a bundle of peculiar parchment sheets, for some reason the parchment was pitch black, the edges threaded in golden thread and the writing was blood red in colour. The cloud waved at the King and he waved back. The spider seemed busy so he didn''t question what it was doing, after all, he was here for the High Chief. If anywhere the venerable leader of the Drow will be at his study, so he went right to the place. The doors were open so he just let himself in and took a good look at the state of the study. The desk had piles upon piles of scrolls. The nearby shelves were filled to the brim with scorpion glass vials, the containers had various plants preserved inside. The High Chief was scribbling something using the Magical Ink, an invention the two came up with together by mixing the Mana Spring Water and Blue Dust + a selection of glowing mushrooms the Drow cultivated in nearby caves. A familiar servant girl was standing by the High Chief¡¯s side, ready for his commands; she seemed positively bored. The man was too busy to notice his King but the bored girl did. She tapped the desk trying to get the High Chief''s attention ¨C ignored. She cleared her throat ¨C ignored. ¡°Greetings, King of Spiders!¡± She greeted loudly and bowed. ¡°Uh?¡± The High Chief blinked and looked up. ¡°Ah! The Spider King, welcome. I¡¯ve been expecting you.¡± Of course, he was, the Drow Assistant must have informed him that he, the King, is coming. He nodded to acknowledge their greetings, ¡°Then you know why I¡¯m here.¡± There were quite a few things on the agenda. ¡°Shall I start on the report about smelting Glem?¡± After receiving the confirmation the High Chief continued. ¡°It wasn¡¯t cheap, extortive even, but the scorpions shared their secrets. We have the blueprints needed to build the forge, but many of the ingredients are foreign to us. Have a look.¡± The High Chief produced a leather rag from one of the drawers. The tattered rag was the blueprint and it looked centuries old. An old and inefficient design perhaps. Conveniently it already had the supporting notes scribbled by no one else but the High Chief himself. He had identified the materials, the ones they already had and the ones they would need to obtain. The Comprehend perk activated straight away and from just a single glance he understood the blueprint, and how to improve it. ¡°I see. It will require a lot of Fire Spirit Stone, and a few of Earth.¡± ¡°We, or should I say the spider merchants, managed to secure the earth variety from the scorpions themselves. And our Drow FireWalkers are working hard in the Fire Caverns.¡± So in other words the most expensive ingredients were already secured. ¡°I think, we don¡¯t need these exotic monster parts.¡± He referred to the rest of the materials. ¡°We can achieve the same with treated IronOak, Kobold StoneBricks, generous application of Reinforce, and your enchantment rituals.¡± The High Chief gave a surprised look. ¡°Is that so?¡± It was so, Comprehend assured him of that. ¡°And we can further improve the smeltery¡­ I already have a few ideas.¡± He was thinking of using the FireAgave Juice to increase the heat the spirit stones would generate, plus the improved Forge Bellows where the Drow would further enchant them with Air affinity; after all, they had the Air Spirit Stones now (only a small bunch but enough). ¡°From that look you have¡­ I can easily guess what you¡¯re thinking. King, wouldn''t it be better to secure our own source of Air Spirit Stones? The price the human merchants ask is exorbitant!¡± Oh¡­ so the chief was privy to his dealings with the Black Hand Covenant. Interesting! ¡°I agree, the Trusty Advisor had already proposed that idea. And why stop at Air?.. but do you know any other sources aside from Fire?¡± Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°No, King, I do not. But considering what the spider merchants had brought from the desert the scorpions must possess an Earth source..¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± If anything he would have expected that the desert would host just a Fire source; apparently not. ¡°That requires further investigation. For now, let''s just get that smeltery made.¡± He pushed the stack of parchment slightly away from the table. ¡°Let me get the new blueprint ready.¡± He borrowed the nearby supplies to do just that. He was done in a manner of moments. ¡°The spider crafters should be able to construct this. And the enchantments I leave to you.¡± He handed in the blueprint to the drow. The forge business wasn¡¯t the only reason he was here. ¡°The Myconid Matriarch.¡± He opened the new topic. ¡°How is she doing? Are you getting the mushroom shipments she promised?¡± ¡°Yes, King. The mushrooms are plump and ever so tasty, plus she sends us other ingredients like spores. Speaking of which, we have accumulated quite a large store of spores. And it''s not like we can eat that.¡± Indeed, those were alchemical ingredients. ¡°Thanks for reminding me. I¡¯ll see them sent to my Crimson Alchemist.¡± The High Chief gave a surprised look. ¡°Crimson Alchemist?¡± ¡°Ah, I guess you wouldn¡¯t know. I haven¡¯t met her either but she is a Master Alchemist, goes by the name of Crimson.¡± ¡°Like fire or blood?¡± The High Chief sounded curious. He shrugged. ¡°Haven''t met her so¡­ But she¡¯s good, she¡¯s better than the novice me. If you want I can send you more interesting potions she makes. No, I definitely will. To top your mana up. Reinforce Mana plus Regenerate Mana is quite a combination.¡± Because the mana spring could do only so much. ¡°That would be most useful.¡± The High Chief smiled and bowed ever so slightly. ¡°By the way, on the previous topic of mushrooms. That creature¡­ Myconid Matriarch?¡± He scratched his head and his facial expression looked apologetic. ¡°Had requested your presence. That is, when you¡¯re not busy. Didn¡¯t seem important at the time¡­¡± High Chief, you forgot, didn¡¯t you? And remembered only now. ¡°I¡¯ll see what she wants.¡± But he also remembered something he¡¯d almost forgotten. ¡°And the egg?¡± ¡°The Desert Wyrm Egg? It¡¯s incubating in hot sand. We keep the temperature stable and hence decrease the time needed. But it won¡¯t be hatching any time soon.¡± ¡°How do you know when it will hatch?¡± He asked curious. ¡°The creature is of the magical nature, so we track the flow of mana. Currently, it is only accumulating ambient mana, but the presence of nearby sources like Mana Spring also helps. We¡¯ll know it¡¯s near to hatching once it starts to condense the accumulated mana into a core. The core finishes and the Wyrm hatches.¡± Wow, the High Chief know his stuff! ¡°Thanks for keeping it short and simple.¡± It was obvious that the process was more complicated. ¡°Well, then. I¡¯ll be off.¡± He bid farewell to the drow and went to the Myconid Cavern. ¡­ The mulch the spiders have been bringing did wonders for the mushroom growth; the mushroom farm was prospering. ¡°I¡¯ll need to ask the Kobolds to either expand this cavern or dig another one nearby.¡± He continued walking while careful not to crush the sprouting shrooms. The little myconids scattered away from him hiding behind bigger mushrooms. The brown creatures were very shy, it was hard to believe that once they had ravaged his farm in a maddened rage. The Myconid Matriarch was still there where he had planted her spore. She grew slightly larger but otherwise didn¡¯t change much. ¡°Hello, the Drow told me you¡¯ve requested my presence.¡± He spoke to her. The mushroom bent its white stalk to bow. ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve awaited for Thee, my King. The Drow stopped their greedy plundering and the mushrooms grew splendid.¡± ¡°All well and good it seems. Did you call me here to ask a favour?¡± She shook her brown cap. ¡°Only for a chat. Would my King please take a seat?¡± A mushroom stool grew out from the ground. ¡°Tell me how Thou is doing.¡± Eh? Is this really happening? ¡°Well, since we met a lot¡­ A lot has happened.¡± ¡°When...¡± She puffed a cloud of spores and a small gathering of myconids rushed to her. ¡°Have a snack and tell me all.¡± The goomba-like creatures carried a platter with food. Yup, the food was mushrooms but the selection was large. Eh? Myconids were offering him mushrooms, wasn¡¯t this like cannibalism, but to refuse would seem rude. ¡°Don¡¯t mind if I do.¡± He took an already sliced piece and into his mouth it went. Poisonous mushrooms? What is that? His perks negated such things. The mushrooms turned out to be quite tasty. And while sampling the food he casually retold the abridged versions of his many exploits. ¡°But my King¡­ Then Thou should have visited me sooner. I could have helped Thee.¡± She bobbed her cap. Eh?! The Matriarch was able to read his human face quite well. ¡°Wondrous spores for potions, nutritious mushrooms for human famine, and I know the scorpions like the fungus as they like their trees.¡± ¡°They do?¡± Well, spiders did mention something like that in one of their reports. But he never bothered to sell mushrooms then he had much more precious Living Wood. Maybe a missed opportunity¡­ ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t they? I made sure to grow Thine mushrooms plump and delicious. And now you have Mutate¡­ So the taste could be enchanted even further.¡± Well, she was right. ¡°Hmm, to be honest, I¡®m not big on mushrooms but Drow do like them quite a lot.¡± ¡°My King. Give it a try, please help yourself and improve my kin.¡± Why not. He mutated a bunch of mushrooms, guiding the changes ever so slightly. The Matriarch had a similar skill to the White Dryads ¨C [Grow] but for mushrooms. And very soon there was another taste test. One specimen made his eyebrows rise. ¡°Why does it taste like grilled meat?¡± He turned the brown cap in his hands still filled with disbelief. ¡°Even the texture is right.¡± He took another bite. ¡°A bit dry, it begs for a sauce, but this would make a splendid burger.¡± He marvelled at the lucky outcome of mutation. ¡°Dry?¡± The Matriarch gave him a curious look. ¡°If the King desires I can moisten it.¡± A fungal root burst from the ground asking to take it from him. ¡°Uhm, sure. Do your best?¡± He was curious. She brought the bitten burger-mushroom right under the brown cap of hers. He wasn¡¯t an expert on the myconid expressions but that fungal face looked embarrassed for a moment. A slimy dew leaked from under the cap and onto the burger-mushroom. That was the condensed slime which would normally coat the mushrooms, or he hoped wishing that it wasn¡¯t something more dreadful entirely. The fungal root offered the ¡®moistened¡¯ burger back to him. He took it back hesitantly. His hand was shaking but even then he had enough courage to taste it. ¡°That¡¯s one hell of a sauce!¡± The taste was unique and nothing like he tasted before, it was rich with those umami flavours. ¡°It fits just right!¡± He gobbled up the burger-mushroom. ¡°It just needs a bun, some cheese and lettuce and we have a proper hamburger.¡± But then sadness took hold of his face. ¡°But without that ¡®sauce¡¯¡­ and It doesn¡¯t look easy to produce.¡± ¡°I have a proposition.¡± The Matriarch looked at him expectantly. ¡°Evolve me, Mutate me, Imbue me with magic and I assure Thy, Thy will have Thine moisture.¡± Evolving sapient and high-ranking creatures was always a risky business. ¡°You know it¡¯s dangerous, you might stop being you¡­ And my affinity is Dark, and imbuing you with anything else is a risky business.¡± ¡°There is no risk.¡± The Matriarch assured him of something she must have no knowledge of. But then, maybe she did know. Some creatures were born with knowledge and she seemed like one of such. ¡°I guess, I can. For the future of the burger!¡± He already craved for more. ¡°Ready?¡± The Matriarch gave him an approving smile. ¡°[Evolve],[Imbue: Dark],[Mutate].¡± He invoked one after the other. [Perks: Unnatural Selection, Chaos Blessed ¨C triggered] [Royal Lineage requirements have been met (Monster King, Myconid Matriarch)] [Myconid Matriarch has received Royal Evolution option] She must have taken it because his mana drained to zero. The figure of Matriarch exploded into purple particles. The explosion knocked him off the mushroom stool. And then he passed out from negative mana. 76 - Source of the Sauce | Spidery Delicious It felt like he was hit with a hammer and the world was spinning, but even then he couldn''t ignore the elegant form standing nearby. The result of Royal Evolution was right in front: Defined feminine features dominated her now undoubtedly semi-human form. Instead of just a white stalk and a cap, she now had a proper waist, arms, chest and head; but her lower half remained firmly planted in the ground indicating the absence of legs and feet. However, from a quick glance, the fault wouldn¡¯t be apparent because she was dressed in a white bridal dress, the long skirt of white fungal mesh touched the ground thus obfuscating her lower stalk and absence of proper legs. She retained her signature brown cap, but now it resembled a fashionable hat. From under the cap, a bridal veil hung loosely slightly covering her face. The gloves, the hat, and the dress were all made out of mushroom flesh, but despite that, the texture gave an impression of exquisite and expensive cloth. And what was not covered by ¡®cloth¡¯ appeared like white skin; pristine, smooth and without even a single blemish. Her figure was well developed and gave the impression that it could burst at any time ripping that overly tight dress of hers, but otherwise, she radiated the aura of sophisticated nobility more than the aura of maidenly beauty. ¡°A Mushroom Bride?¡± He uttered surprised. She shook her head, ¡°Myconid Queen,¡± she corrected. The result of the evolution was unexpected to say the least. ¡°But how¡­¡± Something didn¡¯t add up. ¡°I have Imbued you with Dark affinity.¡± But the result was this innocent appearance. ¡°Yes, my King. I have access to the Dark spells now, but even then, I am still one with Nature¡­ Does this form not please Thee?¡± She turned and twisted her body making her skirt flutter. ¡°I took this shape because I thought it might please you.¡± ¡°Well¡­ Yes, you look stylish and graceful. I¡¯m just surprised that is all.¡± He didn¡¯t think a mushroom could be so beautiful. ¡°So I am, it turned out better than expected.¡± She took the hem of her dress and made a curt bow. ¡°Thank you, my King.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± He rubbed the still throbbing temples of his head. ¡°You look drained.¡± She offered a fungal cup filled with familiar sauce. ¡°It will help you recover.¡± He would never have thought there would come a day when he would drink sauce as if it was water, but here he was thirsty and with a headache. ¡°The sauce¡­¡± He tasted it. [Stamina recovery increased], the message informed him. ¡°Oh, you improved the recipe.¡± The Myconid Queen puffed her chest. ¡°Thou are correct, and with these,¡± she pointed at a certain body part, ¡°now I can make a lot more. All thanks to Thy Mutate.¡± He blinked twice. ¡°I would¡¯ve never guessed it could be used in that way¡­¡± And then he chose to just ignore the reality of the source of the sauce. ¡°But how much sauce can you supply? A jug a day?¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± She seemed thoughtful for a moment. ¡°With the right amount of nutrients, a barrel shouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡± That was a lot! After all, the burger needed only a drop of it to achieve the complete taste. ¡°With that amount¡­ I think we can start a restaurant chain or something.¡± He nodded happily. ¡°Yes, there is no reason to keep this discovery hidden. World be ready because the burger is coming!¡± He announced with a fist pump. The Myconid Queen gave him a peculiar look. ¡°You seem happy.¡± ¡°Of course I am. We invented something amazing. I reckon we should test this first with the Drow and then expand to the Human Kingdom.¡± ¡°Then, I¡¯ll prioritise growing the burger-mushrooms.¡± ¡°You do that, and I¡¯ll send the spiders with barrels so we can start accumulating the sauce. Hmm¡­¡± He became thoughtful for a moment. ¡°But calling it just a sauce is a bit underwhelming. How about the Secret Sauce? But¡­¡± That name sounded tired and overused. ¡°You know, what? Since you are the chef who made the sauce you should go and name it.¡± It didn¡¯t take a second for her to reply. ¡°Forbidden Dew.¡± She said it as if the name was obvious from the beginning. ¡°Eh?¡± If anything it should be milk but, ¡°Why is it forbidden?¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s meant only for the King. Sause so succulent and precious that only a King could afford.¡± She smiled. ¡°If we name it that, the people will only want it more.¡± ¡°I see, what you¡¯re trying to do.¡± He smiled back. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s a brilliant name. I think people will be curious if not tempted to try it. Impossible Burger with a dash of Forbidden Dew, a food combination worthy of a King! The experience is yours for only a paltry silver.¡± Then he continued in a hurried voice. ¡°Conditions and terms apply. The Spider King takes no responsibility for stomach aches, poisoning or untimely death. Supply is limited to availability.¡± She gave him an amused look. ¡°And I think I¡¯ll come back, that is then my mana recovers, so that I can Mutate more flavours.¡± He began to salivate at the possibilities. ¡°Maybe, if I¡¯m lucky, I¡¯ll have the divine flavour of chicken again!¡± Hopefully this time proper and not squirrel-chicken flavour. ¡°But for now, I¡¯ll leave it to you and I¡¯ll see the first restaurant built at the Drow City.¡± ¡°I shall have the burgers ready by tomorrow.¡± She bowed with confidence. And that was that, so he went to relay the good news to the High Chief. ¡­ It was convenient that The Mana Spring was close to the Myconid Cavern, it allowed the King to mutate the mushrooms and come back here to recover; rinse and repeat. While the Spider King was waiting for the completion of Glem smeltery he conspired with spiders to build his first restaurant. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The structure didn¡¯t even take a day to erect. The building was that now iconic spider nest-dome made out of intertwined wood and blue ropes. Nearby he erected a thick IronOak pole to serve as a sign; it displayed the massive flag with the spider eating a mushroom. While the design might be interpreted as questionable and spooky even, it was still simple and easy to understand: there was food sold here. Actually, the spidery building might be spooky only for the humans, after all, the Drow had different aesthetics and instead found the design inviting. That was evident by the very long line forming by the entrance. It might be the novelty of the building, the promise of unfamiliar food or the fact that the King himself was a today staffing the restaurant, but there wasn''t a single Drow in an entire city who didn''t want to be here; to miss such an opportunity would be a sin. Two spider guards, clad in decorative and shiny orange armour blocked the entrance with weapons resembling halberds. ¡°We¡¯re open!¡± A regal voice shouted from deep within. The spiders parted their halberds to allow passage. ¡°Welcome. To Spidery Delicious.¡± The two chirped in tandem revealing the name of the restaurant. The Drow flocked inside or tried to, but only a certain number was allowed. The halberds blocked the entrance controlling the crowd. The lucky first marvelled at the sight of the restaurant proper. The inside was well-lit by lantern light, the flame burned bright and smokeless, betraying them to be a magical device of sorts. The tables were carved out of IronOak, the spider craftsmanship was exquisite, and even the chairs were cushioned with the expensive Blue Cloth; they looked inviting and comfortable. The Drow were met by a spider attendant and led to the tables in small groups. There a small spider waiter dangled from a web affixed by a ceiling, it lowered itself by string and towards the table offering a menu to the drows. Drows took their parchment marvelling at them. ¡°Rules?¡±, ¡°I thought they would serve food, not books?¡±, ¡°But I can¡¯t read.¡±, ¡°¡­¡± They voiced their confusion. Of course they would be confused, after all this was their first experience. ¡°This is the list. Of food items. You can order.¡± The spider began to explain. ¡°Guests. Shall I read it. For you.¡± The spider added reacting to the unexpected realisation that not everyone could read. The oldest guest attempted to read the menu, but the rest of the family just nodded. ¡°We have. Chicken Of The Woods. Beefsteak Mushroom. Shrimp Russulas. Lobstery Caps¡­¡± The spider waiter began to name various kinds of mushrooms. ¡°All served with¡­ Forbidden Dew!¡± It chirped after a meaningful pause to cause an effect. ¡°Forbidden Dew?¡± A drow asked with slight concern. ¡°Forbidden Dew. A sauce made for a King. And only for a King. A sauce so splendid. It was meant for gods.¡± it chirped embellishing the story. ¡°The magnanimous King. Wished to share it. With the world. So we serve it. But only for¡­ a moment. So feast now. While you can.¡± Drows looked at each other and then picked their mushrooms at random. The spider memorised their order and then ran through the ceiling web and towards the kitchen. Soon it arrived with a tray. One by one the spider lowered the plates to the guests voicing the name of the dish back to them. ¡°Enjoy. And call me back. For more.¡± It chirped pleasantly and made itself comfortable on the ceiling web. A similar scene repeated itself from table to table. The Drow marvelled at their food for a moment but then they dug at it without hesitation. The sound of foodgasm filled the restaurant.To anyone listening from outside, the sounds made were obscene! The repeat of orders were placed to spiders for more of the delightful food. The King smiled pleased by the success of the Impossible Burgers. Through trial and error, he had managed to replicate various meat flavours and the rich-in-umami Forbidden Dew sauce completed the culinary masterpiece. In the kitchen, the diligent spider cooks worked in conveyor fashion to assemble the meals. The food production was smooth and quick. At the moment the dish was just burger patties with sauce and extras like EarthenYam fries or other fruits or vegetables; the bun still had to be invented because he needed a suitable grain for that. He was emboldened by the success of the Impossible Burgers, and so decided to launch the second product. It was just a drink, but he was hesitant because it was rather an unusual drink, at least to the Drow. The Myconid Queen managed to produce a magical type of fungus, Dark Spores. The fungus was microscopic and invisible to the eye forming a fine powder, and it was an alchemical ingredient of sorts. By chance, he had discovered that when it was mixed with Mana Spring Water, the water would become bubbly. The best of it was that despite using something with Dark in the name, the result wasn¡¯t poisonous or anything like that just***¡­ never mind that. The water turned carbonated, that¡¯s it! While, yes, it lost its mana-restoring properties, it could still be used as a base to make a fizzy drink. And a fizzy drink he made. He injected the Dark Water with the syrup of TomGrape and a dash of SlugJelly to make a sweet and bubbly delight named as CocaCola, oops that¡¯s trademarked, Spider-FizzPop?. A complicated name but a classy one never the less. *** Okay¡­ Despite its sweetness, and perceived richness, The Dark element in the Spider-FizzPop? gave it a peculiar property ¨C it had negative nutrition. But! In the King¡¯s defence, it worked to his advantage. As long as he served the drink with the plentiful food portions it would have no negative effect at all. If anything he just invented a diet drink which can prevent obesity. Just don¡¯t drink it on its own, alright¡­ He gave a signal for the spiders to start offering the drink. On the house of course. The spiders lowered the sleek scorpion glass bottles on the table, the bottles had a spider as its logo on the front. The spider waiters chirped urging the guests to have a free sample. The Drow looked again with wonder-filled eyes, and then they uncorked the fungiwood cork and sipped out of the spidery and dark bottle without even a shred of hesitation. The darkness in the bottle swirled and bubbled tickling their tongues as they drank it in urged gulps. ¡°So sweet!¡±, ¡°Delicious!¡±, ¡°There¡¯s a party in my mouth!¡±, so and such resounded. In the end, it was well received too. Everything in Spidery Delicious was well received, the restaurant was a great success. However, he was still exposed to a dilemma: should he feed the guest till they were bursting full, or should he dismiss them so that more people could experience the joy of burgers and cola? But if anything, he¡¯ll have to expand the restaurant, and even start to offer proper and on-the-go fast food options. Maybe two separate areas: one for classy dining and the other for quick meals? A drive, no, a walk-through? Delivery service? ¡°Running a business is hard.¡± He just became a victim of his own success. ¡°I¡¯ll just delegate it to competent spiders. Simple.¡± Indeed, that was the solution. Just by looking at the seamlessly impeccable work practice they managed to pull off here it was clear that the spiders were perfect for the job. ¡°Watch out Human Kingdom¡­ It ain¡¯t the Famine you¡¯ll need to worry about now, but the opposite... Ha! Ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha!¡± He laughed in an evil and conspiratory way. But of course, he won''t be spreading anything nefarious, only the happiness of burgers and delight of Spider-FizzPop?. The story of the Spidery Delicious restaurant empire just began, and it will take the world by storm. 77 - Holy Unholy Ritual of Rebirth Deep within the darkness of the Drow City, surrounded by cold stone houses, stared by ashen faces and red eyes of crimson, in a small and shallow crater ¨C there was a cube most strange and menacing. The Cube of Forges was its name. It was a device made out of black and glass-like bricks giving it that sinister look, but for the lucky few, for those who gazed at the right angle the cube would shine in a magical purple sheen betraying its magical nature. If one dared to come close, very close, they would see the Drow glyphs adorning the black bricks, but they weren¡¯t coloured or glowing, nothing like that, they were just there etched into the surface as if to remain hidden from a distant observer. The structure was both menacing and mysterious, but even then, it mostly was just a massive cube. While the cube was exactly that ¨C a perfect cube, its walls had holes and facets resembling greedy mouths. And greedy they were! The spiders were running back and forth watering the greedy mouth with that red and oily juice. The cube consumed the liquid in great quantities. Another mouth craved solid food, the spiders were feeding it something rather expensive, something known to many as spirit stones. And yet another mouth desired something most strange ¨C broken and tainted weapons; weapons radiating the aura of death were fed to it. It was most strange! With each weapon consumed the cube would let out a roaring and bone-wrenching wail, a cry most unpleasant. Of course, what comes in has to come out eventually; in one way or another. The ¡®food¡¯ the cube was ¡®eating¡¯ was transformed; further tainted or purified remained unclear. Out of its back, and through a very small hole, black little triangles popped one after the other. The spiders swarmed to gather the falling droppings. They were careful in their task of picking them. They carried sharp triangles in a very dignified fashion. They did it so because this was not refuse, waste or garbage ¨C the triangles were most precious. It was metal black like the night itself, it was Glem. ¡­ Obtaining Glem was not easy, shaping it was even harder, but with a sharp mind and spiderish perseverance, everything was possible. With the metal now shaped the spiders could move to the next task. The task was of high significance, it was so important it could be considered as Holy. And as in all rituals of significance, this one had its fair share of spectators. Once again the Drow gathered to observe the spiders in their Holy quest. Few even offered their help, but that was unnecessary. The spiders gathered in between the piles of various materials and once again gazed at a single parchment, they did it for like a hundredth time already, but even then it still felt like that was not enough. To them, a simple Blueprint was anything but simple. No, to them this piece of paper was Everything. The spiders checked the measurements and quantities again and all seemed to be in order. And with that, the spider old and experienced, the Venerable HeadCrafter, gave its permission to start. The crafters moved like professional dancers, their movements fluent with no wasted motions. They worked in tandem to assemble the construct depicted in the Divine Blueprint. The ¡®Divine¡¯ part was unofficial, hence the lack of identifying colour; but considering the significance of the construct that was only a matter of time. In mere moments the spiders finished assembling the construct, the first of its kind. Obviously, it was in a shape of a spider, and it was spiderly magnificent. This was a craftsmanship of the highest quality, a masterwork achieved by the spider friends working hard together. The metal spider was black as the spider should be, and had all of the limbs it would ever need. The Glem made it heavy and nearly indestructible, but its overall sleek design gave the vibes of elegance and speed. The construct''s head had the iconic spider mandibles and four bright and shiny yellow sapphires for its eyes. The gems were most splendid, more beautiful than normal eyes. Thank you Kobolds for finding such gems! The body and the many limbs were engraved with Drow enchantments. Those will give the construct speed and power to move that otherwise heavy body. The first of many was just finished, but many more remained to be completed. Tirelessly spider crafters worked to assemble one construct after the other. And did it they with a smile! Because they knew that with each construct crafted, they moved closer to resurrecting their spider friends. ¡­ At the same place, in the Drow City, where the spider crafters had just finished assembling the constructs, a large area was cleared for the upcoming ritual. The complex ritual consisted of three circles. The outermost circle was bordered by White Sprigans, creatures who had bigger mana stores than Drow, they will be guiding and powering the better part of the ritual. In the middle circle, there were a bit less than a hundred constructs. They were magnificent in their shape like splendid statues. Each was surrounded by another individual circle with its runes, engravings and other sacrificial materials. In the inner circle, there was a Mana Spring and the Master of The Ritual, The Spider King. In his hand, just as a priest would, he held a dark and leathery tome. The pages in the True Dark Tome flipped on their own as if they had free will. In his other hand, he held an artefact of significant importance, it was the Mana Well. The artefact was mostly empty, only a few souls remained in it. But those souls were of the most importance and the very reason for this complicated ritual. The King looked around and nodded happily. Everything was ready. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± He announced. The casual tone broke his otherwise regal image, but it was alright because it helped to ease the building tension. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The mana flowed into the circles, from the outer to the middle and then to the centre. But then from the centre to the middle and back to the outer circle. The Nature mana shifted and transformed into Dark mana. The ritual circles finished activating, the air was saturated with power. The remaining souls escaped from the Mana Well and then they just flew around the King in circles. The dark-coloured souls were in vague shapes of spiders. The souls didn¡¯t wail or scream a tortured cry, instead, they just chirped happy noises and frolicked in the air. The King smiled urging, ¡°Go spiders. Claim your new bodies. Be Reborn!¡± He allowed them to consume great portions of the Dark mana. The souls darted towards the constructs sinking deep into the metal. The individual circles activated consolidating the soul and the body. That was where most of the mana was consumed, and so the Mana Spring dried significantly. Just before it could go completely empty the first of the spider constructs began to move. The movement was dexterous and fluid as if it was practiced to perfection. From those flowing movements one wouldn¡¯t be able to tell that the construct''s body was actually heavy and metal. If anything, this was a testament to the expertise of spider crafters. The new bodies were just perfect! The spider constructs chirped giddily expressing their joy to be alive again, and their thanks for it. And just like that, the most complex ritual yet was completed without even a single hitch. ¡­ The High Chief rushed towards the Spider King, the drow had a clear concern painted on his face. No, this couldn¡¯t be about the Mana Spring, because the spring will recover in time. This was something else¡­ ¡°King, King¡­¡± He shouted while running and waving. ¡°Please hurry.¡± He sprinted towards the High Chief. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°It¡¯s hatching! Quickly.¡± But how? When he asked the drows assured him that it will be weeks. While they were running towards the Drow Archive the High Chief began explaining between the pants. ¡°The ambient mana¡­ The leftovers from the ritual¡­ The egg absorbed it¡­ The core is forming¡­ The wyrm will hatch.¡± Ah! So that¡¯s why! They reached the Drow Archives and began the climb up the winding stairs. And there were many stairs. This was an urgent matter and the stairs seemed endless. ¡°Why did you decide to keep it on the top floor?¡± He complained. The drow panted struggling to find the air necessary for an explanation. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ll go ahead. You¡¯ll catch up.¡± He left the out-of-shape drow and urged up to reach the top floor. He sprinted through conveniently open doors and into a large room filled with sand. The cracks on the egg were already forming. ¡°Phew, it seems I made it in time.¡± He rushed closer to the egg. The cracks were spreading and soon the whole shell will be nothing but cracks. ¡°Any moment now.¡± He looked at the egg expectantly. But for some reason. ¡°¡­¡± Nothing was happening. The High Chief finally burst into the room, sweaty and struggling to breathe. ¡°I should¡¯ve¡­ sent¡­ the servant girl.¡± He lamented while wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. ¡°Hey, Chief. Should I help it to hatch?¡± The drow shook his head. ¡°No.¡± ¡°But it¡¯s not coming!¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± The High Chief was thoughtful for a moment. ¡°It might be afraid of your presence¡­¡± He implied something and then added, ¡°¡­you have that you know.¡± ¡°My Aura, yes. I tend to forget since it became second nature to me.¡± Indeed, he had that Project Aura perk, it was running in the background passively at most of the times. ¡°Let me change it a bit.¡± He shifted it to his best image of a motherly aura. That seemed to do the trick. The shell broke and a head emerged out of the tiny hole. Six green and beady eyes gazed at him. ¡°Meow,¡± The desert wyrm meowed at him. ¡°Aw, so cute.¡± He reached to pat the snake-like head. The wyrm used the chance to coil its body around his hand. At this moment it looked more like a yellow serpent than a ferocious wyrm. ¡°I guess you¡¯ll grow¡­¡± ¡°Meow,¡± it meowed again. [The Familiar Bond was formed], it didn¡¯t even ask him if he wanted. But, yeah he did want that. ¡°I¡¯ve just tamed it, but¡­¡± He had to ask, ¡°But why does it meow?¡± The High Chief shrugged. ¡°That must be the noise the wyrms make.¡± ¡°But isn¡¯t this a type of a Dragon? It should roar or something like that.¡± ¡°Meow!¡± It meowed with increased intensity. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Close enough I guess.¡± He patted the wyrm. ¡°I bet it¡¯s hungry. What do I feed it?¡± ¡°According to our research, anything is fine. But the natural preference is ¡­¡± The High Chief paused meaningfully. ¡°Scorpions, Scarabs, Fennec, Armoured Beetles and other¡­ desert denizens.¡± One of the names didn¡¯t seem to fit but, ¡°So it¡¯s insects. We have those in the Dark Tunnels, no?¡± ¡°I guess, that would fit its preferences. Good thinking, King!¡± The High Chief hid the severed hand he had purchased from Fennecs previously and looked at the nearby drow researcher meaningfully. The man disappeared presumably to retrieve some steamed centipedes. He too looked at the wyrm meaningfully. ¡°You are forbidden from eating my spiders.¡± ¡°Meow?¡± ¡°Forbidden!¡± He projected his usual aura. ¡°Understand?¡± ¡°Meow!¡± It even nodded. ¡°Oh, it might be intelligent.¡± ¡°According to our research, they are. But just how much is difficult to tell.¡± The High Chief took the steamed centipedes and handed them to the King. ¡°Then it comes to legendary monsters It¡¯s hard to parse facts from fiction.¡± He began feeding the wyrm. ¡°Huh, it even purrs like a cat.¡± Curiosity flashed on the drow¡¯s face. ¡°What¡¯s a cat? Another type of legendary monster?¡± ¡°Ha! Legendary asshole more like.¡± He laughed. ¡°But no, they are just cute pets.¡± ¡°King, I¡¯m positive I don¡¯t need to remind you but¡­ this wyrm isn¡¯t just a pet. It¡¯s cute now but according to our research¡­¡± The High Chief didn''t get to finish that overused phrase because, ¡°I know! It will try to eat me later.¡± He patted the eating wyrm. ¡°You will won¡¯t you? You¡¯ll try to gobble me up. But I won¡¯t let you. No, no, no¡­¡± He baby talked with the wyrm. ¡°Erm¡­¡± the High Chief was left speechless. ¡°Let''s see if the White Sprigans or my best mate Wisp can speed that growth of yours.¡± Then he remembered something. ¡°Oh, and High Chief. The Myconid Cavern will be expanding quite significantly, so don¡¯t get alarmed at the increased spider activity.¡± ¡°But of course. If we can be of assistance just let me know.¡± ¡°Meow!¡± He ignored the meowing. ¡°Hmm, then¡­ speaking of expansion. I¡¯m thinking of making a tunnel, a direct tunnel to the Scorpion Desert. The Kobolds will mine that out, but can you please make sure it stays on course and we don¡¯t have any cave-ins and other accidents like that.¡± ¡°But of course!¡± He found another phrase to repeat. ¡°You can leave the planning to us.¡± ¡°Well then. With that, I¡¯ll bid you farewell.¡± ¡°But of course. You must be busy.¡± He bowed. ¡°Farewell King.¡± Well, he wasn¡¯t quite done yet. He needed to go and see the crystal spider. He would have done so after the successful ritual if not for the unpredictable egg hatching. According to the Spider research, the crystals the crystal spider grew possessed an interesting property. A property which could further advance the Rebirth ritual. If the theory was correct¡­ well, it would make his spiders functionally Immortal. 78 - I cant stop Mutating, "Help!" Right in front of the Spider King was one of his spider subjects. The spider stood proud, its form was crystalline and majestic. Once again the Mutate proved its worth: the spider grew larger and produced even more crystals, more and of higher quality. Large pillars of see-through material grew on its back, it looked magical but also very heavy. He looked at the rainbow which formed by chance in one of the crystal pillars. ¡°You look dashing, Crystal Spider.¡± The spider made a spiderly curt bow lowering its body and tipping its head ever so slightly. He couldn¡¯t take his eyes off the sparkling rainbow. ¡°You must be very proud of your pristine crystals. But, if you don¡¯t mind, I would like you to part with just a few.¡± ¡°Anything for you, King. I owe you. For this Mutation.¡± The spider chirped in a crystal-clear voice, it sounded positively serene. ¡°[Shed Crystal]¡±, a large crystal pillar toppled from its back and fell towards the stone floor. He panicked worrying that the crystal might shatter, but he didn¡¯t need to, it was hard, very hard, so hard it cracked the stone floor instead. ¡°Would you like another?¡± The spider sang in a mirthful chirp but didn''t wait for a reply. ¡°[Shed Crystal]¡±, yet another crystalline pillar hit the floor. ¡°That is enough.¡± He said in an urgent tone, a few more would ruin the otherwise rich image of the Crystal Spider leaving it looking like a freshly sheered sheep; he didn¡¯t want that. He wanted to preserve that magical image of the spider. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°No need. For you, my King. Anything.¡± The spider chirped in its angelic voice. He gestured for the nearby spiders to carry the crystals to the workshop and then followed from behind. The large pillars, with great effort mind you, were cut into small gem-like shapes. With that done he had obtained no less than a hundred of Spider Crystals. But this was just the beginning of the hard work. He moved them from the workshop to the ritual room. The room was already staffed with spider mages. The spiders were cloaked in dark robes made out of Black Cloth, the cloth came from ShadowAgave. The robes gave them interesting perks: their forms were cloaked in a shadowy haze making it hard to even guess that it was a spider beneath them, instead of walking they just swam through the air like some sort of spectre, and they had the Terror aura surrounding them. Maybe not the most positive image for an otherwise cute spider, but they were Dark mages after all and powerful in their craft. He nodded at his fellow practitioners of the Dark Arts, ¡°Let¡¯s begin,¡± and then he scattered the Spider Crystals right inside the intricate magic circle. This was a ritual the spider mages developed by learning from the Drow and Wisp. It was a unique way for them to enchant the otherwise Neutral crystal with Dark essence. The ritual began and the magic flowed into the crystals changing them permanently. What was once clear and pristine was transmuted into the opposite. The crystals became opaque and black, they were so dark that it was almost as if they absorbed the light itself. Also, it was dangerous to stare at them directly, because if one did that he would feel drawn to the black crystalline abyss losing the sense of time and falling into a trance-like state. While there were dangers, the crystals weren¡¯t really dangerous by themselves. It was okay to touch them and carry them, just don¡¯t look at them for too long. Oh, and don¡¯t die carrying one unless you want your soul absorbed! So what happened here was that the Spider Crystals were transformed into Soul Crystals. With the ritual compleated shadowy forms of the spider mages became less ghost-like, an indication that a great amount of mana was drained. But that was only temporary because each of them reached inside their robes to retrieve a Regenerate Mana Potion. The Toxicity was increased, but their mana will be restored by the time they redrew the glyphs and replaced the sacrificial ingredients for a repeat cast of the ritual. They had to do it a few times to corrupt upgrade all of the crystals. He looked at the box now filled to the brim with something that was not dangerous at all and then smiled at the result of their hard work but, ¡°Wow!¡± He felt woozy all of a sudden. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t have looked.¡± He closed the lid shut. ¡°With this, we inch closer to spider Immortality!¡± He announced pleased with the successful outcome. The spiders chirped in approval. He tapped the sealed box. ¡°Now we need to figure out how to link these with the Soul Well.¡± He tapped the nearby orb and purple lighting flashed inside as if excited by his words. ¡°You mentioned. There are hints. In the True Dark Tome.¡± A spider mage chirped also excited. ¡°May we borrow it? To research it in full.¡± There was only so much he could do alone. ¡°Yes, that would be helpful. I¡¯ll leave the research to you.¡± He left the box, the book and the orb to the spiders¡¯ care. ¡°Do your best and let me know if you reach a breakthrough.¡± The spiders gave him the spider equivalent of thumbs up. ¡­ While he tried to keep the wyrm hatchling close at all times, sometimes it was unwise to have it nearby; it was quite a troublemaker. The White Sprigans managed to Grow its body to a juvenile form, but the mind remained childish. That¡¯s why he didn¡¯t take it to the ritual room. Actually, he couldn¡¯t take it to a lot of places. For example: If he took it to the workshop the juvenile loved to knock the precious alchemical potions off the shelf and just watch them drop, that gaze was intense and he could swear that each time the wyrms¡¯ face was cast with disappointment because the enchanted potion bottles failed to smash. In other words, it was just getting bored very quickly and then it would resort to various shenanigans. It was very possible that the wyrmling had ADHD! ¨C if that¡¯s possible at all. Or maybe it was just a very energetic wyrm. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Anyway, currently it was chasing the poor Mushroom Spider while hissing at it. ¡°Hey, what did I tell you? No eating spiders!¡± He scolded the wyrmling. Surprisingly the juvenile stopped, ¡°Meow?¡± it voiced faking innocence and confusion. The Mushroom Spider walked towards him. ¡°It steals. My magic mushrooms.¡± The spider complained. ¡°Magic Mushrooms?¡± He was curious. ¡°I grow them for the Drow. They like it very much.¡± The spider plucked a spindly cap from its body to show it. The wyrmling perked up at the sight of the mushroom. ¡°Oh?¡± He looked at the wyrmling which was now trying to snatch it from the spider. ¡°I thought it likes insects the most¡­ but apparently it likes magic mushrooms more.¡± ¡°It steals them. I need them for the Drow.¡± The spider complained again. He was still curious. ¡°So they like it too. Let¡¯s taste it.¡± He took the mushroom and ate it. [Debuff: Illusion], [Illusion negated by Enchanted Nutrient Processing], the messages informed him. ¡°Oh! That kind of magic mushrooms. So these are no good for MP Potions.¡± He was both surprised and disappointed. ¡°Good for Drow rituals.¡± The spider informed. And probably for other stuff, the Drow did in their private time¡­ ¡°I don¡¯t think you should eat them.¡± He scolded the wyrmling. ¡°Me-ow¡­¡± It cried beggingly. ¡°Well, maybe just one.¡± The spider obliged and the wyrmling gobbled up the Magic Mushroom with gusto. In an instant, its fiery nature mellowed and it just curled on the ground purring pleasantly. It radiated an aura of calmness and contentment. Whatever it was, the wyrmling was affected by something else than the Illusion debuff. Maybe even a positive buff? He observed now calmer wyrmling. ¡°Huh, the ADHD was cured.¡± ¡°Meow!¡± It responded with a tinge of vigour still in its voice. ¡°And it doesn¡¯t look sedated, just relaxed.¡± ¡°Meow!¡± ¡°Spider, I might want to borrow your Magic Mushrooms as well.¡± ¡°King.¡± The spider bowed apologetically. ¡°I struggle with supply.¡± ¡°Shall I Mutate you?¡± ¡°Mutate?¡± The spider chirped intrigued. ¡°Yeah, mutate. I did that to Crystal Spider and now it grows the crystals twice as large and twice as fast.¡± ¡°Mutate me, King!¡± it chirped excitedly, jumping even. He did just that. Interestingly, all of the mushrooms withered and dropped off its back, causing the Spider King a good deal of anxiety. ¡°Worry not.¡± The spider chirped. ¡°It will grow back. I can tell.¡± Indeed, the mushrooms began to sprout from all over its body. All of them were Magic Mushrooms, the previous variety was gone. ¡°It looks like you decided to specialise.¡± He noted. ¡°Yes. These were. Highest in demand.¡± The spider bowed again. ¡°Thank you, King.¡± It straightened to stand proud. ¡°[Shed Mushrooms]¡±, the mushroom buds dropped from its body. ¡°For you. Little buds. But as potent. As mature ones.¡± Luckily the wyrm didn¡¯t jump to gobble them up from the ground; it seems it was content with the previous portion. ¡°Thanks. I can¡¯t say no.¡± He collected them. ¡°Both medicine and a treat.¡± He gave the wyrmling a meaningful look. ¡°Meow?¡± It tilted its head curiously. ¡°And I should be able to make an Illusion Potion with them.¡± He gave a whistle to the wyrmling so that it would follow and then walked towards the beginnings of Oberon Tunnel with a clear goal in his mind. Two spiders upgraded three more to go. ¡­ The Kobolds were clawing at the rock wall, carving stone with their claws as if it was clay. The tunnel was progressing smoothly. A drow architect held an orb in his hands, it was a tool to ensure the correct direction and angle of the tunnel. The Oberon Tunnel was being dug to connect The Dreaded Place and The Scorpion Desert; a mega project which will take months to complete. But as a bonus, the spiders were getting a staggering amount of Kobold StoneBricks, the uses for those were obvious and plentiful. He walked past yet another Kobold, but this one piqued his interest. The kobold was brown, a colour he hasn¡¯t seen yet. Well, obviously the Kobold Leader conquered yet another tribe. And that was that. Probably¡­ He chose not to pry about the insignificant and asked instead, ¡°Have you seen the Stone Spider?¡± ¡°Yes-yes, there at the end.¡± The brown kobold pointed towards a large pile of stones. The Stone Spider was there carving bricks one after the other. The King looked at the bricks with interest, they were different from the ones the kobolds made. The spider already aware of his presence and his interest replied helpfully, ¡°Spider StoneBricks. Better. Already Reinforced.¡± The stone was naturally a sturdy material, but well, there was no reason not to make it even sturdier. ¡°Hey,¡± He waved hello at the spider a bit late in the gesture. ¡°Do you want to be mutated?¡± ¡°Mutated?¡± It asked in that stony and gravely chirp, likely unaware of the new King¡¯s perk. ¡°Mutated.¡± He went on to explain what he meant. The Glowing Spider, the main tunnel illuminator here soon joined to listen to the explanation. Of course, the two had no reason to refuse. The results were¡­ not what he expected. He had observed the biggest change he¡¯d seen so far, the Stone Spider shrunk to a more compact form and its front limbs developed drills for hands. Two big drills to drill the walls and then close to its head two smaller drill limbs for fine details. The drills were still somewhat organic, a peculiar organ previously unseen in nature. The drill bits on those drill hands were made out of some sort of crystal, maybe even diamond; it looked sharp and menacing. The Stone Spider spun its drill hands testing out them. ¡°Nice.¡± It chirped. It was now the Glowing Spider''s turn. ¡°[Mutate].¡± He invoked letting the spider to guide its own mutation. The glowing spider didn¡¯t change much at all. ¡°What happened? Did it fail?¡± He had to ask. ¡°No. Now I can cast [Recover].¡± The light it emitted grew ever so splendid. The golden motes, delicate like snowflakes, blinked into existence out of nowhere and showered nearby Kobolds, Drow and spiders alike. The wirmling slithered trying to catch the motes with its mouth. He did the same but with his hand. The golden sparkle melted in his palm as a snowflake would. Suddenly he felt refreshed, like after a good nap or a relaxing bath. ¡°I didn¡¯t know Mutate can grant advanced AOE spells.¡± ¡°Apparently, it can.¡± The glowing spider chirped matter of factly. ¡°Meow!¡± The wyrmling coiled around his leg. It was looking at him beggingly. ¡°You want to be mutated too?¡± He asked and the wyrmling meowed to confirm. ¡°Hmm, that is a possibility¡­¡± However, he felt hesitant. Mutating legendary monsters was a dangerous thing! And there was a certain pattern going, especially when he mutated someone who wasn¡¯t a spider. The wyrm continued to look at him with big begging eyes, all six of them. So the effect was tripled! ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that¡­¡± He tried to remain strong. 79 - Unpredictable Evolutions The wyrmling looked at him and he looked back. Yes, he could Mutate the wyrm, but also he could Evolve it. Either way, he felt tense because it might be unwise to give the already rowdy monster more power. But look at those begging eyes! He took the necessary potions to boost his mana capacity and braced himself. ¡°You asked for it¡­¡± He decided to push the boundary of the unknown. ¡°[Evolve].¡± Whatever evolutions the wyrms could have, he¡¯ll be able to see them soon. Predictably so, his mana drained completely and once again he passed out from negative mana debuff. His mind drifted to a sleep-like state. Even in his sleep, he was thinking about the possibilities of wyrm evolution. He was met with an image of a desert dragon. But why would a wyrm evolve into a Dragon? Wyrms were already a type of dragon species. Then another possibility formed in his mind. The wyrm took a humanoid shape. And of course, like in those cheesy novels, it was a human child ¨C half dragon and half human¡­ Even in his sleep he frowned, that would be very annoying and too clich¨¦. Personally, he didn¡¯t like that imaginary evolution and rubbed it straight out of his mind. If anything it would be fun to see half wyrm and half spider! So he tried to imagine that. But dreams were just that, imagination running wild and often making no sense. He began to wake slowly, he¡¯s head was throbbing and his chest felt heavy. He blinked the negative mana induced grogginess away. After the blurriness cleared from his vision he was met with an image of the rear end. Why did it look like the wyrmling(?) was desperately trying to show him that? ¡°Rude!¡± He pushed the rear end out of his face trying to get a better look at the evolution. ¡°Hmm,¡± he hummed thoughtfully. ¡°Meow?¡± The wyrmling turned to greet him properly this time. As far as he could see the juvenile wyrm didn¡¯t change physically. ¡°So did you evolve or not?¡± ¡°I did, meow!¡± It replied. ¡°You can talk now, awesome I guess.¡± ¡°Now, Mutate me. Meow!¡± ¡°Just learned to speak and making demands already?¡± He booped the wyrmling with a finger on its muzzle. ¡°I need to recover my mana first.¡± ¡°Meow? Meow¡¯na Spring?¡± He nodded, ¡°Mana Spring.¡± Since his tamed wyrmling could speak now there was no need to stay silent during the trip. ¡°Wyrmling, anything special about your evolution?¡± He asked his pet who was slithering right beside him. ¡°Meow! I¡¯m a Greater Desert Wyrm now.¡± He looked at the wyrmling again. ¡°But you look the same. And you¡¯re still juvenile.¡± Regardless of how impossible it might sound the wyrmling¡¯s draconian but still snake-like face developed the features resembling a pout. ¡°I¡¯m all grown up!¡± it protested. ¡°Ha-ha.¡± He just laughed surprised by that face. ¡°Meow-sss!¡± It hissed and then bit into his leg. ¡°Auch! You bit me!¡± He shook the leg trying to get the wyrmling of it. He couldn¡¯t, it was latched firmly. ¡°Okay, okay, you¡¯re all grown up.¡± He tried to placate the angry juvenile. He was successful because It let loose of his leg. ¡°Yeah, still rebellious and hard to tame.¡± The wyrmling glared at him. ¡°Here, chill.¡± He offered a Magic Mushroom. The wyrmling snatched it and swallowed it whole. ¡°Happy?¡± He asked. ¡°Meow!¡± It replied happily. ¡°I also can use meow-gic now.¡± ¡°Magic? What is your affinity?¡± It raised its head higher as if proud. ¡°Earth.¡± And without the need to be asked it continued, ¡°I can cast Tunnel, Sand Whirlpool, Reinforce Scales, and, meow, Sand Tornado.¡± Spells befitting a Desert Wyrm. ¡°And if I Mutate you, what use is that to you? Or me?¡± ¡°Meow? I become more meow-erful.¡± It said as if it was obvious. ¡°Well, I could try to Imbue you with my Dark affinity and Reinforce you.¡± But in the end, the uses for the wyrmling would still remain to be found, or maybe¡­ ¡°I think, you could do well by protecting spider caravans in the desert. That is when you grow up.¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°Meow!¡± It bared its fangs at him. ¡°I¡¯m all grown up already.¡± ¡°Right, right! You are!¡± The threat was averted. ¡°Then, if you are all grown up, I¡¯ll assign you with a few jobs. Adults have to work you know.¡± He patted the wyrmlings head. It purred and replied, ¡°Meow? Why would I work? I¡¯ll just get servants to work for me.¡± ¡°Do you have servants?¡± ¡°¡­¡± It blinked realising it. ¡°Not yet.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not lendinging you any of my spiders.¡± ¡°Fine! I¡¯ll find my own servants. Meow!¡± The two had a few more back-and-forths until they reached the mana spring. ¡­ He tried to Imbue the wyrmling with Dark affinity but that unfortunately failed, it seemed that the desert wyrm was locked to Earth affinity. However, he did manage to Reinforce it, or well by the looks of it, its scales and fangs. The bleached yellow scales transformed into shiny golden colour and the fangs too developed a metallic sheen. He tried to Mutate the wyrm into a more obedient variant, but that also failed. It seems that sapient creatures had a way to guide their own mutation. According to the wyrmling¡¯s explanation, it mutated its core to grow bigger. That in turn allowed it a better manipulation of mana. The wyrmling was currently practising Earth Manipulation by hovering pebbles around its body and then knocking them out with its tail. The wyrm could also shape the stones with mana, but at the moment it could only make misshaped orbs. So in the end, its evolution and mutation were geared towards magic prowess. He left the wyrmling alone to practise, as long as it was busy with something it was an ¡®okay¡¯ desert wyrm. ¡­ There was one spider he still needed to mutate. That one always tended to be forgotten, it was just that the Darkness Spider had that aura of absence. The spider was hard to notice, and even harder to notice that it was somehow forgotten - absent. It was hard to remember this spider, the memory would just slip away after a while; the Darkness Spider was there but always out of sight and out of mind. The Spider King hurried to the Drow Archives to catch the spider before he forgot again. But no matter where he looked or who he asked the spider just couldn¡¯t be found. ¡°I give up.¡± He finally realised that he was wasting his time here. A smoky cloud passed above him and he would have missed it entirely if not for a stack of gold threaded parchments floating inside it. ¡°Darkness Spider?¡± He spoke to the floating shadow. ¡°Greetings, King.¡± The cloud formed into a vague spider shape. ¡°I¡¯ve been mutating everyone nonstop. The spider friends included. Do you want to be Mutated?¡± Without hesitation, it replied, ¡°I need more mana.¡± The gold-threaded parchments swirled inside its body expectantly. ¡°Please.¡± ¡°The mutations can be a bit unpredictable. But I will try. [Mutate].¡± He willed for the spider''s ethereal body to store more mana. Their wishes resonated and the shadowy body obeyed the combined will. Purple lightning flashed inside the swirling darkness, once then twice, and then ever so often. ¡°Did it work?¡± He asked curious. ¡°Yes. The purple lightning. Is my concentrated mana.¡± It explained. ¡°Oh. So you have enough mana to manifest it as lightning now.¡± He tried to wrap his head around the magical phenomenon. ¡°It makes sense since you have no material body, and no flesh to store it.¡± The purple lightning flashed as if to confirm that statement. He couldn¡¯t take his eyes off the light show. ¡°Spider, do you think we can store mana? Maybe in something like bottled darkness?¡± ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking. King.¡± It chirped. ¡°I can¡¯t produce this darkness. Or separate it. From my body.¡± That was unfortunate. The spider continued. ¡°But I think. Mana still can be stored.¡± The golden parchments tumbled inside avoiding the purple lightning. The spider was correct. There was a way to store mana in Magic Scrolls and in a form of enchantments, but that wasn¡¯t what he wanted here. He wanted something like a mana battery. The spider still had something to add. ¡°Maybe gems. Or crystals?¡± ¡°You know¡­ I never tried.¡± But if anyone was an expert here on storing and converting mana it was the Darkness Spider. ¡°Here, try this.¡± He handed a Spider Crystal. The crystal floated towards the core of the darkness and then was struck by that purple lightning. ¡°I think¡­¡± the spider paused and struck the crystal again. ¡°It worked.¡± A shadowy tentacle handed back the Spider Crystal, but it wasn¡¯t a spider crystal anymore. ¡°Mana Crystal: Dark.¡± He voiced its name. ¡°It is charged, but it also comes with affinity. ¡±And what is charged can be discharged. ¡°I wonder if the Drow or the Wisp can charge it with their affinities?¡± The shadow simply swirled without a reply. ¡°Anyway, I might have a request for you.¡± He took out some more crystals from his Magical Inventory. ¡°Please charge more.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± The crystals flew inside the shadow form. ¡°It will take time.¡± The spider informed. ¡°Take your time. It¡¯s not urgent and I can see you need your mana for other work.¡± He pointed at the parchment. ¡°What are those.¡± ¡°Have a look.¡± The spider moved a parchment closer to the King. He grabbed it. The parchment was made out of Black Cloth, the edges were threaded in gold string and the writing made in unfamiliar crimson ink. ¡°Magic Scroll?¡± ¡°Advanced Magic Scroll.¡± The spider corrected. And the spell was [Empowered Dark Barrage], but neither of them dared to utter it because it might activate the scroll. ¡°I didn¡¯t know we can scribe something this powerful already.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve invented these. Awhile ago.¡± Well done Shadow Spider! ¡°Did you get to try them? Do they work well? Any fumbled spells?¡± He asked curious. ¡°Works as it should. The Puppet King. Volunteered for field testing.¡± ¡°Eh!?¡± He knew that he left the scroll production and sales to spiders but, ¡°I don¡¯t think we should sell unfinished products. It might be dangerous.¡± ¡°He volunteered.¡± The spider insisted. ¡°He¡¯s happy with the scrolls. No problem.¡± Okay! ¡°But should we even be selling this to King Aurelius II?¡± The purple lightning flashed forming a web for a brief second. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t?¡± ¡°A bit too powerful. No? We should keep the good stuff to ourselves.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± It chirped. ¡°Then I¡¯ll leave you to your research. Send me the crystals then their ready. But no rush.¡± The shadow swirled to acknowledge the message received and then moved towards the darkest corners of the corridor and proceeded to wherever it was going to begin with. ¡°Interesting fellow, this Darkness Spider.¡± He shrugged. ¡°And what is that King up to?¡± 80 - The Web of Untied Plot The humans were gawking at the sprinting centaurs with mouths agape. Of course, they couldn¡¯t understand what they were looking at because centaurs weren¡¯t native to this side of the continent. A herd of beautiful and well-endowed women galloped gallantly through the Capital. Some were dressed in exotic blue garb which barely contained their near-bursting assets, others were like knights most noble and were donning well-polished and shiny orange full plates. For whatever reason, the wives shielded the eyes of their husbands, and the youthful lasses did the same to their lads. A dangerous gesture, considering the speed the centaurs were galloping through the streets. The accidents were avoided only because the sight was so unusual, so exotic ¨C it was hard to miss; so the people moved out of their way clearing the streets. However, if one thought that humans here were welcoming towards the other races they would be sorely mistaken. Beautiful Centauri or not, The Holy Empire¡¯s stance on monster and sub-human races was very clear. The saving grace here was the flags and the insignia the centaurs wore, it was very clear who they were representing. This, and the contents of the wagons. The wagons were loaded full of TomGrape, the favourite staple of the peasantry and nobility alike. It was almost a crime to sell something this good so cheap. So despite the hardwired predispositions, humans inched towards liking the centaurs. To hate the centaurs was the same as to bite the hand which fed you, and even the dimmest peasant wasn¡¯t that stupid. Understandably, there were few who still frowned at the non-human guests but most of the people greeted the gallant girls with smiles and open minds. The centaurs parked their wagons at their destination ¨C the Spider Warehouse. The keen spiders, big and small rushed to unload the wagons. The Centauri Champion looked around trying to see the spider which she knew only by vague description. ¡°But aren''t they all the same¡­¡± She couldn¡¯t differentiate. ¡°Hey, spider.¡± She called a random spider. ¡°I¡¯m here to meet your Merchant Champion.¡± A spider porter blinked with all four of its eyes. ¡°Merchant Champion?¡± It chirped confused. ¡°Oh! You want. Lord G Bling.¡± Yes, that was the spider she was looking for. ¡°Take me to him at once, I have an important document to hand in.¡± The spider waved to follow. ¡°Come. Lord G Bling is. In the Spider Embassy.¡± The trip was short and evidently the building was hard to miss, it was clearly a marvel of spider architecture. And she appreciated that architecture very much. No not because it was beautiful, but because the spiders made the entrances wide and ceilings high, their buildings were suitable for the tall and wide frames of centaurs. So there was a lot the other races could learn from the spiders. She reached a reception desk, it was staffed by yet another spider. Or maybe¡­ ¡°Lorg G Bling?¡± She asked mistaking this spider for her query and already offering the rolled scroll. The spider was scribbling something on a piece of paper. ¡°Lord is preoccupied. With another guest. Please take a seat and wait.¡± It didn¡¯t even look at her. ¡°Spider!¡± She began outraged. ¡°Are you saying that a mere guest is more important than the King¡¯s orders?¡± She waved the scroll. ¡°My apologies. I didn¡¯t know. You were King¡¯s. Messenger.¡± The spider finally looked at her. ¡°Come.¡± She was more than that, but to explain that to this simple spider was just too much of a bore. She followed the spider through the blue drape and into another room. ¡­ The spider HeadMerchant aka ¡®Lord G Bling¡¯ was entertaining a very important guest, a real VIP. She was a pleasure to work with and a real asset to the Spider Kingdom. Moreover, what started strictly only as a business soon developed into a genuine friendship. Lady Crimson wasn¡¯t just a pleasure to work with, she was also a very fun person to hang around. Unlike most humans, she didn¡¯t care about his otherwise spooky spidery form and was able to see him for what he truly was. Needless to say, he treasured this friendship dearly. Hence why the two were currently fooling around, entertaining each other in this VIP guest room. This room didn¡¯t see much use at all, so the spider repurposed it slightly. It was littered chockfull with a certain type of books. The two weren''t doing any reading at the moment. Instead, they were creating art of their own, they were expressing their feelings through dance and song: ¡°I shall be Red,¡± He let out a sing-song chirp. ¡°And I¡¯ll be Blue,¡± she sang maintaining the melody. Let us sing together | and dance to heart''s content ? *The two pressed their cheeks side to side. Fantasy and Fiction | Destruction, DERELICTION ? *They looked at each other. My dreams ¨C unfulfilled; I wish it to be true! *He took her right with his left Our secrets dirty ¨C undistilled; together we pursue! *She took his right with her left I shall be your shadow | And I¡¯ll be your DARKNESS ? *Dances clockwise Let us study together | and immerse to heart¡¯s content ? *Dances anticlockwise One might turn rotten¡­ from dirty books they¡¯ve read. *He grabs his head You needn¡¯t worry¡­ for I hid them under my bed. *She grabs his head. S stands for Spiders | and M for Monsters ? *Both point at themselves. Illusions and Delusions | Madness, CONFUSION ? *They lock hands together Myself a servant in need of ¨C master! *Dances A maiden craven ¨C desiring for a slaver! *And Dances Just a HeadMerchant | an Alchemist, I am ? *The two pressed their cheeks side to side again. To find you a Master | for me to be a Slave ? *Deep gazing into the eyes. We¡¯ll read books at night¡­ greedily together! *Dances clockwise Inseparable friends by daylight¡­ we are FOREVER! *Dances anticlockwise. ¡°Ups we have a guest ?,¡± he chirped melodically. The Lady Crimson jumped away from him in a quick step; her face flushed red. A centaur was staring fazed by the spectacle as if in a trance. ¡°Centauri Champion I presume?¡± His voice returned to the usual dark and low undertones. The call broke the Champion¡¯s stupor. ¡°¡­ I didn¡¯t want to interrupt...¡± she bowed apologetically, ¡°whatever this was,¡± she whispered. For some reason, her face was also flushed red. He looked at the positively spidery scroll she was holding. ¡°Lady Crimson, let¡¯s finish later. In the evening?¡± He suggested apologetically. ¡°Yes. My place this time.¡± She gave a meaningful look. ¡°I¡¯ll prepare something very SPECIAL.¡± She finished while walking out in an urged manner. Her spare hand was trying to hide the ¡®bad¡¯ side of her face. He wondered what caused her to be so self-conscious. But understanding human emotions was beyond him, for he was just a simple spider. He gave another look at the still-bowing Centauri woman. It was the first time they met, but luckily she had a human face, and so he could read her expressions well. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Centauri champion why are you so tense? Isn¡¯t it just the item ledger you¡¯re here to deliver?¡± Her hand trembled offering the scroll. ¡°I didn¡¯t realise¡­¡± She squealed. ¡°Realise what?¡± For some reason, she bowed even lower. ¡°Your real rank. Not just a lordling, but The Lord.¡± She straightened and gave his appearance a judging look. ¡°You own this city, no?¡± She gazed at the multiple golden chains dangling on his chest. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± The remark made him think. ¡°If anyone, it is our Master, The King of Spiders who is the real ruler. But that¡¯s politics¡­¡± He finally took the offered scroll. ¡°So are you politically minded?¡± ¡°No, no.¡± she neighed. ¡°Just surprised by your aura.¡± ¡°Humans tell me that all the time.¡± He unrolled the scroll to read through it. ¡°Women especially.¡± ¡°Charisma build?¡± She inched closer to him. The reply was pointless, so he read through the scroll. ¡°TomGrape, EarthenYam, BerryNut, PurpleM, Burger-Mushrooms¡­¡± He went through the extensive list of goods and quantities. ¡°Everything seems to be here, just as I requested.¡± He chirped happily. ¡°So orderly. And to deliver this so fast! I must praise the Centauri.¡± ¡°Please mention that to the King. In one of your reports.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do that. And the Advanced Magic Scrolls?¡± He asked because those were top secret and excluded from the standard item ledger. ¡°I have them hidden and guarded in one of the wagons. Shall I fetch them to you, Lord G Bling?¡± ¡°Why the urgency? You must be tired. Come have a seat.¡± He motioned with his hand to the nearby seats and a table. ¡°Only if you insist, Lord G Bling.¡± ¡°Just G is fine.¡± He smiled. ¡°And I insist.¡± The centaur awkwardly tried to sit on the chair provided and failed. She pushed the chair away and just kneeled in front of the table. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have taken me so literally. Neither I can sit on human furniture.¡± He pointed at his six legs. ¡°My apologies.¡± He bowed. ¡°No, no. The Lord shouldn¡¯t bow like that.¡± ¡°Lord again? No lords here. We¡¯re both just servants serving the magnanimous king.¡± He gave his best spidery smile. ¡°Please forget our stations and call me G.¡± The centaur nodded. ¡°You must be parched. Let¡¯s have a drink.¡± He opened the most expensive scorpion liquor and poured two crystal glasses. ¡°For the King!¡± They drank and he refilled the glasses back to full. ¡°For the spiders!¡± They drank again. ¡°And for the Centauri!¡± ¡­ and again. ¡°And for us and our future friendship!¡± ¡­ and again. The Centauri Champion developed a funny expression on her face. ¡°Oh, there are my manners?¡± He chirped. ¡°I should have offered you some food.¡± The centaurs were vegetarian so, ¡°some AshenClover salad?¡± He clapped to alert the spider outside. ¡°Hic!¡± She hiccupped. ¡°G, you know us Centauri well¡­ the spiders go TomGrape this TomGrape that¡­ Hic! But you! You know we like AshenClover better. Hic!¡± ¡°Of course I do. But I don¡¯t know everything¡­¡± He poured another glass but only for her this time. ¡°So while we wait for that salad why don¡¯t you tell me everything about yourself? And your people?¡± And so the two proceeded to an intimate discussion. ¡­ The once grand and opulent throne room was completely devoid of any splendour; It was like an empty room full of nothing ¨C something that didn¡¯t make sense if you thought too much about it. There on a lone and shabby stool was sitting no one else but the Puppet King, King Aurelius II. His obese form was hidden by the darkness, only his face was illuminated by the stray moonlight rays coming from the window. Every time he shifted his weight the stool would creak in protest, and that sound would echo through the throne room. He was sitting there and waiting patiently. ¡°Anytime now¡­ *Creak.¡± *ECHO *Echo *echo¡­ He did sense something because the shadows pulled together to form a blurry and vague shape of a spider. ¡°Aurelius II.¡± The spider chirped in a low and rusty chirp. ¡°Consider my end of the Deal completed.¡± The spider dropped a neat bundle of black parchments next to Aurelius II. *Creak ¡°Marvelous.¡± He leaned to pick up the bundle. ¡°With this, I will be¡­¡± He looked at where the spider should have been. ¡°¡­ Gone already, whatever.¡± He retrieved the gold-threaded parchments and leaned back all giddy. *CREAK! ¨C this was the last straw for the tired stool and it broke under the Puppet King. His royal ass fell to the floor with a thump, but luckily he didn¡¯t feel a thing. The sight was indignant, but also, there was no one to witness it. He stood up with the parchments pressed dearly to his chest. ¡°They¡¯ll see!¡± He kicked at the broken stool scattering the pieces. ¡°I¡¯ll show them¡­¡± He trampled. ¡°Puppet King, bah!¡± He spat. ¡°I am the Super King!¡± Envigorated he walked back to his room. Well, no sane man would call this a room because this was more like storage for apparently old and misused books. The titles on the book covers were very risque, decadent even. But those were only covers. To him, these weren¡¯t just dirty books, they were his battle tomes. ¡°My collection is finally complete.¡± He nodded happily at the many-many tomes. He moved a stack of books revealing a set of armour hidden right beneath. ¡°I¡¯m glad I bought this.¡± He began to put on the armour pieces. The armour was clearly spider made, each piece reinforced and enchanted many times. And the best was that it fit his generous proportions very well. He patted the dark plate and it made a dull sound. ¡°Glem.¡± He recalled the name of the unfamiliar material. ¡°Feels heavy!¡± He strained to even move an inch. But that problem was no problem at all. He retrieved one of the many Strength Potions he had and gulped it down. ¡°Better.¡± He was able to move easily. ¡°Now¡­¡± Then he drank not, one, not two but three Fertility Potions. ¡°I can feel it. The virility. The POWER!¡± And for good measure, he gulped a full bottle of Slug Jelly. ¡°Rah!!!¡± He roared like a beast. His hand moved quickly finding the right one in the endless stack of tomes. He knew those books by hand, he memorised every dirty title and all the hidden Magic Scrolls they harboured. ¡°Rah! [Multicast][Levitate]¡±. Two pages in the ¡®Garbalar: The Shackles and The Steaming Dungeon¡¯ burned in blue flame. The whole library of dirty ¡®books¡¯ took flight like bees and buzzed around Aurelius II. There were so many that he could barely see past them. ¡°Ha-ha-ha.¡± He cackled in a maddened tone. ¡°They will see. [Earth Ram].¡± A page in ¡®Fifty Strikes and Forty Lashes¡¯ turned to ash. A battering ram formed in front of him out of thin air and then collapsed a wall in his room. The frigid wind of the night blew through the massive hole. ¡°Rah!¡± He jumped through the hole and out of the high tower. The gravity took hold of his armoured and well-fed body and he pummeled down like a wrecking ball. ¡°[Wind Blast!]¡± With another page burned, his fall was stopped abruptly and he landed gallantly. He reached for a bandolier-like belt strapped to his chest, it held a plethora of advanced potions. His fingers found the Speed Potion and without even thinking about the accumulating Toxicity he gulped that down. ¡°[Multicast], [Empower]¡± He invoked making the ¡®Garbalar¡¯ series lose a few more pages. But he had just begun. He took a big breath in. ¡°[Shadow Form], [Dark Shroud], [Ethereal Speed], [Night Barrier], [Six-Legged-Menace], [Spider Eye], [Dark Sight], [Obsidian Boosted]!¡± He said in a quick and practised voice. Multiple blue flames flashed across the many spinning tomes, those died as soon as they appeared, and the tomes continued buzzing around him as if nothing happened. As a result, the image of the King kept changing. It was shrouded, it was blurred, it was obfuscated, it was turned to a shadow, it was monsterified. ¡°Rah! This isn¡¯t even my final form!¡± He took another big breath in¡­ ¡­ The black-robed spiders gathered in a nest-like structure. Having no windows the structure was filled with impenetrable darkness. No, that was not entirely true, the darkness here was dispelled by multiple flames dancing atop well-positioned braziers. Those flames were Dark Flames and it was a contradictory spell: the flame was dark like the name implied but even then it somehow provided light. Again, not entirely correct because it didn¡¯t provide light, it provided sight; similar but not the same. In better words it granted Vision despite the darkness; it was that sort of a spell. The black-robed spiders were encircling a golden pedestal, on it was a very special book ¨C True Dark Tome. The pages were turning on their own and the spiders were diligently following its instructions. The tome was ¡®showing¡¯ them how to improve the Soul Crystals and how to bind them to spider souls. But also it was showing them other many things, also related to this endeavour. Things of dark nature: magics forbidden, spells impossible, rituals unusual, enchantments improbable. Actually, none of it was tangible or clear and often hard to read and understand. The things it showed were only possibilities with unclear outcomes. The tome was speculating and the spiders were here to complete those ideas. In a way, they had to find a missing link, solve a hard puzzle, develop a previously unseen glyph or fill in the gaps in magical formation. Only then the improbable would become probable and the spell would be complete. Not one but many, many spiders worked to solve these puzzles. This was a combined effort of spider mages as a whole. A study of unprecedented size and proportion. Of course, the ¡®if¡¯ wasn¡¯t even a question, it was only when will they be victorious. In the end, the codes were cracked, the puzzles solved and the magical formations completed. And all of the experience was documented properly in an entirely new tome. A tome composed by the most bright and talented spider mage of them all, Spider Archmage. Hence so, the means to spider Immortality were achieved and the True Spider Tome was completed. But then a tragedy struck the spiders. With the last page finished the True Spider Tome did something unpredictable. It shot towards the True Dark Tome, engulfing it in spidery pages and began consuming it whole. The true spider tome ate the true dark tome; a spider ate the darkness. The spider mages panicked at that moment. An artefact entrusted to them by their King was being destroyed. And in such an unbelievable way! It happened so fast that they couldn¡¯t even save a single page. With the last scribble devoured The Spider Tome burned in blinding Dark Flame. Something was happening to it. The spiders chirped in alarm fearing even greater calamity. However, the blinding light subsided, revealing the greedy tome, now even bigger and darker than previously. It was just sitting there on a golden pedestal, in that place where the True Dark Tome used to be enshrined. It was just there, still and innocent as if something very crazy didn¡¯t happen just a moment ago. Spider Archmage inched closer to the suspicious tome. Whatever the ¡®book¡¯ was, it didn¡¯t look like a tome he was writing for the past few weeks. The feast made the tome to somehow transform? He touched the suspicious item with a cautious hand, trying to identify it. ¡°Spider-Nom-Nomicon.¡± The Spider Arcmage chirped the new name of the artefact-grade item. 80.3 - Duality of Man Bareth and Gareth were the only humans here in the Spider Kingdom. Bareth was the older one of the two. While he was in his early fifties already, his objectively youthful look was the reason why he was still allowed to join the peasant levy. And he did so to pay his debts. Gareth, the male in his late twenties, joined in to pay his debts also. But the reasons the two had the debts were different. Bareth had gambling debts and Gareth had to borrow to support his growing family. The two were the few peasants who knew how to read and write in the late King Aurelius'' army. The older man used to be a merchant, but by some unlucky twist of fate, he had lost it all and turned to gambling and excessive drinking. Meanwhile, Gareth was a seventh son to some minor noble, a bastard as well, so he had a very basic education but no real wealth. Due to... circumstances, they ended up being the only humans in the Spider Kingdom. And also, their debts in the Human Kingdom were likely excused too; just a clause in their contract if they happened to die. So maybe this was a blessing in disguise, or so Bareth thought. At first, it was very daunting. They were tasked with translating the texts for the Spider King, but also teaching him the human language. The two afraid of the King¡¯s wrath worked together to the best of their ability. Surprisingly the King was less of a villain than they''d imagined and he was a quick learner too. The living conditions weren¡¯t that bad either. They had their personal abode, and while it was shared it was a lot better than some gallows for war prisoners they should normally expect. Actually, It was better than the rented rooms your average inn would have. And the meals were included too! So they were housed, they were fed... and they were even paid for their labour. So the idea that they would be just slaves here quickly disappeared, however, it was made very clear that they couldn¡¯t leave the farm. But of course, some roaming was acceptable. Their pay came in the form of gems and a ration of Slug Jelly. At first, Bareth couldn¡¯t wrap his head around why they were paid so handsomely, but later he found the reasons why. There was no market or a stall for them to spend their pay. While the Gems were obviously more valuable, but it was the Slug Jelly that was the most useful. They quickly found that they could exchange that for the favours from the spiders. What favours- you ask? Simple stuff, like clothes or some furniture; the spiders knew how to make them all. And they used the gems to buy food from Lamia; after all, even if they could eat as much of TomGrape as they wanted, some other food, like meat, was nice too. However, and rather quickly, things began to change. There were more things from the Human Kingdom available for them to buy, but also from Drow and even those tiny lizard people. The King absorbed their lessons quickly, and soon he needed no help with writing in human language at all. That was when the two were tasked with teaching the spiders. Again the task seemed daunting but only at first. Unlike humans, the spiders were very well behaved and they seemingly absorbed the language lessons without complaints. Learning to speak a language in just a month... These spiders were quite impressive! Even now, Bareth vividly remembered his first class of spiders. Especially the point where they graduated from the Basic Human Language course: ¡°Thank you. Teacher.¡± Twelve spiders chirped in unison not in the Spider Chirp but the Human Language. ¡°We prepared you. A gift.¡± A spider handed in a small wooden box. At that time Bareth opened it with anxiety. ¡°You... You didn¡¯t have to.¡± He bowed in genuine gratitude. A similar box was gifted to his younger colleague standing just beside him; he did the same the Bareth did. The first class of spiders waved a parting goodbye. ¡°Be well. Teachers,¡± and so they left. The two looked at each other. ¡°What do you think we got?¡± Gareth asked while already peeking at his box. He pried the lid of the box hoping that this wasn¡¯t some elaborate prank. ¡°Wow... I didn¡¯t expect this.¡± He looked at a small chest filled with human coins. It wasn¡¯t gold but various denominations would amount to a tidy sum. ¡°Pretty worthless right?¡± Gareth laughed. ¡°It¡¯s not that we can spend this fortune here at all.¡± Imperial coins were useless here. Bareth thought about it. ¡°Maybe someone told the spiders that humans love the gold the most.¡± Gareth sighted. ¡°That wouldn¡¯t be wrong. Actually, the amount would make me rich. But then again...¡± He didn¡¯t finish, a solemn look took over his face. Bareth knew that Gareth was thinking about his estranged wife. They could definitely use this money. ¡°Hey, Gareth. Maybe if we asked the spiders nicely, they could pass these to your relatives?¡± ¡°You think so?¡± ¡°It¡¯s worth a shot.¡± Bareth shrugged. However, they were too late to catch up with the spider graduates. The spiders looked all alike and as far as Bareth knew they didn¡¯t have names. So what happened was quite disheartening, the two couldn¡¯t find their graduates. They tried asking the other spiders using the Spider Chirp, but neither of them was as talented in languages as a spider so their message didn¡¯t seem to reach the spider farmers. After that, Gareth doubled his efforts in learning Spider Chirp. And, actually, it was the second class of graduates who agreed to pass the boxes to their relatives, but only after they graduated. Bareth and Gareth waved their second class goodbye. The spiders carried the boxes with them. Hopefully, those will reach the Human Kingdom at some point. ¡°Bareth are you sure about this?¡± Gareth was asking this because the older man gave his box away to him. ¡°Yes. It¡¯s not like I have any close family. Your ¡®widowed¡¯ wife could certainly use that money.¡± He said with resolution. ¡°Thanks, man. I owe you one.¡± He patted Gareth on the shoulder. ¡°But anyway, take this.¡± He handed his flask of this week¡¯s Slug Jelly. ¡°Finally something I can spend.¡± He beamed a broad smile. Hence so, they kept teaching the spiders. And almost as a custom, each class would bring them either gifts or a massive favour upon graduation. Obviously, the two used that to their advantage. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ... Instead of remaining cooped up in their house like Bareth, Gareth was the one who liked to explore the farm. The boredom wasn¡¯t the only reason, the reasons were many, and despite Bareth¡¯s advice, he was looking for a way out. This was because, unlike the old merchant, he wasn¡¯t all too happy about his current predicament. Even if treated extremely well, they still were prisoners here. And he still had family to worry about. He kept the strolls casual, and every time he went out he would let out a defeated sigh. The farm was ever-changing and ever-growing; he just couldn¡¯t keep up with all the changes. Also, he didn¡¯t think he could find his way past the web-like TomGrape labyrinth. Aside from ever-present and watchful spiders, past the farm proper was an endless jungle, so despite his otherwise valiant efforts, he realised that he was hoping for the impossible. Accepting that he was likely trapped here for the rest of his life might have been a good choice to make. After he had done so, instead of feeling depressed he felt liberated. To brighten his dull days he sought for the company, someone else from an elderly male that is; Sorry Bareth you¡¯re just not that interesting! Communicating with spiders was hard. It wasn¡¯t because they couldn¡¯t understand him, that was because they kept their answers short and on point; they never made any effort to expand the conversation. They were just too boring! The Lamia, however... They were quite spicy. And, if you happened to not have any other more human-like options - beautiful. So, ever so slowly and ever so carefully, he began approaching them. There was some language barrier at first but even from the first conversation, he could tell that they had equal interest in him. ¡®I just hope they don¡¯t look like that at me because they want to eat me.¡¯ He remembered thinking something along those lines. The Lamia gaze was quite intense. At first, he kept it simple: asking what were they doing in their spare time and what foods they liked. And despite their otherwise savage appearance, the Lamia were rather welcoming towards his approaches. Soon he made a few Lamia friends. Already knowing that they liked gems, Gareth used his teacher¡¯s allowance to curry favours with some select girls. The ones he quite fancied that is. Yes, he had a wife, and yes he had children. But that life... He left that behind. ¡®This is my fresh start!¡¯ He would often say so before making his amateurish advances on Lamia. Somehow, even the cheesiest pickup lines seemed to work. ¡®Maybe, this is something to do with the lack of Lamia males?¡¯ After all, he hasn¡¯t seen even a single Lamia male. He continued pursuing the Lamia shamelessly, and in the end, his advances were successful. In retrospect, it was rather easy! So the inevitable happened and he committed a grave sin... Well, it would be so (a grave sin) if he was in the Human Kingdom; copulating with monster races was beyond taboo, but he wasn¡¯t there, he was in the Spider Kingdom. However, he had almost regretted the hot and steamy night with Lamia. He thought he would die that night. He was wrung completely dry! But it that vice-like technique felt rather amazing. Of course, he boasted about the out-of-this-world experience with the lucky Lamia, all of it, to the old Bareth. ¡°What if you got her pregnant.¡± He scolded him that morning. ¡°This is the King¡¯s harem!¡± He shouted. ¡°You¡¯ll get us us hanged!¡± He began to panic, waving his hands in the air. ¡°I just... I was.¡± Gareth struggled to find an excuse. There was a reason he had seven children. And he just couldn¡¯t keep his serpent docile, even if he should have. But those were all pathetic excuses. ¡°Worry not Bareth. I¡¯ll just go and hand myself in, straight to the King. You had nothing to do with this so you should be safe.¡± Bareth was standing there with mouth agape, clearly, he didn¡¯t expect Gareth to take the responsibility. Without delay, he went to seek an audience with the Spider King. The spiders were confused about his reason even if he explained everything clearly. It took some effort but in the end, he was granted an audience. For the first time, he was allowed into the Throre Room. In that spidery splendid room there was a magnificent throne and on that throne was a King and his wife, the Lamia Queen. If Gareth wasn¡¯t so nervous he would have spent his time appreciating the beauty of the Throne Room, but instead, he was trembling beneath the King¡¯s feet. ¡°Gareth, what is this about? I don¡¯t understand.¡± The King said betraying his confusion. Gareth decided to cut to the chase. ¡°I¡¯ve slept with one of your virgins. I have sullied your harem!¡± He grovelled. ¡°My harem? What harem?¡± Gareth trembled, of course, the King had multiple harems, and he needed to be more specific. ¡°Your Lamia harem that is.¡± ¡°SSS!¡± The room was filled with a loud hiss. ¡°Lamia Harem?¡± Even the Queen was outraged. Of course she would, those were her girls; the ones she must have gifted to the Spider King. He looked up and gazed beggingly at the two. Only that he saw the Lamia Queen grasping the King by his collar. ¡°What Lamia Harem? SSS! Dear, care to explain?¡± The King seemed flustered. And for some reason, he was looking beggingly at Gareth. This time it was Gareth''s turn to give a confused look. It took some back and forth to clear the misunderstanding. Apparently, there was no harem and Lamia were free to pick their mates. ¡°That old jealous bastard,¡± Gareth grumbled, ¡°pulled one nasty prank on me.¡± He said so to himself under his nose. However, the King had something to add. ¡°I¡¯m glad we cleared the misunderstanding but I expect you to take responsibility. Then the eggs hatch, you are the one to train and care for your Lamia children so that they grow up to be upstanding citizens.¡± He said so with an oddly happy grin. Unbeknown to Gareth, this played to the Spider King''s advantage. Even now if they could reproduce asexually, the Lamia needed a male to produce eggs which didn¡¯t result in a lesser lamia (Lamia Servant). With the help of a male, lamia warrior¡¯ could be born. Of course, some Lamia pestered the King about the problem, but he refused their requests for many reasons. The biggest two were that he wasn¡¯t that type of a person and the Lamia Queen was strongly against it. So having a willing male saved him from needing to capture some humans so that they could be rap... bred - something the King didn¡¯t want to do either. Having someone willing was a godsend. Gareth swallowed his saliva, he didn¡¯t like that grin. It was both conspiratory and menacing. After all, there was a price to pay. Bareth might have been right, he should have kept the naughty snake in his pants. What this meant was that he was now truly and permanently bound to this kingdom. ¡°Forgive me, my children... I¡¯m a scumbag.¡± Once again he mumbled under his nose. The King must have heard that. ¡°If you want, I can see that your family makes here. The relationship with the Human Kingdom had grown better just recently.¡± He smiled conspiratory again. Why would the King even offer that? His wife would never forgive him. So Gareth shook his head sideways enthusiastically. ¡°No, it¡¯s better if they think I¡¯m dead. But... And I ask a lot. But can you see that my allowance reaches my children?¡± He asked mostly out of guilt. ¡°That I can do.¡± The King allowed magnanimously. With the misunderstanding cleared Gareth bowed goodbye to the King. That day he promised to keep his cobra tame. However, the promise didn¡¯t last a day, he didn¡¯t even make it back to his room. As if he had opened some sort of forbidden box, the Lamia (plural) assaulted him on his way back. This was a proper ambush, they sprung seemingly out of nowhere as if camouflaged. And he tried to resist, both in mind and body, but unfortunately, Gareth was weak. Weak in morality and mind. He couldn¡¯t pretend or lie that he didn¡¯t like it; to be desired by these women, to be so wanted, the Lamia sang an enchanting like some snake charmers fully captivating his snake right to submission; he succumbed to their tempting gazes and let himself to be ravished right there. The next morning Bareth was surprised to see him alive. ¡°You look as if your soul was sucked out from you!¡± Regardless, he hugged his comrade just happy to see him not hanged. ¡°They sucked more than my soul...¡± Gareth spoke in a haunted ghost-like voice. ¡°As long as you¡¯re alive. We can nurse you back. Here.¡± He offered his flask of Slug Jelly. Gareth knew how precious those were, and indeed he could use the pick me up the substance would provide, however, ¡°I rather have a Fertility Potion.¡± Bareth gave a questioning look. ¡°A cure for my condition. Or so the Lamia say.¡± Gareth explained. ¡°Haven¡¯t you learned your lesson? You should stay away from the Lamia. What if the King...¡± Gareth interrupted his best friend, ¡°I think it¡¯s the opposite the King wants. You see I might have been set up. Entrapped." He began explaining his ''truth'' about the conspiracy he had fallen into. Of course, in reality, the King had no blame here. Gareth repeated what he saw. That¡¯s it, no more. 80.6 - The Mighty Peacekeeping Stick *Bonk Bareth used to be a merchant so his perception of money was different from Gareth''s. Unlike the spunky man, he chose to invest his allowance into something more tangible than the ''affection'' of Lamia. He wondered if Gareth even needed to keep giving them gifts, by the looks of it the Lamia would just slither to Gareth at night either way. Never mind that, this wasn''t Gareth''s business anyway. So what did he spend the money on? A house seemed like a natural answer. He amassed a good amount of Slug Jelly and then traded it off to spider builders. And in no time at all he had a spidery nest he could call a home. It was rather large but not quite a mansion, actually, it only had a few rooms; but did he need more than that? He was single so the answer was obvious. "I need some furniture." He spoke inside an empty room. "A bed for a start, and then some tables and chairs..." He started on a mental list. Everything could be obtained rather easily, that is if you made buddies with the crafter spiders. Yes, they weren''t the most entertaining conversationalists; the crafter spiders were always work-minded, but they loved to learn. The trick to make buddies with them was to teach them something. Bareth wasn''t exactly well versed in carpentry but he knew a thing or two. He told the spider crafters how to make a human table and a chair; and other simple stuff like that. The spiders jumped for joy at having new designs to work with and in the end, he had his furniture. A similar trick worked with other types of spiders. And soon his house began to take the shape of something more proper and human-like. He had fine-crafted furniture, vivid blue carpet, and even drapes for windows. The designs still carried that spidery theme, but otherwise, they blended in well with the surroundings. All in all, it was luxurious. "Better than I had in the Human Kingdom." He concluded. And how about his mate, Gareth? If there was jealousy he didn''t display it. In one way, since Bareth moved Gareth now had a whole room for himself. However, that building had turned into something unsavoury. There was a lot of hissing coming from it at night. Sometimes spider peacekeepers had to intervene. And by the morning there was a full crate of empty potion bottles for spiders to collect. Gareth clearly had some sort of a problem. ... Gareth had run away from his spidery home. This wasn''t the first time, nor it will be the last. Why did he run? ¨C Well, he just needed a break once in a while. However, he knew too well that the Lamia would capture him eventually. Even if short it was still a break. This time he grew clever and got lost in the web-maze on purpose. A, he had a good excuse now and B, Lamia shouldn''t be immune to the confusing layout of the maze either. His plan worked out, Gareth was wandering between the rows of TomGrape webs for hours. An occasional spider would give him a wave and he would wave back. "I think I''ll stay here, forever lost." He said with resolution and an ironic smile on his face. "It''s not like I can go hungry." He picked up a ripe TomGrape right of the web-vine and ate it. "What is this?" He observed something strange on the web. "It''s all shrivelled and dried up." The TomGrape fruit crumbled to dust under his fingers. ¡°It looks like a disease.¡± He knew it the moment he saw it, after all, he wasn¡¯t a stranger to farming. Gareth went to investigate the nearby plants. "It''s bad if it had spread already." Indeed, some other web-vines had signs of wilting too. "This is bad!" He looked around for spiders. There was none nearby but he noticed a moving shadow right under one of the web-vines. It was small so probably it belonged to a young spider farmer. He approached closer and leaned under the lush leaves of the plant. "Hey, little fellow..." He stopped speaking because this wasn''t a spider. It was just a shadow! Or to be more precise, a creature made of shadows. It was very small and resembled a doll, but its head was big and onion shaped and it was entirely made out of swirling darkness. The shadowy creature was touching the stem of the vine with its little claw-like hands and the plant was visibly wilting. ¡°Ahh!¡± Gareth shouted both in fear and surprise. No The little monster looked at him. It had a white patch in that darkness where a face should be but it was absolutely smooth and featureless. ¡°AHH!¡± The creature imitated his voice. It was somewhat distorted. Then it ducked under the web and disappeared somewhere further. ¡°I must report this to spiders!¡± Gareth found some spiders to investigate the incident. They chirped with clear concern and disposed of the affected vines. Next, they were looking for that mysterious plant-draining monster. Gareth volunteered to help but they couldn''t find it. It was getting dark so he gave up. Hence, he left the spiders to deal with the incident. ... Every time Gareth happened to just be ''lost'' in the TomGrape web-maze he would encounter the shadow monsters. Of course, he would chase them out and to the next vine... It''s not like he had a way to catch or kill them. Worse, the spiders still haven''t encountered even a single shadow monster. It was as if the shadow creatures were experts at avoiding spider detection. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. The frequency of monster encounters grew and so did Gareth''s concern. So he sought advice from his old friend. "And why do you insist on helping? I''m sure the spiders can handle it." Bareth dismissed his concern. "I''m not too sure about that... And if you saw them you would be concerned too. They''re crazy scary!" ¡°I don¡¯t know about that. Aren¡¯t you the only one who saw those creatures?¡± Bareth asked with scepticism. ¡°Are you suggesting something?!¡± ¡°Well, all those fertility potions can¡¯t be too good. Might affect the mind and all that. And you seem rather stressed.¡± Yeah, lamias were stressing Gareth out, hence his more frequent ''walks'' in a maze. Especially the knowledge that he will need to take ''responsibility'' for no less than a hundred eggs. But that was the reason why he tried to solve the TomGrape wilting mystery so hard. If he was successful, the King might just excuse him from his ¡®responsibilities¡¯. "Look Bareth, all you need to do is leave your mansion and come with me. I''ll show you that I''m not imagining things." ¡°At this time of hour? It¡¯s dark already¡± Bareth protested with his arms crossed. "Don''t be a wuss. Come on!" He nudged Bareth with his elbow. "I''m not afraid!" Bareth protested again. "But how do you suggest we see a creature made out of darkness at night? You would just make yourself look like a fool again." Bareth had a point there. "We''ll use a lantern. I can borrow it from the Lamia. If anything, there should be more of them at night." "Hmm..." Bareth was contemplating it. "If what you say is truth, they are creatures of darkness, the lantern light might just scare them away, and they will see us coming from a distance." Once again Gareth had to admit that his old friend had a point there. However, Bareth wasn''t quite finished. "If anything, we should use Dark Flame.¡± ¡°As far as I know you don¡¯t look like a spider mage.¡± Gareth pointed out the obvious. ¡°Are we recruiting one?¡± "What for, I have a thing right here." Bareth opened a cupboard and retrieved a magical lantern. ¡°Wow, how did you get that?¡± Gareth was genuinely impressed, after all, even the normal FireAgave Juice Lantern was rather expensive. ¡°Connections.¡± Gareth didn¡¯t elaborate further. ¡°So shall we go?¡± ¡°And here I thought you were scared shitless.¡± Gareth just glared at him. "When you see them just don''t cling to me like a terrified maiden. These arms are for the Lamia only." Bareth teased. "Don''t get full of yourself, mate." Gareth took the lantern and headed outside. The Dark Flame granted them sight even in the most oppressive darkness. And the best of it was that aside from dim purple flame it didn¡¯t produce much real light. The pair of friends walked ever deeper into the TomGrape fields. The spiders were off to sleep at this late hour, but somehow the webs looked scarier without their presence. "It would be rather bad if we end up attacked," Gareth uttered and regretted it right after. "So it''s you who''s scared!" Bareth spoke in a shaky voice. "Be not afraid younglin for I have brought a weapon." He spoke theatrically waving a stick. Gareth recognised it instantly, it was a stick spider peacekeepers used. He had seen it in use multiple times, mostly on rowdy lamias but sometimes he would get smacked as collateral. Why? Well, the spiders said that they were being too loud at late hours or something like that. And then struck everyone. ¡°Do you think it will be enough?¡± Gareth asked staring at not so lethal weapon. Bareth shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m still not convinced those shadow creatures exist.¡± "Here, right there!" Gareth pointed at the completely wilted vine. "The spiders haven''t cut it yet, so it''s fresh. Let''s look nearby." Bareth pointed the lantern near and under the nearby web. ¡°W-what a...¡± He began in a stuttering and shaky voice but didn¡¯t even finish. Bareth was just standing there and trembling at the sight. A small swarm of tar-like monsters were grasping at the stem and exposed roots of TomGrape. The plant wilted in seconds and the bellies of the monsters took a rounded shape. "Let''s get ''em!" Gareth pried the stick off Bareth and jumped towards the swarm. Bareth stood there speechless and Gareth was just whacking at the monsters with the stick. The impact would squish and squash the doll-like monster but it just bounced back to its original shape. ¡°Gareth stop! What if they attack you?¡± "Stop prattling about and help me!" Gareth said unconcerned. Somehow those words dispelled the fear Bareth felt and he jumped to kick and stomp at the monsters. The two went at it for a good ten minutes. The monsters weathered their assault and once given a chance scattered in all directions. In the end, they failed to kill even a single one of the shadowy creatures. ¡°What a hell!¡± Gareth shouted frustrated. ¡°I think we did well to scare them off. What if they decided to drain us instead of the plant?¡± Gareth face paled at those words. ¡°What? You didn¡¯t think about that?¡± Bareth shook his head in disbelief. ¡° I don¡¯t know if you¡¯re very brave or just a fool.¡± "Yeah... We weren''t prepared for this. But how do we kill them? This seems impossible!" Gareth threw the stick to the ground in frustration. Bareth picked up his stick back. ¡°Maybe exposing them to light would disperse their bodies?¡± He offered. ¡°No, I have seen them scutter around in broad daylight.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here then.¡± Gareth simply nodded, he too was beginning to feel anxious. Getting yourself drained didn''t sound all too fun. The two walked in silence. Bareth was deep in thought for some reason. Gareth knew the likely reason. "We''re lost aren''t we..." After all, this was a maze. Bareth didn¡¯t say a thing. "Look, I''m sorry." Gareth even bowed. ¡°Huh, what?¡± It seems Bareth wasn¡¯t listening. ¡°I was just thinking about this story the spiders told me.¡± "Why are you thinking about some stories? Aren''t there bigger things to worry about?" Bareth gave him another glare. ¡°You should¡¯ve asked what the story was about.¡± He said suggestively. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll play that game.¡± It¡¯s not that he had anything else to do aside from wandering. ¡°What is that story about?¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad you asked. Once upon a time, on the highest reaches of the Oberon Mountaintop..." The story, like all spider stories was about their ruler, the Spider King and his unbelievable adventures. "Ah, I see." Gareth pointed a finger up into the air. " The shadow monsters might be similar to wraths. We need a magical weapon!" "Oh, you''re smarter than you look. I am impressed Gareth." Bareth replied. "Keep those snarky barbs to yourself. More importantly, where do we get magical weapons? It''s not like we can ask for some." Bareth gave another look of his. ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°You know damn well why not!¡± They were still captives here and not trusted with anything like that. ¡°Hmm, maybe if you asked nicely, very nicely, of those lady friends of yours. Just maybe we could get a hold of enchanted weapons.¡± Bareth wasn¡¯t finished. ¡°Or we could just inform the spiders again and let them deal with this.¡± ¡°No, I will ask the Lamia.¡± For some reason, Gareth was bent on dealing with this with his own hands. ¡°Fine. Get a few then. I will help you.¡± ¡°You will?¡± "We''re friends, and this seems important to you." Bareth patted Gareth''s shoulder. The two continued to wander the maze aimlessly until a spider farmer found them at the break of dawn. 80.9 - It Popped Like Popcorn 🍿 The shadow monsters were experts at avoiding spiders¡¯ presence; it was as if they evolved for that specific reason. However, the spiders finally acknowledged the monster''s existence. The solution, however, was not ideal, they just assigned spiders to guard the TomGrape webs. There were more webs when spiders, so even when there was a loss of crops. Meanwhile, the two humans were working on their own solution. Begging Lamia for enchanted spears turned out to be unnecessary. The pair was holding an enchanted peacekeeping stick in their hands. It was a sturdy thing cut straight out of IronOak, one end of it had a cap made out of very dark metal and the other a dark crystal. Sometimes purple lightning flashed inside the crystal; it was mysterious. Well, the stick ended up looking more like a mace or a staff, but they were told not to hit anything with the crystal and use the metal cap instead. If they slammed the cap into an object, there would be a small explosion at that end, so it was quite dangerous. However, the stick was sturdy and the shaft was long, and as long as they were careful the weapon wasn''t dangerous to its user. Just so, after finishing teaching the Centauri the two were going on their routine rounds around the maze. Their task was to exterminate the pests. ¡°Over there.¡± Gareth pointed to the seemingly innocent web. Bareth couldn''t see it, but he knew that Gareth had a good eye for this, So he simply nodded and followed. Indeed, the web was teaming with shadow creatures. The two began whacking at them without mercy. ¡°Die!¡± Gareth trusted his stick at the unsuspecting monster. Upon contact with the stick, a shadow creature exploded like a balloon, there was even that iconic sound. A few more monsters were dispatched this way. *Pop, *Pop, *Pop, *Pop ¨C it sounded like popcorn but many times louder. ¡°You think we got them all?¡± Bareth asked. ¡°No, obviously some must have snuck out. Let¡¯s check another vine.¡± The two continued inspecting the webs until midnight. One might wonder why they were working so hard and the humans had different reasons for that. Bareth wanted that bonus pay he would get for extermination, it was quite handsome. And Gareth just wanted to be busy here, this was his excuse to stay away from demanding Lamia. The sun had set and the darkness descended upon the MegaFarm. This was the time when the shadow creatures became most active. ¡°It¡¯s late, should we wrap this up?¡± Bareth suggested. ¡°Huh. Are you afraid of the darkness?¡± Gareth, for some reason, would always push to stay for longer. ¡°Man, we aren¡¯t paid past midnight.¡± Old Bareth said matter of factly. ¡°Is it because you want to level up your Warrior class?¡± ¡°Mabe, maybe not.¡± Gareth gave a vague reply. "You can go if you want. I''ll stay for a few hours. Just leave the Dark Flame Lantern with me.¡± ¡°Nah, I¡¯ll stay with you. It¡¯s not safe alone.¡± That and Bareth didn¡¯t want to part with the lantern. "Alright! That''s the spirit!" Gareth was pumped up for some reason. Bareth sighed and took a sip from the Slug Jelly flask. The substance perked him up instantly. "Mind sharing?" Gareth asked hopefully. "You know the answer." It was a ''no'' and for many reasons. "We both know you would get addicted. Again.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like... *Pop.¡± He popped a monster trying to sneak past him. ¡°... like you¡¯re immune to that stuff either.¡± ¡°I just know how to control myself.¡± A tiny bit ever so often was the trick. *Pop ¨C This time, Bareth bonked one. ¡°Sure, whatever.¡± *Pop, *Pop, *Pop ¨C Gareth exterminated a small cluster. In the end, with an effective weapon at hand, the shadow monsters didn''t seem much like a threat at all. The two went on with one-sided extermination all the way past midnight. "We should head back. We have lessons in the morning." Bareth reminded. ¡°Shh," Gareth shushed, his body posture was all tense. Clearly, something was wrong, but whatever it was Bareth failed to sense it. He kept looking in the direction Gareth had his eyes locked. "It''s over there," Gareth whispered in a somewhat shaky voice. Bareth brought the lantern closer. Unmistakably, something was there. A cloud of swirling darkness. As if provoked by the two the cloud condensed into a more dense form. The darkness swirled and twisted upon itself and in a matter of seconds it took the shape of a four-legged creature. It vaguely resembled a wolf; vaguely because it was made of viscous darkness, had no tail or ears, its head didn''t even have a hole for a mouth or eyes, but it did have four long and sleek tentacles on its back. The tentacles undulated threateningly. The pair of friends remained frozen, they were struggling to process what they were seeing. Flight or fight response kicked in; both subconsciously chose to fight. Gareth fully expected a roar or a howl of some sort, but the warning never came. The monster ran towards him without making even the faintest sound. It was quick, too quick for Gareth to react. It slammed on his chest knocking him down. The tentacles wrapped around his arms binding him. "Hel..." A tentacle slid into his mouth and all the way to his throat and stomach. A sudden faintness took over him as if his very life was drained away. Well, Gareth was in luck because his friend was still there. Bareth didn''t flee and the gruesome sight of his friend being assaulted like that gave him courage to attack the monster. ¡°Get lost.¡± He bonked at the monster with the stick. The free tentacle tried to parry the enchanted weapon but upon contact, it just exploded into wisps of darkness. Bareth swung again, this time at the monster''s back. The stick connected evaporating a good chunk off. The monster didn''t cry or trash it just shifted its body away from the stick and continued to drain Gareth. The hole on its back was already beginning to close. Bareth realised that he must free his friend and quickly, so he jumped for another smack. This time he aimed for the tentacles while careful not to touch Gareth; he didn¡¯t want to explode his buddy. The monster was dragging its bound prey but even old Bareth managed to touch the tentackles without grazing Gareth¡¯s flesh. The magic flowing out of the capped end of the stick disrupted whatever was holding the darkness together and the binding tentacles dispersed into nothing with a pop. Of course, the monster still remained, but it had lost three of its four tentacles. Now freed, Gareth whacked at the monster with his stick and thus cleared his airway off the offending appendage. Bareth snuck another strike at the monster making a second hole but on its side this time. ¡°Tch.¡± He clicked his tongue, he was aiming for its head. The monster must have realised that the two humans were too strong for it; it began backpedalling away from the two. "Gah." Gareth spat out some tar-like liquid. "Let¡¯s get it!¡± He waved his stick vengefully. Bareth looked at his courageous friend, Gareth''s legs were trembling and his face was pale, in other words, this was a front and Gareth was in no position to be fighting. Regardless, Bareth marched forward towards the monster, with full intent to kill it. Gareth remained in his guarded position, likely because he was unable to walk. ¡°I¡¯ll kill ya!¡± Bareth charged at the monster. The shadow creature must have been smarter than an average monster because it turned around and ran away disappearing into the darkness. Bareth considered chasing it, but then he would leave Gareth undefended and without the lantern. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "Sorry, it got away." He said apologetically. ¡°Uff.¡± Gareth collapsed to his butt ¡°I don¡¯t feel too well.¡± Bareth stepped to support his friend. A nearby web shook startling the two again. Bareth pointed the mean end of the stick in the direction. "Are you. Alright?" A spider chirped climbing down the web. "I heard. Shouting". This was one of the guards assigned to the plants. The spider came too late to get any action. ¡°We were attacked.¡± ¡°By. Shadow. Monsters? ¡°What else?!¡± Gareth snapped. ¡°I almost died.¡± ¡°But normally. They wouldn¡¯t. Attack.¡± Yes, Gareth had said so before. And it was true until... Bareth jumped in to explain. "This one was different from the others. It was larger and had tentacles. And I think...¡± He paused looking at his weakened friend. ¡°It Drained Gareth.¡± ¡°Mana Drain. Or. Health Drain?¡± The spider chirped a question. "No clue. I''m not a magus." Bareth looked at the poorly friend. "I feel like shit. Bleh!" Gareth spat another glob of tar-like goo. The spider nonchalantly collected the fluid. ¡°I¡¯ll. Escort you. Back.¡± ¡°Good idea.¡± Bareth nodded thankfully. If anything the spider should ward off further attacks. Gareth took the shoulder of his friend and walked with the support of the stick. They followed the spider out of the maze. "Man, I thought I was gone. I couldn''t even breathe.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s good I decided to stay.¡± ¡°Yeah, you saved my life. Thanks.¡± ¡°No problem, you would have done the same.¡± Gareth remained silent as if not too sure about that statement. ¡°Here. I don¡¯t know if it will help, but it should.¡± Gareth wasn¡¯t the one to refuse such an offer. He took a greedy sip out of the flask. ¡°Oh! It does help.¡± The colour returned to his face. *Boom ¨C an explosion rang somewhere in the distance. The sound sounded oddly familiar. ¡°What was that?¡± The two asked in unison. The spider gave them a spider shrug and continued walking without even a shred of concern. However, much too soon, a different kind of spider ran up to them. From its vaguely humane features and the fact that it wore a blue robe, it was clear that it was more than a spider farmer. ¡°You alright?¡± The spider chirped with concern. ¡°What happened?¡± The two asked in unison again. ¡°I killed. A strange monster.¡± The spider chirped adding. ¡°I don¡¯t think. It¡¯s safe. For you anymore.¡± ¡°Yeah. Something very strange is happening here.¡± ¡°I know. We are investigating." It chirped matter-of-factly. Anyway, having an extra guard was reassuring. They proceeded out of the maze. The spider seemed thoughtful for a while and then it spoke again. "But. I''ll need your help. From now on." Bareth gave a bevildered look to the spider. ¡°Din¡¯t you just say it was too dangerous for us?¡± Gareth nodded and grunted to support his friend. ¡°Yes. But those creatures. Are avoiding us. To progress in my. Research. I¡¯ll need your help.¡± "Sorry. I don''t want to help anymore." Gareth grumbled while feeling up his sore throat. ¡°Humans. You will be rewarded handsomely.¡± Gareth didn¡¯t seem to be interested, but, Bareth perked up at those words. The spider produced a piece of cloth from under its robe and handed it to Bareth. ¡°Huh?¡± He investigated the item. ¡°A sock.¡± He gave a sniff, it was unwashed. The spider farmer was glaring with all of its four eyes at the sock; revenantly so. "A holy artefact. All yours. If you help me.¡± The spider mage chirped in a tempting tone. ¡°Ahm... I don''t think I have any use for this." He handed the sock to the nearby spider farmer; it looked like it wanted to touch it. ¡°No?¡± The spider mage snatched back the sock from the spider farmer. "I rather have something more useful..." "Bareth, you can''t be seriously considering this. This IS too dangerous!¡± Gareth gave a disapproving look. ¡°We aren¡¯t warriors.¡± It was Bareth¡¯s turn to look in disapproval. For months, Gareth had no problem about pretending to be a warrior and going on these extermination walks. So he waved him to shut up. ¡°I¡¯ll take money, or favours if that''s possible." He preferred the latter since the spider mages had a lot of clout here. ¡°Anything.¡± Spider chirped happily. ¡°Trusty Advisor. Had already approved. My Research budget..¡± It chirped proudly. ¡°Anything?¡± He asked to be sure. ¡°Anything!¡± The spider tempted further. A questionable smile rose to Bareth¡¯s face. ¡°Then I would like some Centauri servants. That¡¯s possible yes?¡¯ The spider mage nodded. ¡°That could be arranged.¡± Gareth looked both amazed and betrayed. "Ohh... Oh! That explains things.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that. We all have preferences.¡± Bareth looked away unwilling to meet the eyes of his friend. ¡°Just don¡¯t get entrapped like I did.¡± ¡°Worry not. If anything, I can keep it in my trousers." ¡°Mhm!¡± "So. Do we have. Agreement?" ¡°Sure we do, spider. We do!¡± Bareth stretched his hand all too keen. ¡°And you?¡± "Well, I can''t let my buddy risk his life alone. I¡¯m in.¡± ¡°Oh! I thought you had enough of danger?" "I like to live dangerously..." Gareth paused. "And I will need resources to support my children. They¡¯ll be hatching soon.¡± "What''s the number, again?" Bareth used the opportunity to ask. "Two hundred fifty two," Gareth whispered. ¡°How many?!¡± Bareth stared wide-eyed and mouth agape. Gareth feeling slightly ashamed didn''t reply. Lamia were a fertile bunch, or maybe it was the potion... Whatever... ¡°Human. You should be. Proud. It is a good. Number. I¡¯m sure. They will grow to. Serve the King well. Like you do.¡± ¡°Then, spider you better be paying well.¡± ¡°Worry not. Help me. In my Research. And, you and yours. Will be provided for." It chirped with confidence. ... That morning, when the dawn broke, they had to suspend their classes. Bareth wasn¡¯t all too pleased about that. Strange... That same day they received their new work equipment. It was oppressively dark armour, and way too heavy for the normal humans. However, it came with a box of Strength Potions. Despite previous enthusiasm, Bareth seemed bummed out about suspended classes. That was until a particularly voluptuous centaur arrived and introduced herself. She spoke in perfect human language. ¡°Hello, master Bareth.¡± She bowed low exposing way too much cleavage. ¡°I am one of your assistants assigned to guard and serve you.¡± She smiled at the older man. This was one of the more talented students the two had taught. She had graduated a while ago. Bareth¡¯s mood took a full 180¡ã turn. He was all smiles, but also he had forgotten to give her a reply. Gareth was a better man. ¡°Hello, dear. I didn¡¯t expect to see you again.¡± He gave his teacher¡¯s smile. ¡°Humf.¡± She snorted and turned her head away from him. ¡®What did I do?¡¯ ¨C Gareth had to wonder. A charming smile was back on her face. ¡°Master, please hop on. I¡¯ll take you to the TomGrape fields." She patted behind her back suggestively. ¡°Uh... You want me to ride you?¡± ¡°What else would I be suggesting?¡± She blushed for some reason. ¡°I might be too heavy. Armour and all.¡± Gareth was grinding his teeth listening to that bitter-sweet conversation. ¡®What are you? Teenager couple?! Stop blushing!¡¯ ¨C He wanted to yell. ¡°Master Bareth!¡± She said sternly. ¡°I am not weak! I won''t have you walking like some lowlife." She glared at Gareth. "Now, hop on!¡± ¡°If you insist." Bareth climbed awkwardly on her back. There was no saddle or anything like that. Bareth fumbled unsure about where to put his hands. "I don''t want to disgrace myself and let you fall. So please.¡± She found his hands and brought them to her front. "No, don''t lower them, master.¡± She pushed them even higher. Needless to say, the hands weren''t on her waist but somewhere else entirely. Gareth had enough! ¡°I don¡¯t think...¡± ¡°Humf...¡± She snorted again at Gareth and just launched into the gallant gallop. Bareth was clutching with both hands, the expression on his face could be used in a Dictionary next to the word ¡®happiness¡¯, it would illustrate it perfectly. "That''s one lucky bastard," Gareth uttered out of jealousy. ¡°If only the Lamia were like that...¡± They didn¡¯t call him master with affection, actually, they didn¡¯t call him anything; they just took what they wanted, squeezed him dry and left... He walked slowly in that heavy armour and towards the fields. Sulking was not the way to go. ¡°Hey. I¡¯ll make sure that my children grow into proper ladies and not like their mothers.¡± He said somewhat bitterly but still brimming with conviction. "And which normal human could boast about so many children? I must be blessed in a way." Gareth too developed that face befitting the dictionary entry, well, the bliss was equal only to half of Bareth''s, but still, he had a reason to be happy. And probably more real than a set of oversized melons. Bouncy, juicy melons, a pair that swayed invitingly from even the slightest movement. "Oops." He shook his head forcefully. "No, I¡¯ll make myself sour again.¡± He continued walking towards the web-maze. ... Sometime later, or before, outside the Gareth and Bareth adventures. A Spider King was having a dream. You might call it a prophetic dream, well it must be it because this wasn''t the first time he''d received something like that. However, this one was different. There was no nebulous cloud that would beam the words directly to his mind. Nor was he floating in the endless dark void. This dream was different from the previous ones he had. The space he was floating in was filled with neat square shapes, each perfectly cubical and at equal distances from each other. There were thousands of them, filling the white space as far as he could see. He was there floating in the air just between the two such shapes. It was hard to guess their real size, but from what he saw they were very large. He tried to swim through the emptiness but his legs and hands waved in the air finding no purchase; he was stuck. The sight of recurring cubical shapes formed a certain repeating pattern; It was dizzying. If you placed a camera slightly off of its monitor you would get something similar; an endless repeating image - a static loop. It became more blurry and more distorter the further he looked. ¡°I think I will vomit¡±, he grabbed for his stomach. "VOMIT, Vomit, vomit..." The sound bounced back from the cubes in an endless echo. "Mit, it, it, t, t, tt, tttt..." It became distorted. For some reason, the echo didn''t behave like a normal echo would. L and its volume remained the same; it was rather annoying buzzing ''tz-tz-tz''. "How unpleasant." Without thinking he made another voice of endless echo. "Tz-tz-tz..." There was a flash of blinding light. Mysteriously it canceled out the noise resetting the white endless space back to its serene state. ¡°Mortal.¡± The voice came from all over, but this time there was no echo. He looked around but couldn''t see anything else aside from cubes and that white emptiness. Well, he had a similar experience already, so, ¡°You must be a powerful entity of some sort.¡± He mumbled and continued in now a normal tone, ¡°What do you want?¡±. The light flashed again presumably to cancel the echo he just made. "To warn you." The echoless voice boomed. ¡°Go on then.¡± The light flashed again. ¡°You played an agent of chaos for too long, mortal. You stirred the pot too hard. It is coming for you.¡± ¡°What is. What is coming?¡± He hoped that this ¡®deity¡¯, or whatever the entity was, would not remain needlessly cryptic and vague. *Flash of light. ¡°Darkness!¡± It boomed with power. Yeah, his hopes were smashed. For some reason, powerful entities insisted on being cryptic. "Right... Darkness. And how do I fight it?¡± *Flash. ¡°I have warned you, mortal. The rest is up to you.¡± He figured it wouldn''t elaborate further. Predictably so, the space began to blur and he could feel his consciousness fading. ¡°Wait, what are you? What is your name?¡± He asked hurriedly. ¡°Order in Chaos!¡± The sound assaulted him from all sides, *Flash... He jolted straight up, still feeling disoriented. He looked around. He was in his room, in his bed and beside him was his lovely wife. His sudden movement must have awoken her too. "Sss, what was that?" She hissed, more worried than annoyed. ¡°Nothing. Just a nightmare.¡± He brushed it off. ¡°Aww... sss,¡± she slithered closer. ¡°I know just the cure." *Smooch 81 - The Answer is Elementary, My Dear King Prophetic dreams or not, there is little one can do with vague cues. What the hell is that Darkness anyway? Well, maybe he had a clue. In his possession, there were both the True Dark Tome and the Soul Well. And maybe preventing souls from passing on was also a factor. But that was just a speculation on his part. Also, that could have been an empty warning, he wasn¡¯t one to trust strange powers which invaded his sleep to spout some ominous warnings. Regardless, to do nothing would be foolish so he went to check on the spider mages. That was long overdue since he had heard they had a serious breakthrough. He reached a very dark place, its walls were reinforced and on the floor there was an elaborate magical circle. In its centre, there was an obsidian-like crystal ¨C a legendary item known as the Soul Well. Currently, it was empty. The crystal flashed a purple lightning as if excited to see its owner. The nearby spider stopped tinkering with the magical circle and turned to look at him. ¡°G-Greetings,¡± Spider Archame greeted with a stutter. It was very unusual for the spiders to stutter. ¡°Did I distract you from something?¡± He asked. ¡°N-no. You would never." The spider fidgeted with its spider hands. ¡°I can tell something is wrong. Did I come at a bad time? If I¡¯m interrupting something important I can come back later.¡± ¡°No, King, no. It¡¯s just that...¡± The spider struggled to finish. ¡°What is it?¡± The spider sighted and looked apologetically. ¡°The True Dark Tome was destroyed.¡± ¡°What!?¡± He was shocked. "How? What happened? Did the experimental ritual backfire? Or did someone mishandle it?¡± He had so many questions. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. It is my. Fault.¡± The spider bowed apologetically. ¡°Just explain to me what happened.¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard to. Explain. Come. I¡¯ll show.¡± The Spider Archmage led him to a nearby secure storage and produced an item. It was a thick book, a tome, it was definitely produced by spiders since it had that iconic spidery design. The black cover looked as if entangled in a blue web and on the web there was an artistic depiction of a spider, it had four little yellow gems for its eyes. The tome was pretty and well made. But why was the spider showing it to him? The tome opened by itself and began flipping its pages excitedly. ¡°A magical item?¡± He guessed. ¡°Oh look. It likes you.¡± The spider chirped somewhat happy. ¡°Please take it in your hands.¡± He did just so. [You have obtained Spider-Nom-Nomicon] The message was unusual, and the name even more so. But what came next was a shocker. [Chaos Blessed], the perk triggered on its own. [Spider-Nom-Nomicon has been bound to your soul],[Soul Bound]. ¡°Okay. This is more than a fancy book.¡± ¡°I made it.¡± The spider chirped proudly. ¡°This is quite something...¡± ¡°It¡¯s a. Divine grade item.¡± It chirped nonchalantly. The tome flipped its pages as if to confirm that statement. ¡°...¡± How do you even process that information? This was insane. He was under the impression that items like that could only be made by, well, gods; apparently not. ¡°Just how?¡± The spider began to fidget again. ¡°It ate. The True Dark Tome. And became this.¡± It chirped apologetically. ¡°I just wanted to. Improve on your tome. Write something better. But..." Whatever happened ¨C happened. ¡°I see. Don''t worry, I¡¯m not angry.¡± ¡°But the old tome. Was destroyed!¡± ¡°And now I have a divine grade item. Thank you Spider Archmage, you achieved something... Truly divine.¡± He bowed in thanks. The spider returned the bow. ¡°How about the Immortality ritual? Is it still possible without the True Dark Tome?¡± ¡°Everything was solved. Before the destruction of the old tome. And this,¡± the spider pointed at the spidery book, "is ten times better.¡± The tome flipped its pages happy at the praise. The spider continued. ¡°The ritual is. Almost complete. I was just fine-tuning." ¡°Well, then tell me how this works.¡± It was rather simple, or maybe it only sounded so. No, it definitely wasn¡¯t simple, it took a whole spider research department months to solve this. Anyway... For this to work the spider had to carry a special magical item, a Soul Crystal. The crystal had to be bound to the Soul Well and attuned to each spider with a small ritual. Then, and if, the spider experienced the untimely end, its soul would be pulled into the crystal. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. The crystal was calibrated so that the soul wouldn¡¯t linger there for long. Hypothetically the crystal pulled on its magical energy, shattered and then sent the soul towards the well to be stored. Then the spider''s soul could be reincarnated with the Rebirth ritual into the new body. Simple! Of course, it was still a theory because for it to become a real thing a spider had to die. And at what distance the crystals remained effective also remained to be seen. ¡°Well then, I will leave the tome in your hands. Just in case you might need it.¡± The tome stopped fluttering its pages and closed its cover shut, as if in protest. ¡°I won¡¯t be able. To use it. If it refuses to open.¡± Apparently, it could shut itself rather tight. ¡°Spider-Nom-Nomicon, you better behave yourself!¡± He scolded. The tome opened reluctantly. ... Neither the new tome nor the well looked like they would be potential sources of trouble. Those were just items, convenient tools; right? Right? So he left it at that. He was taking a casual stroll through TomGrape fields. The sight was relaxing. The diligent spiders walked on the webs plucking the juicy fruits and storing them in the bags attached to their backs. The fat squirrels dashed in and out from under the webs, dash was a strong word to use. They mostly casually wobbled from A to B; without natural predators, the squirrels had no feeling of urgency. They had grown obese and rather delicious. ¡°Huh?¡± He noticed something odd under the vine. ¡°How unusual.¡± There was a dead squirrel right under the plant, it looked desacated and all dry like a mummy. Usually, the spiders took care of such things, so what it meant was that the body was new. And bodies didn¡¯t become mummified in a day or two. There was only one conclusion. ¡°Dark magic.¡± Was this the Darkness he was warned about? He crawled under the web and skewered the squirrel with his spear. "I''ll bring the body for the spiders to investigate." He decided. ¡°Greetings, King.¡± ¡°Greetings.¡± ¡°Salutations.¡± The trio of voices surprised him, and he turned to look. There were two heavily armoured men and a centaur. There was no mistake who the two were; Bareth and Gareth obviously. "Hello." He greeted back his subjects pointing the spear at them. The sight was morbid and the accidental gesture was probably rude. The two didn''t even blink at the squirrel, it was as if the mummified squirrels were an ordinary sighting here. "This is new to me, but by the looks of it, you must know something about this.¡± He waved the spear. "Yes, King. This is the victim of the shadow wolf.¡± One of the humans replied. Shadow wolf? What was that? His confusion must have been obvious because the other human jumped to elaborate. ¡°It was drained by shadow wolf, it probably happened this night.¡± This didn''t explain anything. "Why are there wolves on my farm? And did you say drain?" ¡°Drain.¡± A Chirp coming from the other side of the web repeated. ¡°Okay, what is going on?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll come. Over.¡± It chirped. The spider mage climbed over the web and jumped down right in front of the king. Then it began speaking about his ''Research'' in an animated fashion. The humans just nodded as the spider spoke. ¡°Wait, wait, wait... So my farm is invaded by monsters? Shadow Dolls and Shadow Wolves? Why is it the first I hear of this?" This sounded bad. ¡°The spider farmers. Wouldn¡¯t bother the King. About minor details. Such as. Pest extermination.¡± Indeed, the spiders were left to manage the farms and they were experts in their jobs, but this seemed more serious than a simple pest infestation. Will he need to follow the Wisp¡¯s example and ask the Drow to cleanse the farm? ¡°We have it. The Shadow Plague. Under control." The spider reassured. ¡°The shadow plague?¡± It sounded way too ominous to ignore. "Yes. A phenomenon needed a name. I named it so. A Shadow Plague. It repeated.¡± Was this something to do with the Darkness the entity had mentioned? Scary! ¡°King, you have. A curious look. Are you interested. In my Research?¡± ¡°Of course I am! This should have been reported straight to me.¡± The Spider Advisor must have slipped somewhere, or maybe it wasn¡¯t too serious, but that name... It gave him the unpleasant feeling of foreboding. ¡°Come. Let¡¯s check the traps.¡± The spider waved a spindly hand to follow. For some reason, the centaur had a panicked face all of a sudden. The actual monster must be very scary to make her so anxious and fidgety. The centaur kept gazing at him and at one of the humans back and forth. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, master Bareth.¡± She bowed apologetically. Wow, way too low! He couldn¡¯t not notice. ¡°King, let me give you a ride.¡± She crouched so that the climb would be easier. Nope, he wasn¡¯t doing that. There was nowhere to hold and it barely seemed appropriate. After all, she was a woman. ¡°I must refuse. You see, I enjoy these casual walks. This is the very reason I am here. To stretch my legs, so let¡¯s walk.¡± He gave a long-winded excuse. ¡°Then, master Bareth. Please.¡± She said somewhat dejected. "Oh no, I can''t be riding if the King is walking. That would be unforgivable.¡± ¡°As expected of my master. Forgive my rudeness." She bowed twice, once for the King and once for her master. "Let''s get going. Already." The spider urged. He couldn¡¯t agree more. ... They had to walk all the way to the edge of the farms, and he slightly regretted not taking the ride offered. But, oh well. He didn''t want to make the Spider Leader jealous. For some reason, the spider took great joy and pride in being his royal mount. So he was fine walking. Anyway, they reached the spot. It was obvious that this was the place because it was slightly different from the normal farm. Ever so often, there was another plant inserted in between the ranks of TomGrape webs. The plant had a tall and fat stem and on its top was a nut the size of a grapefruit; it undulated beggingly to be plucked off. This was the TrapBush plant, but it was modified. He recognised the vines growing around the stem, ShadowVine. Another plant was transplanted from the Magical Forest. ¡°Ah!¡± Spider pointed cheerfully. ¡°Sucess.¡± It began running towards it. ¡°Oh did it work this time?¡± Bareth asked curious. "It must have," Gareth replied. ¡°What? What work?¡± The King was still in the dark. However, once he saw it, it became clear. The TrapBush must have been triggered because there was a cage in its place, and inside there was a shadowy monster. ¡°The ShadowVine. Keeps it in place. Otherwise. It just fazes through the bars. The experiment was a success.¡± The spider clapped cheerily. Inside the cage was a creature. It was nothing like a wolf. It had tentacles! "Is this safe?" The King asked with his spear at the ready. "It should be." Gareth didn''t sound too sure. Was ¡°It must be, otherwise it would have escaped already." Bareth sounded more convincing. ¡°It is safe.¡± The spider chirped and explained further. ¡°It can¡¯t touch the vine. Without getting. Drained itself. We''d successfully trapped it.¡± It clapped again in joy. ¡°Hmm, a shadow monster like this. Isn¡¯t it vulnerable to light?¡± The King pointed at the sky. ¡°Isn¡¯t it on its last legs already?¡± If so it was rather cruel to keep it exposed to daylight. Bareth jumped in to reply. ¡°No, contrary to what one might think. They aren''t vulnerable to light at all. At most, they only shy from it preferring to prowl in shadows." ¡°So what are these creatures? Why are they here and where did they come from?¡± He had to ask. ¡°Good question.¡± The spider nodded. ¡°So far...¡± It began explaining. The two humans had confirmed many times over that the shadow monsters were invulnerable to physical damage. Magic was the only way to kill them; any magic, it could even be Dark magic. Indeed, there were a lot of counterintuitive things about these creatures. The biggest puzzle was that the spiders struggled to confirm the entry point of monsters. There were sightings of them leaving, but there were zero sightings for entries. It was almost as if they came into existence spontaneously here at the farm, gorged themselves on life and left the farm. This was the hypothesis number one. Hypothesis number two was that the Shadow Plague sneaked into the farm with a third form. Something small and hard to notice, then it would drain life, use the energy to transform into a bigger monster and leave. ¡°But if they¡¯re leaving. They must be going somewhere.¡± The King warranted a guess. ¡°Exactly!¡± The spider pointed at the trapped shadow wolf. ¡°We¡¯ll track it. And find out.¡± 82 - Beneath the Darkness of The Shadow Plague Drow Assistant was sitting in her study, it was very late so only the warm light coming from a lantern illuminated her desk. She was slightly hunched over the piece of paper and in her left hand she had a fountain pen. She was writing a ''An Introduction to Spiders¡¯; it was fashioned like an information leaflet and it was written in a casual tone. === The idea of what it means to be a spider is rather unconventional here in The Dreaded Place. First of all, these lovely and hardworking creatures are called spiders, but they aren¡¯t actually related to anthropods at all. What they actually are is hard to tell, but it''s best to definite them as people because certainly they are sapient and intelligent. Over time ¡®spiders¡¯ had evolved so many times, and in so many variations that it¡¯s hard to generalize their appearance. Some are big, while others are small. Some are human-like but even then some remain animal-like. Some have arm-like appendages, two or even four, while others make do with their mandibles only. But there is a common trait: they all have six legs, and those iconic four yellow gem-like eyes. Like ants or bees, these spiders serve a central figure, and would readily die for it if asked to. For them, the Spider King is the highest authority. And like bees or ants they like to specialise for their tasks, hence diverging evolutions. To name a few: Spider Crafter, Spider Farmer, Spider Scout, Spider Warrior, Spider Mage, Spider so and such; there are too many to name them all. (insert with a rough picture of Spider Mage) What is interesting about them is that they are within a select group of creatures that can reproduce asexually (no partner needed). They can lay between 1 and 10 eggs throughout their lifespan. The more powerful individuals tend to have fewer eggs, but that is not a hard rule. What is even more interesting is that their hatchlings retain the memories of their parents. How it is achieved is the biggest mystery of all. As for their personality, they are diligent and hard-working. Also, very polite; if you saw the spider already, your first memory must be of them waving a greeting to you. They have an affinity for plants and animals, and it is not unusual for spiders to have pets. However, it might be hard to make friends with them. They might seem boring or even cold and uncaring. But for those who strive to have a spider friend, there is a trick: they love to learn, especially the things relevant to their selected role, so teach them what they don¡¯t know and you will find a spider opening up for friendship in no time at all. And there is one other thing I must mention, a common sense really, never ever openly speak ill about their King. It is a grave sin that will get you killed! Otherwise, there aren¡¯t other taboos. === She finished compiling the leaflet. Its purpose was to educate the newcomers in the Spider Kingdom. ... The Spider Mage had managed to put a tracker on the shadow wolf; a tricky business considering the monster was made out of magical darkness. But Spider Mage managed, somehow. It took a few tries and a couple of magical devices but eventually a tiny pebble was pushed deep inside the monster''s body. ¡°This should do.¡± Everyone watched expectantly and the tracker stayed inside this time. ¡°How did you manage that?¡± The King asked curious. ¡°A Dark enchanted stone...¡± The spider began explaining. It was a long-winded explanation. The pebble wasn''t just a stone, it was a very complex device. The Dark affinity kept it in the shadow wolf''s body, and also there was a draining spell woven into the enchantment. This further prevented the stone from being expelled. "But won''t it die eventually because the pebble is draining its energy?" ¡°Eventually.¡± The spider chirped in agreement. ¡°But not any time soon.¡± Everything seemed to be ready." So should we release it?" The spider nodded. The two heavily armoured humans raised their sticks ready to counter the monster in case it decided to attack. ¡°[Wither]¡±, the Spider Mage invoked a Dark spell. The ShadowVine withered, its stem and the leaves crumpled to small pieces like some dry leaves from a year ago. The monster jumped towards the wooden cage bars and then simply phased through them. It kept running away from the farm and towards the jungle. ¡°[Track]", the spider invoked another spell. "You''ll need this." It threw another pebble to the King. ¡°[Shadow Form]". Turning into a shadow the spider disappeared. The King looked at the pebble, the spider forgot to brief him about this part of the operation, and he forgot to ask. But he knew what to do, ¡°[Track], [Dark Shroud]." He disappeared turning into a shadow. The two humans looked at each other. ¡°Should we follow?¡± ¡°And how do you suggest we do that?¡± "..." The King soon caught up with the spider. The two were rushing towards the jungle at great speed. In his vision he saw a purple beacon in the distance, it was moving quickly; they followed it at a respectable distance. After a while, the shadow wolf was tricked into a sense of security and stopped running. It began walking randomly around the jungle; its movement gave the feeling that it walked with no purpose, it was just strolling aimlessly. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. The King wondered if the shadow creature was pulling an act and was just pretending. So he kept observing it throughout the day. He and the spider didn''t even talk so that they didn''t give themselves out. He watched the creature throughout the night. And even by the morning, nothing was happening, it just kept walking randomly, sometimes even backtracking. And then it just turned to smoke and dispersed into the air. The tracking pebble dropped to the ground. The King ran towards the dispersing shadow cloud. ¡°What, did it die?¡± He fanned the smoke out of his vision. The spider collected the pebble. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t have.¡± It chirped in puzzlement. ¡°The pebble doesn¡¯t. Drain that much.¡± Then the spider took the jar out of the robe and collected some of the smoke. ¡°You know, it looks like it just gave up...¡± ¡°I think so. Too.¡± The spider put the jar back into the robe for further research. ¡°We need. more subjects.¡± ¡°I think so too. The way it died was so odd.¡± ... Trapping the Shadow Wolves wasn''t a particularly hard task, it only took time. And with time they had plenty of subjects to study. However, the same just kept happening: the shadow wolves just kept wandering the jungle until they turned into smoke. The smoke was investigated and it turned out that it retained a lot of Dark mana. The spider mage proposed an interesting idea, ¡°They are draining. The mana. In the farms. And. Dispersing it in the jungle.¡± If he looked at it objectively, it was exactly what was happening, but, ¡°This is crazy! Why do they do this?¡± ¡°Further Research is needed.¡± The spider chirped excitedly. That spider did love its research! ¡°We need to figure this out. The Shadow Plague is spreading and it¡¯s getting harder to fight it.¡± He was referring to the fact that higher and higher amount of the plants were affected. ¡°Hmm. We need to fight it.¡± The spider chirped something obvious. ¡°But they are avoiding the spiders, and I and the two humans can only do so much...¡± Unless, ¡°No, I¡¯m not burning my farm.¡± ¡°Then. Get more humans. Simple.¡± The spider chirped. Right... He didn¡¯t even consider that. There was a reason the spider was a researcher. Smart! ¡°Hmm. I¡¯ll do that. But until then we need a way to fight it. How about Drow and Lamia?" The spider shook its head there was a reason it didn''t suggest them. "Almost the same as spiders. Mostly avoided." And the agoraphobic kobolds probably wouldn''t fare well against the much larger monsters. ¡°So why is it only humans?¡± ¡°More Research is needed.¡± It chirped. Right... "I guess we just have to keep trapping and killing as much of them as we can." ... The combination of ShadowVine and TrapBush was increasingly deployed all around the farm. The spider farmers took turns standing and guarding the plants over the night. And new protective buildings were being built. Even the tall and sturdy IronOaks were employed to protect the farm. In a very much Elven fashion, on the top of the trees, crow¡¯s nests were made to serve as improvised watchtowers. Drow Bowmen staffed the watchtowers. Yes, the shadow monsters were wary of the Drow, but the ex-elves retained their keen sight and their skill in archery; every so often, they would manage to snipe an unsuspecting monster. The first humans haven¡¯t arrived yet, but the first defences were taking shape. And those defences were needed very much so because the shadow creatures had grown bold and numerous. The word plague described what was happening surprisingly accurately. Much like a nasty infection, it had spread all over the farm and it just refused to go away. Shadow monsters were forming spontaneously all around the farm, it happened mostly during the night. First, the shadows would birth Shadow Dolls, and once they sneakily engorged themselves on enough energy they would, for a lack of a better word, birth a Shadow Wolf. Then the wolves would readily jump to cause even more devastation. One thing was clear, for some reason the Shadow Wolves were very motivated to leave the MegaFarm. And despite all the security measures they were largely successful. ... There, high in the crow¡¯s nest, was a person perched on the chair. She had long white hair and light grey skin. The light armour she wore was positively unusual: It was made using the combination of CentipedeChitin plating and ShadowAgave cloth. No, it wasn¡¯t unusual because of the materials used, it was so because the light armour was more revealing than protective. Scandalous even! She finished eating the juicy fruit, ¡°They do taste the best when fresh," she wiped the juice off her pointy chin, stood up and grabbed her IronOak Bow in her right. ¡°It¡¯s almost time.¡± The Drow Archer gazed upon the horizon. As far as she could see there were blue webs dotted with delicious TomGrape fruits. The last rays of sunlight had left the sky. She sighed deeply preparing herself mentally. This was the silent call for battle. ¡°Soon ¡®it¡¯ will begin again.¡± She squinted her purple eyes ever so slightly. Even in the oppressive darkness she could see no problem, all thanks to her racial skill ¨C DarkVision. She gazed at the spot right under the vine; if it was lit it would be where the shadow was. ¡°Spot¡¯s like these...¡± Spots hidden and dark corners, "are the places where they spawn,¡± she finished whispering mostly to herself. She continued staring without even a single blink. And surely, something did move. ¡°Aha!¡± Without a shred of hesitation, she realised an enchanted arrow out of her bow. *Pop ¡°One.¡± She began her routine count. Her personal record was 69, a number neither high nor low. On a bad day, she could get twenty pops by the daybreak. On a good day, it was close to fifty. Or should we swap the good and bad around, well it depends on how you saw the situation. Incidentally, the high record was 420, and the current holder was the King himself. So yeah, she was rather average. But even so, she took pride in her work. Keeping the concentration was the hard part, and after a while it felt draining. ¡°*sigh.¡± The time seemed to stretch with nothing happening. But then... *Pop, *Pop ¨C She got two in quick succession. ¡°Huh, it seems like today will be a busy night.¡± She was right. She didn¡¯t even need to wait another ten minutes for her next ''pop''. ¡°That¡¯s four, and I¡¯ve just started.¡± The monsters were bolder and more reckless for some reason. That trail of thought was confirmed by the dull popping sound coming from all over the farm; her colleagues were just as busy. ¡°Maybe, I will break my record.¡± She scanned hard-to-see spots with increased vigour. She was combing the ground with her eyes concentrating on where the monsters often lurked, but even when, despite her lowered gaze, the trembling top of a nearby web had caught her eye. ¡°Huh.¡± She wasn¡¯t sure what she was seeing. ¡°A shadow?¡± It was hard to tell, even with DarkVision. Just as her character dictated, without even a shred of hesitation, she loosened an arrow. ¡°Five.¡± But there was no pop. ¡°Huh?¡± She yelped indignantly. It was unlike her to miss, but miss she did. The shadow did the unexpected and jumped in the air. No, it did something else entirely. ¡°It flies?!" She still struggled to accept that fact. The shadow indeed was capable of flying. It was flat and had two vaguely triangular wings at its side and a very long and slim tail at its rear. ¡°A kite?¡± It looked familiar. It was not a kite, this was a Shadow Stingray. However, she didn''t know its name, nor did she care. *Pop, ¡°Five.¡± She grinned happy at her successful revenge. However, with her eyes now off the ground and back to the skyline she observed something highly concerning. ¡°A dark cloud?.¡± She yelped in disbelief. ¡°No!¡± She exclaimed in horror. There was an entire flock of Shadow Stingrays coming from the jungle. There were so many of them it was easy to confuse them with an oppressive cloud, there were enough monsters to cloud a cloudless sky. Scary! "Do I even have enough Arrows? This, however, was her main concern. "Spider. Arrows!¡± She yelled hopefully. 83 - Webbed in Darkness 🕷? An entire plague of Shadow Stingrays was flocking from the bordering jungle and towards the farm. It was the Drow who first noticed the threat. Shouts of warnings filled the air and the MegaFarm was put on the code red. The Spiders, Lamia, Centauri, all grabbed their weapons ready for a fight. However, fighting something that can fly won¡¯t be that easy. Considering the amount of approaching monsters it might be impossible. The King took a look at the darkening sky. ¡°This is bad.¡± He turned towards a nearby spider. ¡°Fetch me my tome. Hurry!¡± He commanded. After all, the best weapon to fight shadow monsters was magic. And just so, the spider mages were already slinging spells into the sky. And those who couldn¡¯t cast magic used the Magic Scrolls. The sky lit in all the colours of the rainbow and thundered with the sounds of explosions. But the Shadow Plague was fearless, its relentless approach didn¡¯t slow. The spider mages were already readying a ritual on a large scale, but whether it would be finished on time was still unclear. Meanwhile, the Spider-Nom-Nomicon reached the King''s hands, it flipped its pages on its own presenting the most suitable spell. The King gazed upon the depiction of the magical formula committing it and the magical circle to his memory. His passive perk Comprehend aided him in this task. The tome presented him the chant to activate the spell, obviously it was written in a Spider Chirp; the language itself was potent in magic. He finished visualising the spell formula and moved on to reading the chant out loud. ¡°Darkness beneath me I command you to gather.¡± He pulled the mana towards his fingers. ¡°Like a spider, I weave you into a thread.¡± A web-like magical circle popped into existence right in front of him; it was dense with glyph-like letters of the Spider Chirp. ¡°A web is made to trap my enemy.¡± The spell took shape exploding from the magical circle and reached for the sky. ¡°And drain it dry of life, All Consuming Web!¡± He committed all of his mana towards the spell. This was the spell the tome had suggested, it was like fighting fire with fire, or in this case Darkness with Darkness. Threads glowing and purple reached for the Shadow Stingrays and trapped them like flies. Much like lightning the web pulsed with energy. A series of explosive pops thundered throughout the sky. The web flashed purple one more time and then all was gone. The King fell to his knees, drained of mana. This wasn¡¯t something a single mage should cast, but even then he managed the complex spell all on his own. However, the fight wasn¡¯t done. He had only culled the nearby monsters, half of the approaching plague at best. He quaffed a series of potions to help him with mana recovery and turned to look at another magical circle that glowed encircling the Spider Palace. Yes! He had managed to buy enough time for spider mages to complete their ritual. A dome-like web-shield spread from the magical circle and enveloped the very centre of the MegaFarm. Yes, this was a protective spell only, but it was just as important; there were eggs and young that had to be protected. The main buildings were shielded but most of the farm fell outside the protection of the magical dome. ¡°So it begins...¡± He looked at the descending monsters. Like their ground-bound cousin, the descending stingray targetted the TomGrape plants. It landed on top of the web and jabbed its sting-like tentacle into the innocent fruit vine. It was drained dry of life leaving only a husk; the stingray grew in size ever so slightly. A similar sight repeated all over. Naturally, those with scrolls or the ability to cast magic were shooting spells at the flying monsters thus further thinning their numbers. But the monsters were many and once they were too close to the plants, flinging spells was not a good idea. A fireball hitting the TomGrape would defeat the whole purpose of the protective effort. The King cast a few more spells at the flying monsters and then he retrieved a bow from his inventory. It was a masterwork item he had crafted with The High Chief. The benefit of using the bow was that arrows, unlike explosive spells, would do far less damage to the farm. And as a bonus, this enchanted bow didn¡¯t need normal arrows. He was able to conjure Dark Arrow using his mana, so he didn¡¯t need to worry about running out of ammo. He aimed at the Shadow Stingray and let his arrow loose. *Pop ¨C the monster died, it was that easy. The trouble was the sheer number of the monsters. Well, there were more challenges, or challengers to be precise. The shadow wolf jumped out of under the web to defend its brethren. ¡°You!¡± He aimed at the monster. ¡°Dark Arrow.¡± A single arrow wasn¡¯t enough, the monster turned out to be rather tough. ¡°Dark Arrow, Dark Arrow.¡± A few more did the trick. *Popity-pop! But the distraction meant that the TomGrape couldn¡¯t be saved, another stingray had drained it dry. ¡°King, sss, let me assist you.¡± A wild lamia appeared. She was dressed in light leather armour and held a long spear in her hand. ¡°Friendly Lamia!¡± He recognised a familiar face. ¡°Please do.¡± With her, the monster ambush was less of a distraction so he could focus on shooting down the flyers. *Pop, pop, pop. ¨C he shot one monster after the other. The lamia was guarding his rear and he was firing arrows to protect the fruit vines and the webs. The two made quite a team. Ever so often, there was a loud popity-pop coming from behind him, naturally, at those moments he turned around to check if his rear was still safe. Of course it was safe, the Friendly Lamia did her job well; but when he did look, at those moments, their eyes would meet but only for a fleeting moment. Even so, he couldn¡¯t help but notice a fair blush developing on her cheeks. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. *Pop. ¡°...¡± *Pop-pop He kept looking and she kept blushing. He had to wonder if she was a battle maniac. After all, people like that existed, people who got a hard one from life and death situations. The two kept fighting in tandem. *P-pop! ¡°Sss.¡± However, it was getting hard to ignore the rugged breaths coming from behind. ¡°Sh-ahh!¡± It was way too loud and weird. He turned back out of worry. ¡°...¡± The lamia was okay, but then why the sound? ¡°Is everything alright?¡± He asked out of concern. ¡°If you need a potion tell me.¡± He had plenty in his inventory. ¡°N-No, sss. Everything is-sss fine. Ignore me and concentrate on sss-shooting monsters.¡± He did just so, he fired another arrow. ¡°Sh-ahh!¡± *Pop. And another. ¡°Sh-ahh!!!¡± *Pop He killed two monsters but... Was the Friendly Lamia making that sound to cheer him up? Regardless, he decided to trust her fully, and this time he didn¡¯t turn around to check his back. ... The Drow archers were firing arrows at will. And they were rather successful. Their high posts on the top of IronOaks protected them from the shadow wolves lurking right below. More and more of Lamia flocked to the farm, all armed with enchanted spears. Their targets weren¡¯t the flying monsters but those lurking on the ground. The scandalously dressed Drow Archer thanked the spider for an extra two quivers; they were brimming of full of arrows. These arrows were spider-made, but just as good as the ones she had brought, If not better. The Drow Archer marvelled at the arrows with a tinge of jealousy. The craftsmanship was above her skill. ¡°Where is no time for this.¡± She stopped her idle thoughts. ¡°Let¡¯s see if they¡¯re as good as they look.¡± *Pop, *Pop ¨C she shot two stingrays with one shot. ¡°Impressive! Are these enchanted with Pierce?¡± She wondered out loud. No, to defeat the shadow monster the arrow had to have a magical affinity imbued into them. ¡°Two enchantments...¡± She spoke with wonder. ¡°No, Reinforced too, so that makes it three.¡± She reached a hard-to-believe conclusion. Well, what mattered was that the arrows were good, and good they were, so she kept firing. In between the shots, she took in the distant view of the battlefield. The spider warriors were forming a defensive circle outside the magical shield. The flying monsters were slamming their bodies into the shield making the surface ripple, but there was a counter for that too. Spider archers were shooting arrows at them from inside the shield. It was interesting that the shield stopped the monsters but not the arrows. It was very similar to a particular elven ritual magic. Did the spiders somehow reverse-engineer that? And here she thought that those spells were lost with now deceased elven elders. The elders who ran away like cowards. No, they were much worse. ¡°Traitors!¡± She spat remembering something unpleasant. She wasn¡¯t a part of the fire walker squad, the heroes who cleansed the forest at that time. Anyway... Good riddance! And, if this one ends well, she could boast of protecting the Spider Kingdom and by a cheeky stretch ¨C the King himself. ¡°I will be a hero...¡± She entertained herself with that fantasy. Of course, the idle thoughts didn¡¯t keep her from killing monsters. Her body was in a trance state there, knowing what to do without even the need to think about it. Even then, she was keeping the mental count. *Pop ¨C count 119. She already was past her previous record. However, there in the distance, she couldn¡¯t help but notice a certain regal figure. ¡°The Spider King.¡± She looked in awe. Apparently, the current high record holder wasn¡¯t slacking off either. Expertly he was killing one monster after the other. He was quick, his movements were precise and his form was flawless. After all, there was a reason why he held the high record. Both awe and envy filled her mind. ¡°Are they?..¡± She looked with interest. ¡°Yes, they are.¡± It was likely that the King didn¡¯t notice but the Lamia warriors were protectively surrounding him at a distance. From afar, it was obvious that they formed a protective perimeter. If the King moved between the webs so did the lamias; they were always keeping him at their centre. ¡°Must be nice to have so many bodyguards.¡± Well, she did have a few of them too. Two spiders stood below the IronOak. They were there to ward off any opportunistic monsters from trying to climb up towards her crow¡¯s nest. So, she was safe. And she was busy! She was shooting one shadow monster after the other. ¡°180.¡± She spoke her count. The King was moving ever so slightly towards her position. And soon they were sharing the same hunting spot. She was on her tree and he was right below her. ¡°We are pushing them out.¡± He spoke in a booming royal voice. It might be because he was royalty, or maybe because of his natural charm, regardless, she couldn¡¯t take her eyes off him. ¡°King, are you keeping the count of your kills?¡± She shouted towards him. ¡°Huh,¡± he glanced at her. ¡°Yes, 911! You?!¡± Their eyes met for a brief moment, and her knees became weak for some reason. Her legs gave up, and worse, she forgot her ¡®pop¡¯ count. ¡°I-I...¡± She stuttered indignantly. ¡°Are you alright? Do you need a potion?¡± ¡°I-I...¡± She was drowning in his gaze, her mind was spinning. His concern deepened further. ¡°What am I even saying? Of course you are at your limit!¡± *Pop. ¡°No normal person could weather this...¡± *Pop. ¡°You did well.¡° Pop. ¡°Come down. The spiders will escort you to safety.¡± He kept killing the monsters as he spoke. ¡°N-no, I-I,¡± She pushed past her stutter, ¡°I¡¯m not tired!¡± ¡°Pride will get you killed. Spiders get her down.¡± He commanded with full authority. That voice, the strength of it, sapped whatever strength remained in her knees. ¡°Oh, no...¡± She wheezed out. The two spiders despite her protest carried her down the tree. ¡°I can walk!¡± She broke free and stood up. ¡°I can fight!¡± Her legs felt much better, that was, so long as she didn¡¯t look at the King. There was something off about the aura the King gave off. She looked at his bodyguard and frowned. She didn¡¯t notice from afar, but there was definitely something wrong with her too. *Pop-pop-pop... ¡°This spot is all good now. Let¡¯s keep pushing towards the outer edge.¡± The King instructed. ¡°Sss!¡± The lamia hissed. Unlike the serpentine woman, she could manage a proper response. ¡°Understood! I¡¯ll help you.¡± And then she added hurriedly. ¡°I insist!¡±. She kept her eyes towards the skyline and away from him, but even then she could feel his piercing gaze. She felt hot, way too hot, drenched even. ¡°That was a vigorous reply. I might have misjudged your condition. And I might as well use another bow at my side, but before we go, here...¡± He pushed a couple of the potions into her hand. His hand touched hers, she felt an electric sensation course through her body. It was too much! ¡°Muah!¡± She let an obscene sound and then promptly passed out. ... ¡°So she wasn¡¯t alright at all. Pride, eh?¡± He looked at the Friendly Lamia. She didn¡¯t look particularly good either. ¡°Wait... Wait! My aura... Shit!¡± He realised that he had messed up. He wanted to blame his wife for putting him in his secretly pink mood. And the drow¡¯s choice of wardrobe didn¡¯t help either. You see, this was a nighttime and his wife would... Well, that is private! No, he was the one at fault. His romantic mood leaked subconsciously and tainted the Aura Projection. But since he was now aware of this, he was able to tweak it. ¡°Hey, is this any better?¡± He looked at his friendly companion. She blinked twice and her blissful grin was replaced by a deep frown. ¡°What did you do? SSS!¡± She hissed sternly. ¡°Put it back on!!!¡± She demanded unreasonably. ... The Drow Archers turned out to be a very wise choice, a choice made just before the calamity struck. Thank you mysterious entity for the warning! They were instrumental in the defence of the farm. With their help, the remaining flyers were popped from existence, and the Drows¡¯ expert aim meant that the damage to the plants was minimal. By the dawn, by the first rays of the sun, the battle reached the conclusion: Victory! The Spiders, Lamia, Centauri, all cheered and clapped. However, a certain phenomenon was taking place. The dying monsters didn¡¯t leave corpses, but they did leave... something. Strange darkness loomed mixed within the air - much like heavy smoke. It was Dark mana and it was so dense it was visible with a naked eye. A certain spider mage was running around collecting that wispy smoke-like substance into jars. ¡°This is. The monster fuel.¡± It chirped mostly to itself. A new theory was being contemplated: this was the mana the monsters used to make their bodies. If the theory was right it would be rather scary. What this meant was that as long as mana remained it didn¡¯t matter how many monsters they ¡®killed¡¯. It was so because they could simply recycle that energy and just reform their bodies by the next night. If, and only if, the theory was true, it also meant that the Darkness couldn¡¯t be defeated in a conventional sense. ¡°Consume. Eat. Devour.¡± The spider thought out loud. The spider walked in circles thinking. ¡°No mana, no monsters...¡± But equally so. ¡°No mana, no life...¡± 83.5 - Puppet No More King Aurelius II was standing in front of his men. Unlike his black and shadowed gear, their armour was pristine white and shiny. The men under his command, while armed well, weren¡¯t Knights, but they weren¡¯t peasants either. They were nobles who just like him had fallen out of grace. These men were eager to restore their tarnished reputations, and also, to prove that they were more than just failures. Many who had gathered here were indeed all sorts of failures: incompetents, gamblers, deadbeats, cowards, weak-willed and so and such. These fallen nobles had reached rock bottom of their lives, but there was a certain important thing about them. Despite reaching the lowest point in their life, they were standing here dressed in armour and ready for battle. The men were resolved to change and to make change; conviction burned in their eyes. To achieve that, like a fallen angel, Aurelius II had appeared in their darkest hour. He did so at midnight and came in wielding powerful and mysterious magic. It was as if the shadows were bending under his will, as if he had tamed the darkness itself. He said the words which no one ever uttered to them, ¡°I need you. I need YOU!¡± And then he added in a more sombre tone, ¡±I know your struggle, I know the Darkness that eats at you.¡± He spoke with understanding. ¡°And I have a solution: fight for me, expel your darkness and you will be reborn anew.¡± He tempted them while backed by mysterious power... And that¡¯s why these nobles were here. Wrapped in a smoky cloak King Aurelius II gave his men an approving look. Their armour was immaculate and eye-catching. Also, they came prepared with their secret ¡®dirty¡¯ books and the belts full of crystalline potion bottles; just as he told them to. ¡°The enemy is already at the border. Pillaging some village or something like that.¡± He didn¡¯t particularly care about that. ¡°This is our chance to prove ourselves. To show them what we are made of. Let¡¯s teach them what a crushing despair really is. And let¡¯s earn our glory!¡± The men roared as a reply. With this, they marched towards the border village. Of course, this was just a skirmish, the bulk of Fertile Kingdom¡¯s army was marching upon the Aurelian Kingdom¡¯s capital. The Black Hand Covenant and their mages will deal with that, and of course, he, the Puppet King, was conveniently left out of that scheme. However, the Covenant didn¡¯t seem particularly bothered by his attempt to gather an ¡®elite¡¯ force under his wing and ¡®contribute¡¯ to the war. ¡°They must think I am just playing around. Fools! I am not.¡± He drank yet another potion so that his large frame could continue to move in this heavy armour. ¡°I will snatch the victory. I will take their capital.¡± This was the plan. ... The raiding party of the Fertile Kingdom was here to replenish their war supplies. Yes, they were raiders, but that didn¡¯t mean they were monsters. The village didn¡¯t have to be raised down as long as they obliged with their reasonable demands. The raid leader was venting his rightful anger. ¡°I said everything! Load everything into the cart.¡± The raid leader looked with scorn at the barely half-full cart. The peasants were being stingy! ¡°But sir, we had a famine earlier this year.¡± The village chief protested. ¡°This is everything!¡± This ¡®everything¡¯ was equal to what a struggling household could produce in the Fertile Kingdom, a single household mind you, and this was an entire village. ¡°Nonsense!¡± He struck at the obviously lying chief. *Crunch ¨C a massive boulder rolled out of nowhere and crushed both the raid leader and the wagon to a pulp. ¡°Aaa!¡± the village chief had barely avoided the rolling boulder. ¡°What...¡± He was perplexed. The ground was rocky, yes, but there were no hills, or nearby mountains here. How did this boulder get here?¡° Wait, no...¡± This wasn¡¯t a boulder... It was a very obese man clad in dark armour. ¡°I¡¯m King Aurelius II! Peasants, consider yourselves saved!¡± He announced way too loud. The village chief thought he was dreaming. Was this really the King? More men, this time dressed in shiny armour flooded into the village. ¡°[Blinding Cloud]¡±, ¡°[Dark Bolt]¡±, ¡°[Corrosive Darkness]¡±, ¡°[Shadow Rend]¡±... They shouted ripping and burning a page out of their books. Even if the method was unusual, the chief was a learned man so he recognised that this was magic. Each spell was nastier than its predecessor, it almost looked like the Mage Knights were trying to outdo each other. ¡°Huh!¡± The village chief gasped in shock. The aftermath of the magic was unpleasant both for the ear and the eye. Well, people could look away and they did, but those tortured screams... Anyway, the Knights knew what they were doing, the spells were targeted well avoiding the innocent casualties and the fight was won in a matter of minutes. However, the village chief had conflicting emotions, he had heard the rumours about their King and his sponsor. Either way, he felt a mix of gratitude but also fear. Despite the unpleasant feeling, he threaded over the puddle of melted skin and bones to thank their saviours. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ... King Aurelius II had a wide ugly grin of superiority. The potions gave them superhuman strength and the spider scrolls gave unimaginable power. It went well, it went too well. But maybe this was how it was meant to be! The village chief was grovelling before him spouting some empty praises. Who cares, this was just a village! There are still more enemies to crush. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± He urged his men, after all, the effects of the potions weren¡¯t permanent. They moved, no, they turned to shadow and flew at unimaginable speed towards the Fertile Kingdom. They thwarted four more raids, two bandit attacks and even a monster incursion. Why? Well, Aurelius had gotten a bit lost on his way, and his men did need some experience so... Anyway, he made it to the capital. Wide and tall walls greeted him. And no doubt the defenders were sallying out already. ¡°This is our moment!¡± He spoke in a heavy gravelly voice, an effect of potion abuse. ¡°To become more than we are! Go claim your salvation!¡± He drank the rest of his potions ignoring the life-threatening level of Toxicity. The hidden magic tomes flew out from inside his armour and buzzed around him like angry bees. He struck a pose and stretched his arms theatrically preparing to cast a spell. A single page burned in one of the books. ¡°I am King Aurelius II, burn my name into your memory,¡± his voice boomed loud and clear reaching even the deepest corners of the capital, ¡°for I am the herald of your doom! The Fertile Kingdom shall be no more!¡± The many pages fluttered and burst into purple flame. The King himself seemed to be engulfed by those dancing and all-consuming flames, but somehow he was standing there unharmed. ... It was midnight and the big bell tower was ringing its equally big bell, however the dongs weren¡¯t there to tell the time, the bell was blaring an alarm. No one expected the Aurelian Kingdom¡¯s army here at this late hour. Weren¡¯t they supposed to be defending their own capital? How were the tables turned on the Fertile a Kingdom, and so quickly? It was impossible that the Fertile Kingdom¡¯s army had lost. It was well staffed, well armed, well trained and everything was just right. They even had a secret weapon. So why? Something just didn¡¯t add up. The invaders were few in number, a small gathering of mostly Knights in white, but also there was a peculiar-looking Knight, presumably their leader. He was rather round, almost like a boulder, his black armour looked really heavy. He must have an astonishing strength to walk surrounded by layers upon layers of metal. Even if the threat was small in size, something was off about these men. Their faces were ashen, the eyes bloodshot, and they radiated the aura of death and terror. The guards couldn¡¯t help but tense at the sight. Their leader struck a pose and spoke out loud. The message shocked everyone. The Incompetent King was here? Here in person? But how? Were the stories of his failures, the famine and the fall of his kingdom only that - rumours? Were they a cunning ploy to trick the Fertile Kingdom? The King burst into a magical flame, his round form emitting an ominous aura. Even the people deep inside the city walls could feel that something very bad would happen soon. ... Some time had passed. The King Aurelius II was back home. A huge parade was being held in his glory. He couldn¡¯t wear his heavy armour but even when he walked proudly towards the palace. His men, the ones who survived, were walking in tow right behind him. They had faces that belonged more on a ghost than the living, their once pristine armour was battered and tainted with ugly brown stains of dried blood, but even then they too walked with pride. People were waving toward their King and shouting his name. ¡°Aurelius!¡±, ¡°Aurelius!¡±, ¡°Aurelius the Great!¡± They were shouting and reaching with their hands, trying to touch him as he was passing. As he walked he stretched his hand magnanimously allowing the commoners to touch him. Their grubby fingers felt disgusting on his royal skin, but today he will allow them this privilege. A fair maiden gripped his hand in light touch, and that touch somehow felt more pleasant. He looked at her eyes directly. She fainted. From that moment on, more and more women would faint, or well, for some strange reason pretend to faint; he wasn¡¯t an idiot, he could tell. Anyway, he felt strangely flattered. And of course, they should faint, after all, he was Aurelius The Great. He was finally getting the recognition he deserved. He won. He finally won something in his life. The people were loving him and the Covenant was also left stumbling with their mouths agape. His feats were hard to ignore. He plundered then raised the capital of their enemy, on his way back he crushed their army in a pincer attack and then he ¡®selflessly¡¯ donated his share of the loot to the simple folk. Yes, this meant that he was still penniless, but he was the King. He¡¯ll just tax the commoners to get his gifts back. Simple! He finally made his way into an abandoned palace. It was still bare and in a sorry state, but he didn¡¯t care about that anymore anyway. There, inside the Grand Hall, was his reward. An aged magus dressed in black robes was frowning at him. A pleasant sight indeed. With the newly acquired popularity and thus with the backing of common folk, he will be able to kick the Covenant out of his kingdom for good. He approached the old relic of a man and gave him a vicious smirk. ¡°I dare you to call me a puppet one more time.¡± He intimidated with confidence, but even when he had his other arm under his shirt and on a stack of very powerful scrolls. The Magus retained his composure. ¡°For you, from your new Master.¡± He handed a sealed envelope and left in a very casual manner. ¡°Tch.¡± The lack of a bigger reaction disappointed him. He looked at the magic seal, on it was a stamp of Spider Kingdom. He inspected further and there were no signs of tampering. ¡°Fool!¡± He looked back but Vumbeldor was already gone. The magus must have realised the source of his new power. While he had lost the support from Covenant and their mages, he had gained an even bigger backer. The Covenant stood no chance against the might of Spider King, and they knew it. That¡¯s why they backed off so readily. He smiled at another victory. He had the pleasure of wielding spider magic, only a fraction of it, but what power it was! It would take a fool to fight against it. And so what if he sold himself to the Darkness? It was well worth it. He dropped a speck of his blood to unseal the envelope and pulled out a spidery parchment. There on gold-framed black were the letters of crimson - demands coming from his new master, obviously. As he read his brow furled further and further; he struggled to follow. This wasn¡¯t what he expected exactly. First the the letter was from the Spider King himself and not Lord G Bling as he had expected. Did this mean that he¡¯s now serving directly the King himself and not the spider? If so, he was more than an underling for an underling. Good! But also the request was unusual. ¡°His Majesty is asking for volunteers?¡± The letter was sealed so he wondered why the Spider King still used the cryptic language. ¡°Hmm. Actually, this is great.¡± He and his new now-not-so-shiny friends had a lot of people which had caused friction and will probably will continue to do so. It was best if those people disappeared... ¡°No, even better. I will accuse them of corruption.¡± And they all were corrupt anyway, so that wouldn¡¯t even be a lie. ¡°This will win me even more favour with the people.¡± A new plan was hatched. Yes-yes, in a conventional sense he was still a puppet, he only changed the master. But he didn¡¯t think this to be true because he felt freer than ever. He wasn¡¯t a puppet, he was a servant! And, in his humble opinion, he didn¡¯t think that he was serving a mere mortal either, so all was alright. It¡¯s okay for a King to serve a higher power, no, it is natural, it is as it should be. 84 - What Can You Do? Its What It Is. The Shadow Plague was relentless and it was endless. No matter how many shadows you killed they just came back even in greater numbers. But the King of Spiders didn¡¯t wallow in despair, nor did he give up. If you asked him about it he would simply say, ¡°It¡¯s what it is,¡± such was life. Similarly, some other areas, some distant kingdoms, had to deal with draughts, floods, hurricanes and other forces of nature. Thinking about it, there were things you shouldn¡¯t do and things you should. Like in the areas with strong winds, you shouldn¡¯t build your house using plywood, that¡¯s just common sense. And in the case of periodically drought affected lands you had to prepare in advance, like storing water. So here, in the Spider Kingdom, it wasn¡¯t too different. Granted, the Shadow Plague was a big and scary ¡®force of nature¡¯ to fight off, but the King knew that the spiders were resilient people. So far they have persevered and persevere they will! The sun disappeared over the horizon and the darkness descended upon the farm. ¡°So it begins,¡± he said in a monotone because this was routine already - this was simply work. The last of the spider farmers hurried towards the centre of the MegaFarm and under the protective magical barrier. The running spiders greeted the other group in passing. These were spider exterminators clocking in for their night shift. It looked rather funny from a distance, two massive conga lines running in opposite directions, a wave of spider arms formed where they met and ended at the tail of the line. The spider exterminators took their posts and waited with anticipation for their first monsters. But also there were Drow Archers and Lamia Warriors mixed in their ranks. Well, the farm protection was work all around the clock, but for obvious reasons, the shadows got cheeky during the the night. Of course, the spider mages were scrambling for a universal solution, but at the moment most of the defence was rather physical. Also, a few things were confirmed. There was a magical cycle of sorts going on. The shadows would spawn here on this very farm, grow and evolve, then they would desperately try to leave the farm. The shadows which escaped then would evolve again spawning a new bunch of different variants. Then, they would attack the farm from outside again. They did so mostly to cause more chaos so that their more primitive kin could escape to the jungle as they did, but also they aimed to molest the innocent TomGrape even further. So as it stood, a wall had to be erected to prevent the flow of shadow monsters. And really, sometimes it was hard to predict what sort of monster it would be standing against this time. Ever so often the Shadow Plague liked to mix things a bit, almost as if it was adapting. Incidentally, a previously unseen shadow monster had emerged from the jungle. It was a behemoth of its kind, larger than any of its predecessors. Well, maybe not that large, it was the size of a rhinoceros but if we had to liken it to an animal it mostly resembled a triceratops. It had a large shadowy protective plate jutting from its head and protecting its sides and back from frontal attacks. Currently, it was charging towards the wall, obviously, in hopes of smashing a hole and freeing its shadow kin. And it wasn¡¯t alone, there were more monsters like this charging from the jungle. The King had somewhat expected something like this to appear eventually, so preparations were made well in advance. A spider loaded a Great Arrow into a contraption resembling a ballista. The original design was elven, but this one had a spider twist on it. And of course, everything was forged of the best materials available and even Reinforced. ¡°Fire.¡± A spider chirped after finishing to load the arrow. Another spider pulled down a large lever firing the projectile towards the behemoth of a monster. The enchanted arrow lodged itself deep into the shadowy body and then deployed a Draining Web, yet another enchanted item, and what that did was self-explanatory. The monster staggered but didn¡¯t die, its charge was only slowed. Two more Great Arrows, but without the web this time, were shot at the monster from nearby balistas. The monster exploded with a loud pop expelling clouds of dark smoke. ¡°Big monsters. Are easy to pop.¡± The spider chirped to its partner. ¡°Indeed,¡± it agreed with a spider nod. ¡°The small fry. Are much harder.¡± Insidentally there also were Shadow Roadrunners sprinting towards the wall. An agile type of shadow vaguely resembling a bird. On the top of another tower, a different type of contraption was making a rhythmic clicking sound. A very giddy-looking spider wielded something similar to a crossbow. The device was bolted to the ground and had a box wedged on top of it. The arrow box was on a larger side and thus obfuscated a good part of the vision. The prototype design wasn¡¯t perfect but it did its job rather well. The Arrow Turret was spewing one arrow after the other and the spider was cackling like a maniac. ¡°He. He. He.¡± It held the lever pressed all the way down. ¡°Ha! Ha! Ha!¡±. As it turns out the spider was quite an exceptional shot, he had barely missed any of his shots. The rushing road runners were popping en masse, pop-pop-pop. There were other contraptions implemented all over the farm, but the projectile weaponry wasn¡¯t the only weapon here. There were also traps. The classic TrapBush did its job springing its cage-like branches from the ground and entrapping the monsters. But also there were patches of ExplodingCabbage, for now the foolish monsters still hadn¡¯t wizened up to the fact that that cabbage wasn¡¯t food and exploded in an attempt to drain it. And of course, the ShadowVine did its job too, binding and preventing the monsters from further entry, somehow its Drain ability superseded that of the monster¡¯s. So yes there were natural remedies to fight the plague. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Magic Scrolls, Grenades, Boost Potions and other expendable items were reserved for when things went from bad to worse. Which they did sometimes. Also, when the incursion got very bad there was a FireAgave Juice moat surrounding the farm, it could be set on fire stopping the ground monster assault entirely. And the fliers could be taken care of with wide-scale spells and rituals; it was rather convenient that unlike the ground you couldn¡¯t destroy the sky with craters and stuff like that. And so, like the night before this one, the shadow plague was pushed back. ... The morning came, but it wasn¡¯t a particularly bright one. A thick shadowy mist blanketed the ground. The mist was enriched with mana, this was the stuff that made the shadow monsters. With time it will disperse, but recently it has been becoming thicker and thicker. The protective barrier flickered out from existence and the spider farmers rushed in to replace the spider exterminators. The TomGrape and other plants needed to be tended, and the wall and other damage needed to be repaired. In a sense the dawn was just as busy as the dusk, but definitely not as dangerous. Slowly in a comparatively lethargic shuffle, the recent addition to the farm, the humans, began filtering towards the outer reaches of the farm. They didn¡¯t wear much armour, but there was a simple uniform of sorts. It was a plain blue tunic. In their hands they carried a stick, an improved version of it. Their faces were somewhat gaunt and even haunted, it was clear they didn¡¯t particularly enjoy the important task issued to them. But everyone had to work! There were no freeloaders here, not anymore. The King had asked for volunteers but he had gained something else entirely. Somewhere, somehow there was a miscommunication and the people sent here appeared to be some sort of criminals. However, when asked if they wanted to go back to the Human Kingdoms they vigorously shook their head and paled; they didn¡¯t! So yeah, they didn¡¯t particularly like to be here, but that didn¡¯t mean they didn¡¯t work hard. Actually, they worked very hard, sometimes till exhaustion, and no, they weren¡¯t forced to do so. If asked about their current situation they would just shrug and say. ¡°It¡¯s as it is.¡± Were they parroting the King? Who knows? Regardless, these humans here were rather essential. For some reason, the shadow monsters ignored their presence allowing them quite literally to pop the problem out before it budded into something bigger and more fierce. So that was that. Outside the walls, there was a large herd of Centauri. They too wore simple blue clothing. They galloped around casually, their task here was to retrieve the ammunition. The arrows both great and small were sturdy and well made, and much of it was reusable. And to persevere against this plague, everyone had to use as few resources as possible. Recycle and reuse was the current mantra. To boost the morale, and definitely not because of selfish reasons, the King was here together with the girls. He was present during the night assault so he wasn¡¯t working too hard here. The presence was what was important, right? Right? He tried to make a casual conversation but the girls gave him short replies only. It wasn¡¯t that they shunned him somehow, they were just too stiff around someone of his rank. Somewhy, when there was another figure of authority, like Centauri Champion, or one of her commanders, that made the centaurs more relaxed and open to his approaches. Unfortunately, those were away with an important mission to the Aurelian Kingdom. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that the girls were giving him curious glances, but if he looked back to meet their gaze they would just pretend to look somewhere else. And if he tried to talk to them, that just made them stiff. He wondered why it was so... He checked his aura again and again, but that didn¡¯t seem to be the issue here. But despite the mixed signals, it was clear that his presence in the field was appreciated. The girls here were only apprehensive. How did he know that? He too sneaked glances then they weren''t looking, and his hearing was way better than they thought. Or maybe it was Centauri who had a critically poor sense of hearing. The things he heard... Those words didn¡¯t belong on the lips of young respectable maidens. ¡®I am married!¡¯ he wanted to scream. But also, he felt strangely flattered. He was almost finished filling his quiver with arrows when a flustered centaur approached him. He smiled happily. ¡®Finally, someone to break the ice with,¡¯ He thought along these lines. He recognised the woman, she was an attendant to the Centauri Champion. Since the Champion was often away with business, the attendant had a lot of free time for herself. She wasn¡¯t on arrow retrieval duty, not today. ¡®Was she here out of boredom?¡¯ He wondered to himself. The centaur gave him a curtsy. ¡°King,¡± she held a peculiar disc in her outstretched arms,¡± this seems important, "she displayed the magical device. The flat disk had a glowing line coming from its centre, it was pointing to somewhere. He didn¡¯t recognise the item and he had no idea what it showed. ¡°What is this?¡± He asked perplexed. ¡°Mana Compass,¡± she explained. ¡°We used this to get to your Kingdom.¡± The Centauri Champion had mentioned something along those lines before. Didn¡¯t seem too significant at that moment ¡°I see, but why are you showing it to me?¡± ¡°King, please pay close attention.¡± ''I am!'' He screamed internally. She must have read his face, ¡°The arrow isn¡¯t pointing to the centre of the MegaFarm.¡± She moved the compass to demonstrate. The arrow pointed somewhere to the north-west, but there was nothing in that direction. It took an embarrassingly long time but it finally clicked. ¡°There is a new source of mana. Now, bigger than the Spider Kingdom!¡± He realised. ¡°Exactly!¡± She nickered. ¡°I noticed the change only in an idle passing, but it must be a recent development.¡± ¡°Something is happening deep in the jungle...¡± Well that one was obvious, but the spider investigations of the jungle had led nowhere. As far as he knew the jungle was mostly empty. But maybe something was hidden deep inside. With this device, the spiders will be able to pinpoint the source of this new mana. ¡°Can I borrow this?¡± He asked. ¡°Sure.¡± She handed it in without reservation. ¡°Thanks!¡± He hugged her without thinking. ¡°You might have just saved this kingdom!¡± The centaur developed a cute blush on her cheeks. Although he was jumping to conclusions here, this was definitely a move in the right direction. ¡°Thank you. Thank you!¡± He wanted to kiss his hero but stopped abruptly only inches away. This wasn¡¯t something a dignified King should do, or so he reasoned. And everyone was looking at the two with eyes wide without hiding their hungry gazes this time. Apparently, he had made quite a scene out of this. ¡°Anyway, I must go and investigate it.¡± He started running. ¡°And if you were on to something, I will reward you personally. Anyway, just come to my study later.¡± He said that line without much thought, after all, he tried to be a meritocratic ruler. The centaur assistant made a low-pitched squeal at those words. Unbeknown to the King a lot of hot and saucy gossip was born in that morning. But that is a story for another time. 85 - The Tendrils of Darkness With a hand on a Magical Compass spider scout was making his way ever deeper into the jungle. He wasn¡¯t alone, behind him were his comrades, also spider scouts. They wore black and silken coats, and the ShadowAgave cloth had a few useful enchantments placed on it. The spiders blended with the shadows and were invisible to the naked eye. But if they were invisible to other creatures of darkness remained to be seen. Like a dark and misty cloud, they moved without sound. The Magic Compass measured not only the direction but also the distance. The distance reading was only a rough guide, the stronger the mana source was and the closer they were to it, the brighter the arrow would glow. ¡°We are close.¡± The melodic chirp was replaced by a metallic rasp, a side effect of cloaking magic. ¡°Be on your guard. Protect the mage.¡± There was a single spider mage in between their ranks. An expert of magic and magical phenomena. ¡°Wait.¡± The mage rasped from under the cloaking spell. ¡°Something doesn¡¯t. Seem right.¡± The spider scouts stopped and waited for the mage to elaborate. It didn¡¯t have much to say besides that something feels ¡®off¡¯. ¡°Regardless. We must investigate.¡± The scout rasped. ¡°King¡¯s orders.¡± It added. ¡°I know. Just. Be careful.¡± Needless to say, they all already were that: careful, cautious and ready for the unexpected. But even then... ¡°Eh...¡± The spider chirped involuntarily. It did so because its cloaking spell suddenly broke. ¡°Eh, eh!!!¡± It was panicking. Everyone was panicking. At first, they couldn¡¯t see it because of all the jungle, but now when they were close, too close, it was so obvious it was hard to miss. A hill of flowing and swirling darkness was right in front of them. Their camouflage spells were broken and the mana was sucked out and pulled towards the Darkness. ¡°It¡¯s draining. My mana pool.¡± The spider mage chirped in alarm.¡° I can¡¯t. Cast spells.¡± As soon as it tried the spell would just fail to form. He wasn¡¯t alone. All of the spiders had a Drained debuff placed on them. ¡°Let¡¯s go back. We¡¯ve seen enough.¡± The spider scout chirped. Even if the spiders were immune to mental attacks such as Terror or Illusion they were still quite terrified. There was this instinctual fear and apprehension they felt towards the Darkness, an ancient and almost forgotten feeling. As they were hurriedly pulling away a tentacle composed of a swirling black shadow sprung from the ground, oddly it made no sound in doing that. Still Inaudible it swung at the spiders. The spiders scattered away from the shadow. The shadow mage thrusted his arms readying a spell. ¡°Shadows!¡± It cursed, it had forgotten that no mana could be cast. More tentacles appeared from the ground, they came with no warning and from all over. A tentacle had caught one of the spiders successfully. ¡°Ahh! Hel...¡± The spider didn¡¯t get to finish its chirp for help. A dry chitinous husk hit the ground and all of the magical equipment on the body had lost its magical lustre. The spider mage looked from the corner of his eye. ¡°Phew... Good.¡± He let out a relieved sigh. All was not lost. The Soul Crystal took hold of the spider''s soul becoming a Soul Crystal. The reason why the darkness ignored the crystal was unknown, but after all, this was the item with a lot of resistances weaved into it. However, the crystal shattered as it was meant to. And if the spider mage could use magic he would have cast s spell to see souls. He just hopped the spider soul made its way to Soul Well successfully. He didn¡¯t even dare to think about the other option. The spiders continued to flee away from the encroaching tentacles of darkness. ¡°Here!¡± A spider scout threw a crystalline bottle to the spider mage. ¡°Swiftness Potion.¡± The spider mage drank it without hesitation, and in high time it came. A tendril brushed past the mage¡¯s back taking a chunk of his robe. Needless to say, whatever enchantments there were, they were all now gone. His robe was now just a fancy cloth. The spider mage continued running with increased vigour. Even with the potion he was still a mage and was lagging behind the more agile spider scouts. However, the potion had given him an idea. He reached into a pouch and retrieved three standard-issue items. He couldn¡¯t sling spells but maybe... The spider threw the grenades: Frost Grenade, Fire Grenade, BlueDust Grenade. ¡°Success?¡± It chirped. Not quite! The grenades exploded inflicting elemental damage upon the Darkness, but that was short lasted; just like spells the magic from the grenades was drained. The magical fire was extinguished and the magical ice melted all too quickly. However! The one tentacle immersed in a blue cloud of dust seemed to struggle against it. Unlike the other two, the effects of BlueDust Grenade continued to linger. No, not just that, it was super effective! The dust had shrivelled the sprouted tentacle. Even the Darkness which flowed in tow after the tentacles was avoiding that spot. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°No time. For experimentations!¡± The spider scout scolded grabbing the spider mage by its arm and dragging him. It might have scolded, but even so, all of the spiders threw their BlueDust Grenades. The Darkness slowed as if hesitant. This was just enough for the spiders to gain distance and escape. ¡°I think...¡± The spider mage chirped. ¡°[Dark Cloak], yes the magic is back.¡± It rasped taking a shadowy form. Unlike the spider mage, the scouts had only limited access to the spells, moreover, the Drain debuff had left them with zero mana. ¡°Then, you go. Make the report. Hurry.¡± The spider scout chirped. The mage drank one of its potions, presumably to fight off mana fatigue. ¡°[Shadow Step],¡± it disappeared leaving only thread-like wisps of shadow. ... The Trusty Advisor was adamant against the Spider King going to inspect the mana source. At that time it chirped, ¡°This might be a trap!¡±. It was hard to argue with that point, hence the King remained. But it was hard just to sit and wait for the report. He had to do something! And well, actually, there were plenty of things to do. So he went deep under the ground and into a very secret chamber. A certain issue with the Soul Well was bugging him. It¡¯s not that it wasn¡¯t working, rather the opposite, it was working too well. The Spider Archmage called it a bonus feature, but he didn¡¯t quite agree with that assessment. After the binding ritual, the Soul Well began pulling and storing stray souls on its own. All fine and dandy considering that the radius of the effect wasn¡¯t that long. But the issue was that it was filling with the souls of squirrels. He had thousands of squirrel souls! If the Great Wisp knew it might get angry. Well, he had no intention of making that slip of the tongue. And there even were a few kobold souls there. The radius didn¡¯t reach past the border of MegaFarm not to mention the Oberon Mountains. So how? He had a suspect, a particular race of meat gourmands, but this accusation was a heavy one. ¡°Huh?¡± The amount of souls in the well ticked up. ¡°A spider?¡± It was very unlikely it died on the farm, this was still daytime. ¡°Oh!¡± He realised. ¡°Oh...¡± He realised. Well, at least a part of the well worked as intended. He looked at the count with bated breath. It ticked up, but there were only squirrels. Incidentally, the shadow monsters provided no souls, it was either they were immune to the effect of the Soul Well or they had no soul. Both options were equally mysterious. The wait was painful but eventually, the spider signalled to inform him that the scouting expedition was back. He rushed to the throne room straight away. There was only a single spider there, it looked exhausted and haggard. Seeing no other scouts the King worried for the worst. ¡°The other? Did they?¡± ¡°No, only one. I rushed ahead to ...¡± The spider mage gave its report. ¡°So this Darkness has a body now...¡± The description of it sounded scary, unlike the shadow monsters it was functionally immune to most magic attacks. ¡°But we have a way to fight it. You did very well to find its weakness.¡± After all, it had both physical and magical resistance. ¡°We are very lucky...¡± If not for DustyBlue flowers the unpleasant end would be certain. The rest of the spider scouts rushed into the throne room. ¡°Everyone is back! Good! I recon a small reward is in order. This isn¡¯t much but please.¡± He reached into his inventory space to pull out jugs of Slug Jelly; this was his personal stock. The spiders took the rewards with gratitude. ¡°We shall help. To prepare.¡± ¡°No, we have plenty of spiders for that. You take rest.¡± He commanded. Incidentally, the Trusty Advisor was already making notes in his book. The Drow Assistant was no different. After all, he wasn¡¯t left alone to deal with this menace. Unfortunately, it looked like a huge patch of DustyBlue would have to be cut. Obviously, Johny, the humongous slug, won¡¯t be too happy about it. He will visit him later and break the bad news. But before that, some other members had to receive their rewards. And the reward handed out in person and not a proxy, and by the King himself, was so much more precious; he knew that very well. He turned to the Trusty Advisor. ¡°Can I leave this to you for a moment?¡± He handed the compass to the spider. ¡°Of course, King.¡± The spider bowed. The compass arrow was dim, showing that the Darkness was still far away. And maybe it wasn¡¯t moving towards the farm at all. But anyways... ... The Spider Advisor was standing just outside the King¡¯s study, it had a report. The study doors were closed and the King sounded busy. The report wasn¡¯t particularly urgent, so the spider decided to wait patiently until the King finished. However, the sounds coming from the study were rather loud. ¡°Harder, do it harder!¡± A feminine voice squealed demandingly. ¡°But it''s too hard. It might hurt you.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s just right. Now do as I said.¡± ¡°Like this?¡± ¡°Oh-hhh!¡± She nickered pleasantly. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s the spot.¡± Grunts of satisfaction accompanied by the sound of rhythmic motion kept piercing the doors. ¡°Your strokes need to be longer.¡± ¡°Is that better?¡± ¡°Mhm...¡± She only made a short whiny sound. ¡°More.¡± A wild lamia appeared. She slithered through the corridor her eyes darting around as if looking for something. Her eyes met with the four yellow orbs. She gave him that wide grin full of sharp teeth. ¡°Trusty Advisor, sss, my husband is missing. He missed his tea time with me! Have you seen him?¡± She looked at the closed study door. ¡°Is he inside?¡± The Trusty Advisor didn¡¯t need to reply. ¡°I think I got the technique just right.¡± A regal voice penetrated the door. ¡°The King is busy.¡± The spider said the obvious. A feminine voice penetrated the door. ¡°Yes, now do my rear end.¡± Lamia Queen listened in with her eyes wide. ¡°What¡¯s that rhythmical sss-sound? And who¡¯s in with him? SSS!¡± She sounded rather panicked. The Trusty Advisor didn¡¯t know the answer to the former but for the latter, ¡°I think it¡¯s one of the Centauri.¡± As if to affirm that statement, "Go in deeper," a rather sultry-sounding voice nickered. ¡°SSS! I¡¯m going in!¡± Lamia slammed at the shut door with her tail. She broke it off the hinges, an overkill really, it wasn¡¯t even locked. ¡°What do you think, sss, you¡¯re doing!?¡± The King stood there with a brush in his hand. ¡°Brushing her coat?¡± He blinked twice gathering his thoughts. "Did something happen? Is it about the Darkness?" Well, this wasn¡¯t exactly what she had expected. The King wasn¡¯t exactly forbidden to care for his pets, but even so... ¡°NO!¡± she hissed at his attempt to distract her. ¡°Why is her tail raised like that?¡± She hissed questioningly. ¡°I never had horses, only dogs, but maybe because she¡¯s happy?¡± ¡°Horses-sss! Dogs-sss?¡± She hissed confused. ¡°I¡¯m just brushing her coat. Want to give me a hand? It¡¯s therapeutic.¡± He offered a spare brush. ¡°Hmm.¡± Her facial expression softened at the invitation. ¡°I¡¯ll give it a try.¡± She said it with a mischievous grin and grabbed the brush. A realisation flashed across his face. ¡°Oh! I forgot the tea time. Sorry about it.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. It happens.¡± She began brushing. ¡°Ouch. Not so hard. You¡¯re too rough.¡± The Centauri Assistant grunted. ¡°Oh? You don¡¯t like that?¡± She brushed even harder. ¡°No.¡± The centaur snorted again. ¡°The King does it way, way better. He knows how to please a woman.¡± She shouldn¡¯t have said that. She definitely should not have said that. To save the centaur¡¯s coat, or maybe even her life, the King had to confiscate the brush from his wife. The Trusty Advisor just stood there at the gap and next to the broken door, still patiently waiting for his time to give a report. It wasn¡¯t that important anyway... A strange idea formed in its spidery mind. ¡®As my reward. Maybe I could get the King to clean my chitin in a similar fashion.¡¯ The spider shook its head as if to get rid of such fantasies. 86 – By the Power of Love and Friendship The Trusty Advisor was looking at the King meaningfully. ¡°It is approaching.¡± It chirped. The King put his palms together and touched his lips as if in deep thought, ¡°So it is coming,¡± he paraphrased. ¡°It is.¡± The spider chirped again. ¡°Well then, we have no choice.¡± He said with resolution. ¡°Let¡¯s make our last stand.¡± The Trusty Advisor nodded in understanding. ¡­ The Alliances were made so that in tough times, and especially in times of war, the two parties could help each other. After all, there was no doubt that the Spider Kingdom was at War, it¡¯s just that the aggressor was rather unusual. Regardless, the call for aid was issued and the Allies responded. The Lamia were already a part of Spider Kingdom: their Queen stood at the side of the Spider King as his wife and their egg vaults were here also, so it was obvious that their warriors stood with their spears raised high and ready to defend that which is the most precious. They stood proud donning the now iconic armour, it was blue and made out the leather coming from their favourite snack ¨C Enchanted Boar. The leather armour was light in nature so that their slender movements wouldn¡¯t be limited. The strongest response must have been from the Drow. They came as a whole: men, women, and even children; everyone came to defend the MegaFarm. The High Chief¡¯s decision to involve children was questionable, but it was final. Their forces were the most diverse. There were FireWalkers, Archers, Spearmen, Mages, Grenadiers, and all sorts. The children were there for support, they will be mostly resupplying the Drow troops. In retrospect, it was rather shocking, but it was evident that all of the Drow knew how to fight in one way or the other. In other words, in the lousiest form of the term, they were all ¡®warriors¡¯; a past trauma had likely had something to do with that. Anyway, they were here, they were armed to the teeth and they were roaring and rearing for a fight. The Great Ancestral Tree and its avatar the Wisp, obviously couldn¡¯t make it in person. Being bound to the forest had its advantages and drawbacks. Regardless, they had sent their forces consisting of a swarm of Apex Squirrels and a small bunch of Dryads accompanied by a larger group of Sprigans, not to mention all the Amber they could spare. The Apex Squirrel was an evolved variant from a normal squirrel: they were larger, had sharp claws and a deadly horn on their forehead. Squirrels aside, the Dryads and Sprigans were there to provide the healing then necessary. Speaking about healing and healers, the White Sprigans had also come from the Magical Forest in great numbers. What was it, nearly a thousand of them? More? So yeah, there were plenty of Nature casters to fight the inevitable Drain effect. But mostly they were here for the aftermath ¨C to rebuild, no, to Regrow. The Kobolds, while having some fighting power, weren¡¯t suited for the open terrain. They were agoraphobic and that overwhelming fear of open spaces meant that they couldn¡¯t participate. Well, certain individuals like blue and brown kobolds had lesser versions of the phobia, but even then it was ruled out that their presence was unnecessary. After all, they had been already helping for the longest time, way before any of the other Allies. They gathered ores to smelt and make weapons, and also they shaped the many-many bricks which were used to make a very-very large wall encircling the farm as a whole. Yes-Yes! The Myconids were the smallest faction, they had only a few caves in their territory and the individuals were few and very weak. But they had helped nevertheless. The Queen had sent a large batch of Stimulant Spores, which could be used even in its raw state to help in a prolonged battle. Both King Aurelius II and the Covenant of the Black Hand were also informed. Their response was predictable but even then ¨C disappointing. The Black Hand were Trade Allies only, and they didn¡¯t express any interest in participating in the Spider King¡¯s quest to vanquish the Darkness itself. Well, Vumbeldor had given a long-winded reply full of whys and excuses; basically, they were just too scared. However, King Aurelius II was more willing to participate, but it was clear that the human forces would never make it here in time. At least, there were still ¡®volunteers¡¯ from before; Aurelius II encouraged to utilise these men and women. What was left was the Centauri, who also like Lamia and Drow were just itching for a fight. No doubt they still wanted to prove themselves. The girls were clad in heavy black armour; they will be serving as the heavy cavalry. Just at the right time, the Centauri Champion was back to lead her troops to victory. And so, that was that. The forces were spread around the farm evenly and awaiting the fated moment. ¡­ With the increased presence of the defenders, the draining tendrils of the Shadow Plague were kept in check. Occasional pop-pop sounds reverberated from the TomGrape webs but so far that was that. Everyone was tensely waiting for a signal. Further away, in the distance, a blue flair of light made an arch in the sky and exploded with a bang like a firework. This was the signal; the Darkness had crossed into the clearing of the Spider Kingdom. The signalling spell wasn¡¯t exactly necessary because there was the Magic Compass and the fact that the sky was literally turning pitch black. Mind you, this was during the day, so the effect was even more pronounced. Everyone had expected the attack to come during the night, but it didn¡¯t look like it would matter or that the encroaching darkness cared about such things at all. The sudden change was rather spooky, no it was strong enough to fill Lamia and Drow alike with Dread, but it was good that spiders were fearless and demonstrated courage thus reassuring and inspiring the other races. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The King was giving a late speech to boost the recently fallen morale. Enchanted by Wind magic, his booming voice was carried across the MegaFarm. ¡°My subjects! No, my allies and my friends.¡± He continued the address with: ¡°Don¡¯t let yourselves be filled with Dread and other dark emotions. We can win! We will! I am most certain because we don¡¯t stand here alone. Just look around you: it¡¯s your allies, your friends, your family, your lovers, and other many precious things we must protect. So here we stand together to expel the Darkness, and darkness we fear not for it can be dispelled! And for those who are afraid of death¡­ I tell you ¨C be not afraid! For you can be resurrected, you will be Reborn! Now let¡¯s fight, let''s show it our true resolve!¡± He blasted his Aura Projection at full power. As if to deny those words a mass of shadows showed at the clearing, there were so many they formed a sizeable hill. The hill kept forming into a more defined shape. It became a blob. And then it grew shadowy tentacles. Some tentacles were long and others short, some as thick as the trunk of a tree and others as thin as a flower stem. There were so many of them, more than a thousand. The tentacles grasped for the ground and pulled the body of the Darkness towards the walls of the MegaFarm. The mortal minds were struck with¡­ Dread, Dread, Dread!!! ¨C the calamity radiated the aura of Dread. Moreover, the embodiment of the calamity didn¡¯t come alone, much like the Spider King, it had its allies. From the blackened sky, an ocean of Shadow Stingrays descended upon the farm. And from the bordering jungle Shadow Monsters: Shadow Wolves, Shadow Roadrunners, Shadow Behemoths, Shadow this and that, monsters big and small charged towards the walls. If this was the first time something like this had happened the battle would have been lost here and now, but it wasn¡¯t. There is a saying ¡®Practise makes perfect¡¯, and the spiders had plenty of that. A massive spell was cast and purple cracks formed in an otherwise pitch-black sky. It only looked that way because they weren¡¯t cracks at all, it was a web made out of magic ¨C All Consuming Web. The fliers were trapped in the web like flies and died in swarms making a thundering volley of pops. Next came the volley of arrows, there were so many that they too, much like the Shadow Stingrays, managed to cloud the sky. The arrows pierced the remaining flying stragglers and continued flying past the defensive wall and into the clearing. Those arrows flew further and quicker than your normal arrow, flying a whole mile in a matter of seconds. It was only possible because of the dual combination of superior equipment and Wind enchantment. Needless to say, the rushing Shadow Roadrunners, the ones at the front of the charge, suffered the brunt of the piercing attack. A giant spider was standing among its brethren. ¡°Loose!¡± The Warrior Leader commanded. This wasn¡¯t an order for yet another volley of arrows. The Warrior Leader was standing in a field lined with contraptions made out of IronOak and BanditAgave rope. The devices could be best described as torsion siege engines; the King called this design simply the Spider Sling. The slings were loaded with barrels filled with Blue Dust. The payload arched through the sky and smashed in the clearing covering it in the clouds of dust. The Shadow monsters had to avoid those patches, the monster that failed to do that simply popped out of existence. The defensive wall was lined not just with archers, turrets, and grenadiers but also with mages. The robed figures had cast their spells thus further thinning the monster wave. But not all was well, the Darkness seemed endless and it was coming for the Spider Kingdom. Despite losing thousands of Shadow Monsters it just kept birthing new ones. It didn¡¯t care about the losses, it was simply moving forward. The saving grace was that its main body, being as massive as it was, was only slowly approaching the defensive wall. ¡°We can¡¯t allow it to get close to the walls.¡± The King said the obvious. The huge mass would just flow over the defensive structure and then Drain everyone to death; creatures and plants alike. ¡°Then we charge. SSS!¡± The Lamia Queen was already committed. ¡°Let¡¯s go. Rally behind me.¡± The King decided to lead the charge. Spiders, Lamia, Drow, Centauri, Humans and even the creatures of the forest rallied behind the King. First, the Centauri crushed the shadows beneath their hooves clearing the path for the rest of the group. The Lamia supported the King and then the Drow took the flanks forbidding the shadows from closing in by the generous application of magical fire. Lastly, the Apex Squirrels soon caught up from behind and launched themselves at the shadow creatures for a counterattack. Those horns of theirs were a magical weapon by itself and it was surprisingly effective allowing them to prevent the shadows from closing back in from the rear. The King kept pushing towards that tentacled blob of swirling darkness and his people were supporting him from all sides. His wife the Lamia Queen was at his right, and his beloved but mischievous pet was at his left. And surprisingly, even the magnificent slug Johny was there right behind him; albeit lagging ever so slightly. He couldn¡¯t help but feel honoured seeing their resolve to fight beside him. As he got closer to the source of Darkness, the tar-like tentacles sprung from the ground slowing his charge. ¡°Meow. I¡¯ll take care of those!¡± A certain wyrmling meowed with resolve. The Great Wyrmling¡¯s words weren¡¯t hollow. It commanded both the air and the earth pulling the nearby Blue Dust clouds and directing them towards the tentacles. The wyrmling had successfully cleared a path through the tentacles. The King¡¯s forces pushed even further towards the source of the calamity. Lamia Queen raised her Sceptre of Love high above her head and shouted. ¡°Lamia! Sss-support me and mine! [Morale Boost].¡± The power of love indeed was something! But, no, the buff was there to combat the Dread debuff the non-spider combatants were now struggling against. The closer to the Darkness the stronger the debuff was. Hence so, the squirrels were sacrificing themselves in the counterattack. The Drow were letting the fire loose so that the darkness couldn¡¯t encroach from the sides. The Centauri were running around giving support where it was necessary. The wyrmling was keeping the encroaching tentacles in check. The Lamia were assisting the spiders in their forward push and the Queen was giving everyone buffs. Soon, the King faced the body of the calamity. He was standing right in front of it. It was bigger than he imagined. Its tendrils swung at the spiders threateningly. ¡°Let¡¯s whittle it down. Bit by bit.¡± This was the plan from the start. The siege engines, the arrow volleys, and the magic barrages all took a small chunk out of the body of the Darkness. But the ammo and mana were limited and in the end it had to come down to the old-fashioned brawl and brawn melee. And he and his spiders were here just for that. ¡°Let it loose!¡± He shouted starting the melee with a trust of his Devouring Spear. The mass of darkness shrivelled under his attack. A tendril, thick as a tree, trusted towards him in counterattack. ¡°[Bastion]!¡± He invoked but the magic failed to form. 87 - Sluggishly Magnificent But Highly Dusty Fight The Dreaded Place was there for a very long time. So long that no one could remember how or why it came to be. But one thing was clear, all animals almost on an instinctual level were avoiding the silent jungle, and the sapient races were no different. There were prophecies and omens telling people to stay away from the jungle. And that was for a very good reason! Legs go back a bit in time. A very ancient thing, a primordial once existed; an entity like no other. It had an appetite for mana but no matter how much it consumed it would never feel satiated. There was only hunger! So, it ate and ate engorging itself. And in doing so it grew bigger and bigger, and as its body grew, so did its appetite. Ironically, the more it ate the hungrier it got. The thing is that without mana there is no life and without life there is no mana. It ate so much that there was nothing left to be eaten. And then it starved, but even then it wouldn¡¯t die. At first, the entity grew grumpy, then angry, and later it was enraged. It blamed the world for its failings, for failing to provide the food, for having a flimsy and delicate mana cycle. It blamed the plants and creatures for dying and failing to convert the ambient mana for it to consume. In other words, it grew bitter and resentful, it grew Dark. There was nothing to eat, so it made a simple choice ¨C it would go and take a nap. And then it slept for aeons. Even when it slept, it didn¡¯t stop craving for mana. Its body naturally consumed any stray mana which formed there or just flew from the outside. In a passive sense, the entity had enforced a Drain effect on the entire place. However, Mother Nature was a clever mistress and nature always found a way. It took time, thousands of years, but some plants adapted, and they were able to live in the near-zero mana environment. Thus, a lush jungle grew retaking the drained place. But even then, the plants had near zero mana nutrition and the animals hadn¡¯t yet caught up in evolutions. The jungle was left eerily quiet. There were plants and there was life, but in a sense, it was stagnant and almost lifeless. But it was enough. Even if the plants weren¡¯t magical, they lived and hence breathed mana, even if only a sliver of it. And then, naturally, some plants became further resistant to the Drain effect. A peculiar kind of plant was born, and then a peculiar type of animal life. Regardless of such things, the entity kept slumbering and waiting for better times. So long as there was little mana it would not awaken, it just didn¡¯t have the strength. That was until¡­ ¡­ The Bastion failed to activate, and it was too late to dodge the tentacle. The King steeled himself for impact. Oh boy, will it hurt! The impact never came. ¡°Huh!¡± He exclaimed in surprise. Johny had blocked the tentacle with its body; the lovable slug had finally caught up. Even better, he was all coated in the Blue Dust and the tentacle shrunk just from touching it. ¡°Thanks for the save, man!¡± The slug wriggled its own few tentacles threateningly at the Darkness and then replied. ¡°No Problem.¡± The shadowy tendrils quivered at the slug¡¯s presence as if hesitant. They just couldn¡¯t attack Johny because he was all coated in that dust. ¡°Hmm. It seems to be wary of you.¡± The King noticed. ¡°It Is Afraid! [Dust Spray].¡± Johny sprayed towards the mass of tentacles. The tentacles shrunk shying away from the dust and the slug itself. It¡¯s not that the shadow mass was defeated it was just warded away. But still, it was super effective! It was almost as if Johny was born to fight it; a late discovery, but not too late. The King had another late realisation. Just like Johny, he could coat himself in the dust. He did so just before another tentacle took a swing at him. And just before it could hit him, it hesitated. ¡°No, you don¡¯t.¡± He parried and counterattacked with his spear killing the tentacle for good. ¡°[Jelly Jet]!¡± Johny shot out from one of its many teats. ¡°Oh?!¡± It was also surprisingly super effective. No, it was more. The Slug Jelly acted like a poison to the shadows, disrupting and dispelling their form. ¡°Yeah, keep at it. Keep it busy.¡± The King found it so much easier to thrust and jab at the shadows. The two worked in tandem, and yes the King dealt good damage to the Darkness but the real MVP was clearly the magnificent slug. Johny had a massive body, rivalling that of the Great Worm of Oberon, so it could tank hits no problem and the shadow Drain didn¡¯t work on him. He was like a tank here! And even better, it came with turrets. A lot of turrets! Each squirting out a barrage of Jelly Jet at the darkness. During the ongoing battle, the minions of the darkness were finally contained. More and more of the spiders were joining in the assault to defeat the main body and the source of darkness. The Reborn spiders, the ones with bodies made out of Glem had finally also joined the fray. They coated their enchanted limbs in a Disrupting spell and cleaved at the Darkness from the sides. A lot of magic simply just petered out doing no damage to the calamity. But even then, the King, the slug and the spiders had found a way. The shadow monsters were dealt with, the shadowy tentacles contained, and the approach of darkness was stopped. Little by little the shadowy mass was whittled down. He couldn¡¯t help but notice, ¡°It is shrinking!¡± By the time the body of Darkness was half of its original size, the shadows stopped beyond born, the sky brightened and the shadowy blob began retreating back to the jungle. The Allies began cheering a bit prematurely as if the battle was won. ¡°No! We must kill it!¡± The King chased after the blob of darkness. ¡°If we don¡¯t, it will just come back again.¡± But the mages were running out of mana, archers out of ammo, there were only a few scrolls and other disposable items left, and Johny was running low on jelly. Even if the Darkness was shrinking and retreating the Allies had no resources left to kill the thing. The King wracked his mind hard looking for the solutions. If somehow he could find a way to stop the blob from moving he could just chip at it with his spear. ¡°What if¡­¡± He accessed his inventory pulling some rope and a flask of slug jelly. He coated the rope in a thin layer of that viscous goodness. The spiders soon caught up with what he was trying to do. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Jelly. More Jelly.¡± The spiders chirped trying to scavenge as much of it between themselves as possible. Everyone contributed: Johny milked itself for the last drop, the spiders sacrificed their personal stores, and even the Lamia Queen had to give out her secret stash. The spiders lathered the rope in the precious jelly and started weaving. The Darkness must have sensed that something was up because it was running away twice as fast. The spiders were experts at making webs so the web to bind the darkness - the SlugJelly Web, was finished within minutes. ¡°Trap it now! Bind it so that it cannot escape!¡± The spiders launched the web into the air entrapping the blob of darkness within. Normally the dark stuff would just escape through the gaps, but this time it was different. The Darkness shrugged away from the web¡¯s embrace, shrinking upon itself, but even when it could not escape. ¡°Pull!¡± Spiders pulled at their ropes tightening the binding Web. The calamity resisted, its tentacles kept trying to push it towards the jungle. More and more spiders joined in the tug of war, and eventually the blob was stopped in its tracks. If it tried to move in one direction the spiders would just pull to oppose it. Unbelievably so, the Darkness was finally contained. ¡°One.¡± The King jabbed his spear through the gap in the Web. ¡°Two.¡± He jabbed again. ¡°Three¡­¡± With each thrust, the darkness shrunk more and more. ¡°¡­Nine hundred eleven.¡± The hill of darkness was no more, it had shrunk so much that it was at the size of a normal human. The much-reduced blob was quivering and jiggling like a slime. ¡°¡­Nine hundred sixty.¡± It quivered again as if in pain from the attack. ¡°No. No more!¡± The King¡¯s voice sounded, but the King wasn¡¯t the one who spoke. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°No. Stop!¡± The Darkness repeated in a stolen voice. *Stab, ¡°Nine hundred sixty one. Are you trying to negotiate after you have already lost?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The King shrugged. ¡°¡­ sixty two. I don¡¯t feel like talking anymore. Too late!¡± ¡°Please. Don¡¯t kill me. I want to. Live.¡± ¡°Understandable.¡± *Stab, *Stab. The Darkness now was truly reduced to the size of a mere slime. ¡°I just wanted a small snack. Please, I beg you. Spare my life.¡± The shadowy slime trembled. He pulled the spear back readying it for a final thrust. And then he struck the blob¡­ or tried to. For some reason his body refused to move. He looked at the blob startled, he wanted to shout but he couldn¡¯t even do that, he and everything around him were standing still as if frozen. The reason was simple, the time itself had stopped. His consciousness faded for a second and he found himself in a dark and empty void. A familiar nebulous entity boomed a single piece of advice. ¡°Don¡¯t kill it. Let it go and then¡­¡± His consciousness faded once again, and he found himself floating in white space. A less familiar echoing voice boomed a different advice. ¡°Kill it. You must end it.¡± In a single blink, he was back in the clearing staring at the trembling slime. The time was flowing again but his arm remained still. ¡°I hate this!¡± He felt like these nebulous entities were toying with him, invading his mind whenever they pleased. ¡°What am I even supposed to do here?¡± *Sob, ¡°Please. Please. Please.¡± It begged blubbering. ¡°I¡¯ll be good I swear.¡± Was it a really good idea to trust the Darkness? *Sob, ¡°I was just so hungry. All I wanted was a tiny little snack¡­¡± He didn¡¯t care about those excuses. *Sob, ¡°I¡¯ll give it all back. I promise!¡± He doubted that was even possible¡­ *Sob, ¡°Let me make it up to you.¡± There was no proof those words were genuine, after all, it had never bothered to speak before; It just came and ravaged the innocent TomGrape. It had cast a Shadow Plague upon the farm, and to fight it the spiders had made a lot of sacrifices. In other words, this trembling slime was a lying criminal. And he couldn¡¯t care less about the mysterious ¡®advice¡¯ the ¡®gods¡¯ had given him. Worse, there was a clear conflict between the two! [The Darkness wishes to become your Familiar], the message informed him all of a sudden. Huh? Maybe some of its words were genuine. After all, the contract was binding, but obviously the slime must know a way to break it; like by getting him killed. He wasn¡¯t having it; he pulled his arm back readying the final strike. ¡°No?¡± *Sob. ¡±I¡¯m so sorry. I can do better. Please, let''s be friends.¡± [The Darkness wishes to become your Slave] Once again, the indecision struck at his resolve. He was tempted. If this shadowy slime wasn¡¯t powerful the mysterious entities wouldn¡¯t have invaded his mind. And the bond offered was even more binding than that of a familiar. Maybe he should not contemplate it, and just execute this criminal and be done with it, but a part of him wanted its power. Master of Darkness had a certain appeal to him; it called at the dark side of his heart. Master of Darkness, King of Spiders, Ruler of the¡­ ¡°Better?¡± *Sob. ¡°Now, I¡¯ll do whatever you want. My body is yours. Please be gentle.¡± All he had to do was to accept the contract. A mental tug and it would be done. Well, he didn¡¯t have to ponder these things alone. The real battle had been won at the time the Web was cast and the Darkness trapped. Allies, friends, spiders and other figures of importance were standing beside him and watching the scene unfold. ¡°What do you think.¡± He asked a certain spider; it always had the best advice. ¡°In the end, it is your decision, King.¡± The Trusty Advisor chirped simply. Then he looked at his sulking wife. ¡°Whatever.¡± It was clear that she was still upset about being forced to part with her secret jelly stash. He looked at the High Chief. ¡°I don¡¯t mind. With such a contract you¡¯ll be able to keep the monster in check. After all, you are the¡­¡± ¡°¡­Monster King.¡± He finished for the High Chief. ¡°Meow! I don¡¯t trust it.¡± The wyrmling scowled at the shadowy slime. Well, there was definitely a risk there. ¡°Johny, what do you think?¡± He asked the MVP and the only reason why this battle was won at all. The magnificent slug looked at the shaking and sobbing blob. ¡°I Want To Eat It.¡± ¡°No! I am not tasty!¡± It trembled and sobbed even more. ¡°Ha, that would be an appropriate end for the Darkness.¡± He had to admit. ¡°But¡­ Sorry, I will be selfish this time.¡± He accepted the contract. [Congratulations! You are now the Master of the Darkness] All of a sudden he began to feel increasingly woozy. His mind was assaulted with a barrage of messages. [Congratulations! You have defeated the Darkness] [¡®Primordial_Designation:Darkness!¡¯ has lost all of its titles] [¡®Primordial_Designation:Darkness!¡¯ is downgraded to ¡®Monster_Designation:Darkness!¡¯] [The Dreaded Place is no more], [Monster Realm was created], [You are the ruler of the Monster Realm] [The magic has returned to its normal state], [You have gained access to the System] [Chaos Blessed ¨C activated], [You have lost access to the System], [You have gained access to the Monster System] [¡®Monster_Designation:Spider!¡¯ has gained access to the Monster System] [¡®Monster_Designation:Johny!¡¯ has gained access to the Monster System] [¡®Monster_Designation:Apex_Squirrels!¡¯ has gained access to the Monster System] [¡®Monster_Designation:Darkness!¡¯ has gained access to the Monster System] ¡­ [Lamia has gained access to the Monster System] [Drow has gained access to the Monster System] [Centauri have gained access to the Monster System] [Human has gained access to the Monster System], [Error], [Divine Intervention] [Human has lost access to the Monster System] ¡­ It just kept flowing into his mind. The King wasn¡¯t the only one to receive similar messages. ¡°The magic has-sss returned to its normal sss-state?¡± ¡°The Monster System? What is that?¡± ¡°So now. This is a Monster Realm. Interesting.¡± ¡°Meow! I already have the Monster System. Give me something else, meow!¡± ¡°It Says I Can Evolve.¡± *Sob, ¡°I¡¯m hungry.¡± A tiny spider wielding nothing but a stick approached the Darkness and bonked the top of its shadowy slime. ¡°Behave!¡± The spider scolded. 88 - Monster System Unlocked The highly overwhelmed King was staring at the wall of system messages. A certain thing was on his mind, a certain need, an urge, a desire. He had tried it a long time ago, but something in the back of his mind urged him to try again. ¡°Status.¡± He tried slightly cringing at himself. [Welcome to Monster System alpha 0.1], the message printed. A table popped into his vision.
Title: Monster King Magic Affinity: Dark Perks Jobs: ¨€??
HP:1000 MP:2000 STA:500 Spells Farming [4] Crafting [4] Building [2] Alchemy [1] Fighting [3] Magic+ [-1] ¨€¨€??? ¨€???? ????? ¨€¨€¨€¨€? ¨€¨€¨€¨€? Error
????????? ????????? ????????? Reputation
Resistances
Status Effects
If he concentrated on a certain part of the table, such as [Jobs] it would expand further giving more detail.
Farming lvl. 1> Unnatural Selection 2> Acclimate 3> Evolve 4> Mutate Crafting lvl. 1> Superior Design 2> Harvest: Material 3> Enchant 4> Comprehend Building lvl. 1> Reinforce 2> Spidery Magnificent Alchemy lvl. 1> Extract: Reagent
Fighting lvl. 1> Tough Skin 2> Assassin Strike 3> Undying Magic+ lvl. -1> Error
If he wanted he could inspect an individual perk like the one he obtained while making the defences for the battle against the Darkness. [Spidery Magnificent: You gain an aesthetic sense of a spider. Your constructions are deemed to have that spooky aura, and web-like patterns are a must. Increases integrity and complexity of constructions you can make.] Similarly, he could concentrate on [Perks] to get the full list of Perks, and [Spells] listed all of the Spells he could cast at the moment. Oh, and that ¡°¨€??¡± stuff was a progress bar for a new level. ¡°This is neat.¡± He nodded to himself. ¡°But how is the Monster System different from the normal System?¡± His friends were also fiddling with various menus. ¡°Sss, whatever I had before, it wasn¡¯t this. The floating menu options are new, sss, there are numbers and even words! It¡¯s all in Spider Chirp. SSS! It¡¯s good that I¡¯ve learned how to read.¡± The High Chief scratched his head. ¡°For me, it¡¯s the Jobs. Those are levelled and by the looks of it, each level grants a perk. I had a Class and its Skills before, so Jobs and Perks is a completely new concept to me.¡± The Drow Assistant nodded in agreement. ¡°Also, I lost my Magus class. It changed to¡­ the name of the job is weird, it¡¯s Magic+. I¡¯m level one, but all of my spells are still there. So I guess, it¡¯s okay.¡± The King had a complicated expression on his face. ¡°Yeah, Magic+ is completely broken for me.¡± ¡°Meow! No, it¡¯s not. It works just fine. I¡¯m level 2, and higher than your servant!¡± The Wyrmling gloated at the Drow Assistant. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s broken only for me,¡± The King shrugged. ¡°I think¡­¡± ¡°I Need To Evolve.¡± Everyone looked at the quivering slug. ¡°[Evolve]¡±, Johny invoked. Suddenly everyone was blinded by bright purple light. The slug was huge, so Johny shone like a beacon drawing everyone''s attention even from miles away. Then the source of light shrunk and so did his body. The slug was taking a more compact form. The King swallowed with dread; less slug only meant that there would be less jelly! The spiders would rebel and his kingdom would crumble; he panicked. The blinding light dimmed to a bright glow; a humanoid shape was forming within. Finally, the purple glow subsided revealing a mesmerising visage of the newly evolved slug. Johny possessed a slender and curvaceous figure; it was rather scandalous. The slight coating on the smooth and speckless skin made it shine and sparkle, it gave it a delicate feminine appearance. The body remained somewhat translucent retaining the ethereal charm the slug possessed. The lower slug-like half had layered rows of skin drooping down, the skin was tinted blue and wavy very mush-like frills. It didn¡¯t look unpleasant because it resembled a rather fashionable skirt. The upper human-like half had a lithe waist, narrow shoulders, rather long but elegant arms, and a big round and cute head. And of course, the King¡¯s worry was unwarranted because Johny sported not one but three pairs of breasts, the jellybags were swollen and full of syrupy goodness. Johny¡¯s eyes were large and blue, there was no nose in between but a bulge with two narrow holes, and right under was a small mouth with narrow lips. Instead of hair Johny had a collection of long blue tendrils reaching all the way to the shoulders, and on top of the head was a pair of slug antennae. Despite the unconventional features, the face had undeniable allure which was both mysterious and enchanting. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Johny stood there striking a proud pose to display its newly evolved body. The arms were crossed over elbows supporting the upper pair of jelly sacks. The slug tail was curved and jutted slightly into the air. The chin was raised into the air and the eyes were radiating happiness. In other words, Johny looked way too smug about the evolution. The nearby friends began clapping, slowly then with more vigour. ¡°Wow!¡± ¡°Just look. At you. Well done.¡± ¡°Congratulations, meow.¡± ¡°I must say, I am impressed.¡± But not everyone was happy for Johny the slug, a certain Lamia was pulling and shaking her husband by his collar. ¡°SSS! Why? Why does it keep happening, sss, way too sexy!¡± She vented her frustration. Yes, there was a theme going on here. First, there was a Myconid Queen, then¡­ But, hey, this wasn¡¯t his fault. Not this time! ¡°If you have any complaints, give those to Monster System.¡± He pushed the blame on the System, after all, this time the slug evolved on its own. ¡°This is-sss unfair! Why does-sss Johny get to evolve, sss? I want to evolve too!¡± That was a good point. Indeed, why? But then, ¡°Isn¡¯t it natural that monsters evolve?¡± The High Chief looked at Johny and then back to the King as if comparing the two. ¡°Monster yes. But haven¡¯t you, my King, evolved too?¡± ¡°Yes, I did, into the Monster King. But that evolution wasn¡¯t natural. And also, I can grant evolutions¡­ as Monster King I think I can evolve monsters. But I don¡¯t know about sapient races, that sounds tricky. Can Lamia or Drow even evolve?¡± Lamia Queen crossed her arms and pouted her lips. ¡°No, we can¡¯t, sss, or at least it is unheard of. Your body is defined at birth. It¡¯s impos-sss-sible for Lamia Servant to become Lamia Warrior.¡± High Chief, however, remained hopeful. ¡°We¡¯re under Monster System now, so maybe if we gather enough experience it might happen.¡± He postulated. ¡°SSS! Too hard.¡± She hissed. ¡°Husband! Cast Evolve on me.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s wise, you¡¯re already a Lamia Queen. Even if I have enough mana, I fear the backlash might kill me.¡± But the real reason was that as far as he had seen the evolutions were very unpredictable, and he feared turning his cute wife into something scary. What if the evolution made her grow big and fat? He didn¡¯t want to risk turning her into a real monster. So instead, he changed the topic abruptly. ¡°Hey, this is the Monster Realm now. Did you get the message?¡± Everyone confirmed it with nods or verbal replies. ¡°But Monster Realm¡­¡± The voice of the High Chief was thoughtful. ¡°It sounds rather ominous.¡± ¡°Still better than the Dreaded Place.¡± The King replied. ¡°And it says I¡¯m the ruler of the area.¡± As soon as he said that he too became thoughtful for a moment. ¡°Am I an area boss? Do I have to be defeated like the Darkness?¡± He was serious, but for some reason everyone laughed at his line of questioning. ¡°Ha, King. Good one. I don¡¯t think anyone would be crazy enough to fight you and your spiders.¡± ¡°Yes-sss. You defeated the Darkness-sss itself.¡± They looked at the shadowy slime, which somehow managed to avoid detection up to this point. It shrunk to an even smaller size under their withering gazes. ¡°I¡¯m a good monster now.¡± It said still in a stolen voice. ¡°I¡¯m the bestest follower of the Master!¡± ¡°Meow?! No, I am the bestest. I¡¯m familiar number one!¡± ¡°Actually, it¡¯s the Drow who are the¡­¡± The High Chief didn¡¯t get to finish. ¡°Hey, Darkness can you do something about your voice? I don¡¯t like that you sound exactly like me.¡± ¡°Me-Meow! Is this better?¡± ¡°Meow! It stole my voice. Give it back!¡± The wyrmling began to chase the slime. ¡°I¡¯ll bite you.¡± ¡°Me-Meow! Master, help!¡± ¡°King, I Have A Request.¡± ¡°No! SSS! Wives come first! I sss-still think you sss-should Evolve me.¡± ¡°King. Should we start. Rebuilding?¡± Suddenly everyone wanted a piece of him. The Monster Realm was a very chaotic place. ¡­ Allies and friends took a much-needed break and then a lot of other things happened. The beginnings of: rebuilding, regrowing, resupplying, rewarding, and so and such. Everyone was still busy and doing their part of the assigned job. He¡¯d just finished giving his thanks to the Drow and bade them a good trip back to the Oberon Undermountain. This was the last thing he had to do today and so upon his request, he was left alone in the throne room to do what he pleased. ¡°Status.¡± He invoked, going through it again. He did this for what must have been a hundredth time but he just couldn''t have enough. This was like that time when he learned magic. He was just positively giddy. While reading through his [Perks] list, he¡¯d found a new addition. It was [Grant Monster System]. Somehow he¡¯d missed that, but no surprise there since the list was rather extensive. The perk was self-explanatory, he was able to grant the Monster System to other people. And it will be very useful, this was because of two reasons which came clear during today. First was that only the people who fell under the Monster Realm area were auto-offered the Monster System. Second was that his sphere of influence was much smaller compared to the Dreaded Place; currently, it covered only the MegaFarm and the clearing up to the jungle. So what this meant, was that Kobolds still had no access and maybe The Wisp wanted an upgrade too. If so, he, the magnanimous Monster King, will be able to grant them that. Free of charge of course! He had a hunch that if he did so, his sphere of influence would expand. ¡°Well, it¡¯s time for bed.¡± And there was a certain reward he promised to his wife. ¡°So it''s better to do it before I am too tired.¡± He walked towards his bed chambers. He opened the heavy door, it was made to be completely soundproof. With a widening gap, a rush of pleasant aroma tickled his nose. This was an expensive incense imported from the Aurelian Kingdom. His wife grew to love that stuff and she would often burn it to set the mood. Once he was inside his eyes met hers. Obviously, she¡¯d made herself ready for the occasion and was already severely underdressed. Good, he wouldn¡¯t want her beautiful clothes to get ripped in the process. While eyeing her porcelain-like skin he couldn''t help but notice that she had grown a bit in certain parts. Lamia Queen shamelessly rolled from one side of the bed to the other. She looked at him again, this time invitingly. ¡°Sss-so are we doing this or not?¡± She said impatiently. ¡°Well, I did promise.¡± There was no turning back now so he sat on the bed. ¡°But I don¡¯t know¡­¡± He teased her. ¡°Do you really want it?¡± ¡°I do!¡± ¡°How bad do you want it?¡± ¡°Very, sss, very bad.¡± ¡°You want me to do it?¡± ¡°Yes-sss.¡± ¡°Then say it nicely.¡± ¡°I want you to do it, sss, please.¡± ¡°If I¡¯ll do it, there won¡¯t be stopping. You know that right?¡± ¡°Just do it. You promised.¡± ¡°Fine.¡± He decided to finish his teasing. ¡°Relax your body for me. I think it will go better.¡± He said somewhat anxious. ¡°Like this-sss?¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯m starting.¡± He went in making skin contact and invoked a certain perk. He felt mana leaving his body. ¡°Ohh, sss, it tickles! S-s-s.¡± She hiss-giggled while squirming from his touch. The mana was draining rapidly and he couldn''t help but breathe heavily from exhaustion. He knew this would be hard, but he didn¡¯t expect it to be that hard. Meanwhile, his wife kept squirming. ¡°S-s-s! S-s-s!¡± ¡°I think¡­ I think¡­¡° He stammered through laboured breath. [Perk Evolve failed to activate], [This monster cannot yet be evolved] ¨C the messages informed him. He slumped on top of her feeling absolutely drained. ¡°What? It was just beginning to feel good. Why did you sss-stop? Are you done?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°So nothing happened.¡± ¡°I know.¡± ¡°Try again!¡± She demanded. ¡°It doesn¡¯t work.¡± ¡°Here, this sss-should help.¡± She pulled a Fertility Potion from under her pillow. ¡°Why do you have it there? And shouldn¡¯t it be MP Portion?¡± ¡°Ups-sss, my bad. Forse of habit. Where did I put it, sss.¡± She began rummaging under the bed. ¡°Look, I don¡¯t think you can evolve yet. Maybe in the future?¡± ¡°What? No! You just weren¡¯t trying hard enough.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Sss. I¡¯ll help you. [Moral Support]. You can do it ?, you can do it ?, King go!¡± He felt motivated. Motivated to give up and go to sleep. ¡°I¡¯m not wasting another 1000 mana on another dud!¡± ¡°Boo! Boo! Killjoy!¡± She booed. He was forced to try again, and again, and again. [This monster cannot yet be evolved], - indeed, his wife was a merciless monster. A monster he loved, however. It was way past bedtime and the two were still at it. ¡°S-s-s! S-s-s!¡± She hissed pleasantly. He was pouring his mana into her body, but this time he learned his lesson. He wasn''t using Evolve or any perk for that matter. Ha, his foolish wife failed to notice! He was just directing his mana into her body and letting it scatter. ¡°S-s-s! S-s-s!¡± She squirmed. What an idiot she was. If he did it like that, he could last for hours, after all his mana barely drained. The goal here was to make her tired and just go to bed. His wife''s breaths got heavy. ¡°S-s-s! I can feel it. It is coming. My evolution!¡± ¡°Huh, what?¡± ¡°S-s-s! Fuu-uu.¡± She jerked suddenly and shuddered uncontrollably. ¡°Hey, you! You tricked me didn¡¯t you!¡± It was the husband who was the fool. 89 - Magnificent Yet Deadly Delicious Jelly He had to wake up early and the lack of sleep was obvious. His wife had a blissful expression on her face and was sleeping peacefully. It was good to have no responsibilities. He, however, couldn¡¯t allow himself such luxuries. He got dressed and went outside to greet the sun and start his day. It was morning already but there was no sun, and the sky was overcast. ¡°It is raining?¡± He asked no one in particular. It never rained in the Dreaded Place, but this wasn¡¯t that anymore. The rain was heavy, no, not in intensity, the actual drops felt heavier than normal water should. He didn¡¯t need to look hard to notice that the droplets were tinted in black. ¡°Dirt?¡± He prodded the collected water in his palm. ¡°No, this isn¡¯t it.¡± The rain was infused with Dark mana. During the previous battle, there was a lot of mana converted into spells. Converting mana didn¡¯t mean that you somehow annihilated it, it just changed states from one form to the other. During the battle, the air became heavy with saturated ambient mana; it was mostly infused with Dark energies. The rain must be the result of it. ¡°Maybe, from now on, there will be rain more often. However ¡­¡± He worried about it, after all, he had plants to look after and if they weren¡¯t resilient to rain that could spell disaster. But then he remembered, ¡°I have Acclimate, don¡¯t I?¡± Not only that, he had a plethora of perks to help plants grow in various conditions. He shook his palm getting the heavy water off. ¡°I¡¯m getting distracted.¡± He had a tendency to it. ¡°Where was I going?¡± And a tendency to talk to himself. ¡°Ah, yes.¡± He remembered. His daily morning ritual was to wake up early and head straight to the DustyBlue fields. He had a very important task, not just a task but a royal privilege. But also, a necessity, he had to do what no one else could. That was to obtain the invaluable slug jelly. Due to certain events, the blue bell-like flower fields were completely decimated. They had to cut them all to harvest all of the Blue Dust they could. The once bright and lively field of blue was now barren. He felt a small pin piercing his heart. He knew how much Johny liked the flowers, and here he was, the merciless King who ordered it all to be cut. It was a sad necessity. The field wasn¡¯t exactly empty. Scattered all over it were the white forms of diligent workers. White Sprigans were casting [Grow] tending to the small buds of eager flowers. ¡°I¡¯m sure it will all grow back in no time.¡± He kept walking towards the centre of the field. The field was rather large and it would take some time to reach his destination, while idly walking he was thinking ¡°Hmm¡­ but now It all makes sense¡­¡± He realised something. ¡°Johny, you are one magnificent slug!¡± He smiled to himself in realisation. The slug¡¯s diet consisted solely of DustyBlue flowers, and at the time the slug was truly humungous. Huge size meant a huge appetite, but he had cut all the flowers, which would mean that the slug would have to starve. He was still feeling terribly bad about it, but it was an ugly necessity. But anyway, the slug evolved on its own, taking a much more compact form. The smaller body needed less food so in a sense Johny did evolve in that way with purpose. On purpose or not, Johny allowed the King to save some face, he wouldn¡¯t need to grovel in apology. Finally, he reached his destination ¨C a sizable ditch. Yeah, the slug didn¡¯t have a house or a shed because it didn¡¯t need one. Then it was idle, the massive slug would just lay in its ditch contently. But now things were different. Johny was laying on the dirt somewhat solemnly. In the dirt, surrounded by¡­ nothing. If there were flowers, and if it was still a massive slug it would look better, but as the things were¡­ ¡°Johny. I¡¯m so sorry about your home.¡± He bowed deeply in apology. The slug had completely ignored his apology and beamed a bright smile instead. ¡°King! Are You Here To Milk Me?¡± ¡°Are you not hurt by the devastation? Do you have enough food?¡± he asked with concern. ¡°All Is Fine.¡± The slug assured. ¡°Now Milk Me I Am Bursting.¡± This was somewhat unexpected, while yes, as hard to admit it as it was ¨C he was here for jelly too and not just an apology. The spiders and his other subjects needed their rewards. Now with zero stock, and greatly reduced supply it was even more precious. ¡°You don¡¯t mind do you?¡± He asked somewhat unsure. ¡°Why Would I? Go Ahead.¡± Johny puffed his chest. He grabbed a nearby bucked and began squeezing. The jelly was thicker than usual, and the sweet smell was hard to resist. His fingers trembled, and he felt an overwhelming urge to lick it. ¡®No, I can¡¯t.¡¯ Even a single drop was worth more than a bar of gold. Who knows if he would be able to stop if he started eating it? ¡°By The Way, King. Did You Check Your Status?¡± Johny spoke in his signature broken and somewhat eldritch voice. The King noticed that it had mellowed somewhat. There was definitely a feminine overtone in it. Yeah, there was no doubt that the slug was female, even then, he refused to rename the slug. It was because Johny was Johny, and that was that! But maybe he should stop thinking of Johny as a ¡®he¡¯, after all, the magnificent slug had those¡­ and he, the King, currently was¡­ ¡°King?¡± Johny asked with worry. ¡°Sorry, I got distracted.¡± He took his hands off the jelly sacks. ¡°What was it?¡± ¡°Say Inspect.¡± ¡°?¡± He looked at Johny with puzzlement. ¡°[Inspect].¡± A table popped into his vision, making him to almost spill the bucket.
Monster Race: Lesser Eldrich Variant: Johny
HP:1000 MP:100 STA:100
Active Perks [Dust Spray], [Jelly Jet], [Tendrill Attack]
Passive Perks [Produce Jelly], [Magnificent Slug], [DustyBlue] Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
Resistances [Fire Weakness: Greater], [Dark Resistance: Immune], [Physical Resistance: Lesser]
¡±He had many questions but, ¡°Lesser Eldrich?¡± ¡°After Second Evolution I¡¯ve Lost My Eldrich Terror Passive¡± Johny said somewhat saddened. ¡°But Gained Magnificent Slug.¡± Yeah, that previous form had that hard-to-stomach appearance. And even now her voice remained slightly distorted. Sometimes it sounded like there were two or even three people talking at once. ¡°You know, I like current you much better. Ha, even the System must agree since it gave you that Magnificent Slug perk.¡± He resumed milking, but a second pair of jelly sacks this time. ¡°By the way what does it do?¡± ¡°King, Inspect, Inspect.¡± Johny urged. ¡°Right, I¡¯m still getting used to this.¡± He concentrated on the [Magnificent Slug] part of the table. [Magnificent Slug: Despite the unconventional appearance this slug possesses a charming aura of allure and elegance. Just like the jelly it makes, the sight of this magnificent body is hard to resist. In addition, the things this slug makes, be it jelly or other items, are of much higher quality by default. Their spells are also less prone to fumbling. The slug has more luck and is bound to be successful in all matters of life. It is simply Magnificent!] ¡°Wow, that¡¯s rather specific. And it looks like this is a personalised perk. I want one too!¡± Well, he did have one. It was Chaos Blessed. It wasn¡¯t very useful! Needless to say, he was jealous. ¡°So, this is the power of Inspect.¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve Gained It during The System Update In The Morning. Everyone Did. Just Say Status.¡± ¡°[Status],¡± he said without expecting much. [Monster System updated to alpha 0.11], and then he was assaulted with a barrage of various messages. ¡°Huh!?¡± He exclaimed squeezing the teat a bit too hard, the jelly squirt missed the bucket and splattered all over his shirt. ¡°I can¡¯t keep up.¡± He exclaimed again ignoring the small accident. The first thing to catch his eye was: [Due to your persistent effort, you have unlocked Transfer Mana spell], yeah this was probably because of his late-night misadventure. But there was more: [Congratulations! You¡¯ve earned your first Achievement: Husband of the Lamia Queen > Charm Resistance: Medium. Reputation with Lamia +100], [Achievements menu option unlocked]. He¡¯d already had that perk so aside from Rep were no changes there, but there were even more interesting messages. [Bound Familiar: Greater Dessert Wyrm > +500MP, Call Familiar, access to level 1 Earth/Wind spells] [Bound Slave: Darkness > +1000MP, Summon Darkness, access to all Dark magic], [Achievement: Spider-Nom-Nomicon > +1000MP, Soul Bound, access to all Dark magic] [Achievement: Soul Well > Resurrect +1] Okay, this was rather gamey! The items with their default stats and perks do already have great utility but the Monster System decided to grant further boons for possessing them. Broken ¨C but he won¡¯t complain. He was interested in what sort of items the System deemed to be important enough for it to grant an Achievement. But that will need to be investigated later. The messages kept flowing and not all of them were positive. [Warning: You own slaves! You practise Dark magic!], [Reputation with Good Factions -50], [Reputation with Humans -25] Meh, he wasn¡¯t too bothered about it. Actually, those factions must be ignorant! Dark magic isn¡¯t bad in itself, its how you use it. And he had to either bind the Darkness or kill it, so he definitely was the good guy in taming it. ¡°Oh?!¡± A new message popped. ¡°Another achievement!¡± [Achievement: Eldrich Monster Milker > Expert Milking Technique] Johny perked her antennae up. ¡°Amazing! Your Hands, I Didn¡¯t Know You Can Do That.¡± ¡°He-he. I¡¯ve gained a new perk. Just look at it go.¡± He filled the bucket in no time at all and grabbed for the second. The perk was peculiar because it consumed both stamina and mana, but it said that it increased the quality of the milk extracted. Quality +1 from Magnificent Slug, and then another +1 from Expert Milking Technique. The Slug Jelly was becoming a rather dangerous substance. What if it was so good it was deadly? His idle thoughts were interrupted by a rather crass shout. ¡°What do you think, sss, you¡¯re doing?¡± ¡°What? I¡¯m just milking my¡­¡± He wanted to say pet, but Johny was so much more. ¡°This is hardly appropriate!¡± Well, if you looked at this from a certain angle¡­ No! This was his daily ritual; this was how he and Johny had bonded so much. Normally no one would disturb him, because of Dusty Blue flowers and their dust ¨C no one could. But the flower field was gone, and anyone could walk on him and spoil his fun. And that was beside the point because Johny refused to be milked by anyone else but him. ¡°SSS! Can you stop already?¡± ¡°I¡¯m on my last pair. Just give me a moment.¡± His hands moved even quicker and with more precision. ¡°Oh! Oh-oh-oh!¡± Johny sounded impressed. ¡°You don¡¯t have to milk her anymore! She can just use Jelly Jet.¡± ¡°Tch!¡± He clicked his tongue; his wife was right. Milking it just seemed more natural. And what¡¯s the harm if both parties consented? Well, he was done anyway so he let the last pair of jelly sacks out of his hands. ¡°Happy?¡± he felt grumpy for some reason. ¡°Dear husband, sss, after I witnessed this¡­ whatever this was... You are forbidden, sss, from milking Johny ever again.¡± ¡°No!¡± The antennae drooped low on Johny¡¯s head. ¡°You can''t do that!¡± He protested. ¡°Try me!¡± ¡°Then, no jelly for you!¡± He threatened. ¡°Mhm!¡± Johny seemed to agree. ¡°No! SSS! You can¡¯t do that!¡± She hissed in alarm. ¡°Try me!¡± It was a stalemate, the two were just staring at each other. Yes, yes, he should listen to his wife, but as far as he saw it, she was just needlessly concerned. There was nothing wrong about this, not at all! Like a farmer he was just milking his cow, a one magnificently endowed cow, that¡¯s it! Nothing more! He felt like he needed to communicate all of this, after all, communication was key. ¡°Dear wife, please see reason. There is nothing odd going on here. These,¡± He slapped at the jelly sacks, ¡°are just jelly containers to be squeezed. As simple as that.¡± He nodded in resolve. ¡°And there is a reason for me to milk them. You see I have this perk which increases the jelly quality, making it so much tastier, so much better. It becomes divine. Here see for yourself.¡± He dipped a finger in the bucket and offered it to The Lamia. Obviously, the owner of the sweet tooth couldn¡¯t resist the temptation and licked it right off the finger. ¡°SSS! You¡¯re right! It is-sss better! It gave me a buff!¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± he didn¡¯t expect her to eat it like that, ¡®Dear wife we¡¯re not alone, please just use your finger next time!¡¯ he scolded her only mentally. Anyway, he wasn¡¯t done with his spiel. ¡°So now you understand. And I¡¯m not just a King but also a farmer, there are things I must do. To raise my Farming level and to understand my subjects better,¡± then he added for good measure, ¡°and this is my only hobby, you won¡¯t take it from me. Would you?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ sss. No, I get it now. It just looked sss-so¡­¡± She stopped herself and bowed instead. ¡°I apologise. I¡¯m not a Farmer and I don¡¯t understand such things. You were just milking. I have overreacted.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, we all make mistakes. Now let¡¯s go and sample this goodness!¡± ¡°Yes-sss!¡± She gave him a beaming smile. He collected the buckets and gazed at Johny worrying that she might¡¯ve gotten offended at him. Regretfully, he had slapped offhandedly and called the glorious sextet of divine implements ¨C just mere jelly containers. That statement couldn¡¯t be further from the truth; he just hoped that Johny understood what he was trying to do. However, he didn¡¯t need to worry, she too gave him a beaming smile. Her antennae were all perked up. ¡°Please Come Back Again In the Afternoon. I Feel I¡¯ll Be Filled Up Again By Then.¡± She jiggled her body with positivity; truly magnificent. ¡°Is that so? Again?¡± She nodded to his question. ¡°Then this is new. Hoorah your new evolution!¡± ¡°Yes-sss, more jelly! Hoorah!¡± Normally, he could extract jelly only once a day, but now maybe even trice. So yeah, the body was smaller, but it was rather productive. Well, the quantity won''t compare with the previous amounts, but this wasn¡¯t about quantity. It''s all about the quality! This magnificent evolution just kept giving and giving. The rainy and gloomy day felt so much brighter. The two walked to store the jelly and Lamia kept sneaking her finger into the bucket. ¡°By the way, what¡¯s the buff?¡± ¡°Just try it yourself and sss-see it?¡± 89.5 – Out of The Void into The World In the beginning, there was a void, stretching wide and far. Within this void, a consciousness resided. It was a slumbering mind, a dormant soul; it was hidden deep inside the Darkness. There trapped It rested patiently awaiting its destined hour. Silent and still, it was bidding its time. The soul was waiting to be born yet again. It was waiting to start a new cycle. Like muted whispers in the night, uncounted centuries had passed. Yet this dormant essence, while bathed in eternal darkness, yearned for the right moment. When the time was right its essence would sour free and, like a phoenix, it would be Reborn. Aeons might have passed, but then, at last, the destined moment had arrived. A voice called to it. A somewhat lonely voice pierced that void, that endless darkness. The soul stirred, it was gently roused from its sleep. From the depths of the void, a rebirth unfurled. And as the word trembled, in awe and delight, in fear and horror, this awakened soul embraced its newfound chance at life. It was no longer confined, no longer concealed so its essence shimmered and its purpose was revealed. It was to thank that lonely voice which broke it out of Darkness. The reborn soul decided on its own that it would express its thanks in eternal service. The web was cast and the two souls were entangled by an invisible thread. The bond was stronger than any magic, stronger than those nebulous powers which governed this world, it was unbreakable, it was greater than love. ¡­ The soul was ancient, countless times it had been reborn again and again. Between the resurrections, at times when it couldn¡¯t be reformed anew, it went back to the void. It would lose its experience, its memory and sometimes even its sense of self, but a sliver of something would remain. It managed to keep just enough so that when it was reborn, it wouldn¡¯t stumble in the world like a newborn baby ¨C it had retained some things. But even then, it could not remember everything. Its body naturally had taken a most familiar form, to an ignorant observer it would resemble that of a spider, and the soul embraced that moniker with pride; but it was so much more than that, it wasn¡¯t just a spider. The body felt comfortable and natural, and it took no effort to control it. The spider observed the one who roused it from the slumber; a peculiar being with a peculiar soul. ¡®Let me help you, Friend. Let me be of service.¡¯ The spider thought but couldn''t voice those words. The soul was strong, but the body it had managed to form was still weak. It will take time to shape it for its needs. Regardless, the spider felt a duty, to help this strange being who set it free. No, there was more. It was strange, unexplainable even, but the feeling it felt was one which was very close to love. It was that but even bigger. They were kindred souls, yes, they were kin! The spider didn¡¯t even question those feelings; it didn¡¯t need to find a reason for their existence. To feel was already enough¡­ Soon, It had tasted its first meal in millennia, and it was simply divine. Right there the newly reborn soul had decided that it was its favourite meal; a hasty decision, but it just felt right. The kindred creature was showing the spider things some strange some not and at first it just watched. When then it had seen enough it desired that it was time to make itself more useful. It might have taken the most basic tasks of all, tending to a plant, but it did so with joy and pride. Not only the plant was pleasant to look at, but it also provided the spider with its first and most favourite food ¨C TomGrape. Just like that, the spider decided that it was the best plant of all. TomGrape, the King of Plants! Yes, the spider was falling in love with a lot of the things it had seen just once. But first love was like that ¨C sudden and unpredictable. And then imagine when the spider realised that its kindred friend also loved TomGrape. Amazing! ¨C What a coincidence. And there was also this little detail: the plant was clearly born from his mana; he made that plant. But also, the spider could feel the same mana swirling inside its core. Were they all: the spider, the plant, and the kindred Friend somehow siblings? It was strange but possible¡­ But, anyway, the spider felt the end drawing near, the body was reaching its time of expiration. ¡®Worry not Friend. I¡¯ll be reborn.¡¯ The spider curled up and died, but not before laying its eggs. ¡­ And it was reborn, and in greater number. Without needing to go to the void it had retained its memories and experiences. ¡®Hello¡¯, ¡®Hello¡¯, ¡®Hello¡¯ ¡­ It waved a greeting to itself. All of the spiders here were ¡®IT¡¯, the original spider but now reborn. Soon they will go and tend to the beloved TomGrape and in even greater numbers. They will serve their kindred! Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡­ Spiders died, and spiders came to be. Not all were the same, but all carried the experience of their direct parent, and hence by extension the memories of the first spider. All were bound by selfless oath to thank that lonely voice, the one who brought them out of the dark void. And you know, all spiders loved to work and be of use. If you asked them and if they could speak then all of them would say, ¡°Hey, work is amazing! I wish I didn¡¯t need to sleep!¡± Unfortunately, there was only so much work to go around. A tragedy really. But maybe not so much. A lone spider had decided to help its friend more directly, a more personal approach. But how remained a conundrum. It took time, an embarrassingly long amount of time, but the spider did realise something important. It was simply not smart enough to understand his friend. A minor issue really, which will be solved in an evolution or two. But in the meantime, the spider kept watching, always observing his dear Friend. One mind working on a problem was good, but a few more were even better. And it was more fun to be jobless together with other siblings. So once again the now sextet of spiders drew upon their memory and did what their first ancestor did. They hung on the ceiling and observed their Friend, maybe he had a good job for them. And maybe they could do something more than plain farming. ¡­ The spiders made their attempts to be ¡®helpful¡¯, and as the saying goes ¡®it¡¯s the thought that matters¡¯, right? Here are some well-meant examples: A spider helpfully tasted the watery soup the Friend was making, it was watery but rather delicious. The way the Friend had made the soup was rather odd, he bathed in it for some reason. But hey, it did taste delightful! The spider called its friends to have a sip. They too agreed. A spider helpfully sorted the Friend''s belongings. It was obvious that those things didn¡¯t belong on the ground. On the web, they must go, yes! And on the web, all of it went, tangled in BanditAgave rope for good measure. We can¡¯t let them fall by accident, can we? Sometimes, the Friend would put a strange cloth on his appendages, he called those items, Leafy Socks, and it was a rather peculiar item. He always did so when finished with his sleep cycle. So why not help and do it for him, just before he awoke? And why stop with two appendages if he had all four and way too many socks? For some reason, the Friend was often bewildered at their spidery attempts to help. ¡°Ha-ha, you jesters.¡± He would laugh in mirth. To make him laugh was a good thing, but this wasn¡¯t what the spiders were trying to do. So sometimes they observed further, trying to understand what went wrong, and sometimes they just kept trying new things. Eventually, they will find their purpose. ¡­ What an eventful day! Their Friend was always full of good ideas. ¡°¡­ an expedition¡­¡± He said somewhat excited. The spiders too felt excitement, even if they didn¡¯t know what the word ¡®expedition¡¯ even meant. They were kitted out the gear most fancy clothing the Friend had made for them. And then the ever-helpful Jesters marched forward. And soon it became clear that their Friend was more than just a friend, he was their leader too. The Boss of the Jesters, the Leader of the Spiders, or as he liked to call himself the King of Spiders. The Spider King! And then, later in the expedition, a formidable adversary was found. As soon as they saw it, the spiders felt it. They felt a threat. The plant was just a flower, it was vivid blue and radiated that deceptive aura of innocence. But the spiders saw past its facade, they knew that they had to stay away. They went to warn the king but¡­ But he didn¡¯t seem to be affected. Ah! As expected of the King. It was only natural, yes. Fearlessly he bit at the enemy eating it whole. No mercy had been shown! Then, the fearless King escorted the six spiders away from a blue sea of monsters. Yes, everyone was safe and sound. However, the unimaginable had happened. The King went back into the blue field of flowers and then¡­ and then he began slaying. One, two, three¡­ too many to count, he exterminated them all. Spiders watched struck with awe. The King did what the spiders couldn¡¯t, he¡¯d fought the blue menace for them. He showed that it can be defeated, he showed that there is no need for Fear. He shoved the defeated enemy into the bags and brought it home as a trophy. Likely to show other spiders that the blue flowers were nothing to be feared. Some time had passed, and the King was now growing a small patch of DustyBlue flowers. Obviously, the spiders remained wary of their natural enemy, after all unlike the King, they were unable to approach it. The jesters retold their comrades the tale of the glorious King emphasising on his courage and the intention that he grew it here so that the spiders could stop fearing it. As in that saying ¡®Keep your friends close and enemies closer. Even more time had passed. The King had made an unlikely friend, it too was fearless and unafraid of blue menace, and a friend of a friend is also a friend, or so the spiders thought. What a peculiar creature it was. It consumed the DustyBlue and converted it into something beautiful. Something no spider could resist. It was like ambrosia, sweet and filling. Indeed, the King was wise to conquer the blue menace and turn it into his slave. The spiders dyed their webs in its blood, they even soaked their clothes in it, and they ate its processed corpse with gusto. A lot of things here were blue, and it was a reminder to the future enemies ¨C don¡¯t mess with us! But even then, the King had also shown a lot of Kindness. Even if enslaved, the DustyBlue was treated well, its children grew now in the spider farm, and they grew to be magnificent. In a sense, this wild and once scary plant was domesticated. Once an enemy, now a friend! ¡­ A spider stood tall on its six legs. It was looking at something precious with all four of its gem-like yellow eyes. ¡°The new Slug Jelly.¡± The mandibles clicked excitedly. A collective memory flashed across its mind, it was the spider story of idleness, loss, victory and then purpose. Emotions and experiences its parents had gathered. But mostly nostalgia. It slurped an amount no bigger than a bottle cap. ¡°Sweet. Delectable. Delicious.¡± Its mouth was overflowing with joy. [Buff: Magnificent] ¡°That''s new!¡± It chirped intrigued. 90 - To Eltrich Dial Your Best Slime Friend The King and the Queen were walking on a nicely paved path. The rain had stopped leaving the path slightly damp. It was still early morning so the rising sun¡¯s reds and yellows reflected nicely from the Kobold Bricks. It gave the brick path that romantic feeling of warmth. On the sides of the path, there were lanterns spaced every dozen metres or so. A spider lanternkeeper was running around turning off the Magical Lanterns to save the FireAgave juice, aka Fire Juice, for the next night. The little spider waved at the royal pair, but the two ignored the little fellow; they were too engrossed in their conversation to notice. Spider lanterkeeper didn¡¯t mind because it was obvious they were having a very serious discussion. ¡°By the way, what¡¯s the buff?¡± ¡°Just try it yourself and sss-see it?¡± Lamia Queen dipped her finger into the bucket and then brought it closer to his lips. That gesture was entirely unnecessary but since both of his hands were busy with a bucket that somehow seemed appropriate. So Into the mouth it went with *Hawlp* *Click* ¡°Noice!¡± It tasted amazing! [Temporary buff Eldrich Telepathy obtained] ¡°Huh?!¡± His vision distorted as if the light itself was pulled into a violent whirlpool, then his mind became hazy and his body weightless. Soon his vision cleared but what he saw was hard to describe. He was standing in the devastated field of DustyBlue. He saw there spiders building a structure and White Sprigans growing the buds. But his sight, vision, or even the ability to see was different. The sun and the light were of entirely different colours, actually, he saw colours he hadn¡¯t seen before; it was hard to put into words. A strange aura shrouded the spiders, the Sprigans and even the plants. ¡®Is this some sort of illusion?¡¯ He wondered in his mind, however, it felt way too real. All of a sudden, his body felt strangely jiggly, he felt parts of it moving, parts which normally he shouldn''t have. ¡°King!¡± A familiar voice exclaimed, ¡°How Wonderful For You To Visit!¡± He blinked, no, it wasn¡¯t him who blinked but he experienced that anyway. ¡®Huh, what¡¯s happening?¡¯ He asked confused. ¡°You Don¡¯t Know?¡± He felt two arms crossing under the chest. Then he experienced a rather heavy but squishy sensation on those arms. Obviously, he recognised the voice and that iconic feeling of jelly-like softness and squishiness. ¡®Johny! Why am I in your body?¡¯ ¡°Eldrich Telephathy!¡± Johny began excitedly. ¡°Now You Can Visit Me Anytime! All The Time!¡± Hye didn¡¯t know if he wanted it to be ¡®All The Time¡¯. ¡°Eh? Am I Being Too Clingy?¡± Ups¡­ apparently he didn¡¯t need to think it ¡®out loud¡¯ for Johny to hear it. ¡°No, You Don¡¯t. It¡¯s Telepathy.¡± ¡®Huh, you¡¯re rather knowledgeable about it.¡¯ ¡°Of Course. I¡¯ve Been Using It Whenever I¡¯m Bored.¡± ¡®Huh?¡¯ ¡°King, You ¡®huh¡¯ Rather Often, Hee-Hee.¡± She giggled in amusement. ¡°But I Understand Your Confusion. You See, I Can¡­¡± Johny paused, and he could feel her embarrassment for a moment. ¡°Invade The Minds Of Those Who Consume My Jelly. But It¡¯s Rather Boring Since The Connection Is One-Sided.¡± He was thinking. ¡°Oh, Yes. That Includes Yours¡­¡± He was filled with her feelings of guilt and remorse. ¡°I Was Just Curious. I Apologise.¡± She said that but there was also a feeling of loneliness. ¡®I understand, I am not angry. It must have been lonely for you. After all, aside from me, you had no other visitors.¡¯ ¡°¡­¡± The two exchanged some rather complex emotions without saying a single word. It lasted only a moment but unlike with words, using this kind of telepathy, complex feelings could be communicated in a flash of a second. ¡°Ha-Ha. I Didn''t Know The King Feels So About Me. How Bold, Hee-Hee¡± She giggled. ¡®I rather we keep our feelings to ourselves. How do I control this thing?¡¯ ¡°Why Worry? What Happens In Our Heads Remains In Our Heads. It¡¯s Not Like I¡¯ll Tell Anyone.¡± ¡®You¡¯re surprisingly understanding.¡¯ ¡°Of Course. We¡¯re Friends. And You Too, I Thought You¡¯d Be Mad¡­¡± ¡®Nah, your ability is rather useful! You can spy on everyone. You¡¯re perfect for information gathering.¡¯ ¡°I Didn¡¯t Think About It That Way. You Are Right! But¡­¡± She went on to explain certain limitations. The perk was called Eldrich Telepathy, it didn¡¯t show in her status screen then he had inspected Johny that other time because it was a hidden racial perk, a perk she had even before her evolution. It granted Johny Mind Invasion, but it could only be used while the other party had Slug Jelly in their system. It depended on the individual and the amount of jelly consumed, so it could last anywhere between minutes and hours. Also, it sapped Johny¡¯s mana and she only had 100MP which roughly translated to ten minutes. Saying all this, the thing the two were having now wasn¡¯t mind invasion but proper Telepathy communication, so the MP cost was negligible. ¡®I feel woozy all of a sudden.¡¯ ¡°The Connection Is Weakening. Please Call Me Again. Anytime!¡± ¡®I will¡­¡¯ The connection broke. He blinked feeling slightly out of place in his own body. The way Johny saw the world was just too unique hence the feeling of discomfort when moving between the two. ¡°Dear, sss? Are you alright?¡± The Lamia Queen hissed with concern. ¡°You have been out, sss, for a good few minutes.¡± He looked at her, and even if she was concerned that didn¡¯t stop her from helping herself to the jelly; there was a wide circle of speared blue around her mouth. ¡°If you eat that much it will make you fat!¡± He accused staring at the visibly emptier bucket. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°SSS! No, I won¡¯t. I¡¯ll just exercise more!¡± ¡°¡­¡± Somehow, he felt he would be made to take part in that exercise¡­ ¡°So, Eldrich Telepathy, that¡¯s a scary-sounding buff. You always pull pranks on me like this, you should have warned me.¡± ¡°Pranks-sss? Eldrich Telepathy?¡± She gave him a confused look. ¡°What I have is Divine Aphrodisiac? I understand the divine part, sss, it¡¯s the bit that makes this so irresistible.¡± She looked at the bucked with the eyes of a starved animal. ¡°But what is an aphrodisiac?¡± Right¡­ Now he understood the reason behind her body language better. He wasn¡¯t feeling any different, and hence not under the aphrodisiac effects, so it was she who was afflicted with Divine Aphrodisiac. But further investigation was necessary. ¡°Are you feeling different?¡± He asked carefully. She gave him a famished look full of unabridged desire. ¡°I feel very hungry.¡± Her eyes even glowed in purple. ¡°For some reason, I wonder what would happen if I remove this bucket from your sight.¡± ¡°What do you mean, sss? And what is this aphrodisiac part? Is it dangerous?¡± ¡°Very! Actually, you should just stop eating jelly entirely.¡± ¡°But when I eat it, sss, it makes me feel like that time. When I almost evolved! My body is-sss warm, and I¡¯m all tingly¡­ SSS, give me more jelly!¡± ¡°¡­¡± He was likely the one to blame for her ¡®confusion¡¯. ¡°I want to evolve! Give it to me!¡± She reached for the bucket. At least it was the jelly she was going for. For now¡­ ¡­ Lamia Queen was confined to her chambers until the buff wore itself off, which judging from the amount she had consumed would be anywhere from a day to a week. He felt sorry for her, but she had brought it upon herself. In the meantime, he went around investigating the buffs the Slug Jelly gave; it varied from one race to the other. Spiders had gotten Magnificent which made them better at their tasks, and arguably more charming. Lamia were afflicted with Divine Aphrodisiac which put their reproductive system into an overdrive. The System said it¡¯s a buff, but in his opinion, this was more a debuff or even a curse. Sorry Gareth, you will have to deal with the volunteers of the sampling session. Drow obtained Magic Sight. It didn¡¯t sound like much, but Drow Assistant was very excited about this. Apparently, this helped to improve their skill in crafting magical devices, scribing scrolls and even learning magic. Good for you Drow! The King wasn¡¯t jealous, not at all! Eldrich Telepathy was so much jazzier, it even sounded cooler! Centauri got GottaGoFast, which was rather self-explanatory. Their stamina doubled and kept regenerating ridiculously fast. It suited their race well and they too were happy with the effects of the buff. White Sprigans didn¡¯t acquire sustenance in conventional means, meaning that they didn¡¯t eat or drink. Slathering jelly on their mouths didn¡¯t do anything either. So there was that. Kobolds will be visited at another time. And for humans¡­ Bareth palled, his hands were shaking. ¡°Error[System_Override]!, is what I¡¯ve got. Monster System? Am I a monster? Is this permanent?¡± He voiced with a trembling voice. ¡°Oh! That¡¯s unconventional. So you got access¡­¡± He looked at the visibly panicking man. ¡°No, I don¡¯t think it is permanent, it should turn to normal after the buff wears off.¡± ¡°It better do. I lost my class and all of my levels.¡± ¡°Really? What was your class?¡± The distraction worked and the pale face returned to a more natural colour. ¡°A Knight.¡± He looked at his Centauri companion, she was blushing for some reason. ¡°And I thought you were a Merchant.¡± ¡°I was, I switched that out a long time ago.¡± He said that with a distant look. ¡°Is that so¡­¡± Since Bareth was calmer now, the King decided to press on. ¡°Do you see any benefits in Monster System?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Bareth was looking through his tables in thought. ¡°I have jobs instead of a class. I have Fighting which must be equivalent for a Knight, but also Trading. And a bunch of perks. I guess I have the best of both worlds now. Under the normal System, after switching to a Peasant Soldier, I¡¯d lost my Merchant skills, but now I can see them. Well, some of them, in the form of perks.¡± His eyes darted as if going through an invisible list. ¡°Some are new. What is Monster Negotiator?¡± ¡°Inspect it and it should tell you.¡± ¡°[Inspect],¡± he invoked somewhat unsure. ¡°Oh! It says I get a better Reputation with various monster races. But I have to discover them first. I have Spiders, Lamia, Drow, and most importantly Centauri. This Monster System is not too bad!¡± He seemed to like the perk. ¡°Good, now let''s see how long it will last.¡± The King turned a sand clock beginning to time it. While waiting the three chatted about this and that. It soon became obvious that the Human and the Centauri were more than companions. It was pleasant to see different races mingling so closely together. Hopefully, other humans will follow the good example Bareth and Gareth were setting here. And Gareth definitely needed some help! ¡°That¡¯s it. It reverted.¡± Bareth said somewhat sadly. The sand clock was only half full, but he had turned it twice already. ¡°Two hours and thirty minutes, not bad for a shot of jelly.¡± He concluded. ¡°Here, I¡¯ll leave a small flask. Please test the System some more, maybe you can level and unlock new perks. Let''s see if they remain between the switches.¡± He gave the last of his stock away. Bareth put the flask into his pocket. ¡°Thank you, King. Thank you for trusting me with this.¡± The old man clearly understood just how precious this jelly was, and its value. After all, there was only so much to go around. Speaking of which it was already past noon and time for a certain appointment. ¡°I must go. You stay well.¡± He bid a farewell and left with urgency. On his way towards the flower field, he observed a peculiar scene unfolding. A Friendly Lamia was jumping, rolling, dancing and doing all sorts of tricks. ¡°Is she practising for a show?¡± He was interested so he approached closer. ¡°I command you to do a summersault!¡± A stern and manly but still charming voice ordered her. Lamia attempted it but her long tail was getting in her way. ¡°Now, twenty jumping jacks!¡± It commanded. Lamia wasn¡¯t the best of jumpers to say the least but even then she obeyed. ¡°Higher!¡± ¡°Yes, King, Yes!¡± She replied. King? How did she see him, she shouldn¡¯t have been able to because he was approaching from a side. ¡°He-he. Meow.¡± Someone was giggling behind a corner of a building. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± He asked intrigued. ¡°King? I¡¯m doing my best! Please, sss, don¡¯t punish me.¡± She cried turning to face him. ¡°Eek!¡± Someone shouted in a stolen voice. ¡°Meow! Let¡¯s run!¡± ¡°So¡­ you were just following my commands?¡± He asked the lamia. ¡°Yes-sss, to the best of my ability. So please!¡± He had a hunch about what happened, but even so, he talked it out with Friedly Lamia. ¡°Those two! I told it not to use my voice. [Summon Darkness]!¡± The shadow right in front of him bubbled and a blob of darkness formed out of it. ¡°Eek! Master!¡± It spoke in a stolen royal voice. ¡°Eek! Meow.¡± It changed it to a wyrmling. ¡°Where is the other one? [Call Familiar]!¡± Somewhere in the distance, a high-pitched shout voiced ¡°Meow! I¡¯m busy!¡± ¡°[Call Familiar]!¡± Sometimes he had to repeat it because the wyrmling was a familiar and not a slave like Darkness. ¡°Meow!¡± The two pets were right in front of him and the Friendly Lamia. ¡°Now, apologise!¡± ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ll be good. Meow!¡± Said the shadowy slime. ¡°Hey! That¡¯s my line, meow!¡± The King glared. ¡°This was just a prank, meow!¡± The wyrmling meowed at lamia. The King slapped the back of its head. ¡°I mean, I am sorry, meow!¡± Just a few days ago one was chasing and threatening to bite the other and now they were fast friends pulling pranks on unsuspecting denizens of Spider Kingdom. What a pair of troublemakers! ¡°No more pranks, or else.¡± He threatened. ¡°If you use my voice again, I¡¯ll feed you to Johny.¡± *Sob ¡°No, please. I¡¯ll be good, meow. I won¡¯t do it again, sob, sob.¡± The shadowy slime quivered. ¡°And you¡­¡± He looked at wyrmling in disappointment. ¡°You are older and should set an example to your junior! I expect more from someone who says they¡¯re an adult. So childish!¡± ¡°Meow! I am an adult.¡± ¡°So behave like one!¡± The wyrmling lowered its head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, meow. I¡¯ll be more mature.¡± He was done scolding the two. ¡°Now then, I¡¯m busy so scram. And behave!¡± ¡°One more thing, Master.¡± *Bleh, Darkness spat a bunch of rocks. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ I was hungry.¡± ¡°These were your Spirit Stones, but¡­ Meow! It¡¯s not my fault! Sorry!¡± He picked the stones. They weren¡¯t your usual spirit stones not anymore¡­ 91 - Now, Milk Me. I Am About To Burst! The stones have changed! The King took a dark pebble into his hand and rolled it between his fingers. These were Dark Spirit Stones; his pet Darkness had somehow turned Fire/Nature Spirit Stones into something entirely different. ¡°Is this some sort of equivalent exchange?¡± *Sob ¡°Don¡¯t feed me to Johny.¡± No, he won¡¯t do that. ¡°Darkness, I didn¡¯t know you could do that. This is amazing!¡± The quiet sobbing stopped. ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yes. Dark stones are very rare. When I looked into it, Vumbeldor said that none is being sold in any of the Human Kingdoms. So yeah, you being able to make them just like that is¡­ Amazing!¡± ¡°Yes, meow! Darkness is amazing!¡± The shadowy slime jiggled excitedly. ¡°Meow?¡± The wyrmling looked thoughtful for a moment. ¡°Yes! It''s all thanks to me, meow. Without me, Darkness wouldn¡¯t have found these pebbles. Meow, praise me too!¡± He glared at the wyrmling. ¡°I think it''s time for you to get back to your job.¡± Which was supervising the digging of the Oberon Mega Tunnel. ¡°But it¡¯s boring, meow!¡± He glared at the rebellious wyrmling yet again. The familiar had promised to see that task through! ¡°Meow¡­ Okay.¡± ¡°See it done, then I will praise you. And maybe there will be a reward as well.¡± ¡°Really?¡± He nodded. Anyway, he let his pets off with a small scolding. After all, there was no point in staying angry with children. The interruption was soon forgotten, and he¡¯ll hand in the changed stones to the Drow for research at a later time. There were more important things he still had to do; he rushed to replenish the depleted stores of Slug Jelly. ¡­ The MegaFarm returned to its idyllic nature. Spiders were growing the TomGrape and the squirrels were frolicking around; it was as it should be. Albeit, the place was not the same, after all this was not The Dreaded Place, this was The Monster Realm. The most obvious change was the Dark infused rain which doused the land now and then. Neither plants nor spiders seemed to mind it, in big part thanks to Acclimate. And most of the other denizens like Drow and Lamia were able to shrug it off with no problem. But not everyone was so lucky, the Centauri complained of minor stamina debuff, but the worst affected were the humans. Their bodies rejected the Dark mana, and from continued exposure, they would get sick. But as long as they used an Umbrella and didn¡¯t drink that water all was fine. The nature of the rain itself remained a small conundrum. Both Drow and Spiders had no conclusive theory as to why it started raining. But the popular guess was that it was related to the defeat of Darkness and the fact that without a constant Drain the mana now was able to flow through the jungle unabsorbed. As to why it was of Dark affinity, well maybe the King himself was to blame, who knows. Even if unaffected by the rain, Johny wasn¡¯t a big fan of it since it washed off her precious mucus. So, a small shed was erected both to protect Johny and to thank for her continuous service. The she shed wasn¡¯t shabby in any way, it was the opposite. No, to call it a shed was a mistake because it was more like a gazebo and it was a marvel of spider architecture and ingenuity. Natural materials like IronOak wood, Blue Rope, and triangular leaves of PurpleM were incorporated in a flowing and web-like spidery design. Each part was meticulously carved by spiders giving the whole structure that artistic touch of Spidery Magnificent. The small rain droplets were falling on the purple triangular plates making sounds, for whatever reason it was rather melodic and not that dull pitter-patter of the rain. The droplets were like hammers on the plates of the xylophone, when struck the leaves covering the roof chimed a note. Surprisingly despite the chaotic nature of the rain, the chimes formed smooth harmonics. So then it rained the gazebo would start a Song of Rain, and arguably it was rather good. The King was idly listening to the melody while leaning on a carved IronOak pillar. Johny was in the middle of the gazebo and munching contently on the petals of DustyBlue. ¡°The rain is washing all the dust off the flowers. I won¡¯t be able to harvest as much dust as before.¡± ¡°Not That It Matters. The Petals And Leaves Are Enough To Make Jelly.¡± Johny said between the bites. ¡°Yeah, but the dust is important. If not for it we wouldn¡¯t have defeated the Darkness. And spiders use it to make Blue Cloth.¡± Johny gazed at the King meaningfully. ¡°Just Mutate It. Simple.¡± ¡°But, won¡¯t this make it inedible for you?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll See.¡± Johny didn¡¯t seem too concerned. ¡°I guess you''re right. If it doesn¡¯t work out and I end up making something nasty we can just destroy the plant.¡± ¡°Precisely. Now, Milk Me. I Am About To Burst!¡± He did his farmer duty and then went to find a volunteer. ¡°Congratulations. You¡¯ve won a mutation!¡± He announced with pretend fanfare. ¡°[Mutate],[Imbue],[Reinforce].¡± He tried draining a significant amount of his mana. According to his Status, it dipped by a whole thousand, 4500MP>3500MP. Yeah, it kind of made sense why he would feel like dying sometimes when using the perk. But hey, now he had plenty of MP all thanks to the Monster System and its broken Achievements. The plant began to change and he even had a White Sprigan to cast [Grow] on it for good measure. With the Mutate perk, he had a limited ability to guide the changes in his preferred direction. What he wanted was to change the plant so that it kept the dust inside so it wouldn¡¯t be washed by the rain. The DustyBlue continued to change, its stalk grew tall and thick and then it began branching, no doubt this was because of the Reinforce. Blue buds budded on the branches all over, inside were the beginnings of the petals. This was the important part, he had to make it so that the rain wouldn¡¯t get inside and wash off all the dust. Well, he tried but the plant also had ideas and will of it¡¯s own. The buds matured releasing the petals, the petals curled forming a sphere and then they hardened solid. And that was it, it stopped mutating. King stood in front of a short tree with a tick trunk, it was rather small so it was hard to decide if it was a tree or a bush; it vaguely resembled an olive tree. Its thick trunk was porcelain white, much like IronOak. It had tiny blue leaves, and instead of small olives, it had golf-sized petal balls. Presumably, the petal balls were filled with Blue Dust. ¡°Success?¡± He plucked a petal ball off the tree. The petals were sturdy and able to maintain their shape but it didn¡¯t take much effort to make them crumble and release the accumulated dust inside. ¡°It is!¡± He cheered shaking the dust of his palm. ¡°With this, they can now be collected.¡± Meaning that if the spiders were careful they could harvest the tree for its petal balls. ¡°And for the name¡­¡± Well, proper names were difficult. ¡°I name you¡­ PetalBall.¡± [Monster System recognised your entry. ¡®Plant_Designation:MR91142069!¡¯ was renamed to ¡®PetalBall¡¯] ¡°Sweet!¡± He cheered again. ¡°Now, it needs a taste test.¡± He carefully gathered a bunch of petal balls and went back to the gazebo. ¡°Here, my new invention.¡± He offered a petal ball. ¡°Tell me if they¡¯re any good.¡± Johny took the ball and brought it to her narrow mouth and then bit into it. The petal ball exploded into a cloud of dust. *Caugh, *Caugh ¨C both of them coughed. It was good that they had immunity, a normal human would probably have died¡­ ¡°Sorry, I should have warned.¡± Johny unbothered by the cloud finished chewing on the petals, swallowed and spoke, ¡°Yeah, This Is Pretty Much The Same. Maybe A bit Tougher But Just As Sweet.¡± ¡°So, it¡¯s still good for jelly?¡± Johny nodded vigorously jiggling her slug body. ¡°Marvellous. From now on the spiders will be able to help me with the harvest.¡± ¡°Ah, King?¡± Johny began with a tinge of worry. ¡°Don¡¯t Get Rid Of DustyBlue Flowers. I Find Them Beautiful.¡± ¡°Of course not, we will keep some of them around.¡± Once again Johny nodded vigorously. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Now, Milk Me. I Am About To Burst!¡± Yeah, Johny was a productive Lesser Eldrich monster and very keen to contribute to the Spider Cause. As it was, the spiders were depositing the Quality +2 jelly into small Scorpion Glass containers and shipping them off for export. Each container had at best a spoonful of jelly, but even then, the asking price was exorbitant. The stuff was obviously good and meant only for the wealthy and high-ranking members of society. The intelligence gathering operation was just beginning¡­ Aside from jelly-related matters, the PetalBall, or to be more precise its dust (Blue Dust) was also used for the aforementioned manufacturing of Blue Cloth. The King had finished his farmer''s duty once again and now he was standing above a huge vat of water. He was here because Blue Dust was a crafting ingredient in many things, anywhere from cloth to ink. In one way or another, the dust had to be dissolved in water. And the Dark infused rain was not the problem by itself, it just made the dust collection harder. So he was here to test some things. ¡°Let''s see if it has any adverse effects.¡± He dumped a large amount of dust into the vat. The dark-tinted water predictably turned blue but in a slightly darker shade. Then he dumped all the cloth and left it to soak up the dye. Once dying and the drying was done, he collected the colth and did the obvious. ¡°[Inspect]¡± [Blue Cloth: An item made out of magic-resistant StemLeaf and enchanted with the dust of PettalBall giving it a signature blue colour. The cloth is further infused with the Dark element. Possible passive effects: [Magic Resistance], [Dirt Resistance], [Dark Infused]. ¡°Hmm, it looks much the same. Only Dark Infused is new. [Inspect].¡± [Dark Infused: increased affinity to Dark element] ¡°So only a minor effect. But I¡¯ll take it!¡± He smiled while rolling the cloth. ¡°Let¡¯s see how it interacts with Dark enchantments.¡± Mentally he checked his Magical Inventory concentrating at the part holding the Dark Spirit Stones. ¡°I have just enough for some tests.¡± ¡­ In a rather dark study, illuminated only by the Dark Flame, the King and The Drow Assistant were hunched over the table. The naturally pale face of the Drow was beaded with small droplets of sweat; she was visibly exerted. The wooden table was vibrating ever so slightly. The two were experiencing an intense moment. > ¡°I can¡¯t do it! It won¡¯t go in.¡± She protested with distress. > ¡°You should be able to.¡± He encouraged. > ¡°No. Mine is only a fraction of your size.¡± > ¡°Nah, yours big enough. I¡¯ve measured it.¡± > ¡°Huh! It¡¯s just not going in. Too much resistance.¡± > ¡°Push it through. Force it if you must.¡± > ¡°I¡­ I¡¯ll¡­¡± > ¡°Look, it¡¯s definitely going in.¡± > ¡°Egh.¡± > ¡°I can see purple. Keep going! > ¡°Ah!¡± > ¡°A bit more! The Drow Assistant collapsed on the table drained. > ¡°Well done!¡± > ¡°Is it? Is it finished?¡± > ¡°[Inspect].¡± > *Breathes out tiredly, ¡°[Inspect].¡±
Item: Shroud of The Spider Shadow Quality: Superior
Bonuses +50MP, +10 Spider Rep
Active Perks [Shadow Shroud]
Passive Perks [Spell Deflection]
Resistances [Dark Resistance: Medium], [Dirt Resistance], [Reinforced]
> ¡±Oh, it dropped a grade in Quality.¡± > ¡±I¡¯m sorry about that.¡± > ¡±No, it¡¯s fine. You did well. I¡¯m very proud.¡± > ¡±Without my unique perk, Mana Well, this would be impossible. I¡¯m completely out of mana.¡± > ¡±Do not underestimate yourself. You have that, what was it, Elemental Affinity.¡± > ¡±Yes I do, and I¡¯m glad I do because without the two I couldn¡¯t do it.¡± *Sigh. ¡°I¡¯m glad this is over.¡± > ¡°Who said this is over? I reckon we can squeeze another one.¡± > ¡°I don¡¯t think it can fit.¡± > ¡°I know it will. Here, these should help¡± > *Gulp *Gulp > ¡°Let¡¯s make it fun.¡± > ¡°¡­?¡± > ¡°Binding Web sounds good, just the right amount of restriction.¡± > ¡°Yeah, I like those types of spells.¡± > ¡°So, let¡¯s get going. Here another stone, now, show me what you got!¡± > ¡°[Imbue], [Binding Web]¡­ Urgh!¡± > ¡°No, we¡¯ve just started!¡± > ¡°There is already one! A number two won¡¯t fit!¡± > ¡°Says who!?¡± > ¡°It¡¯s draining too fast.¡± > ¡°Here.¡± > *Gulp *Gulp ¡°Urgh¡­ Too¡­ Much¡­ Resistance.¡± > ¡°You can do it, I believe in you!¡± > ¡°It¡­ HURTS!¡± > ¡°It¡¯s glowing! Just a bit more.¡± > ¡°Ah!¡± The Drow Assistant collapsed on the table drained. > ¡°[Inspect]. It worked! I told you there is space for two. Oh, but there is now Unstable passive.¡± > ¡°Help¡­¡± She whispered meekly. ¡°Too much Toxicity.¡± > ¡°Oh! I know what we can do next. Let¡¯s test the active perks.¡± > ¡°¡­¡± > ¡°What are you laying there for all limp? Put it on already.¡± > ¡°Urgh¡­¡± ¡­ The combination of Dark Infused and Dark Spirit Stones was a splendid one. It was now possible to infuse the Blue Cloth items with Dark spells and active perks. Of course, an individual who already knew those spells had no use of Shroud of The Spider Shadow. However, non-Dark mages and even non-mages could benefit greatly from an increased arsenal of abilities. Well as it was now, activating an active perk still required mana, but the King was working on a solution for that too. It would be nice if the items could hold a mana charge and thus power the spells. He had a hunch a Spider Crystal was a key needed to solve that challenge. ¡°It¡¯s time to visit the Kobolds and say hello to the Crystal Spider.¡± ¡°SSS? You going to the Kobolds?¡± A wild lamia appeared from nowhere and asked. ¡°Eek! You scared me, don¡¯t ambush me like that.¡± ¡°S-s-s.¡° The Lamia Queen laughed. ¡°Sss-somehow I think that Lamia Camouflage is better, sss, than your Shadow Shroud.¡± That wasn¡¯t true! And there was no way to Imbue that into equipment, unless¡­ ¡°Hey, sss, what happened to her?¡± She lifted a limp drow¡¯s arm and then promptly let it go with a plop. ¡°She passed out.¡± ¡°And why are her clothes all in taters?¡± She poked her hand through a rather large hole. ¡°Unstable perk.¡± ¡°I sss-see¡­¡± she looked at him questioningly. ¡°Since you are going there, sss, get some IceShard Bird Meat. Everyone is bored of sss-squirrel meat.¡± And that everyone was only Lamia, since Centauri were vegetarian, Sprigans didn¡¯t eat and the spiders were tomgrapetarian. ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do. But I have a question. No, I need something. Can I get your skin shedding? The whole lot?¡± ¡°You what!?¡± Her face flushed red. ¡°You know, for Camouflage perk.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t do that! SSS!¡± Nope, he was positive all Lamia did that. ¡°Are you embarrassed or something?¡± ¡°Of course, sss! Why would you even ask that of a lady? You brute!¡± ¡°Jee! Forget it¡­ I¡¯ll get you the meat.¡± It was unfortunate, Lamia Queen Shedding sounded like a high-quality crafting ingredient. ¡°It''s like me, sss, collecting the hairs you leave on the pillow, sss, and keeping them hidden in a big jar of scorpion glass, sss, which I do not do! No, no, no.¡± ¡°I get it, I get it. I won¡¯t ask.¡± ¡°Well, sss. If you asked nicely¡­¡± She was blushing even more. ¡°I could maybe give you a sss-scale or two. You could keep it in your pocket or sss-something.¡± ¡°No, that wouldn¡¯t work I need a whole thing. To make armour or something.¡± ¡°SSS! You want, sss, to wear me, sss?¡± This conversation was taking a very strange turn. ¡°Am¡­ we¡¯ll talk about this later. I¡¯m off to the Kobolds.¡± ¡°Sss¡­ Okay.¡± ¡°[Shadow Walk]¡± He disappeared leaving only trailing wisps of a shadow. ¡°What do I do with you, sss?¡± She poked at the passed-out drow. 92 - Hello King, I Am The Wife The High Chief was in his study, his hands were resting on the table and his eyes were looking absentmindedly at the research scroll. The scroll was only a draft but even so, it was done properly and had the title ¡®Preliminary Notes on Monster System¡¯. He turned to look at his young attendant. ¡°Inspect and Identify. What is the difference?¡± He said that while still looking at her but both knew he wasn¡¯t asking and just thinking out loud. ¡°Identify was the original skill used to peer into the nature of an item, but now I also have inspect.¡± He began making notes. ¡°Identify is for items only, but inspect seems to work with anything. Items, people and even the status tables fall under its effects.¡± He looked up at the girl again. ¡°So is one better than the other? maybe so.¡± The drow attendant nodded as if listening. ¡°Now let''s touch on magic.¡± He leaned back in to continue the notes ¡°The Monster System seems to circumvent the otherwise ironclad rules of the ordinary System. First, it deleted the Magus class and gave Magic+. Was this why the King insists on calling the magi as mages? I always thought it odd, the System was clear on the name ¨C it was a magus. Anyway, the change was significant because the magic was now more accessible. Normally an individual had to be born with magic or use Essence to obtain it, but now there were ways to circumvent it. The Spider King¡¯s Imbue was one of such ways. Which is strange¡­¡± He looked back at his attendant. ¡°Your cousin, The Kings¡¯ Assistant had obtained that perk as well.¡± The eyes of the girl shone as if impressed. ¡°The name is the same but for some reason, she can only do a fraction of what the King can. She can¡¯t imbue magic to other plants or creatures; items is her limit at the moment. Is that due to a difference in skill or something else entirely? In those regards, the Monster System still remains ill-defined.¡± He made quick notes. ¡°Also, people can now obtain affinities, which helps them to unlock magic.¡± He tapped his pen on the parchment for a pause. ¡°Yes! I have Dark affinity now!¡± The drow girl exclaimed proudly. ¡°And mine is a dual one Wind/Earth. But somehow, I think that since you have one, yours is stronger.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Well, more research is needed. Also, we don¡¯t know the requirements of unlocking an affinity.¡± He made more notes. ¡°Also, [Status].¡±
Title: Drow High Chief Magic Affinity: Wind/Earth Perks Jobs: ¨€??
HP:80 MP:200 STA:80 Spells Magic+ [3] Research [3] Archery [2] Alchemy [1] Crafting [1] ¨€???? ¨€¨€¨€?? ¨€¨€¨€¨€? ¨€¨€¨€¨€? ¨€¨€???
??? Reputation
Resistances
Status Effects
¡°What¡¯s up with the spider in my status screen? Is that because I am the Spider King¡¯s subject? That must be it¡­¡± He sighed. ¡°More research is needed¡­ let¡¯s take a break and have something to eat.¡± He stood up from his chair. The drow attendant looked at the IceShard Cooler with hunger-filled eyes. The High Chief made sure to stock it with cold deserts the King so adored. The cooler was there only for the sole reason of pleasing the King when he came to visit him; it was there to win some brownie points. Of course, The High Chief had tried the substance and he just couldn¡¯t understand what was so good about it. He wasn¡¯t a big fan, but the Drow children seemed to like it, which made sense if you thought about where the materials from the desert came from. ¡°Aren¡¯t you a bit too old to like them?¡± He said so fully ignoring the unfairness of the statement. The girl looked at him with big purple pleading eyes. ¡°Okay, just one.¡± ¡°Yes! Ice Cream!¡± She jumped in excitement opening the cooler. ¡°High Chief, you want some?¡± He frowned remembering the source of the ice cream. ¡°I¡¯m going to Spidery Delicious for a proper meal. I¡¯ve heard they have a new mushroom dish, Mushroom Stroganoff, I¡¯ve been itching to try it.¡± The two began descending down the winding stairs of Drow Archives. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Yes! Can I get a Spidery Combo?¡± She said while licking the frozen desert. He nodded with a faint smile. She wanted that because it came with a carved wooden toy, a random collectable. And while his young attendant was¡­ young, she was not a child, she was way past twenty. But who he was to spoil someone¡¯s fun? ¡°Sure, why not? I¡¯ll get one too.¡± He said so even if it would be too much food for him. ¡°Yes, thank you!¡± She jumped again in joy. ¡°Maybe today I will get a rare Trusty Advisor figurine.¡± ¡°Huh? Did you think I¡¯d be giving out my Spidery Combo toy? If it¡¯s the Trusty Advisor I¡¯m definitely keeping it!¡± He only teased of course. ¡°But if it¡¯s the Spider Farmer you can keep it.¡± ¡°But I have like twenty of them already!¡± Indeed she did, indeed¡­ ¡­ ¡°Any time. King.¡± The Crystal Spider waved. The King too gave a parting wave, he had collected the Spider Crystals he needed. His next stop was the Kobold Capital; he had several errands there. All the way from the Oberon Undermountain entrance to the Kobold Capital the cave tunnel was improved. It was widened significantly, and the floors were smoothed. The walls were carved with interesting pictures of either spiders or kobolds, the style was somewhat primitive but it had a unique charm to it. He emerged into a large cavern. It was full of rectangular stone houses stacked on top of each other. There were a lot of them, the cavern was practically at full capacity. Evidently, the kobold population had increased significantly, either because of migration or natural reasons. Cave Moss grew on the walls of the houses illuminating the surroundings ever so slightly. At the spots with no moss, there would be a pot growing Glow Shroom. Even if the light was dim the Capital was rather well-illuminated. Also, the carved stone paths and sidewalks were clean. The Kobolds had improved their level of civilisation by leaps and bounds. He walked through winding paths towards his destination. A rare occasional spider would wave to him in passing, but the local Kobolds also recognised him, they too either nodded in passing or even stopped to bow. This was pleasantly surprising, someone had taught them proper manners. The path he was walking was labyrinthine due to the nature of the Kobold city planning, or maybe the lack of it, but even then it might have been intentional. On a number of occasions, he had to ask for directions, but in the end, inevitably, he got lost. The Kobold Capital was just too big and too labyrinthine. He looked at a particularly large Glow Shroom planted in the middle of the crossroads, it was as big as him and illuminated the surroundings in a warm muted yellow light. *Sigh, ¡°I think I¡¯ve been here already,¡± he sighed again, ¡°I¡¯m lost.¡± Someone tugged at the bottom part of his cloak. ¡°Are you lost, King?¡± A very tiny red kobold asked. ¡°I am, do you know the way to the Kobold Leader¡¯s house?¡± The tiny kobold raised her chin high. ¡°Yes-Yes! He¡¯s my daddy. Come!¡± The kid dragged him by the coat. ¡®What a coincidence¡¯ ¨C he thought taking a better look at the tiny kobold. Indeed, this one was better dressed than other pedestrians, or more precisely, just dressed. Aside from guards in armour, most kobolds still preferred to go full commando, but due to a certain royal edict, they had to wear at least a loincloth. This little kobold was wearing a blue tunic, or maybe it was a dress; It was hard to tell. As he was just done pondering about kobold fashion he soon found himself in front of a rather large stone mansion. Like all kobold structures, this one was rectangular but clearly a standalone structure, and the biggest he had seen so far. ¡°Daddy¡¯s Castle, yes-yes.¡± The little kobold smiled at him giving a proud smirk. Kobolds were little creatures, at best reaching just above his knees, but surprisingly the ¡®Daddy¡¯s Castle¡¯ was human-sized; at least the entrance was. He crouched closer to the little kobold. ¡°Is your daddy home? I have important business with him. Can you call him out?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± The little kobold was thoughtful for a moment. ¡°I don¡¯t know where daddy is, no-no. But come inside!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to intrude.¡± ¡°Come, come!¡± The little kobold dragged him in. He was right, the inside was human-sized. There was a reception room, but he was led into a separate room on the side, which was just as large. Of course, neither of the rooms was vacant, there were kobolds around, but mostly just kids. ¡°Sit. I call mommy.¡± The little kobold ran out hurriedly followed by a few of other kids. And the rest were all: ¡°King!¡±, ¡°King!¡±, ¡°Yes-Yes!¡±, ¡°Hello!¡±. Soon he was surrounded by a mass of little kobolds, tugging, and prodding at him. He wondered if all of them were Kobold Leader¡¯s offspring, if so, there were no less than twenty here already. The little kobolds were speaking over each other, and it was hard to reply properly, but he didn¡¯t need to suffer for long. ¡°Scram! Leave the King alone.¡± A familiar kobold waved a Peacekeeping Stick threatening. She didn¡¯t need to ask twice because all the kids soon disappeared. This wasn¡¯t the Kobold Leader but his wife; he had seen her before. ¡°Hello King, I am The Wife.¡± She introduced herself regardless. ¡°Hello, I am here for¡­¡± he wasn¡¯t allowed to finish. That was because the wife didn¡¯t come alone. ¡°Hello King, I am The Wife.¡± Another Kobold spoke the line. ¡°Hello King, I am The Wife.¡± Another one, this time blue who he also recognised. ¡°Hello, I am The Wife.¡±, ¡°Hello, I am The Wife.¡± Two more red kobolds. ¡°THE WIFE!¡± A brown kobold shortened but voiced it rather loud. Okay, there was a lot to unpack. ¡®Kobold Leader, how many wives do you need?!¡¯ ¨C he wanted to shout. And aside from the brown and blue kobold, how was he supposed to tell them apart if they all were ¡®The Wife¡¯. However, the shenanigans weren¡¯t over. ¡°The Wife.¡± A particularly well-encoded drow said with a bow. ¡°Eh?¡± She must have realised the reason for his confusion, ¡°We¡¯ve married to strengthen the Alliance.¡± She explained helpfully. ¡°Yes-yes, she¡¯s an outsider.¡±, ¡°She thinks she¡¯s better than us.¡±, ¡°Steals the husband at bedtime all the time.¡± The three of four red wives complained. The Drow Wife didn¡¯t seem to mind their crass comments and just looked down at the kobolds; her chin was high and her eyes filled with a look of superiority. Oh boy! There was a lot of drama here. He was glad he didn¡¯t have a harem. Anyway, he was informed that the Kobold Leader was on his way, and in the meantime, the wives entertained him. Or maybe he was entertaining them. Either way, they had a surprisingly pleasant conversation. ¡­ ¡°[Grant Access],¡± he said with a creaking voice and a sore throat. ¡°Is this the last one?¡± ¡°Yes-yes. Now we all have Monster System. Thank you, King!¡± ¡°There is one more thing, here.¡± ¡°Food? Okay.¡± The Kobold Leader swallowed. ¡°Oh!¡± he began running and jumping frantically. ¡°What did you get?¡± ¡°I am a dragon now! I am a dragon now!¡± The kobold hadn''t changed physically, so he was mostly only exaggerating. Probably¡­. ¡°[Inspect].¡±
Monster Race: Dragonoid Variant: Red Kobold
HP:50 MP:50 STA:100
Active Perks [Stone Shape], [Claw]
Passive Perks [Skulking], [Stone Sense], [Dragon Strength]
Resistances [Fire Resistance: Lesser], [Physical Resistance: Lesser]
¡°Is it Dragon Strength?¡± ¡°Yes-yes, rawr!¡± The Kobold Leader punched a nearby wall, and it cracked. ¡°It looks powerful, lucky you.¡± He made a mental note of the effects on kobolds. ¡°I need more of this! I want to feel like a dragon all the time! This is like a dream come true!¡± ¡°I have a very limited supply.¡± He looked at the Kobold Leader apologetically. The kobold leader was giving him those big begging eyes, they were moist as if about to cry. ¡°Well, I can leave you a flask or two. It won¡¯t be all the time, but some the time, okay?¡± ¡°Yes-yes!¡± The Kobold Leader jumped excitedly. ¡°This this I will be able to challenge the rebels!¡± ¡°The rebels?¡± ¡°Mmm¡­ You don¡¯t need to worry about that, King.¡± The Kobold Leader said evasively. ¡°If you need any¡­¡± ¡°No-no, there is nothing to worry about.¡± ¡°If you say so.¡± He left the Kobold Leader the promised jelly and then went to complete the side quest: The Meat for The Lamia Queen. For that, he will need to visit the top of the mountain where the IceShard Bird roamed the frigid skies. The monster was rich in valuable materials, but surprisingly hard to hunt down; the first time was just a lucky fluke. 93 - Bad Juju Vibes On the top of the Oberon Mountains, battered by the frigid elemental weather, there was an ancient fortress. The black bricks of Dark Fortress were crumbling and barely holding it together, if not for a thick coating of ice the whole structure would surely collapse. Despite its dilapidated nature, the fortress was not abandoned. Maybe once it was inhabited by the Undead and held a Legendary item but looking at it now it would be hard to know that fact. A small bunch of spiders were repairing the fortress with Kobold Bricks. The bodies of these spiders were clad in puffy squirrel fur suits to keep them warm. The fuzzy look gave the otherwise spooky spiders that cute look, it just made you want to nuzzle them; or at least, so the King thought. The frigid air here was no friend to spiders and even with the furry suits, the spiders needed a source of heat to keep their bodies going. Just like the visiting King they had a Heating Plate implemented in their gear. Currently, the heating magic was running on Fire Juice, it was a rather dangerous design, however, the Drow were already working on a different power source -¨C Mana Crystals. The King appraised the undergoing renovation, it was progressing smoothly. The person managing the work was a Drow Architect. The King went to the man¡¯s office to express his thanks for the good progress and introduce a few improvements here and there. He found the man at the top of the highest tower, keenly observing reconstruction. Their eyes met and the drow gave a bow. ¡°As you can see everything is going according to the plan. How can I be of assistance?¡± He said between the tremors. The man was clearly cold. Indeed, even the drow had found the frigid weather troubling. This assignment was by no means easy. The spiders too, even with all the protective gear, struggled to fight off the elements but it wasn¡¯t in their nature to ever complain. The only ones who were naturally adapted were the Blue Kobolds, but they refused to go near the Dark Fortress claiming it had ¡®bad juju¡¯. He was sure it was all just a superstition, but he didn¡¯t want to force the kobolds, since they were already helping with all the bricks. Anyway, ¡°We should set a fire for you here. It would make things more comfortable, no?¡± He suggested. ¡°Not a good idea.¡± The King gave a questioning look. ¡°The wood would freeze in transport, and also¡­¡± The drow paused. ¡°I¡¯ve tried something like that, over there.¡± He pointed at the half-collapsed tower. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what it was. Was it because of the fire or the heat, but I¡¯ve been attacked by a massive flying monster. I was lucky to survive.¡± The Drow Architect trembled. ¡°Oh.¡± The King had a hunch about what monster it was. ¡°And the monster?¡± ¡°After destroying the tower, it escaped.¡± He trembled again. ¡°After that we¡¯ve been very careful not to set any fires outside or in nearby buildings. The Catacombs seem to be fine, however, but¡­¡± But he had to stay outside to supervise the reconstruction. Or maybe there was another reason. ¡°Bad juju.¡± The drow parroted the kobolds. No, no, the catacombs were cleared and cleaned completely, there was nothing in them. He himself had made sure of that. ¡°I see.¡± The King nodded dismissing the superstition. ¡°That kind of brings us to the reason why I am here. I want to hunt those flying monsters, IceShard Birds, for their resources.¡± The drow gave an obviously terrified look. ¡°I¡¯m an architect I have no Fighting job or perks. I doubt I will be much of use.¡± ¡°You misunderstand. You do have Building perks do you?¡± The drow nodded. ¡°Taking IceShard Bird isn¡¯t an easy task, we¡¯ll need something akin to siege engines. Lucky for you I have the designs already.¡± He produced the blueprints. They were the improved version of balista turrets the spiders used during the Darkness War. The drow glanced at the blueprints. ¡°Yes, I can make them.¡± ¡°I knew you can do it. And also, it seem we already know how to lure them out, no?¡± ¡°Setting fires¡­¡± The drow frowned deeply and then shivered. ¡°Huh, and here I thought you would be happy about some extra warmth.¡± ¡°But King¡­¡± He hesitated. ¡°I¡¯ve almost died.¡± ¡°True. It might have came out insensitive. Don¡¯t worry, you won¡¯t need to operate the turrets, the spider will help me, so you can stay warm in the Catacombs.¡± ¡°No! I mean, no I will stay outside.¡± Was there really some bad juju there? Maybe he should investigate again. Nah, it was fine, the spiders would have reported if there was something out of order. And thus, even if the fortress was not restored yet the construction of the turrets began. Of course, the King came with all the materials necessary so the ballista turrets were finished in no time at all. There were only three of them, but it will have to do since there wasn¡¯t much manpower to operate more than that. Number one was in the highest and the only intact tower, the same one where the Drow Architect had his office. Number two was just above the fortress gate. Number three was inside the fortress proper, it was poking out of the top floor through the crumbled wall and overlooking the rather sizable courtyard. ¡°Okay, set the fire.¡± A huge pyre came to life in the middle of the courtyard. ¡°I don¡¯t think this is a good idea.¡± The Drow Architect trembled while looking at his tower from the ground below. ¡°Are you worried about your tower?¡± He nodded. ¡°It will be fine. I don¡¯t think it will get knocked like the last one. After all, it was your idea to reinforce it.¡± And a good one at that. ¡°Even then¡­¡± He didn¡¯t finish and ducked low to the ground instead. ¡°Wa-aaa-ah!¡± A wailing sound reverberated through the sky. The bait had worked and the IceShard Bird was charging towards the fire. ¡°Clear the courtyard!¡± The King warned the nearby spiders. Everyone ducked under the cover, be it a pile of bricks or a half-crumbled wall. The IceShard Bird was still far away, but it was clear it was charging straight to the pyre in a straight line. Right behind the massive monster was a blue cloud of icy weather, no, it was a mega colony of IceShard Plankton. ¡°Hey, why is it following the IceShard Bird!?¡± It didn¡¯t make much sense. ¡°This is bad. Does everyone have Ice Resistance potions?¡± The spiders waved their hand to indicate a yes. ¡°No, King, I ran out a long time ago.¡± Understandable, it was rather chilly here. ¡°I have a few. Here, have some.¡± He threw the bottle to the drow. Drow Architect drank the potion pre-emptively; and maybe for the best. ¡°Hey, isn¡¯t it rather large?¡± The beelining monster was bigger than the one he fought last time. ¡°No, it is way too large.¡± It was two or three times bigger, maybe more since at the distance it was hard to tell. ¡°This is bad.¡± He wondered if he should just put the fire out. But was it even a good idea? At least now it had a target, without the fire to draw its ire it might just decide to vent its anger on a nearby tower, so he left the pyre burning. ¡°We can do this!¡± The spiders cheered in affirmation and the Drow Architect was long gone, presumably to Catacombs; what a waste of good potion. Predictably so, the humongous monster attacked the pyre first. It opened its huge maw and a torrent of ice shards rained on the courtyard, freezing everything that wasn¡¯t ice already frozen solid. ¡°This is new¡­¡± He didn¡¯t know it could do that. Regardless, the monster was now in range of the turrets and the spiders fired their first projectiles. The great bolts were imbued with a number of enchantments, including Fire elemental damage. ¡°Wa-aaa-ah!¡± The monster wailed in anger. Three bolts were nowhere enough to kill the humongous monster. ¡°Keep at it, I will distract it.¡± He turned the heating of his armour plate to the max and drank a potion for good measure. ¡°Hey, you, I¡¯m your enemy!¡± He projected the Aura Of Hostility and fired a few shots out of the Bow of Darkness. Surprisingly the Dark infused arrows managed to get through thick clouds of plankton and even pierce the thick skin of the monster. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Did I somehow get stronger?¡± This wasn''t the time to ponder such a question. The monster opened its maw firing another freezing blast, now, directly at him. He could have run and ducked behind the cover, but that was entirely unnecessary. [Status effect Frozen was negated] But it wasn¡¯t over, the blue cloud of IceShard Plankton had finally caught up with the monster bathing the entire fortress in frigid temperatures. The operational ability of the turrets were put in question. He glanced at the closest one, worrying about his spiders. They were fine, at least for now, the potions must have protected them. However, the visibility was significantly reduced. ¡°Plankton!¡± He cursed. ¡°Why do you take the side of this monster?!¡± After all, it was the monster''s food. [Status effect Frozen was negated] ¨C the message informed right after another attack. It seems that the monster wasn¡¯t wasting its time. He didn¡¯t know if his equipment could hold out forever. ¡°I must act decisively.¡± He fired a volley of Dark Arrow. ¡°To keep the aggro on myself.¡± Three more great bolts wedged themselves into the side of the monster. ¡°Wa-aaa-ah!¡± It definitely wasn¡¯t happy about the fire damage it was taking. ¡°Yeah take that, you fat slab of meat!¡± He blasted his aura desperately trying to keep its attention away from the ballistas. Naturally, the bow wasn¡¯t his only weapon, he had fire grenades prepared; he just needed to wait for the right time. [Status effect Frozen was negated] He retaliated with another volley of arrows. Three more great bolts pierced into the monster. It was beginning to leak blood, but even at the frigid temperatures, it didn¡¯t freeze for some reason. He had to give kudos to the spiders. The IceShard Bird wasn¡¯t stationary it was flying in circling patterns above the King and the plankton clouds limited the vision significantly, but even then the spiders haven¡¯t missed a single shot yet. But, well, the monster was rather large so¡­ He wondered just how long will he need to keep this up. He didn¡¯t need to wonder. ¡°Duh, I forgot. [Inspect].¡±
Monster: IceShard Bird Status Effects: Enraged
HP:9000/10000 MP:900/1000 STA:1000
Active Perks [IceShard Blast], [Call Plankton], [Devour]
Passive Perks [Floating], [Super Massive], [Minor Regeneration]
Resistances [Fire Weakness: Greater], [Ice Resistance: Immune],
Right, it was safe to assume that a single great bolt did 100HP damage, so the battle would go on for¡­ a while. While he was inspecting the monster the spiders managed to land three more bolts. Well done spiders! The enraged monster was flying right towards him. Its jaws were opened wide. Was it aiming to Devour him? If so he could use that to his advantage. He pulled out a cluster of Fire Grenades, however, he couldn¡¯t throw them just yet; the currents of plankton clouds were rather strong and threatened to catch any thrown projectiles. ¡°Just a bit closer.¡± He stared at the approaching maw of the monster. It was so big it could swallow a Centauri whole with no problem. The frigid wind increased in strength, it threatened to knock him off his legs. It was rather slippy but somehow he managed to keep his feet planted firm on the icy ground. He was waiting for the right moment, once it got close enough he would chuck the grenades and dart to the side with Shadow Walk. A something blue pulled deep inside the mouth and not so surprisingly another IceShard Blast washed over him; there was no point in even trying to avoid that since the blast radius was huge and he needed to throw those grenades. But in retrospect, it wouldn''t have hurt to try¡­ [You have been afflicted with Frozen] His resistances had failed at such a crucial moment. He wanted to move, scream, or do anything but he was frozen stiff. He had those grenades ready, it was the right time, but his arms just refused to move. ¡®I will be devoured...¡¯ He stared at the dark abyss which approached him hungrily. Three more great bolts had hit at the monster sending fountains of blood, but even when it barely dented its big pool of HP. Was he afraid? ¨C yes, a little. Was this the end? ¨C no, not really. He believed in himself and his perks! A familiar voice reached his ears. ¡°No! King!¡± He was forcefully pushed out of the way. Maybe, he should have believed in his allies and friends first and foremost and not in his Undying perk. As he was sliding through the ice, still Frozen, he noticed that the cluster of Fire Grenades were missing out of his hand. The Drow Architect was clutching all of them close to his chest, his face was full of resolve and determination, and then¡­ Then he and a good chunk of the iced bricks were swallowed whole. ¡°Huh, maybe he wasn¡¯t a coward after all.¡± The King realised that he could speak, meaning the debuff was over. He drank yet another Ice Resistance potion, hopefully further lowering the chance that Frozen will get through his resistances. He looked at the monster which was now gaining altitude again with resolve. ¡°I will get you out of there my friend!¡± ¡°Wa-aaa-ah!¡± It cried spewing flame out of its maw. Oh¡­ the grenades had detonated meaning¡­ ¡°I will avenge you, my friend!¡± He began running and firing arrows at the side of the monster, he had to get the aggro back on himself. The spiders too fired their shots with increased vigour. He used a quick Inspect to check on its health points. [IceShard Bird: 3600/10000HP] The grenades did a number on it, but it was still far from dead. ¡°Wa-aaa-ah!¡± It vailed again, further increasing the altitude. He kept shooting but failed to get the aggro. The monster was no longer Enraged, that effect was gone from its status. It was intent on fleeing. ¡°No, you can¡¯t do that. [Shadow Web]¡± He tried sending a web of purple threads towards the fleeing monster. Predictably, the clouds of IceShard Plankton disrupted the spell and it fizzed out midway. He knew that would happen. ¡°Tch.¡± This was the reason why none of conventional magic or schools were used. This meant that he had to resolve to physical vessels like bolts, arrows and grenades to pierce the cloud and deliver the Elemental damage. Or he could go himself and get close and personal. ¡°Plan A! Hurry!¡± He shouted to the spiders. A special type of bolt was loaded into the ballista. Why Plan A? Because everyone after seeing the size of the monster naturally went for Plan B, which used normal Fire enchanted great bolts. ¡°I should have brought something for a speed boost.¡± He lamented while running as fast as he could trying to keep up with the monster. The IceShard Bird was already outside the Dark Fortress wall, and it was a miracle that he didn¡¯t slip on all the ice. Finally, a modified bolt flew out from the ballista placed just above the gate and pierced the thick hide of the monster. A long thread of blue rope dangled from the bolt. ¡°This is my last chance!¡± He ran up to the rope and barely caught the end of it. The Plan A was to bind the IceShard Bird with anchored bolts in place and then promptly kill it, but the current specimen was too large for that. It was big enough to pull out the rope anchors. So anyway, the King was pulling himself up the rope and closer to the body of the monster. By the time he was done, they were rather high in the sky. If he killed the monster here there would be a long fall down. ¡°No, I must avenge our hero. I have Undying.¡± He put his trust in his perk. He used Magical Inventory to swap the bow for the spear, ¡°Die!¡± he jabbed it deep into the hide of the monster. The special ability of the Devouring Spear activated and began draining the monster''s HP pool ever so slowly. ¡°Wa-aaa-ah!¡± It obviously didn¡¯t like that and began trashing in the air. The plankton clouds assaulted him from all sides threatening to push him off, but his feet were planted firmly and the spear was wedged deeply. The humongous monster couldn¡¯t do anything by itself, our King was like a flea on an elephant. However¡­ [You have been afflicted with Frozen] ¨C the relentless IceShard Plankton assault managed to pierce his resistance. Not that it mattered. The monster¡¯s HP continued to tickle down. And after a while¡­ [IceShard Bird: 1/10000HP] [Congratulations! You have defeated IceShard Bird], [Fighting +10000exp] Compared to certain Worm the exp wasn¡¯t that large, but this wasn¡¯t about that, and¡­ [Exp Web caught enough exp], [You can upgrade your Skill Tree]. The humongous monster corpse was sailing down through the sky, a veritable mountain of flesh and bones was soon to splash on the frozen ground. However, the King wasn¡¯t thinking about self-preservation at this crucial moment. ¡°Exp Web? Skill Tree¡±? Does this have something to do with that spider??? in my status screen? He pondered while standing on 300 tons of IceShard Bird Meat. The merciless gravity was pulling both of them down and closer to the loving embrace of the frigid frozen ground. 94 - Look out! Here comes the Spider-King! The King looked at the Skill Tree which popped into his vision. It wasn¡¯t much of a tree but more of a web, all of the options were connected and influencing each other. However, most of them were greyed out and he couldn¡¯t even Inspect them to find that they did. Four upgrades were available to him: ???Transformation: Spider ???Enhancement: Obsidian Armour ???Enchantment: Dark Sacrifice ???Modification: Monster Core The upgrades had a theme going on, and it fit well with his Monster King character. Luckily, he could Inspect the four to get to know that they did. Spider: This transformation grants the abilities associated with spiders, such as enchanted health and agility, resistance to mental attacks, climbing walls, producing webs, and heightened senses. Obsidian Armour: Your Tough Skin hardens even more taking the properties and appearance of obsidian. This unique perk provides exceptional durability and resistance to physical and magical attacks. Dark Sacrifice: Sacrifice a part of your HP pool to power charge your abilities. You become stronger, faster, sharper and a lot meaner. Monster Core: A crystalline core forms within your body. It grows and evolves with you granting increased MP pool and new abilities. Okay, some were better than others, but all in all, all four were very sweet upgrades. He already knew which one he wanted first. The choice was obvious! Who didn¡¯t fantasise even once about being able to fling webs out of their hands and fly through the city like some sort of a superhero? -¨C a child without a childhood that¡¯s who. ¡°I¡¯ll be a spider-man!¡± Ups that was definitely copyrighted. ¡°Ahm, spider-king? Spide King¡­¡± That didn¡¯t sound like there would be much of a change; he already was that. But with this transformation, he would be the Spider King also in body and not just in the title. ¡°It is decided.¡± He selected the Spider upgrade. His body felt funny and ticklish for a moment, but also, he could feel becoming more powerful. One thing was left, it was to test the transformation. ¡°[Transform: Spider],¡± he activated the ability. Yeah¡­ It wasn¡¯t just an ability to shoot webs. He really did transform into something else. His whole body grew larger, his skin turned black, new limbs sprouted, and he even grew an extra pair of eyes. He was more spider than human at this moment. He blinked all four of his gem-like yellow eyes. ¡°Wow, this is different.¡± He saw the world in different colours. He felt like he was a different man. ¡°[Status]¡±, he went through the changes. His HP pool doubled to 2000HP, he felt much stronger, there were six legs to do the running, and also, there were a bunch of useful spider perks: [Spin Web], [Wall Climb], [Danger Sense], plus [Dark Resistance: Medium]. However, there were drawbacks too, aside from the fact that during the transformation he broke his clothes, there were disadvantageous perks such as [Fire Weakness: Medium] and [Light Weakness: Greater]. And indeed, his senses were sharper because he finally realised that in just a few seconds he, and the monster he was standing on, would be slamming down into a mercilessly hard ground. This wasn¡¯t the time to be playing with the Monster System. He looked around, there were no skyscrapers for him to attach a web and escape the predicament. In retrospect maybe he should have picked Obsidian Armour since it provided physical damage resistance, but that definitely wasn¡¯t as cool as becoming the spider-king?, even if his current from was monstrous. The ground was getting dangerously close and if he didn¡¯t want to become a red splatter, he had to do something quickly. Well, there was the Undying perk, which would leave him at the death''s door with 1HP, but that came with all the pain too so¡­ ¡°[Spin Web]!¡± He invoked already having an image of what he wanted to do. Surprisingly, no, relievedly (yes that¡¯s a word), the webs didn¡¯t come from his butt but from his hands. He was a proper superhero and didn¡¯t need to rely on cartridges to do that. He was spinning a large purple web just above his head. Interestingly it drained his stamina and not mana. Soon, there was enough of it and like some sort of flying spider he was pulled up by the building air pressure and carried away from the falling monster. ¡°I¡¯m flying!¡± He shouted all too pleased with his ability to make improvised parachutes. He looked down, the distance between him and the falling corpse got even greater and then¡­ For one, the King expected it to leave a large crater with the body intact since it was so durable, or something like that, but apparently, this wasn¡¯t how the physics worked¡­ This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. *Thundering SPLAT ¨C it exploded like a ripe tomato thrown against a wall at supersonic speed. Chunks of bones and meat scattered in a large radius sending a cloud of pulverised ice in its wake. ¡°Gruesome!¡± He was just glad he managed to make his web parachute and avoided that fate. Just after all the ice dust had settled, he too was approaching the ground. ¡°Uff!¡± He exclaimed at the much harder landing than he anticipated. It even knocked a 100HP of him, if not for his six legs which cushioned it, it might have been much worse. After all, the Web Parachute wasn¡¯t perfect, it only slowed down the fall. A group of spider builders ran towards surrounding him. ¡°King, you. Changed!¡± ¡°You have. Evolved?¡± ¡°Congratulations!¡± ¡°You look so. Magnificent.¡± ¡°Very spidery. Very nice!¡± The spiders approved of his new transformation. He shouldn¡¯t have expected any less. ¡°Thank you, thank you. But no, this is only a temporary transformation.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± The spiders exclaimed betraying disappointment. ¡°Anyway, the monster is dead. Let''s gather the resources.¡± He urged. ¡°But, King. Before that¡­¡± The spider sounded somewhat hesitant. ¡°What is it?¡± He asked curious. ¡°Aren¡¯t you cold?¡± He looked down at his own body. ¡°Right¡­¡±, he was completely naked and indeed he was beginning to feel chilly. ¡°I should transform back and get the backup equipment on.¡± ¡°No, King. Stay in this form. For a bit longer.¡± The spiders definitely liked his new image. ¡°We¡¯re not crafters. But we can make. Something for you.¡± A spider offered. ¡°Or you can. Wear mine.¡± Another spider began taking off its fur suit. ¡°Huh¡­¡± Since they liked his transformation so much he decided to oblige with their small request. ¡°No, I have materials in my inventory. We can fashion something quickly.¡± An improvised suit was made. Even if fashioned for someone with eight limbs, It may or may not have resembled a certain superhero uniform. ¡°King! You look dashing!¡±, ¡°Spidery Magnificent!¡±, ¡°Spider-King!¡± Indeed, he was fully fledged spider-king?. Anyways, with the distraction out of the way they began gathering the chunks of various sizes and carrying them back to the Dark Fortress. While they were doing that, the King was looking for a rather significant material. ¡°I hope it didn¡¯t shatter.¡± If it did, it would be a colossal loss. ¡°Could it be¡­¡± He looked at a rather large hole in the ground. There it was, wedged in the ice, IceShard Bird Core. ¡°Wow, that¡¯s big.¡± At least twice as big as the one he used to make a certain floating throne. Another certain project was already on his mind, but that will have to wait. It took a painfully long time to gather all the monster materials, after all, the monster was Super Massive. The results of the gathering operation were: [IceShard Bird Meat] x 300000, [IceShard Bird Leather] x500, [IceShard Bird Bones] x 200, [IceShard Plankton] x100, [IceShard Bird Core] x 1. So yeah, not much of plankton goo since it had scattered too much after the splash, but plenty of meat. He stuffed as much meat as he could into his Magical Inventory, the rest, and most of it, will be put in the Catacombs for safekeeping. So that quest was done, he had just to turn it to the Lamia Queen. However, the spider builders needed a new architect. He¡¯ll have to apologise to the High Chief for a work-related accident, he¡¯ll tell the man died a hero protecting the King. Maybe he should erect a memorial statue right here in the courtyard of the Dark Fortress. ¡°Yes, that seems appropriate.¡± He¡¯ll add that to the list of renovations. The plan here was to turn this fortress into the plankton and meat-gathering outpost. Originally, he planned to staff it with Blue Kobolds but that plan was ruled out because of Bad Juju. So the drows and spiders will have to do. He shared his plans with the resident builders. ¡°King, if you insist.¡± The spider didn¡¯t sound all too enthusiastic. The spiders never complained but he didn¡¯t want to force them to do something they really opposed. ¡°You don¡¯t sound all too pleased. Is there a problem? Is it because of bad juju?¡± The spider shook its head. ¡°That¡¯s Kobold superstition. It¡¯s not about that. It''s just that¡­¡± the spider began sharing its feelings about the assignment. To sum it up, there were two major issues. First, even with all the equipment the spiders found the weather just too frigid and unpleasant to work in, in their eyes this environment was even more extreme than the Fire Caverns. Second, it just felt too depressing because nothing grew here. Even if they were builders, these spiders still appreciated the sight of plants and growing nature. Admittedly, they¡¯d missed the idyllic sight of the blessed fields of TomGrape. This was understandable since most of the spider ancestor activities revolved around TomGrape, and they were really not made for cold temperatures. ¡°I see. I won¡¯t force you then.¡± But a job started had to be finished. ¡°After you finish renovations all of you can go back home.¡± The spider gave a spidery smile of appreciation. But staffing the fortress entirely with Drow also didn¡¯t seem all too fair, apparently, they too weren¡¯t big fans of frigid temperatures and the looming threat of being Frozen. ¡°What a conundrum¡­ I can¡¯t leave the Fortress empty.¡± He scratched his spidery chin with a spidery hand. ¡­ On his way back to MegaFarm he visited the Kobolds again. There wasn¡¯t much reason to do so, but he wanted to show his new hero form. The spiders obviously loved it but, admittedly, his arguably still human mind found his spidery visage monstrous and spooky; It will definitely take some time to get used to. ¡°King, your face looks less ugly now, yes-yes, you can keep this form.¡± Kobold nodded not too much impressed or spooked. ¡°Less ugly?¡± The Kobold Leader could be terrifyingly honest at times. ¡°Then, sorry for having an ugly face!¡± Somehow the spidery one was better. But he wasn¡¯t terribly offended, because he asked of his honest opinion and the kobold spoke using the lens of unique kobold aesthetics. He asked around for more opinions and the Kobolds found his new appearance neutral in their eyes. Incidentally, just after breaking the news about the work accident, he asked the High Chief what he thought of his transformation. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen magic like this. I am envious of you King.¡± He said with sparkling eyes filled with a tinge of awe. Okay, much like spiders the Drow found it pleasing. Later, the two made a new agreement for another Drow Architect, the High Chief was very understanding of work accidents, he just said ¡®those happen¡¯ with a shrug. However, the High Chief admitted that the Drow weren¡¯t all too keen on going to the Dark Fortress. So, yeah, he won¡¯t force them either, just until the repairs and renovations are finished. Back at home, still in spider form, he greeted the Lamia and handed out the promised meat parcels. They too found his form neutral. So as far as it was there were two for, two neutral; a good result, no one saw him as a monster. Maybe the fancy hero suit helped? ¨C Who knows? However, things changed once he asked the Centauri and the human volunteers. The Centauri were clearly perturbed by his spooky image and raspy voice, and the humans were downright terrified. A somewhat normal and expected conclusion. In the end, he dispelled Transform: Spider and returned to a more comfortable Spider King form. Six legs and web-shooting arms had their positives, but so did a more human form. One thing still remained on his mind. ¡°Who can I put in that blasted fortress? I need at least two more IceShard Bird Cores!¡± After experiencing flying he was itching to start working on that project. 95 – Hope Can Blossom In the Most Unlikely Places Oddly enough there was a large IronOak table set in the throne room. It was long enough to seat a large host of people; however, the vast majority of the seats were unoccupied. On one end there was the Spider King and his wife, the Lamia Queen, and on completely other end was a representative of the Human Volunteers faction. The man was recently elected by the humans to carry their voice and deal with any issues they experienced in the MegaFarm. The man in question wasn¡¯t some sort of a newbie, he was our trusty old Bareth. The King and his subject weren¡¯t there entirely for business. There was plenty of food on the table, including dishes incorporating the newly acquired meat of a certain type of bird; which by the way didn¡¯t taste like chicken at all. ¡°Let¡¯s eat, fill our stomachs, and if you wish so, we will talk between the bites.¡± The King offered wishing to keep this as casual as possible. Regardless, Bareth couldn''t help but feel anxious. The humans had put a lot of trust in him, which he felt honoured to have, but there also was a lot of responsibility. And anyway, he knew he was selected because the other humans were terrified of the Spider King. He was once too, but with time he grew to respect him instead. The Lamia Queen was the one who started gobbling up the food first. The way she ate it was far from what you would expect from royalty, let alone a lady. She didn¡¯t use a nearby knife or even a fork preferring to rip the meat with her clawed hands and deposit the large chunks in her mouth. Bareth was taken aback ever so slightly by that sight. He looked down at his plate, nearby at the sides there was a set of cutleries offered to him. As an ex-merchant, he was well versed in table manners, so he knew which knife and which fork to use for which meal, of which there were many. He glanced at the King, he too was eating with his hands. ¡°What''s up? Is the food not to your liking?¡± He asked with a slight concern. No, the food was perfect, he was just experiencing a culture shock. Ironically this reminded him of his childhood home, the table manners there were similar. A remembered a saying he heard a couple of times in his merchant circles: ¡®At the Holy Emperor''s table, you imitate his Holiness.¡¯ The saying alluded not to the table manners per se but to the way to do business in the Holy Capital, and by extension capitals of many other Human Kingdoms which were a part of the Holy Empire. Bareth ignored the cutlery and grabbed a chunk of meat with his bare hands and brought it to his mouth. The meat was surprisingly soft, it melted in his mouth filling it with delicious flavours; It was well-cooked, well-seasoned, high-quality meat. A dish worthy for a King. ¡°No, the food is¡­ delicious!¡± He devoured the chunk in mere seconds. He ate it so quickly that it got stuck in his gullet, but only just a bit, he cleared it with a rough cough. ¡°Oh, there is my manners, we have drinks, of course.¡± The King looked up meaningfully to a high-ceiling web. ¡°Do you prefer alcohol or¡­¡± He asked trailing it off. No, he had to discuss an important issue, alcohol would do him no good. ¡°TomGrape Juice if you don¡¯t mind¡­¡± he swallowed the meat, ¡°my King.¡± He added. ¡°We have something better.¡± The King snapped his fingers. A spider descended from the web carrying a small tray and on it was a single bottle. The glass of the bottle was crystal clear but the liquid itself was black like tar, and for whatever reason, even then stationary, the darkness inside bubbled and swirled as if trying to escape. The spider opened the dark bottle, the bottle let out a loud pop and a hiss thus startling Gareth. ¡®Just what the hell is inside¡¯ ¨C he had to wonder. He even moved slightly aback afraid that whatever was inside might jump at him. Surprisingly, the dark liquid wasn¡¯t too keen to escape the bottle. At least, not yet. ¡°Ha, ha.¡± The King laughed mirthfully. ¡°Don¡¯t look at it like that. it¡¯s just a fizzy drink, ha, ha.¡± Apparently, the spider had fetched one for the King as well; Bareth had failed to see that up till now. The King raised the bottle cheerfully. ¡°Spider-FizzPop?, to quench your daily thirst and fill you with life!¡± He said it as if it was a marketing slogan. Bareth took a deep breath and upturned the contents in his mouth. He expected something close to a poison, his eyes went wide but not for that reason. ¡°King this is amazing!¡± He was taken aback by the sensation. ¡°The bubbles dance on my tongue. It¡¯s sweet, but not too sweet. And despite the rich taste, it feels light and smooth to drink. Huh¡­ My stomach feels lighter! Is this some sort of medicine?¡± ¡°No, this is just a drink I came up with by accident.¡± Bareth rolled the now empty crystalline glass bottle in his hands. ¡°This is amazing! It would sell really well in the Human Kingdoms.¡± His eyes were filled with sparkles but those dimmed as soon as they appeared. ¡°Ah¡­ but the drink must need rare ingredients and hence must be very expensive.¡± ¡°No, not really. Aside from the glass bottles, it is very cheap to make. Do you really think it would sell well?¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± The sparkle was back in his eyes. ¡±Absolutely!¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll pitch that idea to the Lord G Blink.¡± He paused for a moment. ¡°Thinking about it, you haven''t been to the Spidery Delicious. I should take you some time, you¡¯ll tell me what you think¡±. ¡°Meh, sss, most meals are made of mushrooms. It¡¯s mediocre at best.¡± The Lamia Queen didn¡¯t seem too impressed. ¡°Shut up, you... The Drow love it, and so do I! You are underestimating the Forbidden Sauce and its power!¡± ¡°Considering the sss-source it came from, sss, I didn¡¯t put any on my food.¡± She said offhandedly. ¡°OMG! That¡¯s why you didn¡¯t like it. You must eat the sauce!¡± ¡°Spidery Delicious? Forbidden Sauce?¡± Admittedly Bareth was lost and couldn¡¯t follow the passionate argument the King was having with his wife. Anyway, Bareth had almost forgotten, he came here for a reason. The King was continuing his spiel. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if it comes from a breast or not, what matters is¡­¡± ¡°King, if I may?¡± He interrupted a rather passionate King, but he had to, otherwise the conversation would get sidetracked even more. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Yes, what is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s about the reason I requested a meeting with you.¡± ¡°Oh, yeah, I had almost forgotten.¡± The King looked at Bareth, that goofy look he just had was all gone and he had that ¡®I¡¯m all business¡¯ aura back. ¡±It¡¯s about human volunteers¡­¡± The King put his elbows on a table and crossed his fingers together. ¡°I¡¯m listening.¡± ¡°Well, how do I say this¡­¡± He paused. ¡®Bareth, this isn¡¯t a time to hesitate¡­¡¯ He decided to cut straight to the point. ¡°Human Volunteers want your permission to emigrate to Dark Fortress.¡± Here, he said it. Yeah, there was that. The why was obvious, actually. Humans just weren¡¯t big fans of spiders, quite the opposite, they found the MegaFarm like some sort of private hell made just for them. Bareth knew that that opinion was misguided, but he understood where they were coming from. He was in similar shoes quite a while ago, but now, he had learned to appreciate the spiders and he also respected the King. He was a good ruler. These humans too would understand that in time; Bareth was sure of that. But he did understand their feelings. Putting some space between overwhelmed humans and the horde of spiders and other monster races will do them good. And then, after that, they could build amicable relations with everyone slowly from the Dark Fortress. The decision was slightly inspired by the story the Bareth heard from the Drow Assistant. A long time ago, that group of people had also decided to leave MegaFarm, they were equally spooked by spiders at that time. They made a home in a seemingly hostile and barren environment with no trees and sunlight, The Oberon Undermountain. But look at them now, all proud and prospering. Bareth hoped that volunteer humans could forge a similar fate in the Dark Fortress. Of course, he won¡¯t be going himself, he had his Centauri here, but he will help his fellow humans with whatever he can. Long introspection aside. ¡°So, King. Can you permit us that?¡± He asked the King who felt silent. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting that. So, you knew I desperately needed people in the Dark Fortress and decided to volunteer? As expected of Human Volunteers!¡± He praised. ¡°But are you aware of the challenges? Not even the spiders are willing to deal with frigid temperatures. The environment is rather hostile.¡± ¡°The humans had made their minds already. And I assume, my King, you will assist us in that conquest.¡± ¡°Ha, conquest. I like how you word it. It sounds so positive. Of course, I will provide all the equipment and potions necessary.¡± ¡°So, we have your permission then?¡± He asked just to be sure. ¡°Of course! I¡¯m very happy with this outcome!¡± The King even stood up from his chair, presumably from excitement. ¡°And anyway. Sure, they did very well during the Darkness War, but after that¡­ They¡¯re just useless as farmers, have zero skill and all that.¡± He frowned. ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to offend. You yourself are irreplaceable to me, Bareth. Thank you for everything you have done so far.¡± The King even bowed. He took no offence, the volunteers weren''t good at farming, not in the slightest. Admittedly, most of them were banished corrupt nobles and the stubborn upper middle class. King Aurelius II was rather harsh in his decision, sending entire families down here. Sure, these people here weren¡¯t exactly innocent and in normal circumstances, Bareth might even approved of Aurelius II decision. But he was here, in MegaFarm, and he had intimate knowledge of their suffering. They had reflected and repented enough, and they weren¡¯t bad people anymore. What was that word? ¨C ah yes, rehabilitated. However, that didn¡¯t mean they, the upper middle class and the like, were suitable for farming. Nor that they would be any good at hunting birds, but somehow they preferred that option better. Bareth trusted in their decisions, the volunteers weren¡¯t foolish, he knew that they had all the motivation needed to make do in the Dark Fortress. Again, long introspection aside, ¡°King, I¡¯ll let them know the good news. I assure you, you made a good decision.¡± ¡°Wait, are you putting this on me? I don¡¯t want to be blamed if anyone comes and starts complaining about Bad Juju. This was their decision, so let''s keep it that way, please.¡± Bad Juju? ¨C anyway¡­ ¡°We¡¯ll start preparing right away.¡± He simply bowed again. ¡°And I¡¯ll get the gear ready.¡± ¡­ A large group of humans had gathered in front of one of the spider warehouses. Defining them as ¡®a large group¡¯ was an understatement because there were more than a thousand. There were young and old, men and women, even children. But all of their faces were bright and full of hope. The King was slightly taken aback by their good mood. ¡°Do they really know where they are going?¡± Bareth nodded. ¡°I explained all the dangers. They understand it well.¡± ¡°I can see young children and women¡­ Isn¡¯t better for them to wait until the men settle?¡± ¡°No, King. The families were firmly against getting separated.¡± ¡°It¡¯s definitely not safe for children, so let¡¯s keep them here.¡± A nearby mother hugged her child closer, her face was filled with horror. ¡®What? Do they think I¡¯m going to eat them or something? I know I¡¯m being only reasonable here.¡¯ ¨C he thought to himself. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°King, once again, I strongly advise against it.¡± ¡°But if they die¡­¡± ¡°You won¡¯t be blamed. They know the risks.¡± Bareth said it with a straight face. ¡°Okay¡­ A hardy bunch then. Doing something the spiders can¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°Thank you for the compliment.¡± Bareth smiled. ¡°Okay, I have all the gear you¡¯ll need. There is a lot to carry so the spiders will help you.¡± ¡°King, I think that is unnecessary. They can carry it.¡± But then the women would be carrying too¡­ ¡°No, I insist on spider escort! You don¡¯t even know where the Dark Fortress is.¡± ¡°We could ask the Kobolds.¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s non-negotiable. In the gear packs you will find Squirrel Fur Suits, they are enchanted with Ice Resistance and have Heating Plates in them. You¡¯ll need those on the mountaintop. Oh, and please don¡¯t fiddle with the plates, a leak can prove fatal.¡± The humans nodded in understanding. ¡°Also, I¡¯m giving you a provisional supply of Resist Frozen Potions. We don¡¯t have too much but don¡¯t be afraid to use them if you notice any clouds of IceShard Plankton. Speaking of which, it will be your job to grind all the IceShard Bird Bones into powder. That is the main ingredient for the said potion.¡± The humans nodded in understanding. ¡°On the matter of jobs and responsibilities. It will be your duty to maintain the Dark Fortress and hunt the IceShard Birds. All the gear necessary is already there and the spiders will instruct you how to use it. You¡¯ll have to harvest the monsters for the precious materials and store those in the Catacombs. But that''s basically it.¡± ¡°King, I¡¯d had told them all that already.¡± Bareth bowed. ¡°Good. The monster is formidable. Don¡¯t die!¡± The humans nodded in understanding. The King thought they would be more scared at his harsh words of ¡®Don¡¯t die!¡¯, but for whatever reason all he could see was resolve. ¡°Anyway, if anything goes wrong send a messenger straight away. You will be supported.¡± He nodded happy about his little speech. The humans nodded in understanding. Everyone was doing a lot of nodding¡­ And then the crowd was made to part. A spider carrier rushed straight past it and stopped abruptly right in front of The King scattering ripped balls of ground in an emergency stop. The spider clearly came here in a hurry. A kobold was tied by ropes to its back. ¡°King, King! I have a message from the Kobold Leader!¡± The kobold screeched way too loud. He wondered what the urgency was about, and why the kobold had to be tied to a spider. The kobold continued to shout. ¡°He needs your assistance in battle!¡± ¡°Battle? What happened?¡± ¡°Rebels, yes-yes. We have to fight the Rebel Faction! He needs your help! More jelly please!¡± ¡°So is it jelly or an army he requires?¡± The kobold stopped shouting and said in a more muted tone. ¡°I¡¯m only a messenger I don¡¯t know¡­ I want to go home, please. The sky will fall on me. I know! No-no!¡± That¡¯s not a very well-informed messenger. He had to find out what was happening first. ¡°Bareth, I leave the rest to you. Unfortunately, I won¡¯t be able to see you off.¡± ¡°No need. I have it, King.¡± He bowed again. ¡°[Shadow Walk].¡± The King disappeared towards the mountain. ¡°Spider! Carry me home! The sky will eat me!¡± The kobold messenger screeched. ¡°Understood!¡± The spider kicked at the ground launching itself to a sprint. The humans nodded in understanding. They were ready for their trip. New hope awaited them. 96 – The Ultimate Battle: Brown vs Red Somewhere deep in the Oberon Undermountain, in one of the larger caverns, two forces of kobolds were having a face-off. On one side of the cavern there were brown kobolds and on the other side were red. The brown kobolds vastly outnumbered the red kobolds, but the reds were better equipped; they wore leather armour and wielded short spears. ¡°Meow! Submit to me, I am the Dragon!¡± A certain Greater Desert Wyrm bellowed in intimidation. ¡°We serve the Dragon!¡± Brown kobolds shouted in unison. ¡°Rebels! I¡¯ve defeated your leader and married her. You must listen to me, yes-yes.¡± The Kobold Leader tried to reason. ¡°Meow? Surely, kobolds are born to serve dragons. And I am a dragon!¡± ¡°We serve the Dragon!¡±, ¡°We serve the Dragon!¡±, ¡°We serve the Dragon!¡± ¡°You¡¯re not a dragon, no-no. You¡¯re just a desert lizard!¡± The Kobold Leader didn¡¯t recognise the wyrmling¡¯s authority. ¡°Take back your words, meow!¡± ¡°You can¡¯t fly, you don¡¯t even breathe fire, you¡¯re a fake dragon! Brown kobolds, you¡¯ve been deceived.¡± ¡°Yeah? But I can do this, [Sand Tornado]!¡± The attempts at negotiation broke with the first bout of hostilities. Since the wyrmling was in an enclosed cavern the spell failed to take its full power and just blew debris and sand particles towards the reds. However, that didn¡¯t mean that the spell wasn¡¯t powerful, it managed to knock off the first few lines of the red kobolds, including the Kobold Leader. ¡°Traitors!¡± The Kobold Leader cursed hitting the stony ground. ¡°Kobold Warriors go! Subjugate the rebels.¡± He commanded. ¡°Meow. You don¡¯t stand a chance against a Dragon. Submit to my power! [Stone Cannon].¡± The reds launched their attack sprinting towards the browns. The browns didn¡¯t have any armour or decent weaponry, at best they had their claws and rocks for throwing. The throwing rocks rained on reds, but due to their superior gear, they were able to shrug the projectiles and continue their sprint. However, Stone Cannon was a proper spell and thus it managed to do serious damage to the target. ¡°[Stone Cannon], [Stone Cannon], [Stone Cannon], Meow! Too many.¡± The wyrmling meowed in frustration. ¡°We have numbers on our side. And I am a Dragon! Charge!¡± The browns ran to meet the charge of their adversary. ¡°I¡¯ll free my people from your trickery, lizard!¡± *Nom-nom, *Gulp ¡°[Dragon Strength]! Now I am a Dragon too!¡± The lean muscles on the Kobold¡¯s leader bulged growing big and taunt. A volley of Stone Shaped rocks rained on the Kobold Leader but he shrugged the projectiles off as if they were nothing. ¡°Rawr!¡± He roared feeling the power of dragons. ¡°Meow!¡± The wyrmling hissed at the annoyingly persistent kobold. ¡°For the Dragon!¡± Shouted brown kobolds. ¡°For the Leader!¡± Shouted red kobolds. The two forces clashed in a melee. The browns used Claw to damage the armour of the red kobolds. The reds retaliated with swings of their spears, for mercy or whatever reason they used only the butt end of the spear, but even then, it was quite effective. Since the Kobold Leader was leading the charge he was the first one to clash with the Greater Dessert Wyrm. The wyrm wasn¡¯t a part of his tribe, it wasn¡¯t even a kobold, so without hesitation, he used his spear to stab at the wannabe dragon. However, the wyrm scales were rather tough and hard to pierce. Even with the Dragon Strength he did only superficial damage. ¡°Auch, meow! I¡¯ll bite you!¡± The wyrmling bit at the spear wielding hand latching firmly on it. ¡°[Claw]!¡± He swung at the side of the wyrm''s head. ¡°Meow!¡± Wyrmling winced in pain and let the arm go. The kobold leader used that chance to thrust the spear at the wyrmling. ¡°[Stone Shield].¡±A plate of earth manifested in the air blocking kobold¡¯s attack. ¡°[Piercing Thrust].¡± He shattered the stone plate with a second attack. ¡°Meow?¡± The wyrmling meowed in surprise, it shouldn¡¯t have been possible. ¡°I have the power of dragons! Begone lizard, out of my caves! Rawr! [Supercharge], [Impale].¡± He threw his ace combination. The spear shattered a sandy yellow scale piercing deeply into the side of the wyrmling! ¡°No! [Stone Spikes], meow, [Sand Cloud].¡± A ring of spikes shot out from the ground forcing the kobold leader to jump back, but even then it grazed past his armour scaring his chest, a few inches closer and he himself would have been impaled. ¡°Lizard!¡± he cursed struggling to see where it went, the sand was clouding his vision. Worse, the wyrmling pulled his spear with him in the retreat; it was firmly stuck between the scales. ¡°Meow, auw-auw! Retreat!¡± It cried behind the cover of sand clouds. ¡°Really?! You give up now? You are no dragon, no-no.¡± The Kobold Leader charged into the cloud, his both hands were ready to use Claw. ¡°I¡¯ll find you, and I¡¯ll rip you apart.¡± ¡°Meow! [Stone Cannon].¡± A round stone shot out from the cloud but the kobold leader used Claw to shatter it in mid-air. After all, there was no need to conserve his stamina anymore; whatever tricks the wyrmling had he had seen them all by now. ¡°Give back my spear!¡± ¡°No! Meow!¡± The wyrmling dodged a swipe of claws. ¡°[Sand Cloud], [Stone Cannon].¡± The sand coverage got even thicker and the wyrmling slimed out of the kobolds swipe once again. A stone projectile hit him on the shoulder, doing some damage but the kobold just shrugged it off. -10HP, so what, he could take at least three more hits. He sensed something crawling right behind him. ¡°[Flurry], [Claw]¡± He launched a rapid attack and this time he could feel his claws taking pieces of scales off. ¡°Meow!¡± The wyrmling jumped away from the attack. ¡°Retreat!¡± He shouted once again. ¡°I won¡¯t let you!¡± Despite the sand dust he managed to catch up to the wyrmling and grabbed him by the tail. ¡°You tarnish the good name of dragons. I¡¯ll end you, yes-yes!¡± The Kobold Leader was definitely angry by this point. ¡°No! You can''t. I¡¯m the King''s pet. You¡¯ll make him angry.¡± The Kobold Leader hesitated and it was all it took for the wyrmling to slip out of his grasp and disappear back into the sand cloud. ¡°Retreat. Retreat.¡± It meowed from a distance. The sand began to settle revealing the outcome of the fight. Prone forms littered the sand-dusted stone, most of them were brown. There was no surprise that the reds came out victorious. After all, they were well-trained and well-equipped. Of course, if the Kobold Leader didn¡¯t keep the rebel¡¯s magic caster occupied the outcome might have been totally different. ¡°The pesky desert lizard escaped like a coward. The strength of dragons is with us, we won!¡± He announced his victory. The slightly battered kobolds cheered with big smiles on their faces. However, the kobold leader wasn¡¯t smiling. At best they captured only a half of the rebels, the rest had escaped at the lizard¡¯s command. So they will be back, and he was all out of Slug Jelly now. Without Dragon Strength, he doubted he could take the fake dragon on, after all, even if juvenile it was still a wyrm. His musings were interrupted rudely by the Monster System message. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. [Congratulations! You have defeated a ¡®fake dragon¡¯ and proved that the blood of dragons is strong with you] [Achievement: Defeat Legendary Monster: Great Desert Wyrm > >[Requirement (Monster Race: Dragonoid) has been met. Hidden perk unlocked] >[Perk Dragon Blood obtained] ¡°Yes-yes!¡± The Kobold Leader jumped flailing his hands. ¡°My second achievement!¡± Incidentally, the first one was: [Achievement: Kobold Harem > Reputation with Kobolds +50]. But the second one was so much more awesome. ¡°I have Dragon Blood! Inspect me!¡± The kobolds ran to check their leader. And meanwhile, he himself just had to see it. ¡°Status.¡±
Monster Race: Dragonoid Variant: Red Kobold Magic Affinity: none ?? ?? ???? ?? [Evolve?]
HP:35/50 MP:50 STA:20/100
Active Perks [Stone Shape], [Claw]
Passive Perks [Skulking], [Stone Sense], [Dragon Blood], [Dragon Strength]
Resistances [Fire Resistance: Lesser], [Physical Resistance: Lesser]
Yeah, it definitely was there. Oh, and now there is a little dragonoid on the right side. ¡®Some sort of improvement?¡¯ ¨C the Kobold Leader scratched his muzzle. ¡®What is this [Evolve?]¡¯ ¨C He concentrated on the red text. [If they deem you worthy the Monster King can grant you an evolution.] ¡°Guys. I can evolve!¡± The Kobold Leader jumped again flailing his arm. ¡°I might become a real dragon, yes-yes!¡± A splatter of darkness moved out of the darkest corner of the cavern. The flat shadow shot up taking a humanoid shape. And suddenly out of nowhere, the Spider-King was standing in front of the Kobold leader. ¡°Let¡¯s not jump to conclusions.¡± He said with a frown. ¡®Why was he frowning? This was a joyous occasion!¡¯ Similarly, spiders sprung out of the shadows surrounding the kobolds. The Glowing Spider came from one of the tunnels and cast Recover on the unconscious and otherwise hurt kobolds. ¡°Now explain why my pet wyrmling is leading a rebellion.¡± The King asked with a tinge of confusion in his voice. ¡°Why would I know? Ask him!¡± ¡°Right, good idea. [Call Familiar].¡± Obviously nothing happened straight away. ¡°It might take a while, so why don¡¯t you tell me your side of the story.¡± ¡­ ¡°I see.¡± The King nodded at the Kobold Leader''s explanation. As per Kobold Tradition, the Kobold Leader had conquered a rather large tribe of brown kobolds. They lived just on the other side of the mountain face bordering the Scorpion Desert. Naturally, the Kobold Leader married that tribe¡¯s leader, hence joining the tribes together; by the way, the King had met the wife on his earlier visit. And all was well for a moment. The brown kobolds were even better diggers than the red kobolds, conveniently so, a large group of them were entrusted to dig the Oberon Mega Tunnel. That¡¯s where they met their supervisor, the wyrmling, and that¡¯s where the trouble began. All Kobolds instinctually look up to Dragons and they see it a great honour to serve one. Well, it was debatable if wyrms were dragons or not. If you asked red kobolds they would say that wyrms weren¡¯t dragons, well maybe fire wyrms but definitely not the desert variant; those were just glorified lizards in their eyes. But brown kobolds didn¡¯t see it that way. They lived near the desert for a long time and recognised the power of the Great Desert Wyrm. A select few tribes even had the pleasure to serve one, so when the opportunity presented itself they jumped to serve even if it was a juvenile at the moment. ¡°That sounds complicated.¡± The King paused to digest it. ¡°What does your wife think about it? The brown one.¡± He specified. ¡°Oh? She wants the tribes to come together. It¡¯s better for all the kobolds.¡± In other words, she wasn¡¯t on the side of the wyrmling. ¡°But the brown kobolds don¡¯t listen to her anymore.¡± The kobold leader complained. ¡°They don¡¯t even listen to me, no-no. King Evolve me so I can become a dragon!¡± ¡°Well¡­ oh look, the culprit is here.¡± The wyrmling slithered towards the spider encirclement with its head down, a few of the brown kobolds poked their heads out of the tunnel entrance but didn¡¯t come out to the cavern. The spiders parted letting the wyrmling through. The Kobold Leader scowled at the approaching rebel leader but didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°Meow, I¡¯m sorry. Don¡¯t take my minions away.¡± The wyrmling meowed failing to meet King''s gaze. ¡°Oh, so you know you are at fault?¡± ¡°Yes, I am an adult.¡± ¡°Is that so? When you apologise you need to look in the eyes.¡± The wyrmling met the King''s gaze again. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, meow.¡± ¡°No, apologise to the Kobold Leader. You caused him trouble.¡± The wyrmling repeated the apology. ¡°Now, return my people to me!¡± The Kobold Leader demanded. ¡°Meow! No!¡± The wyrmling hissed. ¡°They want to serve me.¡± The wyrmling raised the bruised chin higher. ¡°You can take them, meow, but I know they will be back with me.¡± Yeah, even wyrms could be too proud for their good¡­ ¡°Hmm¡­¡± The King was thoughtful for a moment. ¡°Kobold Leader, I will Evolve you.¡± ¡°Yes-yes, I will become a real dragon! Then the brown kobolds will learn their mistake and come back.¡± ¡°Yes. But if¡­¡± He paused momentarily. ¡°If they still choose to be with the wyrmling here, please let them, okay?¡± ¡°Hah! Okay!¡± The Kobold nodded. ¡°Meow?¡± Right, so the King now was certain of one thing. The Monster System granted evolutions to their users, and he somehow was a part of it. Was this because he was a Monster King? ¨C It was a good explanation. But when he tried to evolve the Lamia it wouldn¡¯t let him, so there were some prerequisites to be met. And Johny evolved on his own, spiders too fell in that category. However, if a monster wasn¡¯t yet sapient, he could use Evolve with no problem, so there was that as well. So in other words he had a lot of power, but that power came with limitations. And there was a saying that with great power comes great¡­ ¡°Evolve¡± he invoked showering the Kobold Leader in purple light. ¡°Ugh!¡± The King groaned at the sudden drain of mana. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can keep it up.¡± ¡°You must! I must become a dragon! You can do it!¡± The Kobold Leader cheered demandingly. Yeah, he went to negative -500 mana, so in other words it took him 5000MP to evolve a single kobold. With that expense, it better be a dragon evolution! Needless to say, he almost passed out from the mana drain. The kobold continued to glow ever so brighter. ¡°This is it! I can feel it! Yes-yes!¡± The light dimmed and¡­ there was the same old kobold here, maybe a few inches taller. ¡°Did it fail? [Inspect].¡±
Monster Race: Dragonoid Variant: Royal Red Kobold Magic Affinity: Fire ?? ?? ???? ??
HP:100/100 MP:200 STA:200
Active Perks [Stone Shape], [Claw], [Tail Swipe], [Breathe Fire]
Passive Perks [Skulking], [Stone Sence], [Dragon Blood], [Red Scales]
Resistances [Fire Resistance: Medium], [Physical Resistance: Lesser]
Okay, there were a few ways to look at this. Obviously, he didn¡¯t become a Dragon, that would have skipped too many steps. After all, the kobolds were weak creatures. But let''s not look down on this evolution. The kobold had essentially doubled his stats and gained access to Fire magic. And the King was sure this was only the beginning. However, ¡°I¡¯m sorry I couldn¡¯t do better.¡± ¡°What? I¡¯m a dragon now! I can breathe fire, [Fire Breath].¡± He spat a cone of flames blackening the stone ground in the process. ¡°And look at my scales. Red and shiny! I¡¯m also royalty now! Kobold King!¡± Huh, the kobold seemed happy by the evolution. ¡°Kobold King!¡±, ¡°Kobold King!¡±, ¡°Kobold King!¡± ¨C the kobolds chanted in celebration. Curious about all the noise the brown kobolds emerged from the tunnels. ¡°Minions, meow, do not be deceived!¡± The wyrmling purred. The King slapped his naughty pet on the back of its head. ¡°You be quiet!¡± 97 - Please, We Shouldnt Horse Around The outcome of the brown kobold rebellion was an interesting one. Half of the brown kobolds recognised the prowess of the Kobold Leader, no, Kobold King, and pledged their loyalty to him. However, the other half wished to serve what in their eyes was a dragon ¨C the Great Desert Wyrm. Even if it meant that they would definitely lose in another fight they still chose the wyrm; this was proof of their loyalty and resolve. ¡°No-no! I can¡¯t have this. Everyone must come to Kobold Capital.¡± The Kobold Leader protested. However, the Spider King had a different opinion. ¡°I don¡¯t think forcing them would be good. If they want to play with the wyrmling they can. It¡¯s their choice.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ If the King says so¡­ I can¡¯t protest, no-no.¡± After all, in the end, the kobolds had pledged their allegiance to the Spider King, no, to the Monster King. And, even under wyrmling the browns will still serve him. ¡°Yes. I can make this work.¡± The Kobold Leader nodded to himself. ¡°Of course. I¡¯ll make sure they don¡¯t cause you any trouble. Yes?¡± The King gave his pet a meaningful look. ¡°Yes, meow, I won¡¯t fight Kobold Leader anymore.¡± ¡°It¡¯s the Kobold King now, please show some respect.¡± He scolded the juvenile wyrm. ¡°I won¡¯t fight Kobold King. No, meow, we should be Allies.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a very adult thing to say. I¡¯m proud of you.¡± He petted the wyrmling on its head. ¡°Meow! Of course, I¡¯m an adult.¡± It purred all pleased about it. And with that, the things were settled, at least for now. The Spider King bade a farewell to the Kobold King, and then proceeded further deeper into the tunnels. Apparently, the Oberon Mega Tunnel was all done and completed. The wyrmling was in charge of that project, and since it was finished the wyrmling, presumably out of boredom, stirred some trouble with the rebel kobolds. He¡¯ll have to give his pet another task to keep it distracted. ¡°You know, since they are your people you will have to look after them.¡± ¡°I will, meow, they are my minions now. Dragons look after their minions.¡± The wyrmling said it as if it was obvious. ¡°Are you thinking of bringing them to MegaFarm?¡± ¡°No, meow, I was thinking of making a lair close to the mountain.¡± ¡°Good.¡± After all, kobolds were agoraphobic. ¡°Then I have a proposition.¡± ¡°Meow?¡± ¡°With the tunnel completed I expect the trade with the Scorpions to boom. We need a trade hub.¡± ¡°Meow?¡± The wyrmling tilted its head to the other side. ¡°What I¡¯m saying is that you could set up your lair by the end of the tunnel. This way we could control what came in and out. We could carve space for storage. Maybe even set up some type of market to attract the desert denizens. I¡¯ve heard they have some interesting monster materials.¡± He gave his pet another meaningful look. ¡°From the spider explorer reports, it¡¯s unlikely this will bring any gold, but I¡¯ve heard they have some pretty insect shells.¡± ¡°Meow! I could do that.¡± ¡°Of course, you would need to protect the hub. Defeat any other desert monsters which came for it. Maybe even protect the trade caravans.¡± ¡°No problem, meow, I¡¯m the Great Dessert Wyrm, the most feared monster in the desert. No one would dare to challenge me.¡± He shook his head, he doubted the wyrmling had any reputation in the Scorpion Desert, but yes, other wyrms had a reputation there. It was likely that his pet would need to fight off the other wyrms who would target the trade hub. But confidence was good. ¡°Anyway, I will assign some spiders for construction and protection.¡± ¡°No! Meow! I can do it myself.¡± ¡°You mean your minions?¡± ¡°Yes, meow, I have minions now. You can trust me with this, I¡¯m an adult.¡± ¡°Well, maybe I can see how it goes and then¡­¡± He became thoughtful for a moment. ¡°Sure let''s see how you handle it.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t disappoint you, Master.¡± The wyrmling announced proudly with the head raised high. ¡°I look forward to it.¡± Just as he said that he spied a Fennec camp which was being set up right outside the entrance to the tunnels. ¡°Oh look, someone is already encroaching on our turf. What are you going to do?¡± ¡°Meow? Leave this to me.¡± The wyrmling slithered to the group. The King was taken aback slightly at how calmly the wyrmling approached this situation, he had fully expected it to make a fuss and chase the Fennec away, but instead, it initiated a conversation with the furry creatures. As if it was completely natural, the wyrmling spoke their language and already knew how to interact with them. Now and then the Fennec would make a high-pitched giggle; a good sign, right? ¡°Is this because they both are desert monsters?¡± He had to wonder. Of course, he had Language Comprehension perk and could talk with the Fennec too, but he wanted to see wyrmling doing its thing. The wyrmling slithered back to him. ¡°Master, can I have my allowance now?¡± ¡°Ah yes, the tunnel was completed, so¡­¡± He pulled out a very heavy sack out of his inventory. Unsurprisingly, being a type of dragon, the wyrm had asked for gold and gems. ¡°¡­here¡¯s your reward.¡± The wyrmling took it into its maw and slithered back to the Fennec. The little fuzzy creatures danced at the sight of coins. ¡°Huh, but the spider report told me that desert races had no interest in the gold.¡± He himself had that experience with the scorpion traders. ¡°Ah, but maybe Fennec are different.¡± The wyrmling slithered back with a visibly lighter bag. ¡°They are my minions now.¡± It announced proudly. ¡°Is this how it works? You just bribed them? You bought minions?¡± ¡°Yes, meow, why are you so surprised.¡± ¡°Buying minions¡­¡± He was thoughtful again. ¡°No, what am I even thinking? It¡¯s basically just hiring people. Yes, you employed them.¡± ¡°Meow?¡± ¡°Anyway, I¡¯ll trust this to you. I¡¯ll pop back to see how it goes sometime later.¡± ¡°Worry not.¡± Even if the King said it so the wyrm must have seen his anxiety. ¡°I know what I need to do. Dig warehouses, set up a market, maybe make walls. Set up a Trade Hub, meow, I know!¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. The King nodded with a smile. ¡°Yeah, you get it¡­ Man, the pets grow up so quickly. Just a while ago you were just an egg.¡± ¡°I¡¯m an adult now, meow!¡± ¡°Yes, yes you are.¡± He petted the juvenile wyrmling, it was barely bigger than a large dog. ¡­ The good times were once again upon the Spider Kingdom; it was expanding. The path to the desert was opened and the Trade Hub was under construction. The Oberon Mountain soon will also be claimed; the human volunteers were working diligently in the Dark Fortress. Really, it couldn''t be better. The Spider King was in his office going through the routine reports the Trusty Advisor had prepared. *Knock *Knock ¨C A sound demanded his attention. He looked up to see the Centauri Champion standing at the door frame. ¡°Well, the doors are wide open, come in.¡± He encouraged setting the report papers to the side. ¡°We¡¯ve made you this.¡± The Centauri Champion put a tray on the table. The tray was covered with blue cloth, there was something under it. ¡°What is it?¡± He pulled the cloth off. ¡°Food?¡± He looked at the slightly off-yellow cubes. The Centauri Champion looked at him expectantly. ¡°Go on. Try it.¡± She urged excitedly. The King put one of the sliced cubes in his mouth. ¡°No!¡± He exclaimed. ¡°This can¡¯t be.¡± His face underwent a series of complex emotions: shock, surprise, nostalgia, pleasure¡­ ¡°Yes, it is.¡± She smiled at him knowingly. ¡°Cheese? But how?¡± ¡°To be honest, the Drow Assistant helped us with the process, but otherwise it is made entirely by us, The Centauri.¡± ¡°Wow, this tastes really smooth and creamy.¡± He ate one cheese cube after the other. ¡°Hi-Hi¡­¡± She nickered happily. ¡°I can see you like it a lot.¡± She puffed her chest. ¡°This batch was made by me.¡± He moved his eyes from the cheese and found the Centauri Champion blushing. ¡°Oh¡­ Oh!¡± Yeah, it¡¯s not like the Spider Kingdom had any cows or goats, admittedly, his mind was late in that realisation. Huh, but they did have a rather well-endowed Centauri. Was it weird for him to eat their milk products? ¡°Well, it does taste amazing. Thank you, Centauri Champion.¡± He put the last cheese piece into his mouth. ¡°I can make more if you want.¡± She said it somewhat bashfully. ¡°Thinking about it¡­ Don¡¯t you have to be pregnant to produce milk?¡± ¡°My King!¡± She snorted excitedly. ¡°Are you suggesting something? But your wife¡­¡± He raised an eyebrow unable to follow her trail of thought. ¡°Ah, I remember. It¡¯s a side effect of Fertility Potion. Or is it the intended effect?¡± He mused it over. ¡°So, with this, we can make them: Cheeseburger, Cheesecake, Cream Cheese!¡± He didn¡¯t think he will be able to taste them again. ¡°My King, you want three?¡± She nickered excitedly. ¡°And you already have the names for them. But will your wife approve of this¡­ No, I will raise them to be your servants. They won¡¯t have a claim on your royal legacy. Yes, it will be alright. Hi-hi.¡± She finished with a giddy giggly. ¡°Centauri Champion, what are you talking about? Maybe you should go easy on that Fertility Potion?¡± His wife, the Lamia Queen, would also say crazy things after drinking it; yet another side effect. ¡°But I need it to make you your¡­¡± ¡°No, having only you making milk for my cheeses would be unfair. Really, too demanding for one person.¡± ¡°I see, you¡¯re right...¡± She said it with a tinge of disappointment. ¡°It can be demanding on a woman''s body. And to make all three would take at least three years. But I assure you I can do it.¡± ¡°Three years¡­ That is a long time to realise my dream.¡± Maybe the Centauri didn¡¯t produce as much milk as he thought, after all, they weren¡¯t industrial-grade cows. Nor should he treat them like that. ¡°Hmm, also, there were potion side effects to consider, and I need you to keep your mind sharp since you are in charge of item transportation to the Aurelian Kingdom. I can¡¯t have someone so important be weakened by Fertility Potion.¡± He reasoned out loud. ¡°That¡¯s exactly why we should recruit more Centauri. With your permission of course.¡± ¡°Yes, I understand King.¡± For some reason, she was clearly in the dumps now. ¡°I might be out of place to say this, and you can reprimand me, but can I at least select the candidates? You wouldn¡¯t want it coming from a mare of low stock, would you, the results might be disappointing.¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll leave it to you. After all, I don¡¯t know what makes good milk to be good. And I wouldn¡¯t want it to taste any less better than the exquisite cheese I just had. Honestly, that was amazing.¡± ¡°Then why won¡¯t you let me make at least one¡­ Cream Cheese, I like that name.¡± ¡°Just as I said, I doubt you alone would be able to keep up with my demand. I am a greedy person, ha-ha.¡± He part joked part didn¡¯t, he doubted he would be able to stop eating once he tried that. The cheese he just had was that good. ¡°What are you saying, King!? I am a strong woman; I have a lot of stamina. I could go all night, every night, for weeks! Actually, I insist. Yes, it¡¯s only right for me to set an example for other Centauri. If that¡¯s what you want.¡± He was confused. So, do Centauri produce a lot of milk or not? ¡°Only if you insist. Okay, I let you make Cream Cheese. I¡¯ll write a short recipe for you to follow in the evening. And once again, ask the Drow Assistant for clarifications, after all, she did manage to make the Ice Cream.¡± ¡°Ah! So, you two already¡­¡± She lowered her head once again disappointed. ¡°Well, yeah. She did help me a lot. But granted the food you just made was as good as Ice Cream, if not better, no need to feel disheartened. I¡¯m sure your artisan culinary skills are on par.¡± He didn¡¯t even know the Centauri Champion liked making foodstuffs, but here he was with an empty tray and craving for more. ¡°I know you¡¯ll make the best Cream Cheese in the whole of Spider Kingdom.¡± The Centauri perked up again wagging her tail. ¡°Yes, King. My body is yours.¡± He blinked twice slightly embarrassed by that vigorous proclamation. That came out strong, but the Centauri was eccentric, and he was eating her food, so maybe it wasn¡¯t wrong to say that. Oh boy, it was kind of weird to eat a foodstuff made from a sapient, as well as an ethical and moral dilemma, but hey, it did taste very good! ¡°I just want to make sure about one thing.¡± He spoke. She looked at him intently. ¡°I¡¯m not forcing you or anything, alright. If you or any other Centauri don¡¯t want to do this, it¡¯s okay.¡± ¡°What are you talking about, King?! This is an honour.¡± ¡°Alright then,¡± he beamed a very bright smile, ¡°and go easy on that Fertility Potion.¡± He warned. ¡°Then, I¡¯ll see you in the evening, yes?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll get the recipes done by then. But of course, since the milk is different you might need to experiment a little bit. And it might not work out on the first try.¡± She smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t mind trying again and again¡­¡± And here she was blushing once more. ¡°Wow, you Centauri are really something. Very dedicated to the task you take.¡± She simply bowed in thanks, swaying her weapons in the process. Wow, dangerous! ¡°Now then, I need to finish my reports.¡± He dismissed the Centauri Champion. Only in the evening did he realise that there was a massive misunderstanding to clear up. ¡­ Centauri Champion, loyal servant to the Spider King, proud leader of the surviving Centauri, in charge of logistics and transport to Aurelian Kingdom. Age 25 cycles, mare. Hair colour yellow, fur colour white. Loves to do long-distance running. Loves to make food for the King. Loves the King. Current life goal is to have a child.
Monster Race: Centauri Variant: Champion Magic Affinity: None ?? ?????? ??
HP:250/250 MP:50 STA:250
Active Perks [Relentless Charge], [Trample], [Overwhelming Force]
Passive Perks [Swift Hooves], [Agile Manoeuvres], [Lance Proficiency]
Resistances [Dark Weakness: Lesser]
98 - The Confusion Of The Highest Order The Centauri Champion was holding the Cream Cheese recipe in her hand, the paper was slightly crumpled from her tight grip and her face was flushed red from embarrassment. This was wild, how is it even possible to confuse Cream Cheese with making babies? The recipe is for cheese and not for that type of activity! ¡°I don¡¯t know how this happened. I was talking about making food items from milk. About dairy products.¡± Albeit, admittedly, they would be using her milk for that, so maybe this was the root of the misunderstanding. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for the confusion.¡± He bowed in apology. She looked at him dejectedly, after all, she had come here after doing extensive preparations. Because of that she still had to ask. ¡°Does this mean you don¡¯t want my child?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I have a wife.¡± He said so but that didn¡¯t mean that he wasn¡¯t humbled by her honest feelings. The centauri snorted in anxious disappointment. ¡°Can I still make the Cream Cheese? The item, not the foal. Please allow me at least that.¡± ¡°Ahh, I thought that¡­¡± That after the rejection she might not be up for the task anymore. ¡°Sure, I would be honoured.¡± He nodded happily. She shook her head with a neigh. ¡°No, the honour is all mine.¡± ¡°I already look forward to it.¡± He imagined all the delicious cheese deserts. ¡°But if you ever want a child to serve you, my King, I¡¯m all yours.¡± Here we go, she¡¯s blushing again. The Centauri Champion was a woman who jumped from one emotion to another in a matter of seconds. He didn¡¯t want to give a strong reply so that he wouldn¡¯t hurt her pride again. ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡± He didn¡¯t expect a strong response from that cheap line, but the Centauri Champion gave him a broad grin and nickered happily at his words. Maybe, he shouldn¡¯t have given her any false hope, but it was too late to take those words back. They looked at each other without saying a word, the silence was intense but not unpleasant. Misunderstanding or not he now knew how she felt about him. He bowed again to express his gratitude. ¡°Thank you again.¡± He voiced it. ¡°For what? I¡¯m just doing my duty.¡± ¡°For everything¡­¡± He straightened his back. ¡°Now, if you don¡¯t mind¡­¡± He implied it was time for them to part, after all, the situation was becoming risky. The Centauri Champion was still looking at him with passion, her long eyelashes were fluttering wildly with each blink, her body emitted a pleasant fragrance, she was dressed provocatively, and he already knew how her delectable milk tasted. This centauri knew where to strike for a critical hit. He was taking lethal damage. ¡°I understand.¡± She bowed deeply exposing her weapons. And then she left the office with a giddy frolic. ¡°Phew, this was dangerous¡± He slumped back to his chair. ¡°I blame you, Fertility Potion. I might need to regulate the substance; it makes the women go crazy.¡± He considered it but only offhandedly. Anyways, it was time for him to reunite with his loyal wife, and maybe release that pent-up frustration. Just as he walking through the Fire Lantern lit corridor a familiar message popped into his vision. [Chaos Blessed activated], it was a long while he saw this one. Ever since he unlocked the Monster System, the perk remained docile. [Farming +25000Exp], [Farming +40000Exp], the lumps of generous experience meant that the eggs in the Egg Hatchery had hatched. ¡°But the spiders hadn¡¯t laid any, it¡¯s not their time¡­¡± these weren¡¯t spider eggs. ¡°The Lamia Eggs are hatching.¡± He began rushing to the Egg Hatchery. ¡°No, I need to get Lamia Queen first.¡± He turned around and sprinted to his bedroom. He opened the doors dramatically, his lamia was sprayed all over the bed. There was only a nightgown on her body. She looked so invitingly defenceless, but¡­ ¡°The eggs! The eggs are hatching!¡± She blinked sleepily. ¡°Sss?¡± ¡°Come!¡± He urged. ¡°No, you¡¯ll catch up. See you there.¡± He remembered he didn¡¯t need to walk like an average person. ¡°[Shadow Walk].¡± He disappeared. ¡°What¡¯s the excitement about? It¡¯s just eggs, sss, it¡¯s not like he gave me any to lay.¡± Regardless, she slithered out of the bed lazily. The Egg Hatchery was underground and away from the harmful sun rays, there were no less than five hundred eggs stored. A cloud of darkness entered through the thin wall from above and condensed in the middle of the dark room. ¡°[Dark Flame]¡± He spoke as soon as he was out of the Shadow Walk. The magical flame allowed him to see the hatchery and wasn¡¯t harmful to the eggs. He saw thin snake-like forms slithering between the broken eggshells, some were still in the process of breaking through. All was fine, of course, it was, he was here because that perk had triggered. It often brought some strange and unforeseen changes in his life. And also, there were two bouts of Exp messages which meant¡­ ¡°[Inspect].¡±, he targeted the lama hatchling with bluish-grey skin.
Monster Race: Serpentine Variant: Cave Lamia Magic Affinity: none ????
HP:10 MP:5 STA:15
Active Perks [Camouflage]
Passive Perks [Minor Regeneration]
Resistances [Cold Weakness: Medium]
And then he targeted another, the one which was almost pitch black. ¡°[Inspect].¡±
Monster Race: Serpentine Variant: Chaos Lamia Magic Affinity: Dark ?????
HP:8 MP:12 STA:10
Active Perks [Illusion] This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Passive Perks [Reflective Scales]
Resistances [Cold Weakness: Medium], [Dark Resistance: Lesser]
So, yeah, there were two variants. Just at a glance, it was clear that there were less of chaos variants around, maybe at the ratio 1 to 5. If so, hatching a single Chaos Lamia gave him +250exp and Cave Lamia +100exp; the reason that one number was higher than the other was obvious, Chaos Lamia was a superior variant. Well, the stats were way too low, and the perks were lacking, but they were still in their baby forms still, surely those will grow with time. ¡°Sss¡±, ¡°Sss¡±, ¡°Sss¡±. The lamias pooled to his feat and hissed. Was this the equivalent of the human baby crying and demanding food? He didn¡¯t know, that¡¯s why he had called for his wife. Speaking of which. ¡°Sss-so they had finally hatched, sss, [Identify], [Identify]¡± For some reason she used the archaic remnant Identify instead of proper Monster System¡¯s Inspect. And here he thought Identify was for items only. ¡°SSS!¡± The Lamia Queen hissed sharply. ¡°We must kill the black ones.¡± These words startled him so much that he almost jumped. ¡°What do you mean? They¡¯re just babies!¡± ¡°This sss-should not have been possible... The babies somehow changed in their eggs and turned into an unknown variant. It¡¯s good you called me here. SSS!¡± She bent her back to grab a black hatchling, but it promptly slithered away from her claws. ¡°Yeah, but why kill them¡­¡± He was still startled by her crazy words. As if aware of the threat all Chaos Lamia shimmered their otherwise black scales in all colours of the rainbow, and just like that their appearance changed to their more pale siblings. It was now impossible to tell them apart. ¡°Illusion magic, sss! You will not escape, [Identify].¡± ¡°[Inspect]¡­¡± He tried again and again but couldn¡¯t tell the two apart. Everyone now was just identified as Cave Lamia. However, Queen Lamia¡¯s Identify must have been able to pierce the illusion. She managed to grab one of the hatchlings. ¡°Got you! You won¡¯t be able to hide!¡± She squeezed. ¡°SSS!¡± The hatchling hissed in pain. He wasn¡¯t going to stand and watch something like that. ¡°No!¡± He grabbed his wife¡¯s hands and pried the baby away. ¡°Why are you being so cruel? Explain to me!¡± ¡°They are not my blood. SSS! They have changed.¡± She hissed. ¡°So what?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not their Queen. They won¡¯t recognise my authority, sss!¡± ¡°So what?¡± He repeated. ¡°What do you mean sss-so what?¡± She reached to grab the hatchling back. ¡°They¡¯re just babies! I don¡¯t think they¡¯re evil just because they have a chaos tag next to their variant. Johny is a Lesser Eldrich and she¡¯s just fine!¡± ¡°It¡¯s-sss not about the tag!¡± ¡°So why? I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°¡­¡± She was clearly agitated but chose to say nothing. ¡°Please explain to me.¡± He begged setting the startled baby down. ¡°They won¡¯t recognise my authority, sss, ever! They¡¯ll grow and then a Chaos Lamia Queen will form¡­¡± He was listening, but still he was struggling to understand her anger. Saying another ¡®So what?¡¯ might just provoke her anger again. ¡°Why is it bad?¡± ¨C so he asked it slightly differently. ¡°SSS! You¡¯ll have to marry her then, won¡¯t you!¡± Wait¡­ Was this just because of jealousy? If so, she had some serious issues. But even then, she was his wife and he still loved her even if she was a baby-killing monster. Honestly, normally she was a good wife so maybe all he had to do was reassure her. ¡°Even if it comes to that I won¡¯t marry the hypothetical Chaos Lamia Queen. I have you and it is enough.¡± He reasoned. ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Really.¡± ¡°Then I guess they can stay.¡± The anger disappeared if it never was there. He felt it was appropriate to say it now. ¡°My dear wife, sometimes you are just too scary. You can¡¯t go on a rampage and kill babies. That¡¯s just evil.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say I¡¯m sss-sorry, but I¡¯ll let the chaos hatchlings be. But dear husband, you should know that Lamia aren¡¯t too friendly with other Lamia of different blood. If it¡¯s not us, it will be the Chaos Lamia who cause trouble.¡± As far as he saw it, the blood was the same, it was only their variant which changed. But hey, apparently the Lamia were rather prejudiced even against their own. But maybe this was just how monster races were. Competition was necessary for survival especially when the resources were strained. However, there was no shortage of food in Spider Kingdom, he knew there was no cause for hostilities. ¡°If there will be problems, then I will deal with it. Bad comes to worse, I¡¯ll just place them further away from MegaFarm. Even if you can¡¯t be their Queen, I am still their ruler. I won¡¯t marry their hypothetical Queen, but they will still have to listen to me and to you as my wife.¡± ¡°Okay, that might work, sss, but I can¡¯t help but worry.¡± There was no need. ¡°How can I help you not to worry?¡± He offered because having her worried was evidently dangerous. ¡°Put an egg in my belly already. SSS!¡± She demanded. Yeah¡­ He could do that. But he was always hesitant. He too was flawed and had a lot of worries, especially when it came to children. He couldn¡¯t help but fear that the child born would be some kind of a freak, after all, he was still part human, and she was a serpentine monster. What if the born baby would come out to be some pitiful mutant? His worried face was an obvious one so the Lamia Queen asked, ¡°How can I, sss, help you not to worry?¡± ¡°What if we make some sort of a monster? After all, I am a Monster King.¡± ¡°Sss-so what? We¡¯ll raise it well.¡± ¡°And if it¡¯s some Eldritch Abomination?¡± ¡°Even better, sss, it will be feared by everyone just like Johny is.¡± That statement wasn¡¯t true! Johny was the beloved hero of the Spider Kingdom. ¡°And if¡­ if we just can¡¯t make a baby?¡± ¡°Nonsense. I¡¯m the Lamia Queen, sss, my body is fertile and sss-strong. And so is yours!¡± It seems she didn¡¯t have any concerns about that. And she was right, even if it came out to be some sort of monstrosity, he was positive that with the right parenting all would be well. ¡°I guess, there is no reason to neglect my duties. Yeah, let¡¯s get a baby.¡± ¡°Yes-sss!¡± She launched herself for an embrace squeezing the King tight. ¡°Let¡¯s do it now.¡± ¡°Eh? Not here!¡± They were still in the hatchery surrounded by confused or otherwise scared hatchlings. The lamia pouted. ¡°Are you trying to go back on your word?¡± ¡°No, no¡­ we can start trying as soon as today. Let''s just get back to the bedroom.¡± ¡°Go on then.¡± She jumped to his arms expecting him to carry her. ¡°Okay.¡± He silently apologised to all the hatchlings. They were obviously perturbed and hungry. While on his way to his royal bedroom, he¡¯ll make sure to tell a spider to feed them. He might seem na?ve and oblivious most of the time, but he did some research here and there. As long as the babies stayed out of light and were fed a daily ration of meat, they will be fine. Actually, they didn¡¯t need that much of attention to begin with. In the natural environment, the Lamia would let them out into the caves to hunt for bugs and insects, and once they grew just a bit he would do much the same. They could even hunt the local squirrels; the fattened squirrels could do with a bit of running exercises. Anyways, he rushed back to the bedroom. ¡­ *Pop ¨C a loud popping sound reverberated through the air. ¡°It¡¯s back.¡± A spider chirped with concern. This wasn¡¯t anything like the Shadow Plague, but one thing was obvious. Even if an extremely rare sight, the shadow creatures were back. ¡°This matter requires. The attention of the King.¡± The spider scuttered through the lantern-lit path towards the abode of the revered Spider King. The spider walked through many corridors, all decorated and spruced up by skilled spider crafters. It was hard not to get distracted by a magnificently woven wall, woven yes, or the expertly carved IronOak door frame. ¡°Here it is.¡± The spider finally arrived at the royal bed chamber, however, there were two lamia warriors standing beside the closed doors guarding it. The guards had funny expressions on their faces and were way too squirmy with their tails and even their spear-wielding hands were fidgeting with the spear shaft. It didn¡¯t look too professional, or maybe the guards were complete newbies. The spider didn¡¯t judge them too much, the spider knew that the Lamia, unlike spiders, weren¡¯t born with knowledge and so they had to learn how to do things properly; it was understandable. They will get better with time. The spider gazed upon the tightly shut door. Even if they were well closed the dulled sounds pierced the IronOak door. The spider couldn¡¯t tell exactly what it was but It sounded like there was a party going on inside. ¡°I have a report. For the Spider King.¡± The two lamias stepped closer to block the door. ¡°SSS-Spider,¡± one of the lamia addressed, ¡°Spider Reports will have to wait, sss, the King is busy.¡± The spider was aware of that, but it still had to give a report. ¡°I¡¯ll wait.¡± It chirped simply. The two lamias didn¡¯t raise any objections. The spider waited and waited, but by the sound of it, the party only got more intense. No problem, if it had to wait the spider could do that even until the morning, but it was rather boring to remain still and in silence. ¡°I heard. There is more. Lamia now.¡± The spider mentioned the newest rumour. As guards, the lamia shouldn¡¯t be engaging in the idle chatter, but they too were bored. No, they were more than bored, they were bothered so a distraction was welcome. ¡°Yes, hatchlings hatched, our numbers go sss-stronger.¡± ¡°Yes-sss, most will become warriors.¡± The two sounded very pleased about that. ¡°Warriors? But last time. It was mostly Lamia Servants.¡± Yes, the spider was sure of that. The lamia came in three kinds, servants, warriors, and nobles. Much like spiders, the servants were smaller than their warrior brethren. ¡°Sss-Spider, you don¡¯t know?¡± The spider shook its head. ¡°We had a human to help us this time, sss, so it¡¯s natural the warriors will be born.¡± Oh yes, the spider heard that rumour. Much like spiders, the Lamia could lay eggs on their own, but unlike spiders, they needed a partner to seed the egg so it would hatch with the potential to become a warrior or even a noble lamia, otherwise, it would hatch only as a servant. ¡°I see. Perhaps, the stronger the partner. The stronger the egg?¡± It reasoned. The lamia gave the spider an approving look. ¡°Sss-so you understand. It is exactly as you sss-say.¡± ¡°Human Gareth. Is a strong human. Did well in the Darkness War.¡± ¡°Precisely, the warriors should be exceptionally vigorous, s-s-s.¡± The lamia guard hiss-giggled as if remembering something. Another lamia butted in to add. ¡°S-s-s, it¡¯s a shame he left for the Dark Fortress.¡± The spider heard about that rumour. Human Gareth didn¡¯t just leave, he escaped to be away from Lamia. But the spider didn¡¯t feel the need to correct them. ¡°How about. Human Bareth? He is strong too.¡± ¡°Sss, him? He has a bad taste.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t even give us a chance to charm him with our gaze.¡± ¡°Yes-sss his eyes are only for Centauri.¡± Ah, this was the only human who stayed. But apparently, Human Bareth wasn¡¯t interested in seeding Lamia eggs. The spider learned a new rumour it didn¡¯t know already. This was good! ¡°Does Human Bareth. Seeds only Centauri Eggs?¡± The two lamia looked at each other. ¡°Sss¡­ I¡¯m not too sure. The Centauri hadn¡¯t built their hatchery. Or anything like that.¡± True, they didn¡¯t have a building like that. ¡°And who cares about them, sss.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± The spider heard another rumour, at first the spider didn¡¯t quite understand it but after talking with lamia it did. ¡°Just today. The Centaury Champion. Was here to seed her eggs with¡­¡± The spider paused for dramatic effect. ¡°With the Spider King!¡± ¡°SSS!¡±, ¡°No way!¡± ¡°Lamia, worry not. The King refused.¡± They hissed in relief. ¡°But why worry?¡± The spider asked. ¡°The King would make. An exceptional egg.¡± ¡°Not with Centauri, no, sss.¡± The spider disagreed, it didn¡¯t matter with whom, the King could definitely make an exceptional egg. ¡°Ah¡­¡± The spider sighed wishfully. ¡°It would be good. If the King could seed. The spider eggs.¡± The two lamia looked at the spider with unabridged terror in their eyes. ¡°SSS! The spiders are already too powerful!¡± ¡°Yes-sss, it would upset the balance.¡± ¡°And the King has the Lamia Queen. She can give him all the eggs he needs.¡± ¡°Yes-sss!¡± The two spoke one after the other with a tinge of panic in their hissy voices. ¡°That¡¯s just. A thought.¡± The spider shook its head. ¡°In reality. It is impossible.¡± It chirped matter-of-factly. ¡°Sss¡­¡± the lamias hissed in relief. Impossible, for now¡­ The spider ended up waiting for the party to finish all the way to the late morning. But it was okay, it picked up a few interesting rumours, and some ideas to share with the spider friends. 99 – Slam Dunkin Extra Large Whammy XXL Grande Venta Combo Back in the Aurelian Kingdom, an interesting phenomenon was taking place. A while ago the kingdom suffered an unprecedented famine but since then things have changed drastically. Food, and especially the staple of TomGrape, was cheap, readily available, and plentiful. The gaunt and famished faces were replaced by soft and plump roundness. But the problem was that it didn¡¯t stop there. Maybe the TomGrape was just irresistible, or maybe there were other factors in the play, regardless, everyone had grown rather fat, no, not just fat ¨C Obese. Well-rounded ladies and large-sized gentlemen roamed the streets. And it''s not just the body size that changed. If anything, the clothing industry had boomed from ever-increasing demand for a larger size of clothing. Surprisingly, the highly coveted Blue Cloth had found its way to households with otherwise modest means. It wasn¡¯t just rich merchants and nobles who were wearing that fashionable blue nowadays; how splendid! Even better, the spiders had taken it upon themselves to meet the increasing clothing demand, and who could compete with a spider? ¨C they were masters of weaving! Admittedly, the plump ladies and generously proportioned gentlemen wouldn''t wear the clothing for long, soon it would be a size too small. Spiders were well aware of that fact, so to keep the otherwise expensive items accessible to common people, they have been weaving only simple patterns with few flourishes and the cloth itself was kept thin. However, the populace didn¡¯t seem to mind. And why would they? Unlike a dull peasant tunic, which most had used to wear, the spider tunic was still patterned and expertly woven and¡­ it was the opposite of dull, it was vivid blue. It was simply Spidery Magnificent! Since the clothing was made from Blue Cloth it came with all of its extra bonuses. Most importantly it came with Dirt Resistance. The effect was more useful than it sounded, it could repel more than just dirt. You could spill on it juice, wine, sauce, oil, and all of it would just flow off of the cloth leaving no marks or stains, meaning that it barely required any cleaning. And considering the eating habits of the denizens of the Aurelian Kingdom such clearly magical tunic was no less than a God send. ¡®Sloppy eating, yes! But stains no more!¡¯ a spider would often say that line after selling the tunic. Needless to say, no one was afraid of spiders anymore. Quite the opposite, to speak ill of the spiders was becoming a taboo here in the Aurelian Kingdom. What if they decided to leave? ¨C a shudder-inducing thought indeed. Obviously, since Aurelius The Great (previously known as just Aurelius II, or the puppet king) opened the city to spiders things were getting only better and better. Thus, the capital of the Aurelian Kingdom underwent a type of transformation and a cultural shift. If you asked a slightly leading question: ¡®Do you think we live in a new Golden Age?¡¯ ¨C many would nod with ¡®Ah! That¡¯s right!¡¯ and ¡®That¡¯s exactly it!¡¯ or similar statements. The spiders kept bringing new things and concepts to the capital. The newest of which was a certain building with a certain name, Spidery Delicious. It was erected at the border of the Merchant Square in mere weeks. At first, the people thought that the spiders were building some sort of a temple to the Spider King. The confusion was understandable because the building was grand in scale and scope. It was built using the unconventional techniques of spiders and used unknown and exotic building materials. The architecture was unique and something only a spider could come up, but no doubt it was Spidery Magnificent. Wooden snow-white walls, blue webs, purple roof, carved IronOak furniture; understandably, everything just stood out and screamed extraordinary! Within only a week various wild rumours spread about Spidery Delicious. ¡°It is a temple.¡±, ¡°It¡¯s the Royal Armoury.¡±, ¡°Magic University!¡± ¡°No. It is a place. To gather. And to eat.¡± The spider chirped simply to dispel the rumours. Anyways, the Spidery Delicious was opening today. Spurred by rumours, curiosity, and hunger for wonder a huge crowd had already formed by the building. Round women and even rounder men were roaring and eager to go inside; they jiggled their soft and plum flesh in excitement. The crowd was dense and blue, from afar it looked like a rippling lake, a lake full of jiggly jelly. Two spider guards stepped away from the grand doors opening them with a flourish. The jiggly lake jiggled violently threatening to flood inside. The spider guards were well aware of the avarice of humans, so they were armed in preparation with Peacekeeping Sticks. The crowd was well aware of the power of the stick and its mercilessness, but even then, they shoved and pushed. ¡°Behave!¡± The spider chirped dispensing the stick with generous application. Ironically, the rounder the humans got the more resistant they became to the stick; however, the situation was controlled in the end. Only a certain number of humans were allowed in. Their round shapes promptly filled the seats in front of the table. Each table had its little spider waiter, waiting just above on the ceiling web. The humans were presented with a plethora of food options. ¡°Forbidden Sauce, that sounds exciting.¡± The plump lady slammed her hands together. Boulder-shaped gentlemen nodded at the menu options. ¡°I¡¯m tired of the little morsels the merchants call food at their stalls. Double Whammy Mega Bird Burder XXL. Finally, a well-sized meal.¡± ¡°Eh, are you on a diet or something? I¡¯m going with Slam Dunk Triple Giga Squirrel Burger.¡± A mountain of a man declared. The spider waiter hung on a thread just above the table making positive chirps as if to praise their orders. ¡°Spider I can¡¯t seem to make up my mind. Can you suggest me something?¡± The plump lady asked with a smile. ¡°Then. I encourage you to try. Our Squirrel Nuggets. Would you like a sample?¡± Even before the plump lady could even jiggle her chin for confirmation the spider had already produced a single nugget. ¡°Meh, just a morsel like in those stingy merchant stalls.¡± The boulder-shaped man didn¡¯t sound impressed. The lady must have differing opinions because she snatched the meat nugget and gobbled it up with gusto. ¡°Wow, it''s breaded but not dry. The meat is juicy and practically melts in your mouth. And there is that hint of TomGrape sweetness.¡± She said as if she was some sort of food critic. Those didn¡¯t yet exist in the Human Kingdoms. ¡°I¡¯m surprised. The Lady. Is so well-versed in food. We feed the squirrels TomGrape. To make them plump. And the meat sweet. However. If you dip it in the Forbidden Sause. It is even better!¡± The spider pointed at the sauce container. ¡°Is that so? Then get me, what¡­ fifty Squirrel Nuggets, no, make it a hundred.¡± ¡°Understood. An Extra Large Grande Venti Bucket of Squirrel Nuggets.¡± The spider crawled back to the ceiling web to get their order from the kitchen. A bit later, on an entirely different table, a group of only moderately round men were marvelling at a peculiar discovery. Mind you, moderately round was considered out of fashion nowadays. ¡°I¡¯m telling you my Obese negative status just disappeared!¡± ¡°But you just ate three whole meals¡­ you¡¯re lying.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not. Man, I¡¯m even willing to pay a Scribe to prove it.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Spider, is this drink some sort of medicine.¡± The man pointed at the half-empty glass bottle. ¡°Spider-FizzPop? is there. To quench your daily thirst. And to fill you with life!¡± The spider chirped the slogan it was instructed to chirp. ¡°It¡¯s not medicine.¡± ¡°If you say so.¡± The man finished the bottle and then smacked his lips delightfully. ¡°Hey, my negative status just disappeared!¡± ¡°I told you!¡± ¡°Shit, I didn¡¯t ask for the price. This drink must be expensive.¡± The man said with a tinge of panic. The other man also paled at the realisation. If Spider-FizzPop? was able to get them rid of the negative status effect it was comparable to a Potion and those were expensive commodities. ¡°No cussing!¡± The spider reprimanded the panicked man with a stern chirp. The man paled even further, he didn¡¯t want to be thrown out of the Spidery Delicious, his otherwise good reputation would plummet sharply. He bowed his head in apology. The spider mellowed and chirped to inform the two. ¡°The drinks are free. You can have as much. As you want.¡± It added in a more pleasant chirp. ¡°Eh?¡±, ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Spider-FizzPop?. To quench your daily thirst. To fill you with life!¡± It chirped happily. ¡°Want more?¡± ¡°If it¡¯s free¡­ why not?¡± ¡°Yeah, fetch me another bottle.¡± The man smacked his lips in anticipation. Hence, another unexplained phenomenon was taking place. The round humans would come to Spidery Delicious to engorge themselves with food, but surprisingly they would come out slightly thinner. A mystery indeed! ¡­ While the Aurelian Kingdom with its own King and set of laws sounded like an independent nation, it was not. It was only a small part in an otherwise big bundle of kingdoms which formed the Holy Empire. As part of the Holy Empire, the Aurelian Kingdom had to follow the emperor¡¯s will and pay yearly tribute. Since it was at the far and insignificant edge of the empire the Aurelian Kingdom was left to its devices to do as it pleased, that is as long as it paid the tribute. Aurelius the Great knew of this arrangement, hence why he had a complicated expression on his face. No, he wasn¡¯t worrying about the tribute, after all, he had dealt with the corrupt nobles and freed their ill-gotten fortunes. He freed that gold right into the now not-so-empty Royal Treasury. The worry was stemming from another matter, the obvious fact that he had shifted his loyalties. The Holy Empire was very particular about the position and treatment of demi-human races. Those were only fit to be slaves. Yeah, there was that. Now imagine how they viewed actual monster races like Kobolds and Lamia. The problem here was that the capital was experiencing an increased presence of spiders. And those were clearly of monster race. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Aurelius the Great, not only couldn¡¯t kick the spiders out of the capital, even if for a few weeks, he didn¡¯t want to! And for many good reasons. First, the people would revolt, surprisingly, they grew to love the spiders and their magnificence, but rather than love, it was ugly dependence. No, let¡¯s just call it love. Second, Aurelius the Great was loyal to the Monster King, he had no desire to backstab him in any way. And why would he, while the Holy Empire did nothing during the famine and the war, the Spider King helped, helped and helped. Of course, there were many other good reasons, he could sit there and name them all day. ¡°Even then. I must meet them. I must try to reason with¡­¡± He sat on his ¡®throne¡¯ deeply in thought. ... A group of Imperial taxmen were making their way towards the Royal Palace of Aurelian Kingdom. Officially they were here to collect the tribute, but that was just an excuse, otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have come in tow with the Holy Inquisition. Well, they didn¡¯t come in full force, just a platoon of a hundred or so inquisitors. They weren¡¯t here for war, only to investigate a rather disturbing rumour. Admittedly, the investigation was done before it could even start. The offences were that obvious. King Aurelius II, or King Aurelius the Great as the people called him, was guilty. All that was left was to simply face the man and declare his sins. Then, depending on the King''s actions the Holy Empire will react accordingly. So, they simply rushed towards the palace. ... A group of people burst into a spacious but oddly barren throne room. The Imperial Taxmen and the Holy Inquisition didn¡¯t encounter a single guard on their way, so they didn¡¯t expect to see Aurelius II here in the dusty throne room at all. However, here he was, sitting on a plain stool in the middle of the room. He was alone, but he was fully clad in pitch-black armour. It was a miracle the stool didn¡¯t collapse under his humongous frame and the weight of those thick armour plates. ¡°Welcome, friends.¡± He greeted his guest by standing and opening his arms wide. It was obvious the King had gone crazy. The palace was stripped barren, and there were no guards not to mention servants, but here he was pretending that all of this was fine. The darkness must have consumed his mind. Even the chief inquisitor was shocked. ¡°Aurelius¡­ Are you alright?¡± That concern was unlikely for the chief inquisitor, often he would just strike the heretics and be done with it. But he was concerned. ¡°Of course, I am. Things can''t be better. You''re here for tribute, yes? Despite how this might look.¡± He waved at the barren throne room. ¡°I have your money. And the next year''s money, take it as a bonus.¡± Everyone looked around, there was no money only debris and dust. ¡°[Eclipse]!¡± Aurelius II bellowed unceremoniously. A pile of ash fell from his closed fist. It was mid-day, and the throne room had many windows, but even then, the entire space went completely dark. The darkness was unnatural and clearly of a magical nature. ¡°What is this spell!¡± The imperial taxman shouted in alarm afraid that he was blinded. The Holy Inquisition reacted at the danger promptly with a bunch of their own spells. ¡°[Divine Light]¡±, ¡°[Radiance]¡±, ¡°[Blessed Aura]¡± ¡­ the men cast a number of individual spells, they differed one from another, but all were of Light affinity. But even the best of their spells failed to disperse the darkness completely, at best only a small radius from the caster was illuminated. Regardless, they kept at it. Due to their efforts, or maybe because the Eclipse had concluded naturally, the throne room returned to its normal state. King Aurelius II was still there, standing in the same spot as if nothing had happened. But there was a change, in front of him was a pile of Imperial Coins, gems, and jewellery. ¡°I couldn¡¯t get it all in coin, my apologies, but there is enough.¡± This wasn¡¯t just two years of tribute; this might be even four or five depending on the quality of gems and jewellery. ¡°Are you trying to bribe us!¡± The imperial taxman yelled an accusation. He was obviously infuriated. Well, he had the Holy Inquisition with him, so he had to, and if they weren¡¯t here maybe he could¡­ but that¡¯s beside the point now. ¡°I never seen magic like this. This is some forbidden form of Dark arts... Men, don¡¯t touch even a single coin, they might be Cursed.¡± The chief inquisitor warned his men and especially the taxman. ¡°So, the rumours were right, you have succumbed to the Demon Lord.¡± One of the other inquisitors stepped forward brandishing her longsword; it was already coated in the glow of Radiant Light. ¡°Tch.¡± Aurelius II clicked his tongue in frustration. ¡°You couldn¡¯t be more wrong. As far as I see it, I did my duty to the Emperor. Just take the tribute and go.¡± He shooed them with a wave of his hand. There was definitely something wrong with Aurelius II, that confidence of his couldn¡¯t be explained. However, the chief inquisitor was a competent man, he knew better than to underestimate the evil. ¡°[Reveal Status],¡± he invoked a skill. The Chief Inquisitor backed a few steps down out of sheer shock. ¡°Something¡¯s wrong!¡± That was an understatement. The Aurelius II Status Screen looked all wrong. Where to even begin? First, it was completely unfamiliar, the layout was different, likely an effect of the mysterious Error[System_Override]! status effect, but the chief inquisitor could still follow what the table was trying to show. At least to some extent, the icons on the right were a complete mystery. Second, the System had clearly identified the King as some sort of a monster, the name tag was ¡®Corrupted Human¡¯, and just like a monster it came with its special perks. Normally humans had no such perks, at best talented or blessed individuals would be born with special traits like Increased Agility, Sword Proficiency, and the like. But this thing had some scary-sounding passive perks. Obviously, the Reveal Status was unable to show the known magic spells and class skills of an individual, but clearly Aurelius II knew magic, however, the problem was that this Corrupted Human managed to cast Eclipse which should¡¯ve been impossible because he had no mana and no magic affinity. Something was broken!
Target: Aurelius the Great Monster: Corrupted Human Magic Affinity: None ???????? ?????? ???? ?????
HP:300/300 MP:0 STA:300
Active Perks [Unstoppable Tackle], [Boulder Roll], [Body Slam]
Passive Perks [Dark Empowered], [Bulky], [Deflect Magic], [Scroll Master], [Vigorous Fat]
Resistances [Light Weakness: Medium], [Physical Resistance: Lesser]
Status Effects Error[System_Override]!, [Obese]
¡°Men, keep your distance. He is a monster!¡± The rest of the inquisitors gave an uncertain look to the chief inquisitor. ¡°I mean, real bona fide monster, the status is clear! It says¡­¡± He paused still struggling to come with the terms of it. ¡°Monster: Corrupted Human.¡± ¡°What?!¡±, ¡°How is that possible.¡±, ¡°But humans can¡¯t.¡± ¨C the inquisitors reacted with shock and disgust. ¡°Let¡¯s purge this monster.¡± A longsword-wielding inquisitor stepped closer to the Corrupted Human. Aurelius II didn¡¯t seem all too perturbed by the reveal of his status. ¡°Take your tribute and leave. Consider this my last warning.¡± The chief inquisitor now knew where this mad confidence stemmed from. Taking this monster on with only a hundred men seemed a risky business, the monster was clearly capable. ¡°No, don¡¯t get close.¡± He warned his eager but inexperienced colleague. ¡°We¡¯ll retreat. Just this once.¡± ¡°Chief Inquisitor, what are you saying? The monster is here right in front of us.¡± The longsword-wielding inquisitor protested. ¡°Yes, Monster unlike any we''ve seen before.¡± He emphasised. ¡°A Corrupted Human empowered by no one else but the Demon King.¡± Who knows maybe this isn¡¯t even Aurelius II, the Reveal Status clearly states that he¡¯s Aurelian the Great and not the former. ¡° There is no reason to lose good men and women here.¡± He reasoned further. They can always come back with the full army. ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°No buts!¡± He reprimanded the woman sternly. ¡°Aurelius II, or whatever you are, we¡¯ll take our leave today.¡± Aurelius II sighted as if tired by all the drama, ¡°But you¡¯ll be back, right? I know you will. At least take the gold with you.¡± He pointed at the shiny pile. ¡°I¡¯m a changed man, I don¡¯t go back on my promises.¡± He nodded. ¡°Yeah, tell the emperor that after you deliver my tribute.¡± The taxman reached for the gold. ¡°Don¡¯t you¡­¡± The chief inquisitor stopped him by grabbing his arm. Aurelius II shook his head at their antics. ¡°I assure you, it¡¯s not Cursed, or anything like that.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll not risk it.¡± The inquisitor looked at the men behind him. ¡°Now, let''s leave this accursed place at once.¡± The inquisitors, ever so cautiously, moved towards the exit. ¡°Oh, and to clear up the misunderstanding.¡± King Aurelius the Great casually stepped towards the retreating inquisition. ¡°it¡¯s not the Demon King, but The Monster King. And you should know better than to cross him.¡± The fleeing men seeing the Corrupted Human approaching increased their pace. ¡°Oh, and another thing. I strongly advise you to leave the resident spiders be. I can¡¯t guarantee your safety if you harm them.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll kill you, monster.¡± A rather eager inquisitor, the one with a glowing sword, shouted just before leaving through the door. She was the last one to leave. Aurelius the Great didn¡¯t pursue the inquisition through the palace halls. He close just closed the doors and began walking towards his ¡®throne¡¯. ¡°For their own sake, I hope they¡¯ll behave.¡± He sighed again. A shadow moved from a particularly dark corner towards the King. A large form of the spider manifested in front of him, the creature wore an excessive amount of golden jewellery. ¡°It seems. My presence was unnecessary. They¡¯ve left peacefully.¡± ¡°Yeah, but they didn¡¯t take my gift of goodwill.¡± He sighed again but in disappointment. ¡°I kind of figured they won¡¯t.¡± ¡°So, human, what comes next?¡± ¡°They¡¯ll attempt to crush the Aurelian Kingdom and Kill me. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s safe for spiders to remain. They kill them too.¡± ¡°So barbaric. They are no friends.¡± Aurelius the Great slumped heavily back on his ¡®throne¡¯, there was clear sadness on his face. ¡°I can¡¯t hope to match the full power of imperial might¡­¡± Whatever confidence he was displaying minutes ago it was all gone. ¡°Well¡­¡± The spider began with a chirp. ¡°They aren¡¯t friends, that¡¯s clear. But we have many human friends in the Aurelian Kingdom. Good friends, like you.¡± The boulder-sized king smiled at those words. ¡°it¡¯s the first time you called me that. I am honoured.¡± He attempted a bow without standing up from the tool, almost breaking the furniture in the process. ¡°Yes, you are also a subject of the Spider King. An ally.¡± ¡°Of course. A loyal subject if I might say so myself.¡± He clearly liked where this was going. ¡°So¡­ You can expect some help from the spiders.¡± ¡°And the Monster King?¡± ¡°His majesty remains preoccupied with duties of most importance. I rather not distract him too much.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± He said it as if his high hopes were just crushed. ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate us spiders. Our help, even if limited, will be enough.¡± ¡°Then we¡¯ll manage. Thanks.¡± He attempted a bow but the tired ¡®throne¡¯ finally buckled under the weight and exploded to fragments. ¡°Aurelius!¡± The spider scolded. ¡°That was Reinforced +2! You should visit the Spidery Delicious already.¡± 100 - The Hunt Of An Elusive Darkness The King had received the Spider Report. The news of the return of the shadow monsters were disturbing. ¡°[Summon Darkness],¡± he summoned the most likely culprit. A spot of darkness pooled in front of him forming a blob resembling a slime. ¡°Yes, Master. What¡¯s happening?¡± ¡°Shadow monsters are back. The spiders have spotted a shadow wolf.¡± ¡°Oh no!¡± It jiggled its slime-like body. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you have nothing to do with it.¡± ¡°But I don¡¯t, meow, I¡¯ve lost my previous power.¡± The voice the Darkness used at the moment belonged to a certain wyrmling, a known troublemaker, and for that reason, it didn¡¯t sound all too trustworthy. ¡°Is that so?¡± He looked at the slime sceptically. ¡°It is so. I don¡¯t have enough mana to summon even one of them, meow. But maybe if I can get close, I can take control?¡± That was an interesting idea. ¡°Hmm¡­ is it possible for them to be born naturally?¡± ¡°Well, since my¡­ transformation. There is a lot of ambient Dark mana around.¡± ¡°Yeah, and there is that rain too.¡± He decided to let his pet off the hook. ¡°Let¡¯s see if we can catch a shadow wolf.¡± ¡°Okay?¡± The Darkness jiggled uncertainly. He went to see the spiders to get a rough location where the shadow creatures were spotted. However, there was a certain problem, even if there were shadow wolves around, they were known to avoid spider detection and by extension him the Spider King. It was as if they could feel the spider¡¯s presence from a distance. A Spider ArchMage has been speculating that the shadow creatures had a keen sense for Dark magic and that they could sniff individuals with Dark affinity; and it made a lot of sense. The King could resort to trapping them, after all, CageBush trapping was a tested method. But since the sightings were rare and the MegaFarm was huge, trapping a shadow wolf could take weeks or months. Well, there was a solution. The spiders had whispered that his wife was preparing a surprise for him, unfortunately, that surprise was sort of spoiled because he already knew about the item she was making. ¡°Hmm, thinking about it. The item should already be ready. Let¡¯s go see my wife and ask some leading questions.¡± He urged his pet Darkness to tag along. ¡°Meow, Okay.¡± ¡­ The Lamia Queen was casually lounging in the throne room on a throne. There were two seats one for the King and one for the Lamia Queen, both made equal. But for some reason, when the Spider King wasn¡¯t there she would sit on his seat. Currently, she was clutching a large bundle of TomGrape with one hand and devouring them greedily with the other. The juices spilled from her mouth and down the chin leaking on her blue dress and then all over the throne. She was making a proper mess all around. The Spider King stepped into the throne room and there was an urge for him to sigh. But really, everything had Dirt Resistance, so it wasn¡¯t much of a big problem. This was just the way the Lamia ate, and he accepted that part of their culture. ¡°Oh, you here, sss. Come sit.¡± She patted her tail offering it for a seat. Recently the two had grown closer, but he wasn¡¯t going to sit on top of his wife, if anything the roles should be reversed. She should be sitting on his lap. Wait¡­ no, there was a whole dedicated seat for her! He was getting distracted by idle thoughts. ¡°Actually, my dear wife, a certain rumour had reached my ears. I¡¯ve heard of a surprise gift you¡¯re making. And I¡¯m sorry to spoil the surprise. But I¡¯m so giddy at the thought of it, I can¡¯t wait! Is it ready?¡± The lamia pouted hearing him speak but soon that pout disappeared. ¡°Yes, sss, I have it my dear. I was just looking for a good moment. But I guess-sss I have no choice. All ¡®giddy¡¯, eh, s-s-s!¡± She hissed happily. The Lamia Queen gave a meaningful look to one of the lamia servants in the throne room. The rather tiny lamia nodded vigorously and slithered to fetch the gift. ¡°I sss-see your pet is tagging along with you today.¡± She looked with slightly narrowed eyes at the Darkness. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m training it.¡± ¡°You know when we were¡­¡± She made an obscene gesture. ¡°It was there in the room, sss, on the ceiling in the darkest corner. I noticed it taking a peek and then it disappeared.¡± Yeah, the Darkness here could faze through walls using shadows and otherwise was good at avoiding detection, but¡­ ¡°Hey, why didn¡¯t you tell me? I would have chased it away.¡± ¡°SSS, it was gone as soon as I saw it. And it would have spoiled the mood.¡± Now, he too was looking at the Darkness with narrowed eyes. The slime didn¡¯t even jiggle, as if it didn¡¯t do anything naughty. He kept staring with more intensity. ¡°Master, what?¡± It finally asked. ¡°Why were you spying on me.¡± The Darkness jiggled. ¡°I wasn¡¯t spying! Meow! I was guarding you.¡± ¡°Explain.¡± ¡°You are my master, meow. At night I find my way to your room. When you sleep It¡¯s my duty to guard you. And at that time, I thought you were being attacked, meow, but I was mistaken.¡± So, in other words, it was always watching him at night then he was sleeping. He didn¡¯t know if to call it cute or creepy. Let¡¯s go with cute. ¡°Aww, thank you so much Darkness,¡± he patted the top of the slime, ¡°but I need my privacy.¡± ¡°I know, meow. That¡¯s why I left.¡± It jiggled again. ¡°SSS! Please don¡¯t watch us sleep. We have guards just outside.¡± And it¡¯s not like they needed any, apart from stray shadow monsters, the MegaFarm was super safe. ¡°It is my duty!¡± The slime bobbed in protest. ¡°Queen, King, sorry for the wait.¡± The servant Lamia bowed and handed pale pale-looking item to the Lamia Queen. It wasn¡¯t wrapped or even boxed. Apparently, the Lamia didn¡¯t have that custom. Really, a missed opportunity. A wrap was there to create that extra tension, a step to reveal the present; it was important because even if superficial it improved the experience. Even if he had known what it was already, he hadn¡¯t seen it with his eyes, but now he did. Anyway, at least she understood the importance of passing it by her own hands. ¡°My dear, I¡¯ve got it for you, sss. Now, when you are away, I can always-sss be close to you. And if you miss-sss me, feel free to caress-sss it.¡± He took the gift from her hands. It was a piece of clothing. ¡°I¡¯m very happy to receive it. I¡¯ve always wanted something like this.¡± He gave her a genuine smile. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I know, sss, that¡¯s why I got it ready. Try it on already.¡± She encouraged. ¡°Finally!¡± The gift was a plain white west, it didn¡¯t have much flourish but the eye-catching features would defeat the purpose of the item. ¡°[Inspect].¡±
Item: Vest of the Lamia Queen Quality: Masterwork
Bonuses +50HP, +10 Lamia Rep
Active Perks [Camouflage],
Passive Perks [Minor Regeneration],
Resistances [Reinforced +2]
¡°It fits perfectly. Thank you again.¡± He embraced his wife with a kiss. ¡°S-s-s. Should we go to the bedroom?¡± ¡°Well¡­ I have to try this first. [Camouflage], can you see me?¡± ¡°S-s-s!¡± She laughed. ¡°This is not how this perk works. Dear, it doesn¡¯t make you invisible, sss, and you¡¯re standing in the middle of the room, s-s-s.¡± ¡°S-s-s!¡± Even the Darkness was laughing. ¡°Hey, sss, don¡¯t imitate me!¡± ¡°How about you teach me how to use it.¡± He asked. ¡°Sss-sure, let''s go outside.¡± Camouflage wasn¡¯t an invisibility, there were a lot of limitations. First, for it to be effective he had to consider the close environment, the denser and lusher it was the better, but dark places and cramped nooks and crannies of the caves would also work. Second, if someone saw him just before he invoked the perk that individual would still be able to see him, in other words, he had to be undetected before using it. The more aware the target was the more likely it was that the perk would fail, so unsuspecting individuals were most vulnerable. He invoked the perk in the TomGrape fields to test its potential. Unsurprisingly so, the spiders were able to detect him, something to do with their innate ability to sense their Spider King. However, he was able to surprise a few unsuspecting lamias making them jump in surprise. If it worked against Lamia it was a promising skill. Similarly, the Centauri were just as vulnerable to his shenanigans. ¡°You are having way too much fun from this-sss.¡± The Lamia Queen didn¡¯t sound all too pleased about his pranks. ¡°You know, If I just wanted to scare the girls, I could use Shadow Walk. I¡¯m just testing the potential of Camouflage. ¡°Yes, meow, Master is very happy with the gift.¡± For some reason, the Darkness jumped to support him. ¡°I know, sss, just don¡¯t go overboard. And don¡¯t sss-spy on anyone then they are changing. Or bathing, or¡­¡± She was beginning a long list of rules. What was that saying? Ah, yes, with great power comes great ability¡­ hmm, that wasn¡¯t exactly it. Anyway, he had better perks and spells if he wanted to do that type of spying. It¡¯s good he wasn''t some sort of a deviant. ¡°And definitely don¡¯t spy on anyone when they are sleeping. Oh and¡­¡± She was still going on. Well, he had to pretend to listen, and while he did that. His mind went on a bit of a tangent. Here he was wearing his wife''s skin. He ate the Drow Ice Cream, ate Centauri Cheese, and let¡¯s just not talk about Forbidden Sauce. And his hobby was milking his best friend. Right definitely not some sort of a deviant, no-no, he had good reason for all of these. ¡°¡­and especially not, sss, when I¡¯m in the process of shedding. I might have given you this but you sss-seeing me do that would be way too embarrassing.¡± Oh, it sounds like she was done. ¡°Of course! I would never use your gift for evil.¡± ¡°It¡¯s good you understand.¡± She hissed sounding pleased. ¡°Now, if you don¡¯t mind. I and Darkness have to catch a certain shadow creature.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t stay up too late. You need to thank me, sss, for the gift properly.¡± She blushed saying the line. Yeah, it wasn¡¯t just Darkness who had duties to fulfil. ¡°Of course.¡± He nodded. The Spider King and his pet Darkness continued their walk between the rows of TomGrape webs. They were walking slowly in order not to break the Camouflage. ¡°Master, if we¡¯re hunting them isn¡¯t it best if I stay away.¡± ¡°Right, good idea. They might be able to sense you. I¡¯ll summon you when I need you.¡± The slime jiggled disappearing into the shadows. Admittedly, the shadow creatures might still be able to feel his presence, after all this was just an experiment. However, he felt optimistic about this. As long as he didn¡¯t use any magic it should be fine. This was because, according to the Queen herself, the perk not only camouflaged visual presence but other types of senses too, like smell and sound, and hopefully magical presence. Regardless, he kept his pace casual so that he didn¡¯t move too quickly or make any unwanted sounds. He walked around till late at night. Since he¡¯d promised, he couldn''t keep at it through the night even if he wanted, so he began walking towards the palace. It was then the TomGrape leaves rustled right behind, he jerked his head to look at the sudden disturbance. A fat squirrel emerged from under the web. ¡®Ah, just a squirrel.¡¯ Even so, he was slightly disappointed. ¡®But wait¡­ why is it running? And desperately so.¡¯ The squirrels were fat and lazy, they had no reason to run, unless¡­ From the same web a large shadow emerged, it aimed its two tentacles towards the squirrel. The fat and slow critter was caught, and the tentacles began draining it of life. With his quarry right in sight, he acted without hesitation jumping towards the shadow wolf. The Camouflage broke but his arms were already tightly wrapped at the torso of the shadow creature. ¡°[Summon Darkness],¡± he called. The tentacles released the half-drained squirrel and then latched on the Spider King. [Debuff: Drain], a message informed him. A form of shadowy slime manifested nearby. ¡°It¡¯s wriggling too much. Do your thing!¡± ¡°Yes, Master.¡± The Darkness shot a tentacle from its body jabbing it straight into the shadow wolf. ¡°I¡¯m in.¡± it announced proudly. The shadow creature stopped struggling, the tentacles dropped down dispelling the Drain effect. ¡°That was fast.¡± He complimented looking at the docile shadow creature. ¡°I¡¯m in!¡± The Darkness repeated as if looking for praise. ¡°In?¡± He could see the slime¡¯s tentacle piercing the monster but there was clearly more to it. ¡°What do you mean in? It¡¯s already under your control, yes?¡± ¡°Yes, meow, but¡­ how to explain this.¡± The Darkness jiggled in contemplation. ¡°Their minds are connected.¡± ¡°What? Like a hive mind?¡± That knowledge startled him a bit. ¡°Is there a leader? A new Darkness?¡± He asked with worry. The slime jiggled again. ¡°No. There isn¡¯t. But they are loosely connected. Meow! There are about fifty of them in the MegaFarm.¡± Okay, it even knew the number! ¡°Can you take control of all of them?¡± ¡°No, meow, only this one. I would need to make contact.¡± A small problem really. ¡°Just call them here. We¡¯ll ambush them.¡± ¡°Meow?¡± The darkness bobbed from side to side. ¡°I can¡¯t, they won¡¯t listen.¡± ¡°Ahh¡­ so you¡¯re not powerful enough.¡± He reasoned. ¡°Yes, meow, but also, they¡¯re¡­ afraid?¡± ¡°Afraid? Of what?¡± ¡°Meow! It''s obvious. It¡¯s you!¡± Okay, so even shadow creatures were afraid of him. Was he some sort of monster? No! ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯m that scary¡­ So, you can talk with them, right? Or is that, you can just get a general feeling.¡± ¡°I can talk with them. Meow¡­ sort off. I can¡¯t command them. But we can communicate.¡± The darkness bobbed sounding uncertain in its own words. ¡°If they¡¯re so afraid, just tell them to leave.¡± He said so fully aware that it never was that simple. ¡°I¡¯ll try.¡± ¡°If not, we¡¯ll just hunt them down.¡± The Darkness quivered. ¡°And that¡¯s why, meow, they are afraid of you¡­ Okay.¡± It gave a somewhat positive jiggle. ¡°They won¡¯t leave. There isn¡¯t much food in the jungle. But they say they won¡¯t attack the spiders.¡± ¡°Duhh¡­¡± ¡°Okay, meow. They won¡¯t attack anyone. They just want the squirrels.¡± ¡°So, they can be reasoned with.¡± ¡°Master, what do I tell them?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like freeloaders, tell them that.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ how do I translate it? Meow!¡± The Darkness jiggled in frustration. ¡°They are confused. Meow, just so you know it''s not words we¡¯re talking with. Images, emotions, stuff like that.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± He also was hmm-ing now. ¡°Confusion.¡± The darkness repeated. ¡°Just tell them that they would need to work and do as I say.¡± ¡°I¡¯m trying. But how is that different from my control?¡± He looked at the shadow wolf, it was there completely motionless. Puppeted. ¡°They would retain their free will.¡± ¡°Oh, I see!¡± The Darkness jiggled with vigour. ¡°Okay, meow, they won¡¯t attack anyone and will try to follow your commands.¡± ¡°Can they be trusted?¡± The Darkness undulated with uncertainty. ¡°Meow, I don¡¯t know.¡± It seems that only time will show. And anyway, if it was only squirrels they wanted, why not? There was plenty to go around. And he would gain another interesting minion. Assuming all worked out that is. ¡°Alright. Tell them I¡¯ll tolerate their existence.¡± ¡°Yes, Master.¡± He looked at the still motionless shadow wolf. ¡°Should we release this one? To show goodwill?¡± ¡°I can, meow, but if I do so it will die.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s a part of me now.¡± ¡°Oh, is that how this works? I guess it can¡¯t be helped.¡± He started walking back to the palace. The Darkness and the newly acquired shadow wolf were right behind. 100.5 - I Cant Help But Crave For More A creature born from hunger cannot help but crave for it. To eat, consume, devour ¨C is all it ever needs. But there are so many forms of hunger, such as yearnings and desires. Mayhaps the food is not a thing it craves the most, indeed¡­ ¡­ Darkness, but more precisely the Darkness, knew only one emotion ¨C endless hunger. But all of that had changed. Of course, it still had some cravings. But it was wiser now, it knew that no matter how much it consumed or how much it grew, that emptiness inside would never be satiated. However, ever since its form was reduced to a mere slime, ever since it was bound to the Master, for the first time ever it felt fuller than ever before. It still consumed ample amounts of mana which the Master¡¯s body provided so generously, but it wasn¡¯t the thing that gave the feeling of satiation, of content, of fulfilment. The source of fullness lay somewhere else. But where? There in the darkest corner of the ceiling Darkness was observing its Master sleeping. Next to him was his dear wife, but Darkness didn¡¯t care about that creature. No, all senses of the Darkness were locked on the masculine shape. It heard his quiet and rhythmic breathing, It saw his chest going up and down. Even from a distance, it felt the warmth of his body, the smell of his breath and the humidity of the moisture which left his skin. It even felt the massive pool of mana swirling deep inside him, albeit it was too chaotic to perceive properly. But even then, when it could feel and sense all that¡­ it was not enough. Darkness was hungry for more. Such was its nature. ¡®It¡¯s not like he would notice.¡¯, ¡®It wouldn¡¯t even harm him.¡¯, ¡¯I¡¯ll borrow just a little.¡¯, ¡®After all, there is no harm.¡¯, It reasoned to itself with half-broken and stuttered thoughts. The blob of darkness plopped down from the ceiling, it dropped and jiggled but there was no sound. Soundlessly it flowed towards the Master¡¯s sleeping form, on a bed, past the sheets and towards his head. Darkness jiggled at a peculiar emotion filling its mind. It was new. It was excitement. No, it had felt excitement before, it was more nuanced this time. ¡®I¡¯m doing something I¡¯m not supposed to do.¡¯ It jiggled again. What was the word? ¡®Thrill.¡¯ Or at least a form of it. There were so many reasons not to do it. The Darkness glanced at the other creature. She was close and her tail was wrapped around the Master. That one tended to be rather perceptive. That one could catch Darkness in the act. But even then, despite those things, or maybe because of them, it just made it even more exciting. And even if there were a hundred reasons why not to do it, the Darkness could come up with just as many why it should do what it was about to do. Okay, enough of cryptic language. A tentacle sprouted from the Darkness and moved towards the head. It moved slowly and carefully as if it was just very shy. It stopped an inch from his forehead, and the Darkness hesitated. ¡®Huh, why am I afraid?¡¯ It struggled to find the root of that emotion. ¡®I came so far already¡¯, ¡®This is my chance.¡¯, ¡®Let''s do this.¡¯, ¡®It¡¯s just a tip.¡¯, with such thoughts the shy tentacle made the connection. Darkness quivered in delight, its slime-like body had almost turned to mush. Why? ¨C because a new world had opened to it, a world of dreams. And it was unlike the millennium-old slumber the Darkness knew too well, no, it was different. It was full of colours, movement, and emotion. It was very lively in there, but also chaotic. Darkness couldn''t understand what it was seeing or even feeling. A lot of the objects in the dream didn¡¯t make sense. However, it understood that Master was having a good dream. It basked in those new experiences for a few seconds more, memorizing as much as it could. ¡®It¡¯s enough.¡¯, ¡®It¡¯s Enough.¡¯, ¡®Enough!¡¯, no it wasn¡¯t urging itself to stop. The Darkness was cheering. It was filled with joy. It never thought the day would come, but it felt satiated. It wasn¡¯t hungry anymore. Well, that¡¯s not entirely true, the endless void was still endless, somehow, something else had opened and that thing felt full. ¡°One is bottomless. The other is full.¡± All in all not too bad. If only it could grow the latter one, maybe the two would cancel and set the Darkness free? ¡®Enough¡­¡¯ The Darkness pulled the tentacle away and flowed back to its corner. The act lasted less than a minute but the Darkness had enough to go for weeks. While it was guarding the sleeping Master it went through the images it saw in his dreams. It was curious of their meaning. There were grey rectangular towers reaching the clouds, there were dragons made of metal flying in the sky, there were colourful boxes littering the sides of paths, and most of all there were so many people. But those people had no faces, they felt empty like puppets. ¡®Is it something the Master wants to make? Or is he just remembering?¡¯ The concept of imagination and the concept of nonsensical dreams were alien to the Darkness. It wasted its time trying to figure out the meaning of the images it had copied. But at least it had something to do in that corner. ¡­ The Spider King was sitting in his study. He was thinking about a very weird dream he had in the morning. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± He shook away his idle thoughts. ¡°I promised to give Johny a call.¡± And it''s not like he was busy. ¡°Better now than later.¡± He swallowed a drop of Slug Jelly. [Temporary buff Eldrich Telepathy obtained] ¡°Hello!¡± A super cheerful voice rang inside his head and his mind was filled with excitement. ¡®Urgh. It hurts.¡¯ He grabbed for his temples. Johny always did that to him, she always opened the link a tad bit too hard. ¡°Is That Better?¡± ¡®Yes, thank you.¡¯ ¡°*Ehem,¡± she cleared her throat, ¡°it¡¯s A Bit Messy But Please Come In.¡± No, she wasn¡¯t inviting him into her room, this was way more personal. ¡®No, I think I¡¯m fine.¡¯ The reality was that he struggled to deal with all the sensory stimuli which came with the unique anatomy of the slug body. ¡®It¡¯s just too stimulating.¡¯ This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Hmm, Maybe Next time Then. You Know What?¡± This was time for Johny to say her catchphrase: ¡®I¡¯m Bursting!¡¯. ¡®What?¡¯ He asked to play along. ¡°I¡¯ve Spied On Some Very Jiggly News. Directly From Aurelian Kingdom.¡± ¡®Oh?¡¯ He was surprised. He didn¡¯t expect her ability to yield results so soon. ¡°It Seems There Is War Incoming.¡± ¡°Not again!¡± he reacted out loud forgetting to use his inner voice. ¡®Is it bad?¡¯ ¡°Aurelius Is Confident He Can Win.¡± ¡®Then, maybe it''s not that bad.¡¯ And anyway, the spider report should follow soon with more details. ¡°You Know What Else?¡± She didn¡¯t wait for his verbal reply. ¡°The Jelly Had Reached Some Mighty And Interesting People Of The Holy Empire.¡± ¡®The Emperor?¡¯ ¡°No, Not That Mighty. The Holy Inquisition. Have You Heard Of Them? Ah, I Can Sense Your Confusion. Let Me Explain¡­¡± Johny started to recall what she gathered from unsuspecting users of the Slug Jelly. The use of the precious slug extract wasn¡¯t that widespread in the Holy Empire, not yet, but it had reached some high places. Johny had information coming from clerks, tacticians, wealthy merchants, some nobles and similar people of high status. Of course, not all of it was of use, but apparently, Johny had access to two people who were responsible for planning and leading the Inquisition against Aurelius the Great. One was a right-hand to the Chief Inquisitor, and the other one was the tactician to the general. The Tactician had access to all the important information, like the number of warriors or the planned dates for an attack. A lot of which he had to plan himself. The Tactician was a hard-working person, so he used the jelly to energise himself during the all-nighters. The other one, a right hand to the Chief Inquisitor, was a woman of high potential. She had a moniker the Radiant Sword, or just Radiant to her friends. She was very young and climbed the ranks with unprecedented speed. She had some unique talents, and her Light affinity was high making her an unmatched Paladin. As a right hand, Radiant was entrusted with leading the Inquisition against the Aurelian Kingdom. ¡°I Wouldn¡¯t Worry Too Much About The Tactician Or The General. The Army Is Sizeable But The Men Are Only Levied Peasants. It Is The Inquisition Which Will Be The Hardest To Deal With. I¡¯M Currently Gathering Information On Their Inner Workings¡± ¡®I see. Let''s write everything down and pass that information to Aurelius.¡¯ He went back and forth with Johny asking some questions and clarifying the details. Of course, the information wasn¡¯t perfect, because Johny could only glean a little from their minds. But it was enough to know where and then they would be attacking. ¡°You Know That Woman, The Radiant. She¡¯s Strange.¡± ¡®Strange?¡¯ ¡°It¡¯s Hard To Explain. Let Me Show You.¡± His mind was presented with a vision, it was rather vivid as if he was there. === It was night and the tiny room was illuminated only by the dim candlelight. A feminine hand threw an expensive-looking glass bottle to the wall. It simply bounced off refusing to be smashed; surprisingly the wall suffered more damage than the bottle. A callused hand wiped a slightly sticky substance from the lips. ¡°Why¡­ why can¡¯t I stop? I¡¯m such a sinner.¡± She opened one of the drawers of the cupboard and reached for a certain item. It felt natural in her hands, almost as natural and comfortable as her longsword. She stood in front of the mirror. Her hair was long and blond, her eyes were blue, and her face had delicate features. There were no flaws or imperfections, that allowed her that look of a princess. However, the rest of her body was a different story. Yes, it was well-toned, even muscular, but it was ravaged by scars. A lot of those scars were from many battles or mistakes she made during practice in her younger years. But her back was the most scared. And there was a reason for it. ¡°Sinner! Sinner! Sinner!¡± She used the item she¡¯d retrieved from the cupboard. She was merciless with it. There was a jolt of pain but soon it was replaced with something else. ¡°Sinner! Sinner! Sinner!¡± Her breaths grew heavy and her body hot. The scenery changed. Now this woman was in the courtyard. She was in the middle of a circle of people, both men and women who came to see her battle. There was that rush coursing through her body, something that only the jelly could provide. ¡°How dare you to challenge me. I¡¯ll crush you!¡± She spat at her opponent. ¡°You are too young and too incompetent to be the Chief¡¯s right hand.¡± A much older man said it with calm composure. ¡°Let me show you then! Ahh!¡± She started the battle with the first swing. The time skipped forward, the man was lying on the ground unconscious and severely hurt. The crowd was cheering: ¡°Radiant!¡±, ¡°Radiant!¡±, ¡°Radiant!¡±. The woman in question didn¡¯t stay to celebrate her victory, instead, she used her remaining stamina to sprint to the nearest lavatory. *Bleh! ¨C She expelled the contents of her stomach. ¡°Is it still there?¡± Her body was overtaken by sudden tremors. ¡°[Status].¡±
Title: Radiant Sword Monster: Lesser Angel Magic Affinity: Light ??????
HP:150/200 MP:50/250 STA:20/200
Active Perks [Holy Retribution], [Last Stand], [Angelic Heal]
Passive Perks [Radiant], [Deflect Magic], [Holy Presence]
Resistances [Dark Weakness: Medium]
Status Effects Error[System_Override]! [Evolve?]
*Bleh! ¨C She retched again but nothing came out. Her hand reached into her chest pocket. She held a tiny glass bottle filled with a blue substance right above the dumping hole. Her fingers were trembling. ¡°God why did you betray me¡­ Is this some cruel test!¡± She began to sob. ¡°How can angels be monsters?!¡± She let go of the bottle. [You are no longer Error[System_Override]!] [You¡¯ve lost access to the Monster System] Just before the bottle could reach the dumping hole she swiped it back into her hand. ¡°Why¡­ Why can¡¯t I resist it? Why does it grant me such power?¡± She opened the bottle and sucked the contents with a single gulp. [You have been afflicted Error[System_Override]!] [You have gained access to the Monster System] ¡°God, why are you silent?! How do I ascend?¡± === Yeah, those weren¡¯t just images, he could clearly feel emotions too. Disgust, arousal, frustration, the feeling of betrayal ¨C all was there. ¡®I see, she¡¯s crazy.¡¯ He came to his own conclusion. ¡®I didn¡¯t know Slug Jelly could mess someone''s mind so much.¡¯ ¡°No, Her Mind Is Rather Clear. I Think She Is Just Lost, Misguided Maybe?¡± Yes, and this woman will be leading her own group of inquisitors. ¡®She¡¯s clearly dangerous.¡¯ ¡°King, We Could Use Her Insecurities Against Her. Isn¡¯t She Seeking For God?¡± ¡®Explain.¡¯ ¡°Hmm¡­ I Gave You Only A Few Snippets So You Don¡¯t Know The Full Picture. She Wants To Be An Angel. And It Is A Fanatical Desire. And You Can Make Her Into One.¡± ¡°What? Really?¡± ¡°Of Course. You¡¯re Our Monster King, Are You Not? I¡¯m Sure You Could Make It Happen.¡± Maybe Johny was onto something here¡­ 101 - What?! Im not a furry, no-no The Spider King was heading towards the warehouse, in both of his hands he had two buckets brim filled with treacle-like liquid but blue. A very broad grin was plastered firmly on his face. The morning was good! ¡°Huh, what is this?¡± He noticed a congregation of shadows. In the bright and happy morning, on a clearly visible spot, a number of shadow creatures had gathered. There was each of a kind: wolf, stingray, boar, slime, roadrunner, and a slime. His body tensed at the sight of the unusual gathering, but as soon as he spotted the slime among them he released a sigh of relief. ¡°Darkness, did you make new friends?¡± ¡°Morning, Master.¡± The slime bobbed. ¡°Yes, meow, I did.¡± The shadow monsters just stood there motionless and without a reaction. Yeah, those aren¡¯t friends but puppets. But that didn¡¯t mean that Darkness didn¡¯t make friends. ¡°So, you tapped into their mind-webs?¡± ¡°Yes. I talked things through with roadrunners, boars, sting¡­¡± The slime began naming. ¡°Oh, they¡¯re not linked all together, but rather in their groups.¡± In other words, the wolves shared their mind only with other wolves. ¡°Meow!¡± The slime jiggled in affirmation. ¡°They all agreed to cause no trouble.¡± It seems there were more shadow creatures surviving than he thought. That is good, right? ¡°Darkness?¡± He asked. ¡°What if they start reproducing? Won¡¯t that be a problem?¡± ¡°Reproducing?¡± It shook. ¡°No, I¡¯ll take care of that.¡± He raised his eyebrow questioningly. ¡°I have it, meow. They won¡¯t cause any trouble.¡± ¡°No, what I mean is that I don¡¯t want too many shadow creatures in the MegaFarm. They look like a hungry bunch.¡± ¡°Meow! I understand. I¡¯ll keep them at a stable number.¡± A tentacle stretched towards shadow roadrunner piercing its body. ¡°Look. [Absorb Shadow]¡± The entirety of the roadrunner flowed into the body of the Darkness. ¡°Oh, meow! This was hard to catch.¡± It meowed with regret. ¡°Whatever, the wolves will help me again.¡± Oh, it was already working shadow wolves to its advantage. Well done, Darkness! The Spider King was also a craftsman and had a trained eye. ¡°Darkness, did you grow bigger?¡± Albeit, only by an inch or so. It quivered as if unsure. ¡°Yes¡­¡± It responded after thinking. ¡°I grew stronger, meow. I like this Monster System!¡± Well then, all was good. The King continued his trek to store the jelly, Darkness and friends followed him. ¡°I was thinking. The shadow¡­ minions could prove useful in the war against the Holy Empire.¡± ¡°Meow?¡± ¡°They¡¯re hard to detect, and even we had a hard time killing them. Physical Resistance and all that.¡± ¡°Meow¡­¡± it was thinking. ¡°Yes, but they¡¯re weak to magic, especially Light.¡± True, even a single enchanted arrow was enough to kill a shadow wolf. ¡°Yeah, but we wouldn''t send them against the Inquisition. Only against the peasant levy, and the supply caravans.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± The tentacle connected with the shadow wolf. ¡°I¡¯m sure it will work. You might not see it that way, but the shadow creatures are scary. They won¡¯t need to attack the army proper, only lower its morale.¡± The slime finished bobbing and jiggling. ¡°I spoke with them, meow. They¡¯re up for the job. Actually, they are giddy to go.¡± He wondered if the Darkness got the ¡®giddy¡¯ part right, this was a risky mission he and doubted the shadow wolves wanted to die. ¡°Huh, I guess they have their reasons.¡± He decided to leave it at that. ¡°I¡¯ll send them then you¡¯re ready.¡± He nodded. He wasn¡¯t going to leave everything to the minions of the Darkness, some of the spiders will be coming too. Namely spider scouts and spider saboteurs. The idea was to undermine the enemy on their way to the Aurelian Capital as much as possible; to weaken them before they reached it. And if he was lucky, they wouldn¡¯t even reach it. Of course, all thanks to the fresh morning intel he had just received from Johny, they knew most of the plans of the Enemy. So, it was easy to come up with counters and ambushes. Currently, the Holy Inquisition was moving towards the border villages and towns. Their goal was to subjugate the local residents, make them to denounce Aurelius the Great as a heretic and a traitor, and then forcefully draft the same people with an excuse that it was their penance. It was Human duty to fight the Demon Lord! ¨C or so they would say. The Inquisition¡¯s plan wasn¡¯t a bad one. If other people saw that their countrymen were rallying against King Aurelius, they too would be more likely to switch sides. In other words, the Inquisition was trying to make itself look less like an enemy and more like a saviour. Ha! That won¡¯t happen. Because he already sent a Minor Phoenix summon to the Aurelius telling him all of this. The advice was to order the people to retreat to the capital. Even with such an order, some people wouldn¡¯t want to leave their homes and farms unattended. So, it was up to Aurelius how he managed that. the Aurelian King could inform his people that the Inquisition was coming to ¡®cleanse¡¯ the towns and villages and tell them that they had to flee to protect their lives. Or he could play it sneaky and tell the people that there are a massive feast and games happening in the Aurelian Capital. A celebration of a century, where everything is free, all you have to do is just attend. Or something like that. Entirely up to him! He had also sent another message to Lord G Bling, the spider had the most authority there. Lord G Bling will be responsible for building refugee shelters, procuring food and keeping the general peace. After all, he needed to support his allies. How about sending weapons and spider forces? ¨C At the moment he was hesitant to do that. Every time he did something like that there was only one result. So, it was best to leave humans to solve human issues. But if it went particularly bad, of course, he planned to roll out the entire Spider Kingdom might and defend his interests in the Aurelian Kingdom with full force. Anyway, he didn¡¯t have to micromanage everything, there was the Trusty Advisor helping him with that. And the actual war hasn¡¯t even started yet, at least not the fighting part. So with plenty of time on his hands, he could allow himself a side project, or rather an experiment. ¡­ The Spider King burst out of the Shadow Walk into a lush forest. While this was still a forest it was unlike any other; not a single tree in this place was normal. He walked past a tree which was clouded in a veil of darkness, he ducked under the cage-like branches of another tree. A bird fluttered its wings trapped in the cage-like confinement. He ignored it; even trees needed to eat. Finally, he emerged into an ashen clover garden. The crop had grown increasingly important, AshenClover was the preferred staple of the Centauri. The girls could eat TomGrape, and they did during their logistic missions, but they found it too nutritiously dense. Was that even a problem? Anyway, they preferred to eat the clovers whenever they could. And he, being the ever-pleaser, was up to the task of granting their desires. After all, he owed them for all the cheese they made. By the way, Centauri Champion¡¯s Cream Cheese had blown his mind out, but that¡¯s a different story. The still modest field was currently tended by White Sprigans, and the guys were doing a great job, but if he wanted to expand it he would need to employ spiders. He could bring the crop back to the MegaFarm, after all, he had Acclimate and Unnatural Selection perks so even the dark rain wouldn¡¯t be a problem, probably. However, there was a bunch of reasons he left this crop here. The main one was centralisation, or the drawbacks of it. It was all good and convenient to have everything in one place, that was until something like Shadow Plague struck and devastated the entire stock. As a preventative measure, he decided to grow some stuff outside the MegaFarm. Namely the AshenClover, EarthenYam and WitheringCabage. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. He walked deeper inside the field. The clovers were growing nicely. He plucked a leaf and deposited it into his mouth. ¡°Tastes mild and leafy. Just like a salat.¡± It wasn¡¯t that amazing, at least to him. ¡°But hey, Centauri loves it!¡± A grey rabbit jumped right in front of him. The animal was unafraid of his presence. It used its fluffy paws to bring a clover leaf closer to its mouth and began to munch on it greedily. ¡°Aww, how cute. You like it too.¡± He crouched to pet the animal. ¡°So soft and fluffy.¡± Aside from the mutated squirrels, this was the second animal he saw today. It seems that life found its way back into the Magical Forest. ¡°Rabbit, just don¡¯t go inside the CageBush or eat a nut from TrapBush. You will get eaten.¡± He warned the blissfully unaware critter. ¡°Aww, so fluffy.¡± A naughty idea popped into his head. A completely needless idea. ¡°This is not an experiment I had in mind, but¡­¡± He looked around guiltily. There was no one here to judge him. ¡°[Evolve].¡± He invoked without hesitation. Evolving plants posed little issue unless they ended up as a monster plant, but evolving animals was a big deal. They always ended up as monsters! And he was hesitant to create new life, because he would end up being responsible for it. But no one was infallible, and he did it on a whim. A large amount of mana drained from his mana pool. 2000MP, almost half of his mana was just sucked out. The rabbit was enveloped in the iconic purple glow of evolution. It was growing big. ¡°Hopefully, not another Eldrich monster.¡± Not that there was anything wrong with Johny. It was hard to see past the bright purple glow, but the rabbit was developing a human-like shape. ¡°I see no tentacles. So far so good.¡± He nodded happily. The rabbit stopped growing and the light dimmed. Revealing what could be best described as demihuman or beastfolk; a rabbit with human features but not the other way round. He or she had all the signature traits of the previous form: fluffy grey fur, a puffy rabbit tail, long and droopy ears, and cute but clawed fingers. The evolved rabbit was crouching and looking with confusion at the Spider King. ¡°Hello.¡± He gave a warm smile. ¡°How do you feel?¡± He asked. There was no reply presumably because it couldn¡¯t speak, or didn¡¯t know how yet. It was still unknown how intelligent the rabbit was. As if to imitate him the now bipedal rabbit stood up on its now improved legs; it was short barely reaching up to his chest. The rabbit tried to smile, but that smile came out awkward. ¡°Good enough, I guess. [Inspect].¡±
Monster Race: DemiMonster Variant: Ashen Rabbit Magic Affinity: None ??
HP:80 MP:40 STA:80
Active Perks [Burrow]
Passive Perks [Animal Affinity], [Luck]
Oh! So this was a demimonster and not a demihuman. By the way, the humans had their values close to 100/100/100, meaning that Ashen Rabbit was a weaker specimen by default. But it was a monster and monsters could grow, right? ¡°You came out surprisingly normal. And surprisingly average¡­¡± Which wasn¡¯t bad at all. He gave the rabbit another pat. The rabbit patted the King¡¯s head in imitation, or tried to, it was on the shorter side after all. ¡°Cute as a button.¡± He smiled. The rabbit smiled awkwardly. They were feeling each other up for another good moment, each fascinated with the other¡¯s body anatomy. From a distance it might have looked like the two were up to something. ¡°Interesting¡­ I can¡¯t have you around doing nothing. Let''s put those arms of yours to the test.¡± But this was more of a mental challenge really. The rabbit was keen on parroting him so he tried to teach the rabbit a few tasks. First, he planted some more AshenClover using seeds. The rabbit imitated him flawlessly, no, the rabbit was better than him because of its Burrow perk, it subconsciously used that when planting. ¡°You pick things up just as quick as spiders. Colour me impressed!¡± He rubbed the rabbit''s head. The rabbit smiled less awkwardly. For the second task, they harvested some of the clovers into large bags. Once again the rabbit was dexterous enough to complete it with no issue. While working the Spider King talked with the rabbit but if it understood or even could speak was still unknown. However, the rabbit proved intelligent, it was able to do simple tasks. ¡°You¡¯re very capable.¡± He scratched the rabbit between its ears. ¡°Keep at it.¡± He handed the rabbit a large bag of seeds. The outcome was not guaranteed, but he figured that the rabbit knew what to do with the seeds. ¡°I¡¯ll leave you to it, and pop back to see how you do later.¡± He called a nearby White Sprigan who was casting Grow on the freshly planted seeds. ¡°Look after the rabbit, please. Oh, and teach him some things.¡± The White Sprigan nodded in understanding, they too didn¡¯t know how to speak but were otherwise emotive. The rabbit however had different ideas, it tried to follow the King. The White Sprigan stopped the rabbit with a firm grasp on the shoulder. The rabbit squealed. ¡°I don¡¯t think I can take you. The Shadow Walk doesn''t work like that. Nor can I stay here¡­¡± But he did feel sorry for the rabbit, the poor critter looked distressed. ¡°Look, I¡¯ll make you a companion. How about that?¡± The facial expression on the rabbit softened. Incidentally, there already were a bunch of rabbits at the Ashen Rabbit¡¯s feat, no doubt all thanks to Animal Affinity. The King kneeled to pet a random rabbit, they all were cute and clueless. Ashen Rabbit, the ever-imitator, did much the same. ¡°Ah, it seems you like that one.¡± He touched the cute critter. ¡°[Evolve].¡± A similar scene just like before unfolded, but the Ashen Rabbit looked with awe and wonder as if it hadn¡¯t experienced that first-hand. And with another 2000MP taken, there was another rabbit crouching on the clover floor. The new rabbit was a near-carbon copy of the first, but this one had only one droopy ear. ¡°Now look at that. You have a friend.¡± He clapped. A new friend looked rather confused. The first rabbit began petting the second with affection; a thing it had evidently learned from the King. And soon the confusion was replaced with a blissful face. ¡°Now, since I have two of you, I can¡¯t just go and call you rabbits. You,¡± he pointed at the first. ¡°In the honour of your species, I name you Ashen.¡± He touched the rabbit with a finger. ¡°Ashen.¡± He repeated. ¡°And you, I name you Ever.¡± There was no deeper meaning behind the name. ¡°Ever.¡± He repeated hoping that they understood. And just for a good measure, he pointed at himself. ¡°Spider King.¡± Surprisingly Ashen nodded as if in understanding. Ever the rabbit just listened without displaying any strong emotions. ¡°Please look after the clover garden, make it grow.¡± He pointed at the large seed bag lying nearby, without really expecting anything from the two. ¡°Okay, now I must go.¡± He turned to walk away but only after giving them a broad smile. Ashen smiled with the awkwardness all but gone. Ever did much the same. The rabbits might have understood him, or maybe not, but this time neither of them protested. ¡°Be good Ashen and Ever. [Shadow Walk].¡± He invoked. ¡°The experiment was interesting.¡± He said so to himself while travelling through the dense tree line as if it was nothing. He took one step but flew a hundred, this was how the spell worked. Let¡¯s go back to the improvised experiment. He had found something interesting: the evolutions weren¡¯t completely random, two individuals of the same species evolved into the same variants. Or so it seemed for now. But obviously, there were exceptions. For example, Corrupted Human and Lesser Angel, both came to be from an ordinary human, so there was that. But those two were under the Monster System and not directly evolved by his perk. The conclusion was actually straightforward. He could evolve lesser beings into monsters, and the already sapient monsters could use the Monster System to evolve further. Their advanced evolutions must depend on their individual skills and talents. ¡°Yes, that seems like it.¡± ¡­ With the Spider King gone the two rabbits petted each other while rolling in the clover garden. Both of them giggled mirthfully while flattening the clovers in joyful motions. They were very happy with their new bodies and heightened consciousness. After tiring of all the rolling, cuddling, and groping they stopped abruptly from exhaustion. ¡°Ashen,¡± Ashen said his name proudly. Then he nudged his partner. ¡°Ever.¡± He spoke her name. ¡°Ever.¡± Ever nodded in understanding. Ashen gave his partner a warm smile. He looked at the large bag of seeds, he knew what to do with it. But there were more important matters. ¡°Ever!¡± Ashen said with affection. ¡°Ashen!¡± Ever said with equal affection. They nodded at each other in understanding. All life has a duty to perform; the seeds will wait. 101.5 - The Profane Dark Ritual Of The Spiriting Away 😱 Somewhere at the eastern border of the Aurelian Kingdom. A low-ranking inquisitor is giving a salute. ¡°Mis Radiant, we searched all of the houses. There isn¡¯t a single soul here.¡± ¡°Are you telling me that a whole village just went and disappeared?¡± ¡°Yes, as if spirited away.¡± ¡°Nonsense.¡± She sighed. ¡°They¡¯re hiding somewhere. Secret basement or something.¡± She showed the man out of her way. The Radiant Sword, the appointed leader of the Inquisition force, was beyond frustrated. This was the third village they¡¯ve visited today. All of them were empty. She kicked the doors of the nearby house and stomped inside. There, the table was set with plates and food which went cold not too long ago. She looked around for more, there were minor valuables around. She looked out of the nearby window, there outside, the laundry was still there left to dry. Indeed, everyone was gone. And they must have done so with high urgency. But where? There was no nearby forest or mountain to hide. And the disappearance seemed to be recent. However, she couldn''t help but feel that something was wrong. It was way too eerie and quiet. Not just humans were missing but farm animals and pets too. Her subordinate''s words rang inside her mind. ¡°Spirited away, huh.¡± She refused to believe those words and kept looking for some sort of secret hideout. Predictably so, she couldn¡¯t find anything like that, and time was of the essence. ¡°Let¡¯s head to a nearby town. If anywhere they will be there.¡± She urged. The Inquisition moved out. The goal was to unite with the Holy Empire¡¯s army and force the nearby border town into submission. ¡­ A lot of a while ago, at the undisclosed border village. Village Chief looked at the unharvested and now spoiling wheat crops. An entire field was left unattended, a good twenty tons of wheat. But no one even bothered to start harvesting it. Something like this was hard to imagine, especially considering that the Kingdom was under a severe famine not too long ago; the memory of it was still fresh in the minds of the common folk. The reason was simple, there was no point¡­ The wheat price had crashed. It was almost worthless. When King Aurelius II signed the trade treaty with the Spider Kingdom, a peculiar crop flooded into the Aurelian Kingdom. It was filling and delicious, but most importantly it was dirt cheap. Many people praised Aurelius II and the Spider King as their saviours. But not everyone was happy with that turn of events. Merchants who peddled Fertile Kingdom¡¯s wheat went out of business. Nobles and wealthy landlords had gone bankrupt. There were competent farmers, who despite the harsh conditions still managed to grow crops here in the Aurelian Kingdom, they too had suffered from the crashed prices. The Village chief was exactly in this situation. He didn¡¯t even have enough money to hire help to harvest all the wheat. And even if he had it harvested and stored, there were no merchants buying it. He was doomed! Or maybe not. A genius idea sprouted in his mind. He could let farm the animals graze on the unharvested wheat. Surely, the animals soon would fatten. Of course, there would be a massive loss but at least he wouldn¡¯t go bankrupt. After all, meat remained a precious commodity. Some time passed, and the animals grew plump and fat. The animals were rounded up and ready for the slaughter. The local butcher ran up to the Village Chief. ¡°Chief, the spider caravan!¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah!¡± The chief waved the man dismissively. The spiders were known traders. They came here every week peddling their dirt-cheap wares. The Village Chief wasn¡¯t too interested. ¡°No, it''s different. I think we should hold on to our animals.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Come. You need to hear it yourself.¡± The butcher urged. He followed reluctantly. The spider caravan was unusually large this time. There were more wagons than usual, most of them empty. The empty wagons were pulled by some sort of unknown creature presumably a type of demihuman. The Village Chief would be startled, if not for the now familiar presence of the spiders. ¡°Centauri Express. Everyone, come aboard.¡± The spider chirped. The villagers were already hopping into the wagons. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s going on.¡± He questioned the villagers. ¡°You didn¡¯t hear? There is a feast in the capital.¡± A scrawny man responded. ¡°Yeah, apparently everything, from food to lodgings will be free.¡± A middle-aged and equally scrawny woman replied. ¡°I heard there will be games and other entertainment. Oh, and the trip is also free.¡± A man added. ¡°I always wanted to visit the capital. Never been.¡± A young woman was giddy with excitement. ¡°Sorry chief, we won¡¯t be available for a few days. And it¡¯s not like there is any work here anyway.¡± Another man complained. ¡°Chief, don¡¯t look so worried.¡± A young man smiled. ¡°Not everyone is going just to loiter there. I for once, will be looking for employment. With a feast that big they will need some extra hands.¡± ¡°Yes, a spider told me that the King is also looking for hostesses and labourers.¡± A young woman nodded. ¡°Centauri Express. Everyone, come aboard.¡± The spider chirped again. Seemingly an entire village was dropping whatever they were doing and just leaving. ¡®How irresponsible!¡¯ He wanted to shout. But he knew better. He knew that everyone here, and not just him, was struggling. The butcher grabbed the Village Chief by the shoulder giving a gentle shake and a meaningful look. ¡°Chief, do you understand now?¡± The butcher asked. ¡°The animals¡­ Oh, yes. We can sell them in the capital.¡± The timing could not be better. With the gathering that big, there was bound to be demand for meat. ¡°Spider?¡± He asked the nearby spider merchant. ¡°Do animals also travel free?¡± The spider looked thoughtful for a moment. ¡°Aurelius the Great said. Everyone is invited. That must include the animals. Yes.¡± The spider nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s put them in the separate wagon.¡± The butcher said sagely. The Village Chief wasn¡¯t stupid, he knew that it would be uncomfortable if they hauled the animals and the people together. He didn¡¯t say anything and instead ran back to the enclosure to begin herding the animal stock. ¡­ The inquisition arrived at the closest border town. Being a small town, it had no walls or anything like that apart from a few watchtowers. The Inquisition and the Army just walked straight in. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡°What is this? What¡¯s going on?¡± The town was abandoned, completely empty. Of course, Aurelius II could have ordered the retreat, but there were issues with that. First, there would be some opportunists around like the homeless and looters, but even those were missing. Second, if a retreat was issued it was way too quick and organised. There was no way for Aurelius to know where the Inquisition was striking. There were a few little towns like this¡­ ¡°Unless he ordered all of them to retreat.¡± The Radiant uttered under her breath. ¡°Nonsense.¡± The Army General protested. ¡°Why would they follow his commands? I¡¯ve read your report, isn¡¯t he a Mad Tyrant?¡± ¡°Maybe that¡¯s why everyone is obeying. They¡¯re afraid.¡± The general scratched his chin. ¡°Ha! He¡¯s just handing the territory to us without a fight. I reckon he¡¯s just a coward.¡± No, she still remembered that Aurelius II didn¡¯t flinch even when he stood alone against a hundred inquisitors. He might be mad but definitely not a coward. She shook her head. ¡°Something just doesn¡¯t sit right with me.¡± ¡°You worry too much. A sign of tiredness? Let¡¯s set an outpost here, we¡¯ll rest and tomorrow we¡¯ll march towards the capital.¡± She was worried. Worried about all the people who were supposed to be here. What if they were sacrificed in some sort of evil dark ritual? She shook her head again, dispelling those thoughts. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m tired. You don¡¯t mind if I go and rest?¡± She asked the General only out of politeness, as an inquisition leader she didn¡¯t need such permissions. The general slammed her shoulder forcefully. This was his way of saying yes. Indeed, the plan was to take this city and use it as a supply base. The Aurelian Capital was still a week¡¯s worth away from here. They¡¯ll need to make a few more bases like this. However, the underlying issue was that the Inquisition failed to capture any Aurelian citizens to use them in their schemes. If this continues, King Aurelius II will be more difficult to depose. Of course, he stood no chance against the combined might of the Inquisition and the Army, but still¡­ Anyway, she retired to a nearby vacant mansion for the night. ¡­ Screams woke her up in the early morning. ¡°Ambush!¡± She expected that. But even then, there was a huge army inside the town. It should have been impossible. She ran towards the Merchant Square which was converted to army gathering grounds. Everyone was panicking and shouting. It was impossible to tell where the enemy was. But soon she realised that there was no enemy. Whatever had happened it happened at night, and this was only the consequence. One after another, dry and desiccated corpses were hauled out of nearby buildings. There was a survivor. His face was pale and gaunt. ¡°What happened.¡± She began interrogating the man. ¡°Shadows. Became alive. Drained.¡± He uttered. ¡°Explain.¡± She demanded. The man began sobbing. ¡°Darkness. Shadows. Drained. Tentacles.¡± He was too terrified to speak. ¡°Tch!¡± She clicked her tongue. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t have relaxed. This is the work of demons!¡± She announced to everyone. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, from now on each group will have an Inquisitor with them. We¡¯ll put the end to these demons.¡± She tried to encourage the panicked men. ¡°Radiant sister!¡± An inquisitor ran up to her. ¡°I have managed to kill one of those demons at night. They¡¯re rather weak.¡± ¡°See!¡± She spoke to everyone. ¡°You have the Holy Inquisition with you. There is nothing to worry about.¡± The panic lessened. However, she knew just how shallow her words were. After all, she still didn¡¯t know what they were dealing with exactly. ¡­ The Army left the garrison in the town and marched towards their next goal. The next town was two days'' march away. This meant that they¡¯d have to set camp in the wilderness. And that would be just another affair of the army, but the men were still perturbed about what happened the previous night. Worse, a strange sickness swept through the ranks of peasant levy. The food was poisoned leaving the men to deal with uncontrollable bouts of diarrhoea. The march had to stop abruptly, and the food had to be cleaned. Luckily the inquisitors had just a spell for that. The Radiant pressed her hands on a parcel of food. ¡°[Cleanse]¡±, bright sparkles showered the parcel dispelling any tainted magic it was contaminated with. ¡°It¡¯s safe to eat now.¡± She assured the warrior. ¡°Thank you, sister.¡± The warrior bowed in gratitude. ¡°Think nothing of that. That¡¯s why we¡¯re here.¡± She walked to the next person. ¡°Has your food been blessed?¡± She asked. The inquisitors were walking around the troops, cleansing the army rations. It was draining their MP reserves and taking time, but it was necessary. As she was doing that she had picked up on strange rumours. The men were talking about a dark curse. They were saying that the Demon Lord had sacrificed the townsfolk and the villagers to place evil magic on the entire army. ¡°Nonsense!¡± She would reply. ¡°Just check your Status. See, there is no Cursed there.¡± She would say so, but the more she said that line the more she doubted her own words. The draining and poisoning incidents remained unexplained. However, she and her men had spent the rest of the day reassuring the peasant levy and even professional warriors that everything was under control. The march didn¡¯t progress as far as anticipated, and the night was near. She might have slept an hour or two, but once again she was awoken by shouts and screams. ¡°Demons!¡± The men were shouting. She rushed outside the tent. Some strange creatures were darting in and out of the sky. They were winged resembling a bird or maybe a kite, but they were completely black as if made from shadows. The archers were shooting their arrows hitting the demons but those just pierced their bodies doing no damage. ¡°Ah!¡± Someone shouted from the side. A tentacled mass of darkness vaguely resembling a wolf assaulted one of the soldiers. The tentacle violated the poor man draining his life force. The nearby soldiers slashed at the demon with swords, but even then, the demon remained unscathed. ¡°Curses!¡± She ran to the rescue. ¡°[Radiant Light]!¡± She coated her longsword and swung at the demon. *Pop ¨C it disappeared. ¡°Light spells. Use your Light spells!¡± She commanded her men. The Inquisition began countering the threat with their magic. In the end, it was super effective, and the terrors retreated into the darkness. However, evidently so, the demons were invulnerable to normal attacks. The warriors and the peasant levy had no way to deal damage, leaving them increasingly demoralised. Of course, the army had their magi, and they proved useful, but those were few in number; barely enough to counter the threat. ¡°The Inquisition will take the night watch. You go and rest.¡± She announced to everyone. ¡°You know¡­¡± The General looked at her intently. ¡°Thanks for that.¡± He even bowed. Was he, the General, scared? She purged those thoughts. ¡°Think nothing of it. That¡¯s why we¡¯re here. To purge this land from evil. Aurelius II will pay for this!¡± She grumbled with a tightly clutched fist. In the end, the inquisition ended up taking the night watch and then cleansing the food in the morning. The duties she was putting on her men were ever-increasing. And she too would have collapsed long ago if not for a certain secret booster she was taking. ¡­ The people flocked into the Aurelian Capital and King Aurelius the Great met them with open arms. The festivities were only in their beginning stages but even then everyone was already in a jovial mood. Numerous spider stalls were set up all over the streets and it wasn¡¯t just TomGrape they were handing out here free of charge. Various meals pioneered by Spidery Delicious had reached the stalls and the people were lining up to engorge themselves silly. A young human lady was walking with a tray. ¡°Spider-FizzPop? grab your Spider-FizzPop?,¡± she smiled at the passersby adding, ¡°to quench your daily thirst and to fill you with life!¡±. Surprisingly so, in between the spider stalls there were human stalls too. Those were peddling their items, such as meaty goods, crafts and other trinkets. Those weren¡¯t free exactly, but no one even thought to blame Aurelius the Great for false advertising. The stall owners came here from the provinces to make money, and they were allowed to do so with no fee or any tax. A lot of people were grateful for that; it added the unexpected variety. Aside from food, there were many other traditional games taking place all around the capital. The most serious games had monetary prizes generously sponsored by the King himself. Those who craved entertainment came to watch the games or even participate in a few. Naturally, the most competitive games were dangerous, but even then, the Healing Potions were handed out free of charge. Outside the city walls, a massive construction was taking place. This wasn¡¯t a single mega project, but it was grand in scope. Both spiders and humans joined their hands to build thousands of buildings to house an ever-increasing number of guests. The human labourers were paid a generous wage by the King. So yes, not everyone was here to just celebrate. Those who were interested in money found work here quickly. However, perhaps ironically, or maybe it was just natural with the spiders, the buildings built were superior to the buildings inside the Capital walls. There was even a working sewage system put in place. The designs were slightly alien and definitely spider-like, but they were simple and sturdy, also quick and easy to make. Humans worked under spider direction to build the lodgings. There were whispers and rumours that it was a waste to spend so many resources to build houses to house temporary guests. But no one wanted to complain too much, after all, the guests were staying there free, and the labourers got a nice pay for their work. Yes, the money was coming out of the Royal Treasury, but it was up to the King how he spent that. If it went back to people''s pockets, even better! In the end, everything was going well. Maybe too well. An imaginary conversation would go like this: ¡°Do you know we are at war?¡± ¡°What war?¡± ¡°With the Holy Empire.¡± ¡°Eh? What¡¯s that? Sounds not important.¡± ¡°How about the Spider Kingdom?¡± ¡°Ah! I know that. That¡¯s the one with spiders, right? Aren¡¯t they just magnificent, just look at them go.¡± ¡°But some say the spiders are evil!¡± ¡°Who said that? There¡¯s that bastard? Guards! Guards!¡± In other words, the Aurelian people were mirthfully ignorant about the current predicament of the Aurelian Kingdom. But hey, they were a happy bunch. 102 - Strap On For Reckless Fun The first shipment from the Dark Fortress had arrived. To preserve the meat during the trip it was encased in ice blocks. The spiders hauled large cubical parcels inside the cold underground storage. The meat will mostly be consumed by local Lamia and their young, but also some of it will be shipped to the Aurelian Kingdom. The icy blocks weren¡¯t the only things the spiders had brought. There were also bones, leather, barrels of plankton, and something round and very precious. ¡°Finally, I have my balls.¡± The Spider King looked with excitement at two large spheres. ¡°That should give me the strength I need.¡± He injected a small amount of mana into IceShard Bird Core and the large sphere floated up hovering just above the ground. He did much the same to the other one. The otherwise heavy cores now felt weightless, and he pushed the two of them effortlessly to the workshop. The two joined a third, a much larger core. ¡°Three is a lucky number. That should do the trick.¡± He declared without any evidence to support that statement. He had to go on this arbitrary number because this was just an experiment. ¡°Okay spiders, let''s get this done!¡± He encouraged the nearby spider crafters. ¡°Crafting!¡± The spiders chirped in giddy excitement. Huge logs of IronOak were dragged into the workshop. The IronOak was notoriously hard to work with and it was only possible with the tools made from Glem. The metal of the tools was black and the tool itself often had oddly scary or otherwise menacing shape. It was of no surprise because they were made by Drow, just like spiders they had their own sense of aesthetics. The tools might have looked like torture implements but they were made to cut and shape the wood. Actually, it was surprising how well the tools worked since the Drow used to be Elves, Elves who would never harm a tree¡­ In the end, the IronOak logs were cut and processed into thick planks. On the side, mages worked on a Corrundum framework. The metal was bent and shaped to web around inside the IronOak frame. It had to be done so that the magic could flow freely. The structure was beginning to shape up. Two cores were nested at the back and the Supermassive core at the front. There at the back, in a cabin-like room, everything was connected to a control table. The large structure was further divided into rooms of various sizes. So, what was this structure? It didn¡¯t have masts for sails, but still, it was a ship. ¡°Or is this a plane?¡± The Spider King wondered for a moment. ¡°No.¡± He ruled that option out. ¡°Sky Ship.¡± This was a flying ship, but the name sounded boring. ¡°Hmm¡­ Sky Whale.¡± He shook his head again. ¡°Galleon Whale. Yeah, that will do.¡± And so, the flying ship was named Galleon Whale. Since it had no mast for sails or even wings, the name seemed fitting. The ship was roughly 200 feet long (60 metres), bigger than your average IceShard Bird but smaller than its supermassive variant. So in other words, it was rather massive. The name was made, but there was another important thing to do. ¡°A maiden voyage! Everyone aboard the ship.¡± The spider crafters and the spider mages climbed aboard. The King put his hand on the control table and poured the mana in. The ship floated off the ground. It didn¡¯t wobble or turn upside down; everything was good and stable. ¡°Ups, I¡¯ve almost forgotten.¡± Maybe it wasn¡¯t the best idea to build something like that indoors, but it was a bit late for such realisations. ¡°Open the roof!¡± At least, they did plan this out to some extent. A bunch of spiders jumped out to use a nearby crank lever to shift the roof canvas open. The ship floated up towards the ceiling hole and the spiders jumped back on the slowly floating ship from the ceiling. Everyone was back aboard, good! ¡°Up, up we go.¡± He directed the ship higher. ¡°Ok, now¡¯s the real challenge. Straight.¡± He pushed his mana into a different panel of the control table. Galleon Whale began inching slowly forward. ¡°Faster!¡± He poured more mana in. ¡°More! More!¡± From up high it was hard to tell the real speed, and he had no devices to measure it. It was somewhat faster than a sprinting Centauri. ¡°I demand MORE!¡± He forced more mana in. The ship flew faster, but it was no race boat. ¡°I guess this is the limit.¡± But even then, something like 40 miles an hour was a decent speed. And now that it was at maximum velocity the mana consumption was negligible. While the reckless King was enjoying himself a nearby spider was taking notes and doing calculations. ¡°King. We need to test. The manoeuvrability.¡± ¡°Ah, yes. I¡¯m enjoying myself too much. There is it.¡± He looked at the control table. The ship had no wings or rudder, and no moving parts, the movement was controlled by the three cores. And the cores were controlled with mana injections. So the table had different areas to push the mana in. The design allowed movements in all three directions (x, y, z). It was rather simple. He put his palm on a button-like surface and the ship began to turn. Much like IceShard Bird it wasn¡¯t too nimble in the sky, but even if slow the movements were smooth. He also needed to test the ¡®pitch¡¯ and ¡®roll¡¯ functionality. Those proved to be more challenging; at least for him. He turned the ship upside down, and the spiders being spiders managed to stick to the floor without falling off, but he had to hold tight on the table so as not to tumble down on the ceiling. ¡°Barrel roll. It works.¡± Spider chirped adding to its notes. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s not do that again. This thing needs a chair and some safety belts.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°What other tests do we need to do?¡± ¡°Lift capacity test.¡± He directed the ship back to spider warehouses. Regretfully so, the landing was not the smoothest, the ship moved with a lot of inertia, and it was as slow to stop as it was to accelerate. In the end, he smashed the ship into the warehouse building sending pieces of the warehouse wall flying. ¡°Ups¡­ We¡¯re here.¡± Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Aside from the collapsed wall of the warehouse, there were no big issues. The ship was made of IronOak and hence incredibly sturdy. He could probably crash it into the mountain, and it still would be fine. The spiders loaded the hull of the ship full of TomGrape. No less than 1000 tones. A massive amount. ¡°I hope this works.¡± He poured the mana in. The Galleon Whale moved with grace. It was heavier but not slower at all. The magic laws governing the working principles of the cores were interesting. And it made sense, after all, one of the cores belonged to Supermassive IceShard Bird. ¡°No surprises there. It could even be heavier.¡± ¡°Mana use?¡± The spider asked. ¡°Again, surprisingly no changes.¡± Full or empty the ship consumed the same amount. ¡°Interesting.¡± The spider made more notes. They tested a few other things and landed the ship near the Palace. He was getting better at sailing, wait no, flying, and this time he didn¡¯t crash the ship into the building. Naturally, the flying object had attracted several curious observers. ¡°What is this-sss?¡± The Friendly Lamia asked with awe petting the white hull of a ship as if it was an animal. ¡°Galleon Whale. It¡¯s a flying ship. We built it with spiders just today.¡± ¡°Sss¡­¡± She hissed. ¡°Why?¡± The question made him pause. ¡°Why?¡± He repeated. ¡°Because I could. Didn¡¯t you ever dream of flying?¡± ¡°No, sss, that sounds scary. And dangerous.¡± The other lamias standing right behind her nodded in approval. ¡°I guess, flying is not for everyone¡­¡± A spider messenger approached the King. ¡°King, I¡¯ve been running around. Trying to reach you.¡± It had a rolled and sealed parchment in its spidery hand. ¡°But you were in the sky. This is for you.¡± He took the parchment; it was sealed with a royal seal belonging to the Aurelian Kingdom. ¡°Most likely news about the war.¡± He guessed breaking the seal and unrolling the parchment. === Dear Master, my Monster King, I, your humble servant lowly Aurelius the Great, extend to you the warmest greetings and heartfelt wishes for your continued dominance over the Monster Realm. As we had agreed the Aurelian Kingdom is now officially a full part of your realm and you, my Master, are its rightful ruler. From now on I will rule the human parts of your realm as your loyal duke. Hence, it is with great honour and immense pleasure that I write to invite you to a grand feast in celebration of your benevolent rule and my ascension to the status of the duke. The feast will be a magnificent affair, filled with delectable delicacies, enchanting music, and captivating entertainment. It is my sincere hope that you will grace us with your majestic presence, bestowing upon us the honour of your attendance. The feast not only serves as an opportunity to pay tribute to your wise and just leadership but also as a testament to the unity and strength of the Monster Realm. It will be attended by distinguished guests from all corners of the Aurelian Kingdom, including re-educated lords, reformed merchants, and influential figures from the nearby villages and towns. During this auspicious event, we shall present you with tokens of our unwavering loyalty and gratitude. These gifts, carefully chosen to reflect the richness of our land and the talents of our artisans, serve as a humble expression of our devotion to your reign. Moreover, this feast offers a platform for you to address your subjects directly, sharing words of wisdom and inspiration that will resonate throughout the realm. Your presence will undoubtedly uplift the spirits of our citizens and reaffirm their faith in the vision you have set forth for our prosperous future. To ensure your utmost comfort and security, I request that you bring your spiders with you. We have already prepared to accommodate at least ten thousand of your spiders. If your majesty desires, he can bring even more. Twenty thousand, thirty thousand¡­ you can bring them all. In anticipation of your gracious presence, I remain, with the utmost respect and admiration, Yours faithfully, Your loyal servant Duke Aurelius the Great. === ¡°What is this¡­¡± He wanted to crumple and throw away the parchment. But then he realised that it was a human custom to do politics like this; in a roundabout and dishonest way. However, Duke Aurelius had a silver tongue and it didn¡¯t look like the Monster King was in any position to refuse the invitation. If he did so, he would betray the expectations of the Aurelian people. Nor did he want to refuse it, just like any other person he liked feasts. Well maybe not in the war-torn countries, but whatever. ¡°It seems there is a feast to attend¡­ Spider, draft a letter telling him that we will come.¡± But, thirty thousand spiders, where did he even get that number? Anyway, there were some preparations to make. ¡°Friendly Lamia, can you run up to the Queen and inform her of this.¡± ¡°Yes-sss.¡± She slithered away in an urgent manner followed by other lamias. ¡°Now, it says the feast is in my honour, so should I bring gifts or not?¡± ¡°The King Aurelius. Is becoming Duke Aurelius.¡± ¡°Ah, I hear you spider, but that sounds like demotion. It¡¯s not something normally celebrated.¡± He scratched his chin in thought. ¡°No, it would be rude to come empty-handed. We¡¯ll exchange the gifts.¡± He thought about what the Duke Aurelius might like. ¡°Scrolls! I¡¯ll gift him a bunch of scrolls.¡± Speaking of which, the Darkness Spider, thanks to the Dark Spirit Stones, had reached another breakthrough in making the scrolls stronger. The new Dark Scrolls were on the powerful side, more precisely highly destructive, but since the Aurelian Kingdom was now officially a part of the Monster Realm, entrusting Duke Aurelius with such power seemed appropriate. It would show that he trusted the duke and it would also give the duke power to defend his lands. ¡°But Aurelian Kingdom¡­ does this mean it becomes Aurelian Duchy? Ah!¡± He waved a hand dismissively. ¡°The name doesn¡¯t matter.¡± Humans could name their lands however they wanted. ¡­ The Lamia Queen insisted on taking all her Lamia subjects to the Aurelian Kingdom. Something must have struck a chord when Duke Aurelius didn¡¯t invite any Lamia, an honest mistake on his part, or she just wanted to show her Lamia off. ¡°How about the Lamia babies? Their still little.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll leave sss-some bugs around, sss, they¡¯ll be fine.¡± The Lamia hatchlings were growing at a surprisingly fast speed due to the peculiarity of the magical world or their monster race. Regardless, they were far from adults, not even teens yet. He had to reason. ¡°They are surprisingly independent. But we should leave at least some spider minders.¡± ¡°As long as I get to take, sss, all of my warriors and sss-servants.¡± She nodded. Well, that was out of the way. ¡°If you''re taking all the Lamia, it would be rude not to take Centauri.¡± ¡°You want to take them, take them.¡± She shrugged. It seems that everyone in MegaFarm was going. Obviously, the ship didn¡¯t have that capacity. Not even a hundred ships would. Most of them will be tracking on foot, but with the highway towards Aurelian Kingdom paved and completed that won¡¯t be much of an issue. ¡°I¡¯ll be flying there, want to join me?¡± He asked for what must be a fourth time. ¡°To fly in that thing, sss, no!¡± She trembled. Apparently, all Lamia were terrified of flying. ¡°It''s not that scary. And it''s safe now, we¡¯ve put seats and safety belts.¡± He was proud of that improvement. ¡°I saw you crashing that thing again, sss.¡± She shivered looking in the vague direction of a meteorite-like crater. ¡°No is no. We¡¯ll meet in the Aurelian Capital.¡± This meant that he would arrive way before his wife. But if she was fine with that, so he was. ¡°Okay then, I¡¯ve finished my preparations, I¡¯ll be leaving now then.¡± ¡°Sss-see you there.¡± She kissed him goodbye. While on the way to the Galleon Whale, his attention was grabbed by the vigorous trotting. He turned around to see the smiling face of the Centauri Champion. ¡°My King, I¡¯ve heard someone vacated their seat in your ship.¡± She said so while prancing in place giddily. It was obvious what she wanted. ¡°Yeah, my wife won''t be coming. And yes, you can take her seat.¡± ¡°Really?!¡± She was kicking her rear feet now. ¡°Yeah, why not.¡± She launched herself for a hug, but he dodged that feeling threatened by her soft weapons. For some reason, he was now thinking about Cream Cheese. The Centauri collected herself and didn¡¯t attempt to grab him for a second time. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ve got too excited.¡± She smiled. He replied with a smile of his own. ¡°I¡¯m glad someone is excited about flying just like me.¡± The spiders so far were very neutral to the whole affair of flying. ¡°I¡¯m just happy to fly at your side.¡± ¡°Come then, let''s get you strapped in.¡± He led her towards the ship. A horn was blown signifying the lift off of the Galleon Whale. The ivory-white ship slowly lifted towards the sky. Nearby spiders and lamias were waving their hands seeing the ship off. Even if the Spider King couldn''t see it, the Lamia Queen was also waving at the ship. ¡°Travel sss-safe my brave husband.¡± She said so with confidence knowing that a piece of her was wrapped around his chest. ¡°My good luck charm will protect you.¡± She saw the ship disappear in the distance. ¡°Now, we too must leave. To the Centauri Express!¡± She urged her subjects. 102.5 - The Prayer That Gave Me Wings The march towards the Aurelian Capital was a total slog. It was a gruelling experience. During the day they would march and at night they would be assaulted by terrors. There was no respite at all. The progress was very slow and there were talks of desertion in the peasant army. At least for now, the General was keeping the army together. If not for the presence of the Inquisition the men would have routed long time ago. Any villages or towns they had encountered were completely abandoned; it was very eerie. The army rations kept getting poisoned, the nights were infested with terrors, and the terrors themselves were invulnerable to swords and spears. If anything, the peasant levy seemed to be useless, but the Inquisition wouldn¡¯t be able to take the capital on its own, especially not without the reinforcement from the local populace which they couldn¡¯t get now. So, there was that. The mood was very dreary. To lift her weighted spirit the Radiant Sword was praying in her tent. ¡°Oh, Holy Light, is this a test? Or have you forsaken us?¡± She craved for answers. ¡°Or is this a punishment for our weakness?¡± She looked at the almost empty bottle she was grasping tightly in her hand. ¡°For my weakness¡­¡± She understood that such prayers would never be replied to directly. Holy Light didn¡¯t speak in words; it sent its messages through signs, or such was the teaching. But ever since she stepped on this tainted land, she couldn¡¯t see or read any such signs. A shrill shout ended the tranquillity of the night and the peace of her prayer. ¡°And so, it begins.¡± She said it with a sigh. ¡°So, it is a test¡­¡± She looked again at the bottle and finished its contents. [You have been afflicted Error[System_Override]!], [You have gained access to the Monster System], and so she became a Lesser Angel. ¡°I¡¯ll purge the evil. For the Holy Light!¡± She ran out of her tent. Her Holy Presence broke the Terror the men were afflicted with. The Angelic Heal restored the vigour of the Drained. The Holy Retribution imbued her attacks with the Light magic. And the Last Stand enabled her to fight throughout the night without feeling tired. The perks were extremely powerful, and they were only available in the Monster System. And these weren¡¯t your standard Light magic, at least not in the repertoire of the Paladin class. A few of her colleague inquisitors raised their brows at seeing her use unknown magic, but no one challenged her. And she was extremely lucky that they didn¡¯t have a funny idea to read her status; such action would reveal the real source of her power. Despite such dangers, she fought the shadows like a hero. Her body was glowing in dim light giving that illusion of holiness. The name Radiant did suit her well. ¡°Radiant!¡±, ¡°Radiant!¡±, ¡°Radiant!¡±, the warriors were chanting. With a *Pop* she killed yet another monster. As if afraid of her radiant light the shadows retreated into the darkness and the night returned to its tranquil state. She was done sooner than expected, but once the shadows were repelled, they wouldn''t attack for a second time. So it seemed safe to dispel her Last Stand. The tiredness which wasn¡¯t there moments ago assaulted her like a flash flood. She wobbled on her feet back towards her tent. ¡°I need sleep.¡± She said the obvious. ¡°But also¡­¡± She needed to pray and thank for success. Tonight no one had died. She looked at the now empty bottle. She had packed enough, or she had thought she did, but the march was taking longer than expected. The liquid blessing that granted her divine power was all but gone. ¡°Holy Light, give me strength to pull through this. Just a few more days.¡± She put her hands together deciding to recite one of many prayers. ¡°Oh, Holy Light, please guide our path. Bestow us with strength and wisdom to last through times of darkness. Grant us salvation and purity of both body and mind. Oh, Holy Light, listen to my prayer and send me a sign.¡± Suddenly a chilling breeze swept through the tent extinguishing the candle. The air was filled with an overbearing aura. She felt something similar when meeting the Holy Emperor for the first time, but the current presence felt many times stronger, also it was completely different. Less cold and murderous, no, it was the opposite of that. Regardless, her heart skipped a beat as she sensed that she was no longer alone in her tent. She turned around to face the presence. ¡°I can sense you. Who are you?¡± From the darkest corner of the tent emerged a figure, cloaked in shadows, with glowing yellow eyes that pierced through the veil of night. It was the source of the aura. The being in front of her, even if obfuscated by the shadows, possessed an undeniable allure. The aura they were emitting, while strong and overbearing, felt warm and fuzzy. She couldn¡¯t help but feel¡­ relaxed. ¡°Ah, Elisabeth, how delightful to finally meet you in person. Johny had told me so much about you.¡± The voice was deep and strong, betraying the masculine gender of the cloaked figure. She almost yelped in surprise. There was no way for him to know her birth name. She had abandoned that long ago, way before she even joined the Holy Orden as a sister. In her younger days, as an orphaned street urchin, she called herself Ella, then later, she was just another sister, and now she was the Radiant Sword of the Holy Inquisition. ¡°Johny?¡± She looked for that name hard in her memory. ¡°Is he one of the angels?¡± She guessed. Yes, if this Johny was an angel it would make sense that he knew the name given by her mother just before she died. ¡°She¡¯s a hero and a precious friend, but an Angel? I wouldn¡¯t go that far.¡± He inched closer. ¡°But let¡¯s not get distracted here.¡± Her already tired knees gave out at that moment forcing her to kneel and bask in an overbearing aura. ¡°Are you here to take me away? To take me to the heavens?¡± She couldn¡¯t help but think such thoughts. ¡°Huh? How did you know?¡± The entity sounded surprised for a moment. ¡°I guess I could give you a tour¡­ But first, will you listen to what I have to say?¡± She nodded vigorously putting her together as if she was praying. ¡°Hear me out, Elisabeth. The world is not as simple as you believe. The Holy Light you so fervently serve is but one side of the eternal balance. For balance, you need all three: Light, Dark and even Chaos. Let¡¯s say someone embraced darkness instead of light, but if they bring balance to the world, such a person isn¡¯t necessarily evil. Embracing the darkness doesn¡¯t mean forsaking your principles, but rather finding strength in both¡±. While listening she kept nodding memorising each line, it sounded important. ¡°You know who I speak of, right? Can you forgive him?¡± That question took her out of the religious fervour. ¡°Are you speaking about Aurelius II? But he¡¯s a monster¡­¡± With those words, she found the strength to stand up. ¡°He¡¯s evil! He¡¯s corrupted by darkness! A Corrupted Human!¡± He inched even closer. ¡°I can see your faith is strong, my dear inquisitor, but perhaps your convictions are misguided. Evil and darkness aren¡¯t synonymous. Just as the light can cast shadows, the darkness can grant power and wisdom. And the ever-outlier chaos can bring the much-needed breath of fresh change. Imagine the potential within you, amplified by the forbidden knowledge you fear.¡± She gasped turning to look at the empty bottle she discarded to the corner not too long ago. ¡°The choice is yours, Elisabeth. Continue to serve the light blindly, or unlock your true potential and embrace the chaos.¡± She collapsed back to her knees clutching the bottle to her chest as if it was the dearest thing in her world. ¡°Is this another test? A trial I must complete before I ascend?¡± Her mind swirled with conflicting thoughts. She didn¡¯t know the right choice. At first, she thought the cloaked entity was a messenger sent from the heavens, but now she started to consider the opposite. ¡°I don¡¯t have the answers. It¡¯s you who makes the choices and bears the responsibility. But think about what I have just told you and consider this: if you promise to turn back and leave the Aurelian Kingdom, I will Evolve you. That is what you want the most, yes?¡° This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. She was slightly confused about the word ¡®evolve¡¯. ¡°Do you mean I will ascend, become an Angel?¡± ¡°Yes, I have the power to grant you that.¡± He inched closer. They were only a few feet apart, but even then, she couldn¡¯t see past his cloak of shadows. The words were sweet and irresistible, just like the jelly she had been consuming. If the entity in front of her embodied evil, then it wouldn¡¯t have the power to make her an Angel. Yes, maybe the entity spoke true. Darkness was not equal to evil. Maybe even angels in the eyes of the System were monsters and so there must be good monsters too. In other words, there was no reason for her not to ascend to higher form. ¡°So, what is your choice? Peace and prosperity, or war and blood.¡± The cloaked figure asked in a serious tone. ¡°Peace, of course, I will pick peace.¡± She said without much thought. ¡°Then give me your word that you won¡¯t attack Aurelian people again.¡± ¡°I give you, my word.¡± ¡°Then I will grant you my blessing. But please, recall my lecture, don¡¯t be blinded by righteousness. The world needs its shades of grey, and even black.¡± His hand reached for her chest. ¡°[Evolve].¡± The hand was veiled in a layer of tar-like shadowy mass, but the touch felt warm and loving. [Do you want to change your race to Angelic? Warning: the changes are permanent.] She didn¡¯t need any more proof to know that she passed the divine test, she accepted the ascension with all her might. ¡°Urgh!¡± The entity groaned as If in pain. She was enveloped by divine purple light. Her entire body felt fuzzy and weightless. She could feel an immense amount of magic filling her insides. To put it simply, it was ecstasy! The light dimmed and she was still standing with his hand on her chest. ¡°[Inspect].¡± He chanted an unfamiliar phrase. She had an inkling of what it did, so she did much the same. ¡°[Status].¡±
Monster Race: Angelic Variant: Radiant Angel Magic Affinity: Light ?? ?????? ??
HP:250 MP:300 STA:250
Active Perks [Holy Retribution], [Holy Smite], [Last Stand], [Angelic Heal]
Passive Perks [Radiant], [Holy Presence], [Divine Shield], [Celestial Wings]
Resistances [Dark Weakness: Medium]
The changes were also physical. There on the back, she could feel a new set of appendages ¨C wings. The feeling was natural as if they always belonged there. She touched her back trying to feel them. While doing so, she noticed that all of her scars were gone, and the wings felt feathery and fluffy. Unconsciously, she stretched her wings out filling the confines of the tent. She was extremely happy. ¡°I have ascended.¡± She smiled at the cloaked figure. ¡°Messenger. Please tell me your name.¡± He sighed. ¡°I feel that would only cause further misunderstanding¡±. She wasn¡¯t buying that. And also, a certain perk became available to her. It might be rude to the divine messenger but¡­ ¡°[Inspect].¡± She invoked.
Target: Spider King Monster: Moster King Magic Affinity: Dark ????????? ????????? ?????????
HP:1050 MP:-500/4500 STA:500
Active Perks [Summon Darkness], [Call Familiar], [Expert Milking Technique], [Transformation: Spider], [¡­]
Passive Perks [Language Comprehension], [Enhanced Poison Immunity], [Enhanced Nutrient Processing], [Chaos Blessed], [Resurrect +1], [¡­]
Resistances [Light Weakness: Lesser], [Physical Resistance: Lesser], [Charm Resistance: Medium]
Status Effects [Negative Mana]
She went through the table again and again. It just didn¡¯t make much sense. This was the divine messenger who granted her the ascension, but apparently, it was a monster named Monster King. And the perks were beyond bizarre. ¡°[Expert Milking Technique]¡­¡± She spoke out loud with disbelief. ¡°I guess the cat is out of the bag¡­¡± ¡°The Cat?¡± She didn¡¯t understand. ¡°Is it someone like Angel Johny?¡± The still-cloaked figure sighed deeply. ¡°I wanted to keep things mysterious and disappear after evolving you, it would have been so much cooler! Who was this enigmatic stranger? What did just happen? Wow, he was so strong and wise¡­ But it seems I¡¯ve slipped up.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± She struggled to follow. The shadowy cloak hiding the man disappeared as if it had never been there. It was still dark in the tent, but the silhouette was much clearer. The previous undeniable allure and the aura of warmth and friendliness didn¡¯t go anywhere, actually, the man in front of her was even more charming, even despite a set of horns on his head. ¡°You know, I rather do this somewhere else than a dark and musky tent. You should come aboard my ship, I¡¯ll give you that tour I¡¯ve promised, yes. Discreetly of course. I have it parked just above your camp. [Magic Inventory]¡± The alluring man retrieved a potion from thin air and drank its contents. ¡°Huh?¡± She inched closer drawn by his allure, but also, sensing that he might leave abruptly. ¡°I mean, you have wings now, just fly up. Oh, it¡¯s dark now so you might miss it. I¡¯ll leave a lantern on the deck. Yeah. I¡¯ll see you there.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± She stretched her arm towards him. ¡°[Shadow Walk].¡± He disappeared. Radiant rushed towards her table to light the candle. The light illuminated the cramped space. There was no man there, the flap of the tent was shut tightly preventing the harsh wind of the night from entering. She was all alone. ¡°Was this even real?¡± She wondered for a moment. Towards the end, it had gotten slightly delirious. After all, she was very tired, so maybe she passed out and dreamt the whole thing up. She reached for her back. ¡°No, It was real.¡± The wings were there, a permanent modification to her body. ¡°He said to fly up¡­¡± She recalled. But the ship part still confused her. She stepped out of her tent and spread her wings flapping them. It took effort but soon her legs left the ground and she flew up towards the clouds. The nearby guards had noticed her and were pointing and shouting something. She didn¡¯t care about them. She didn¡¯t care about being seen. They were mortal men and she was now ascended. She was an angel! ¡°Embracing the darkness.¡± The words echoed in her mind while she was flying in the night sky. ¡°Light, Dark and even Chaos. Balance¡­¡± There was a lot to think about. Such words were plain heresy in the eyes of the Holy Light, but somehow, she understood that they rang true. It wasn¡¯t heresy, it was divine wisdom! And she was there to witness it. ¡°I have so many questions.¡± She flew higher looking for the promised light. ¡°There it is.¡± She spotted a tiny source of light just below the cloud. She felt drawn to it like a moth to the flame. ¡°I¡¯ll have my answers.¡± After all, at this point, her entire world was turned upside down. She no longer had the conviction that her blind faith in the Holy Light was right. There was a strong sense of disillusionment, a feeling that her ways might have been misguided. But even so, she was still faithful. She still believed in a higher power. Namely in the power which gave her wings. ¡°I¡¯m flying! I¡­ am¡­ flying¡­¡± It was so surreal. 103 - Please, Please Stop Helping Me. I Rather Be Sabotaged! Different countries have varying techniques to sabotage the enemy. Some use money to buy up the nobles and corrupt the government from the inside. Others use a more straightforward approach employing shadowy assassins or even an order of dark magi such as the Black Hand. There were as many ways for covert operations as imagination allowed. Spider Kingdom wasn¡¯t above underhanded methods, after all, if the enemy could be defeated without bloodshed it was for the better. To weaken the Imperial Army, the first of the spider saboteurs were assembled by the Spider King himself. The spiders were distant descendants of spiders once known as Jesters, and later as scouts and explorers. However, this bunch focused their evolutions on increasing their stealth and mobility skills. The spider saboteurs, while otherwise small and on the weak side of the power spectrum, were however extremely hard to detect, especially at night. The spider saboteurs were ordered by the King to undermine the Imperial Army, undetected and from the shadows. And they were perfect for the task. A multitude of perks and equipment were layered to strengthen their natural abilities. They were covered from head to toe in black garb, leaving only a small slit for four yellow eyes. The garb was made from a very special plant grown by the Drow, ShadowAgave; it had an affinity for Dark enchantments. The light clothing hid a plethora of concealed pockets, and the pockets were stuffed with anything from daggers to strange powders. Their magical arsenal was compact, but the spells were powerful: Shadow Stealth, Shadow Form, and Shadow Walk. They used Shadow Walk to traverse great distances in a matter of few days. The Shadow Form allowed them to blend into the night¡¯s shadows and stalk around when arguably invisible. The Shadow Stealth was there when they needed a more corporeal form to interact with the world and to manipulate objects inside their pockets (the other two spells didn''t allow such luxury) without being easily detected. The spider saboteurs employed all the above to catch up with the Imperial Army just right when they crossed the border. As ordered, they began by observing the army from the shadows, and understandably, the spiders were left appalled. No, it was not about the way the enemy walked, talked, or did other otherwise normal human things, no, it was about the food they ate. The army ration was simply inhumane! The spiders looked with pity at the humans, they knew no joys of TomGrape; it was just too much to bear. In the end the spiders couldn¡¯t just watch and do nothing. There wasn¡¯t enough TomGrape to share with the humans, and the spiders needed their own rations to survive, however, the solution was simple: even the blandest and hardest twice-baked biscuit could be improved with some good spice. This was the least the spiders could do. And so, then the army rested after the long journey, the charitable spiders spiced the Imperial Army¡¯s food. The spice came in the form of a special blend of spores, spores generously provided by the Myconid Queen. In the humble spider¡¯s opinion, the mix was just about average, but it did give that zesty oomph when consumed. This was exactly what the bland biscuit needed. Unfortunately, the humans didn¡¯t appreciate the improved flavour and ended up expelling it from either end of their holes. It just didn¡¯t agree with their stomachs. And the spores took it upon themselves to multiply further spicing the entire human camp. Well, stuff like that happens, what¡¯s good for a spider isn¡¯t necessarily good for a human. It seems that the bland food was the least of their troubles. The humans here were poor sleepers too, barely catching four hours of sleep a day. Well, that might have something to do with the nightly assault of the shadow creatures. But those weren¡¯t in the department managed by the spider saboteurs. The ¡®shadow creature¡¯ complaints should be passed to the department managed by the Darkness the Slime. Anyway, the spiders pitied the humans, so they decided to offer them sleep aid in a timely lullaby. In retrospect, the spidery forms might have manifested seemingly out of nowhere while still clad in their spooky shadowy garb, and then they started to chirp in a language humans had no way to understand. Actually, it had only upset the humans, ending up with spiders being forced to flee the tents. But hey, it was the intention that mattered, and the spiders had the best of intentions! Maybe it was just a lullaby the humans didn¡¯t like, so each night they tried a different one. By the fourth night, the spider saboteurs found the one that worked. This one didn¡¯t cause the humans to swing their weapons in the vague direction of the singing spider. Instead, they would curl up under their blankets and cry at the beauty of the lullaby. Well, they weren''t sleeping but this was an improvement in the right direction. Eventually, the spiders will find the right lullaby! The one that would move humans to sleep! ¨C They operated under this assumption. Indeed, these humans were really pitiful. Once, it was obvious they had gotten themselves confused and started walking in the wrong direction without realising it. The spiders couldn''t interfere during the day but at night they doused everyone in Blue Dust making them fall asleep; maybe they should have used that from the beginning and not the lullaby, but that¡¯s beside the point now. Then they carried everyone throughout the night towards the correct location. Naturally, there were a lot more humans compared to spiders, like 1000 to 1 so the overall distance everyone was moved wasn¡¯t that great, however, hopefully, that will allow them to realise their mistake and continue the march In the right direction, The reaction of the humans was utterly bizarre, it made them even more confused! But hey, at least the vigour they displayed with all the shouting and hair ripping showed that they had a lot of energy, no doubt all thanks to a good night''s rest. But the whole hair-pulling ritual was slightly strange¡­ Were they changing their fur for a new climate? Some animals did that in the Ancestral Forrest, but the spiders could only guess. Hmm, actually, maybe the ever-helpful spiders could be of assistance again? If the humans didn¡¯t want all those hairs, of course, the spiders could offer a free midnight trim. Why else would they pack so many daggers if not for pioneering that improvised army haircut? Admittedly, the spider saboteurs were sent here to stop the Imperial Army, they knew that, they did¡­ but those folks were just too pitiful not to want to help them, you know, just give them that little push in the right direction. Something the Spider King might disapprove of, but every spider knew that the generous King would understand if they explained. It was obvious that without the essential help from spider saboteurs the Imperial Army would have collapsed a long time ago. It would be disappointing if they never reached the Aurelian Capital at all, wouldn¡¯t it? Another night came. ¡°Spider Saboteurs roll out to help!¡± A spider chirped. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Hence the spiders followed the Imperial Army¡¯s slow march and helped the humans from the shadows as much as they could. ¡­ Darkness the Slime, or just Darkness, was tasked with demoralising the Imperial Army. Yes, the Darkness was sent in conjunction with spider saboteurs, but those two parties worked separately. The Master didn¡¯t explain why he duplicated the task, but Darkness understood this as some sort of competition and a chance to prove itself. From the very beginning, the odds seemed rigged against its favour. While it was allowed to take all of the shadow creatures, they were extremely dumb compared to the intelligent spiders. So, the entirety of the success of the operation rested on the tactical genius of the Darkness. However, some small favours were bestowed by the Master. Darkness was gifted a bag of Dark Spirit Stones, which could be used to replicate the shadow creatures. So, if there was a need to replenish the numbers, it could do that rather easily. Darkness tapped into the Mind Web and managed shadow wolves from the distance. The order was to assault the sleeping humans and Drain them. The goal wasn¡¯t to kill them, but rather scare them because the dead didn¡¯t tell tales. The drained survivors would talk about their experiences lowering the morale as a whole, and as a plus their weakened state further drained the army''s resources and time. Unfortunately, the shadow creatures weren¡¯t perfect and so there were casualties on both sides. Apparently, the spiders had a better idea, it was poisoning the food. The darkness jiggled in frustration at itself for not coming up with that idea first. The shadow creatures were able to drain the vitality not just out of humans but their food, however, the darkness didn¡¯t want to copy the spiders. Way too often the Master called it a copycat; whatever it was supposed to mean Darkness understood the negative connotations of the monicker. ¡°I understand the copy part, meow, but what the cat bit is about?¡± It seemed entirely irrelevant. ¡°I might be copying things, meow, but I¡¯m not cat¡¯ing anything.¡± It jiggled. ¡°Meow. I need a different plan to win this contest.¡± Darkness looked at the various shadow creatures it brought here. ¡°Yes, aerial assault. Meow!¡± It retrieved a bunch of spirit stones to replicate shadow stingrays. The combined assault of wolves and stingrays proved to be extremely effective. The inquisition could get the wolves rather easily, but they struggled to down the flyers. It was working! Later Darkness noticed the peculiar behaviour of the spiders. For whatever reason, at times they would break out of their Shadow Form in front of unsuspecting humans and start singing. The tunes were mellow and even the Darkness could appreciate the pleasant chirps, however, the spiders wore clothing made out of ShadowAgave and hence their forms inflicted humans with Terror. ¡°Tch.¡± Darkness clicked the non-existent tongue. ¡°They stole my minion''s ability.¡± Yes, shadow creatures also could afflict their targets with Terror, especially if someone was mentally exhausted. ¡°They are always a step ahead of me.¡± Darkness jiggled in frustration but then a realisation struck it. ¡°No, wait, meow. What if instead of competing with spiders, we work together? Meow! That¡¯s what Master must have intended from the very start. Yes.¡± It quivered in resolution to change its tactics ever so slightly. Darkness used its ability to puppeteer its minions from the shadows. The order was simple: assist the spiders and drive humans to the depths of the despair. ¡­ The Spider King was cruising leisurely aboard the Galleon Whale. The Aurelian Capital was only a day away. During the entire trip, for some unknown reason, the Centauri Champion kept barging in his cabin when he was sleeping; she was up to something nefarious, so he had to place spider guards by the door. It was hard not to feel threatened by her persistent ambushes, after all, she had a very formidable set of dangerous weapons, and he was still a man. Funnily enough, during the day she would just pretend nothing had happened. ¡°Is she sleepwalking?¡± He asked no one in particular and reached for the Slug Jelly bottle on the nearby cabinet. ¡°It¡¯s time to call Johny.¡± It was a part of his daily ritual. Recently, some disturbing reports were reaching his mind. His best friend told him in great detail what was happening within the ranks of the Imperial Army and the Holy Inquisition. It was only getting¡­ worse, or maybe better; it depended on perspective. ¡°They¡¯re going a bit overboard.¡± It was an understatement. At one point the army decided to turn back, but the next day they found themselves only closer to Aurelian Capital. They wanted to retreat, reinforce and resupply but they weren¡¯t allowed that. Various crazy rumours were spreading within the human ranks. Also, as unfortunate as it was, various war crimes were happening¡­ More soldiers died at the hand of themselves than from the Drain; it was just sad. The Inquisition was the only thing holding the army in place. According to Johny, the Army Tactician went bald overnight, that was proof of how much stress he was going through. ¡°I just hope I won¡¯t be the reason for the birth of some sort of War Convention¡­¡± Like the Geneva Convention. Either way, he had to tell the spider saboteurs to tone it down. Their tactics were just too effective! The humans were so terrified that they refused to desert. That was rather ironic and the opposite of what the Spider King expected to achieve. Apparently, they just felt safer in a large group and somehow they got the idea that turning back wasn¡¯t an option at all. While the spiders could give live reports to Johny, sending orders to the spiders was a more difficult task; Johny could not communicate with them directly, only read their experiences and emotions. Admittedly, he could summon Darkness with his perk, but it was unadvisable to leave shadow creatures unsupervised. ¡°It¡¯s quickest if I go and see them myself.¡± After all, he wasn¡¯t far. In the end, the solution looked rather simple. He just had to undermine the last column holding the army together. And Johny¡¯s reports gave him an exact plan of how to do it. After some time, at the darkest hour of the night, Galleon Whale reached the Imperial Army, hovering in the clouds right above it. He descended using Shadow Walk and observed the humans from the shadows. It was worse than he thought. The people were empty husks of their former selves, their bodies gaunt, faces pale, with big black bags under their eyes. Everyone was on edge and clearly expecting something horrible to happen at any minute. Soon enough he witnessed the Shadow Creature attack. They struck where the humans were vulnerable and once detected employed hit-and-run tactics. These shadow creatures behaved completely differently from the ones he fought in the Darkness War. The one behind the increased intelligence of otherwise dumb monsters must have been the Darkness. He¡¯ll have to give it honest praise. The shadow creatures were a natural counter to your average warrior since mundane steel did no damage to them. However, soon a radiant hero ran out of her tent and assaulted the shadows with a burning passion for retribution in her eyes. She was highly skilled and quickly turned the tides of the fight. ¡°So, this is a Paladin.¡± He was impressed by her ability to use magic and sword in tandem. He could learn a lot from her. ¡°No, this is an Angel.¡± Even he couldn¡¯t help but feel slightly awed by her radiant form. She was literally glowing! Her presence restored the morale of the men. Everyone was chanting ¡°Radiant!¡±. Soon after, the shadows were pushed back into the darkness. Indeed, she was the only reason this army was still holding it together. ¡°She has to go.¡± It was risky, but he decided to attempt it. ¡°[Shadow Walk].¡± He weaved carefully and out of sight of nearby inquisitors to avoid detection. The destination was the tent of the Inquisition leader, Radiant Sword, a fervent believer in the Holy Light, and angel wannabe. 104 - Do You Know The Way? *Clicking Noises* An argument was taking place right there aboard the Galleon Whale. It wasn¡¯t one of those heated nasty kind of arguments but an argument nevertheless. One side had sparkling and passion-filled eyes, and the other side looked resigned. ¡°I assure you I¡¯m not a God, not a demigod, and not even an apostle of a deity. If anything, I¡¯m just a Monster King.¡± He tried for the umpteenth time. ¡°But you can create angels! Your divine power is obvious. Who else could do that if not a God.¡± She pushed her argument with religious zeal. ¡°No-no, this is a misunderstanding. It¡¯s the Monster System that does those things. I don¡¯t fully understand it myself yet, but it seems I am sort of a gatekeeper to the evolutions. And you¡¯ve seen my Status, my affinity is Dark.¡± The Radiant nodded vigorously. ¡°I know. I understand now that the magical affinity has nothing to do with someone''s alignment or values. I have no problem with it being the Dark God who created angels. I know I am a good person and I will continue walking to the path of Light. If it is darkness which created light, isn¡¯t it even better?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t create angels. If anything, it¡¯s the Monster System.¡± He tried again. ¡°Then who created this system?¡± She had an intense look. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know. It just came to be right after we defeated Darkness. Maybe it was some type of a Deity, but it definitely wasn¡¯t me.¡± ¡°You told me of this Darkness before. It is your slave now, right?¡± He nodded. ¡°Slave is a strong word. Let¡¯s go with a pet.¡± And it was just Darkness now and not Darkness, but he kept that point to himself. ¡°You enslaved the Darkness! It¡¯s at your beck and call¡­ and you say you¡¯re not a God?¡± She said it with a tinge of accusation. ¡°Is it possible you don¡¯t know it yet? Or is it something you must hide from mortals?¡± She remembered that ¡®[Resurrect +1]¡¯ in his status, normal people didn¡¯t have that. He sighed, she just kept pushing her point ignoring his arguments completely. The Radiant continued. ¡°And you did tell me that you just came to exist in the Dreaded Place. Normal humans just don¡¯t pop into existence out of nowhere.¡± No! Minutes ago, he had told her that he started as a human, as a nobody, but she apparently chose to misconstruct that point of his argument. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I should even tell you this¡­¡± He hesitated. ¡°But I was brought here by some very powerful entity, if anything, I think it was the one with actual divine powers. I think its divine providence was Chaos in Order. Oh, and there is another one ¨C Order in Chaos. They are similar but different.¡± It was a confusing mess, so he pressed his point forward. ¡°I¡¯m nothing like them, I¡¯m just an evolved human. Someone just like you.¡± ¡°Chaos deities¡­ I¡¯ve never heard of them.¡± For some reason, her eyes were shining even brighter. ¡°So there are more Gods than just Holy Light¡­ And I don¡¯t think that the Holy Light is a real god anyway. Not anymore.¡± She gave him a scary look. He ignored her piercing gaze. ¡°Good, I¡¯m glad we sorted that misunderstanding.¡± ¡°There¡¯s Chaos in Order, Order in Chaos¡­ Probably many more.¡± She said so thinking deeply. ¡°Probably.¡± He nodded. ¡°And there is you, the Monster King.¡± He nodded again, finally, she was getting it. ¡°You¡¯re a God!¡± *Sigh ¨C no she wasn¡¯t. ¡°My King, would you grant me permission to speak.¡± It was the Centauri Champion who said the line. She was there at the sidelines listening quietly, and so were the spiders, after all, unfortunately this wasn¡¯t a private conversation; everyone was just aboard the deck. ¡°If you can rescue me from this zealous angel, please do.¡± He smiled weakly. ¡°My King, maybe you¡¯re overthinking this. You are a God.¡± She stated with a horse-like snort. He touched his forehead with a palm thinking ¡®Oh no, not her too!¡¯. ¡°Let me explain. Back in the Dermon Realm, the Demon Lord is worshipped by many like a deity. And I recall you telling me that the kobolds like to worship their dragons, isn¡¯t your pet wyrmling in a similar spot? Oh, and if I remember my history lessons well, the now-extinct elves worshipped the Ancestral Tree and the Forrest Spirit. And¡­¡± ¡°I think I understand.¡± Indeed, he was going at it from the wrong angle. The Radiant Sword wasn¡¯t thinking of him as a monotheistic god, where he was responsible for creating everything. But rather as an entity with an overwhelming and mysterious power; just one of many. It wasn¡¯t crazy for kobolds to worship dragons, and for the elves to worship their trees. And if we follow that convention, for the angelic monster race to worship the Monster King. ¡°Elisabeth,¡± he addressed, ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯m worthy of your worship, and I don¡¯t see myself as a God, however, if you want to look up to me and idolise me, I guess that is your choice.¡± He made that concession. ¡°Yes, so please allow me to share your blessings with others.¡± ¡°Blessings?¡± ¡°More people should join the Monster System. I could guide them to the path of Light and make them into Angels.¡± And for that, she needed Slug Jelly. ¡°I don¡¯t see a problem, that is, if it won¡¯t be abused. Power corrupts, and especially the easy access to it, you know that, right?¡± ¡°I¡¯m well aware. I¡¯m the right hand of the Chief Inquisitor.¡± She fluttered her wings. ¡°I know of the dangers and corruption of the human greed.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Ah, the Inquisition. I¡¯m not too sure they will respond kindly to the Monster System.¡± The word monster would likely cause trouble. ¡°I¡¯m a Radiant Angel, seeing is believing. I will show them the way, the right way. I will expose the lies of the false gods and the deception of the Holy Light. Angels are real, I am one of them, and I am apparently a monster. But I rather refer to myself as one of the ascended. So they too will understand that ascension is possible. You don¡¯t need to die to meet a god, you don¡¯t need to die to become an angel; the Holy Light was wrong. There is the Sky Fortress here on earth. And I am flying inside it.¡± According to the Holy Light teachings, the sky fortress was a place in the heavens where the angles resided. In other words, she confused his flying ship with it, or maybe just used religious legends to rationalize something as unbelievable as a flying ship. Either way, it was up to him to clear that misunderstanding. ¡°This is not Sky Fortress, this is a Galleon Whale, we made this ship not too long ago. It¡¯s just a marvel of technology me and spiders came up with.¡± ¡°Ah, so that¡¯s what the real name is. Galleon Whale¡­¡± She stubbornly clung to her misunderstanding. He had to wonder if she did that on purpose; she was bent on rationalising her own delusions. No doubt there was something wrong here. However, he couldn''t deny the fortitude, the strength, and the influence she had. ¡°If you can guide humans towards a different path. A path where they and my monster subjects and humans could coexist in peace. Then, of course, I will support you. You¡¯ll get the Slug Jelly you need.¡± ¡°Thank you, Monster King, I¡¯ll take the ¡®Blessed¡¯ Jelly and share it with my comrades.¡± Another thing was very obvious, she deliberately ignored the slug part of the name. Without even asking why it was called such. Maybe for the better¡­ ¡°Well, then I trust you to keep your promise, so, please take the Inquisition and the Army back home to the Holy Empire.¡± ¡°I will, and I will spread your wisdom.¡± ¡­ The same day, just minutes before the first rays of dawn, an angel descended from the sky. She was so bright and radiant that it would be easy to confuse her with the morning sun. The warm light illuminated the entire camp, basking tired men with the mysterious aura of safety and reassurance. The aura was strong enough to rouse the sleeping soldiers and prompt them to come outside their tents. Soon, everyone had their eyes on a radiant and angelic beauty. Her long golden locks swayed gently in the morning breeze, her eyes were filled with reassuring warmth, and her pure white wings were fluttering ever so slightly. ¡°My people, I come back from the heavens bringing gifts.¡± A mass of shadows condensed under her feat prompting a startled reaction from the people. They feared the shadows there were to swallow the angel. They were wrong. Out of the shadows popped the boxes, they were open and filled with strange round fruits. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, this is the heavenly mana straight from the sky. Eat it and your symptoms shall be relieved.¡± A hesitant hand reached for the yellow fruit and into the mouth it went. The man ate cautiously at the beginning, but the bites were growing bigger and more vigorous, in the end the fruit was devoured with great gusto. ¡°It''s true! I feel refreshed!¡± The man proclaimed with a broad smile. Someone showing this almost forgotten gesture was a sight much missed. The army men rushed to the crates grabbing a fruit each and eating it greedily. ¡°The gifts don¡¯t end there. I have something very special, bestowed upon me straight from God.¡± There was a crate she kept for herself, a crate she guarded, she opened the crate to retrieve a single bottle, one of many. She raised it high towards the morning light displaying it proudly. ¡°A key to ascend to heavens. This is how I became an angel. And with my guidance so could you.¡± Everyone looked at the crystalline bottle with wonder. ¡°Ah, but I¡¯m not here to deceive you. ¡®Blessed¡¯ Jelly undoubtedly will strengthen the soul, but it can bring you to either side, both Light and Dark. So, I believe it''s important to hand this blessing only to the ones deserving the most. Only to the ones who adhere to the true teachings and the true God.¡± ¡°We¡¯re with Holy Light!¡±, ¡°We believe in Holy Light!¡±, ¡°The Holy Light will guide us!¡±, people said such and so. The mirthful expression of the Radiant Angel changed to the one of fury. ¡°The Holy Light is wrong! It¡¯s all lies! If you could see my status you would know!¡± Incidentally, the warriors and the peasant levy weren¡¯t the only ones marvelling at the angelic beauty. The Inquisition was also looking at her in awe, but also with suspicion. The woman in front of them was a Radiant Sword, but also, she was apparently an angel, this was just Impossible! ¡°[Read Status]¡± One of the more powerful inquisitors invoked a Scribe skill. ¡°She¡¯s a monster!¡± She pointed at the Radiant Angel accusingly. The angel didn¡¯t seem perturbed by her words. ¡°I am an angel. And in the eyes of the System, I am a monster. How can this be? I¡¯ll tell you! The Holy Scripture is wrong! There in the Sky Fortress, I¡¯ve met the real God.¡± She glowed ever so brightly. ¡°If I am an evil monster, why can I use the power of Light? [Angelic Heal]!¡± She showered everyone in the bright motes of light. ¡°There¡¯s something my God told me, something profound: ¡®Following the path of darkness doesn''t mean you are evil.¡¯, I know it sounds contradictory, but what it implies is that there are good and bad monsters. And isn¡¯t it the same with humans?¡± People looked at her with confusion, but they were nodding. ¡°If someone belongs to a monster race it doesn¡¯t mean they are evil.¡± She reiterated her point. These were the words coming directly from a real-life angel, however strange it sounded it was hard not to believe; clearly, she carried the divine authority to say such things. Her comrades, the inquisitors, understandably remained sceptical. She knew it would take more than mere words to convince them. However, there was still a task she had to do. ¡°I¡¯ll say something else. We must retreat. We have no business in the Aurelian Capital. If we continue, we will only suffer.¡± The peasant levy cheered in agreement, the Army General, however, wasn¡¯t too pleased hearing that. Ignoring occasional voices of protest, she continued. ¡°The curses we had suffered here on this fruitless march, we brought it upon ourselves. We had no right to step on this land and we were punished by God. It was a sign we were on the wrong path. So¡­ Let''s turn back!¡± She pointed back towards home. ¡°I assure you that the nightly terrors will not pursue us.¡± The peasant levy was just exhausted from this gruelling experience, and they hadn''t even started the real fight yet, hence they roared in agreement again. ¡°Eat your heavenly manna, recover your strength, and let¡¯s go back home to our families.¡± She ended her speech causing an uproar. The Army General scowled at the peasants. This was desertion, no, this was worse, it was ignoring the direct orders of the Holy Emperor. If they fled back home, he and the captains of this army would be simply hanged. ¡°Well, if you want to die¡­ you can do whatever.¡± He also packed his things, but the direction he¡¯s heading will be the opposite. A few other professional warriors and otherwise loyal men decided to follow the Army General. A sorry skeleton of a once great army continued its march. The other side, led by the bright and shiny angel, strolled with vigour back to the lands of the Holy Empire. They weren¡¯t just going home to rest; they were bringing the beginnings of a new faith with them. There were two worlds, one of the System and the other of the Monster System. One was orderly and static, it offered predictable gains while locking humans to a fixed fate. The other was chaotic, unpredictable, and promised great potential, it could even change one''s race; the fate was undetermined. The old scripture of the Holy Light was compelling, it offered rules and guidance, but a lot of it was myths and flimsy conjectures, it had truths bent and twisted to suit the Holy Emperor and give him power. But the Way of the Monster King was different. There were a lot of differences, but the most important was rather simple. The Way had a real Angel, and radiant at that, to push it forward. Seemingly spontaneously it came to be known as The Way. It was a faith challenging the perceived truths of reality. It encouraged them to question the world, but also it allowed humans to become something more, something better (Minor Angel) or even worse (Corrupted Human). And understandably, it was just too tempting since it offered readily accessible blessings of the ¡®Holy¡¯ Jelly. The Way had the potential to turn the human world upside down. 105 – The Most Dangerous Kind Of Weapons The Galleon Whale approached the Aurelian Capital. ¡°The view is definitely different from the above.¡± He looked at the sprawling capital. ¡°And it changed so much.¡± It looked like its size has doubled, but since the city was built mostly as a ¡®circle¡¯ its actual area must have quadrupled. ¡°Are these spider designs?¡± He pointed at the outermost part of the city. There were almost identical buildings nestled closely together. One would expect to see neat boxes and triangular roofs when it came to human buildings, but the structures here resembled stacked spidery nests. It either had two or three slightly deformed spheres on top of each other making its floors. The walls weren¡¯t brick and mortar either, they were woven using sticks, rope and some sort of a filling for the gaps. Naturally, the doors and windows were also round. It looked somewhat dubious, but the reality was that it was extremely sturdy, no doubt everything was Reinforced; that¡¯s why. In the end, the thousands upon thousands of tightly clustered nest-like buildings gave that overall feel of a hive city. A place where some sort of goo-spitting twisted mutants would live. But undoubtedly so, he could see people darting in and out of their new spidery houses. ¡°It feels so alien now.¡± Indeed, he couldn¡¯t recognise the Aurelian Capital. He strained his eyes trying to see better. ¡°Huh, it appears blue is very fashionable.¡± He remarked looking at the many round dots scattered between the streets. ¡°I wonder if any of those are my spiders. I¡¯ve sent a good lot of them there.¡± The city was bustling with activity. A lot of the buildings were still being built, and most of them had that spidery touch, a touch of Spidery Magnificent. It almost looked like some sort of a spooky-themed theme park, but much-much bigger. The only place which remained familiar was the very centre of it. He could see the Royal Palace, albeit in a somewhat decrepit state, the Merchant Square, the old walls, the Garrison, and then neighbourhoods of normal human housing. ¡°But what is that?¡± He looked at the rising megastructure. It was still in the making so it was hard to tell what it was, but it was massive, rivalling the scale of the Royal Palace itself. Unlike with the nest-houses, blocks of stone were used to make it. At best, only a third of it was made but it was enough to read its intended shape. It was elliptical with high-sloping walls and a big pitch in the middle. ¡°Ah, Aurelius II mentioned some entertainment. Maybe it''s for that. But it¡¯s a shame I won¡¯t get to see it completed.¡± He didn¡¯t intend to stay that long. He looked at the newly trained spider navigator. ¡°Please land us by the Merchant Square.¡± ¡°Aye aye, King.¡± The spider chirped. The Galleon Whale began the slow descent. A thunder-like sound resounded in the cabin when everyone strapped their belts at once. Then the inside of the ship became eerily quiet, there was not a single chirp, and everyone waited with baited breaths. The ship touched the landing field. Gently. *Phew ¨C The Spider King broke a bated breath; it didn¡¯t crash at the nearby warehouse. An entrance like that would have been extremely embarrassing. The Spider King bowed ever so slightly. ¡°I praise your skills, spider navigator. You¡¯re a better pilot than me.¡± The spider made unintelligible but otherwise shy and cute chirp. The safety belts clanged again. ¡°Right, our holiday begins now. Enjoy yourselves.¡± He walked towards the lower deck of the ship where the exit was. The spiders walked right behind, but as soon as he was in the square they scattered in all directions, probably to explore the city and say hello to their old spider friends. The only one remaining by the Spider King¡¯s side was Centauri Champion. She was fumbling with her fingers and her gait was somewhat strange. ¡°You look fidgety today. Did the trip tire you?¡± He asked her concerned that she might feel stressed out. Sailing on the ship wasn¡¯t easy for some people. ¡°No, I¡¯m fine.¡± She kept fidgeting with her hands. ¡°It¡¯s just that I don¡¯t have a party dress.¡± Ah, yes, they will be attending something like that in the evening. He didn¡¯t see a problem with her wearing her armour, but he understood where she was coming from. Women liked dresses better, especially at evening parties. ¡°I¡¯m sure you can find something.¡± After all, they were right in the Merchants Square. ¡°I¡¯m not so sure.¡± She neighed. ¡°My King, would you kindly please accompany me?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like I must run to Aurelius the Great straight away, so why not? Let¡¯s go.¡± She followed the Spider King giddily shooting sneaky glances at his face. A lot of the Merchants Square was taken over by the spiders. It wasn¡¯t just TomGrape, but also clothing and other wares that were traded here by the spider traders. ¡°The sizes here are just too large.¡± The Centauri Champion whined in disappointment. The Spider King sized the cloth with his hand. ¡°I thought this is a curtain!¡± The spider merchant pointed at the nearby people, discretely of course. Yes, he did notice that. Everyone was so well-fed! ¡°I see¡­. We need a dress of a more modest size.¡± He didn¡¯t think he would ever say that; the phrase ¡®modest sized¡¯ didn¡¯t suit the Centauri Champion. Everything about her was sized as ¡®extra dangerous¡¯. ¡°Understood.¡± The spider chirped sizing the Centauri with its eyes. ¡°A custom order then.¡± Indeed, he should have asked that from the beginning. A human dress, even if at the right size, won''t fit the Centauri anyway. From under the stall, a tiny little spider, cat-sized at best, popped out. ¡°King!¡± It chirped in excitement. ¡°I get to see. Our King!¡± Now it was jumping in place. ¡°Concentrate, youngling. You have a task.¡± The spider merchant chirped firmly. The spider bowed to its customers in apology. ¡°We¡¯ll take measurements. In a shop nearby. Please follow.¡± The spider began to sprint. It was little but very energetic, and fast. The Spider King wasn¡¯t just walking anymore, but also sprinting. At least the Centauri Champion didn¡¯t have any issue to keep up with the spider. In the end, they were guided away from the Merchant Square and towards where the workshops were. The one in front of him was clearly of the spidery design. The little spider disappeared into an equally little hole just at the bottom of a wall. ¡°It doesn¡¯t look like we¡¯ll fit inside.¡± He joked. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. The joke flew over her head. ¡°My King, I think this door is for us.¡± She pointed at the other door next to the tiny hole. Something clicked from inside and the door rolled to the side. ¡°Oh, so it¡¯s a rolling mechanism. It feels almost like a vault. Are there treasures here?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The tiny spider chirped happily. He didn¡¯t expect that reply either. He entered the workshop curiously looking for the treasure. All he could see were rolls and rolls of Blue Cloth and various tools to work with it. Huh, maybe those were the treasures of a spider. ¡°I take. The measurements now.¡± The tiny spider already had a measuring tape in its hands. The Centauri Champion gave the spider a curious look. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better to have a small booth by the stall for that?¡± That way the spiders wouldn''t need to drag the customers all the way to the workshop. The spider waved the measuring tape. ¡°Custom orders are rare. And we make it here. You won¡¯t need to wait long.¡± The quick-speaking spider took a deep breath. ¡°We also. Can adjust the dress. Here on the spot.¡± It was probably quicker that way. It kind of made sense, normally you wouldn¡¯t expect someone to make a custom dress just in one day. And they needed it by the evening. ¡°I understand now. I leave it to you spider.¡± The tiny spider bowed. ¡°Let¡¯s get started. Undress!¡± He expected the spider to lead her to a private room, but apparently, this was the place. And it''s not like there were other customers, but still. ¡°Should I wait outside?¡± ¡°Why? Something wrong.¡± The spider asked with worry. ¡°No!¡± The Centauri Champion protested. ¡°I need help with my armour clasps.¡± She tapped at her sides. ¡°Right, normally you would have your attendants with you.¡± He helped her with the armour. The forged Glem plates were surprisingly heavy even for him; the Centauri were stronger than they looked. And he understood better why she wanted something more casual. The armour pieces were off, and it was only the tunic which was left. ¡°Undress!¡± The spider waved its measuring tape commandingly. Apparently, even that had to go. Strange, but he wasn¡¯t a tailor to question that. ¡°I guess, I¡¯ll give you some privacy.¡± He turned to leave. Centauri snorted exiling the air forcefully. ¡°My King, why are you being so awkward? You eat my Cream Cheese, but can¡¯t see me in my natural form? Who cares if I am... just stay in the room.¡± The tunic flew right off her body. He was just trying to be considerate, if she didn¡¯t mind, he didn¡¯t either. Not at all! However, there was more to that, he had been away from his wife since the trip began and it was getting hard. Well, usually he can hold it together, but separation can be hard at times. The already hard tests of life become even harder when the enemy brings all of their weapons out of the concealment. The Spider King preferred the dangerous weapons to be wrapped in cloth so they don¡¯t look as intimidating, and so in turn he can be polite and keep his sword tucked in its sheaf. The situation looked like it could escalate at any time. The idle thoughts were interrupted by a squeal. ¡°Eek! What are you doing!¡± ¡°Measuring.¡± Yeah, the tiny spider had to crawl on her back to measure her body. ¡°I don¡¯t like this. I don¡¯t like this at all!¡± She squealed shaking her body and running around the place while kicking her rear legs. He could understand her reaction, rare few people would like the feeling of a spider crawling all over their body. But the little guy was just doing its job. If she kept kicking like that someone could get hurt. He ran to pick the critter off her back. ¡°Spider, it looks like this won''t work.¡± He set the spider back on the floor. ¡°This is no good.¡± The spider said it sadly. ¡°I need to measure.¡± ¡°No! Can¡¯t do this! Abort the mission! Forget it!¡± She shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ll just go with my armour.¡± Unless¡­ ¡°I can measure it.¡± He offered. The Centauri gave the Spider King a curious look. ¡°Yes. That works.¡± The spider chirped. ¡°¡­I wouldn¡¯t mind.¡± She was fidgeting with her hands again. He took the measuring tape. ¡°Why are you blushing now?¡± It was too late for that. She had already jumped and ran kicking things all over the workshop while naked. The spider gave instructions on where and what to measure, and he did just that, no more no less. Well¡­ He did collect the data on the size of the enemy arsenal. It was terrifyingly large! Centauri wasn''t a race to be trifled with; he made that mental note to himself. The measurements were done, and it was time to cut the cloth. ¡°We¡¯ll make it quick. Won¡¯t be long. Please wait here.¡± The spider walked towards the spidery hole at the back. It was closed with a curtain. Then the curtain parted the King got a glimpse of the workshop proper. That was the place where the actual magic happened. ¡°Spider, would it be okay for me to see the crafting?¡± He shouted towards the curtained hole. ¡°It would be an honour.¡± A different-sounding chirp replied. He parted the curtain and went inside. The Centauri Champion pranced right behind him, with a tunic back on of course. He walked into a large hall, the previous room he was just in was likely only for temporary storage and prep. Here was the real workshop. With intricate pattern decorated cloth, rolls of golden thread, gems for encrusting, and many worktables. The room was also filled with spiders. He recognised three spider crafters, a grown-up kind, the rest were tiny spiders, at least two dozen of them. He shouldn''t have expected any less, the little guy was there only for the measurements. Even at a quick glance, he could tell that everyone was already very busy. It was very likely that they had to put their work aside just for his custom order. As he entered the three spider crafters greeted him with ¡®hello¡¯ and ¡®welcome¡¯. The little spiders were jumping excitedly and chirping something quietly to each other. ¡°Spider King, It¡¯s a great honour to craft for you and yours again.¡± ¡°The honour is all mine.¡± The little guy spoke the set of measurements out load to the elder crafters; it was amazing it could remember all that. The crafting began right after. The three spider crafters started straight away leaving the tiny spiders without a job. There was a hint of chaos betraying that the normal setup was streamlined a little bit differently, but since this was a custom order the three spiders took full charge of it. The tiny spiders scuttered around his feet, brushing past his legs in their passing. The spiders didn¡¯t need to go anywhere, they were just running around as if playing a game. But he knew what was going on, they were touching him on purpose. ¡°Ha, just like cats.¡± He knew what they wanted. ¡°Come here, let me pet you.¡± He crouched to give them attention. ¡°Yes!¡± The spiders chirped in unison surrounding him for pets. The Centauri Champion came close and crouched beside him. ¡°Let me give you a hand.¡± She reached for a spider, but the spiders ran away from her touch. ¡°¡­ just like cats.¡± It didn¡¯t look like they wanted pets from her. The three elders were busy with the order, but even then, he couldn''t help but notice the jealous glances they were shooting. ¡°I¡¯ll pet you three if the Centauri likes her dress.¡± He joked. The spiders worked with increased vigour. Huh, sometimes even adults wanted to be petted. The spider¡¯s hands were moving with expert precision and dexterity. He soon realised that he¡¯d never be able to match their skill, he just didn¡¯t have the right limbs. The cloth work just seemed natural to the spiders. The dress was taking shape very quickly. It was almost scary to see it being done so rapidly. He once saw a manufacturing robot working with movements too fast for a human eye to register, this was very much like that. Just before the dress was done, he treated the tiny spiders with drops of Slug Jelly. Spiders loved that stuff! ¡°It¡¯s done.¡± One of the spiders chirped presenting their masterpiece. To judge it fully it had to be worn. ¡°Go ahead, try it on.¡± He encouraged his companion setting the three bottles on the table. ¡°My thanks for your hard work.¡± He gave each spider a thankful look. ¡°Now our pets. Please.¡± The spider demanded. Oh, so they did want those, but that came with a condition. He turned to look at the Centauri Champion, she was naked again and trying to slip into her dress. The little spiders gave her a hand and this time she didn¡¯t make much of a fuss. Once finally in her party dress, she gave a confident spin. ¡°I like it! This is amazing!¡± She was all smiles. The dress was the iconic blue, but to spice things up it was patterned in web-like patterns and embroidered with golden thread. It enveloped both her upper human-like body and her lower horse-like parts in a type of frilled short skirt. It was rather revealing, strategically exposing her cleavage, belly, and sides. It clung tight to her body as if it were her second skin. Considering that she wore nothing under it, it was rather scandalous and attention-grabbing. But if she liked it, this was it! ¡°Well done spiders, she loves it.¡± He gave the crafters their pats. ¡°How about you, King? You need a dress?¡± The spider chirped hopefully. ¡°No, I don¡¯t wear those. And I have this.¡± He patted a snow-white leather west. Unlike the Centauri here, he wasn¡¯t too bothered by what he wore to the party. Unlike previously, he didn¡¯t need to impress any nobles now, not this time. Him being here was mostly a political formality. And the ceremony proper will take place only then the Lamia Queen will get here. ¡°Understood. But if anything. Please come see us.¡± The spider encouraged. He gave them a nod and left them to do their busy work. As he was walking back towards the Galleon Whale, they needed to store the heavy armour somewhere. A distant chirp made him turn his head around and look. A tiny spider was standing by an equally tiny hole waving and chirping repeatedly. ¡°Bye-bye! Bye-bye!¡± ¡°That one¡¯s funny.¡± He smiled. The Centauri shook in disagreement. ¡°The spider needs to work on its measuring technique. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if that scares the customers away.¡± ¡°Even if they''re the cutest thing in the world,¡± he began, ¡°understandably, not everyone would like to be touched by a spider. Maybe they should hire a few humans for little tasks like that.¡± ¡°Maybe they should.¡± She snorted in agreement. The day was still bright, and the evening party distant. So, there were a few friends he wanted to catch up with. Namely, his business partner Crimson Alchemist, and the head of the merchants Lord G Bling. 106 – The Birds The Bees, Everyone Is Doing It The Spider King stood in front of a wooden building, both the master of the place and the shop shared the name ¨C Crimson Alchemist. Unsurprisingly, there was a line of customers forming by the entrance of the building. It seemed to be rather popular. The queue wasn¡¯t too long, but he was slightly lost at what to do. He turned to look at his companion. ¡°I just want to say hello, but jumping the queue would be rude.¡± ¡°Say no more.¡± She said simply. The Centauri Champion just ignored the line and went inside the building. Soon a well-dressed lady ran out of the building with centauri right behind her. He hadn¡¯t met the Crimson Alchemist in person, they had only exchanged letters, so he only had a vague description of her. Lady Crimson was known to have a nasty burn scarring half of her face and fiery red hair. The well-dressed lady here was a redhead, but there was no scar present on her face. It was hard to be sure. However, he ventured to guess. ¡°Lady Crimson?¡± ¡°Spider King? I mean, my King.¡± Her surprise was replaced by a curtsy bow. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t know you¡¯ll be visiting. I must have missed the message.¡± She finished her bow with an apology. ¡°It¡¯s because I haven¡¯t sent one. Thinking about it, I should have let you know. My apologies.¡± He also bowed. The Centauri Champion had an obvious scowl, and she was itching to say something but remained quiet. ¡°King, please, you don¡¯t have to bow. People are watching.¡± Lady Crimson leaned in closer for a whisper. ¡°Now there will be no end of gossip. I made the King bow to me¡­ so embarrassing.¡± She gestured with her hand invitingly. ¡°Please come inside.¡± The Spider King was led towards the back of the building, presumably a side entrance. ¡°How about your customers? I feel bad to make them wait.¡± She smiled. ¡°I have people running the shop. As you can see, I am rather successful so I can afford staff. Of course, all thanks to the business you¡¯ve brought me.¡± She opened the back doors inviting everyone in. There was an unexpected presence in the room: someone tall, well-dressed, undeniably charming and decorated with thick chains of gold and other shiny trinkets. ¡°Lord G Bling? I didn¡¯t expect to see you here.¡± The Spider King exclaimed with surprise. The spider in question was standing cosily in the middle of the room, he had a book in his hand, something the spider must have been reading. ¡°My King?¡± The spider was just as surprised as him. A spidery bow soon followed. The Spider King opened his mouth to ask about the book, but he stopped himself abruptly. The title on the book cover was peculiar, but hey, each to their own. Instead, he looked around the room, the walls were lined by shelves, all full of books, and even the floor had towering piles of literature. He scanned the book titles with a quick glance, none of them were alchemical books, his best guess was that all of them were a type of fiction. ¡°Is something wrong?¡± Lady Crimson asked with concern. Yeah, maybe he was looking around too much and too obviously. However, this particular library of books was just too bizarre. All of the books here were for adults, no let¡¯s be more precise, they were erotic books! He had no place to judge what adults read in their spare time. And he didn¡¯t. ¡°I just expected something like jars of monster parts, bubbling potions, shelves lined with bottles. You know, stuff like that.¡± Lady Crimson let a short giggle. ¡°I get you, I do. But you know, I have a life outside work.¡± ¡°Of course, but these books...¡± He grabbed a random one. ¡°The Secret Journey of a Mile-Long Rope.¡± He read a random title. ¡°The Whip, The Feather, and The Maiden.¡± He read another one. The Lady Crimson developed a red tinge on her cheeks. ¡°My King.¡± The spider chirped. ¡°You have a good eye to pick these masterpieces. I recommend them both.¡± ¡°Right¡­¡± So, the spider had those tastes too. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m here just to say hello. And it looks like I will be shooting two birds with one stone.¡± He plopped on a nearby coach without invitation. ¡°So, It looks like you two are friends?¡± He asked casually. Lady Crimson relaxed realising that this won¡¯t be about business, she joined him but on another couch nearby. The Centauri Champion walked closer to a bookshelf; she was looking at the titles with curiosity. ¡°We are more than friends.¡± The spider chirped setting the book down on the nearby table. ¡°We are¡­¡± The Lady Crimson moved quickly to shut the spider¡¯s mandibles with her hands. Unfortunately, her hands were too petite to achieve that. ¡°¡­ going to be married soon.¡± And here was another shock. ¡°You are getting married?!¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The spider chirped it as if it was no big deal at all. Well, that was new. The Spider King looked at the blushing Lady Crimson. The name ¡®Crimson¡¯ did suit her in so many ways. She nodded meekly whispering, ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Amazing! Congratulations!¡± He said that, but honestly, he didn¡¯t understand what was really going on. One of his spiders married a human, he never even thought that this was a possibility. Huh, the spiders grow up so fast¡­ but also, they don¡¯t live for very long either. He looked at Lord G Bling, what did the spider had? ¨C Two or three years more before the spider passed away leaving its offspring behind. Admittedly the offspring would have the Lord G Bling¡¯s experiences and all of his memories, but also, they would be spiders with their own personalities. So should he bring that dilemma to the engaged couple or did they think that through already? The spider was saying something and the intrusive thoughts had made the Spider King lose focus. ¡°Sorry, can you say that again?¡± He asked the spider. ¡°Spider King, I¡¯m asking do I have your blessing?¡± ¡°Oh, of course! You don¡¯t need to ask for my permission. You can marry whoever you want.¡± He said the most obvious thing. The spider chirped happily, and the Lady Crimson let out a relieved sigh. ¡°How about your family, Lady Crimson?¡± He asked with a tinge of worry. ¡°Do they have any concerns?¡± ¡°The only family I have is my Daddy. I brought Lord G Bring once for a family dinner and it was my Daddy who said I have to marry this charming spider.¡± She shuffled closer to the spider hugging his arm. ¡°Really?¡± This dad must be a very open-minded person. ¡°He sounds like a great dad. I would like to meet him.¡± But wait, wasn¡¯t she talking about the old Crimson Alchemist? He was sure that her father was dead¡­ Lady Crimson shuffled in her seat somewhat uncomfortably. ¡°He¡¯s in the basement now. Sleeping¡­ Should I get him?¡± She asked looking uncomfortable. The spider shook his head to signal a silent no. Yeah, something was suspicious here. ¡°No-no, let''s not disturb the old Master. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll meet him when the time is right.¡± He said so relying on his gut instinct. The Lady Crimson relaxed visibly. ¡°So when is the marriage ceremony?¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s exactly it.¡± The spider began. ¡°We didn¡¯t tell you because it clashes with your celebration.¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t want to take your light away.¡± Lady Crimson added. This was a somewhat strange expression ¨C ¡®taking light away¡¯, but he understood what Lady Crimson implied. But¡­ ¡°It¡¯s not like I am celebrating anything. I¡¯m just here because Aurelius II invited me.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°My King, but you essentially control the Aurelian Dutchy now. It will be in your domain. A momentous celebration we spiders worked very hard for.¡± Did they? Wait¡­ was all of this the doing of the spiders? Why? How? ¡°Ah¡­ of course, it¡¯s you who made this happen. Yes, I will celebrate. But you can celebrate with me. There is no problem. You know what?¡± He had an idea. ¡°During my address to the Aurelian people, I¡¯ll bless your marriage publicly. This will bring the spiders and humans even closer. And then we all can celebrate together.¡± Once again, he will crush two mice with one hammer. ¡°Understood.¡± The spider chirped simply. The Lady Crimson, however, was crying for some reason. ¡°Thank you¡­ I am so happy.¡± ¡°Please, no need to cry. I¡¯m just happy that there are others who love spiders as much as I do if not more.¡± Lord G Bling was tapping his fianc¨¦¡¯s tears away with a blue handkerchief, ever the gentleman. After a brief pause, the conversation shifted to more mundane matters. It was about potions. ¡°My King, which potion do you think brings the most money to an alchemist?¡± The Spider King tapped a nearby table while thinking. ¡°A potion which is rare and strong. I don¡¯t know many examples, but something that allows you to regenerate limbs, or gives strength to fight a dragon.¡± Lady Crimson shook her head. ¡°I get your way of thinking, but you are wrong. It¡¯s the potion which sells the most.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°In my example, a Fertility Potion.¡± ¡°Really?¡± He was surprised. ¡°Really. The ingredients are cheap, it is simple to make, and the effects are potent. But most importantly it flies off the shelves in no time. There is always demand for it. And you know what?¡± He gave a cue for her to continue. ¡°The other alchemists, the proud fools that they are, couldn¡¯t even figure out how to make it. By the time they realised that all that it takes is TomGrape, I had the Fertility Potion market cornered. And with the help of my beloved.¡± She hugged the spider tighter. ¡°I get my TomGrape and Scorpion Glass bottles for free. There is no way for them to compete with us! Ha-ha-ha!¡± She laughed maniacally. The spider had something to add. ¡°Yes. We¡¯re buying out our competitors and increasing the selection of the potions we sell. The enterprise runs at a loss at the moment, but as soon as we have the potion market cornered, we will increase the prices and reap tenfold returns.¡± Well, that sounded like a plan, but why was he getting these sinister vibes from the two? The pair looked like some sort of mafia bosses who would run alchemy shops from the shadows. Anyway, it was a legitimate way to do business. ¡°Amazing! Congratulations!¡± Was his reply. ¡°On another note, I¡¯ve been curious for a while now. Why is everyone so fat? I mean the citizens. What happened?¡± ¡°Oh, that?¡± Lady Crimson began knowingly. ¡°They¡¯re not drinking enough Spider-FizzPop?, it''s as easy as that.¡± That wasn¡¯t the answer he expected. But yeah, ¡®why are the people?¡¯ was a stupid question, everyone knew the whys. That¡¯s why she gave that answer, offering a solution. ¡°I understand what you¡¯re saying. That drink we make does have negative calories.¡± She gave him a puzzled look. ¡°I did my experiments¡­ I thought it was something like negative energy or a draining effect. Or is ¡®negative calories¡¯ the correct term to use?¡± ¡°Forget it. So what were you saying is that we need to sell it as some sort a cure?¡± ¡°Yes, it negates the Obese negative status effect and with the right dose it can make people slimmer.¡± ¡°However,¡± the spider began, ¡°It¡¯s not the price or popularity that is an issue. We just don¡¯t have enough Spider-FizzPop?.¡± Indeed, the drink required the water from the Mana Spring. And there was only so much of that to go around. ¡°I wonder if we could make a similar mixture using Dark Rain, it¡¯s not exactly the same as Mana Spring Water but it has some magic mixed in it.¡± He proposed. Lady Crimson shrugged. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t even know Dark Rain was a thing.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll send you the samples when I have time. Maybe you can concoct something similar. Or maybe even better.¡± ¡°Spider-FizzPop? is a revolutionary potion! And it¡¯s your recipe. If I manage to improve the potion, I¡¯ll give all the credit to you, my King. Speaking of which, here have a look.¡± She produced a small potion bottle from her pocket. It was half-empty giving evidence of being used. ¡°[Identify].¡±
Item: Fertility Potion+ Quality: Superior
Bonuses [Fertility], [Concentrated], STA +50
Description This potion is concentrated to provide an even bigger boost to one¡¯s virility and stamina.
¡°You improved that, nice! I wouldn¡¯t expect anything less from the master alchemist. I assume you¡¯ll be selling these soon?¡± ¡°With your permission, yes.¡± ¡°Your betrothed, Lord G Bling, has all the authority to grant the permissions like that. You don¡¯t have to ask me that. But I appreciate you sharing your findings with me.¡± After all, he too had a minor interest in potions. ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m sharing it with you. I¡¯ve heard you¡¯re trying for a child.¡± She gave a wink. ¡°I assure you this will help.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± A normal Fertility Potion was already way too much, he had no problem in that department. Actually, the Concentrated version was something to be hidden from his wife, and at all costs. She was already too aggressive! ¡°Thank you.¡± He pocketed the little bottle. Lady Crimson smiled. ¡°My king, not this one.¡± She motioned asking the potion back. ¡°I have more in the basement workshop. I¡¯ll give you a whole box later.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± He¡¯ll have to hide it somewhere safe. Far and deep, in the darkest corner of the vault. ¡°Thanks, I appreciate the gift.¡± He bowed ever so slightly out of politeness. For some reason, the Lady Crimson was looking at him expectantly. ¡°Yes?¡± He inquired. She nuzzled closer to the spider. ¡°We too are trying for a child.¡± She kissed Lord G Bling¡¯s chitinous cheek. ¡°Yes.¡± The spider chirped. He¡¯d almost screamed ¡®Eh!¡¯ with all his might. He didn¡¯t know where to begin. The spider just didn¡¯t have those types of body parts, they reproduce by cloning themselves. And¡­ so they were being physical. How did that work? He had no idea¡­ Nor did he want to imagine, especially considering the books the two liked to read. No-No, let''s stop judging! Whatever makes them happy. ¡°And how can I help?¡± He asked following the hins the two were making. ¡°A rumour caught my ears that Monster System can evolve humans. Is that true?¡± She asked expectantly. Huh, so the rumours did spread fast, after all, he just landed here. ¡°Yes.¡± He confirmed. ¡°To be honest I made that potion to help us, but it seems that we need more help.¡± She swirled the potion. ¡°I¡¯m thinking to evolve my body. Then, at least in the eyes of the system, both of us would be monsters. Conception might be a lot easier then.¡± But even then¡­ the spider still would need to grow certain parts. The road the two were trying to follow was a bumpy one. But they were his friends, and he will help them. ¡°I understand what you¡¯re asking. I¡¯ll make sure you have enough Slug Jelly for that. But what makes the Evolve? message to pop up, I still don¡¯t know. You¡¯ll have to figure that part out yourself, once you do, call me. I¡¯ll Evolve you.¡± ¡°Thank you, Spider King.¡± It was Lord G Bling who bowed and thanked. The evening was getting near, so it was about time to go. He glanced at his companion who was engrossed in one of the books. It looks like she found a story she liked. ¡°I think, it¡¯s time for us to go.¡± He stood up from the comfortable couch. ¡°To the party, yes?¡± Lady Crimson asked. ¡°We¡¯re going there too. But I still need to get ready, so if you wait for us¡­¡± They could go together, but¡­ ¡°I want to catch Aurelius II before the party starts. There¡¯re important matters to discuss.¡± Namely, the Angel and the Holy Empire. ¡°Of course¡­ You must be very busy. I¡¯m sorry for not realising. I didn¡¯t mean to stop you or intrude. It has been my pleasure to host you in my humble home.¡± She said it in an overly polite way. He¡¯d almost felt bad for not waiting for her so that they could come together. ¡°I¡¯ve enjoyed my stay and I¡¯m glad I got to meet you Lady Crimson. I¡¯ll see you two there in the evening, please don¡¯t be shy to approach me for a chat.¡± With that, he turned to leave. The Centauri Champion, immersed in the book, didn¡¯t even notice him leaving. The Spider King clicked his tongue twice without thinking, it was a calling used to call a horse. ¡°Huh?¡± She looked at him. ¡°Oh! Yes.¡± To call someone like that might be seen as wrong, but it didn¡¯t seem to be a problem here. ¡°Lady¡­¡± The centauri hesitated. ¡°Lady Crimson, may I borrow this book?¡± ¡°Ah! Another person who appreciates fine art. Of course, and keep it. Consider it a gift.¡± Centauri Champion wagged her tail happily and gave a broad smile. The Spider King gave a curious look at the cover of the book: ¡®The Stable Master and The Virgin Mare¡¯; a not-so-surprising choice. But what did the local people consider a mare, since there were no horses in this world? The current holder of a ¡®horse¡¯ title in this world was a rather mean and carnivorous beast, closer to a reptile than a mammal; neither loyal nor trustworthy. His curious gaze causes a certain mare to react. ¡°What? It¡¯s for study purposes.¡± She said with a blush. ¡°I¡¯m still learning how to read and write the human language. This will help me.¡± Ah yes, there was that. The Centauri spoke the Demon language, but after they came here, they had to learn Spider Chirp and then the Common Human language. He too was slightly interested in a few titles he noticed lying nearby, but he was too shy to ask for it. ¡°No, nothing. Let¡¯s go.¡± ¡­ Inside the Royal Palace, in the empty Throne Room, on a small stool which has been repaired way too many times, sat an incredibly plump and round man. ¡°Where is he? I sent a greeting party as soon as he landed that ¡­ construct.¡± Duke Aurelius the Great was talking to himself. ¡°But he wasn¡¯t there. Gone without the trace.¡± He even told his men to look for the Spider King, but it was as if no one had even detected his presence. ¡°You would think a King is hard to miss.¡± But apparently, it''s like looking for a needle in a haystack. ¡°Or maybe he just went to lurk in shadows¡­ like that spider.¡± Aurelius remembered a certain acquaintance who liked to pop in at midnight, uninvited. ¡±Ah!¡± He explained in realisation. ¡°He just wants to make a dramatic entrance! Come when no one expected him. Yes! Let''s prepare the stage for him.¡± 107 - Make Aurelian Dutchy Great Again! Duke Aurelius was sitting on his stool and contemplating this and that, every time he shifted his weight ever so slightly the stool creaked in pained protest. Suddenly two hands landed on the shoulders of Duke Aurelius. ¡°Gotcha!¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± The tired legs of the stool broke off making Duke Aurelius collapse to the floor with a loud thump. ¡°Spider King?!¡± He said indignantly while lying on the floor. ¡°You didn¡¯t see me coming did you?¡± The Spider King asked with a broad grin. ¡°No, I didn¡¯t.¡± Not that he was looking anyway. ¡°It¡¯s Camouflage, I waltzed in straight through the front door.¡± He said way too happy about it. ¡°By the way, you need better security. There are barely any guards here.¡± There were none. That¡¯s the point of them when the spiders can walk the shadows and pop in his bedroom at night whenever they please? And anyway, he had all the protection he needed under his robe, a very thick tome. ¡°I¡¯ll think about it.¡± Duke Aurelius said without committing. ¡°So, Camouflage, that¡¯s how you slipped past my greeting party!¡± He said in realisation. ¡°Oh? Did you send someone to meet me? Sorry about that, I was preoccupied with something else. Anyway, I¡¯ve dealt with the Empire¡¯s Army, they shouldn¡¯t bother you for a while.¡± ¡°What really? What did you do? No! Wait¡­ I don¡¯t want to even begin imagining.¡± He collected himself off the floor with a grunt. The Spider King offered a helping hand, but Duke Aurelius didn¡¯t take it being too proud. The Spider King replied. ¡°What do you think I am? Some Demon Lord? I had a pleasant conversation with Radiant Sword and she turned the army around for me.¡± ¡°What? Really?¡± Duke Aurelius repeated again just as surprised. ¡°Yeah, but they will be back eventually. So I advise you to prepare properly this time.¡± ¡°You won¡¯t lend me your spiders?¡± Duke Aurelius said with clear worry. The Spider King had a thoughtful look for a moment. ¡°This is your war to win. Did you think that you becoming my subordinate and submitting the Aurelian Kingdom to me absolves you from all responsibility?¡± ¡°Of course not!¡± He said collapsing to his knees. ¡°But the Aurelian King¡­ Aurelian Dutchy is too small to fight an entire Empire. We¡¯ll be wiped out!¡± ¡°I know. That¡¯s why I will provide you with aid. I¡¯ll give you the spider builders and the spider engeneers, the magic scrolls and all the potions you need. But the victory will rest entirely on your shoulders. Oh, and I won¡¯t allow any of the spiders to participate in the attacks.¡± The Spider King laid some preliminary rules. ¡°I understand. I still need to prove myself. To prove that I am worthy to rule my people.¡± The spider King Nodded. ¡°Yes, incompetent rulers are the most useless people. So, I advise you to seek talents and surround yourself with them.¡± ¡°Then¡­ can I rely on Lord G Bling, just for a bit?¡± ¡°Oh? It seems he¡¯s already an integral part of the Aurelian Dutchy. I don¡¯t see any problem with that.¡± Duke Aurelius grinned upon hearing that sentence. ¡°Then, I¡¯ll do just that.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Even so, I want you to make your own decisions.¡± ¡°I understand that, my King.¡± Duke Aurelius bowed. ¡°I won¡¯t disappoint you, or my people.¡± ¡°That¡¯s all I needed to hear.¡± ¡°One more thing. I assume you will grace us at the evening party, yes? Even if we spoke now, it¡¯s best if you attend. And tomorrow we can make things official with a big celebration.¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s why I¡¯m here. To get a feel of your friends and allies, please give me a rough outline of your guest list and why you invited them. Also, the official celebration will have to wait, I need to wait for my wife.¡± The Spider King explained that the Lamia and most of the spiders will be coming in a few days¡¯ time. And the Duke Aurelius briefed the King about the guests. ¡­ The evening party went through smoothly and there is no need to go into the small details. Of course, there might have been some misunderstandings like the Centauri Champion being the Spider King¡¯s second wife and such; but those little misunderstandings were smoothed in the end. For the following two days, the Spider King explored the Aurelian Capital further. All the people he passed and talked with, despite their obvious Obese status, were otherwise healthy and full of energy. The sight of broad warm smiles told everting you needed to know about how they felt. The Aurelian people went through a lot, but not even a single person expressed their discontent about their current Aurelian ruler, actually, they called him endearingly as Aurelius the Great. If people held Aurelius in such high regard, he must have been doing something right. Which in its entirety was slightly odd. Aurelius didn¡¯t hide his dark side from the people. He was known to be responsible for the complete destruction of the Fertile Kingdom¡¯s capital. He was behind the brutal cleansing of the majority of the local nobility and other houses which opposed him. He brought some very strict and oppressive rules. He was the one who opened the capital to spiders and other monster races. All of the above implied that by no means Aurelius was either kind or benevolent, or even all that smart. But even still, in the end, the people loved him. The hearts of common men were hard to understand. On a side note, the spiders seemed to be an integral part of the Aurelian Capital. And the best of it was that the people now welcomed them. If anything, it seemed that there was a demand for more spiders. The spiders were just too useful! They were too hard not to have around once you got used to their presence. But one problem remained, the Aurelian people were wilfully ignorant. The danger of the Holy Empire was just at the border. The Spider King had long decided that it was best to inform them about that, after all, they will need to prepare. This was their fight, and the spiders would only help from the side-lines. Soon enough, the Lamia Queen and the rest of the spiders found their way into the capital. Even then compared to the landing of the Galleon Whale, their entrance was grand and hard to miss. And it was obviously intentional since the Lamia Queen enjoyed that type of attention. Even the Spider King himself was left speechless at his wife¡¯s entry. The spiders wore luxurious blue robes and marched with heads held high while matching their steps perfectly. Mind you, there were a lot of spiders, an entire army, so to say that this was a parade won¡¯t be wrong. In between the ranks of spiders were open carriages pulled by equally well-dressed Centauri. Sorry girls, you were reduced to the beasts of burden! But for whatever reason, Centauri had looks filled with pride, understandably they took this task with great honour. And no one really looked down on them since they had this noble aura of magnificence about them. Unavoidably, quite a few young men were left standing at an awkward posture and the married women had to shield the eyes of their husbands. The Centauri weapons were barely contained by thin blue cloth making them sway and move as they pulled the carriages. The threat was real! Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. The subjects of the Lamia Queen also wore beautiful blue dresses, however, much less revealing than the Centauri did. Admittedly, due to their sensitivity to the sun, they were mostly covered in cloth and even their faces were hidden by a thin veil. However, that only added to their mysterious charm. It was hard not to wonder what was behind all that cloth, it was hard not to want to remove it, It was hard not to desire to rip all of that off and¡­ well let''s not submit ourselves fully to that natural Charm of the Lamia. The obvious jewel of the Lamia people was the Queen herself. Much like her subjects, her body was hidden by cloth. However, it was much finer and thinner, the fabric clung to her natural shapes leaving little to the imagination. The blue dress was encrusted by polished gems and patterns of golden thread, giving it that feel of royalty. And like all royalty should, she held a symbol of power ¨C a massive sceptre. The sceptre pulsed in purple light sending the equally pink motes of light towards the people. The Lamia Queen was simply dashing and irresistible, she stole the eyes from men and women alike. The ongoing parade didn¡¯t display much military might and power, but instead, it showed the splendour and unity of the Spider Kingdom. But also, for some hard-to-explain reason, all the females in the Spider Kingdom had that undeniable aura of allure and sexiness. It was an unexplainable phenomenon. The parade processed slowly through the capital until it reached a stop at the slightly unkept and decrepit Royal Palace. There the Lamia Queen joined the Spider King on a balcony. The balcony overlooked an incredibly large gathering of people. Undoubtedly, every single person from the Aurelian Dutchy was here, plus all the spiders and sexy monster girls. There, overlooking the people, was the Spider King. He was surrounded by his aides. On the right was his wife and on the left was the current host - Duke Aurelius. Behind the three were the Centauri Champion, Lord G Bling, Crimson Alchemist, and Captain General of Aurelian Order. The latter human had just ascended to the position yesterday but was included as a show of trust. As far as the Spider King could see there were figures of the people. There must be, what? A million or two of them. To address a mass like this Aurelius had kindly lent a special device from the Royal Treasury. It was a large ivory horn encrusted with bands of gold and enchanted with Wind magic, Aurelian Horn of Resonance was its name. Apparently, it hasn''t been used in ages and the actual viability of it wasn¡¯t yet tested by the Aurelius. But here it was, mounted to the balcony and ready to be used¡­ shouting ¡®Testing! Testing! 123!¡¯ seemed hardly appropriate. The Spider King cleared his throat to begin his address. ¡°Hello, Aurelian people.¡± The item worked as intended. ¡°Today is a joyous occasion, as we gather here to welcome you, the Aurelian people, into my glorious Monster Realm.¡± Everyone cheered and clapped seemingly unperturbed by the ¡®monster¡¯ part. ¡°Thank you, thank you, I am humbled by your warm applause. I¡¯m so happy to see that the opinion of my spiders has changed so drastically.¡± He cleared his throat again wishing to go back to the ¡®script¡¯. ¡°For those who don¡¯t know yet, even though I hold many titles, I am best known as the Spider King, and from now on I stand here as your new King.¡± He looked at the crowd with a tinge of worry. He didn¡¯t need to do so because the crowd once again cheered in ovation. ¡°Ah, you all are so lovely and welcoming, I hardly deserve to rule such good people as yourselves. Thus, as you might know, you will retain Aurelius the Great as your representative. Today he gains a very important title, he becomes Duke Aurelius of the Monster Realm, or simply a Monster Duke. This is a title first of its kind! Please give your cheers to the Moster Duke Aurelius.¡± Aurelius stepped closer to the balcony fence and right next to the Spider King. The people raved and roared, understandably much louder than they did for the Spider King. The Spider King wasn¡¯t quite finished. ¡°What an unexpectedly strong response, very admirable. Duke Aurelius, I extend my heartfelt gratitude for you choosing to join my Monster Realm. Your decision to do so is a testament to the trust and confidence you have placed in my vision. A vision where spiders and humans can coexist in mutual prosperity. A vision where we grow stronger together.¡± He was back on his ¡®script¡¯. ¡°I call upon all of you, Aurelian people, to extend a warm welcome not just to the spiders but other races which might want to live here in the future.¡± He motioned at the cluster of Lamia and Centauri. ¡°Let¡¯s open our hearts and minds, forging bonds of friendship and understanding. By working together, we shall build bridges that connect different races, forging a sense of shared purpose.¡± This was time to reveal some special news, which many would surely find shocking, because even he was. ¡°Actually, we already have two people who embraced these ideals. A human and a spider came together, and despite their differences, they fell in love. These two are prominent individuals so I¡¯m sure you heard of them. Crimson Alchemist and Lord G Bling, please step forward.¡± The two did as told so that people down below could see them better. ¡°I, the Spider King, bless your marriage. May your love blossom and set an example to others.¡± The crowd was somewhat confused but even then, they cheered and clapped. There was the bit that the Lamia Queen wanted him to announce in his address. A rather important problem actually. ¡°Oh, and since we are on the topic. Our beautiful Lamia.¡± He pointed again at the group. ¡°Are looking for good husbands to take back to the Spider Kingdom, so please, don¡¯t be hesitant to approach them later.¡± Yeah, since Gareth abandoned them for the Dark Fortress they were feeling lonely. A number of curious gazes fell on their sleek serpentine forms. The Lamia waved invitingly at their potential suitors. ¡°There''s more which I need to say.¡± The Spider King gathered the attention back to himself. ¡°As your King, I assure you that you shall be provided with the necessary resources needed for you to flourish. I shall increase the shipments of TomGrape making it ever so cheaper. I shall open not two, not four but ten more Spidery Delicious. I shall send more Blue Cloth so that you can stay ever so fashionable. Oh, how it¡¯s so splendid to see everyone wearing blue and enjoying spider cuisine, aren¡¯t we already so united? Also, the knowledge of my spider builders and engineers will be at your disposal. Surely, the capital will grow in size and splendour. Those who still need housing will have it here for free! Everyone can settle in the Capital!¡± Once again, the people roared in excited agreement. ¡°May the bonds we forge today be everlasting, and with our collective efforts may the Monster Realm expand and grow stronger. I, the Spider King, stand before you, humbled and grateful, ready to guide us to a future filled with promise and greatness.¡± The people responded just like they did before. ¡°However, there will be people envying us and our prosperity. Bitter and jealous people who are dead set on destroying that which is good. I¡¯m sure you know what I speak of. Yes, the Holy Empire, entirely unprovoked, had declared war on the Aurelian Dutchy. The people gasped in shock. ¡°Their intentions are clearly evil. They want to kill all the spiders!¡± Everyone gasped again. ¡°They want to take away all the good things you have here. They want to destroy the way of your life. And why you might ask? It¡¯s because they see spiders as twisted demons. That¡¯s it. That¡¯s reason enough for them. People began shouting and cursing at the Holy Empire. It was an unspoken taboo to offend a spider. ¡°Yes, I know. They just don¡¯t get it, do they? But even still, we will have to protect that which is most precious. You will have to fight, but fear not because our Aurelius the Great will lead you and you will have my spiders to assist you.¡± The people talked in hushed tones between themselves, understandably not too excited about the idea of fighting. ¡°Please have more faith in yourself. If anything, you have already displayed the strength of the Aurelian people. All of you being here is a testament to your unity. And unity is strength!¡± The Spider King pointed at the humans as a group. ¡°You have good hearts and it¡¯s always the good men who win and prevail against the evil. Fear not, we will persevere and show them that the Aurelian Dutchy is not to be messed with.¡± Duke Aurelius jumped in to add. ¡°Yeah! We¡¯ll crush them like we did the Fertile Kingdom!¡± The crowd roared at the words of their Duke. ¡°See! That¡¯s the spirit. But for now, let¡¯s forget the unpleasant things. We are here to celebrate! So let¡¯s celebrate! Long live the Monster Realm, Long live the Aurelian Dutchy!¡± ¡°Long live the Monster Realm, Long live the Aurelian Dutchy!¡± Duke Aurelius parroted but with more vigour. The same line was repeated by the people again and again sending the thunderous roar far and wide. [Congratulations! The Aurelian Dutchy joined the Monster Realm], thus the area governed by the mysterious power of the Spider King expanded. In between the roaring cheers Duke Aurelius leaned closer to the Spider King¡¯s ear for a whisper. ¡°Huh, I didn¡¯t expect the system message¡­ and it says I can Evolve? ? Apparently, everyone received the announcement. There was nothing more official than the System recognising it. Still, the Spider King had to remind something important to the Duke Aurelius. ¡°It means that now I can change your race permanently. Into something else, like I did with Radiant Sword.¡± He had talked about that event with Aurelius the other day. ¡°I warn you that you will stop being human. You¡¯ll become something else entirely.¡± He said that while waving at the people beneath and retreating further away from the balcony. Aurelius had a broad grin stretching from one corner of his face to the other, his desire to abandon his own humanity so readily was almost obscene. However, a certain approaching light had caught the attention of the two. It was only a radiant speck in the horizon but it was growing quickly. Soon the form was close enough for the Spider King to tell what it was. ¡°The Angel? Why is she here?¡± He uttered. 107.5 - Some Even In The Brightest Light Chose To Remain Oblivious The Imperial Army¡¯s General was leading his men towards the Aurelian Capital. The size of the force was small, it was just a tiny squad, but these men were the most loyal to the General, and they were seasoned veterans. Even still, there was no doubt this was a suicide mission. The men had accepted that reality, and to turn back would mean to betray the Emperor¡¯s will. A smaller force allowed them to move quicker, and the night terrors were avoided. Soon they reached the Capital. ¡°No, this can¡¯t be!¡± The Army General voiced his confusion. His men experienced an equal amount of shock at the sight. ¡°General, what does this mean?¡± One of the subordinates asked. ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know.¡± He still couldn¡¯t wrap his mind around it. He didn¡¯t even know if he should call the thing in front of him a city. Yes, there were structures in the distance he could see, but those didn¡¯t look human at all. The neat blocky and comfortably triangular shapes were replaced by spherical nest-like abominations. The materials used were also unfamiliar. The odd shapes gave the impression that the city was alive, and that it was spreading like some sort of malignant cancer. To prevent immediate detection, they approached the capital using the cover of the nearby vegetation, but still, it was only a matter of time before the trouble caught up with them. ¡°General, what do you think is inside those nests?¡± The Army General snorted at the stupid question. ¡°Monsters. Obviously.¡± After all, they still had to meet even a single Aurelian person, and they probably wouldn¡¯t. It was as everyone suspected: the Aurelian People were sacrificed in some sort of dark ritual to summon monsters and terrors. ¡°Should we turn back?¡± The subordinate asked. He glared at the out-of-the-line veteran. ¡°Are you suggesting we desert too? No! Since we are here let''s just deal some damage. As much as we can.¡± After all, everyone was here with a single goal, to fight. ¡°I suggest we split up and sabotage the nests from the inside. This way we¡¯ll be harder to deal with.¡± One of the commanders offered. ¡°Good idea, let''s do that.¡± The men scattered. Once the Army General got closer, he quickly realised that there were still people alive there. That brought some hope. Ever so carefully he approached the nest-like buildings still wary of detection. Surprisingly he reached the city border without any problem whatsoever. Soon it became obvious that the Aurelian people were very much alive. They walked in and out of these monster nests as if they just lived inside. The Army General spurred by curiosity sheathed his sword and decided to investigate. He hid his armour in nearby underbrush wearing only a simple tunic. He approached the nearby buildings confidently, there was no need for him to skulk like some thief. The old walls of Aurelian Capital were further away, this sprawling complex of weird nests was just outside of it, so he had no problem just to waltz inside. There were a lot of holes in this plan, but from what he had seen so far, he had confidence in it. And he was right, he was able to infiltrate the labyrinthine streets with no problems. The Aurelian people didn¡¯t even give him a second glance. ¡°That accursed Angel! They were fools to turn back.¡± He lamented. ¡°They have no defences here, we could have swooped in and taken out whatever this is.¡± He continued walking and investigating both the people and the structures. Indeed the curious buildings, while somewhat spooky, turned out to house only humans. And surprisingly it wasn¡¯t the monster-like designs which were the most perturbing; it was the Aurelian people! They were grotesquely fat and they walked smiling like some sort of idiots. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Didn¡¯t they have a famine not too long ago?¡± Then it dawned to him. ¡°It¡¯s almost like they are¡­¡± He didn¡¯t want to entertain such an idea but¡­ ¡°Are the demons fattening them up just to eat them later?¡± It seemed the most plausible solution. ¡°Also, they look too happy. There must be some Illusion or Charm magic at play.¡± He reached to his belt grasping the Holy Medallion tighter. ¡°The Holy Light will protect me.¡± He reassured himself, the medallion was there to counter such spells. Soon, he noticed the first of the demons. It was an abomination, a twisted spider-like creature imitating a human. It had the necessary features to wear human clothing, and he could hear it speaking Common, but in the end it was just a mockery of a person. The charmed thrall was nodding at the spider excessively overjoyed to do its foul bidding. The Army General reached for the sheath, anger burning inside him. He wanted to kill the demon and free the poor fool. However, he stilled his hand. ¡°No, it¡¯s not the time. I need to investigate further.¡± He walked deeper into the city. He wanted to reach the very centre of this nest-like maze. The very centre was often the place where the heart of the corruption was. And indeed, the deeper he went the more spider monsters he encountered. Surprisingly they were oblivious to his presence. ¡°Are they foolish enough to mistake me for one of their slaves?¡± He shook his head. ¡°If so, I¡¯ll use that to my advantage.¡± He pressed forward with more courage. On his way, he observed many disturbing sights. In his mind, there was no doubt that the spiders grew the humans here as some sort of animal stock. It was disgusting! The worst of it was the Aurelian people failing to even understand their own situation. ¡°The foul magic must be extremely strong.¡± He silently thanked the Holy Light for protecting him so far. It took him a while to realise, but a strange ritual was taking place. From elaborate stalls, the spiders were handing free food to the humans, mostly some type of fruit, and the people were eating it with uninhibited gluttony, growing ever fatter. The mood was strange, it was almost like they were celebrating something. Also, everyone was wearing blue and only blue, it was rather strange, and he still had no explanation for it. Later, from the corner of his eye, he noticed one of his companions being dragged by a spider monster. The poor man was tightly bound in a web. The Army General wanted to save his comrade here and there, but then he would give himself away. His eyes met with the captured man; the man looked at him beggingly. The Army General gave an apologetic look and averted his eyes. An eerie but chirpy voice coming from behind startled him. ¡°Newcomer. Do not be perturbed.¡± He reached for his sword ready to act. ¡°Worry not. That¡¯s just a troublemaker. We¡¯re just putting him on a time-out.¡± It chirped an explanation. He didn¡¯t detect any hostility from the creature. His body screamed to act but his mind demanded to remain composed. ¡°You¡¯re not a troublemaker?¡± The spider chirped. ¡°Are you?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m not.¡± He uttered cautiously. ¡°Then, here¡¯s a gift.¡± The spider handed a bundle of cloth. ¡°You¡¯ll fit in better.¡± Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. He took the bundle slightly confused. ¡°Do you have a human nest already?¡± The spider inquired. He nodded in affirmation without giving it much thought. ¡°Then, go and make some new friends!¡± The spider turned to leave. Needless to say, he was extremely confused of what just happened. He unfurled the cloth bundle; it was a blue tunic everyone was wearing. It was a somewhat simple design, something a peasant would wear. ¡°Is it enchanted?¡± He inspected it further with suspicion. ¡°Shame I¡¯m not a mage.¡± He couldn¡¯t tell. The worry was that it might somehow affect his mind if he chose to wear it. The simple tunic was only simple at a glance. The fabric actually was smooth to the touch and the cloth was very light. At a second glance, it looked rather expensive. He grasped for the medallion and donned the blue tunic over his old one. As far as he could tell, there was no mind-altering spell woven into it. He released a strained sigh of relief. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± He hummed thoughtfully. ¡°I do fit in better, don¡¯t I.¡± The only thing missing was layers upon layers of fat, but otherwise, he was fitting in the crowd. Ever since he came here, the Army General couldn''t help but notice that the streets were unnaturally clean and clear of pests and even malodours. Soon he found a reason, a small spider scuttered around picking up the trash and debris, and another spider was sweeping the street with a peculiar brush, it was also likely that the little monsters caught and ate the pesky critters of the city leaving it pest-free. ¡°Strange. I would expect them to force humans to do tasks like these.¡± On his way, he passed a line of stalls, each and every managed by a spider. Unlike others, these didn¡¯t hand out free food, there were items on the tables. The spiders behind the stalls looked with clear intelligence, but also malice in their four yellow eyes. Some of them beckoned for him to purchase this and that, but he ignored those calls. ¡°So strange. The humans still possess their money and are encouraged to spend it.¡± He couldn¡¯t understand the angle of this spider trick. If these demons wanted money, they could just take it from the Aurelian people. Maybe this was just a part of an elaborate Illusion to keep the Aurelian people in check. After all, it was very clear who was in charge. He had passed a few spiders like that: big, tall, and formidable. Those two were of the warrior kind. They had no weapons, only a strange stick, but as an Army General, he could tell straight away that the two spiders were experts at using it. He gave a wide berth to the spider warriors. He kept going deeper and taking the unusual sights in. For now, he chose to ignore the alien buildings and concentrated on the monsters. They came in different sizes and shapes, some more human than others, but all undeniably terrifying and powerful demons. One thing was obvious, the more human-like the spider was, the more status and power it wielded. He wanted to ignore the odd and peculiar buildings, but there was one he could not ignore. It was large and magnificent, standing out from the surroundings. The architecture was very strange, but there was a peculiar beauty in it, which even he, a man with no refined tastes, could still appreciate. Unmistakably, It was a temple to one of the Dark Gods. Aurelian people formed an orderly que patiently waiting to go inside. Overtaken by a macabre curiosity, and despite the better judgement, the Army General joined the queue. The wait was uncomfortably long but he persevered. Two spider guards parted their sticks letting him past the entrance. He gasped in surprise at the sight. He wasn¡¯t too sure what he was seeing but this wasn¡¯t an ordinary temple. ¡°Move, man! You¡¯re clogging the entrance.¡± A heavy and impatient hand pushed him. He turned in alarm to the dull sound, *Bonk*. ¡°Don¡¯t be rude.¡± The spider ruthlessly disciplined the inpatient man. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m so sorry, please don¡¯t purge me. I can¡¯t live without Spidery Delicious! Please!!!¡± He was on his knees begging. Purge? That¡¯s a rather strong punishment for a small slight like this. With obvious worry, the Army General stepped away to clear the doorway for others to pass. ¡°Is it me you need. To apologise?¡± The evil spider waved it¡¯s stick wickedly. ¡°Ah! But of course.¡± The rude man stood up and looked at him. ¡°It¡¯s my treat, I¡¯ll buy you anything. We¡¯re friends, right?¡± The army general nodded unsure. Luckily this was enough to placate the murderous spider. ¡°Come let¡¯s sit together.¡± The stranger urged him to one of the tables. They sat down. The stranger was blabbering this and that, to be honest, it was hard to follow. ¡°¡­ recently I tried Mega Jammy XXL Whippy Galore Extreme, it was alright but not crispy enough for me¡­¡± A small spider had descended from the ceiling a few minutes ago and was just staring at them patiently. The atmosphere was awkward and the Army General still struggled to understand what this place actually was. That was until he looked at the other tables. ¡°They¡¯re eating?¡± He uttered under his nose but still a bit too loud. ¡°Ah yes, let''s order. I¡¯d like¡­¡± The stranger followed with some strange incantation. ¡°How about you? Wait¡­¡± He paused with a large grin. ¡°You¡¯re too famished to be from the capital. You¡¯re new aren¡¯t you?¡± Oh no! Was he caught? ¡°It¡¯s your lucky day! I know just the best combo. Spider, please get him¡­¡± The stranger uttered some words with no actual meaning. Some time passed, and to sum up the experience¡­ The Army General, afraid of the food being tampered with, didn¡¯t really want to put the unholy offering into his mouth, but he had no choice, he was in the temple and he had to follow the ritual and¡­ The experience was out of this world! Surprisingly the local tender remained the Imperial Coin, and he had plenty of that tucked in the punch under the belt. But the stranger insisted on paying for the meal. The Army General left with his belly stuffed and a content grin on his face. ¡°The food is better than in the royal palace. The quality, the amount, the price¡­¡± It just boggled his mind. ¡°Now, I understand why everyone is so¡­ well-rounded.¡± Of course, he was offered a strange dark bubbling potion to go with his meal, but that clearly was poison, so he skipped that. ¡°Maybe as long as I avoid the potion, it''s alright?¡± He didn¡¯t feel mind-controlled at the moment or anything. He pressed further into the city to look for the one who enthralled the Aurelian People, the head demon. Later, he met another of his companions. The man had successfully infiltrated the city as well, and just like him he had a stuffed stomach and was wearing a blue tunic. ¡°Army General!¡± The companion approached with a smile. ¡°Second Commander!¡± He too was glad someone else had made it. They shared their experiences. The experiences were almost identical but¡­ there was something wrong with the Second Commander. ¡°I wish I could live here¡­ I mean it!¡± ¡°What do you mean?!¡± The Army General exclaimed with worry. ¡°What¡­ but you saw it yourself. Rent-free lodgings, dirt-cheap food¡­ Everyone is so smiley and warm, and I haven''t seen a single beggar or a thief. They have it easy here, don¡¯t they? Well, the girls are on the plump side but honestly, I don¡¯t mind.¡± ¡°No!¡± He stepped back, the Second Commander was clearly Enthralled. ¡°General? What¡¯s up with that look? ¡­ Geh!¡± He knocked the Second Commander unconscious and ran for it. ¡°What the hell was he talking about? The city is infested with monsters!¡± He held the medallion and asked the Holy Light to protect him. ¡­ The Army General roamed the streets, slightly lost at the labyrinthine nature of their design. Each day was more bizarre than the other. The spiders worked through day and night to lay packed dirt streets with peculiar cobbles; stones smooth and appealing suited better for a mansion than a path. He saw spiders building lanterns, not just any lanterns but Magical Lanterns, something he had only seen in the Holy Capital. In between the streets, the sprawl of the nest housing was being expanded at an unnatural pace. Then he investigated one of the nest houses he was shocked to find it had running water and a sewage system in place. Many other different structures were being made, some extremely large in scope. Why?! Why would spider demons go so far to enhance the human city? If this kept on, soon it would rival the splendour of the Holy Capital itself. Later, he had to check for the Illusion status because he saw a white ship sailing through the sky. Utterly impossible! But it was no illusion. At this point he was beyond terrified. The demons and monsters here clearly possessed the technology to rival, no, to even overshadow the Magitech of the Holy Empire. Scary, terrifying, and bloodcurdling! Much later, he understood why the Aurelian Capital was being transformed. A horde of monster races and demons flowed into the city. Obviously, all the new buildings were here for them, and the human cattle were only temporary occupiers. Soon, there will be a slaughter and a feast. The Army General had no desire to stay here and witness it. He ran away from the Aurelian Capital. He sprinted at top speed, afraid to be stopped, pursued and caught. But no one chased after him. He had come here with a goal but that goal had changed time and time again. Even if he risked being declared a deserter and a coward, all he wanted to do was just to report all of this to the Holy Emperor directly. He saw the monster procession, the horde of spiders. The level of their technology. One, no, even four armies would not be enough. And the monsters soon will feast and multiply further, expanding the border of the monstrous Aurelian Capital with their growth. The Holy Inquisition had underestimated the threat severely! The alien nest-like structures of Aurelian Capital were growing distant, but even then, he still was sprinting. Despite the distance, his ears picked up on an ungodly roar. It sounded like a chant for a dark ritual, or maybe it signified the end of it. ¡°Long live the Monster Realm, Long live the Aurelian Dutchy!¡±, it reached his ears again and again. The words carried power, making even someone like him, a seasoned and experienced general, shudder in fright. He wondered if perhaps that impostor Angel was right. Maybe she knew what awaited them here and that¡¯s why she turned the army back. A part of him, was now glad that she did that. [You have entered the Monster Realm], a system message pushed him further to despair. It clearly spelt the doom of all the Aurelian people. The Army General said a quick prayer for the lost souls and then continued to run with increased vigour. He had to make that report! 108 - The Ultimate Showdown Of Ultimate Destiny! 🥊 vs 🥊 The Aurelian people craned their necks towards the sky. Many pointed their fingers, some exclaimed in surprise, and other few fainted on the spot. In the blue sky there was a creature straight out of myths and legends, there was an Angel. She was radiant and bright, a blessing coming from the sky. The crowd cheered even louder taking it as a divine sign. The Angel must have come down from the Sky Fortress to bless the Aurelian people and their ruler; there was no other plausible explanation. Indeed, this was the most joyous occasion. The flying Angel, on her way towards the palace, fluttered her wings dropping white motes of light on the people. Like snow, the light melted on the skin upon contact, but unlike snow, it felt warm and refreshing. Soon she reached her destination, hovering right in front of the balcony. Obviously, she had something to say, but for some reason the people down below couldn''t hear it. The Aurelian Horn of Resonance must have malfunctioned. A shame! ¡­ The Radiant Angel glared at the Duke Aurelius without uttering a single word. The animosity in her eyes was clear. It was only a matter of time before she or the Duke would say something uncouth, hence ruining the celebratory mood of the Aurelian people. The Spider King reached for a golden band on the horn and twisted it disabling the magical item. Then, and only then he too looked at the Angel with a tinge of anger. She was supposed to be back in some imperial kingdom spreading division and discord, but here she was glaring at Aurelius. Maybe her coup d¡¯¨¦tat didn¡¯t go as planned; well, no surprises there, she was just a person. To topple the Holy Inquisition would take more than just a woman, no matter how talented. But for her to come back so quickly¡­ It was disappointing. ¡°Elisabeth,¡± He chose to address her by her name, ¡°There¡¯s no need for hostilities. Let¡¯s talk this through. Why don¡¯t you come inside?¡± He was desperate to placate her and take her away from the sight of the people. The Angel fluttered her wings. ¡°I see that Aurelius remains as a Corrupted Human. And here I thought that perhaps¡­¡± she didn¡¯t finish and just landed in the balcony. Her Radiant Sword, an extremely powerful item, was still sheathed by her side. It didn¡¯t look like she wanted to use it yet, so maybe there was a way. However, the Duke Aurelius developed an aggressive posture, his fists were clenched tight, and he was roaring for a fight. The Spider King stretched a stopping arm to prevent the Duke from overreacting. ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened, but I¡¯m sure we can resolve it peacefully.¡± He looked at the two. It was clear now that the Angel didn¡¯t have ill will towards him, but only to Aurelius. There was some history perhaps, something he didn¡¯t know. ¡°Please let¡¯s go inside.¡± He urged everyone. Surprisingly the Radiant Angel nodded in affirmation and went in. In such action she had lost her tactical advantage, she wouldn¡¯t be able to fly inside, and she would be outnumbered, despite all that she went inside. This displayed that she was willing to trust him; a very good sign. Now, he was sure that everything could be resolved peacefully. After all, the Radiant Angel was an important pawn in the Spider Stratagem to undermine the Holy Empire; losing her here would be unwise. Once inside, Duke Aurelius burst out unable to contain himself. ¡°Coming here and spoiling everything! What do you want? Is it fight you seek?¡± He accused with anger. The Spider King stepped between the Duke and the Angel. ¡°Aurelius, you be quiet for now!¡± He reprimanded sternly. ¡°Elisabeth, you must have come here with a good reason. Why? What happened?¡± Glaring at Aurelius she ignored the question. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m here for a fight.¡± She provoked forcing the Spider King to hold Aurelius in place. ¡°I can¡¯t leave this place to be ruled by Corrupted Human. Can¡¯t you see he¡¯s evil?¡± She pointed the question at the Spider King. ¡°Did you forget what we talked about¡­ No, never mind that. If he was evil the people wouldn¡¯t love him so much. You can go in the streets and ask them. Everyone loves and adores Duke Aurelius. There is no doubt, I stand witness to that.¡± ¡°Duke?¡± She asked somewhat confused. ¡°Ah, you don¡¯t know. Didn¡¯t you get the message? The Aurelian Dutchy is now a part of Monster Realm.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s what it meant¡­ Monster Realm¡­¡± She said it as if she was struggling to accept the truth. ¡°Yes, Monster Realm.¡± He referred to it plainly. ¡°A land of unity where monster races and humans can live in harmony. Did you forget that you too are a monster in the eyes of the system?¡± ¡°No! I know the truth! This is The Way.¡± The Spider King wasn''t too sure what she meant, but the Angel looked mollified. No, upon closer inspection she looked depressed, her wings were drooping as if something was weighing her down. ¡°So why don¡¯t you tell me what happened?¡± The question brought life back into the Angel¡¯s eyes, but once again she ignored it. ¡°Even so, I can¡¯t accept this!¡° She unfurled her wings to stand more intimidating. ¡± Duke Aurelius the Corrupted, I challenge you to the Duel!¡± ¡°I accept.¡± He replied eagerly. ¡°Wait, wait, wait¡­¡± The Spider King tried to stop the two. ¡°I accept!¡± He repeated. The Angel reached for her sword, and the Duke for his tome. ¡°Wait-wait-wait!¡± Once again, he stepped in between the two. ¡°Duke Aurelius, I¡¯m sorry, but you would lose. This is not a fair fight.¡± The two of them kept glaring at each other. ¡°I¡¯m not going to stop you. But, at least, let¡¯s make this fair. Duke Aurelius, shall I Evolve you?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve almost forgotten. Yes, my King!¡± This was likely the outcome he was aiming for from the very start. That conniving duke! ¡°You want to evolve him?!¡± She shouted in protest. ¡°He doesn¡¯t deserve that honour.¡± ¡°It¡¯s entirely up to me to decide,¡± the Spider King touched the shoulder of the Duke, ¡°[Evolve]!¡± [Royal Lineage requirements have been met (Monster King, Aurelian Bloodline)] [Aurelius the Great received Royal Evolution option] With the standard fanfare, Duke Aurelius exploded into purple light. Once the light subsided there was a heavily armoured boulder of a man just standing there, in other words, he didn¡¯t change that much. However, to be sure¡­ ¡°[Inspect].¡±, ¡°[Inspect]!¡±, ¡°[Status].¡± The free of them invoked at once.
Monster Race: Corrupted Human Variant: Monster Duke Magic Affinity: Dark ????? ??? ?????? ????? ???
HP:400 MP:100 STA:400
Active Perks [Unstoppable], [Bestow Rank], [Corrupt]
Passive Perks [Dark Empowered], [Scroll King], [Super Bulky]
Resistances [Light Weakness: Medium], [Physical Resistance: Lesser]
Alright, this was quite a change. But first, the table displayed only the racial perks, or otherwise prominent perks. Things like temporary perks granted by equipment or jobs were not shown, also it was the same for the arsenal of known spells. However, the displayed perks were enviable just on their own. Unstoppable: At the cost of 100STA, become immune to stun, silence, and immobilization effects. This perk grants the ability to shrug off debuffs and negative status effects. As a bonus, the user has unwavering determination, empowering them to fight with unbreakable resolve. It¡¯s no longer possible to interrupt the spell-casting; the spells and perks will not fail. The user can keep fighting even at 0HP until the effect of the perk runs out. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Bestow Rank: At the cost of 100MP, bestow a minion with a title granting them a random perk and increased status points. The hierarchy of ranks can have subbranches and the title holders can be bestowed with their own minions to command. The more minions you have the stronger the buffs and status increases become. Corrupt: At the cost of 1MP, corrupt the old and boring System of the Aurelian Human and bring them into the glorious fold of the chaotic Monster System. Warning: only humans can be affected, the results can be unpredictable. Dark Empowered: your body resonates at the Dark mana. The use of Dark spells empowers your body making it stronger with each spell cast. The effect is active regardless of who is casting the spells. Areas with a high concentration of Dark ambient mana will have similar effects. As a bonus, you can cast Dark spells at a reduced cost, and items with Dark affinity will be more powerful in your hands. Scroll King: Your mastery in using Magic Scrolls is unparalleled allowing the scrolls in your hands to be more powerful. You have a perfect memory of the scrolls surrounding you and will never need to look for a particular spell; the scroll will find you! Also, you can bind separate scrolls together into a tome which will follow your command. Super Bulky: You¡¯re bigger and sturdier than others. You take less damage from physical attacks and you can use your body as a weapon by itself. Also, you can accumulate even more Toxicity before it becomes detrimental to your health. Needless to say, the Spider King was jealous of some of the perks. Duke Aurelius was bestowed with the ability to amass an army of his own monster minions; so unfair! But most importantly, he could bring humans into the monster system on a permanent basis. Strangely that perk, Corrupt, or the description of it, sounded rather opinionated. He had to wonder if certain Chaos entity had to do anything with it. But, let''s go back to the pressing issue¡­ ¡°Yeah!¡± The Duke Aurelius cheered at the newly obtained power. ¡°I¡¯m ready! Bring it on!¡± The Radiant Angel unsheathed her sword. ¡°Wait!¡± As before the Spider King tried to be the voice of reason. ¡°Maybe not inside the palace. It¡¯s already crumbling.¡± ¡°Right¡­ Let''s go to the Battle Arena!¡± Aurelius proposed. ¡°Battle Arena?¡± Was there such a building in the Aurelian Capital? ¡­ The answer to that was both yes and no. The Battle Arena was still under construction, it was that massive building rivalling the Royal Palace. Despite its unfinished state, in the open field, right in the middle, there stood two challengers: Monster Duke and Radiant Angel. Even if there were no proper seats the Aurelian people climbed on stacked stone blocks and half-built walls to watch what was happening. Obviously, not everyone could fit in because there was no way to fit a million people, but there were still a lot of spectators. So why was the heavenly Angel fighting the great Duke? If you asked the Aurelian people they would tell you that the Angel was just testing the strength of their ruler, after all, he was the protector of the Aurelian Dutchy. They knew that at the end of this test, the Angel would grant a divine item to the Duke based on his performance. If he lacked at defence it would be a shield and if he lacked power it would be a sword; or so told the fairy tales. The crowd looked at three distant figures with baited breaths of anticipation. ¡°You may begin the Duel!¡± The Spider King announced with a wave of his hand. The arena crackled with cheers and shouts as Duke Aurelius, clad in black heavy armour, and Radiant Angel, adorned in a pristine white tunic faced each other. One came from the heavens to bless the Dutchy, the other was their beloved Duke. Duke Aurelius stretched his hand, channelling Dark mana into one of his tomes to empower it. The tome lit in purple fire ready to unleash a spell. Meanwhile, the Radiant Angel clasped her hands together, a radiant glow emanated from her body forming a shield of light. A barrage of Shadow Bolts rained upon the Angel. The bolts crackled with dark energy, seeking to destroy their target. The Angel stood still despite the threat, she had trust in her Divine Shield. The projectiles crashed onto the shield exploding into dark motes of light. Undeterred, Duke Aurelius unleashed yet another barrage of spells. Despite the incoming threat, the Angel jumped up and outside the magic shield. The magic missiles hit the shield like they did before, but not the Angel who was now outside. She used that moment to counterattack with Holy Smite. A pillar of radiant light slammed into Duke Aurelius forcing him to roar in pain. Despite the obvious critical damage he didn¡¯t waver. The tome burned brighter, turning page after page into ash. Duke Aurelius was visibly enraged. The mist of darkness descended upon the arena unleashing an army of stray shadows. His bulky form became blurry blending into the shadowy mass. The Angel kept her distance flying above the shadow-infested ground with caution. Now and then a pillar of light would pierce a hole in the shadowy mist, disrupting the shadows, but revealing nothing more than empty ground. As if to respond to the attacks, angry dark tendrils shot up into the air aiming to ensnare the Angel. She flapped her wings trying to escape higher up, but she was too late in that decision. Dark Tendrill coiled around the leg of the Angel threatening to pull her down, but her Celestial Wings were strong enough to keep her in the air. More tendrils were shooting from the shadows. She used her Radiant Sword to cut the tendril binding her leg, no sooner than she was free two more latched onto her. As soon as she would cut a tendril a new one would take its place. The Angel was slowly sinking down towards the ground. Worse still, the tendrils coiled around her body deviously and pushed under her tunic into the most obscene places. The attack was more than just physical, she could feel her vitality slowly leaving her body forcing her to pant for breath. ¡°Enough!¡± The red-faced Angel roared. ¡°[Holy Retribution]!¡± An extreme amount of mana must have been consumed. The entirety of the arena was basked in bright light. The tendrils shrunk and shrivelled; the shadow mass drained into the ground to seek escape from the overwhelming light. And the shape of the Duke was expelled from the shadows. He stood there with his mouth wide open and his tome nothing more than a pile of ash. Now firm on the ground, the Angel spurred her wings to give her that extra boost in her sprint. She charged towards Duke Aurelius, her sword glowing Radiant with righteous fury. Duke Aurelius fumbled for yet another tome, but he was too slow. The clash of metal echoed through the arena as the Angel struck his black armour again and again forcing Duke Aurelius to his knees. The attacks were so relentless there was no chance for him to even flinch. ¡°[Unstoppable]!¡± With those words, Duke Aurelius stood back on his feet. His body was ravished by sword strikes but he shrugged the incoming damage as if it was nothing. ¡°[Empower], [Mace Strike]¡± He raised his right arm high and pushed his stamina into it to swing it like a mace. The Angel countered the arm with her sword, she even made a nasty gash into the armour and the Duke''s hand, but the mace-like limb indeed was unstoppable. The fist crashed into her face sending a fountain of blood. Yes, she got hit rather badly, but it was of no issue because, ¡°[Angelic Heal]¡±, she healed back to pristine state. Duke Aurelius, however, had no such luxuries to heal his almost severed hand. He reached for the potion in his pocket. ¡°No, you don¡¯t.¡± She swung her sword, the sword never connected with the potion, but the after image of the radiant light did. The magical damage smashed the potion sending crystalline shards into the air like shrapnel and cutting the lips which wanted to drink it. ¡°You!¡± The Duke wasn¡¯t all too pleased. He wasn¡¯t healed, but another tome flew out from his armour. She used her sword trying to cut the tome in half. A single page burned out from the tome and magically the Duke Aurelius and his tome turned into smoke. Her sword found no purchase cutting the smoke. The smoke condensed further away revealing the Duke Aurelius back in the corporeal form, once again he was attempting a potion. ¡°[Holy Smite]!¡± She chanted without hesitation. Once again he tried to turn to smoke, but the spell reached him before he could do that shattering the potion and dealing great damage to someone who had Light Weakness: Medium. She didn¡¯t idle and flapped her wings to close the distance so that her sword could deal the killing blow. ¡°You b¡­¡± Duke Aurelius attempted a curse but instead, ¡°[Entropy Explosion]!¡± A wave of foul and extremely powerful magic exploded from his body. She did cast a shield just in time, but even then it just shattered into pieces. The foul magic touched her skin trying to boil and peel it off. ¡°[Last Stand]!¡± She had no choice but to use it. Her pristine white tunic turned grey then black, and then it crumbled into dust leaving her completely naked. She stood otherwise unharmed, but her face was flushed red out of the embarrassment. Embarrassment quickly turned into uninhibited rage. The Duke didn¡¯t come out unscathed either. He was kneeling taking heavy breaths and his amour too appeared rusty and crumpling at the seams. The Angel overtaken by fury charged to smite the Duke with her sword. The Duke couldn¡¯t stand, not just yet, but he could cast spells and he did. The pages in the tome burned one after the other sending various projectiles at the Angel. Some projectiles were swatted by the sword, but others did hit her exposed body. Finally, she was close enough to strike him and she did. ¡°[Armour Rend], [Behead].¡± She added for good measure. But once again, the Duke used some strange magic to turn into dark liquid and slip right under her blade. ¡°You won¡¯t get away!¡± She launched herself in pursuit weathering another barrage of Dark spells. The scene repeated time and time again. Sometimes she would strike successfully at the Duke making him bleed and squeal like a boar. But despite the indignant cries the Moster Duke would take the damage in earnest, cast some spell to make distance and then continue to attack her with his Dark spells. If the spells were powerful she deflected them with Divine Shield, if not she tanked them healing herself with Angelic Heal. Thus, this became a battle of attrition. The armour of Duke Aurelius was no better than scrap, it was tinted in crimson blood all over and his face was beyond pale. However, the Angel didn¡¯t fare much better. She was out of MP and STA, Last Stand was the only thing keeping her going. ¡°[Dark Arrow], *Cough!¡± Duke Aurelius burned a scroll to unleash an incredibly puny spell. It was obvious that he had burned all of his more powerful scrolls. However, there was no magic shield to stop the projectile and the Angel had no more stamina to swat it with her sword. The puny spell hit her right in the midsection peeling skin and flesh alike to reveal the whites of ribs. Without even releasing a single cry the Angel collapsed backwards. Her body hit the ground with a thud and her sword lost that iconic radiance. ¡°Enough!¡± The Spider King ran to the Angel pouring a potion over her wound. ¡°She¡¯ll be alright.¡± He whispered. Incidentally, Duke Aurelius also collapsed to the ground, but with his face down. For a while now, he too was left without even a single speck of STA to move, it was only the Magic Scrolls which kept him going. ¡°Please!¡± He cried still face down. ¡°I¡¯m at 0HP, if my Unstoppable runs out, I¡¯ll die.¡± The Spider King rushed to the Duke Aurelius pouring a potion into his mouth. The colour returned to the Duke¡¯s face, but even then he could not move. Well, even so, the winner of the Duel was still clear. The Spider King grabbed the Duke¡¯s hand raising it slightly in the air. ¡°Aurelius the Great had won this Duel!¡± The crowd cheered and clapped. They cheered and cheered seemingly without respite. This was the sight of a century. A battle between a human and an Angel. Those who witnessed it were extremely humbled. For a human to win against an Angel was unimaginable, no one really expected that outcome! Of course, the oblivious people didn¡¯t know at that time that Duke Aurelius wasn¡¯t exactly human, not anymore. Instead, they saw a human winning despite all odds. They saw him use his overwhelming magic like an expert magus, and his body was as sturdy as a fortress. Indeed, many were struck with awe and pride to have such a ruler. ¡­ The Spider King had carried the Radiant Angel back to the Galleon Whale and put her into his cabin bed to recover. He was looking at her battered body with worry, and the Lamia Queen was glaring at him from the sidelines. He ignored the hostile glare concentrating on the unresolved mystery which still bugged him deeply. One thing remained unclear: what exactly did spur this crazy Angel to come here and challenge the Duke? ¡°And why Johny didn¡¯t inform me?¡± That mystery will be unravelled once Elizabeth, the Radiant Angel, regains her consciousness. 109 - Never Tell Me The Odds! Engage Hyperdrive! Right after the Radiant Angel roused from her unconsciousness, she told her story. She had great success convincing the people to follow The Way, after all, she was a real angel. However, those sitting at the top proved to be resistant. She was allowed to debate her case in front of her inquisitor peers, and she did well. They couldn''t refute her point that the angels were a type of monster race, but even still, they refused to discard the misleading ways of the Holy Light. They acknowledged the validity of her points but chose to stick to the old scripture, reluctant to loosen the grasp of their power. Yes, admitting that the angels were monsters would mean that the clergy was wrong all along, and they just couldn¡¯t do that; they even went as far as to admit that honestly without even a shred of shame. On her mission, the Radiant Angel had amassed a small group of followers, but that was it. It was only a matter of time until the Holy Emperor recognised her as a nuisance, and she would be declared a heretic. An angel heretic, the notion by itself was ironic, but the emperor had the power to do it. In other words, the clergy of the Holy Light was pushing against her, but only gently now. Sure, the teachings of The Way were spreading among the peasantry through word of mouth. But that too will soon be stopped by the harsh hand of the Inquisition. There was just no place for common folk to practise it without judgement and fear of future trouble. Then she had an idea. If she couldn¡¯t do it in the Holy Empire, maybe she could lead her followers to a new land. But of course, there was no place like that, all good spots were already inhabited. And then she remembered that there was a tyrant ruling over the Aurelian Kingdom. The Kingdom was in trouble, yes, but it was outside the influence of the Emperor. It was very risky, but if she could depose the tyrant, she could claim this kingdom for her followers. And surely the Aurelian people needed saving¡­ Or so she thought. The Spider King challenged her flimsy reasoning. ¡°That would have never worked out. And we had an agreement for you to stay away from here.¡± ¡°I know, I¡¯m sorry. I just can¡¯t stay in the Holy Empire anymore. The Inquisition made it clear I am unwelcome.¡± She looked down sadly, but there were also hits of feeling betrayed. ¡°I lost everything you know. My title, my rank in Inquisition, even my friends¡­ And all I did was tell the truth.¡± Or maybe, she just didn¡¯t play her cards right. But to blame her now was pointless. ¡°If so, we¡¯ll gladly have you here.¡± ¡°What, really? I couldn¡¯t even defeat Aurelius.¡± ¡°Aurelius? He isn¡¯t your enemy¡­ The Empire is. You realise that now do you?¡± She looked at the Spider King reluctantly. ¡°Yes, I do¡­ but my followers¡­¡± ¡°They will be welcome here, I don¡¯t see a problem.¡± ¡°¡­ But this is his land. His dutchy. Aurelian Dutchy.¡± ¡°This is also Monster Realm. If I tell him to take some refugees, he will. But of course, they would need to recognise him as their duke.¡± Life returned to the angel¡¯s eyes. ¡°That¡­ will work!¡± ¡°When you gather your followers, I¡¯ll tell the spiders to give you an escort. But it''s best to be quick. I suspect the Holy Empire will launch another attack.¡± He knew they would, Johny had told so already. Oh, and the reason Johny didn¡¯t know about the stupid schemes of the Radiant Angel was that after she gained her evolution, she stopped relying on Slug Jelly; she didn¡¯t need it anymore. ¡°Then, I¡¯ll fly back in haste and tell them that they¡¯re welcome here.¡± ¡°Yes, they are.¡± He reassured. The Radiant Angel, now dressed in a blue tunic with Spider Kingdom¡¯s insignia left the Galleon Wale with haste and flew to the distant east. ¡°She¡¯s crazy¡­¡± The Spider King uttered quietly. ¡°But so, I am.¡± He was also aware of his own peculiarities. He¡¯d settled the business he needed to do and It was time for him to fly back to the MegaFarm. The celebrations in the Aurelian Dutchy will probably go on for a few more days, but after that, it will be serious business. He had left a whole legion of spider crafters and spider engineers here; they would help Aurelius prepare for war. He entrusted the Crimson Alchemist to ramp up her production to brew an incredibly large number of potions. The task would be impossible for her small workshop so an expansion was ordered. A huge alchemical brewery was being built right next to her old shop. The mass-produced potions will be used to boost and heal the Aurelian army. The spider engineers had brought the Blueprints for Arrow Turrets, Great Balistas and other weaponry they had developed during the Darkness War. And the spider builders were here to help with the defensive wall, watchtower, and fort constructions, but also to lay roads towards the border. The road would allow the enemy to use it too, yes, but the Aurelian Capital needed it to field a quick response when attacked. And with Centauri help, the Aurelian army would have the upper hand on mobility. As for the hand weapons, the Drow-made bows and spears will reach the Aurelian Dutchy at a later date. There will also be a shipment of basic Magic Scrolls and enchanted weapons. And naturally, more food will also be sent. With all of that Duke Aurelius should manage to weather the Holy Empire¡¯s assault. ¡­ The Spider King sat in the captain''s chair and strapped himself with belts. ¡°Set course to MegaFarm.¡± Perched on the control table, ¡°Aye aye, Captain,¡± the spider navigator replied pouring the mana in. The ship flew up steadily and then it picked more speed as it was going forward. ¡°Engage Spider Hyperdrive.¡± The spider navigator chirped a command. On the side, on the metallic grey web, there was a bunch of black-robed spider mages. ¡°Spider Hyperdrive engaged!¡± They chirped in unison pouring Dark mana into the web. The web turned purple, and the ship jolted in acceleration. Unlike the humans, the spiders preferred to work instead of partying; they kept themselves busy all the time. During the weak-long celebrations, while the Galleon Whale was docked, the spiders with the help of Lord G Bling and his subordinates achieved the Spider Hyperdrive. A prototype of a magical device to boost the speed of the flying ship. It relied on Dark magic and borrowed the working principles of the Shadow Walk. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. The black-robed spiders powering the device didn¡¯t come from the MegaFarm, they were Lord G Bling¡¯s subordinates calling themselves the Covenant of the Spider Hand. Apparently, the Spider Hand was formed by Lord G Bling to fill the vacuum left by the Black Hand. As things happen, during the relocation of the Black Hand to another kingdom, they somehow misplaced a number of secret scrolls and forbidden tomes. Needless to say, the ¡®lost¡¯ items were conveniently found by spiders and used to further the knowledge of the Dark arts. That knowledge was used to form Spider Hand and then later with their help to construct the Spider Hyperdrive. The Galleon Whale was soaring high through the sky at an incredible speed, well, not quite supersonic, but it was fast. However, there was a problem. One after the other the black-robed spiders dropped from the metallic web; Negative Mana was rendering them unconscious. ¡°The mana consumption is atrocious.¡± The Spider King noticed. ¡°But, it¡¯s doing the job. I¡¯m impressed.¡± The last of the spiders dropped from the web and the ship slowed down to the usual speed. ¡°Spyder Hyperdrive disengaged.¡± The spider navigator chirped the obvious. He unbuckled the straps rising from the seat. ¡°Give them mana recovery potions and put them into nests to rest.¡± The spider mages were carried out of the cabin. ¡°What¡¯s our position?¡± He asked the navigator. ¡°We¡¯re close to. The jungle border.¡± Indeed, from high above he could see the dense mass of green. There was still some distance left to the MegaFarm, but otherwise long trip had been cut to a day. He went outside to get a better look at the jungle below. The sight was familiar, but there was something else. ¡°Rivers?¡± He was surprised. ¡°Ah, but since it rains here now, this makes sense.¡± The streams were very small, but surely, they will grow with time. ¡°Maybe we¡¯ll get lakes. If so, we could grow fish.¡± He was jumping ahead of himself. ¡°Wait, no. The water is Dark infused, no normal fish could survive that¡­¡± He dismissed it a bit too soon. ¡°¡­but this is a magical world. Life always finds a way.¡± And he had some convenient perks to help. ¡°Hey, Centauri Champion, do you know where we could get some tasty fish?¡± He asked the woman who liked to always hover close by to him. The Centauri Champion nickered thoughtfully. ¡°I wouldn''t know about the Human Kingdoms, but I¡¯ve heard that the SapphireScale Meat is highly sought after in the Demon Realm.¡± She snorted. ¡°Not that I tried it, we Centauri don¡¯t eat that.¡± ¡°So a SapphireScale¡­ it does sound exotic. I¡¯d like to try that.¡± The Centauri Champion gave him a curious look. ¡°Then we could try getting it for you.¡± ¡°Huh, really?¡± ¡°Yes, we know our way around the Demon Realm.¡± ¡°But won¡¯t it be problematic for you to return? I could go myself.¡± ¡°No¡­ I doubt they would like you much there.¡± She made a soft whine. ¡°The Demon Lord will see you as a challenger to his power.¡± He had already figured that much, hence the hesitation to explore that region. ¡°But we Centauri should be alright. We¡¯re not weak anymore to be taken as slaves. Actually, we could even¡­¡± There was a fiery fire burning in her eyes and she clearly wanted to say something but, ¡°¡­no, that can wait. You can leave capturing SaphhireScale to us, I¡¯ll get it done.¡± She said it with self-assured confidence. ¡°Awesome, then once we land, I entrust that task to you.¡± Soon the Spider King¡¯s eyes were marvelling at the idyllic sight. The usual green of the jungle was replaced by rows upon rows of blue. The blue colour came from blue ropes used for the TomGrape webs. The web vines weren¡¯t placed in orderly rows, that was because they had to be attached to the IronOak and the trees were naturally scattered in random patterns. In the end, the TomGrape farm ended up looking like a supermassive maze. There were only two clear ways out of the maze-like farm: the cobbled road to the Ancestral Forest and the suspended web highway to the Oberon Mountains. It would be no exaggeration to say that the developed land stretched for a good fifty miles; that was the reason for its name ¨C the MegaFarm. As he flew closer to the centre, the plants of the farm saw some variation: BanditAgave, FireAgave, SteamLeaf, PurpleM and even PetalBall were growing in neat patches, all supervised by Alraune monsters. Further in, he could see the triangular purple plates lining the tops of spider nests, the newest addition which had to be made due to all the rain. And right in the centre was the Spider Palace. In comparison to the Aurelian Palace it was just a mansion, but it still was his beloved home; he didn¡¯t need it big to feel important. ¡°We¡¯ll be landing shortly.¡± The spider navigator informed politely. The Galleon Whale began its descent aiming for a landing pad. The landing was so smooth the ship didn¡¯t even jolt or shake. There was no way for him to replicate finesse like that. ¡°Amazing, spider navigator!¡± He praised the spider¡¯s talent. ¡°Captain¡­¡± The spider nodded meekly hiding its face behind its spidery hands for some reason. ¡­ On a later day. As agreed, he kitted out the Centauri Champion and her entourage with freshly crafted gear for her quest, the quest for allegedly delectable SapphireScale Meat. No not just meat, but a pair of individuals to start a fish farm. Like knights the Centauri wore pitch-black full-plate armour, it was sturdy and heavy, but the natural strength of Centauri and the Wind enchantments countered that issue. Over the armour they wore blue robes, the robes were enchanted giving them that much-needed extra Magic Deflection in case there was a problem of magical nature. Normally the robes would display an embroidered insignia of a black hexagon and four yellow circles inside, the symbol of the Spider Kingdom, but there was no such thing this time; the Centauri wouldn¡¯t be displaying any allegiances during this mission to avoid trouble. Naturally, all of them were armed with Centauri Lances, a long lance enchanted with speed and piercing properties. Maybe this was way over the top, but the Demon Realm was a dangerous and violent place, and its citizens valued strength above all else. If so, the heavy getup was appropriate. The cover story was that they were a band of heavy cavalry for hire, or in simpler terms ¨C Mercenaries. Apparently, there were a lot of bands like these looking for employment while roaming the Demon Realm. So, they won¡¯t be standing out too much. The Centauri won¡¯t need to gallop all the way west through dense jungle, which would take months, instead, they will be given a lift on the Galleon Whale and dropped close to the Demon Realm border. The Spider King didn¡¯t need to come aboard this time, the Spider Hand and the spider navigator had a good grasp of controlling the ship already. They will be taking the Centauri to their destination. He was overlooking the heavily armoured girls as they were boarding the ship, waving and wishing them success on their mission. ¡°Centauri Champion, have you decided on the name already?¡± Remembering he asked just before she parted. ¡°Yes, in honour of your favourite food, we agreed to call our mercenary band the Cream Cheese Cavalry.¡± Right, that definitely sounded odd¡­ And that wasn¡¯t even his favourite food! If so, it should have been Slug Jelly Cavalry, but that sounded even worse. Anyway, he had no heart to correct the Centauri on that; that surely would make them sad. And he would like to continue enjoying their Cream Cheese, so, ¡°Thant¡¯s a splendid name. I¡¯m honoured.¡± He gave them a broad smile. As the ship was ascending towards the sky, the Centauri were waving him their goodbyes. Once again, he wished silently for their success. Actually, he had no doubt they would succeed, that¡¯s why he already ordered some preparations. The rivers hadn¡¯t finished forming yet, they were young and often changed their snaking paths. The waters still hadn''t decided where they wanted to go and settle. One small stream was flowing east and the one just nearby ¨Cwest, as if to oppose one another. Sometimes opposing waters joined and made a bigger river, but just as often, they broke to split and dry out entirely. The river formation was rather a chaotic affair. With the help of the Trusty Advisor, he and the spiders decided to help the rivers. The spiders began working on an incredible number of ditches and canals to join and direct the many rivers towards the preferred spot. They were trying to make all the river¡¯s pool into a massive lake. A project was massive in undertaking and only time will prove if it will be successful. During these efforts, the Lamia Queen and her escort came back from the Aurelian Dutchy. He greeted his wife with open arms. Naturally, she was tired from the long journey but there was also something else different about her. During the warm embrace, he felt a slight bump on her belly. ¡°Dear wife¡­ Are you pregnant?¡± He asked hopefully. ¡°SSS! Finally, you notice!¡± She gave him a broad smile. ¡°It has-sss been months-sss already.¡± If so, then why did they have kept trying so vigorously? Even at the Aurelian Capital, when she finally arrived, he had to make up to her for the lost days! He thought he would die that night, only the Fertility Potion+ had saved him. Anyways¡­ ¡°I¡¯m so happy!¡± He exclaimed giving her another tight embrace. 110 - Girls That Chase After Illusions Today was a momentous occasion for the entire Spider Kingdom. The Spider King was holding the hand of his wife, she was coiled at an awkward position, her muscles tense, and her breaths heavy. Something like this would be an intimate affair in most cultures, but in this particular case the soon-to-be parents were surrounded by spiders and Lamia alike; it was a public affair and part of traditional Lamia ritual. Even in this crucial moment, or maybe because of its significance, the Spider King had a plethora of anxious thoughts. He was becoming a father, yes! But the two of them were of different species so understandably he had worries about how the child might turn out. What if it was some sort of mutant? But even then, he would love and take care of that child. The idle thoughts and anxieties were meaningless, so instead, ¡°Push!¡± he encouraged. The Lamia Queen hissed sharply ¡°SSS!¡± ¡°Pu¡­¡± He tried to encourage again but, ¡°it''s out? It¡¯s out!¡± It was over as soon as it began. Apparently, the Lamia didn¡¯t have to strain as much as humans did during their labour. He looked at the freshly laid egg, it was rather large, its shell leathery and pale, and it looked exactly like your average Lamia egg. ¡°Wait¡­¡± He realised something, and his own naivety made him blush in embarrassment. That was because he expected a child here and there but¡­ ¡°We¡¯ll have to wait for the egg to hatch, right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s-sss right.¡± The Lamia Queen picked the egg into her arms with affection. ¡°Put it with the rest of them.¡± The Friendly Lamia took the egg ever so carefully to bring it to the Lamia Hatchery. For an obvious reason, he felt overly protective about the egg. ¡°Can we keep it here in our room?¡± ¡°No-sss, it might not look it, but the egg is Royal Lamia Egg, it holds-sss a princess inside. As-sss is tradition, It has to stay with the rest of the eggs. You sss-see¡­¡± The Lamia Queen went on to explain that the presence of the Royal Lamia Egg will influence other eggs in the hatchery. The new hatchlings will be born already feeling loyalty to the new princess, they will be her servants from the time of birth. This was how new Lamia Villages were made. So, in other words, even if the egg looked ordinary, it was nothing but. ¡°I too was destined to leave my village, but you know what happened¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, the Worm and the¡­¡± The death of old Lamia Queen. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for that.¡± The mood grew heavy for a moment. ¡°No, sss, don¡¯t be. If it didn¡¯t happen, I would have never been your wife.¡± Never say never, but, ¡°I see what you mean. So anyway, will it take long?¡± ¡°A few months perhaps.¡± So, he¡¯ll need to wait a bit more until he meets his child. Yet, he had another pressing question. ¡°You¡¯ve said it will be a princess, but can it be a prince?¡± ¡°A boy lamia, sss? That never had happened.¡± So, it is impossible, meaning that he was destined to have daughters only. Not that it was bad. ¡°I can¡¯t wait for her to hatch!¡± He exclaimed hugging his wife. ¡°SSS!¡± She hissed affectionately, ¡°Me too. I know, sss, she¡¯s destined for greatness.¡± ¡°Of course, she is our child!¡± The egg hadn¡¯t even hatched but the two parents were already pushing their wild hopes onto it. The Royal Lamia Egg was put to rest with the rest of the eggs in the Lamia Hatchery, blending in perfectly. Despite looking exactly like the others, the Lamia knew the egg was special. It might have been smell or something magical in nature, but the Spider King didn¡¯t possess the ability to tell the otherwise identical eggs apart. If he wanted to know he had to go and Identify each egg. Which was a hassle. So he proposed marking it, to which he was promptly denied. Apparently, it was a type of survival strategy to have the special egg mixed with all the others. Even if, the MegaFarm was super safe, the Lamia insisted on this tradition. In the end, the egg was left to incubate, such things couldn¡¯t be rushed. While we¡¯re on the matter of Lamia hatchlings, a certain group of Chaos Lamia were experiencing a growth spurt. May it be because of their unique mutation, or suitable environment, they were outgrowing their Cave Lamia peers. That particular spawn wasn¡¯t just hatchlings hunting stray squirrels in TomGrape fields, they were now in their teenage phase. It was scary how quickly some monster races could grow! And as teenagers do, they were looking to make trouble. But in better words, they were just looking for their place in this strange world. The issue was that the Cave Lamia, while they tolerated Chaos Lamia, didn¡¯t recognise them as a part of their ¡®tribe¡¯. It was rather frustrating for the Spider King and otherwise a stupid problem. His wife, Lamia Queen also didn¡¯t recognise them as her subjects, and as she did predict, the Chaos Lamia didn¡¯t recognise her as their Queen either. In other words, there was this awkward situation where the girls, Cave Lamia and Chaos Lamia, didn¡¯t want to talk with each other and just excluded or ignored one another. This was very sad, but a common occurrence even between humans. However, Chaos Lamia weren¡¯t human, so a typical solution might not even work. It was so bad now that the teenagers were even trying to pick fights with Cave Lamia. It was clear they were trying to claw some recognition and status here. And it was particularly hard to control them since they had no Queen to unite and guide them; at least, not yet. However! There was an authority they recognised¡­ a certain airheaded tippity top man. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡­ The Spider King, was walking down the familiar cobble path to store the freshly acquired Slug Jelly. This had become an integral part of his daily routine, he would enjoy fondling¡­ no, acquiring the most precious substance in the Monster Realm. Something only he was allowed to do, and what great honour it was! But he wasn¡¯t there at the Johny¡¯s shed for tomboyish foolery, he was also there to receive reports on what was happening in Aurelian Dutchy. Simply put, the preparations were going well and that was that. But maybe it¡¯s not all that. Recently his idyllic walk to the jelly vault had attracted an increasing crowd of spectators. No, they weren¡¯t spiders, it was a flock of curious girls. They slithered in the shadows trailing just behind him. They were hiding under their ability to cast Illusion. But they were merely children playing with their perks, it had zero effect on him. Yet, he had to wonder, why did they decide to pick on him? For some time already, he¡¯d been ignoring their antics hoping they¡¯d get bored. However, that didn¡¯t happen, if anything their stalking only increased. ¡°Ahh, if only there was a Queen to deal with the lot of you.¡± He alluded to the lack of a leader among the Chaos Lamia. ¡°With my two eyes, I spy¡­ One Lamia.¡± He pointed directly at the Illusion. ¡°Two Lamia, Three Lamia, Four¡­¡± He began pointing them all. The blatant detection like this made them lose composure and break their illusions. ¡°SSS!¡± The lamia number twelve hissed bashfully and slithered hurriedly to hide beneath the vine-web. The Spider King kept walking and detecting all the lamias on his path. ¡°The trouble children can¡¯t hide from my watchful eyes. Ha-Ha-Ha!¡± He cackled like a villain. ¡°You can¡¯t prank the King. The naughty Lamia will be caught and punished!¡± He threatened but only playfully. Yet still, the Chaos Lamia stalked from the shadows, or at least they tried. ¡°With my two eyes, I spy¡­ Trouble!¡± He let go of the two buckets he was holding and launched into a sprint. ¡°I caught you!¡± He grasped the Lamia by her tail breaking her Illusion. She was trying to pretend to be a rock, how dumb¡­ There were no rocks in MegaFarm, like none! ¡°Now you pay!¡± He reached. ¡°No! SSS!¡± The lamia hissed in terror. ¡°Tickle, tickle, tickle.¡± The punishment was merciless, and by having a Lamia wife he already knew all the weak spots. ¡°S-s-s!¡± The lamia squirmed and coiled. ¡°Help!¡± She begged for her allies. ¡°You have to stop playing pranks on others and picking fights with Cave Lamia.¡± ¡°No!¡± The lamia remained defiant despite the relentless assault. ¡°Bad children will be punished with tickles! Tickle, tickle, tickle.¡± ¡°S-s-s!¡± The lamia was cry-laughing now, and unfortunately none of her ¡®allies¡¯ came to help. ¡°I won¡¯t stop until you promise to behave! Tickle, tickle, tickle.¡± ¡°No¡­ S-s-s!¡± The lamia squirmed. ¡°I¡­ I¡­¡± ¡°I can¡¯t hear you!¡± But then¡­ ¡°Oh, no!¡± He overdid it. The defiant lamia peed herself. Understandably, he let her go that instant. ¡°I promise to behave! Wha-aaa!¡± She slithered away in tears. ¡°I¡¯m sorry about that!¡± He shouted to the distance. But hey, as mean as it was, the Lamia troublemakers disappeared from his near surroundings. So, he took that victory while promising himself not to overdo it next time. He grabbed the two buckets and continued to the vault without being assaulted by an attack of Illusions. Unbeknownst to the King, the spider peacekeeper observed the entire interaction. Like the King, the spiders too struggled to deal with the unruly teenagers. ¡°Bad children. Will be punished. With tickles.¡± The spider chirped happily at this piece of wisdom. ¡°If the Spider King says so. The spiders will do so.¡± It nodded vigorously. That day, the Chaos Lamia received what they deserved. As odd as it might be, the next day, on his walk to the vault the King was assaulted with even more Illusions. It was not revenge, it happened because the Chaos Lamia turned to like this odd game he was playing, and the threat of punishment only made it more thrilling. Hence, the game of detection and punishment became a part of the daily routine. But soon the Chaos Lamia began targeting him not just during the morning walk but anytime he was out for something. They were rather enjoying the attention they were getting. Yes, at times it was annoying, but it was not all that bad, maybe it was the attention they needed or someone to tire them out, but ever since they stopped picking fights with spiders or Cave Lamia. The Chaos Lamia used Illusion to blend into their surroundings, very much like Cave Lamia¡¯s Camouflage perk. And they were getting very good at it. It was becoming harder and harder to spy any Lamia with his two eyes. But the game wasn¡¯t meant to end there. ¡°With my two eyes, sss,¡± Someone hissed from disguise. ¡°I spy Spider King.¡± He turned to look at the direction of the voice. ¡°Where are you?¡± He narrowed his eyes. ¡°Aha!¡± He ran towards the trunk of IronOak, a part of it broke off and attempted to escape. ¡°Caught you!¡± He dispensed the punishment. As the game carried on, he noticed something rather peculiar. A Centauri was walking towards him. It wasn¡¯t entirely a rare sight to see them walking from one place to the other, but there was something critically wrong with this one. ¡°Ha! You can¡¯t fool me!¡± He caught up with Centauri in no time at all and grabbed for her chest. ¡°Those weapons are way too small!¡± Naturally, his hands grasped only air. ¡°Got you!¡± He caught the lamia. ¡°No! SSS! I worked on this for weeks!¡± She protested. ¡°S-s-s. No, stop, I¡¯ll pee!¡± ¡°Ha! You¡¯re bluffing! You made a rookie mistake and shall be punished! Tickle, tickle, tickle.¡± Maybe she wasn¡¯t bluffing, or maybe out of spite, the Lamia peed herself¡­ Later that evening, when he was back home, the Queen Lamia sniffed at him. Her eyes narrowed and her face developed a scowl. ¡°Those scoundrels-sss! SSS! They¡¯re marking their territory, sss, claiming sss-someone who isn¡¯t theirs to claim.¡± She hissed in displeasure. He understood only part of it. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°They peed on you on purpose. To sss-spite me!¡± ¡°Oh, I think it was just an accident. It must have been only a drop, I didn¡¯t even notice.¡± He said so in his defence. The Lamia Queen gave him a suspicious look. ¡°I''m glad you managed to tame them. But don¡¯t overdo it, sss. The other Lamia might grow jealous of all the attention they get.¡± By other Lamia she must mean her, and her only, regardless of that he replied, ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll make sure to play with the Cave Lamia hatchlings too. So all is fair.¡± That bunch was still chasing squirrels but soon they too might decide to make trouble. ¡°Consider all of this as me trying to get experience in interacting with children. Soon we¡¯ll have our own trouble to look after.¡± ¡°Our child will make no trouble, sss!¡± She hissed all too sure of herself. ¡°Of course, it won¡¯t.¡± ¡°SSS-speaking of trouble.¡± She handed him an envelope. ¡°From the Dark Fortress.¡± She was entrusted to receive messages like these in his absence. The seal was broken meaning that she had read it already. ¡°Trouble?¡± He took the parchment out of the envelope reading it all start to finish. ¡°Bad JuJu?¡± ¡°Sss, I don¡¯t know anymore than you do.¡± The letter described a disturbance happening in the Dark Fortress, something was haunting the humans in the Catacombs preventing them from working to expand them. That something was simply described as ¡®Bad JuJu¡¯. But that was only a kobold superstition, right? ¡°They want me to investigate it for them.¡± ¡°Yes-sss, I¡¯ve read the letter.¡± ¡°Wanna tag along?¡± ¡°SSS! No, too cold, you handle that. And it sss-sounds too ominous-sss!¡± ¡°Not you too!¡± The superstition of Bad JuJu claimed yet another victim. 111 - The Unlikely Hero To Dispel The Frigid Cold The icy cold wind was ruffling the white fur of the Spider King¡¯s coat. It was an item gifted by the crafter spiders to keep their King warm during his quest to vanquish the Bad JuJu. The coat was called the Squirrel Tribute, it took no less than a hundred squirrel volunteers to achieve the superior quality and significant insulating properties. Best of all, it was both warm and fashionable; truly Spidery Magnificent. ¡°With this, the cold doesn¡¯t feel so intimidating. Thank you, spider crafters.¡± He smiled finally being able to appreciate the beauty of the Oberon Mountaintop. The sun basked the frozen landscape in generous sunlight making it shine and sparkle. Today it wasn¡¯t windy either, there wasn¡¯t even a single IceShard Plankton cloud in the sky. It almost looked serene, almost because even with all the sunlight the temperature was still below freezing. ¡°Let¡¯s get this done. [Shadow Walk].¡± He turned into a shadow and with each step he took, he was carried a hundred. Unwilling to smash into a solid stone he broke the spell right in time to emerge in front of the Dark Fortress. ¡°Wow!¡± A shout escaped his lips. The fortress underwent a massive improvement: the towers were restored, the walls mended, the crumbling bricks swapped out with the sturdy Kobold Bricks, and even the gate was repaired. A massive banner hung above the gate, a banner of the Spider Kingdom. ¡°Oh! And they improved the great balistas.¡± He couldn¡¯t help but notice the massive siege weapon atop one of the towers. ¡°Or should I call it a harpoon launcher¡­¡± The difference was subtle but it was there: ballista fired great arrows or bolts and the contraption right above had a massive metal harpoon mounted inside it. The projectile also came with a thick rope attached to it. It was obvious it was meant to hunt IceShard Birds. One of the humans must have noticed the sudden appearance in front of the gate. There was some shouting and the heavy gate opened ever so slowly. ¡°Spider King, welcome to New Hope!¡± A somewhat familiar voice called out cheerily. The human was heavily dressed in a bundle of furs, under the equally fuzzy hood there was a face he recognised. It was Gareth, one of the two first humans who came volunteered into the Spider Kingdom. However, ¡°New Hope?¡± The Spider King asked intrigued. ¡°Ah, that¡­¡± Gareth looked somewhat uncomfortable but only for a moment. ¡°Dark Fortress sounded just too depressing, so we came together and gave it a different name. I hope you don¡¯t mind.¡± Originally it was the Kobolds who named it so, and since there is a different type of occupiers now¡­ ¡°No, of course I don¡¯t. You live here so you can call it whatever you like.¡± He went through the gate and into the fortress courtyard. Further down, there was a statue to honour a certain Drow. To the humans the statue didn¡¯t mean much, but the Spider King was glad to see it there. And there in the middle of the courtyard was a massive corpse, it belonged to a rather delicious monster. Most of the meat was already taken leaving only the bones, but the bones were also precious. Currently, a bunch of furry-looking humans were sawing at the bones breaking them into more manageable pieces. ¡°I understand the IceShard Birds give you no problem?¡± He asked looking at the massive carcass. ¡°With the right equipment and correct technique, they''re not that hard to kill.¡± Gareth said raising his chin higher. ¡°I was the one to strike the killing blow.¡± Indeed, the humans were doing well. Ever since they settled, they haven''t missed even a single shipment of the meat. But of course, not everything was well. ¡°So¡­ The Bad JuJu?¡± The Spider King asked. Maybe he did it too loud, or maybe there was another reason, but all the humans nearby stopped working and turned towards the Spider King giving him concerned looks. Gareth cringed at those words. ¡°Shh¡­ it¡¯s a sensitive topic. We¡¯ll talk more inside.¡± He guided the Spider King out of the bright sunlight and down towards the Catacombs. The denizens of New Hope didn¡¯t¡¯ inhabit the local towers or the fortress proper, to hide from the merciless cold they went under the ground. As the Spider King went through the narrow and dimly lit corridor, he couldn''t help but notice that the old bricks in the walls were also swapped out with something else. He reached to touch the rough bricks, it didn¡¯t feel like stone at all, it was porous and most importantly it wasn¡¯t cold. ¡°What is this?¡± He asked curiously. ¡°Fungal Bricks, we¡¯ve got them from the Drow. Unlike the stone, it doesn¡¯t allow the heat to escape back into the cold ground.¡± In other words, it was an insulating material. ¡°No wonder it feels hot in here.¡± The Spider King opened his coat. ¡°Yes, we keep ourselves warm by burning FireAgave Juice. After we insulated the walls, it doesn¡¯t take that much to keep this place warm and cosy.¡± The presence of the odd lantern hanging at the side of the wall also meant that they used it for lighting and probably cooking as well. ¡°Do you need more of the juice? If so¡­¡± Gareth interrupted urgently waving it off. ¡°No, the spiders gave us plenty. We don¡¯t want to be further indebted to you. We have enough.¡± He reassured. The Spider King was guided into a small room. It looked to be freshly dug, or at least newly made. There wasn¡¯t much of decorum but the simple fungiwood furniture inside told that this was an office; and also that the humans here traded extensively with the Drow. From the table to the chairs, everything looked to be made by Drow, no not everything, the few stone pots lining the walls and the shelves were of Kobold design. Gareth motioned the Spider King to sit on one of the chairs while closing the door right behind tightly shut. ¡°Right¡­¡± Gareth paused looking tense. ¡°Some refreshments perhaps.¡± He produced a bottle and two crystalline glasses from the desk drawer, pouring the slightly greenish liquid into them. The Spider King recognised the origin of the bottle right away, no doubt this was a product from the Scorpion Desert. ¡°Is this Grupp-Grupp?¡± He inquired. ¡°Yeah, it helps to stay warm.¡± Gareth offered the glass to the King while raising his. Then in Rome¡­ The Spider King downed the spirit, *Cough* ¨C it was very strong. Gareth, however, downed it with no problem and even poured himself a second. There was an interesting piece of trivia that the Spider King wondered if he should tell or not. Apparently, this scorpion spirit was fermented using a type of desert fruit and¡­ generous amount of scorpionmen spit! However, emboldened by the fiery liquid Gareth went straight to business. ¡°So, Bad JuJu¡­¡± He began. The Spider King nodded eagerly wishing to hear it. And he heard it all. Superstition or not, if the accounts were to be believed, something strange was happening here. Random rooms would lose all their heat suddenly dropping to temperatures below freezing. The light of the lanterns would get snuffed out even without any wind. There were voices coming from dark corners and howling wails at night. Some people would wake up unusually exhausted and beset by the sense of freezing cold to find that they also have been afflicted with Drain status, presumably someone assaulted them at night. There were even sightings of something vague and shrouded glowing in the dark corridors or phasing right through walls. There were many other unbelievable tales just like these, but were they that unbelievable? ¨C After all, some time ago, this place housed some formidable undead. ¡°I know what this is.¡± The Spider King said without even a shred of doubt. ¡°Really? What is it?¡± ¡°A wraith. I and spiders had fought those here in the Catacombs.¡± ¡°A wraith?¡± Gareth asked in disbelief and confusion. ¡°A type of an undead. Ever heard of ghosts?¡± He shook his head in a no. ¡°Huh, I guess those just aren¡¯t a part of your mythology and culture.¡± The Spider King noted. ¡°But I sort of know what the undead are¡­ Wicked souls who strayed away from the Holy Light and were possessed by darkness.¡± He shuddered at the thought. ¡°So, they were here in this fortress¡­¡± What? He didn¡¯t know that? The Spider King was sure the humans knew that this fortress used to be infested by the undead, it even has Catacombs and all that. But maybe that piece of information was lost somewhere during the talks¡­ The Spider King continued. ¡°Anyway, then we were looking for treasures, we made sure to cleanse the catacombs properly, but things like these happen. The wraiths are invulnerable to physical attacks, but then you know that it¡¯s easy to deal with them. They¡¯re rather weak and all it takes is a good jab with enchanted weaponry or an arrow.¡± ¡°Yes, we have those here.¡± That they did, the humans were entrusted with a sizeable arsenal of enchanted weaponry; all to fight the IceShard Bird on the more equal terms. ¡°That¡¯s probably why it didn¡¯t attack anyone directly.¡± The Spider King stood up from his seat with resolve. ¡°Let¡¯s exorcise this poltergeist! Go-go, ghostbusters!¡± He always wanted to say that, and now he did. Gareth gave a confused look ¡°Exorcise? Poltergeist?¡± ¡°Go-go, ghostbusters!¡± The Spider King pumped a fist into the air. ¡°Go-go, ghostbusters¡­¡± Gareth parroted still somewhat confused. ¡­ The realities of ghostbusting were less exciting than one might expect. It was very much like playing a detective. In order to pinpoint its hunting ground the Spider King had to take witness statements again. It wasn¡¯t just the location which was important, but also time. In the end, and somewhat predictably, the location was narrowed to the surrounding area of the place which used to be GraveLord¡¯s workshop; now the abundant space was used as a cold storage facility for the meat. And the time was somewhere around midnight. Very Spooky! If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The Spider King and his newly appointed ghostbuster apprentice Gareth were waiting just right there in an ambush. To ambush a wraith was no small feat, so to remain disguised he used a combination of Dark spells and equipment. As it was now, the two men were nothing more than a slightly darker spot in an otherwise unsuspicious corner. If they were careful, they could even move ever so slightly without breaking out of the Shadow Form. Well, if the wraith was able to see past their disguises that still remained to be seen. Just before the two grew too bored and too impatient it happened! The long corridor connecting the cold storage with the rest of the Catacombs grew frigidly cold in an instant, the light in the furthest Magical Lantern was snuffed out shrouding that part of the corridor in darkness. However, it was the darkness which betrayed the luminescent form of the apparition; there in the shroud of it, it glowed like a beacon. ¡°Ohhhh!¡± It howled in an unholy voice. ¡°Ohhhh. So Cold.¡± It moaned. ¡°Ohhhh! Oh!¡± It wailed. The unsuspecting wraith floated further down the corridor, from one lantern to the other, snuffing the light in the process, and right towards the ambush. The wraith turned to make a corner in the corridor, and that was when the Spider King sprung from the shadowy spot. ¡°By the power of¡­¡± He trusted his spear dramatically but stopped abruptly. As soon as he revealed himself the wraith levered itself to the ground to imitate a kneeling position. ¡°My King!¡± It greeted enthusiastically. ¡°Wait¡­¡± The wraith reminded him of someone. Gareth was right behind the wannabe ghost slayer, hiding behind his royal frame and overtaken by Terror he trembled at the sight. ¡°King!¡± Even his voice was shaky. However, despite the fear Gareth thrusted his enchanted speer towards the wraith to slay it. ¡°Wait!¡± The Spider King deflected the speer offhandedly. ¡°[Inspect].¡±
Monster Race: Undead Variant: Frost SoulShade Magic Affinity: Ice ?? ?????? ??
HP:1 MP:250 STA:0
Active Perks [Drain], [Freeze]
Passive Perks [Incorporeal], [Undead], [Terror]
Resistances [Physical Resistance: Invulnerable], [Light Weakness: Critical]
This was no mere wraith, this was SoulShade! But most importantly. ¡°Your status doesn¡¯t say it but¡­¡± He peered right into the vacant eyes of the SoulShade. The legless and ghost-like form was slightly blurred but there was no doubt it carried the familiar resemblance. ¡°Drow Architect?¡± ¡°Yes, My King! I am at your command!¡± The undead replied. ¡°But¡­ you¡¯re an undead now. How?¡± The SoulShade realising the intent of the pointed spears lowered itself further down into a grovel. ¡°I can explain everything. I promise.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± The Spider King put his spear away. ¡°Let¡¯s talk.¡± ¡°But¡­ But!¡± Gareth wanted to protest. ¡°Apprentice ghostbuster Gareth, relax. Yes, this is an undead, but it is intelligent. Moreover, this is someone I used to know. Someone who saved my life.¡± ¡°What? Really?!¡± Gareth exclaimed in wild disbelief still trembling behind the King; Terror debuff was rather nasty to deal with. ¡°Drow Architect, you may rise and tell us your story.¡± ¡°Yes, my King. But first, can we go somewhere warmer?¡± The SoulShade looked at the nearby lantern hungrily. The King nodded letting the SoulShade to lead the way. ¡°It all started then¡­¡± The apparition began speaking while moving towards the light. Naturally, the light was snuffed at its approach, so the SoulShade carried on to the next one while telling its tale, and then the next one. It all started then¡­ he died. There was no doubt about it, no illusions, and no delusions. The Drow Architect knew right away that he had died, but also that he wasn¡¯t entirely dead; he was now undead! Right before the life of undeath, he remembered a terrible sensation which shook the very core of his soul. It was the feeling of coldness; it was so frigid it froze his very soul. It felt like it lasted forever, a torment which refused to end. But then, what seemed after an eternity, he had found himself standing in a cold room surrounded by frozen meat. Naturally, all he could feel was freezing cold so he sought for warmth. But as soon as he found it, he was denied it. That was when he realised that he was no longer a Drow. ¡°It¡¯s so cold¡­ Ohhhh! All I ever feel is icy coldness.¡± That didn¡¯t sound like a pleasant experience. ¡°Does it ever get better?¡± The Spider King asked with worry. ¡°Yes. It¡¯s better near the fire and near the lanterns¡­¡± It paused looking guilty. ¡°And a lot better after I Drain someone.¡± ¡°I see¡­ It seems you live a cursed existence. Shall I help you?¡± He asked implying. ¡°No, My King, I beg you. Even if I am cursed, I want to live!¡± The SoulShade lowered itself beggingly. ¡°I still can be of use.¡± ¡°No, I didn¡¯t mean to help you by killing you. I meant to help as in to make you better, even if temporarily. You can Drain me a little, I have a large HP and MP pool.¡± He offered, but that was done more as an experiment than an altruistic motive. Gareth didn¡¯t seem too pleased about the risky offer. ¡°Spider King, are you sure about that?¡± ¡°Absolutely. Now go on.¡± He encouraged the SoulShade. The apparition stretched its ghostly hands touching the Spider King. ¡°[Drain].¡± [Debuff active: Drain], the message informed. It felt a bit cold, and his HP and MP took a hit. The Spider King looked at the decreasing numbers. Surprisingly it was the SoulShade who spoke first, ¡°It is enough¡­¡± He sounded surprised. ¡°I don¡¯t feel like an icicle anymore.¡± ¡°Ha! Good, so the experiment is a success.¡± He nodded happily to himself. ¡°You are intelligent, not violent, and most importantly you can control your hunger. I reckon you can stay around.¡± He looked at Gareth. ¡°It¡¯s just that you guys might need to feed him occasionally. Voluntarily of course.¡± ¡°What?!¡± Gareth didn¡¯t sound all too pleased. ¡°Come on Gareth, I¡¯ll even pay the volunteers if there is a need for that. The Drow Architect here.¡± He pointed at the pale apparition. ¡°Saved my life.¡± And he was a future subject for research, but he kept that line to himself. ¡°He will behave from now on. Is that right Drow Architect?¡± ¡°But of course, my King. I remain your loyal subject.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know about that.¡± Gareth pressed further. ¡°Can¡¯t he be returned to his people?¡± Good question, the Spider King looked at the SoulShade. ¡°It seems, I can¡¯t leave this place. I tried¡­ But there is this overwhelming fear that takes hold of me if I try to leave the Catacombs. It¡¯s as if I would stop existing.¡± He figured it would be something like that. ¡°Then, I guess he can stay. But no more scaring people!¡± ¡°Of course, human Gareth, you are the leader here, I will do as you say.¡± Gareth looked at the SoulShade with surprise. ¡°I¡¯ve said I can be useful, and I will.¡± The SoulShade hovered closer to Gareth. ¡°I¡¯m still an architect, and I know many useful things. Plus, now I have access to Ice magic.¡± No doubt the SoulShade was trying to sell itself to Gareth. ¡°I guess, we can work a few things out.¡± Gareth said that but grasped for his head. ¡°¡­ but how do I explain this to my people?¡± The Spider King had an idea. ¡°Well, this is the Drow Architect we are talking about. There is a whole statue in his honour just outside.¡± ¡°There is?¡± The SoulShade asked in surprise. ¡°What, you didn¡¯t see? We commissioned it right after your death. You have been declared a hero!¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t been outside. It is so cold!¡± The SoulShade bowed deeply in thanks. ¡°But I am honoured. If it need be, I¡¯ll die for you again, my King!¡± It said with cold resolution. As good as it was to have subordinates this loyal the Spider King needed to continue his previous point. ¡°As I was saying he is a hero. Gareth, I¡¯m sure you can turn this whole Bad JuJu thing around and declare the ghostly Drow Architect here as some sort of mascot. Tell the humans that he was reborn to be the protector of the New Hope, or something like that.¡± ¡°That¡­¡± Gareth paused thoughtfully. ¡°That might work.¡± That same day, despite the danger of angering the local bird population, a plethora of candles were lit up by the statue of the Drow Architect. The entirety of the New Hope was gathered for this occasion. ¡°People.¡± Gareth addressed. ¡°As you know, I have asked you all to light a light by the statue. And thank you for that, this looks great. As you understand now, we do this to honour, but also, to call upon the Hero to protect this place from misfortune once again. To dispel the omen of Bad JuJu!¡± Gareth spoke with great passion. ¡°I know that this ritual is unfamiliar for us humans, but the Spider King assured me it will work. So now, let¡¯s put our hands together and call out for the Hero to come out again.¡± ¡°Hero Drow Architect, come and bless New Hope.¡± Gareth led the prayer with his hands pressed together. One after the other the humans pressed their hands in imitation and chanted the chant. ¡°Hero Drow Architect, come and bless New Hope.¡± Everyone chanted Again and again. With the lead of Gareth, the prayer grew louder and stronger. Then it was at its most fervent it finally happened. A pale figure emerged right out of the stone statue. It didn¡¯t have any legs and was semi-transparent but the resemblance was uncanny. ¡°The Hero!¡± A woman shouted pointing her finger at the apparition and then at the statue. The fervent prayer was broken, and everyone looked with both awe and disbelief. The summoned apparition smiled at the people. ¡°Oh, the candles, they feel so warm, thank you!¡± The ghost-like Hero floated down to the lights. ¡°Kind people, please don¡¯t mind me taking this offering. I, the Hero of New Hope, will use the lovely warmth you brought here.¡± He extinguished all flames at once. ¡°I¡¯ll use it to dispel the Bad Juju! From now on you have nothing to fear!¡± He declared radiating confidence. Some were still looking frozen in disbelief at what they were seeing, but others cheered and clapped. Soon everyone was welcoming their hero with warm smiles and loud shouts. Gareth used this moment to slip away from the sight. Even in the coldness of the night, he was all sweaty. That was because there were so many things which could have gone wrong. The worst of them was dealing with the Terror debuff, he had to butter the people into the right state of mind so that they wouldn¡¯t even dare to think of SoulShade as scary. But in the end, it went well. ¡°So, it worked.¡± He wiped the sweat away. Now all he had to do was to find a way for the people to take the Drain status effect; willingly of course. But if he could fake an entire ritual to summon the undead he could do that too. ¡°Man, it''s hard to be a leader.¡± The amount of mental gymnastics he had to pull for the sake of the people was exhausting. And for those who like to say ¡®just be honest¡¯, he would shoot them down straight away saying ¡®It never works¡¯. People don¡¯t like ugly truths, given a chance they will always take the sweet lies; such was life. He went back to the crown who was still cheering at their Hero. ¡°Hero!¡± He shouted to get the attention. ¡°From now on we¡¯ll offer you our warmth, so that you can protect us from the frigid cold and other calamities like Bad JuJu. Come, take what is mine and cleanse the Catacombs below.¡± ¡°As you wish, honourable and wise Gareth.¡± The Hero floated towards the human to touch him on the shoulder. Gareth pushed the unpleasant sensations coming from the Drain, instead he put his best fake smile on. ¡°Thank you!¡± The Hero bowed deeply. ¡°I shall dispel Bad Juju now.¡± It floated towards the Catacombs. Gareth even if left slightly wobbling at his feet, he still had to continue. ¡°The offering of light and candles might not be enough¡­¡± And just like before he launched into yet another speech, another white lie. Such was the life of a leader. From then on, the Catacombs were ¡®cleansed¡¯ from all the evil lurking down below. People were calmer and they were sleeping better. And it was nice to have their own supernatural protector, the Hero of the New Hope. To keep the Hero going the people would light candles by its statue at night. And when the Hero needed to power up on the ¡®warmth¡¯ directly it was only honourable to offer it to him. Quickly, the Hero became an integral part of the fortress. And with that, the New Hope continued to prosper. 112 - Magical Problems Require Magical Solutions With the urgent matter of Bad JuJu resolved Spider King had no reason to loiter around the frigid mountaintop. Wrong! There were plenty of reasons. The continuous development of New Hope was strategically important for the expansion of the Monster Realm. This was the only place to extract IceShard Plakton which was essential for long-term refrigeration solutions. The ice by itself was also used as a cheaper alternative. Of course, even more could be achieved with ice mages, however, those remained extremely rare and elusive. Frost SoulShade was the first Ice mage the Spider King has encountered. Actually, he didn¡¯t even know those existed, because so far he thought there were elements of Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light and Dark magic. That was all according to human magical theory. Where Water magic could theoretically be used to make ice, and it was. But evidently, there also was a separate Ice category on its own! And if you thought about the Great Ancestral Wisp ¨C Nature as well. So clearly there was more to it. Regardless, even Water mages were somewhat scarce. Long tangent aside, the Oberon Mountaintop was clearly the area saturated with Ice magic. And it had to be exploited, of course! First, there was the issue of capturing IceShard Plankton. It was very tiny and behaved like a wild cloud. To catch it the humans had an idea to use a very fine mesh, which worked to some extent until its micropores got frozen solid shut. Then that happened, the mesh turned into brittle paper-like film rendering it useless. The problem of plankton freezing shut the nets persisted. Then, another idea was born. The plankton had to eat something, or at least be attracted to some equally magical phenomena. Theoretically, it could be led to enclosed space and then trapped for collection. The humans had done some poking around and they lucked out on finding a nearby spot which attracted the plankton. Presumably, it was a source of magic, much like Magic Spring in the Undermountain, but the Mountaintop magic source expelled air instead of water. A lot more research was needed, but the Spider King was there to expedite the first design of a trap; incidentally, the architectural skills of the SoulShade also came into use. The whole structure was a big hexagonal ball (truncated icosahedron) resting half-buried in the ice. For its construction materials such as IceShard Leather, IronOak, and Fungal Bricks were used, after all, it had to resist the Frozen debuff the plankton carried. All its sides had latched holes for the plankton to enter, when it filled, the latches could be trapped and then the plankton extracted through yet another hole and into to the leather bags enchanted with Ice Resistance. Or so was the design. The Spider King and a bunch of humans were nestled tightly in an igloo-like building. Through a small window, they observed the incoming plankton storm, it was coming here to feed on the mana of the Mana Geyser. On a slight tangent, the Mana Geyser shot out not steaming water, but air infused with magical energies. It, as well as the plankton, could be collected into the leather bags, but uses for such air remained still unknown. ¡°Okay, it¡¯s coming,¡± Gareth said the obvious. ¡°But will it hold?¡± The SoulShade asked. ¡°If it breaks, we¡¯ll build something sturdier.¡± Human Builder replied. ¡°Nah, I¡¯ve Reinforced everything. It will hold.¡± The Spider King said to reassure. The plankton cloud funnelled into the structure simply named F32 for convenience''s sake. It twirled above F32 angrily forming a miniature whirlpool since there was more plankton than space inside the truncated icosahedron. ¡°It¡¯s time. Pull it.¡± ¡°No, you¡¯re the King, the honour is yours.¡± Gareth refused. ¡°I¡¯ll pull it.¡± The SoulShade reached for the lever, but his hands passed right through it. ¡°Oh¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± Human Builder pulled it shutting the intake hatches of F32. Everyone looked at F32 with bated breaths, expecting it either to explode or shatter. The cloud persisted to hand around the trapped Mana Geyser. After a while, the Spider King broke the tense silence. ¡°It¡¯s holding. But with the plankton around it will be hard to begin extraction.¡± Everyone nodded. ¡°Do we have volunteers?¡± He asked. No one volunteered making him sigh in defeat. However, ¡°I would go, but as you can see,¡± the SoulShade moved its hand to the wall and then right through it. ¡°Right¡­ I have the most HP and the best gear here. I¡¯ll go.¡± Everyone nodded. The Spider King exited the igloo and strutted confidently towards the angry cloud. He retrieved a bundle of scrolls from his inventory space. ¡°Buzz off, you! [Fire Barrage]!¡± He besieged the cloud with fire projectiles. He imagined the plankton saying ¡®Tch!¡¯ as it retreated into the skies. Sure, any of them could have used Frozen Resistance Potion, but with the increased demand and diminishing supply of IceShard Plankton, those had become rather precious; a thing which will be remedied here this instant. The Spider King used the convenience of Magical Inventory to retrieve an enchanted bag. He pulled it on the outtake valve and with yet another pull of a lever the bag was filled with plankton. He stuffed one bag after the other. Soon, emboldened by the success of F32 his companions came to help. Gareth was surprised at how easy the process was. ¡°It practically jumps into the bag by itself.¡± The SoulShade jumped to explain. ¡°It¡¯s because of the pressure inside. Mana Geyser is gushing out the air and continuously increasing the pressure inside, hence forcing the plankton out.¡± ¡°And if I delayed opening the outtake valve, the F32 might have exploded.¡± The King mentioned offhandedly. The SoulShade nodded. ¡°Precisely.¡± Gareth stepped away from the structure in alarm. ¡°Keep the scary MagiTech talk to yourselves. This thing is dangerous!¡± The Human Builder jumped in to take over to fill the bags. ¡°The valve is open. It¡¯s alright, it won¡¯t explode.¡± ¡°Unless¡­¡± The SoulShade terrified Gareth further. ¡°Unless?¡± The SoulShade didn¡¯t reply and just phased through the wall to inspect the insides of F32. He was taking his sweet time there, to the point that everyone got worried. ¡°Drow Architect, is everything alright?!¡± The Spider King shouted at the structure, but the walls were thick, so it was unclear if he heard that. ¡°Ahhh!¡± The Human Builder suddenly dropped the bag he was filling. ¡°Frost!¡± He cursed. ¡°You scared me!¡± There was a head peeking out of the bag, it had a nasty evil grin on it. ¡°Ha-ha, got you.¡± The two humans looked at the apparition with disapproval. It seems they didn¡¯t like pranksters. ¡°Eh, you¡¯re no fun, guys. By the way, everything is fine inside. It¡¯s just that¡­ It was so COLD!¡± ¡°No one asked you to go inside.¡± Human Builder retorted still offended by the prank. SoulShade had his own retort. ¡°What hero would I be if I didn¡¯t thrust myself into danger? It was my duty!¡± The Human Builder mellowed at those words. ¡°It seems we¡¯re done.¡± The Spider King said noticing the lack of stray plankton escaping the output valve. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s only air inside.¡± The SoulShade mentioned matter-of-factly. And there was that. No less than a hundred bags were filled with plankton. And there was a small bonus, since the plankton was still alive the bags were unusually light to carry. Actually, if something lighter would have been used to make the bag, something like thin cloth or plastic (which didn¡¯t yet exist here), the bags ran a risk of escaping into the sky like some sort of feral balloons. ¡­ The harvested plankton was promptly processed into blue goo-like substance. It was ready to be used for potions, enchantments, and refrigeration purposes. The F32 of course was only in its alpha stage, the structure still needed many improvements but the Spider King left that to humans. With the IceShard supply secured the Spider King moved on the agenda number two. It was further expanding and improving the Catacombs. Forcing humans to live underground like some sort of¡­ Kobolds or Drow, was not exactly fair, not that the humans complained, but an increase of comfort was always appreciated. There was that, but also the King wanted to make the New Hope as self-sufficient as possible. If life above ground was difficult you could make life underground, just like the many Undermountain races did. The Spider King deposited a large pile of various mushrooms on Gareth¡¯s office table. ¡°What are those?¡± Gareth asked somewhat perturbed. The Spider King gave a crazy smile beaming a line, ¡°Mushrooms to the rescue!¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Huh?¡± The Spider King picked a random mushroom. ¡°This one gives off light.¡± He picked another one. ¡°This one grows all around stone needing little sustenance.¡± He picked another one. ¡°This one turns poop back into food.¡± He picked a blue-capped mushroom. ¡°And this one is solely for recreational purposes.¡± ¡°Magic Mushroom.¡± It was a certain spider which identified the last mushroom. ¡°Ah yes, the two spiders behind me will help you to improve the Catacombs. The Stone Spider and the Mushroom Spider.¡± ¡°Hello!¡±, ¡°Hello¡­¡± the two spiders waved at Gareth from the corridor, they couldn¡¯t fit through the narrow office doors. ¡°Huh?¡± Gareth still was not following. ¡°Listen, *Ahem*,¡± the Spider King cleared his throat. ¡°Fungal Catacombs!¡± He pronounced with fanfare. ¡°HUH!?¡± Sometimes the words failed to reach the people so instead the Spider King dragged the human for an impromptu show. Two men and two spiders were standing in a dark tunnel. This was the unused part of the Catacombs, and like the catacombs should the wall was lined with bones, hence the reason the Humans didn¡¯t want to use that part of the Catacombs. ¡°Observe!¡± The Spider King pulped a mushroom in his hand turning it to pulpy slurry, then he mixed it with water and splashed the slush on the wall. ¡°Okay?¡± Gareth wondered if the King went crazy. ¡°[Mutate]!¡± He showered the bony wall section with purple motes of light. Aside from the light show nothing happened. ¡°Okay?¡± Gareth repeated trying to understand. The Mushroom Spider approached the wall, ¡°[Grow],¡± showering it with brown motes of light. Just before Gareth could give another dispassionate ¡®Okay?¡¯ he noticed the wall coming to life. The fungal-like flesh grew all over the wall. The Spider King nodded approvingly. ¡°It¡¯s not exactly Fungal Brick, but that is an improvement, no?¡± He pushed his finger into the wall. ¡°Porous and woody, it should insulate the walls just as well.¡± Gareth finally understood what was happening. ¡°I see!¡± He too prodded the wall with his finger. ¡°I¡¯m not finished.¡± The Spider King repeated the process with another mushroom. ¡°It glows!¡± Gareth exclaimed at the blue glow. ¡°Yeah, it might be a bit dim, but still, it¡¯s enough to see where you¡¯re going.¡± ¡°How wonderful!¡± ¡°I¡¯m not done.¡± Once again, the Spider King splashed some slush on the wall, but this time he sprinkled some red glowing powder and clutched a fiery stone in his hand. ¡°Let''s hope it works. ¡°[Mutate], [Imbue]!¡± ¡°Stand back.¡± The Mushroom Spider cautioned. ¡°[Grow].¡± It wasn¡¯t much of a mushroom, more like mycelium, because an orange-tinged but otherwise translucent vein shot out digging through the wall to form a web-like pattern. ¡°Good, it didn¡¯t explode.¡± The King clapped. ¡°What?!¡± Gareth exclaimed beginning to associate the Spider King more with explosions and danger than spiders. ¡°Let¡¯s put this to a test.¡± He splashed FireAgave Juice on the mycelium web. The orange tinge turned to red, and the mycelium pulsed as if alive. ¡°Good, it¡¯s emitting heat. Heating the Fungal Catacombs will be more efficient, and with less cold the mushroom will also grow better. I did use Acclimate and Unnatural Selection to give them that cold resistance, but still, warmth is good.¡± ¡°Warmth is good.¡± Gareth repeated. ¡°Warmth¡­ I¡¯m sure our SoulShade will approve. But¡­¡± He paused. ¡°How do we keep all of these wonderous and magical mushrooms alive?¡± ¡°Ah yes, good question. All life needs a source of nourishment, even mushrooms. Luckily for you, the WallShroom eats stone, the GlowShroom uses ambient mana in the air, and the HeatShroom here can do with a bit of a splash of juice now and then. Of course, there is more to that, they all need mana to grow, but as it happens this fortress was built in just the right spot. Aren¡¯t you lucky?¡± ¡°I guess we are¡­¡± ¡°Well then, I¡¯ll leave the Mushroom Spider and Stone Spider to finish the rest.¡± ¡°Ah, just one more thing.¡± Gareth stopped the King. ¡°Since you have such a good grasp of Life magic maybe you can help us on our quest.¡± Nah, it wasn''t Life or even Nature magic, all of that was just perks, but the Spider King didn¡¯t feel like correcting Gareth. ¡°What is it?¡± Instead, he asked intrigued. ¡°Let me show you.¡± The Spider King was led through a long corridor, the stone walls were replaced by ice and the temperature dropped significantly. Finally, the two men emerged into a large icy chamber. ¡°Eggs?¡± The King asked even if he recognised the monster it belonged. ¡°Not just eggs. We managed to hatch a few. Wait here.¡± He went into a side chamber. Gareth was gone for a few good minutes forcing the Spider King to fidget in anticipation. As Gareth returned, he was dragging a type of a bird behind him. The bird of course had no legs or wings, and instead of walking it floated. ¡°The Sky Wale!? I mean the IceShard Bird, you tamed it!¡± The Spider King smiled at the implications of new opportunities and ventures. ¡°It¡¯s not exactly tame. And we were afraid it would starve.¡± Gareth said somewhat apologetically. ¡°Actually, it was marked for butchering but with F32¡­¡± He didn¡¯t need to finish. ¡°But how do we tame it? It¡¯s awfully violent.¡± Just as Gareth finished, the monster bit him on the leg. ¡°Gah!¡± He pushed the monster away. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s just cranky because you didn¡¯t feed it¡­¡± The King offered the most likely explanation. ¡°But I can try to Evolve it and see what happens. But then again, it wouldn¡¯t exactly make it docile and who knows what we would get.¡± Evolving monsters was always a risky business. Actually, he didn¡¯t really evolve any, it was mostly animals and plants with a few exceptions. So probably the simple Mutate was the best shot. ¡°Hmm, so we want it docile. And if we want a convenient mount the SuperMassive trait needs to go.¡± It was something the monster would obtain as it grew. ¡°Yeah, if we tamed them, we could use them to transport the meat straight down the mountain, no need to use labyrinthine mountain tunnels.¡± ¡°Yes, you have a good idea there. If Mutate fails, you could just keep trying to domesticate the wild variety.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of anyone taming a monster ever,¡± Gareth replied. ¡°Except for you, Monster King. That¡¯s why I¡¯ve gathered the courage to ask.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, I shouldn¡¯t be talking as if I was preparing for the failure. Of course, this will work! Hand me the monster.¡± He motioned towards it. Gareth pulled the leather strap dragging the IceShard Bird towards the Spider King, no, towards the Monster King. ¡°Docile, small, mobile and less hangry!¡± He named the traits he wanted. ¡°I¡¯ve got this! [Mutate]!¡± The Spider King touched the juvenile monster forcing it to glow in purple. [Chaos Blessed activated] ¡°Frozen piss!¡± He cursed at the message; that perk had a penchant for twisting things around. No less than 2000MP was sucked out in a blink of a second, the Spider King pulled away from the monster. The glow had no signs of dimming. ¡°Gareth, behind me!¡± He commanded ready to slay the monster. The human, even if slightly blinded by the purple flash still found the way behind his King. The light dimmed revealing the chaos mutated monster. ¡°What is that!¡± Gareth pointed his shaking finger. The creature had grown several tendrils all over its body, six on the back and two on close under its mouth. And the mouth was a grossly large maw full of razor-sharp teeth. The teeth were blue and crystalline as if made from ice. Two eyes were replaced by four, they were blue sapphire orbs with no whites. Its body was tar black, but a blue web-like pattern ran all over it. The monster wriggled its tendrils excitedly making a low humming sound. ¡°It¡¯s growling at us! Kill it!¡± Gareth urged. But before that, ¡°[Inspect].¡±
Monster: IceShard Devourer Status Effects: Docile
HP:100 MP:0/100 STA:200
Active Perks [Tendril Slap], [Ice Burst], [Devour]
Passive Perks [Floating], [Tamed], [Mana Conversion]
Resistances [Light Weakness: Critical], [Ice Resistance: Immune]
¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s angry.¡± The Spider King approached the monster cautiously trying to give it a pet. Devourer rubbed the top of its head into the King¡¯s palm, emitting that low growl. ¡°And it¡¯s not growling, it''s purring like a cat.¡± He explained. ¡°A cat, what¡¯s that? [Inspect].¡± Gareth tried. ¡°Ah! That¡¯s clearly a Devourer! I don¡¯t think we can tame something like that.¡± ¡°Gareth, please. Read the table better, it comes pre-Tamed.¡± ¡°Oh, yeah you¡¯re right.¡± ¡°Come give it a pet. It¡¯s rather affectionate.¡± Reluctantly so, Gareth approached otherwise a formidable beast. He rubbed its head making the Devourer turn upside down exposing its belly, Gareth reached to rub that too. The tendril wriggled in pleasure. ¡°Ha! It¡¯s rather cute.¡± Gareth finally saw the truth. The Spider King nodded approvingly. However¡­ ¡°Now, let¡¯s pray I will be able to replicate the process. Do you have more hatchlings?¡± ¡°Ah no, this was the second one to hatch. We ate the first.¡± Devourer made an alarmed sound. ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Gareth kept rubbing its belly. ¡°We won¡¯t eat you. You¡¯re just too lovable already!¡± ¡°Get the room you two, jee!¡± The Spider King teased. ¡°Huh? No! I¡¯m just nice to it so it doesn¡¯t eat me. I¡¯m deliberately trying to appease this abomination!¡± Devoured hummed sounding betrayed, it turned upright and flowed coldly away from Gareth. ¡°Man, you blew it!¡± The Spider King reprimanded. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry my cute abominable Devourer. I was just joking around. Come let me rub your belly.¡± The beast turned its head sharply away from Gareth. ¡°Ha! It¡¯s surprisingly intelligent.¡± The Spider King remarked. ¡°We have to make more specimens like this. So¡­¡± He thought hard. ¡°Maybe I was going at it from the wrong angle.¡± He touched one of the nearby eggs. ¡°Please be another Ice Shard Devourer. [Mutate].¡± The mutate took hold draining only a 1000MP this time, and the Chaos Blessed failed to activate. ¡°Hah, it was a long shot¡­¡± He said disappointed. ¡°But let''s see what we got. [Inspect].¡± He jumped in the air. ¡°No, it worked. It¡¯s an IceShard Devourer Egg!¡± ¡°Yay!¡± Gareth pumped his fist into the air with fake enthusiasm. So, did he like the devourer or not? Stop being so ambiguous, Gareth! ¡°With my MP pool, I can do this one more time. [Mutate].¡± Again, it was a success. ¡°Alright, it seems I¡¯ll have to stay here for a few more days to transform all the eggs.¡± ¡°Yay!¡± Gareth pumped his fist into the air again, but with more enthusiasm. ¡°¡­ but they do eat Plankton, right? Right?¡± The Spider King looked at the monster who was rubbing against his leg, its monstrous maw was filled with nothing but canines. ¡°There¡¯s only one way to find out¡­ Gareth put your hand inside its mouth.¡± Devourer opened its maw obediently. 113 - King? I didnt Wote For You! A few more days passed and as it turns out the IceShard Devourer couldn''t be more lovely; despite its monstrous appearance it was completely Docile. Even then pressed it wouldn¡¯t hurt anyone, and it didn¡¯t seem that it could activate its Tentacle Slap; it was as if the monster was completely incapable of violence. ¡°Look at this, ha-ha!¡± Gareth pushed his head inside the devourer¡¯s maw. His head was surrounded by rows upon rows of blue crystalline fangs. ¡°Gareth, don¡¯t push your luck.¡± The Spider King Cautioned. As it turns out, like its predecessor, the monster ate plankton and only plankton. Those razor-sharp teeth and many tendrils must have been only for decorative purposes. ¡°I think you can leave this to me.¡± Gareth pulled his head out to rub the monster on its back affectionately. ¡°I¡¯ll train this one real good.¡± ¡°Yeah, but take care. It has that Devour perk.¡± He didn¡¯t want to hear about Gareth mysteriously vanishing one day. ¡°Nah, it''s completely Tamed. You wouldn¡¯t hurt a fly, would you?¡± Gareth was using baby-talk. ¡°No, you wouldn¡¯t.¡± He rubbed the monster on the belly. ¡°Alright then, I guess I¡¯ll go finish my other project.¡± Gareth was so preoccupied with playing with the monster that he didn¡¯t even reply to the leaving King. The Spider King walked all the way outside to a certain location not too far from the fortress. The other project was equally ambitious. While yes, life struggled here on the Mountaintop sure, it didn¡¯t mean that he shouldn''t attempt to breathe some of it in the barren and frozen wastes of the Mountaintop. The humans had just finished constructing a comparatively massive igloo out of ice. The material was cheap and easily accessible, so even if the project failed nothing of much value would be wasted. The igloo walls were thick, but they were transparent. Blue-tinted light filtered through the icy ceiling, and for some weird reason, it felt that here in the igloo there was more light than outside. Perhaps the ice condensed the sunrays like a glass lens, or even trapped a certain type of light from escaping entirely much like a greenhouse did to infrared radiation. ¡°Magic surely works in mysterious ways.¡± He scratched his head making a mental note to ask the spiders to investigate his phenomenon later. Regardless, it was no less cold inside only brighter, and he wanted to carry on with the project. He dug a hole into the icy floor planting a sapling which didn¡¯t belong here. ¡°[Evolve], [Mutate], [Imbue].¡± He fired all three at the plant, plus activating Acclimate and Unnatural Selection. The target of the magical assault was no other than the rugged and ruthless BanditAgave. The plant was selected because as any good bandit did, it had two necessary qualities: being daring to challenge the danger, and it possessed strong survival and self-preservation skills. After all, FireAgave and ShadowAgave were both proof that this plant could survive in the harshest conditions. The Spider King forced a merciless amount of mana into the plant. ¡°This has to work!¡± He shouted expending no less than 4000MP, which was almost his entire mana pool. The plant radiated blinding light threateningly. There was a danger it could be consumed by so much MP and then just implode on itself. For that reason, he did imbue it with Reinforce. The mana has been spent and the magic was doing its job, all he could do now was step away and watch. ¡°You can do it!¡± He encouraged the plant while shielding his eyes so as not to be left blinded. The light eventually dimmed revealing now different and transformed plant. ¡°It worked? Of course, it worked!¡± He cheered walking closer to inspect it. Unmistakably it was still agave, but its leaves were icy blue and dotted with crystalline needles. Upon the touch the plant was also unexpectedly hard, the crystalline features had carried all over making it akin to a plant made out of glass. However, it was still alive, it was something which would grow and spread eventually. ¡°Well done BanditAgave. You have conquered yet another biome.¡± He congratulated. ¡°For this occasion, I shall bestow you the title of¡­¡± He paused to think. ¡°IceAgave!¡± He decided to stick with the established theme. ¡°Now, grow and prosper! But before that, don¡¯t mind if I do.¡± He snapped a piece of its leaf. ¡°After all, we need to know what good you are for.¡± This one, unlike its cousin FireAgave, didn¡¯t look like it would be any good for making juice. And unlike its other cousin DarkAgave, its crystalline properties prevented the IceAgave from being used in clothmaking. However, the experiments with IceAgave had to wait, because¡­ ¡°How long has it been?¡± He asked trying to remember. ¡°Higher levels, really do take long to achieve.¡± He looked at the message he had just received. [Congratulations! You have reached Farming lvl 5] [Requirements have been met (Magical Inventory). Hidden perk unlocked] [Perk Seed Archive obtained] With no delay, he investigated the perk. Seed Archive worked similarly to the Magical Inventory, once activated a table popped into his vision, however, it wasn¡¯t empty. It had a list of plants he had created: TomGrape, PurpleM, FireAgave, ShadowAgave, EarthenYam, AshenClover, TrapBush, PetalBall, various mushroom variants plus all the other plants he messed with. With this perk he could expend mana to pull out the seed of the desired plant, or more precisely the magical blueprint to create the plant. Just to test it he pressed his hand to an empty icy patch. ¡°[Seed Archive: IcyAgave].¡± Magic seeped out of his hand filling the icy hole he made, and low and behold a seed was planted. ¡°So, it still needs to be grown. I need to find a way to learn that Grow spell, that one would be extremely convenient now. Or find a way to make scrolls of it. Hmm¡­¡± He scratched his chin while looking at the planted seed. ¡°The number of projects only increases.¡± He welcomed that type of work with a broad smile. ¡°But first, lest fill this Igloo BlueHouse,¡± he gave the structure an impromptu name, ¡°with seeds!¡± He chugged a few potions and began planting. The newly acquired perk consumed MP with each cast, and it was no small amount. Evidently, the seeds of magical plants were hungry for MP, because each cast cost him 100MP. If you considered that an average human had a mana pool no bigger than 100MP, the perk was rather costly. One magical plant a day for an average mage, luckily he wasn¡¯t and average mage. He was the Monster King with 4500MP and all the MP Recovery Potions he needed. At the cost of some Toxicity he filled the Igloo BlueHouse with IceAgave seeds. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. With the knowledge that there will be more IceAgave he plucked a few more leaves from the mature plant. ¡°Now, let¡¯s see what secrets you¡¯re holding inside. [Harvest: Material].¡± Crystalline leaf turned into motes of light and flowed into his inventory. ¡°[Extract: Reagent].¡± Another leaf was turned into motes of light. His inventory space now held two different items, one was a material for crafting and another a reagent for alchemy. The former was IceAgave Crystal and the latter Catalysing Powder. IceAgave Crystal granted the crafted items a Crystalline perk. The item would become more brittle, but in return it could hold more mana inside and hance be enchanted with more enchantments. Catalysing Powder was rather self-explanatory, it decreased the amount of reagents needed to make a potion and increased the potion¡¯s potency. ¡°Not too shabby.¡± He nodded approvingly. ¡°Well done, IceAgave.¡± ¡­ Perhaps emboldened by the recent bout of successes the Spider King was about to do something drastic. In his hands, he was holding the MegaFarm Rabbit. The unusually plump and fat critter, much like squirrels, was bred in the farm to be used in Lamia cuisine, but also, a few of them made here to the New Hope. It wasn¡¯t just New Hope, the spiders were shipping these rabbits to Drow and Kobolds too. And to keep the meat fresh they were kept alive during shipping. ¡°Stop kicking.¡± He reprimanded. ¡°You¡¯re a lucky one you know. You¡¯ll get to live.¡± The rabbit squeaked at him in discontent and displeasure. ¡°Now-now, there¡¯s no need to be alarmed. I¡¯m sure it will go well.¡± In one hand he held the rabbit and in the other a bunch of IceAgave Crystals. Evolving animals was a more delicate affair and the crystal was no Ice Spirit Stone, but he hoped it would work. ¡°[Evolve],[Mutate],[Imbue]!¡± He chanted the chaotic trinity of monster evolution. The natural was changed, twisted, and transformed. Magic born of chaos seeped deep into the cells of the rabbit, altering them to do the will of the Monster King. An innocent animal began mutating. With the glow of purple, its animalistic form twisted closer towards a monster. The IceAgave Crystals melted in the Monster King¡¯s palm, the magical infused liquid seeped deep into the rabbit¡¯s tissues further deforming the small critter, imbuing it with a Crystaline perk. Deep inside the rabbit, the remainder of the mana pooled forming a small core, no bigger than a grain, but it was the defining moment there an animal became a monster. ¡°It worked! [Inspect].¡±
Monster: IceCrystal Rabbit
HP:50 MP:10 STA:20
Active Perks [Horn Strike]
Passive Perks [Crystaline]
Resistances [Ice Resistance: Greater], [Fire Weakness: Greater]
The fat drained from the white rabbit returning it to its natural sleek form. It was still mostly white, but now in the middle of its head, it had a large blue crystalline horn. Also, the ends of the limbs were no longer flesh but icy and blue crystal. The rabbit squeaked at the King ungratefully and used the chance to dash away. ¡°Hey! Where are you running!¡± He chased after the rabbit. ¡°I demand you to recognise my authority!¡± The monster was neither Tamed nor Docile. Moreover, it wasn¡¯t even intelligent. It was just another monster; it didn¡¯t need any Kings. ¡°Hey! Come back!¡± The King chased the rabid through the frigid wastes and away from the walls of the New Hope. The chase lasted an embarrassingly long amount of time. The rabbit was much faster than its fat predecessor, actually, it was way too fast for a simple rabbit. But it wasn¡¯t simple, and it wasn¡¯t just a rabbit anymore. ¡°Hey!¡± The King repeated for third time already. Somewhat ironically, the rabbit found a hole to jump into, much like a rabbit warren. ¡°You¡¯re not getting away.¡± The King jumped after the rabbit into the hole; it was large enough. ¡°Ahh!¡± He began sliding through the icy surface. ¡°Hey, this is rather deep.¡± The slide was taking him deep inside. Unsurprisingly he emerged into the icy cavern, but there was surprise. ¡°Crystals?¡± He looked at the massive icy pillars. ¡°Brr, so cold!¡± He just noticed the frigid temperature; it was many times colder than the already frigid outside. Threatened by the possibility of Frozen debuff he quaffed a life-saving potion while taking the better look at the nearby crystals. ¡°How peculiar. They practically radiate cold.¡± Of course, this was impossible, this wasn¡¯t how the laws of thermodynamics worked. ¡°But they do emit cold.¡± He looked at the crystal with wonder. The air he breathed flowed towards the crystal and condensed into liquid; liquified air. ¡°Scary!¡± He didn¡¯t want to go any closer. ¡°[Inspect].¡± The message told him that this was IceShard Crystal. ¡°Looks precious, but how do I harvest it without touching it?¡± Getting any closer seemed dangerous. The crystal turned air to liquid so he risked suffocating, that was if he didn¡¯t turn into an icicle before all that. ¡°Rabbit!¡± He noticed the critter. ¡°What the hell are you doing?¡± The rabbit was munching on the crystal without any care or concern. ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right, you have resistance.¡± Yes, if he found a way to up his Ice Resistance to Greater, then he could harvest the crystals. The rabbit didn¡¯t care about any of that, it gnawed through crystal retrieving a peculiar dark blue stone. The rabbit stared at the King sheepishly. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s that you dug?¡± He stepped closer despite the risk of getting Frozen. ¡°[Inspect].¡± He gasped reading the message. ¡°Ice Spirit Stone?! This is the Ice source!!!¡± A place where Ice affinity mana pooled and condensed. An extremely rare and valuable location. ¡°I guess, rabbits do bring good luck.¡± He shrugged. ¡°But I want that stone. Rabbit, I command you to give it to me.¡± He used his Aura Projection to convey the order. The rabbit had other ideas, instead it turned away from the King and ran deeper into the IceShard Cave. He looked at the many IceShard Crystals jutting from all over. ¡°It doesn¡¯t look like I can pursue. However, this is a precious find. Thank you, rabbit!¡± He yelled towards the depths of the cave. The cave was full of crystals, thousands of them, and presumably they all had a spirit stone hidden deep inside. ¡°This is a find of a century¡­ my first spirit stone mine.¡± He rubbed his hands happily, but also because they were getting extremely cold. ¡°But how do I get out?¡± He looked back at the hole of the slippery slide and made a deep tired sigh. ¡°If there is a way¡­ there is a will.¡± He misremembered that particular saying, but it did give him the willpower to begin climbing. 114 - The Birth And Fall Of The Desert God Emperor The location of IceShard Cave was marked on the map, but the cave proper will have to be explored fully only after the development of some serious Ice Resistance gear. The development of it and further exploration were left in the hands of humans. Since the extraction of Ice Spirit Stones wasn¡¯t a priority, the Spider King decided to finally return home. That, and the message from Johny had reached him. ¡°Your pet whirling requests your audience. PS: I¡¯m BURSTING!¡± - Was the message Johny relayed telepathically. As tempted as he was to help Johny with her ailment it wasn¡¯t yet time to go back home. Anyway, the Spider King bid farewell to Gareth and SoulShade, then promptly exchanged the frigid scenery for the familiar sight of undermountain tunnels. The tunnel he was darting through was a megaproject which was finished just recently. Oberon Mega Tunnel was an artificial tunnel cut through Oberon Mountain to get easy access to the Scorpion Desert. And right at the end of the tunnel, there was a Trade Outpost. Well, whether it was there or not still remained to be seen, because the Spider King entrusted its construction and management to the wyrmling, and he was yet to see it with his own two eyes. He broke out of the Shadow Walk, indeed, the wyrmling was doing well. The Trade Outpost was as good as finished. He emerged in a walled-off encampment, he was surrounded by blocky buildings, presumably warehouses. And nested right in between them was a bustling market. Spider merchants were peddling their goods to the denizens of the Scorpion Desert. He recognised Scorpionmen and Fennec, but there were others he hadn¡¯t met before such as Antmen, Armourbeatles and Scarabs. He was told before that Fennec are somewhat rare in otherwise scorpion-dominated desert, but here they made no less than half of the clientele. ¡°I wonder what¡¯s the reason¡­¡± He looked at the cute and fluffy Fennec running in between the stalls. ¡°But I also wonder¡­¡± He looked at an obvious structure sticking like a sore thumb. Not too far from Merchant Square stood an imposing fortress. It was more like a palace than a defensive structure. And for some reason it was bigger than his own palace at the MegaFarm. Spurred by curiosity he began walking straight to the structure. ¡°The design is rather curious.¡± Despite having the mountain at the side, the palace and its walls were made out of cream-coloured blocks. The Oberon Mountain rock was dark in colour so the blocks used in the palace construction must have come from somewhere else. Actually, most of the buildings here were made out of sandy looking blocks. Lugging bricks from outside then there was an entire mountain at the side was somewhat impractical, yes, but that made the structures blend better in the muted colours of the desert. ¡°Is this SandStone?¡± He warranted a guess, but he didn¡¯t need to leave himself guessing like a fool. ¡°[Inspect].¡± The sandy cream blocks were actually called WyrmBlocks. It was obvious who created these. The blocks were made out of sand using Earth magic, wyrmling¡¯s speciality, which would make them somewhat brittle but all of them were enchanted with Reinforced. ¡°Ah, I see.¡± He understood now. It was probably faster to use sand to make blocks than to carve them out in the mountain quarry. In other words, the wyrmling had surprised him here. He walked down the paved path towards the palace gate. It was guarded by two formidable spider warriors. He had left a bunch of those here to protect the future of the Trade Outpost. After all, the desert here was full of formidable monsters. The spiders recognising their King gave him a chirpy greeting permitting him to pass through the open gate. The gate was decorated with two statues, one on the left and one on the right. Each depicted a ferocious wyrmling coiling up and around the gate entrance. Soon he emerged into the courtyard, the path towards the palace fortress was further lined with the statues of the wyrmling. The important note to make was that those were wymlings and not wyrms! ¡°He made statues of himself!¡± He finally realised why they looked so familiar. ¡°And he scattered them all around.¡± He squinted at the paved path he was taking, the bricks here were etched decoratively. ¡°No, not just an etch, it¡¯s an image!¡± The bricks were etched with the images of the wyrmling repeated again and again to form a pattern. The closer he got to the palace the odder it got. Everything was wyrmling-themed to the point of obnoxious excess. A tiny furry figure emerged from the palace entrance. ¡°Welcome to The Great Wyrm Palace!¡± It shouted a greeting. The little critter wore a blue tunic with Monster Kingdom insignia, and it clearly was one of the Fennec. He didn¡¯t remember recruiting any of them into his service. Odd¡­ Just as soon as they finished their greeting the fennec asked. ¡°Are you here to see the God Emperor?¡± ¡°The God Emperor?¡± He had to repeat. ¡°Yes, the God Emperor, the Ruler of The Desert, the Maker of WyrmCity, and the Greatest Wyrm to ever live.¡± There was a lot of capitalisation and titles over there. ¡°Oh, him¡­ yes. Or do I need to make an appointment?¡± ¡°Of course not. The God Emperor is magnanimous enough to see everyone and all who comes here to pledge their undying loyalty. No need for appointments, please come.¡± The fennec urged him inside the palace. ¡°But I¡¯m not here¡­¡± ¡°Master, meow!¡± The wyrmling jumped out of the palace entrance. ¡°Don¡¯t listen to this fool, meow, she doesn¡¯t know what she¡¯s talking about. Shoo!¡± The wyrmling growled at the now terrified fennec. The fennec cried out, ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡± and then ran back into the palace with another yelp of, ¡°Eek!¡±. ¡°So¡­ God Emperor? Slightly ambitious, no?¡± He asked amused. There was a hint of embarrassment coming from the wyrmling¡¯s face. ¡°Meow, why are we still inside? Please come in.¡± He ignored the question tactfully. ¡°I¡¯d build this for you, meow.¡± ¡°Wow, an entire palace just for me! You know I don¡¯t intend to live here.¡± ¡°Meow! I know. But my home is your home. I mean, meow, this palace is your vacational palace. Yes, a palace when you need a holiday.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. They walked further in, inside like outside everything was wyrmling-themed. He even caught a humongous painting just above the equally humongous throne. For some reason, a bunch of Fennec were furiously trying to take the painting off. ¡°Huh, and everything just had to be the wyrmling themed. An interesting choice of decorum for my vacational palace.¡± ¡°Meow! It¡¯s just desert-themed, yes, I am a desert wyrm, remember? Oh, meow, and I know you love me so much!¡± ¡°Not that much to have your statue every ten paces.¡± ¡°Master!¡± He meowed fake offended. ¡°And that painting. A wyrmling gloating atop a pile of gold.¡° He described what he saw just before it was off.¡± It¡¯s rather dashing, and it captures your image perfectly. Why are they taking it off?¡± ¡°Meow? It¡¯s just a sketch. You weren¡¯t meant to see it yet, meow, It was meant as a gift for you. Yes-yes!¡± The wyrmling reaffirmed in a kobold-like fashion. ¡°Why would I want a massive painting of you?¡± ¡°Because you love me so much!¡± The wyrmling said without shame or hesitation. ¡°Hmm, really?¡± ¡°I am your bestest servant. Familiar number one, meow, most loyal of them all.¡± He had only two familiars and the Darkness was perfectly loyal. ¡°And this must be the throne of my vocational palace.¡± He pointed at it. The throne seat was surrounded by wyrmling statues coiling around each other. They were gilded in gold and the eyes were socketed gems. Above the throne, there was a plate with large gold gilded letters saying ¡®God Emperor The Great Dessert Wyrm¡¯. The wyrmling chanted a spell hurriedly ¡°[Earth Shatter].¡± The letters were blasted right off the plate. ¡°There was a spelling mistake, meow, how embarrassing.¡± ¡°Oh really? I didn¡¯t get a chance to see what it read.¡± ¡°Meow!¡± The wyrmling exhaled with relief. ¡°It read: ¡®Spider king, my beloved Master¡¯.¡± ¡°And what was the spelling mistake.¡± ¡°The K was lowercase, meow, so embarrassing. I¡¯ll find and punish the fennec who made it.¡± ¡°Eek!¡± Someone yelped from just around the corner. ¡°No need. So, shall I now sit on MY throne?¡± ¡°Of course, meow, it¡¯s made for you!¡± The Spider King sat down, it was surprisingly comfortable. ¡°Fennec, do your job!¡± The wyrmling commanded the nearby servants. The fennec ran to fan the wyrmling with big leafy fans, another one attempted to feed him some pealed fruit. ¡°Not me, you fools! Meow!¡± The panicked fennec switched to fanning the Spider King, there was an obvious confusion on their faces. ¡°I¡¯m sorry they''re all new here, meow, your new hires.¡± ¡°Oh, and I thought they were all like slaves or something.¡± That would not be beneath the wyrmling. ¡°What, meow!¡± The wyrmling exclaimed genuinely offended. ¡°I pay them, of course!¡± ¡°Is that true?¡± He asked a nearby servant. The fennec nodded. ¡°The pay here is handsome. That¡¯s why everyone came here to serve the God Emperor.¡± ¡°Meow! They mean to serve you, Monster King. It¡¯s Monster King, not God Emperor. I keep telling them, meow!¡± It appears the wyrmling will be sticking with this charade to the end. And not that he minded, whatever the wyrmling achieved here was all done by its own wyrm-like power and cunning. The WyrmCity was no doubt a prospering Trader Outpost netting the wyrmling a substantial amount of wealth. Whatever tax or tariff the wyrmling was making it was entirely his to keep; the Spider King only wanted for the goods to be traded freely, which they were. Albeit at a significant markup or something like that, but evidently, there were plenty of customers here. ¡°Anyway, I was told you had to discuss something with me?¡± ¡°Yes, meow, you arrived way-way quicker than expected, but¡­ [Shed].¡± He shook his entire snake-like body. The yellow scales opened making the wyrmling look rather spiky, much like a hedgehog. From under the scales clear plates of crystal fell off and shattered on the ground. ¡°This is¡­ [Inspect]. WyrmSalt!¡± The scales returned to the normal smooth alignment leaving a pile of crystals. ¡°Meow, I made these.¡± The wyrmling said proudly with its head high. ¡°Marvellous!¡± He couldn¡¯t help but be impressed. Salt here, and everywhere, was a very precious commodity. Unlike in a certain other world, here in this magical place, Salt was only found in the scorching deserts as a type of crystal born from the Earth Magic. It was a flavouring agent highly sought after by Humans, Lamia, and even Centauri alike. Centauri liked it so much that they could eat the crystals on their own. ¡°My WyrmSalt, meow, is much higher quality than the one we find in sand.¡± Yes, to get the salt you had to comb the dessert with a large and unwieldy comb. And the wyrm here found a way just to magic it in existence. ¡°Marvellous!¡± He repeated. ¡°So, you just make it in your body?¡± ¡°Not quite, meow.¡± The wyrmling began explaining. The process to make WyrmSalt wasn¡¯t either simple or straightforward. The wyrmling still had to go in the desert and filter the sand through his scales; he used Sand Storm for that. The moving sand had tiny microscopic crystals, something that later would grow forming Salt, the wyrmling trapped those crystals and then used its Earth magic further to grow them into WyrmSalt. It wouldn¡¯t be wrong to say that the wyrmling imbued the magic crystals with his magic, making this a type of enchanting. The Spider King was mighty impressed by the ingenuity of the wyrmling, but there was still a question on his mind. ¡°I see. Can you do this to normal Salt?¡± ¡°No, meow, I only can change something that is bound to become Salt. If it¡¯s already salt, there is nothing I can do.¡± So maybe they just needed to find a way to extract that something from the sand. But that was probably even harder than combing with a comb through the desert in search of normal salt. ¡°Hmm¡­ maybe I can help you there.¡± ¡°Really? I do have a lot of Salt piled up. As it turns out, I have perfect skills for finding it!¡± ¡°No not Salt. The thing that makes the salt Salt.¡± ¡°Salty salt salt makes the salt Salt.¡± The wyrmling explained. Obviously, he didn¡¯t quite get it, however, ¡°Yeah, that. But before that, why don¡¯t you show me around the WyrmCity. Nice name by the way.¡± ¡°I named it in your honour, meow!¡± ¡°Really¡­¡± Somehow, he doubted that. As they walked around the wyrmling proudly showed off the Spider King his city. The goods coming from the Spider Kingdom were extremely luxurious to the Scorpionmen, especially the woody goods. Needless to say, the wyrmling was making a killing from all the trade. Surprisingly, unlike some dragons, the wyrmling didn¡¯t hoard all the wealth in some sort of a vault. The wyrmling reinvested it all back into either the WyrmCity or the local people. Wealth builds splendour, and splendour attracts people. The WyrmCity wasn¡¯t quite a city yet, but its population was growing. The wages here were a few times bigger than in the Scorpion Cities, enticing talented people to come here. Looking at the population of the city half of it were Fennec, 20% Scorpionmen, 10% spiders, and the rest were Brown Kobolds, Antmen, Armourbeatles and Scarabs. However, it was the wyrmling, the God Emperor, the self-proclaimed ruler of the desert who managed this city. Living here came with a catch: you had to become a minion of the wyrmling and swear your undying loyalty. Surprisingly, a lot of Scorpion Desert denizens didn¡¯t mind that catch, especially the desert minorities like Fennec who either way had to make themselves subservient to one Scorpion Klan or the other. And somehow serving the Great Desert Wyrm was rather enticing to them. The wyrm was still a juvenile wyrmling, but a legendary desert monster nevertheless. Also, the wyrmling might be a bit of a megalomaniac, but it was a talented megalomaniac! So long as the wyrmling didn¡¯t waste too much of resources on its vices all should be well. After all, no one is perfect. The two had stopped at a construction site which was riddled with stacks of WyrmBlocks. From the rough shape of the building, the Spider King soon realised that this was a huge statue in construction. ¡°Meow! Statue of you, my Master.¡± ¡°Oh, I must have a rather magnificent tail.¡± ¡°Meow! A mistake, how dare they!¡± The wyrmling slithered to scold the Kobolds who were building it. ¡°No.¡± He grabbed the wyrmling by the tail. ¡°This has to stop!¡± Enough was enough! 115 - The Magical Garden Of Whispers A black stone obelisk stood tall and imposing amidst the desert dunes, its surface carved in a wyrm-like fashion. It hummed with a faint purple glow barely visible in the scorching sun. The sand dunes stood around the obelisk ignorant of what was about to happen. ¡°Meow!¡± Then, with an otherworldly surge, the obelisk stirred, and the very air seemed to tremble. One after another, tiny yellow grains of sands began to rise into the air. In an instant, a tempest of sand erupted around the obelisk, a furious dance of golden particles swirling and twirling. A vicious vortex formed clouding the sky. ¡°It works, ha-ha, it works!¡± ¡°Meow!¡± The unruly sandstorm raged on, its path ever-changing, leaving nothing but chaos in its wake. The angry grains of sand pummelled and pelted two creatures standing by the obelisk, however, the two didn¡¯t mind it one bit and continued talking. ¡°Can you feel it?¡± ¡°Yes, I can, meow! The salty salt-salt which makes the salt Salt is here. [Manipulate Earth].¡± A vortex within a vortex was born, making it even more chaotic. One sandy and the other clear crystalline. Crystalline dust was filtered out of the yellow sand. The dust pooled to form a miniature whirlpool around the wyrmling. ¡°So, this is the stuff. [Inspect].¡± [Earth Spirit Stone Dust], the message informed the Spider King. ¡°I see, it all makes sense now.¡± ¡°Meow?¡± ¡°Wyrmling, do your thing.¡± ¡°[Crystalise], meow.¡± With a shower of sand-yellow light the dust turned into precious WyrmSalt. ¡°As expected, the experiment was a success. You can power down the SandStorm Obelisk.¡± The wyrmling coiled around the carved black stone pillar. ¡°Meow? I can¡¯t, it refuses to shut off!¡± SandStorm Obelisk was a device born from the spider¡¯s ingenuity and wyrm¡¯s Earth magic. A similar method of enchanting the Magic Scrolls was used to empower the obelisk. From the base to the tip, it was engraved in the glyphs of Spider Chirp, a language which carried great power. If read like words the glyphs would only form a butchered and broken sentence: bind earth, imbue magic, form storm, separate by element ¡­ It didn¡¯t need to tell a coherent story because those were just an instruction for the obelisk to follow. In the end, the obelisk did as instructed, it separated the mundane sand from its more magical cousin, however, the magical device wasn¡¯t perfect. The Earth Spirit Stone Dust resonated with the mana of the device to power it indefinitely. As long as there was dust the obelisk would continue to work casting an endless SandStorm. And it was no easy flaw to fix. The Master and his pet stood some distance away from the obelisk and its storm. The area of affect was no bigger than few hundred metres in radius. In other words, it was well contained. ¡°Hey, maybe it¡¯s not a bug but a feature?!¡± ¡°A feature, meow?¡± ¡°Yes, this can be used to our advantage. Let¡¯s make more of them obelisks!¡± ¡°Okay! I¡¯ll tell the kobolds to begin carving right away, meow.¡± The plan here was to surround the WyrmCity in sandstorms, leaving only a small corridor for the traders to pass. The SandStorm will be used as walls to protect this city, plus it had the bonus of gathering the precious dust. Soon more obelisks were carved and enchanted, each had a depiction of wyrmling coiling up around the obelisk. It was a feature which kobolds insisted on, after all the wyrmling here was the object of worship to them; Kobolds deified dragons. And clearly, these obelisks gave that idea even more power. In mere few days the WyrmCity was surrounded by an endless SandStorm, but that force of nature was tamed and controlled. This served to give the WyrmCity those hidden and enchanted city vibes. A rumour in the Scorpion Desert began to spread like wildfire: At the border of the desert, near the oppressive black mountains, past the endless storm, there is an enchanted city filled with wonderous treasures and sights to see; a WyrmCity ruled by powerful and wise Desert Dragon. The rumour may or may not have been started by a certain wyrmling himself. ¡­ The Spider King ran his arm through a pile of crystalline dust; it took a day and no less than a hundred obelisks to gather it. ¡°How much do you think its worth?¡± He asked. ¡°Even if in dust form, meow, it¡¯s still a Spirit Stone.¡± And those were always pricy. ¡°A chest of gold perhaps, meow, that is if you sell it to Humans.¡± A full chest of gold a day, that was the worth of their obelisk farm. Impressive! But surely, with such amounts, the demand and hence the price in the Human Kingdoms would drop after a while. He gave his pet a meaningful look. ¡°If you sell it to scorpions¡­ it is hard to tell, meow. Gold is useless to them, they operate on a barter system. So, we could get ten thousand Scorpion Glass Bottles or ten thousand Rainbow Shells.¡± The wyrmling named just a few approximations. ¡°I see¡­ So, in the end it¡¯s all just quick money.¡± ¡°Meow? What if we reinvest the dust?¡± ¡°What do you have in mind?¡± ¡°Meow-meow!¡± It cackled. ¡°What if we spread the sandstorms further, then use the dust we got to make magical items to counter it. Like SandStorm Cloaks and scrolls of Inert Earth.¡± Both of these were used by the Fennec to counter the obelisk effects and gather the dust for the WyrmCity. He looked at wyrmling with startled shock. What he was suggesting was like creating a plague and then creating a medicine to profit from it all ¨C an incredibly evil plan. ¡°No, let¡¯s not do that. If we release SandStorm Cloaks and Magic Scroll: Inert Earth, those items could be used against our citie¡¯s SandStorm defences. And to steal our precious dust.¡± The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°Right¡­ Meow, then we can use it to grow stuff.¡± ¡°Grow? Does anything grow here in the desert? As far as I saw, it¡¯s all just sand.¡± ¡°No, meow¡­ but can¡¯t you change that?¡± Well, yeah¡­ yeah, he could. And with the dust he should be able to make some formidable plants. ¡°I could experiment, and then we would see. But it¡¯s hard to tell if we would get anything useful.¡± ¡°Meow, I have a few plants in the Palace Garden, you can experiment on them. Come!¡± The wyrmling urged. The Palace Garden didn¡¯t deserve the name of the garden, more like a collection of a few potted plants. And the ones the wyrmling had appeared to be mostly of a cosmetic kind. He approached a random pot. In one hand he clutched the dust for the Imbue and in the other he touched the plant itself. ¡°[Evolve], [Imbue].¡± The usual light show ensued. ¡°Let¡¯s see what we¡¯ve got. [Inspect].¡± Sunfire Blossom: This radiant plant has vibrant orange petals that seem to emit a soft glow mimicking the warmth of the sun. Every morning it produces a single drop of Nectar with Healing properties. ¡°Huh, colour me surprised. This will be useful, especially at night when it gets slightly chilly. And I¡¯m sure the Nectar will be useful in the Alchemy.¡± The wyrmling licked the blossom¡¯s nectar with its long snake-like tongue. ¡°It¡¯s also sweet! I want more!¡± He demanded being ever the sweet tooth. ¡°We can plant more later with my Seed Archive, but now let¡¯s continue.¡± He targeted a different plant. ¡°[Evolve], [Imbue].¡± ¡­ ¡°[Inspect].¡± Sand Lily: A mesmerizing flower with petals in shades of red and yellow. It thrives in damp sandy areas and exudes an intoxicating scent that lures the unsuspecting creatures. Once stepped upon, its roots transform the sand into QuickSand, entrapping its prey. ¡°It¡¯s somewhat sinister but does smell incredibly appealing.¡± He carried the pot closer to the wyrmling. ¡°Here check this out.¡± ¡°Your right, it does smell appealing!¡± The wyrmling rubbed himself on the flower destroying it. The potted sand turned into quicksand but there was too little of it to do anything. ¡°Meow! The sand, it clings to my scales. What is this!?¡± ¡°QuikSand, once we plant more, be careful with these flowers. But you do smell amazing!¡± Even through the clumps of wet sand the wyrmling emitted that irresistible aroma. ¡°Amazing. This will make an exquisite perfume.¡± ¡°Meow! What are you doing!¡± A bunch of Fennec had run up to wyrmling from nowhere and were furiously sniffing at him. ¡°God Emperor, what is this? Why do you smell so good?¡± A fennec yelped. ¡°Ah¡­ I¡¯m in love!¡± Another one proclaimed. *Sniff*, *Sniff* - a third one was just taking it all in. ¡°Oh no, [Inspect]¡­¡± The Spider King read the message. ¡°It appears they¡¯ve been afflicted with Charm.¡± ¡°Get off me, meow!¡± The wyrmling roared. ¡°My body belongs to Master, meow!¡± It roared again. ¡°Huh¡­¡± The roar was enough to dispel the negative status affect. ¡°It must be only a minor debuff.¡± While the Fennec were apologising profusely, the Spider King picked another plant to Evolve, a sad and shrivelled sapling of some desert tree. ¡°I don¡¯t have much expectations of you, but here it goes. ¡°[Evolve], [Imbue]¡± ¡­ ¡°Oh! Look at you grow! [Inspect]¡± WaterHole Palm: A towering palm tree with lush, emerald-green fronds that provide shade and respite in the harsh desert. Its trunk contains a pocket of Palm Juice, which can be tapped into and drunk to quench one¡¯s thirst. ¡°Wyrmling!¡± He pointed at the tree which outgrew its pot by many times. ¡°Despite being a desert plant this one produces water! We lucked out on this one.¡± ¡°Nice, meow, I¡¯m kind of thirsty. Do I bite into it or what?¡± The Spider King shrugged; the description didn¡¯t have elaborate instructions. ¡°I¡¯ll bite it!¡± The wyrmling used its fangs to pierce a hole into the trunk. ¡°Yes, meow, it¡¯s leaking juice. Mmm¡­ It tastes weird, *Hic*.¡± The wyrmling drank in between the hiccups. And he drank, and drank some more, and more¡­ ¡°Hey, didn¡¯t you have enough? Let me try.¡± He suddenly became curious about what was so good about that Palm Juice. The Spider King pulled the firmly latched wyrmling off the WaterHole Palm, the juvenile wyrm was yanked like a pup from his mother¡¯s teat; there was even that wet *Pop* sound. The Spider King suckled on the leaking hole to get that sweet-sweet Palm Juice. It wasn¡¯t what he had expected, actually it was so far from the expectations that he, *Bleh*, he spat it out. ¡°This is clearly alcoholic!¡± He made an unexpected discovery. Palm Juice came already pre-imbued with that rugged spirit of the desert. A nickname of fire water would suit it better! Needless to say, even that short but indulgent slurp left the wyrmling completely wasted. ¡°*Hic*, Meow, *Hic*.¡± He looked at the Spider King with vacant eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll do the rest without you, take a nap.¡± ¡°¡­¡± The wyrmling collapsed here and there. He transformed yet another plant. SandScale Fern: This unique fern has fronds covered in small, iridescent scales that reflect the sunlight, creating a shimmering effect of Mirage. Large patches of it can create an Illusion luring the creatures to what they desire the most in the desert ¨C water. But be careful if you get too close the fern will explode sending its scales like shrapnel. ¡°What the¡­¡± It exploded right into his face. No need to worry, it barely dented his large health pool of 1000HP. ¡°MirageScale¡­¡± He was left with a bunch of tiny scales; they were obviously a type of crafting ingredient. Despite being wary of being pranked by the System again, he Evolved the last remaining plant. [Chaos Blessed activated], it triggered for no apparent reason. Just like the WaterHole Palm the newly evolved plant exploded its pot in an unprecedented growth spurt. Its roots burrowed past the floor tiles and into the sand under. It kept growing and growing, more thick than tall. Its trunk took a sinister shade of black. In a poor imitation of spindly arms, claw-like branches sprung from the very top of it. He was using Earth Spirit Stone here and not the Dark variant of it, but apparently, even then, the Chaos Blessed was able to skew the natural path of Evolve. The plant radiated an undoubtedly sinister aura. The Spider King looked at it with caution. ¡°[Inspect].¡± Whispering Baobab: A tree which likes to grow in the eye of the endless SandStorm plaguing the Scorpion Desert. It feasts on the energy of those who perished nearby. This tree can hear all the secrets carried by the violent winds of the desert. Those who listen closely might gain insight or cryptic messages from the tree¡¯s ethereal voices. Come closer and hear its whispers! ¡°What a¡­¡± The description also was highly unusual. ¡°But... let¡¯s see what¡¯s on offer.¡± Ever so careful he approached the black and sinister Whispering Baobab. And indeed, he could hear a whisper. A hushed whisper, ¡°Sprinkle your dust, my King,¡± came out from nowhere but also everywhere. Was this tree intelligent? He had to wonder; it wouldn¡¯t be the first time he made a monster plant. Regardless he sprinkled the Earth Spirit Stone Dust by the roots of the tree. The crystalline dust sunk into the black bark, like water into the very dry sponge, making the bark pulse and throb. ¡°Guided by greed they are coming. To lay waste upon the WyrmCity. To claim its most valuable treasure.¡± It whispered. Well, this was news to him! ¡°Who?! When are they coming? How many?¡± There were no more whispers, so he sprinkled more of the dust and repeated the question. Finally, another whisper reached his ears. ¡°The desert wind doesn¡¯t know.¡± However, the tree wasn¡¯t quite finished. ¡°At the heart of the desert. There is a hidden treasure. Guarded by the eye most watchful. Those who aren¡¯t careful will turn to stone.¡± It whispered. ¡°Okay, but how about the attack?¡± ¡°A winged monster, half-lion half-human, prowls the desert.¡± The tree whispered ominously. ¡±It likes to ask a riddle and kill those who fail to answer. The answer is: Man.¡± ¡°Fine, tree! Keep your secrets!¡± Clearly, the Whispering Baobab whispered only the things it wanted to whisper. And who knows maybe it was just making all this stuff up to prank him. Even if he didn¡¯t think much of the ominous whispers, he¡¯ll tell the wyrmling to prepare for a possible attack on the city. That is, once that drunkard wakes up. In the meantime, he¡¯ll use the remainder of MP to replicate the magical plants and to fill this otherwise barren garden with life. It was very likely that the WyrmCity will soon be known not just because of its iconic WyrmSalt, but also of its booming perfume and alcohol industry. The only plant he won¡¯t be replicating using the Seed Archive was the Whispering Baobab, one such tree was plenty enough! 116 – The Minions Of The Mirage City The Scorpion Desert was dominated by twelve Klan Cities, each ranked from 1 to 12 by strength. The Klans weren¡¯t allied or at war, they just existed in a state of mutual competition. The scorpionmen from the Klan 2 had heard the rumours about the mysterious Klan 13, or as some heathens liked to call it the WyrmCity. Klan 13 was the newest city in the desert and that meant it was the weakest. However, the weakest didn¡¯t mean that it was useless, chitters and clicks had reached the scorpion ears that the Klan 13 had unbelievable wealth which it tapped from the nearby mountain. They must have stumbled into an unknown underground resource where they could extract luxurious woody goods, and no it wasn¡¯t just FungiWood. It was Living Wood, a material of great promise and high enchantment capacity. That wealth must be the reason why Klan 13 was growing so quickly. A source like that was exactly what Klan 2 was missing. Spurred by greed and the ambition to go from place number 2 to number 1, Klan 2 dispatched their legion to raid the newly sprouted city. A legion of scorpion warriors marched through the desert. Their chitinous exoskeleton allowed them the luxury of not needing to wear heavy armour, but even then, they had to wear protective desert gear. The legion was kitted out with vests made out from the Thumper Leather which allowed them to battle the harsh conditions of the desert like scorching sun and occasional sandstorm. However, despite of all the equipment, they weren¡¯t prepared to deal with what came next. ¡°Thumpers?¡± A scorpion pointed knowingly at the distant dunes. Thumper was a worm-like monster which prowled deep inside the desert sands. It was rare for it to move like that, the monster preferred ambushes instead of straightforward attacks. ¡°It¡¯s not one. It¡¯s many.¡± A wizened scorpion chittered clacking his pincers in alarm. The distant surface of sand dunes rippled like a see during the storm. The sand moved and shifted about forming a huge wave. ¡°There¡¯s so many. Are they migrating?¡± ¡°But it¡¯s not the season yet!¡± ¡°What do we do?¡± The commander of the raiding legion turned to his scorpions. ¡°We¡¯ll take them out. Drive the stakes in!¡± The warriors pierced the sand below with large and long metal needles forming a barrier beneath them. The shifting sand got closer, and finally something got caught in one of the stakes. And then another, and another. Hurt and angry, Thumpers emerged into the surface. ¡°There is too many!¡± ¡°Deal with it!¡± The hurt monsters trashed around knocking the scorpions left and right. But given the chance Thumpers just fled back to the sands. ¡°They¡¯re not fighting back.¡± ¡°It¡¯s as if they are fleeing something.¡± Whatever just happened, it was highly unusual. Eventually, the monster migration moved past the scorpions allowing them to proceed towards their target. Everyone moved somewhat more cautious. ¡°Is this?¡± ¡°It is! Everyone, get ready for the storm.¡± Sandstorms were not unusual in these parts and the scorpions knew how to weather them. However, this wasn¡¯t just any sandstorm it was the Endless Sandstorm. At first the scorpions tried to wait it out, but after they realised it wouldn¡¯t work, they decided to press forward. The chaotic storm battered them left and right, worse, the sand was so thick it shrouded the sky hiding the sun. Thus, the legion had lost all sense of direction. The tight-knit formation of the legion was eroded, and the scorpions scattered lost in the storm. ¡­ It might have been only a day or maybe a whole week, at this point it was impossible to tell how long had the Legion Commander has been lost. Despite his disorientation, he, and only a fraction of his forces, continued to march aimlessly in the Endless Sandstorm. They were hungry, but above all else, they were Parched. Whatever water they once had, it was consumed a long time ago. To survive only one option remained: to sacrifice one of their own. It was a dreadful reality, but such was the Scorpion Desert. ¡°Commander!¡± A scorpion shouted pulling the rope everyone was attached to. ¡°What is it?¡± The Legion Commander strained his eyes to see past the sand cloud. ¡°I¡¯m out!¡± The chitter was almost drowned by the sound of gushing sand. The rope was very taunt and there was a risk of it snapping. ¡°Don¡¯t pull it that hard!¡± ¡°I¡¯m¡­ out!¡± The sound had barely reached him. He moved towards it, but he couldn¡¯t be too quick, there were other scorpions behind him who also were attached to the rope. The moving sand was so thick, he couldn¡¯t see anything either in the front or back of himself. ¡°Hurry up!¡± He tugged the back of his rope. The spot he was currently in, was the place there the storm was most violent. Tiny grains of sand brushed harshly past his chitin. If he was a fleshier creature, maybe perhaps like a fennec, there would be a risk of having that flesh sanded right off. And it was getting only worse; the Legion Commander gave a silent prayer for being born a scorpion. Right in front of him, there was a wall of violent sand, following the trembling rope he pushed his pincer into it. It felt thick like quicksand, and the current threatened to swallow him. But it was where the rope led. Perhaps unable to sustain the pressure the rope had snapped, but here he was, still facing the wall of turbulent sand. He stepped right into it, pulling those behind with him. And there it was¡­ ¡°I¡¯m out!¡± He chittered waving at the nearby scorpion, the hero who had let them out. One after the other, the scorpions emerged from the sandstorm. Here outside of it, the sky was clear, but the sun was scorching, and it still was awfully dry. Regardless they cheered happily; the excruciating trip through the Endless Sandstorm was finally over. No, perhaps they cheered all too soon. They still were lost, hungry, and Parched. To get a better feel of there they were the Legion Commander climbed a nearby dune. A few curious scorpions followed right behind him. He strained his scorpion eyes to look in the distance. ¡°It can¡¯t be!¡± He didn¡¯t want to believe it. A scorpion nearby must have seen the same thing. ¡°A mirage?¡± He offered. ¡°I see it too.¡± A third one affirmed. Soon, all the scorpions climbed the tall dune to marvel at the distant wonder. ¡°The Mirage City!¡± Someone chittered excitedly. The chitter was repeated again and again by other scorpions. The Mirage City was a scorpion folk tale. Somewhere hidden in the desert, there was a shiny and glamorous city. It appeared only to the desert-weary travellers, someone who was already close to the death¡¯s door. It was a place filled with magical wonders. It was a place overflowing with precious water, food, and other goods to recover the tired body. According to the tale, the Mirage City appeared only to those who were noble and worthy. The city was there to nurse the future heroes back to health so that they could continue their quest. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The Legion Commander didn¡¯t know if he was noble or worthy, or even a hero. But he had a quest to fulfil, and there was no denying that Mirage City was right in front of him. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go!¡± He didn¡¯t need to say it twice, everyone launched into a mad sprint. His eyes were locked on the structure standing behind the sandy walls and in the very middle of the city. That must have been the Mirage Palace because it shined like a jewel, it was breaking and reflecting the light covering itself in that magical glow of splendour. The Mirage Palace must have completely stolen everyone¡¯s gazes because up until now they failed to notice another equally magical sight. Outside the walls of the city, there were bountiful and beautiful gardens of flowers and even palm trees. And it made sense, this must have been an oasis, and the Mirage Palace was built next to it. Life in the desert was a rare and precious sight, the lush gardens had quickly stolen the show from the otherwise glamorous palace. The scorpions rushed towards the plants, either to investigate them or to eat them. And indeed, there was that weird enticing smell to the flowers, making them impossible to resist. That was then, one of the scorpions sunk into the sand. Trapped. And then another. ¡°No!¡±, ¡°Help!¡± ¨C They chittered in alarm. Ah, perhaps this was a test. Such bounty should not be taken, not without permission. ¡°Wait!¡± He cautioned the rest of his scorpions. ¡°Leave the plants alone. First, we must go to the Mirage Palace and see its ruler.¡± They dug out the trapped scorpions and proceeded past the gardens towards the city walls. The sweet aroma of the flowers tempted them at every step. The plum and juicy palms just begged to be eaten ¨C fleshy cores consumed, and the precious wood sold for profit. The desire to ravish this bountiful garden was near irresistible. ¡°No, no! We must persist!¡± The Legion Commander steeled his resolve. ¡°Ropes, fetch me the ropes!¡± To keep each other in check, they used the recently learned trick. They carried through the paved path towards the city proper while keeping each other close by using a rope. Eventually they emerged out of the garden finding the Mirage City gate. The gate was made from sandy and peculiar stone, and it had magnificent carved statues of a wyrm implemented in its design. Even the most snobbish scorpion could appreciate the sight, after all the Great Desert Wyrm was a legendary monster and a big part of Scorpion mythology. But that wasn¡¯t what stole their gazes, it was the creatures guarding the gate. They were entirely unfamiliar, but not completely alien. The creatures, just like scorpions, had chitinous exoskeletons meaning that they were somewhat like a distant cousin. The guards wore vivid blue robes and were armed with nasty-looking spears. ¡°Greetings creatures, we come from Klan 2.¡± The Legion Commander slammed his right pincer to the chest paying the proper respects. ¡°Do we have permission to enter?¡± ¡°Proceed.¡± The creature chirped with a thick accent. Thus, the group of scorpions entered the Mirage City, and indeed it was splendid. Everyone was slightly taken a back by amount of people moving up and down the streets. But that only made sense, of course Mirage City was inhabited. On their way, they passed various booths and stalls, each filled to the brim with various foods and precious goods. ¡°It appears the stuff here is not free.¡± The Legion Commander observed. ¡°It¡¯s good we stopped ourselves from ravishing the gardens.¡± ¡°But what shall we do, Commander?¡± A scorpion asked wiping off a trail of drool from its mandibles. ¡°We proceed with our plan. We shall see the ruler of the Mirage City. I¡¯m sure that¡¯s how it is supposed to go.¡± He only warranted a guess; the tale of Mirage City had its variations, and some stuff was rather vague. But there was no doubt they were in the correct location, even from a glance the city beamed with glamour and splendour, and unhinged excess. No doubt, if ranked, this city would be at least twice as good as Klan City 1 or maybe even thrice. They found their way to the Mirage Palace without any further trouble. ¡­ A bunch of tired and weary scorpions were looking at the statues surrounding the Throne Room with awe and wonder. ¡°So, you¡¯re lost, meow? What do you want me to do about that?¡± The wyrmling growled mightily from his golden throne. ¡°We¡¯re just asking to stay here for a few days. At least until we recover.¡± ¡°You can stay, meow, everyone can stay. This is what this city is for.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± The scorpion nodded happily. ¡°But why only a few days? Serve me, and you can stay forever, meow!¡± The scorpions looked at the wyrmling clearly tempted by the offer. ¡°Is that even possible? But no, of course it is an option¡­ I¡¯m afraid we can¡¯t, we have an important quest, and families back in the Klan 2.¡± ¡°Meow, is that so? You can bring them here with you.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Ah, meow, yes! I¡¯ll even pay you wages.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°And I always treat my minions well. I promise you won¡¯t get hungry or thirsty ever again.¡± ¡°But¡­ we have a¡­ we need to¡­¡± ¡°Since you¡¯re here already, meow, let me show you few of the perks. Meow!¡± The wyrmling meowed at the nearby servants meaningfully. The Fennec sprung to action, constructing a table, and filling it with treats in a matter of minutes. ¡°Go ahead, sample the goods.¡± The wyrmling encouraged. The ravenous hunger and the relentless thirst didn¡¯t allow the scorpions to refuse this offer. Just like the tales told the desert-weary scorpions were allowed to engorge themselves to the brim. ¡°But what is this?¡±, ¡°This is amazing!¡±, ¡°I have never had food like this.¡±, ¡°This alcohol is top grade.¡± ¡°Yes, meow-meow! Drink, drink more. Meow-meow!¡± The whirling cackled somewhat menacingly. The scorpions were left to indulge to their heart''s content. The wyrmling observed them with a broad conspiratorial grin. He had the scorpions trapped in his spidery web, meow! If the scorpions left, they still would speak about all the amazing goods available here, thus sending future profits to the city. The wyrmling would even give them free samples to bring home. But he didn¡¯t want them to just leave. The Fennec caravans he was sending to the Scorpion Klans, needed guards, and these scorpions looked just right for the task. One way or the other, he will convince these men to stay, and getting them drunk first always worked. This wasn¡¯t the first group he dealt with, and definitely not the last. ¡°Meow, you know if you joined me, you could drink Palm Juice every day. I would include it in your daily ration.¡± ¡°What, *hic* really?¡± *Hic*, ¡± This alcohol is amazing. Something only a *hic* a Shogun could afford. And maybe you, Legion Commander.¡± ¡°No, this is by far the best *hic* I had.¡± ¡°Meow-meow, so you should swear your loyalty to me! And you,¡± the wyrmling looked at the massive scorpion, ¡°that Nectar you slurp with great gusto, that and more I would add to your daily ration.¡± ¡°To eat and drink like this every day¡­¡± ¡°Yes, meow, I would even pay you in these.¡± The wyrmling produced a stack of Living Wood cards. ¡°One each. Maybe two if you work extremely hard.¡± The Legion Commander took the card in his pincer. ¡°Is this rumoured¡­ Yes, it is! That would be similar to what I get paid now, and you¡¯ll pay all that to *hic* to an average scorpion grunt?¡± ¡°Ah, meow, of course as the leader you would get more! So why don¡¯t you all just stay here and serve me.¡± ¡°Commander?¡± The scorpions looked at their leader with gleaming eyes. Was it that easy to buy the loyalty of honourable scorpionmen? Was it all it took: a bunch of exotic wood and food? No, it never was so simple. But the scorpions here were under some harsh consequences. The legion was decimated reducing it only to a bunch of weary scorpions. Even if they proceeded to their quest to raid Klan 13, the task was no longer possible. And the shameful return to Klan 2 would be punished by the execution of the one who led the raiding party to such ruin. The Legion Commander weighed the options. To die, or to live ever happy in the mythical Mirage City? ¨C It was a no-brainer. ¡°We¡¯ll join you.¡± ¡°Swear it in an oath, meow!¡± To show their resolve the scorpions stepped out from the half-devastated table, then they lined into a neat rank and kneeled in front of the wyrmling. ¡°We, scorpions of Klan 2, swear you an undying allegiance. May the Scorching Sun guide us to prosperity.¡± ¡°Meow! *slurp*,¡± the wyrmling hurriedly drank some gelatinous blue sludge, ¡°[Claim Minion]. Meow-meow, I¡¯ve got you!¡± [Congratulations, you have become a Minion], [Your Master is the Great Desert Wyrm], [Welcome to the Monster System], the scorpions were greeted with the messages. They looked with both shock and awe. They didn¡¯t know the wyrmling here had such a power, a power to command the System; no doubt a divine gift. So the stray rumour they heard on their way here, the words ¡®God Emperor¡¯, made more sense now. Unperturbed by the tag Minion, the scorpions bowed their head to the ground. Their pincers shook and mandibles clattered in excitement. ¡°God Emperor,¡± The Legion Commander addressed his Master, ¡°It¡¯s our honour.¡± ¡°Meow-meow!¡± The wyrmling laughed. ¡°I too, am overjoyed to have you as my minions. But I¡¯ve been forbidden to call myself a God Emperor. It¡¯s Desert Emperor now, meow!¡± God Emperor, Desert Emperor, was there even a difference. From the scorpion''s perspective, the two were the same. Only a god could be an emperor to rule the entire desert! ¡°Yes, Desert Emperor!¡± ¡°Better, meow! Now, finish eating and then I¡¯ll give a quest for you.¡± The wyrmling meowed conspiratorially. Later the scorpion warriors were tasked with stamping out the bandits who were ambushing the Fennec caravans. Now, imagine their shock when they realised that the bandits were the remains of the Klan 2 legion. The lost men, having no other choice, had resorted to banditry to sustain themselves. Naturally, the Legion Commander didn¡¯t outright kill them, instead, he offered them to join the Desert Emperor. After all, they too in a sense, were lost desert travellers and worthy of the grace of the Mirage City. Oh, but apparently the proper name was WyrmCity, which made sense considering its ruler. ¡°Hmm¡­ I did hear that name somewhere. A different tale or myth perhaps.¡± The Legion Commander couldn¡¯t quite remember. ¡°Not that it matters anymore. *Hic*.¡± He greedily drank from his third flask today; all perks of being the commanding Minion. From that day onwards, more and more scorpions were lured to pledge their undying loyalty and receive the perks and benefits of being a Minion. 117 – The Forbidden Fruits Of Good And Evil The Spider King was enjoying the hospitality of the wyrmling. The self-proclaimed Desert Emperor was entertaining guests in his throne room leaving the Spider King to enjoy some much-needed time off, and to top up his drained mana reserves. He was lounging on the local equivalent of a beach chair while taking the warm sunlight in. The desert sun had a penchant of being too hot for comfort so two Fennec fanned him with a very large leaf. Another fennec was holding a tray filled with various fruits and other delicacies purchased from the Scorpion Klan Cities. And another one was attempting to hand-feed a peeled fruit to him. Being pampered like this was good and all, but he had to cross a line somewhere. The tray was within hand¡¯s reach, so he grabbed a random fruit and fed himself, no need to rely on cute fennec. The poor thing had even had to use a stool so that she could reach his head better. For some reason the fennec looked extremely disappointed about not being able to hand-feed him, her big fluffy ears dropped right down. Aww, so cute. He changed his mind that instant, opening his mouth wide with an ¡®ahh¡¯. Hurriedly she deposited a piece of dried fruit in his mouth. He chewed it with great gusto. He had that type of fruit before, but somehow, this time it tasted unusually good. He remembered something rather important. ¡°Put some Slug Jelly on it, please, I need to ¡®call¡¯ my friend.¡± Even if on holiday the routine had to be upheld. With a smile, fennec picked up a small but highly decorated flask and shook a single blue drop on one of the fruits. And right into his mouth it went. ¡°Delicious!¡± [You have obtained Eldrich Telepathy], two minds were connected right that instant. Like always his mind was threatened of being pulled right into the Johny¡¯s body, she always did that ¨C tug on him a bit too hard. He tugged back at the connection striking for that balance, but even then, his mind was flooded with emotions which weren¡¯t exactly his. His chest felt compressed and uncomfortable, almost as if it was about to¡­ ¡®I¡¯m Bursting, BURSTING, BURSTING!¡¯, she exclaimed into his mind. ¡°You Need To Come Back Home Already!¡± A symphony of eldritch voices demanded. Indeed, he had neglected his farmer duties. Leaving your animals enough water and food wasn¡¯t always enough, that was because certain animals had to be milked too. Not to mention the need for love and attention. ¡®I¡¯m sorry¡­¡¯ He apologised. ¡®But I¡¯m sure the spiders would be glad to give you a hand.¡¯ ¡®No, We¡¯ve Been Through This. A Spider Isn¡¯t Touching Me, No Way!¡¯ He felt a tinge of disgust leaking through the connection. But why? -¨C the spiders were cute and gentle; he couldn¡¯t quite understand. But the cuteness was in the eye of the beholder. He looked at the Fennec who were still so keen to tend to him. Johny tugged at the connection again. ¡®I Can See Through Your Eyes, And I Know What You¡¯re Thinking¡­ No! I Don¡¯t Want Them.¡¯ The idea was shot down before it could even be brought in. ¡®Hey, that¡¯s a bit intrusive.¡¯ He filed a mental complaint. ¡®That¡¯s Just How This Thing Works. You¡¯re Welcome To Come Inside Me Anytime You Want.¡¯ She invited him in with another mental tug. Yeah¡­ Being in a slug-like body wasn¡¯t the best experience he had to say the least. All those extra senses were so disorienting. ¡®Hey, I Can Hear That! You¡¯ll Make Me Self-Conscious.¡¯ ¡®Oh no, it seems my mind is too relaxed. I guess I¡¯ll have to cut this vacation short.¡¯ ¡®YES, Please. I Am Bursting!¡¯ She sent over that uncomfortable tight sensation once again, just to hammer the point in. ¡®Yes-yes. I¡¯m coming. See you soon.¡¯ He cut the connection off. ¡°Sorry, guys, I have to go.¡± He stood up from his chair and looked towards the not-so-distant mountain. ¡°[Shadow Walk].¡± The Fennec looked at the disappearing trail of shadow. ¡°What do we do now?¡± One of them asked. His colleagues just shrugged. And then they sat down on the beach chair, the chair was big enough to fit all four of them. The fennec tasked with holding the tray looked greedily at the nearby treats. ¡°No need to let the food go to waste.¡± She helped herself to a few bites. ¡°I wonder what this is?¡± The feeder fennec investigated the expensive-looking bottle. ¡°Looks like Nectar.¡± ¡°It¡¯s too decorative to be just that.¡± She pointed at the bottle. ¡°And he had just a single drop.¡± ¡°What if it¡¯s some sort of a recreational medicine¡­ After he took it, his facial expressions went through some rapid and funny changes.¡± The four fennec looked at the decorated bottle with increased interest. ¡°Royalty has expensive tastes¡­¡± ¡°Whatever it is, it must be really good.¡± She licked her lips. ¡°Let¡¯s try it!¡± All four nodded each taking a small drop of the Slug Jelly. [You have obtained Treasure Sense] The Fennec sniffed at the air furiously; the perk piggybacked on their sense of smell. They sniffed at each other. ¡°I smell it! Do you smell it?¡± ¡°I smell it too!¡± ¡°Do I need a sand bath?¡± ¡°It is us who smell!¡± Their noses weren¡¯t lying, the treasure was right Infront of them. The treasure they found was nothing else but the treasure of friendship. ¡­ The Oberon Tunnel was super convenient, the otherwise long and windy trip through the Undermountain was now straight and short. The Spider King emerged at the other side; he was at the outpost beside the entrance to the mountain. The outpost served as a type of logistics base, storing food intended for Drow, Kobold, and Human consumption, primarily TomGrape. But also, it was the place to store and sort the goods coming from the mountain. Aside from the massive warehouse, there was another landmark of note. It was the Living Wood tree, it grew to a rather giant size, no doubt all thanks to the water of the Mana Spring its roots had tapped into. The tree provided an extremely valuable material, at least to the Scorpion Klans, the Living Wood. Understandably, the tree had to be strategically harvested for that. It was a limited resource, so cutting it down entirely was never an option. Instead, parts of bark and branches were harvested and then the White Sprigans would use Grow to repair the damage over time. Of course, the tree was unique and bore no fruits or seeds. But was that a hard rule written in stone? ¨C Of course not. Some time ago, the Spider King used Mutate on the tree trying to fix that. At that time, it looked like a failure since the name of the Living Wood tree didn¡¯t change, but later it became obvious that the perk did work. The tree had grown fruit, but it was very slow at that task, not even Grow could speed the process. Hence why the Spider King was standing below the tree giant and looking at the branches high above. He was looking for fruit, last time he checked they weren''t quite ready. ¡°I wonder, if they¡¯re ripe already.¡± He strained to see. ¡°But it looks like there are fewer than before, did someone already take a few?¡± It was always an option. ¡°Well, I guess they¡¯re ready.¡± He would shake the tree to see if any dropped, but the trunk was too broad for that. ¡°I¡¯ll have to climb and shake the branch. [Transformation: Spider].¡± He invoked a severely underused perk. His body morphed into a spider form allowing him to scale the tree no problem. There on the thick branch, he had a better look at the yellow orbs. ¡°They look like apples.¡± He made that connection. ¡°But golden. And they¡¯re plump and ripe.¡± He shook the branch he was on, and finally one of the fruits decided to drop. He jumped down using a freshly woven spider rope and picked the fruit. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°[Inspect].¡± Fruit Of Knowledge: A golden fruit born from magic. Consume it to obtain 1000exp. The description was simple, but the message it told was powerful. Farming exp was no easy task, but with this it was made convenient. ¡°And from now on, I¡¯ll have to tell the spiders to keep an eye on it.¡± Something like this is bound to be very desirable. But without further ado, he clamped his mandibles to consume the fruit. [+1000exp], and then it asked him to put the exp into either of his Jobs. The most underdeveloped was Alchemy, so he channelled the exp there. Apparently, this was enough to trigger another message. [Congratulations! You have reached Alchemy lvl 2] [Requirements have been met (Comprehend, Spidery Magnificent). Hidden perk unlocked] [Perk Flawless Concoction obtained] ¡°Oh, sounds useful.¡± But he couldn¡¯t rely only on the name, so he investigated the perk. Flawless Concoction: The brews you make are flawless and perfect in any way granting them superior quality as the lowest starting point. Now you can eliminate unvented side effects and introduce the effects which shouldn¡¯t be normally possible. As a bonus, you can¡¯t fail at making a known potion. All good and well, it¡¯s just that he wasn¡¯t practising potion-making that much anymore. All those duties were delegated to the Crimson Alchemist, but still, it felt nice to receive a new perk. However, the Monster System wasn¡¯t quite done. [You have consumed the Fruit Of Knowledge], [You can upgrade your Skill Tree]. ¡°Why did that one have a bit of a lag?¡± He had to wonder. Regardless, three upgrades were available to him. ???Enhancement: Obsidian Armour ???Enchantment: Dark Sacrifice ???Modification: Monster Core Those were the same old options he had before. He was leaning towards the Modification option. Monster Core: A crystalline core forms within your body. It grows and evolves with you granting increased MP pool and new abilities. But that sounded like another physical change, and he would feel better going through it while observed by someone, like a doctor. But since there were no spider doctors, not yet, his wife will have to do. ¡°Huh, so the fruits keep giving. I wonder¡­¡± He shook another fruit from the tree and consumed it. [+1000exp] ¨C no changes there. He waited, but the system didn¡¯t grant him another skill. Maybe it was just one per person, or maybe he needed to pick that Modification option and try again. Either way, more experimentation was needed. He shook the branches managing to get a few more fruits for future tests and then shadow walked the rest of the way towards the MegaFarm. ¡­ The Spider King broke the Shadow Walk only then he was right at the steps of Johny¡¯s gazebo. Their eyes met for a brief moment. The humanoid slug had a rather delirious look on her face. ¡°Spider! I¡¯m Bursting! [Jelly Jet].¡± It hit his face dead in the centre skewing his balance and knocking him right of his feat, all six of them. It was obvious that with the existence of Jelly Jet, he didn¡¯t need to be personally involved in jelly extraction. But life was never that easy, there were always clauses and circumstances. He wiped the sticky substance off his face and only then did he return to his human form. A thing he should have done at the very beginning; an honest mistake. In his defence, the Spider form was just as comfortable as his human form. ¡°Oh it¡¯s You, Now, Milk Me!¡± Johny demanded looking no less delirious. The minute details of what happened next are best left unspoken. The cow, that is the slug, was tended to, resulting in an unusually large load of jelly. It just shows the importance of milking your animals regularly. In a somewhat jovial mood, the Spider King proceeded to walk to the vault to store the most precious extract in the entire Monster Kingdom. It was then he noticed a somewhat peculiar sight, it was a guest he didn¡¯t expect to see. ¡°Lord G Bling, what are you doing here?¡± The spider in question, just like the King, also had a bucket in his hand. ¡°We just finished collecting the rainwater, Dark Water.¡± The spider chirped. ¡°We?¡± That was when the Spider King noticed a somewhat petite figure right behind the imposing spider. ¡°Crimson Alchemist, you¡¯re here too?¡± The lady in question stepped forward to give a curtsy bow. ¡°Yes, my King, I think we¡¯re close in reaching a breakthrough.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± The Crimson Alchemist explained to him that she has been trying to replicate the Spider-FizzPop? without using the limited water of the Mana Spring. She just had a hunch that the Dark magic infused rain might be the key in solving this. But didn¡¯t she have better stuff to do? ¨C like managing the workshop to produce the potions for the upcoming war with the Holy Empire. Apparently not, she had produced detailed recipes and instructions for her workers to follow. And also, she thought that a change of scenery might help her and her husband to conceive a baby. In other words, she was on vacation, and the whole Spider-FizzPop? business was only a hobby to kill time. All of that was conveyed during their short stroll to the vault. Currently, the Spider King and his guests were inside and seated around the nearby table. ¡°I¡¯m glad you picked MegaFarm for your vacation. We don¡¯t get many tourists here since the place is rather rustic.¡± Rustic meaning that aside from farming and crafting there wasn¡¯t any other stuff to do. ¡°That¡¯s precisely why we came here. Even if the farm is huge, it has none of that jam-packed and busy city vibes. It¡¯s rather relaxing.¡± As the Spider King was listening he poured the two guests a drink each. He did so to show his humble hospitality and also because he intended to surprise them with the drink itself. The Crimson Alchemist just kept talking embellishing the charm of the MegaFarm; likely somewhat artificially just to sound polite. ¡°¡­ And it leaves us with plenty of free time to try for a baby.¡± She finished dropping that bomb. ¡°Oh, then perhaps I shouldn¡¯t be offering you this.¡± He pulled the glasses away. ¡°What is it?¡± She asked now more curious than before. ¡°Palm Juice.¡± He replied. As if misled by benign name the Crimson Alchemist downed the glass in one big gulp. ¡°Ah!¡± The Spider King didn¡¯t even have time to warn her. Her face developed an extremely funny expression, clearly, she was trying not to react to strong alcohol; she was ever the lady --¨C so proper. But that face was just too funny not to laugh at. ¡°Ha-ha! Don¡¯t look at me like that, I did try to pull the drink away.¡± She took some time to recover and then spoke. ¡°It¡¯s rather good, no, I can see it being extremely popular. Palm Juice was it? Fiery but enjoyable, it just took me by surprise. Dear, would you like to try?¡± She offered the second glass to her husband. The spider drank the glass, swirled the liquid in his mouth and then spat it back into the glass. ¡°Of course.¡± The Spider King replied in realisation. The spiders were strict tomgrepetarians, even liquids such as juices were off their menu and that included alcohol. ¡°It¡¯s good.¡± The Spider chirped simply betraying no emotion. Understandably, after seeing their reactions, he had his doubts. ¡°Really? Is it so?¡± The Crimson Alchemist pushed her glass forward gesturing for more. ¡°Yes, really.¡± A faint blush had already developed on her cheeks. ¡°It¡¯s strong and potent, there is nothing not to like.¡± She downed another glass. ¡°Uff! However, it needs a chaser.¡± He was genuinely surprised, even impressed, by her quaffing hard drinks like that. ¡°Lady Crimson, I didn¡¯t take you for someone who likes strong spirits. You look like a fancy cocktail lady.¡± ¡°Cocktail? I don¡¯t know what that means, but I take it¡¯s a compliment since you put it between fancy and a lady.¡± She smiled. ¡°Those two always go well together.¡± Apparently, cocktails might not have been invented yet. Was this an opportunity? ¨C perhaps. ¡°A cocktail is a mixture of alcohol and other ingredients like syrup or fruits.¡± He explained. ¡°Isn¡¯t that just a tincture then? We alchemists often use alcohol to make those. By the way, Palm Juice would be perfect for that too since the alcohol needs to be strong to dissolve the ingredients properly.¡± She explained it from an alchemist¡¯s perspective. ¡°No, what I meant is something a bit different. Let me show you.¡± He had to improvise on the spot, and so he used the ingredients close at hand. He filled the crystal glass half full of Palm Juice, next he dropped a mix of desert fruits topping it off with a generous amount of Nectar, then he decorated the top of the glass with a slice of TomGrape, and to finish it all off he dropped a single drop of Slug Jelly. He wasn¡¯t making a potion but regardless of such reality the Flawless Concoction activated anyway. ¡°Ta-da! My first cocktail ever.¡± He marvelled at his own creation. ¡°This is a curious thing you made.¡± Lady Crimson grabbed the glass without hesitation. ¡°Wait I haven¡¯t made a straw.¡± He remembered somewhat too late. The Crimson Alchemist took a bold but small sip of the cocktail. ¡°It¡¯s nice! And, unsurprisingly, it gave me that Error[System_Override]! buff, so how is this not a tincture?¡± ¡°Tincture is medicine, cocktail is something you enjoy?¡± He expressed his view on the matter. ¡°Ah, I understand it now, *hic*! I do enjoy this drink.¡± She continued sipping. ¡°Sorry, Lord G Bling. I might have gotten her hammered.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, we still are only trying to figure out the baby-making.¡± He chirped bringing the important subject back. ¡°And how is it going?¡± ¡°[Inspect],¡± the spider invoked looking at his wife, ¡°We speculate that her being under the Monster System might help with that.¡± ¡°That¡­ that makes sense.¡± He admitted. The Crimson Alchemist was now not a Human but a Corrupted Human. The King Continued. ¡°If she ever gets Evolve? tag, I can make that change permanent.¡± *Hic*, ¡°We¡¯re working on that too. But the evolution avoids me, something must be missing.¡± ¡°Indeed, we still don¡¯t know what causes the tag to appear. After all, Aurelius II and Elisabeth were unique cases.¡± The two gave him a curious look. ¡°Oh!¡± The spider chirped after a pause. ¡°You mean the Radiant Angel?¡± ¡°Ah, *hic*, so that¡¯s who! And here I was thinking this Elisabeth was his *hic* secret lover.¡± ¡°Me too.¡± The spider admitted. The two were clearly reading too many strange books, but for some reason he felt compelled to defend himself. ¡°I¡¯m a faithful husband!¡± He shouted out mock offended pushing the nearby jelly bucket deeper under the table. ¡°Anyway¡­¡± He changed the topic. ¡°I have stumbled onto something very special.¡± He took the Fruit Of Knowledge out of his inventory. ¡°I wonder if this will be of any help.¡± But also, he was curious if it would also grant them a free skill like it did to him. 118 – Unfamiliar Territory Of Unifiliar Drinks The Fruit Of Knowledge was sliced in half, the two guests looked at the slice with wonder. Lord G Bling straight up devoured his half while Lady Crimson spent her time savouring and enjoying the magical flavour of the fruit. The Spider King looked at the two expectantly, but of course nothing happened. ¡°I guess we can¡¯t game the system.¡± He voiced despite the curious looks he was getting. ¡°Here have another half. That should do the trick.¡± He sliced the second fruit, and only then did it work. Both of the guests had that undeniable feeling of bewilderment painted all over their faces. ¡°So?¡± The Spider King asked intrigued. ¡°1000exp and a new skill.¡± The spider chirped simply. ¡°Transform: Araneus.¡± ¡°Nice! That must be something similar to mine Transform: Spider.¡± Lady Crimson gave the two a questioning look. ¡°Guys, what are you talking about?¡± Oh right, she might have gotten something different entirely. ¡°What skill did you get, Lady Crimson?¡± The two men stared at Lady Crimson with child-like giddy in their eyes. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± She began somewhat uncomfortably, ¡°I¡¯ve got no new skills or perks.¡± She said clearly feeling left out, but then she smiled. ¡°But I did get that Evolve? tag!¡± She clapped her hands in joy. ¡°Finally!¡± The spider hugged his wife. ¡°That¡¯s an important discovery!¡± The Spider King exclaimed. ¡°The fruit can unlock the evolutions. This will be extremely important in the future.¡± The two guests nodded in complete agreement. ¡°So, shall I do the honours?¡± ¡°No better time than now.¡± Lady Crimson flashed another smile. ¡°I am so excited!¡± ¡°Me too!¡± Her husband chirped. ¡°Then, without further ado, [Evolve].¡± And there it was, a third human he had ever evolved. It might sound wrong, but he was even more excited than the Crimson Alchemist herself. It was like opening a mystery box, but not just any box, this would be that gold and shiny ultra-rare legendary box no doubt. He couldn¡¯t wait for the results. The shine wasn¡¯t legendary golden but magic purple instead, and right after the light dimmed there she was¡­ At the first glace there were no physical differences, or it seemed to be so. The Lady Crimson was still in that petite and youthful body of hers but there were nuanced minute differences. Her red hair now had that fiery glow about them much like the cloth of enchanted robe. She was young so wrinkles weren¡¯t apparent, but even the beginnings of those were completely gone leaving her skin baby-smooth and without a single blemish. Also, the last signs of the nasty burn scar were now entirely gone from her face. Moreover, eyes turned purple radiating the ever-burning fire of intelligence. And overall, she became the very definition of the youthful beauty. Everything about her just seemed ¡­ perfect. ¡°Truly, a stunning example of a noble lady.¡± The Spider King voiced out without realising. ¡°Or is this just the Charm which is talking?¡± He checked his status, there were no such negative effects. However, the strange allure he felt towards her was undeniable. How inappropriate! Realising he was staring he averted his gaze only to look back at her again. ¡°[Inspect].¡± Lady Crimson just giggled at the antics of the Spider King, evidently, she enjoyed in making him to fluster. Regardless there was a system table to inspect. ¡°[Status].¡±, ¡°[Inspect].¡± The two did just so.
Monster Race: Corrupted Human Variant: Alchemical Vessel Magic Affinity: None ??? ???????? ???
HP:100 MP:100 STA:100
Active Perks [Synthesise: NutriMilk], [DeToxify]
Passive Perks [Alchemical Womb], [Elixir Infusion], [Metabolise Toxicity]
Resistances [Light Weakness: Lesser], [Elemental Resistance: Lesser]
Needless to say, she retained her Alchemy level and all the perks, but the new racial perks she just got were no doubt peculiar. To give short summary she could now empower herself with powerful elixirs, which would last longer and would be more potent on her then they normally would. She could also could drink no less than a figurative barrel of potions without needing to worry about the Toxicity; plus she had an active perk where she could detoxify her target taking their toxicity for herself. Synthesise: NutriMilk allowed her body to produce a unique type of food, the food was extremely nutritious boosting the growth of the individual, plus it could be safely consumed by anyone. The last perk was somewhat disturbing. Alchemical Womb allowed her to receive the seed from any creature, including animals and even monsters, and grow a hybrid-human baby from it. For example, something like spider-human. Wonderful really, this was exactly what she wanted, but also scary. She was now able to birth monster races by her own, no need for the Monster King to evolve poor critters. Obviously, the hybrid baby would form and grow in her body, that¡¯s why it sounded somewhat scary. ¡°This¡­ this is¡­¡± Lady Crimson was overwhelmed by that realisation. ¡°I¡¯m so happy.¡± Tears of joy formed at the corners of her eye. ¡°We¡¯re very close to our goal. It¡¯s at the hands reach already. We just¡­¡± ¡°Yes, my Dear.¡± The spider managed to land an affectionate peck on her lips. Jee! Get a room already! Maybe he should leave the pair to it, but he was too interested in one of her skills; call it farmers intuition if you want. ¡°Synthesise: NutriMilk, that sounds awfully like Produce Jelly. Could I see it?¡± He asked in the spirit of discovery. The cheeks of Lady Crimson turned bright red. ¡°You want to see it?¡± She asked sounding awfully shy. ¡°I too, am interested.¡± Lord G Bling also looked at her with a sense of wonder. ¡°Men be men¡­ I guess since we¡¯re all friends here,¡± she grabbed the nearby glass and turned around. The Spider king couldn¡¯t understand where that shyness was stemming from. Surely, she could just stick her finger in the glass to invoke the perk and conjure the NutriMilk with magic. That was how the perk worked, no? Just after she was done turning around a corner of her dress slipped off, following that, there was a distinct sound of squirting. Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Oh!¡± Instantaneously, he was ashamed of his own obliviousness and cluelessness. ¡°I should have realised; the hint was in the name.¡± He muttered mostly to himself. Lady crimson turned around, the top of her dress was back on, but her face was no less red. ¡°Here you go, my King.¡± She offered the glass filled with oddly purple liquid. ¡°Enjoy?¡± She didn¡¯t sound too sure about this. He was too far in to refuse, and something else deep inside just kept encouraging him with ¡®Just Do It!¡¯. ¡°Thank you, I will.¡± He took the glass and downed the strange liquid in one gulp. It was pleasantly warm and thick and creamy in texture, but also it lacked any strong flavours or smell. He smacked his lips, unsure what to think of the entire experience. [Buff Healthy Baby activated] Right, so the cause of that was NutriMilk, it was obvious when you thought about it ¨C the liquid was intended for babies. And for what it did: Healthy Baby: your body is full of nutrients and the love of the mother. Your body will grow two times faster and your rate of skill learning is doubled. He was a full-grown man, so no benefits there, tut the skill leaning thing was appreciated. A combo of the Fruit Of Knowledge and NutriMilk just became a total game changer here. ¡°My Dear Husband, would you like a glass,¡± she began with a cheeky smile, ¡±or a sip straight from the jug?¡± Jee! Get a room already! To his shock the spider went for the glass and not the other more enticing option. Much like the Spider King, Lord G Bling downed it in one gulp smacking his mandibles. ¡°I see.¡± The spider chirped simply. ¡°I don¡¯t mind consuming this.¡± ¡°Yay! We have spider¡¯s approval.¡± He pumped his fist into the air in celebration. This was important milestone since the spiders were strict tomgrepetarians. But there was a thing to add. ¡°Just leave some for future babies, alright?¡± He asked jokingly. The joke flew over the spider¡¯s head. ¡°Of course.¡± He chirped. Lady crimson shifted in her seat uncomfortably. ¡°I¡¯m glad you boys liked my milk¡­¡± Her shy expression shifted to somewhat unsightly one. ¡°Oh my, this was rather obscene, he-he, let¡¯s keep this between ourselves!¡± She squirmed some more. ¡°Well¡­ *ahem* you got to see my perks in action, so what about that Transform thing the two of you have? I¡¯d like to see that very much.¡± She looked at the Spider King intently. He wondered why her attention was directed at him and not her husband. ¡°I¡¯m also curious, should we go with the Lord G Bling first?¡± He offered. She shook her head. ¡°No, if you don¡¯t mind, my King, I would like to see your¡¯s first.¡± She fluttered her eyelashes. ¡°My transformation, that is?¡± He asked to confirm. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m convinced it will help in my¡­¡± She paused looking for the word. ¡°Research.¡± There was no reason to deny her request. ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind, since we¡¯re all friends here¡­¡± He took off the more delicate parts of his attire so not to rip them, namely trousers. ¡°[Transform: Spider].¡± His body shifted to a form closely resembling Lord G Bling. ¡°How cute! You even have a horn crown!¡± She made an unladylike but gleeful scream. ¡°I see, I see¡­¡± She walked around him inspecting his body. ¡°Do you mind if I¡­ You don¡¯t mind, do you?¡± She bent down shamelessly to check under his abdomen. ¡°Huh?¡± She went in and checked without even waiting for reply. ¡°Aha! So, you have it, but I wonder why¡­¡± She looked at Lord G Bling. ¡°No, more like how can we¡­ achieve the same level of anatomical correctness?¡± Her face tightened in deep contemplation. There was no need to beat around the bush, Lord G Bling, being an egg laying spider, simply didn¡¯t possess that kind of tools. But surely, the spider was working on it, right? No doubt, by next evolution he will have the complete set. Or maybe¡­ ¡°Lady Crimson,¡± The Spider King addressed. ¡°Perhaps we should let our dear friend here to transform as well. I just have a hunch.¡± ¡°Oh right. Sorry I¡¯ve got distracted. Go on, Dear.¡± She encouraged. ¡°Transform: Araneus.¡± The Lord G Bling¡¯s body began to meld and shift to a more compact form. Six legs morphed to two, the otherwise bulbous and imposing spider abdomen shrunk to form a more compact rear, his broad thorax also underwent some changes making his chitinous chest less monster-like and more man-like. The head retained his spider features having mandibles and four yellow spider eyes. And there he was, this time more human than a spider. ¡°How marvellous!¡± She went closer to inspect her husband, then she peeked under the robes which didn¡¯t fit him anymore. ¡°Oh¡­ oh-oh-oh¡­¡± She reached for a grab. ¡°And what is this?!¡± She was clearly blushing. ¡°A big, BIG boy!¡± She grinned. *Ahem*, ¡°Should I leave it to you then?¡± The Spider King asked uncomfortable. Lady Crimson clapped her reddened cheeks. ¡°Sorry! I¡¯m so sorry, so unladylike of me. I apologise. ¡°She gave a curtsy bow for an apology. ¡±Please stay, we have other matters to discuss.¡± ¡°Are you sure about that?¡± ¡°Positive.¡± She said that despite unable to look away from her husband. ¡±No doubt, this is a joyous occasion, but we¡¯ll commemorate that later in the evening¡­ with plenty of Fertility Potion+. There is no need to rush, is there?¡± Not really, no. Just like this, Lady Crimson obtained her permanent evolution, and the spider developed the power tools he needed to complete the job. ¡°So what else is there else to discuss?¡± He asked with interest. Even if her eyes were still glued to somewhere else, she tried to continue the conversation. ¡°Yes, the Spider-FizzPop?.¡± ¡­ Two spider and a lady went all over the farm gathering the ingredients. Lady Crimson sighted letting out a deep breath, a sigh was a happy one indicating the end of their labours. ¡°I think we have everything we need.¡± The Spider King checked his Magical Inventory affirming that she was correct. ¡°Let¡¯s go to my alchemical workshop.¡± He guided them to an entirely separate building. It had huge Corundum vats already brewing various simple potions, but also foodstuffs like TomGrape syrup. Incidentally, this was also the place where the Centauri Cheese and Drow IceCream was made. Lady Crimson took the sight in with keen interest. ¡°That is an impressive setup you have here.¡± She praised. ¡°But, I can see the mistakes of an amateur. If you don¡¯t mind, I can help you to set the devices better.¡± Indeed, the eye of the master alchemist saw things than an eye of a novice couldn¡¯t. She pointed out a lot of improvements and the nearby crafter spider wrote it all down on its notepad. With that done they moved to the task at hand. Lady Crimson set all the ingredients on the nearby table. ¡°Right, I shall lead this experiment, and you will assist me. It might be impudent of me, your servant, but I hope you understand why.¡± Despite sounding confident she looked at him conflicted. ¡°Of course, you¡¯re the master alchemist here, I¡¯m just level two. Lead the way, teacher.¡± He bowed with respect. Lord G Bling simply silently observed the two to begin the work; Alchemy wasn¡¯t his sphere of expertise. He was there mostly out of curiosity and as a moral support. But also, because his wife tended to explode her experiments. First, they infused the Dark Water with TomGrape syrup. The process was harder than just mixing the two together, it required mana and specialised alchemical implements not to mention perks Lady Crimson possessed. Then it was mixed with special fungal powder produced by no other but the Myconid Queen. And then with just a tiny speck of Dark Spirit Stone the concoction was brought to twirling and bubbling motion. ¡°[Perfect Potion], now you.¡± Lady Crimson urged. ¡°[Flawless Concoction]!¡± The two alchemical perks didn¡¯t override one another, instead they worked in tandem to enchant the potion. ¡°Yes, it is working! With this we will have a base for future potions.¡± He looked at the dark mass swirling inside the large alchemical flask. There was no fire under it, but the liquid bubbled violently. The flask was trembling struggling to contain both the liquid and all the pressure. The glass it was made was the superior Scorpion Glass and it was even enchanted with Reinforce; an overkill really. But even then, the glassware shook and began to crack. ¡°It will explode!¡± Lord G Bling stepped between the dangerous experiment and his wife. ¡°No, it won¡¯t. Not this time, [Contain Reaction].¡± She pressed her hand on the violent flask. As if calmed by loving and warm touch the beastly reaction was subdued, the violent bubbling subsided, and the flask was no longer trembling. *Phew*, Lady Crimson released a breath of relief. ¡°It is done! The potion is complete.¡± ¡°Well done, teacher!¡± He praised. ¡°And now for the test¡­¡± She looked for volunteers. ¡°No, forget it. I have that Metabolise Toxicity, so its probably safest if I do this.¡± There was no arguing with that. Lady Crimson opened the small valve on the large flask poring the liquid into much smaller container. ¡°Here it goes.¡± She ingested it. Her eyes went wide, her hand covered her lips. She looked at the two with panic in her eyes. *Bu-uuu-rp* ¨C she belched for good five seconds sounding like a monster. This didn¡¯t sound good at all. ¡°Is it Toxic, or even Poisonous. No, don¡¯t tell me, it is Draining?¡± The Spider King asked with worry. Lord G Bling also looked at her with obvious concern. ¡°Oh my, excuse me!¡± She exclaimed. ¡°No, it is¡­ Delicious! We¡¯ve have succeeded!¡± She poured a second helping. ¡°Here, have a go.¡± The Spider King took the flask, indeed, visually the fizzy drink looked just like the ever-popular Spider-FizzPop?, but it was the taste that mattered. He drunk it feeling that funny bubbly sensation on his tongue and then in his stomach. However, it did taste slightly different, not completely but the taste was nuanced. ¡°It¡¯s just as good!¡± He concluded. ¡°However, I think it¡¯s not right to call it Spider-FizzPop?.¡± After all, the recipe was different. ¡°How about we call this Spider-FizzPop Dark and the other one Spider-FizzPop Original?¡± It was Lord G Bling who spoke up first. ¡°King, the name is already too wordy.¡± ¡°I have to agree.¡± The wife jumped on to support that notion. ¡°Yeah, you might be right. So, what should we call it?¡± ¡°Just FizzPop is fine, or even Fizzy.¡± She offered. ¡°But then we lose the spidery part. My dear wife, I cannot accept that.¡± And it was the husband who rebuked her. The Spider King couldn¡¯t agree more. ¡°Then it¡¯s a conundrum.¡± She developed an expression worthy of a deep contemplating philosopher. Everyone was thinking. Lady Crimson broke her contemplation to suggest. ¡°How about Spizzy?¡± ¡°Ah, a compromise!¡± A combination of spidery and fizzy. ¡°We can do that!¡± ¡°Yes, we can do that.¡± Lord g Bling chirped in agreement. And hence so the slightly improved drink was christened as Spizzy. The only thing what was left was to set a mass production facility to manufacture it. Soon, thousands upon thousands of bottles will invade the Aurelian Duchy. ¡°Spizzy ¨C new looks, improved taste. Simply perfect and just Spidery Magnificent.¡± The spider chirped. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ll print that on the bottle.¡± The Spider King nodded happy with the cheesy slogan. With that done he left the Lady Crimson and the crafter spiders to work on expanding the workshop to manufacture the drink. As he was heading back to his palace, he noticed a familiar contraption flying in the sky. ¡°Galleon Whale, they¡¯re back.¡± He changed his course running towards the landing pad. ¡°My fish must have finally arrived! This day just keeps giving.¡± He was positively salivating at the idea of fresh fish meat. 119 – Cream Cheese Cavalry And The Quest For Fish Centauri Champion looked at her man from atop the deck of the Galleon Whale, their gazes met for a moment and she waved at him flashing her best smile. Ever so slowly the flying ship was rising into the sky, she gazed with affection at the shrinking figure of the man she so adored. The trip to the Demon Realm surely will be long and the nights cold and lonely so she burned the sight of him in her memory. The ship was high enough and the nearby spider urged the Centauri to go down to cargo hold and strap in preparation for the Spider Hyperdrive. She will do so, but only after her little speech she had prepared. ¡°Noble Mares,¡± she addressed, ¡°today we embark on a very important quest. It is something only we Centauri can do. And that¡¯s why I¡¯ve picked only the very best of you, the elites of the Centauri. The journey will be hard, and surely there will be peril, but I¡¯m sure we will persist. Isn¡¯t that right?¡± The Centauri neighed happily in agreement. ¡°Exactly! Failure isn¡¯t an option. We shall succeed on our quests for SapphireScale! The success will bring us honour and our rank will raise. Then we¡¯ll claim our promised reward, everyone will get what they desire.¡± The mares neighed happily once again. ¡°Centauri. Strap in.¡± The spider chirped sternly. ¡°Okay, everyone, use the harness provided to strap yourselves. Just like this.¡± She demonstrated. The belt buckles clacked and clanged; everyone was ready. ¡°Spider Hyperdrive engaging in¡­ 3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­¡± The whole ship jolted from sudden acceleration. The Centauri were used to high speeds but even then, the Centauri Champion observed that few of her girls had that uncomfortable expression on their faces as if they were about to vomit. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare!¡± She stared sternly at the suspects. The stomach-churning discomfort of acceleration lessened leaving the ship flying at a steady but still break-neck speed. Since it was now safe to do so, she took her harness off and went back up on the main deck. There she leaned over the fence to look at the land below. The see of green was endless, but at such speeds they¡¯ll reach the Demon Realm in a few days¡¯ time. Much later, the spiders landed the ship, far away from the jungle and in an overgrown forest. They dropped the ship right on the trees, toppling and crushing them beneath. The ship was sturdy and able to land despite the wooden obstacles, however, the same could not be said about Centauri. The landing was rather rough, and a few of them were forced to let out an undignified scream unbefitting of elite cavalry mares. Unfortunately, the Centauri Champion might have been the one of those few, so she restrained of reprimanding everyone. The awful sound of breaking trees and the excessive shaking of the ship had finally stopped. A spider came down to tell them that they had finally arrived. Good news, it¡¯s just that she wished that they could land somewhere in the plains next time. It¡¯s just that, this was a secret operation, they couldn¡¯t do this, else the ship and the cavalry might end up being mistaken as an invasion force. And there was a whole other deal there they would need to pay tribute then passing one or the other warlord¡¯s territory. There was no time for that, hence this secretive operation. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s disembark.¡± She led her cavalry out of the ship and into the dense forest. She recognised the forest straight away, it was the Dark Forest, an uninhabited place teeming with monsters. The monsters here were formidable, but even then, she knew that the flying ship was safe since Everyone came prepared. ¡°From here on, we¡¯re Cream Cheese Cavalry, remember that.¡± The cavalry neighed raising their spears in the air. ¡°From here we go west towards our destination, the Deep Lakes.¡± It was the place where SapphireScale Meat was procured, at least to her knowledge. She never been there but she knew how to reach the lakes. All she needed to do just head west, the trio of lakes were not only deep but also rather large hence hard to miss. The Dark Forest wasn¡¯t exactly easy terrain to traverse, especially for Centauri. First, it was overgrown with trees leaving little space to move, second it was oppressively dark in here. The Centauri Champion led the way with a Dark Lantern in her hand. The lantern granted everyone Darkvision without emitting much of real light, this meant that they wouldn¡¯t alert the nastiest of the monsters. The guardians of this forest hated fire and especially Fire magic. However, there was little they could do about sound, especially due to the fact they wore heavy armour. The inevitable finally happened. A grey furred creature emerged from under a pile of rotting leaves and wood matter. It let out shrill and bone piercing shriek. ¡°It¡¯s Grove Terrors, get ready, they¡¯ll attack from the behind.¡± She informed her less informed girls. Just as the Centauri Champion predicted the one in front was only their spotter, the real trouble sprung out of the ground just behind them. No less than fifty vaguely humanoid monsters charged at the Centauri. The monsters had long and lanky limbs, they ran while hunched bearing their sharp claws and fangs at the cavalry. Their claws were tainted with a special poison, inflicting Paralyse on those affected. ¡°Stupid monsters.¡± She grunted in frustration. Even if the monsters were formidable, they didn¡¯t have the numbers needed to even put a scratch on the Centauri here. The Centauri took a defensive position and met the failed ambush with the trusts of their lances. A few of the monsters slipped close enough to swipe at Centauri, but that was what the armour was there for. In the end it was rather anticlimactic. The monster attack was dealt with easily enough. Of course, if they had angered the forest guardians, or encountered an apex predator it would have been an entirely different story. Alas, it didn¡¯t come to be. Cream Cheese Cavalry proceeded through the forest engaging in a few more attacks just like this, but in the end, they reached the border of the Dark Forest emerging into the plains bordering the Deep Lakes. And then finally, they reached one of the free lakes. As far as she could see there was only water, it could easily be called a sea, but even so, this was a lake, just very massive. The Centauri approached an edge of a rocky cliff to take a closer peek at the water, the water was clear but even so no one could see the bottom, hence the name Deep Lakes. ¡°So, this is it. We¡¯ve reached our destination.¡± She spoke while marvelling at her own slightly distorted image projected by the water. They were here, but their quest had just begun. The main issue here was that they were warriors and not fishers, but also that neither of them was a good swimmer either. They did bring some nets and stuff like that, but the real plan was just to purchase an already caught fish. After all, there was no need for them to fish it by themselves. And the Deep Lakes were rumoured to be even more dangerous than the Dark Forest. ¡°Right, let¡¯s find the nearest settlement.¡± They ran near the lake shore at a casual pace. And surely enough they found one of the many villages bordering the massive lakes. The village, like most settlements in the Demon Realm came fortified, this particular one was surrounded by a wooden palisade. The spotter sitting atop the watchtower must have noticed their charge. A deep sound of horn resounded in the air. Soon the wall was filled with local defenders. Those were frogmen, a rather primitive and stupid race, but even so an important part of the Demon Realm. The frogmen aimed their fishing javelins at the approaching Centauri. No doubt they were expecting a raid. Centauri Champion couldn¡¯t blame them for thinking so; before the fall the Centauri used to have that reputation. ¡°Halt.¡± She stopped the cavalry. ¡°I¡¯ll negotiate with them.¡± She galloped further towards the palisade, but just out of the javelin range. That didn¡¯t mean that a few of the opportunistic javelins were thrown at her, of course, they didn¡¯t hit anywhere remotely close. ¡°Be not alarmed!¡± She shouted at the nearby watchtower. ¡±I¡¯m Centauri Champion of the Cream Cheese Cavalry.¡± She said it with utmost pride. ¡°We¡¯re mercenaries looking to purchase some food for our travels.¡± There was a moment of silence, then some croaking behind the wooden wall and then silence again. A rather fat frogman climbed the watchtower. ¡°You here to barter?¡± He croaked from atop. ¡°Yes, we are. We have metal scrap and unwanted weapons to barter, but also alcohol and healing potions.¡± Even if she had more precious items than the ones she named, she had to sound believable. The gold would have been the most convenient for Centauri, easy to carry and all that, but it was not so for the frogman tribe here. Aside from Demon coins, the village like this didn¡¯t have much use for noble metals or precious gems. They liked practical items which would help them in their daily activities. ¡°Alcohol?¡± The frogman perked up. ¡°Yes, and not the usual swamp swill. It¡¯s Grupp-Grupp, and expensive and exotic liquor.¡± She took the bottle out to wave it at the frogman. *Croak*, ¡°Might be too expensive for us then. If you¡¯re here for simple food, we¡¯ll take scrap.¡± The frogman said so, but he was ogling at that bottle betraying the want for it. ¡°Al right, so, what we need is fish, SapphireScale to be precise.¡± ¡°SapphireScale, croak, but that is rare and valuable. Why do you need it?¡± The frogman croaked suspicious. ¡°We have normal fish, MudFish, SlimeFish, DirtEal. If you need food take that. Why the expensive taste, croak?¡± ¡°Those are disgusting, and I have expensive tastes. And I have equally rare items to barter for it.¡± She waved the bottle again at the frogman. Obviously, if they were any smarter, they would know that Centauri didn¡¯t eat meat. However, ¡°Then, croak, you¡¯re in luck, we have we fish and you have the alcohol. We just caught SapphireScale this morning, it''s fat and fresh. Send the alcohol and we¡¯ll clean and cut the fish for you.¡± A good practise was to keep the rare fish alive as long as possible so that their meat could remain in the best condition. This was what was happening, so indeed she was in luck; she needed a live specimen. ¡°No don¡¯t cut and clean it just yet, I need it alive.¡± She informed hurriedly. *Croak*, ¡°Why alive? Centauri, what are you playing?¡± It croaked in suspicion again. ¡°I just like it super very fresh. I want to eat it while it¡¯s alive.¡± She lied trough her teeth. *Croak, Croak, Croak¡­* ¨C all of the frogmen croaked somewhat alarmed by that sentence. Her ears picked on a silent croak of the frogman trader, ¡°Centauri¡­ so barbaric,¡± *Croak*, ¡°I¡¯ve heard of this practise, it¡¯s fine, we¡¯ll send the fish alive, croak, but the alcohol comes first. For all I know, it might be just a swamp swivel in a fancy bottle.¡± The thing was that she didn¡¯t trust this frogman, the frogmen weren¡¯t exactly known for their trustworthiness; it was the opposite. For all she knows, she¡¯ll send the bottle in and they¡¯ll just croak at her telling her to bugger off. But also, clearly, the frogman up the watchtower didn¡¯t trust her either. Once again, the Centauri were known for their ruthlessness. Her previous self would wait for the portcullis gate to open only to raid the village the next minute it did so. Such was her past and the realities of the Demon Realm. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll send you the bottle.¡± She agreed. The gate rose ever so slightly to let a tiny frogman pass. It wobbled and waddled slowly towards her, clearly they weren¡¯t the best of the land walkers. As the frogman approached the terrible waft of swampy rot reached her nostrils; the lake was clear and clean there was no reason for them to stink this much. The ugly thing blinked at her with those two popped out eyes, the blinks were asymmetrical too, one eye and then the next. Needless to say, she was rather disgusted. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! The frogman reached towards her with a shaking hand. ¡°Here.¡± She handed in the bottle. ¡°And mind you, it¡¯s full!¡± She shouted out. ¡°So don¡¯t be tempted to drink half of it before handing it in.¡± She cautioned because things like that tended to happen. *Croak*, the frogman croaked looking not all too pleased by her words. The bottle reached the frogman in the watchtower, he drank from it greedily. ¡°Ah yes, good stuff, croak-croak. Never tasted anything like this.¡± ¡°I know! So, send me my fish. And it better be alive.¡± ¡°Croak¡­ I don¡¯t know. SapphireScale is rather rare and notoriously hard to catch. The alcohol is good, croak-croak, but I don¡¯t think one bottle is enough.¡± And here it was, this was why their reputation was bad. But she knew all that, and she had no less than six bottles to barter with, she just didn¡¯t like to be tricked or swindled that¡¯s it. ¡°I have few more bottles like this, and you can have our scrap metal. But you¡¯re not getting any of them, not before I see my dinner.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± The frogman finished the bottle, *hic*, ¡°Ah, that was delicious, croak. Alright, we¡¯ll drag your dinner out, just keep your Centauri away from the gate. And get them further than they already are.¡± Apparently, the frogman here wasn¡¯t a complete idiot, he must have known that the Centauri had the perk to clear the current distance in but a few seconds. Actually, It was the combination of two: Swift Hooves plus Relentless Charge. But she didn¡¯t need to resort for such underhanded tactics. ¡°Yes, we¡¯ll do that, and I will prepare the scrap and alcohol for you.¡± She looked at her mares meaningfully; her forces retreated further. A box containing six bottles of Grupp-Grupp and a small pile of Corundum scrap was deposited nearby and ready for the trade. The portcullis raised up fully to let a bunch of frogmen out. They were dragging SapphireScale bound in rope right behind. The creature wasn¡¯t fat but did it look fresh enough to at least be alive, however, there were barely any meat on it. The frogmen lied of catching it today, clearly, it had been caught and kept alive for quite some time, waiting for nearby traders to pass. Luckily for the poor creature it didn¡¯t need water to breathe, but even so, it clearly was suffering. ¡°Here¡¯s your fish, enjoy. Croak-Croak!¡± The frogman croaked still atop his watchtower. This was definition of bad manners, then such deals were made it was customary for both parties to stand nearby, after all, she was here now in the range for their javelins. ¡°And here¡¯s my offering. I won¡¯t give you anymore.¡± She pointed at the pile and the box. The nearby frogman croaked a tally of the items to the fat one in the watchtower. ¡°Hey! But it is alive, croak, and it is well. Sapphire Scales are also valuable, normally we would sell those later. Add a few more bottles, would you, croak?¡± She looked at the trembling creature. ¡°There is barely any meat on it. And it is half-dead, are you trying to rip me off? Just take the scrap and alcohol, we both know it is a good deal.¡± ¡°Croak¡­¡± The frogman tilted its head clearly thinking for another way to extort more alcohol. ¡°Look, if you sold Grupp-Grupp to the local merchants it¡¯s bound to bring you profit. As you can tell, its not made locally and is rather expensive. Just don¡¯t drink it all.¡± She tried to reason, unwilling to trek all the way back to the Galleon Whale for more alcohol. ¡°But that is the problem, croak, the drink is just too good!¡± He croaked. ¡°Take it or leave it.¡± Or she could just tell her girls to storm the village, a few Fire Grenades would do the trick, but that probably would lead to the fragile SapphireScale getting killed. Likely noticing the sudden shift in the Centauri Champion¡¯s expression, the fat frogman croaked out, ¡°I¡¯ll take it, I¡¯ll take it, croak. Cut the bindings.¡± He commanded. The creature flopped face down on the ground and the frogmen went to grab their spoils. The Centauri watched them leave back to their village where the portcullis closed right after them. ¡°No returns, croak-croak!¡± The fat frogman croak-laughed. She approached to retrieve the fish. The creature was still laying face down on the ground, for a moment Centauri Champion worried that it just died on her, but then she noticed it slightly trembling. Actually, she never saw any SapphireScale alive, but that must be the real thing. Even if the fish was famished, no doubt it still had those signature scales. Quick Inspect worked to confirm all of this.
Monster Race: Mer Variant: SapphireScale Magic Affinity: Water
HP:50/50 MP:250 STA:100
Active Perks [Sonic Scream], [Hydrokinesis], [Cutting Splash]
Passive Perks [Sapphire Scales], [Marine Empathy], [Aquatic Adaptation]
Resistances [Water Resistance: Medium]
Status Effects [Starving]
She took a better look at the pitiful creature. The scales glistened like gems in the sun. Having seen the frogmen, this Mer was just incredibly pleasant to look at, and surprisingly it didn¡¯t even stink. However, there was still a small surprise. The creature had that sapphire scaled tail, yes, but also it had arms and a head betraying that it was sapient, or semi-sapient at least. Well, judging by a set of two round orbs the fish was clearly a she. Her upper half had those feminine features you would prescribe to puny and weak but still somewhat civilised monster races: small frame, delicate neck, narrow shoulders, and rounded head. Also, her upper half had barely any of the blue shimmering scales, but still it was rather shiny and pretty to look at. Her skin was gray-blue and pale in colour, it looked surprisingly smooth and shiny, but upon touch it was somewhat slimy. Her hair just like her scales were vivid blue, and for her eyes well she was still laying face down pretending to be dead, but no doubt they would also be deep blue. It was almost a shame to eat something pretty like this. But she understood why it was done, after all this was Demon Realm and things like this were commonplace. Her scales were pretty so others wanted to harvest them, and if your meat was delicious and you were weak that only meant that someone out there will hunt you for food. Even if appealing to one¡¯s eyes, some monsters were still mostly monsters, unable of advanced thinking and talking. To be sure she tried. ¡°Hey, you, can you talk?¡± Jus after she did so, she pulled the Mer¡¯s head up to get a better look at the face. Wow, what a shock! Drool and dirt tainted tears marked the Mer¡¯s face. ¡°Please don¡¯t eat me alive!¡± She said between the quiet sobs. Ah, so she could talk in Demon Language. ¡°No, I won¡¯t be eating you. You see, we Centauri don¡¯t eat meat.¡± The SapphireScale looked at her with clear confusion. But before there could be any misunderstandings the Centauri Champion continued. ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean you won¡¯t get eaten¡­¡± She said without any shred of guild or compassion. ¡°Your meat belongs to my Master, the Spider King.¡± She whispered the later. ¡°Only he can eat you. Mer, consider it a great honour.¡± With those words she picked up the SapphireScale and strutted happily back to the rest of the Cavalry. SapphireScale wasn¡¯t sobbing anymore, she just stared at the face of the Centauri with a dumbfounded expression. ¡°So you won¡¯t eat me?¡± The Mer asked meekly. ¡°Were you listening? I¡¯ve told you already, I won¡¯t be!¡± ¡°Thank you!¡± The fish was back to sobbing. She was rather bothersome, at that moment the Centauri Champion wished that this fish was just another dumb monster; it would be easier to deal with her. Like whacking the monster on the head unconscious or ripping the tongue out. But since the fish, no this Mer, could talk, the Centauri Champion didn¡¯t feel like exposing her to such cruelties. The Centauri were known for their ruthlessness, but a lot had changed. After the fall of Centauri, after all the suffering she had experienced personally, she didn¡¯t want to cause more needless pain to this SapphireScale. ¡°Actually, when I think about it. I doubt you will get eaten at all, my Master said he wants to farm the fish or something like that.¡± She didn¡¯t know why she was telling all that, but even so, she continued. ¡°Yes, we also need to get a male SapphireScale. The two of you would breed, birth more fish, and I guess then your children would be eaten or something like that.¡± Her words didn¡¯t make SapphireScale to feel any better. ¡°I see, so I get to live¡­¡± She said with clear relief in her voice. ¡°Yeah, I guess¡­ But even so, I¡¯m not too sure what will happen next.¡± She knew but chose to remain quiet. After all, in the end some of the Mer were destined to be eaten, probably her children. There was no way the Centauri Champion could, or even needed to spell such realities. But also, she didn¡¯t care much of Mer fates. It was the Mer fault for being so weak and pitiful, and also allegedly incredibly delicious. The Centauri were undoubtedly also rather tasty, or so was the rumour, but very few could defeat her race in a straight fight. That¡¯s right, if you didn¡¯t want to be eaten, you had to be strong! The Mer were responsible for their own misfortune. The Mer remained miserable and in a somewhat melancholic mood, but that didn¡¯t mean the Centauri were so. After inspecting the fish the mares of Cream Cheese Cavalry cheered at the completion of the first half of their quest. They didn¡¯t expect this to go this easy! The Centauri used a large sheet of leather to harvest some of the lake water and put the fish in the improvised tub. The fish in question was still sulky but somewhat happier at the small improvement. Next, they had to haul the fish back to Galleon Whale for storage and only then they would look to procure a male, hopefully in the few next nearby villages. That of course meant that they had to walk through the Dark Forest and deal with its natural challenges. The biggest trouble was actually the fish, she just couldn¡¯t stop talking. She kept asking annoying question like: ¡°Where are you taking me?¡±, ¡°Is this a forest? I¡¯ve never been.¡±, ¡±Eek! Monsters!?¡±, ¡°Are we there yet?¡±, ¡°Are we there yet?¡±, ¡°Are we there yet¡­¡± Well, on a rare occasion the fish would ask a few good questions like: ¡°Who is this Spider King?¡±, ¡°Why do Centauri serve him?¡±. To which Centauri Champion replied with great detail and great pride. Eventually, the ship was reached without much serious trouble. ¡°Watch out. Monsters!¡± The fish pointed out of her tub at the spiders, sending a Sonic Scream. Luckily it was not that effective then out of the water, but still the Centauri had to plug their ears at the sharp scream. The Centauri Champion was against abusing captives, however, ¡°Don¡¯t be ignorant!¡± She slapped the back of the head of the fish. ¡°They are servants of the Spider King. Apologise!¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry spiders!¡± The fish yelled out of her tub hiding deeper right after. The spiders didn¡¯t even care about it, they were busy with their things. Namely, building a small wooden fort around the ship. Moreover, there were cages with local monsters sitting next to the ship, and also piles of various plants sorted into herbs, fruits and vegetables. The Centauri Champion didn¡¯t even question why the spiders were doing all of this. The spiders were spiders, they did the spider things, and most likely they had a side quest of their own. ¡°Spider, we captured the first fish.¡± She informed the nearby spider. ¡°Where do you want it?¡± ¡°So soon? Magnificent. In the tank. We had prepared.¡± The spider pointed at the large open rectangle made out entirely out of scorpion glass. That was smart of the spiders, the Reinforced glass was sturdier than any wooden or leather tub could be, plus they will be able to observe the otherwise beautiful captive. The Centauri Champion scooped the fish out of the improvised tub and threw her in her tank. ¡°You better behave! And don¡¯t die.¡± It would be way too troublesome to find another one. And so, without further ado, the Cream Cheese Cavalry galloped to complete the rest of their quest. ¡­ The spider scuttered close to the see-through tank tapping on its glass. The fish inside sent a panicked and involuntarily Sonic Shout shuffling away from the spider and into one of the corners. The water moved forcefully and if this was a normal glass it would have shattered at that instant, instead the water just splashed a bit from the top. ¡°What is your name?¡± The spider chirped in Demon Language. ¡°Huh?¡± It chirped again repeating the question. ¡°I¡¯m SapphireScale.¡± She answered. The spider tapped the glass twice scaring her further. ¡°No, your name.¡± Neither of the Centauri bothered to ask that, hence her confusion here. ¡°Day Sapphire, or just Day.¡± She said so with pride. After all, Sapphire was a royal name, and yes, she was a princess. Princess but one of many, she was so far down the line that it didn¡¯t even mater. ¡°Day Sapphire.¡± It repeated somewhat melodically while scribbling something on the strange rectangle it was holding. ¡°Day, what do you eat?¡± Once again, the question took her by surprise. ¡°Everything.¡± She blurred but after another glance at the spider she corrected herself. ¡°Primarily LakeWeed, and other edible plants, but also fish and other aquatic animals.¡± She wondered if that was any good or if she needed to be even more specific. ¡°And what is. Your favourite food?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Why did that even matter¡­ ¡°I guess,¡± she paused to think, ¡°DeepClams.¡± The spider made another note. ¡°How about this?¡± It dropped a slice of blue fruit in the tank. She took the fruit slice in her hand inspecting it cautiously. It appeared safe and unwilling to anger otherwise polite spider she ate the offering. ¡°Holy Water Serpent! This is delicious!¡± She jumped half out of the water. ¡°This is my new favourite food. What is it?¡± And only then did she realise that her Starving negative status effect was gone with just a single slice. She could swear the spider was smiling, but it was hard to tell with its facial features. ¡°TomGrape.¡± It chirped pleasantly dropping the rest of the fruit in the water. Then it chirped another question. ¡°Married or single?¡± *Munch-Munch*, ¡°Excuse me?¡± Once again, she was taken by surprised but replied regardless. For the next few hours, the spider bombarded her with various questions of rather personal nature. It seemed such a waste to ask so much especially if they considered to eat her at some point. Just what is happening? -¨C she couldn¡¯t make sense of any of this. And most importantly why did they have a ship in a middle of the forest, how was that supposed to swim? 120 - He Went Fishing But He Caught More Than He Bargained For The Spider King was there at the landing pad watching the ship to slowly descend. ¡°Huh, strange.¡± He observed the distinctive lack of a goofy grin and waving he expected to see at the top of the ship deck. ¡°The Centauri aren¡¯t back.¡± He concluded. That just meant that they still were working on catching the live specimens for the breeding programme. The ship finished docking allowing him to board and check the cargo hold. ¡°Oh my.¡± He was slightly taken aback. The cargo hold was filled with various plants, some potted but there also were fruits and little bags filled with seeds. He was slightly confused here, he didn¡¯t tell them to do all that. The nearby spider jumped in to give an explanation. ¡°Trusty Advisor. Told us to look for beneficial plants. For you to Evolve. And to investigate local monsters.¡± ¡®Ah, Trusty Advisor, ever reliable, full of good ideas¡¯, ¨C he gave a silent thank you. ¡°Come see the cages.¡± The spider encouraged. He approached the IronOak cages with both interest and caution. The Centauri Champion did mention that they will be heading to the Dark Forest, and judging from the name the forest would hold some formidable monsters. He checked the cages containing various critters: Mossy Moogle, DarkWillow Sproutling, Shadowling Sprite, NightShade Pup, ShadowPaw Squirrel, Twinkleleaf Fawn, Twilight Owlcat, and so and such¡­ Yes, there definitely was a theme going on, but none of the monster-animals looked neither scary nor formidable. Actually, they were rather cute, hence why he was somewhat surprised. ¡°Sorry.¡± The spider apologised for some reason. ¡°Did we get. Your preferences wrong?¡± ¡°I see¡­ So, this is my preference?¡± He gave another look at the caged creatures. ¡°I guess, yeah, you¡¯ve got it spot on. But just to be sure there are real monsters out there in the Dark Forest, right?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± the spider chirped, ¡°we left those at the outpost. Should we ship them here?¡± ¡°No, there¡¯s no need. If I Evolved an already vicious monster, it would make them even more monstrous.¡± He operated under that assumption. He looked around again, ¡°I can¡¯t see it, where is my fish?¡± ¡°Yes, of course. Please follow.¡± The spider guided the Spider King up to the command deck. A strange place to keep fish if you asked him, but maybe the spiders were just keeping a good eye on it since it was the main item of their quest. As soon as he saw it, he instantly knew that this was the rumoured SapphireScale. However, there was a slight problem¡­ The aquatic creature was more woman than a fish, no doubt, they had captured a type of a mermaid. Her upper body was that of a woman, and her lower half was a sapphire scaled fish tail. She was rather long, or was it tall? ¨C regardless, it should be somewhere close to 2.5 metres. And the tail was the fattest part of her body, her better half was rather slim and feminine, with all womanly charms included. However, with no mistake, she still was part monster. Her fingers were long and webbed, she had blue fins on her elbows and back, not to mention gills on both sides of her neck. Yet still, there was a mysterious charm surrounding her. Her face was round and cute having delicate features. The eyes were piercingly deep blue, just like her hair which were long and flowed loosely in the water. Her sapphire scales reflected the light making the water to shimmer blue around her. She was so enchanting! He had realised he was staring like a fool only after the spider navigator came to greet him. ¡°Spider King,¡± spider navigator saluted, ¡°we present you the SapphireScale.¡± With those words the spider handed in a small file. ¡°Those are her stats.¡± At first, he thought the spider just collected the data the Inspect would give, and while that was there, that assumption still was wrong. He flipped through the pages scanning past the text. This was almost like a manual, no, this was exactly it. It had all the details needed to look and care after the SapphireScale. And it had more, like her three sizes, the type of man she fancied, and her favourite colour, why did the spider feel the need to include that? ¡°Thank you, this will be highly helpful.¡± He thanked somewhat impressed at the extensive research the spiders did. He approached the glass tank, the Mer inside was looking at him with body language betraying anxiety. ¡°Day Sapphire, be not afraid. I won¡¯t eat you, there was a misunderstanding.¡± He bowed slightly in apology. He must have said something wrong because his words had only spooked the Mer further. ¡°I mean it.¡± He said while using Aura Projection to convey his friendly intent. ¡°You¡­¡± The Mer swam closer to the glass wall. ¡°You can speak Old Mer?¡± Her fear was replaced with amazement. Thats right, his Language Comprehension must have kicked in, but he expected Demon Language and not Old Mer. ¡°I guess that¡¯s right. Old Mer, huh, just so you know I have a special perk which allows me to speak all languages.¡± He explained still presumably in Old Mer. The Mer in the tank just gazed unblinking while he spoke. He too was staring at her, still feeling enchanted by this otherwise fantastical encounter. ¡°Sorry about the misunderstanding, but¡­¡± He spoke with a tinge of guilt. And there was good reason to be guilty. No, not because of the misunderstanding, that was not his fault, but because he still wanted to keep this Mer. A good man would apologise, recompensate and release her back into the lake. However, like most men, he was flawed. There was an irresistible desire to keep her. Who wouldn¡¯t want their own personal mermaid, and especially as shiny as this one here? He continued. ¡°¡­ But would you like to stay as a guest? I¡¯ll promise we¡¯ll treat you well.¡± The Mer was thinking. It was hard to tell if she understood his hidden intentions or if she was seriously considering the offer. ¡°I always wanted to travel,¡± she spoke in sing-song voice, ¡°and to learn about the spiders and their homes. And the one who rules them. I heard great things about this ruler. Ever since I was young, I dreamed of meeting him.¡± She jumped half out of the water. ¡°Do you happen to be, the Spider King?¡± She avoided giving a straight answer. ¡°What?¡± He asked somewhat taken aback by the sudden burst of words. She was clearly just messing with him. There was no way for her to know about the spiders, especially not then she was still young; the Spider Kingdom was not that old, and neither was he. ¡°After hearing the Centauri Champion¡¯s description, I was expecting a gigantic spooky spider, but you must be the legendary Spider King, right?¡± Legendary was alright but gigantic spooky spider was not, Centauri Champion, please give better descriptions! ¨C He shouted internally. ¡°I should have introduced myself first.¡± He had that flaw. ¡°I¡¯m Spider King, ruler of the Monster Realm.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Day Sapphire.¡± She smiled at him. ¡°You¡¯re more dashing than I imagined. It¡¯s pleasure to meet you, Spider King. I would love to be your guest.¡± Considering the previous image of him she had in her mind her words weren¡¯t that surprising. ¡°No, it¡¯s my pleasure to host one of the Mer. Shall I show you your new quarters?¡± ¡°New quarters? I¡¯ve assumed this was my new room.¡± She swam around in the tank. There was space for her to make a spin, but clearly it still was too small. ¡°There¡¯s no way that is adequate. I have a pond prepared.¡± Once again, he said so apologetically. He expected just a fish and not an actual Mer, so the pod was somewhat barebones at the moment. She wiggled her tail and smiled. ¡°I¡¯ve always dreamed about my own pond. I can¡¯t wait to get in there.¡± ¡°Then, let¡¯s not delay this further.¡± The tank was put on wheels and wheeled by spiders out of the Galleon Whale. Just as they came outside, he couldn¡¯t help but laugh at the expression Day Sapphire made. Whatever she expected, clearly this was not it. ¡°Is this how the dry land behind the forest looks?¡± She gazed at the spidery structures with wide eyes filled with wonder. ¡°Oh, I know what this is. It¡¯s a city.¡± She was somewhat correct. ¡°Yes, this is MegaFarm, the home of spiders.¡± ¡°MegaFarm is beautiful beyond belief¡­ And how many spiders are here?¡± She looked somewhat cautious at the busy spiders zooming past the glass tank. ¡°I¡¯ve lost track¡­¡± He tried to remember. ¡°Including recent hatchlings that would be hundred thousand spiders.¡± The big eyes of Mer grew only bigger, and she sunk deeper into her tank. She was murmuring something, but the water made her sentences incomprehensible. The strange behaviour didn¡¯t last long. She jumped half out of the tank and smiled at him. ¡°The Spider Kingdom must be very successful to feed so many spiders. They must consume a huge amount of meat.¡± ¡°Nah, they¡¯re zealous tomgrepatarians, they don¡¯t eat meat at all. It¡¯s mostly Lamia who eat meat, but we have squirrels for that.¡± He pointed at the Obese squirrel nearby. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The Mer inside the tank patted her slim stomach as if concerned about something. ¡°Just so you know, us Mer, will never get fat like that. We can¡¯t.¡± ¡°Huh? Oh, okay. Good for you, I guess. The pond isn¡¯t much further, just that way.¡± He pointed in the distance. They arrived at the artificial pond. The plan was to guide the rivers and form a lake, but that megaproject was still under construction. ¡°It isn¡¯t much, but I recon it¡¯s better than a cramped fish tank.¡± ¡°No, this is perfect. May I?¡± She gave him a meaningful look. He nodded despite not too sure what she meant. She swam to the furthest side of the tank and then propelled herself out of it jumping into the pond. Almost magically so, there was no splash and the water where she landed made only a few ripples. ¡°Wait¡­¡± There was a slight problem. ¡°The water is infused with Dark mana!¡± He cautioned a bit too late. Of course, the plan was to mutate the SapphireScale but since she was sapient that would be a lot harder. The Mer poked her head out of the water. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I have Aquatic Adaptation.¡± Just to be sure he used Inspect to check her status for negative effects, where he found she had Dark Resistance: Lesser, instead. ¡°That works out I guess.¡± ¡°This pond feels amazing.¡± She beamed him another smile. Yeah, there wasn¡¯t much of the pond yet. It lacked all the necessary plants. In turn, he presented her an apologetic smile. ¡°If you give me a list of plants,¡± he began, ¡°I¡¯m sure we could get them and plant them here.¡± ¡°I have Aquatic Adaptation, but I doubt most of the plants would be as resilient.¡± ¡°No worries there.¡± He assured her. ¡°I have the right perks for that.¡± He remembered something. ¡°Speaking of which.¡± He walked knee-deep into the water. ¡°Give me your hand.¡± The Mer stretched her arm without hesitation, but as soon as he took hold of it an undeniably pinkish blush developed on her cheeks. ¡°Monster System?!¡± She asked bewildered. ¡°Yeah, accept it.¡± She must have done so because soon she invoked, ¡°[Status]. I see¡­¡± The look she gave him this time was entirely different from the others he has had received so far. She gripped his hand tighter. ¡°How is it possible for you to do this?¡± She asked while struck with awe. ¡°I¡¯m a Monster King for a reason. Welcome to the Monster Realm.¡± He let her hand go. ¡°And these icons on the right?¡± ¡°Skills you can unlock.¡± He explained. ¡°But it will take time before it happens. They''re rather exp hungry.¡± She blinked at him clearly still trying to take everything in. He had an idea. ¡°You know what¡­ Since you¡¯ve been so cooperative. I have a small reward.¡± He produced a certain fruit out of his inventory space. The Mer looked at the golden orb somewhat suspiciously but still she took it and ate it with bites which only grew in size and scope. ¡°Forget the TomGrape, this is my new favourite food!¡± She declared and then her eyes darted past the messages she just have received. ¡°No way!¡± She explained jumping out of the water. ¡°Big way!¡± He smiled happy that it managed to cheer her up. ¡°What did you get?¡± ¡°Exp and a new skill, Royal Bloodline. It¡¯s a passive giving me a status boost.¡± He had to see it for himself. ¡°[Inspect]¡±
Monster Race: Mer Variant: SapphireScale Princess Magic Affinity: Water ?? ?? ?? ?? ??
HP:100 MP:500 STA:200
Active Perks [Sonic Scream], [Hydrokinesis], [Cutting Splash]
Passive Perks [Sapphire Scales], [Marine Empathy], [Aquatic Adaptation], [Royal Bloodline]
Resistances [Dark Resistance: Lesser], [Water Resistance: Lesser]
Yeah, her HP, MP and STA doubled. That¡¯s all right, but he didn¡¯t expect that ¡®princess¡¯ addition to her variant. However, he did remember a certain kobold obtaining Dragon Blood at some point, so maybe this was similar. Just as he was pondering all of this, Day Sapphire jumped out of the water embracing him tightly. ¡°This is amazing! It recognises I am a princess!¡± Worse, she planted a direct kiss on his lips. ¡°Thank you! Thank You!¡± She leaned for another. A reluctant hand landed on her round face pushing it away. ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re happy, but I¡¯m married.¡± He looked behind him with worry. Luckily none of the Lamia were around, only spiders. And you can always trust the spider to keep a secret. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t know what came over me¡­¡± Her arms let him go. It was probably his Aura Projection which he was blasting on full power, or so he reasoned. The awfully tight embrace he had just received reminded him of another uncomfortable issue. ¡°Sorry again about the misunderstanding. I¡¯ll tell the spiders to treat you as a person and not an animal to be eaten much like squirrels are.¡± No, not exactly that issue. ¡°And since you¡¯re official a part of Spider Kingdom, you¡¯ll have to wear these.¡± He pulled two Rainbow Shells out of his inventory. The two weren¡¯t clam shells, they were insect shells from the Scorpion Desert, but they fitted the overall theme. The Mer blinked at him with clear confusion, and then what must have been the realisation. The edict number one was: No one shall go naked. A rule zealously enforced by the spiders, with the only exception being animals. Hence the necessity of the shells. ¡°Like this.¡± He demonstrated putting the shells on his chest. ¡°Here, try it.¡± He handed the pair. ¡°Like this?¡± She took the shells sticking them on that perfect spot. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s perfect.¡± ¡°They¡¯re so shiny! Thank you for the jewellery.¡± She launched into another hug. The second hug finished the task of soaking his robe completely, not that he minded either of the things. Since, she wasn¡¯t going for a kiss and the shells cushioned the blow, this was now okay, right¡­ right? She let him go eventually and with that, ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I have a few errands to finish. Just call the spiders if you need anything. I¡¯ll come to see how you do a bit later.¡± He waddled out of the pond. Indeed, he had so much to do, the multiple distractions weren¡¯t helping. He did need to finally pick that Modification: Monster Core and go through the transformation. ¡°I understand. See you later, my prince.¡± The Mer waved him off. ¡­ Day Sapphire looked at the leaving Spider King. There was that strange sensation of butterflies fluttering in her stomach, she couldn¡¯t explain the reason for the feeling, nor the meaning of it. Perhaps for that reason, her mind pulled her to remember last few weeks. First, she got herself captured and was fated to be slaughtered by the barbaric frogmen, her meat consumed by Demonic races and her precious scales sold off. At that time, she was fully resigned to that fate, refusing to eat or even drink. And then the Centauri came, a small blessing in disguise, after clearing the misunderstanding she realised that she won¡¯t be killed and eaten. That was good, right? ¨C A welcome improvement. That was when she decided to find some good in the worst of situations. Of course, her life came with a price. She was told she will be kept alive in order to breed more Mer. A somewhat strange reason to keep her alive, but considering the alternative she wasn¡¯t entirely against it. Well, it would all depend on how they treated her there in the Spider Kingdom. There inside the ship, the spiders were somewhat chatty, even friendly. So, she used that chance to extract as much information from them as she could. Mainly about the ruler of the spiders who desired Mer, SapphireScale in particular. The spiders had only praises for their Spider King, even if he was a monstrous spider, he sounded like a good ruler. And so far, her treatment wasn¡¯t too bad. For a captured slave it was exceedingly good, the container they were keeping her was spacious and the food she got was¡­ super tasty. All of that pointed that the ruler in charge could be reasoned, or even swayed. That was then she began hatching a small plan. Instead of being miserable, like she undoubtedly was, she¡¯ll play it nice and try to sell herself as a good and obedient Mer to improve her future conditions. Once she reached the Spider Kingdom, just like she intended, she flashed her shiny scales intent to bedazzle whoever was there to claim her. Surprisingly the Spider King was not an actual spider, he even somehow spoke Old Mer. Even better, the plan had worked! The man charmed by the shine of her pristine scales went on to offer her a status of a guest. A stark improvement from a status of a slave, which she took readily. And soon, another misunderstanding was cleared up, well she realised it on her own. She wasn¡¯t here for the meat or her scales at all. She was here to be kept as a pretty thing for either the King or his other guests to marvel. She could understand that, after all, all Mer were beautiful. There were some challenges on the way for her future cage, like the knowledge that the place was invested with so many spiders her mind struggled to imagine the number. But she shoved her bad emotions into the deepest corner of her mind and carried on displaying herself as best as she could. ¡®Smile, be pleasant, look good, praise him.¡¯ She kept reminding herself. Anytime he looked at her, she straightened her tail to show how long it was, wiggling it slightly in the water to make her scales glimmer and shine. At her home, the Deep Lakes, something like this was reserved only for courtship rituals, and otherwise would be considered inappropriate, but she was desperate here. Her future cage, the pond, was way bigger than she imagined. Not deep at all, but plenty of space for her to swim around. And her efforts to bedazzle the King paid off again, he took her hand looking at her with affection. That was then a strange power flooded inside her. She couldn¡¯t quite grasp the full meaning of the gesture. Moreover, she was offered a peculiar fruit. She ate it only to be left gobsmacked¡­ And from there her surprise only increased. The Spider King possessed powers she couldn¡¯t fully understand. She was just a ¡®guest¡¯, but even then, he bestowed an incredible power upon her. Through strange ritual, the system was forced to recognise her as a princess, right-out doubling her strength. She was so overwhelmed by happiness she lost control of her own emotions. Luckily, the Spider King was receptive of the little accident. Even if he said something about having a wife, she was rewarded with exotic jewellery. The frogmen had stripped her of her baubles, necklaces, and bracelets alike, so she was beyond happy to receive some. It just that the place to carry them was somewhat odd¡­ Regardless, she understood the silent message conveyed by the gift. She made a mental note to be more touchy-feely with the Spider King, that is as long as his wife was not around. She smiled at her own genius, she might have started as a captured slave, but now she was much more. Slaves never would be granted power, not to mention jewellery. Surely, if she continued her conditions will only improve. However, there still was a slight problem, that strange sensation of butterflies fluttering in her stomach. The Spider King was more genius and kind than she had expected. And he was undeniably rich and powerful. And even, if he wasn¡¯t Mer, she saw him as handsome. It was strange how the world worked, it might be because of the delicate state of her mind, or the unlikely gifts she had received, but the time the Spider King disappeared out of her sight¡­ it was she, princess Day Sapphire, who was left bedazzled and completely Charmed. 121 - The Monster System Is Full Of Tricks The Spider King was walking home at a casual pace, his mind was focused on a system message. [Congratulations! By successfully rescuing your first princess from captivity, you have obtained Achievement: Knight in Shiny Armour] Achievement: Knight in Shiny Armour > +20 Rep with Princesses. It was a while since he got any of those, and the message was welcome. But, ¡°I don¡¯t get it. Am I not the one who got her captured?¡± It just seemed backwards. For some reason the system registered him as the one who rescued her, and if so, it should have been the Centauri. But maybe the Monster System did so because he was the one to issue them that quest. Or maybe it took the targeted princess feelings in consideration. ¡°Does this mean she sees me as her rescuer?¡± He could only guess. ¡°Ah, that¡¯s probably why she went so easily with everything I asked.¡± He went with that assumption. But also, there was this ¡®+20Rep with Mer¡¯ thing to consider, he got that in tandem with his achievement. ¡°Rescuing princesses is a lucrative business¡­¡± He wondered if he should inquire his subjects if they heard any rumours about trapped princesses, preferably in some tower or dungeon. And, it¡¯s not like he needed to get his hands dirty, he could just employ the services of his subjects. ¡°Here I go again, getting distracted. I better hurry home before getting myself yet another side quest.¡± Yes, there was a thing he was putting away for too long. ¡­ The Spider King was sitting on a spider crafted couch with his wife nearby. Lamia Queen had a worried expression on her face.¡± ¡°I can feel it.¡± He said while looking at her intently. ¡°It¡¯s growing.¡± ¡°You look like in pain, sss, let me help you.¡± She put her hands on him. ¡°Here, a healing massage.¡± Her eyes went big. ¡°I can feel it, sss, it¡¯s getting bigger!¡± He nodded; he could feel that too. ¡°Big is good, sss. I¡¯m happy for you.¡± She smiled with a broad grin. He breathed out deeply. ¡°I think it¡¯s over¡­¡± ¡°Oh, it didn¡¯t even last that long.¡± She patted his chest for the last time and took her hands away. There was no need for her to massage his chest , since the changes were happing somewhere deep behind the ribs, but he appreciated her wanting to support him. Indeed, the Modification: Monster Core did its job efficiently and effectively. And now he had a somewhat heavy and hard crystal nested deep inside his chest. [Monster Core obtained, +500MP] He was able to interact with the system to get a better understanding of this Modification; It did come with a manual. The core much like his body stored mana (500MP capacity), however it didn¡¯t have the hard cap. With time it will grow bigger increasing the maximum mana it can store. And also, it came with a bunch of other perks. Discharge Core: Expend the stored mana in your core to empower your body and your abilities. You grow bigger and stronger, your fists hit harder, and magic burns brighter. Unleash the final stage of the boss fight on your opponent! Implode Core: Are you fighting a losing battle? Are you surrounded by your enemies? Are you captured with no way out? Implode your core and make your problems disappear in the glorious explosion. [Requirements have been met (Monster King). Hidden perk unlocked] Core Seed: At the decrease of -100MP from your maximum core capacity, you can implant a part of your core into another monster. The monster will grow stronger and unlock better perks and evolutions over time, however, this power comes with a hidden price. The daughter core will retain an ethereal link with its parent granting you the ability to Shatter it at any time. ¡°Okay¡­¡± He blinked a few times thinking. He decided not to test Implode Core because that sounded dangerous. Well, with his Undying perk, technically he could survive but that probably would leave him severely crippled and still at the death¡¯s door with 1HP. The other two sounded promising. He turned his gaze from the screen messages and to his wife. ¡°It says I can use Core Seed to implant other monsters with a part of my monster core.¡± He began slightly suggestively. ¡°It would give them increased MP capacity and better potential for higher grade perks and evolutions. Wanna try it?¡± He remained quiet about the Shatter part because he didn¡¯t want to scare her and he would never use that on her anyway. The Lamia Queen was gazing at him with an obvious interest. ¡°Sss-sure, it sounds fun. But how does that work?¡± She gave him a naughty grin. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t need, sss, to pierce me, sss, to put that core seed in, sss, would you?¡± Her hands were back on his chest. ¡°What? No!¡± How did she even got that idea¡­ ¡°I think simple skin contact and mana transfer is enough. Shall we?¡± He asked putting his hand on her chest. ¡°Hit me, sss!¡± ¡°[Core Seed]!¡± With those words the both of them breathed out sharply. His monster core contracted, and the Lamia Queen was bestowed with her own monster core. ¡°[Status]. Yes-sss! +100MP!¡± The Monster King here was the rare exception, his current mana pool was at 4900MP, but a +100MP increase to a normal human would double their mana pool. So, in other words, +100MP was nothing to scoff at. He smiled. ¡°I¡¯m glad you like it.¡± It was good to see her happy and to see that the experiment worked without any trouble. Even better, as if to reassure him, his core grew to 401MP, it would take some time to go back to 500, a day or a week perhaps, even so, it was rather fast, so he wasn¡¯t troubled by it. Lamia Queen wrapped her arms around him. ¡°Thank you, dear husband! I love you!¡± Her tail slithered around him tightly. ¡°Let me reward you properly.¡± Her eyes glowed and she grinned at him seductively. Needless to say, next he was bound and assaulted by a barrage of kisses. Then he remembered that over the past week or so, it wasn¡¯t just Bursting farm animals who he had neglected¡­ Tending to your wife also was an important job. However, this was no position to be for a man, bound and subdued by his wife that is. He struggled against the tight bindings to get on the top. She, as all Lamia would, had only enjoyed his attempts to escape. ¡°You¡¯ll put another egg in me. SSS!¡± She declared then and there. The first egg hadn¡¯t even hatched, and she wanted another. He wasn¡¯t quite ready for the double responsibility, and so this time he¡¯d put some serious effort to escape. For a time, he was winning, until¡­ ¡°[Discharge Core], SSS!¡± She invoked. Her body glowed and the muscles in her tail bulged in fresh power. Whatever gains he had made, those were lost that instant. The Spider King was assaulted with increased vigour. The Lamia Queen became that final boss he had to defeat. Of course, there was 101 ways for him to escape, that is if he really wanted. But did he want to? -¨C No, not really. ¡°I have you defeated. S-S-S!¡± She laughed. ¡°Sss-submit to me.¡± ¡°No, I can¡¯t believe I¡¯ve lost!¡± He said with a fake shock. ¡°I guess I have no choice, [Transfer Mana].¡± He topped her up to prolong their play. ¡°SSS! ¡±*Smooch*, ¡°S-s-s, that¡¯s right.¡±, *Smooch*. The two continued to engage in a game called ¡®Hero defeated by Lamia¡¯ play-testing various skills and abilities until the couch they were wrestling gave up, tapped out, and eventually broke. ¡­ The Spider King was in the large room, the room was filled with potted plants and cages holding the creatures of the Dark Forest. They were there for him to Evolve, Mutate, Imbue, Harvest, and just experiment however he wished. Like a kid in a theme park, he was giddy with excitement. So many options, so many possibilities. A small desk for him was constructed, he was sitting besides it, on the desk was a rather small cage with a peculiar creature inside, Shadowling Sprite. Of all the critters captured, this one was the most unusual. Despite the tiny wings on its back, they somehow managed to keep the rather big and round ball in the air. The sprite was grey instead of blue shade called navy blue, but in his mind, he could imagine it shouting ¡®Hey! Hey, listen! Watch out!¡¯. On further investigation he found that the creature wasn¡¯t just a ball of light with things, it had a tangible body. To his surprise it felt like a jellyfish. Clearly, unhappy at being touched the sprite zapped his fingers, much like a jellyfish would, making them numb for a few seconds. The main reason he picked this one was the passive perk the sprite had, it was called Produce SpriteDust. He still had to see the SpriteDust in action since the creature just refused to release any, but he had a strong hunch it would be powerful ingredient in Alchemy. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Oh also, it had the Forest Guardian perk, ¡°I¡¯ve remember seeing it somewhere¡­¡± He paused thinking only to find himself salivating for some reason. ¡°But I can¡¯t remember where.¡± Anyway, he had the sprite on his desk to upgrade it, and without further notice he poked his finger through the cage poking at it. ¡°[Evolve].¡± The inside of the cage shone in the brilliant purple light. Later, his eyes scanned the upgraded sprite. He planned more experiments today but, ¡°That was a hungry evolution¡­¡± He lamented at his dried-out mana pool. ¡°At least, it didn¡¯t dip in the negatives. [Inspect].¡±
Monster Race: Spirit Variant: Shadowling Fairy Magic Affinity: Dark ?? ?? ?? ?? ??
HP:10 MP:500 STA:100
Active Perks [Shadow Veil], [Cursed Touch], [Dark Aura]
Passive Perks [Produce FairyDust], [Forest Guardian], [Hexcraft]
Resistances [Light Resistance: Medium]
Yes, the creature inside the cage now was a fully fledged fairy. The miniature woman was no taller than six inches, and she was extremely cute. Her body was doll-like with big round head and otherwise slim and slender proportions. Her skin was smooth and radiant, moreover, it was glowing with subtle luminescence. Her purple eyes were large and vibrant, already sparkling with mischief but also wisdom. Adorning her slender frame were purple gossamer wings, resembling those of a butterfly, they too shimmered with iridescent glow. Her hair was short and black like the night, the strands were fine and silky allowing them to flutter around her head untamed as if in water. Truly a magical creature! ¡°Aren¡¯t you beautiful!¡± He exclaimed happy with his work. And of course, ¡°Hey, thank you!¡± She replied in a tiny but enchanting voice. It was pleasant to the ear, unlike a certain ¡®Navi¡¯ fairy he knew from his original world. And, by this point, the evolved monster talking was of no surprise to him. Of course, fairies could talk! The fairy gave him a toothy grin filled with razor sharp canines. No doubt the Dark affinity still did its thing, making the fairy look rather carnivorous and vicious. Still, in his book, she was very cute regardless. ¡°Welcome to the Monster Realm, I am the ruler here, the Spider King.¡± He poked his finger into the cage for a handshake. ¡°Please, enjoy your stay here.¡± The fairy shook the finger, but¡­ ¡°No, I can¡¯t.¡± She fluttered her wings in protest. ¡°I must return to my forest.¡± She looked at him conflicted. ¡°Thank you King for Evolving me, I am most grateful, but I have important duties in my forest. I am the Forest Guardian!¡± She said so while puffing her otherwise modest chest bigger. ¡°I see¡­¡± He said while thinking of how to sway this creature to his side. The fairy wasn¡¯t quite finished. ¡°To show you my gratitude, I¡¯ll gift you something very special. Something you surely desire.¡± She beamed another toothy grin. ¡°Now, will you let me out please.¡± He already knew what it will be, no doubt the gift she was speaking of was the FairyDust. He already had high hopes for that. To reciprocate the goodwill, he opened the cage letting the fairy out. The fairy fluttered closer, and he prepared the palm right under to catch all the dust. ¡°Ready?¡± She asked with a giggle. ¡°I am.¡± The fairy darted closer planting a kiss on his cheek. [Debuff active: Confusion], he was hit with the message. And then, right after, a bunch of dust was thrown right into his bewildered eyes. [Debuff active: Blindness] ¡°Ha-ha, sucker, I¡¯m out!¡± The fairy darted right out through the window. The stunt left him stumbling around the room like a fool for good few minutes. ¡°That trickster!¡± He slammed his fist on the desk. ¡°I didn¡¯t even hear her chanting. I reckon this was Hexcraft, or Cursed Touch.¡± Or perhaps the combination of the two to pierce his resistances. However, there was a minor bonus. ¡°Hey¡­ My mana pool is full¡­¡± He blinked. His entire pool was restored, likely the after effects of taking FairyDust right into his eyes. And best of all, unlike potions, there was no Toxicity. ¡°I have to catch that trickster.¡± He darted out of the building. He called for spiders, and everyone was looking, but despite their efforts the fairy could not be found. She lived up fully to that classic fairy stereotype where fairies were depicted as being mischievous but also extremely hard to find and overall elusive creatures. No doubt the fairy¡¯s Shadow Veil came useful. It allowed her to blend into shadows and avoid any detection. Hence so, the Shadowling Fairy disappeared without traces. ¡­ A few days had passed, and everyone pretty much gave up on looking for the elusive creature. At first, he expected the fairy to pull some tricks on him or his spiders to give her position away, but she must have been smarter than that. Nothing of note had happened. That was so until he was rudely awakened by a rather rude kick on his nose. There right by his face was no one else but the mischievous culprit. Her otherwise cute face was tainted with an awful pout. ¡°I didn¡¯t realise the size of this place!¡± She said as if complaining. ¡°No matter how far I fly, it¡¯s just spiders and webs¡­ spiders, and webs¡­ for miles and miles, What is this place!¡± Her face mellowed. ¡°I didn¡¯t realise how far away I was from my forest.¡± She was looking at him beggingly. ¡°I want to go home.¡± Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. ¡°Please take me home¡­ Bahh!¡± She began to sob and cry. The cry must have woken his wife up. ¡°Sss! A Bug!¡± She swatted at the fairy without hesitation. The blow sent the mischievous flyer crashing to the wall and then dropping limply to the floor. ¡°What was that!?¡± The Lamia Queen hugged him by an arm as if scared of the ¡®bug¡¯. ¡°A Shadowling Fairy, a failed experiment.¡± He summarised. ¡°But you shouldn¡¯t have done it.¡± He stood up urgently to inspect the forest creature. ¡°Good, she¡¯s alive, just unconscious.¡± He poured the Health Potion over her body. And so the fairy was recaptured, however, he didn¡¯t want to keep the creature here against her will. That was what a dark and evil mage would do ¨C cage the fairy to extract her dust daily. He was a Monster King, and a Dark mage, but that didn¡¯t mean he was evil. Later that morning, the fairy was brought to the control deck of the Galleon Whale. By the request of Centauri, the ship was filled with alcohol, Palm Juice this time, and was ready to fly back to the Dark Forest. Yes, he will be returning the troublemaker back to her home. But not without saying a goodbye first. Hence why he was looming over the tiny bed the spiders had constructed for the fairy to recover and waiting for her to wake up. When still, the fairy was beautiful to look at, she appeared so harmless and benign, which he knew now to be just an illusion; but a pleasant one nevertheless. While the spiders were finishing their preparations, he continued marvelling at the magical creature, slightly sad that it didn¡¯t work out. The blissful face of the fairy suddenly contorted. ¡°Jee! You are persistent!¡± She opened her eyes. ¡°And your breath stinks!¡± She shot a jab at him. ¡°Huh?¡± He was taken aback by the sudden rudeness. ¡°What are you, a pervert? You¡¯ve been staring at me for hours¡­¡± Oh, so she was awake¡­ he wondered for how long. ¡°*Sigh*, Is that really what you want to tell me?¡± He asked with clear disappointment. The high image he had about fairies was getting eroded by the minute. ¡°I¡¯m letting you go home, you know¡­.¡± *Sigh*, ¡°Are all fairies rude and ingrate?¡± The facial expression on the fairy shifted through several iterations. ¡°No, of course, we are not. We are noble and honourable creatures.¡± She nodded mostly to confirm that to herself. ¡°I misunderstood your intent. I¡¯m sorry.¡± She flew out of her bed and closer to his face. ¡°Your palm please.¡± He presented his palm for her to stand. The fairy landed but her wings kept fluttering. Tiny particles snowed on his palm filling it with sparkling dust, the FairyDust. The fairy was left panting and looking sweaty. ¡°I¡¯m all out.¡± She said between the breaths. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. And thank you for Evolving me.¡± Indeed, her face looked somewhat apologetic. It might be just another trick, where fairy was just behaving nice to get what she wanted, but perhaps a bit naively, he still decided to trust her good intent. ¡°No problem.¡± He gave her a faint smile depositing the dust into his inventory space. ¡°It¡¯s just sad we couldn¡¯t become friends.¡± ¡°Oh? Did that kiss I gave you Charmed you? I¡¯m sure it was Confusion.¡± She asked giving him a look filled with interest and intrigue. ¡°No, thanks to my wife¡¯s Charming Gaze I¡¯m near immune to Charm magic. Neither am I Confused.¡± He explained simply. ¡°Friends, huh¡­ But tell me, why are you letting me go? I know my worth, setting me free just doesn¡¯t make sense.¡± ¡°Oh, so you¡¯re aware¡­ Then what was the point to reveal yourself and beg me to take you home?¡± ¡°That¡­ I would have tricked you again, one way or the other. I had a plan, but it all came crashing down.¡± She shuddered. ¡°Your wife is ruthless! I almost died!¡± ¡°Please forget that incident.¡± He looked at her apologetically. ¡°And I¡¯m letting you go because the very image of a miserable fairy trapped in the cage is deeply saddening to me. While yes, I do covet the magical FairyDust, I have no urgent need of it. The small offering you gave me is enough to satisfy my curiosity. So, I guess, thank you.¡± He looked at the spiders who were almost ready. ¡°I guess, we¡¯ll have to leave it at that. Safe journey, fairy.¡± He turned around to leave. ¡°Wait, Monster King.¡± The fairy flew towards his face intercepting his steps. ¡°I can¡¯t stay, but we can be friends.¡± She gave him a toothy grin and offered her right hand for a shake. The razor-sharp teeth and narrowed eyes made her look untrustworthy, but he could feel that her words were genuine. He stretched his index finger for her to shake. It wasn¡¯t much of a shake since all the fairy could do was rest her palm on his finger, but that was good enough. ¡°Friends.¡± He repeated beaming a smile of his own. ¡°Yes, friends.¡± He was happy, but sad still, such friendship would be a long distance one. But if he¡¯d put some effort in, he could make it work. ¡°I¡¯ll come and visit, next time some time.¡± He promised. ¡°Yes, please do. And I will smooth the things out with the Forest Spirit.¡± The fairy puffed her chest again. The Spider King¡¯s eyes went wide for a moment. ¡°Of course!¡± The Dark Forest much like the Ancestral Forest, had its own entity protecting it. If anything, that Forest Guardian perk was a clue. The pieces of the puzzle fell in place and hopefully it was not too late. ¡°Am¡­ about my spiders. Just so you know, we didn¡¯t invade your forest or anything like that.¡± He explained somewhat hurriedly. ¡°Huh?¡± The fairy tilted her head. It seems she had never made that connection. Good! ¡°Anyway, is there anything the Forest Spirit would like. I would like to apologise and appease it.¡± The fairy tilted her head again. ¡°I¡¯m not too sure where this is coming from so sudden¡­ But I guess some food offering would be just fine.¡± Yes! Simple enough! ¡°We will do that.¡± He looked at the spider meaningfully. Looking back on it, the Centauri Champion did warn the spiders of not bringing any fire to the Dark Forest, but she said nothing of the Forest Spirit or its guardians. Well, it was not too late to get a proper permission to set an outpost there. And the little fairy here was willing in helping him. So, in the end all worked out, and he obtained a truly magical friend. 122 – The Spidery Web And The Maids Who Were Mer Three highly evolved spiders stood in the room shrouded by darkness. Set right in the centre, the Dark Flame burned in the brazier. The fire provided almost no illumination, instead it bestowed the nearby spiders a Darkvision perk, allowing them to see in darkness. They were the elites of the elites, the most noteworthy spiders of them all, the trio were: Trusty Advisor, Spider ArchMage and Lord G Bling. Even if they were the progeny of the first spider and thus shared a lot of memories, the paths they took to get here were different, all three were unique spiders with their own special set of perks and skills. At first glance, the Trusty Advisor looked like the least remarkable out of the three. He wore simple blue robes without much flare and embellish, and the spidery features were rather tame. The spider was a somewhat tamer version of a spider warrior. The spider was six feet tall, had six spidery legs, his torso was somewhat slim, the two arms were long with spindly fingers, and atop the neck was the iconic spider head with mandibles and four yellow eyes; to put it simply, the features were unremarkable for a spider. However, the simple appearance was deceptive. The spider here was exceptionally cunning and intelligent, he ran the Spider Kingdom singlehandedly. He supervised the MegaFarm and guided the spiders in their evolutions. But also he dealt with affairs concerning Lamia, Drow, Kobolds and Centauri. The second spider physically resembled the Trusty Advisor but was obviously a mage. The Spider ArchMage wore black robes, a thin veil of shadows obscured the more detailed features of the robes and the spider himself. As it is typical for a mage he also had a pointy black hat and a staff in his hand. The staff was carved out of IronOak and its tip was adorned with a large crystal, Mana Crystal: Dark. This spider was at the pinnacle of the magic research, and the highest level Dark mage in the entire realm. He was the one responsible for creating (by accident) Spider-Non-Nomicon, inventing the SoulStone and perfecting the Reincarnate ritual. Many other spiders worked under his guidance to develop new spells and magical items. The last spider was the flashiest of the three. Coming from the warrior-mage stock he was taller and broader than the two, but that wasn¡¯t the most eye-catching difference. The spider wore an extravagant robe embroidered in gold thread and encrusted with many small gems. Thick gold chains dangled from his neck, his spidery fingers were adorned with multiple rings and his wrists with bracelets. Lord G Bling, was warrior-mage who, by the direction of the Trusty Advisor, later became a merchant in his life, and then the Lord to rule over Humans. He managed the trade in the Aurelian Dutchy, supervised the puppeted duke, and handled other human-spider affairs. The three spiders had gathered here in secrecy to discuss the spidery matters of the Monster Realm. ¡°It has been a while, Lord G Bling.¡± The Trusty Advisor greeted the other spider with a tap on the shoulder. ¡°We¡¯ve missed you here.¡± The Spider Archmage did much the same. ¡°Welcome back.¡± ¡°It¡¯s good to be back.¡± Lord G Bling chirped happily at the welcoming reception. ¡°Now, shall I go first?¡± The spiders nodded. ¡°Everything is going according to the plan.¡± The spider grinned stretching his mandibles wide. ¡°The humans are hopelessly stuck in our web where escape is no longer possible. We control their food supply and most of the critical industry. The Covenant of The Black Hand had fled the territory, and we looted their magical secrets.¡± ¡°That was a great boon.¡± The Spider ArchMage tapped the crystal on the staff. ¡°Thanks again.¡± Lord G Bling nodded. ¡°As of now, with my wife¡¯s help, we have fully monopolised the alchemy industry as well. Hence, we control food, trade, magic, potions and soon the military too. The entirety of the Aurelian Dutchy is under our web. Which brings us to phase two of the Trusty Advisor¡¯s plan: bringing humans and spiders closer, teaching them the ways of the Monster Realm and the Monster System. Duke Aurelius had set a good example embracing it fully, soon the rest of them will follow.¡± The other two spiders grinned happy at the news. The spider wasn¡¯t yet finished. ¡°To speed up the process we started to recruit the small humans. We¡¯ve found that young minds are more receptive to the spidery influence. The conversion will take time, but soon they¡¯ll learn to love the Spider King as we spiders do. It is only a matter of time.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± The Spider ArchMage chirped happily. ¡°And how is your personal experiment going on? Any success?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± The Lord G Bling chirped all too excited to share the recent breakthrough. ¡°It was our King who gave a hand. My wife is now an Alchemical Vesel, and I can transform into a more compatible spider variant. Hence, as of today, I¡¯m pleased to inform you that a spider-human hybrid is on its way.¡± ¡°Wonderful!¡±, ¡°Congratulations!¡±, the two spiders chirped giddily at the news. ¡°However¡­¡± Lord G Bling began only to pause. ¡°It remains to be seen if the child would carry the oath we do. And it¡¯s unlikely it will share our ancestral memories.¡± ¡°Even so, this is a great success.¡± The Spider Advisor chirped to dismiss such worries. ¡°You could just teach the child, like you said you do the small humans, no?¡± ¡°Indeed, you¡¯re right.¡± Lord G Bling agreed. ¡°Ah!¡± Spider ArchMage exclaimed suddenly. ¡°That reminds me. The Wisp, overjoyed by the new sapient race, bestowed the Ashen Rabbits with a peculiar boon, Blessing of The Great Ancestral Wisp. I¡¯m mentioning it, because you will find the effects desirable. It boosts growth, fertility, health, and most importantly it lessens the time needed for the individual to mature. I assume the blessing is there to give a push for new races.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± Lord G Bling Chirped with interest. ¡°Then I shall visit the Wisp and beseech it to bestow the blessing upon our child.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± the mage ruffled under his robe to show peculiar stones, ¡°crystals filled with squirrel souls. Give them to the Wisp. I¡¯m sure they will like it.¡± Lorg G Bling took the crystals without hesitation. ¡°Which nicely brings us to my report.¡± Spider Arch Mage clapped his spidery hands together. ¡°With the help of the Crystal Spider and the Darkness Spider the research on Mana Crystal: Dark is complete. This resource is rather scarce, but it is powerful, with its completion we can use it to power Dark magical devices without the need for a mage. Moreover, the Spider SoulStone is working as intended. The spider souls, even if far removed from the Monster Realm, are reaching the Soul Well no problem.¡± It sounded all good, but the Spider ArchMage¡¯s face soured for a moment. ¡°However, there were unforeseen issues. The well still pulls souls in its vicinity, and not just spiders. Every day it fills itself with squirrels and other minor souls. And just to remind you, it has only a capacity of 10000. Hence why we developed this.¡± He pulled an already familiar crystal. ¡°The Dark SoulStone, not to be mistaken with the Spider SoulStone.¡± The spider version was more powerful, worked at a distance and was attuned to store only spider souls. ¡°This little thing requires Dark Spirit Stones to make, but without it, I wouldn¡¯t be able to extract the junk souls out of the well. That still leaves us with the many spider souls accumulating in the well. The spiders who died of old age¡­¡± ¡°Yes, I am also aware of the issue.¡± The Trusty Advisor confirmed. ¡°But didn¡¯t we all agree that we want to serve in death as we do in living? Spider ArchMage, you can make spider constructs, use the souls to power the spells, or just convert them to mana, you can do anything really.¡± ¡°Yes-yes. ¡±The Spider ArchMage clacked his mandibles excitedly. ¡°But I was thinking of something grander, something Spidery Magnificent. I want to make a supermassive construct, a walking Spider Fortress! Normally, this would be impossible but with thousands of souls coming to help, I think I could pull it off.¡± All three spiders clacked their mandibles excitedly. ¡°Sounds wonderful and shiny! Everyone would be so impressed!¡± Lord G Bling said with the sparkly eyes of an excited kid. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°This is a perfect way to honour the dead spider souls. And they would still have a job and purpose, and a home of sorts. Lord G Bling, what is the name of that structure you told me about? ¨C the one where humans put the old wealthy humans to spend the remainder of their time in rest and comfort. ¡°The retirement home?¡± The spider chirped remembering. ¡°Yes, the Spider Fortress will be the Retirement Home for the old spider souls. A splendid idea Spider ArchMage, let¡¯s do that.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll need a lot of resources: Kobold Bricks, Glem, Corrundum, IronOak Wood. And at least a thousand spider crafters, no, make it two, we¡¯ll be working overnight. ¡°Consider it done!¡± The Trusty Advisor agreed readily. ¡­ After some time, the Galleon Whale once again returned from the Demon Realm. The Spider King was standing there at ready, keen to receive the newest report. And by the distinct lack of a set of lethal weapons which would otherwise be there to threaten him, it was obvious that Centauri were still missing. ¡°Huh, did something happen?¡± He wondered what the reason was. Since the misunderstanding about the origin of SapphireScale was cleared, he had sent the message for them to come back. A hatch on the side of the ship opened and a bunch of spiders emerged. A small spider ran straight up to him, likely to give him the report. He listened the spider chirp energetically to conclude the happenings. With the help of the Shadowling Fairy the spiders obtained permission to set a permanent outpost from the Forest Spirit. The spirit in question didn¡¯t mind the spiders at all, actually, it even attempted to recruit them to serve the Dark Forest. There was certainly something with the forest spirits and their like for his spiders; first there was the Wisp and now the Dark Forest Spirit. His spiders must be really cute! Of course, the recruitment was out of the question, however, the idea of loaning or hiring the spiders as some sort of mercenaries was an appealing one. Surely the Dark aligned spiders would blend perfectly in the shadowy environment of the Dark Forest. Before all of this, the Centauri had rescued three more Mer. But also, they stumbled upon some alarming rumours, something they could not ignore, hence their current absence. The Centauri Champion caught wind of the location of possible Centauri slaves, the people who failed to flee Centauri Castle and ended up as captives. The Cream Cheese Cavalry was on their way to rescue them. Not an entirely smart idea but considering the rash nature of the Centauri Champion it was understandable. ¡°Tell them they have my support.¡± Yes, the spiders will help the Centauri on their quest. He smiled at the idea of more Centauri, surely, Bareth would be happy too. And perhaps they¡¯ll snatch a male or two, a stud to keep the population going. With those ideas, he went inside to meet the rescued Mer. Disappointingly so, all three were girls. That made him curse his luck. Also, they weren¡¯t in the best of shape. The first one had a fresh nasty scar running across her face and blinding one eye. The second one had a pink gash on the entirety of the length of her undertail. The third was famished, but otherwise unharmed; she was the smallest of the two and clearly a juvenile Mer. Unlike the Day Sapphire the three Mer were excessively shivering and trembling in the large tank, no doubt still terrified by the spiders. The best medicine here was to bring them to the pond where the Mer Princess could explain to them that there was nothing to fear. The spiders helped him wheel the large tank to the pond, that, and carry the various aquatic plants to seed at the bottom of it. Just as he reached the nearby waters an enthusiastic Mer jumped out of the water to greet him. ¡°Hello, my King. What is that you brought me?¡± ¡°Your roommates. Please be kind to them.¡± ¡°Oh, thank you! I was getting bored of being all alone.¡± Yeah, the pond was somewhat boring, hence all the plants the spiders just brought. However, first, he wanted to address a certain matter. ¡°While I¡¯m here¡­¡± A light ray from the Rainbow Shell hit his eye, he moved his head slightly. ¡°I would like to¡­¡± It was shining on his face again. ¡°¡­ to ask you a peculiar question.¡± He tried to move away from the shimmering light, but it just kept finding him. ¡°Oh?!¡± Day Sapphire began expectantly. ¡°Ask away and I¡¯ll obey.¡± She flashed her shells at him again. ¡°I was thinking¡­¡± he shielded his eyes, ¡°Are Mer just like Lamia? All women exclusively, that is?¡± Knowing his luck that might just be the case. ¡°Huh? No, we have Mer Men.¡± He sighed, ¡°That¡¯s a relief.¡± A light flashed across his face as if begging for attention. Day Sapphire looked at the large tank to wave at her kin who were clearly spying on the conversation. ¡°But it is unlikely that our men would be captured by frogmen. You see, while we tend to our plants, they hunt in the Deep Trench. And also, Mer Men are better fighters too and less likely to end up captured by a frogmen raid.¡± ¡°That¡¯s something interesting I learned today.¡± He finally looked at the annoying source of rainbow light. Surprisingly, the light disappeared as if it had never been there. ¡°I filled up since we last met. Do you like what you see?¡± She said so while puffing her chest. Indeed, she gained some weight, but it would be rude to comment on that, so he deflected the question with one of his own. ¡°Since we have more Mer now, I grow curious. Why don¡¯t you tell me more about your land?¡± The Mer was happy to oblige. He learned that three massive lakes formed a formation better known as Deep Lakes, each having a city of its own. As the name implies the lakes were very deep and also there was an even deeper trench, a narrow fissure on the very bottom. Deep Trench spawned monsters of various kinds: some were tasty and useful, others were dangerous and poisonous. It was rumoured that somewhere in the oppressive darkness of the Deep Trench there was a Water magic source, but it was a dangerous place to descend so it was never properly confirmed. Rumours aside, Mer lived peaceful and quiet lives. Mer women farmed the Kelp and Clams, and Mer men hunted for fish and monsters. They were solely an aquatic race, so the Demon Lord never saw much use of them, so they were mostly left alone. And everything was fine, but then the frog tribes had attacked. They came from swamps and invaded the Deep Lakes at the promise of easy bounty. The frogmen were more numerous and better equipped. Soon the SapphireScales were being hunted like animals, their meat and scales harvested and traded out for alcohol or weapons. The real issue was that the Mer, unlike the frogmen, never traded much with the surface races. And now they were paying the price. ¡°Surely I could help with that.¡± The Spider King offered. ¡°It would never work. The Mer ever more so are cautious of other races. They would never welcome you.¡± She shot him down straight away. ¡°Anyway, let''s welcome the new guests. Welcome!¡± As if to deflect from the uncomfortable realities she waved at the large tank again. The Mer were released into the pond, they looked at Day Sapphire and then at the Spider King, remaining somewhat cautious. However, after seeing the two interacting with each other so casually, the biggest of their fears were dispelled. The plan was to leave them in Day¡¯s care, yet it would be rude not to introduce himself. ¡°Hello and welcome to the Monster Realm. I am the ruler here, the Spider King.¡± He said his line. ¡°Please tell me your names.¡± They looked at each other with a tinge of confusion. ¡°Only royalty possesses names.¡± The one with a scar across her face replied while looking at Day Sapphire. ¡°So how do I address you?¡± ¡°We¡¯re Maids, you can call us as such.¡± Mer¡­ Maids¡­ ¡°Mermaids?¡± he asked to confirm. ¡°Yes, Mer Maids.¡± Yeah, by this point he wasn¡¯t surprised by the lack of proper names. ¡°But how do I tell you apart? I can¡¯t call all three of you just as Maids.¡± ¡°Well, we do have nicknames.¡± ¡°Then tell me those.¡± They should have done so from the beginning. The Mer in question squirmed uncomfortably in the water. ¡°I am Shell.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you, Shell.¡° He looked at the other Mer. ¡°And you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m also Shell.¡± He looked at the third fully expecting her to also be nicknamed Shell. The little Mer hid behind one of Shells, displaying her shy character. ¡°I am¡­ I am Pearl, I guess.¡± ¡°Shell, Shell and Pearl, pretty names for pretty Mer Maids.¡± Pearl shook her head in protest. ¡°I¡¯m not a Maid yet.¡± Ah, a Maid as in the ordinary System profession! He understood it better now. Pearl continued in a meek voice ¡°I¡¯m an Apprentice Gatherer.¡± ¡°A very useful profession, well done.¡± He praised the girl. ¡°Your skill will come in handy.¡± With those words, the kid disappeared behind the other Mer completely. So Shy! ¡°Anyway, let me initiate you fully. Here have these gifts.¡± He took out the Rainbow Shells out of the inventory. ¡°Please put these on.¡± The Mer were quick to realise what to do with the gifted items. ¡°They¡¯re very pretty. Thank you!¡± ¡°Thank you, but why?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Ahem¡­¡± He didn¡¯t want to point at their nakedness. ¡°It¡¯s a custom we have here in the Spider Kingdom. Please wear it at all times.¡± The two Mer were smiling contently but the little one had a clear frown on her face. Unfortunately, for mysterious reasons the shell just refused to stick; the needed magic just wasn¡¯t there yet. Don¡¯t worry kid, you will grow! It was an easy fix. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ll tell the spiders to modify the shells so that they fit.¡± At that comment Pearl attempted to flee deeper into the pond, only to be stopped by Shell and Shell. Good call! He wasn¡¯t done with them yet. ¡°Now May I have your hands please.¡± The Mer looked at Day for reassurance, she simply nodded for them to obey. Surrounded by Mer he collected the hands in a buddle, like in a moment before the cheer part of the pep talk. ¡°Welcome to the Monster System.¡± He granted them the access. The looks on the Mer faces was truly a precious sight. Curious eyes studied his face more closely. ¡°Anyway, please enjoy your stay. Get some rest and your health back up. Day, please tell them in and outs of the system. Explain to them the perks and changes.¡± Changes such as losing their Profession but gaining access to multiple Jobs instead, plus a skill tree and the potential to evolve. Just before he was about to leave. ¡°Actually, I¡¯ll fetch someone to tend to your scars. She has some experience with that.¡± With those final words, he left the Mer to chat between themselves. ¡°Okay girls, please check my status with Inspect.¡± She said so while puffing up her chest. ¡°[Inspect]¡±, ¡°[Inspect]¡±, ¡°[Inspect]¡±, they did just so. ¡°As you can see, I¡¯m the only princess here. That means I¡¯m in charge of this pond. Any objections?¡± There was none. ¡°And it¡¯s clear to me now, the Spider King had brought you here to serve me. Any objections?¡± It was only natural; the princess needed her maids. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s get working and spruce this pond up.¡± She clapped her hands eyeing the many plants which needed planting. ¡°And while we''re at it, I¡¯ll tell you all about that charming man you just met.¡± Indeed, they were curious about his mysterious power. 123 - What Is The Symbol Of Love And Affection? The Mer Maids looked amazed at their blurry reflections in the water. ¡°What magic is this?!¡± Shell exclaimed. ¡°The scars, they are shrinking!¡± The other Shell exclaimed as well. ¡°Magic? - no, a Flesh Mending Potion,¡± Lady Crimson shook the empty bottle, ¡°A wonderous thing which had helped me too.¡± She touched the right side of her face, there was only smooth skin there. ¡°Lady Crimson!¡± Pearl looked at her with sparkling eyes. ¡°Perhaps you can help with my condition as well?¡± ¡°Sorry, Pearl. No potion like that exists.¡± She gave an apologetic smile to the little mer. ¡°If it did, I would become a millionaire overnight.¡± ¡°Aww¡­¡° Pearl sighed in disappointment. While the Mer were receiving free healthcare the spider King was getting ready to boost pond plants. The Mer had planted them already cutting the work he needed to do in half. He prepared a snorkel and some fins for himself, the pond was not that deep, but he had to get pretty low to reach the plants, hence the need for diving equipment. First, he used Acclimate to make them resistant to the Dark infused waters. And then he boosted the plants with Unnatural Selection, if left on their own gradually they would mutate into a new variant. But he didn¡¯t need to wait for that. He poked his head out of the water, Day Sapphire was close nearby, she was observing his actions with obvious interest. To be honest, she was staring at him the entire time, clearly interested in his unique anatomy. Well, now he understood better how other race girls must feel when he was staring at their unusual body anatomy. However, he was rather flattered by her insistent gaze. He looked at the conveniently close mer, ¡°Day, which plants do you think should I Evolve?¡± He looked at him thoughtfully. ¡°The whole plant evolution thing is new to me¡­¡± She admitted with clear wonder. ¡°But that somehow would make them better, yes?¡± She asked to confirm. ¡°Something like that, yes. But the outcomes tend to be somewhat random.¡± ¡°Look at this,¡± she pointed at the green leaves gently swaying in the otherwise calm water, ¡°MerKelp, our primary food source aside from fish.¡± ¡°Sounds useful, let¡¯s see what we get.¡± He dived to get to the plant. ¡°[Evolve].¡± With the already familiar lightshow, the kelp changed into something else. The green ribbon-like strands of the kelp turned pale white. The Spider King touched the white leaves, they were slimy to the touch, but also strangely plump, as if filled with jelly. Recklessly so, Day Sapphire plucked a leaf to and put it in her mouth shewing it. ¡°Bleh!¡± She spat it out. ¡°So bitter. It is inedible.¡± Well, he could try to mutate the bitterness out of the plant, but before that, ¡°[Harvest: Material].¡± [KelpCream x1], He emerged to the surface to investigate the ingredient. The cream was white and silky smooth. Indeed, it didn¡¯t seem edible at all, however, it reminded him the moisturising hand cream; the feel and consistency were exactly like it. ¡°Hey, Lady Crimson?¡± He called out the nearby woman who was just idly chilling by the pond. ¡°Check this out.¡± He swam closer to slap a glob of the cream on her hands. The Master Alchemist looked at the sloppy mess in her palm with disgust. But then her face turned curious. ¡°Could this be?¡± She shook the excess off and rubbed the rest on her hands. ¡°Huh?¡± And then she brought her hands to her face rubbing the cream in gently. ¡°It feels so soothing. What is it?¡± It was almost strange that she knew what to do with it, she did so as if by instinct. It seems women just had that natural sense for beauty products. ¡°KelpCream,¡± he said the obvious, ¡°I reckon it has moisturising properties.¡± ¡°What a wonderful thing!¡± She touched her face again. ¡°My skin feels so smooth already. Silky Smooth. What a discovery you made!¡± She looked at him with maddened eyes. Apparently, moisturising creams didn¡¯t exist in this world. This might be a discovery of the century. ¡°Well, if you like it so much, I¡¯ll harvest more of it for you. Then you can investigate the full properties of the cream.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± She clapped her hands excitedly. ¡°You do that!¡± He harvested as much as he could, killing the plant in the process, however, with the Seed Archive it wasn¡¯t an issue. He named the plant CreamKelp, a boring but convenient name. ¡°I don¡¯t get it.¡± Day Sapphire looked at the CreamKelp saplings. ¡°If it can¡¯t be eaten, it¡¯s not valuable. Why are you planting more?¡± ¡°I see¡­ since you¡¯re always in the water you don¡¯t get it. But try staying out of it and you¡¯ll know.¡± ¡°I would get all dry!¡± She frowned. ¡°That¡¯s exactly it. The cream here helps to prevent that. It nourishes the skin restoring it to a pristine state.¡± Well, that assumption was early but he was positive it was true. ¡°Oh! I get it.¡± She nodded. It seems she understood. ¡°With this, I could stay on land for days. I could become a land creature, just like you.¡± Or maybe she didn¡¯t. ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s how it works¡­ But perhaps you¡¯re right.¡± That is if she slathered her entire body with it, theoretically it could work. Spurred by success, he went to look for another plant to experiment on. ¡°What is this?¡± This time he picked a thick leaf floating on the surface. It was just a green leaf, something a frog would like to sit on. ¡°MerLily,¡± Day Sapphire named the plant with affection in her voice. ¡°It¡¯s not in the bloom yet, but then they bloom the flowers are extremely beautiful.¡± He looked at the plain green leaf, it didn¡¯t look that impressive. But yes, there was a tiny green ball on the side, the early beginnings of what must be a flower later. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Let¡¯s give it a shot, [Evolve].¡± The plant responded well to magic, the leaf grew wide and large. The green turned to dark grey, not an entirely pleasant colour to look at. The tiny flower bulb soaked the mana from the perk expanding in a sudden growth spurt. The growth resulted in a big black flower. The petals were many and despite the colour surprisingly shiny. ¡°You were right. The flower is extremely beautiful.¡± He couldn¡¯t help but admit. Day Sapphire simply stared in awe at the flower. ¡°Let¡¯s call it BlackLily.¡± The name seemed fitting. He plucked the flower and presented it to Day Sapphire. Surprise flashed across her face only to morph to an extremely wide smile. ¡°I accept.¡± She launched herself for a hug. It was just a flower, but for some reason she was extremely happy about the gesture. Needless to say, the lack of his usual robe made the wet embrace a bit too stimulating. She needs to learn not to press herself on people so vigorously! ¡°Ahem¡­¡± He cleared his throat uncomfortably. Day got the hint and released the Spider King from her embrace. The BlackLily was nested in her blue hair on the side of her head. The flower further complimented the already stunning Mer. ¡°You like what you see?¡± She asked cheekily. That question happened then he was caught staring. ¡°I do.¡± He admitted without overthinking it too much. ¡°Mer are very pretty. And shiny too.¡± It was the obvious truth. ¡°Then, as the custom demands, here,¡± she plucked a single scale from her tail, ¡°for you to keep.¡± She said with a slight blush. He wasn¡¯t too sure what this was about, but he took the Sapphire Scale regardless. Just as the name implied, it resembled a precious gem, and no doubt was of similar value. Wait¡­ if the Mer could shed their scales like this, this would turn to be a rather lucrative pond. He needed more Mer! The greed of the Spider King must have been misconstrued because Day Sapphire gazed at him curiously, her pink blush grew even hotter. ¡°You¡¯re certainly happy with my gift¡­ I didn¡¯t expect that.¡± ¡°Huh? Of course I am!¡± He raised the scale towards the sun, it coloured the incoming sunlight to bask his face in a sapphire blue glimmer. ¡°It is gorgeous.¡± ¡°Just like me?¡± He nodded¡­ wait why was she fishing for compliments? ¨C he wondered. Wait-wait¡­ were they flirting? ¨C he suddenly realised. He had a wife! He was a loyal husband! Yes! He stiffened at those thoughts, praying silently for forgiveness. Day Sapphire pouted at him ignoring her question. ¡°But this¡­ BlackLily,¡± she touched the flower, ¡°has some peculiar effects.¡± He wasn¡¯t too sure what she meant by that. ¡°[Inspect]¡±, he looked at her status. There in her Passive Perks slot was a new perk, Dark Magic Amplification. She gained it by essentially equipping the BlackLily, some of crafted items did that, but never the plants he evolved; this was the first for him. And another ground-breaking discovery! ¡°The effect sounds extremely useful,¡± he read the description the system gave him, ¡°fifty per cent power increase for the Dark spells.¡± ¡°But my affinity is Water¡­¡± ¡°Yes, might not be as useful for you. But for the spider mages¡­ they will chirp in happiness after seeing the flower.¡± Day Sapphire simply nodded. ¡°Perhaps I could Imbue and Mutate the flower to grant it Water affinity. But for that I would need Water Spirit Stone.¡± ¡°I would like that very much.¡± Day beamed him a smile. ¡°You should be able to get them in Deep Trench¡­¡± She paused realising something. ¡°Oh, I forget you¡¯re not Mer. You can¡¯t breathe underwater.¡± ¡°And, if what you said is true, they would never welcome strangers, not even for a simple trade.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, it is true¡­¡± She paused again. ¡°But if another Mer approached them ¨C it would be different.¡± What was she implying? He looked at her asking to elaborate. The Mer Princess read his puzzled face and did just so. ¡°If you let me, I could return to the Deep Lakes and try it. Also, the pond is still missing the fish. I could help with that too.¡± Was she¡­ was she attempting to escape from him? ¨C He couldn¡¯t help but suspect it. Indeed, if he wasn¡¯t so enthralled by the idea of having pretty mermaids in his pond, he would have just released the captured Mer back into their lake. But here he was, keeping and entertaining them as his ¡®guests¡¯. He was a flawed man¡­ However, the Mer Princess seemed like an honourable person. And by the looks of it she enjoyed his company just as much as he enjoyed hers. The Mer Princess''s words didn¡¯t sound deceptive. ¡°Of course,¡± he agreed without much hesitation, ¡°I would welcome your help. Thank you, Day Sapphire.¡± He bowed to her deeply or tried to since he was still in the water. ¡°Really?¡± She seemed surprised by that reply. ¡°Then, would you allow me to take a few things to bring home? For trade that is.¡± ¡°Of course!¡± He repeated. ¡°Please advertise our wares and get as many Spirit Stones as you can.¡± ¡°Would it be¡­¡± She began somewhat cautious. ¡°Would it be agreeable for me to invite more ¡®guests¡¯ to stay here in the Spider Kingdom?¡± ¡°Please do!¡± He liked where this was going. ¡°And get some Mer Men too.¡± She gave him an odd look. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ I¡¯ll try. But it¡¯s Maids I¡¯m after.¡± Thinking about it the three Mer were already subservient to her. It was likely that the princess here was after more servants and not guests or roommates. Either way, it works out. ¡°But surely you¡¯ll need guards, get some Mer Warriors too.¡± ¡°No¡­¡± She shook her head. ¡°You will protect me.¡± She said so knowingly. Yeah, she was right, and there were spiders too. Day gave him a quizzical look ¡°But why do you insist on Mer Men?¡± Telling her that his original plan of breeding the SapphireScales never died down was not the best of ideas. ¡°It would be sad to see all these Mer Maids without mates and babies. I want a healthy population, for centuries to come.¡± It a sense it was true, that¡¯s why the spiders were working diligently to finish rerouting the rivers to make the massive lake. ¡°Babies¡­¡± She blushed fixating on the word. ¡°We¡¯ve just started¡­¡± He gave her a peculiar look. Indeed, perhaps the pond here was not the best place for the young Mer. ¡°Surely, we will work hard to improve conditions here. I¡¯m sure the lake the spiders are making will be safe for babies.¡± He reasoned. ¡°Oh, you meant later. I see¡­¡± He nodded. ¡°So, please get some happy Mer couples if you can. I promise to treat them well.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do¡­¡± ¡°Of course, no pressure. It must be scary to go to some unknown land.¡± He admitted that point. ¡°No¡­ it¡¯s much safer here than in the Deep Lakes. No frogmen, right?¡± She asked as if to confirm. ¡°No frogmen, none at all!¡± He made a mental note to never invite them here. As if fate itself was listening to their conversation, the Galleon Whale was flying right above the pond, conveniently here to collect the Princess for her Quest for more SapphireScale. ¡°Look at that, we better get ready then.¡± He swam to the shore of the pond. ¡­ The third time was the lucky charm, finally, the ship contained dangerously endowed Centauri. However, it was not the Cream Cheese Cavalry. The Centauri here were clearly slaves, they looked famished and carried clear signs of torment and abuse. ¡°You poor girls!¡± He scanned the rescues dreading to imagine what they looked like when the Centauri Champion had found them. The spiders on the ship had tended to their wounds, but that was just the beginning of the recovery. One of the Centauri walked ahead of the herd. And no mistake, the centauri was a man! He was old carrying grey hair and many scars, but still, he was a male. ¡°The Legendary Spider King, I presume.¡± The Old Centauri bowed deeply and gallantly, a pose of respect only a Centauri could achieve. ¡°I was told we will be welcome here.¡± ¡°You were told right. You are. All of you.¡± The man gave him a weak but genuine smile. Relief flashed on his face, perhaps because he finally relaxed, or because he was just tired, the Old Centauri stumbled on his legs, almost falling over. The Spider King reached to steady the Old Centauri. ¡°Come, you must rest.¡± He led the man and the herd followed. He took a better look at the Centauri, the man he was supporting was clearly the oldest, but the rest of them were mostly young, or rather young adults. Actually, the herd was mostly women, just like Centauri Champion told him before: most men had died while fighting. But aside from the Old Centauri there were a bunch of young Centauri boys, surely, they¡¯ll grow into magnificent stallions soon enough. If this world was anything like the previous one, one stud was enough for fifty mares; nature was wonderful like that. Surely from here on the Centauri will increase in numbers. He guided them to the Centauri Camp, a place claimed and inhabited by local Centauri. The Centauri met their kind with excited nickers. What followed was a happy reunion. Soon an improvised celebration swept the entire camp. The Spider King overlooked the gathering casually from the sidelines. He was surprised at the great gusto the Centauri ate the AshenClover; the plant clearly was their favourite food. That was when he remembered leaving a bunch of rabbits to expand the Clover Garden. He hasn¡¯t checked on them for quite a while, but seeing the quantity of the clover here the rabbits must have been successful. Perhaps, checking up on them was entirely unnecessary. Also, his presence here was not needed either. So he went back to the Galleon Whale, the ship was in need to be prepared for the next expedition: The Mer Princess Quest for More Mer. 124 – The Foolish Kings With Wrong Assumptions Equipped with a protective Swimming Suit and a stack of Magic Scrolls for self-defence, Day Sapphire was making her way deeper into the Deep Lakes. The Princess title she had acquired when joining the Monster System had essentially doubled her MP allowing her to use Hydrokinesis without worry; the water was propelling her fast like some sort of torpedo. Even better the suit she was wearing had some interesting properties. She couldn¡¯t understand why or how, but the water just didn¡¯t stick to the suit allowing her to swim at even greater speeds. It was something to do with the Dirt Resistance perk the blue suit held, she was sure of that. The Mer Princess had a thoughtful look on her face. Needless to say, she was thinking about the Spider Kingdom and its ruler. He was a strange man with a mysterious power: to Evolve not only plants but also people; something like that was unheard of. Even if her visit was somewhat short, she had seen a wide array of different races working under him; the races who were clearly coveting The Spider King¡¯s strength and power. If his words were true, the spiders were working on making an artificial lake, a place where Mer could live. To claim it for SapphireScales was an enticing opportunity. And also, it would be safe from frogmen influence. Moreover, if she played her shells right, she would be the ruler of the lake and the Mer residing there. And despite the obvious things like the promised lake, and the uncontested wealth and power of the Spider Kingdom, she still found the man in charge charming. And that¡¯s why when he had proposed to her with a Lily Flower, as is Mer custom, she agreed without much hesitation. While yes, she was surprised, surprised at how fast the things were moving, her young maiden heart found it very agreeable. That is why she gave away her special scale, from a very special place, for him to keep. However, unvoluntary words escaped from her lips. ¡°But doesn¡¯t he have a wife already?¡± She frowned at her own rhetorical question. Then she thought about it some more, she understood that she shouldn¡¯t expect it to be any different. While Mer were monogamous, that didn¡¯t apply to all the races. And clearly someone with many options would want to take more wives. She didn¡¯t mind, not at all, it was just that she wasn¡¯t exactly thrilled at being the second wife. That is if she was second and not somewhere even lower down the pecking order. ¡°Matters not. I¡¯ll work my way up. Yes!¡± That¡¯s exactly why she was here. With those words, the sight of the Sapphire City reached her eyes. She¡¯d missed the sight of buildings made out of MerCoral and the glimmer of the sapphire decorations. It was early morning and the Mer Maids would be off to tend to MerKelp farms and Mer Men to hunt and fish, however it was not so. The beautiful buildings were half destroyed, broken shells and pieces of coral littered the lake floor. The only building without much destruction was the SapphireScale Palace, but even then, the beautiful scales adorning its roof and walls were all but missing. The Sapphire City was not devoid of people, they were still there, weary and tired but even so still picking at the ruins trying to scavenge what was left, trying to carry on with life. ¡°Monsters? No¡­¡± Day Sapphire shook her head; the monster attack wouldn¡¯t be this devastating. ¡°Frogmen.¡± She concluded. Slowing her Hydro Charge to a reasonable speed she approached the survivors. She was met with bewildered looks of surprise. ¡°Day? We thought we lost you weeks ago. Where have you been? Did you manage to escape?¡± She was shelled with questions. But she had her own. ¡°How is my father? And the mother too?¡± She gazed at the palace with worry. ¡°Oh dear¡­ How do I tell you this?¡± Day¡¯s return gathered the attention of the nearby Mer, who swam closer to look at her with sad expressions. Surely, they had their own losses, but even so, they were sad for her too. Those looks were the only confirmation she needed, she won¡¯t be pressing the Mer Maid nearby for gruesome details. However, she still had to ask. ¡°And my brothers and sisters?¡± She had no less than a hundred of them. ¡°Some were luckier than others¡­¡± The Mer Maid implied. ¡°One of your older brothers, Coral, he¡¯s the new King now. You should go and see him now.¡± She did as it was suggested, she rushed to the SapphireScale Palace. There in the palace, her brother gave her the full details. A great force of frogmen came a few days ago wielding javelins and nets. The Mer Hunters and the Mer Warriors were here but even so it was not enough. The frogmen slaughtered the resistance, captured whoever didn¡¯t flee and raided the Sapphire City for its precious scales. This was the biggest raid so far, and it was clear that the spot here was no longer safe. ¡°We have to go and try to live in the Deep Trench.¡± That was the conclusion her brother, no, the new Mer King had reached. The Deep Trench was a dangerous place teeming with monsters, if they did go there, unavoidably more death would follow. However, it was too deep for frogmen to reach; unlike Mer, they couldn¡¯t breathe underwater. ¡°Is that so¡­¡± She said knowing that the Mer King had a sound solution to an otherwise complicated problem, however¡­ ¡°I think there is another solution. You see for the last month¡­¡± She told her story. Mer King listened to all of it without interruption, however his face went through various expressions, mostly disbelief. Once she was finished only then did he ask: ¡°You didn¡¯t go crazy from grief, or eat some bad fish? Day, you¡¯re telling me fairy tales.¡± He touched her arm with worry but also with affection. ¡°Flying ships, monster kings, evolving plants, scar-mending potions, and other unbelievable magic¡­ Day, those things do not exist.¡± ¡°But they do!¡± She yelled out in protest. ¡°Sister, you¡¯ve been missing for weeks and now you tell me these fantasies. Look¡­¡± He paused to look again at her tail where a certain protective scale was missing. ¡°Whatever happened, whatever those filthy frogmen did to you¡­ you escaped. You¡¯re safe with us. Please, don¡¯t seek comfort in wild fantasies! Come, get some rest.¡± ¡°No one did anything to me! Not yet!¡± She yelled while blushing. ¡±For the mercy of the Holy Water Serpent, just check my status!¡± *Sigh*, ¡°You might be afflicted with Madness. It wouldn¡¯t be surprising.¡± He dismissed her claims again. ¡°I¡¯ll guess I have to see it in your status, then I¡¯ll know for certain.¡± He grasped her hand. ¡°[Read Status].¡± The Mer King¡¯s eyes bulged out in shock from startled amazement. ¡°Yeah! You see? So please don¡¯t jump to the wrong conclusions so readily.¡± She reprimanded her brother. ¡°And I¡¯ve brought items which will only prove my story. Come, I left them by the entrance.¡± It was a bundle of sample wares: food, cloth, potions, and weapons; all ever more useful because of the current situation. The Mer King ruffled through the items. ¡°Enchanted Weapons!¡± He exclaimed. ¡°With those we could have¡­¡± He shook his head, it was in the past already. ¡°More importantly where did you get all of this? Did the Demon Lord decide to sponsor us? If so¡­¡± The Mer King jumped to his conclusions yet again. ¡°Were you listening to my story at all?!¡± She began to doubt if her brother was fit to be King. ¡­ A strange phenomenon was taking place in the Spider Kingdom. The Spider King couldn¡¯t help but keep checking his status screen. ¡°I¡¯m not Charmed, Dazzled, Enthralled or Bewitched; so, what is the meaning of this?¡± He couldn¡¯t figure it out. The Lamia he passed all had charming pretty faces, it was hard not to look. But they were the same Lamia and not some new girls, yet still, the features seemed more feminine and enthralling. And it wasn¡¯t just Lamia, the Centauri fell into that category as well. All the women started to look like some magazine supermodels, crazy! The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The obvious conclusion was an unexpected spell of horniness. He assumed that since Lady Crimson was here, his wife might have forced her to mix a certain potion and then spike his drink or something; that was not beneath the Lamia Queen who was mischievous like that. And the solution was rather simple ¨C just give her what she wants. He did so, but even then, this strange spell continued. Unable to figure out the nature of this mysterious affliction he sought help; discretely of course. That¡¯s why he was lounging on a well-crafted spidery couch bearing the entirety of his heart out to the improvised therapist slash doctor. ¡°¡­ Perhaps it¡¯s a spell the Mer Princess put on me? She did kiss me you know, and I¡¯ve heard that some mermaid variants know Charm magic.¡± The Drow Assistant made some notes in her notebook. She had that look of an academian, the only thing missing was a pair of glasses. Yes, she was his improvised therapist, and she did look the part! Actually, it was rather hard not to stare at her. Despite her young age, she radiated the aura of maturity and wisdom, the lab coat and the notebook only added to that charm. She was shapely in all the right places, her skin was smooth and glistened in the gentle light, her black hair was tied in a ponytail, and she had that bewitching glint in her eyes, but most of all she smelled amazing. Oh no, the condition is worsening! ¨C He realised. Drow Assistant gave him a piercing look. ¡°No, I¡¯ve checked your status. Everything is fine.¡± She dismissed the Mer. ¡°Then perhaps it was the naughty fairy who stole my lips? She had some strange Hexcraft perk. Definitely suspicious, right?¡± She made more notes in her notebook. ¡°Suspicious yes, but I have a way to detect the Curses. I assure you, you aren¡¯t cursed or hexed.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good to know. Oh and¡­ the patient-doctor confidentiality is still a thing, right? You won¡¯t tell my wife about any of this?¡± ¡°But of course! You need not worry, your secrets are safe with me. We Drow are known for being trustworthy, are we not?¡± She touched her chest as if to emphasise the truthfulness of her statement. ¡°But even so¡­¡± She looked at him with narrowed eyes. ¡°You seem to be kissing a lot of women who aren¡¯t your wife. Anyone else I should be aware of?¡± She asked with shining eyes of curiosity, pen ready at her hand. There was another one, but he would never suspect his best friend even if they were a Lesser Eldrich monster with mind-invading abilities. They were the tightest of friends! ¡°No, there is no one else¡­¡± He lied, the therapist here didn¡¯t need to know everything. ¡°If not charms, curses or hexes, what do you think it is? What is the root of my embarrassing condition?¡± While in deep thought the Drow Assistant tapped her pen on the edge of the notebook. Her head jerked up as if in sudden realisation. ¡°Could it be¡­¡± She reached in the pocket of her lab coat. ¡°Are you familiar with this?¡± The Spider King took the clay container in his hands; the pottery was clearly Stone Shaped by Kobolds. He popped the lid right open; the inside was filled with a rather familiar creamy substance. ¡°KelpCream, what about it?¡± He asked nonplussed. The Drow Assistant gave him a warm smile. ¡°It seems you still don¡¯t understand¡­ and you were the one who made it, no?¡± Well, not quite, Lady Crimson improved the cream with some select additives to boost its properties. Without waiting for his unnecessary reply, the Drow Assistant reached into her cleavage. ¡°Hey!¡± He exclaimed overreacting slightly. ¡°Don¡¯t be so on edge, this is not exactly the Secret Elf Pocket, but a good hiding place nevertheless.¡± She reached deeper. ¡°This is something extremely valuable to us women.¡± She finally retrieved a small crystalline bottle putting it directly in his hands. The bottle was warm and considering where it was stored it made his mind go pink, worsening his already bad affliction. ¡°MeowChanel No 69.¡± He read the small label; the name sounded somewhat familiar. ¡°Is this perfume?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know it? But I¡¯m sure you¡¯re the one who made the Sand Lillies. This is the extracted fragrance of their petals.¡± The flower in question grew in the WyrmCity, it was known for its intoxicating scent that lured the unsuspecting creatures to be trapped in Quicksand and later consumed as nutrients by the plant roots. But apparently, the fragrance could be extracted and used for something better than traps. To confirm all this, he opened the bottle to take a small whiff from it. The smell was powerful but extremely pleasant for his nose, but also strangely familiar! ¡°The Lamia, Centauri, and even you. I was unknowingly smelling this the entire week!¡± Drow Assistant let out a small giggle. ¡°That concludes the mystery of your affliction. You¡¯re a victim of your own inventions.¡± She stretched her arm impatiently towards him. ¡°Now, give it back. It was very expensive.¡± She snatched the bottle, dropped a few drops of oily substance on her palms and rubbed it on her neck and long Drow ears. The bottle was then promptly corked and stored in a very secure place. Yes, the smell was alluring but it didn¡¯t afflict anyone with Charm or anything like that. It was just a universally liked fragrance. ¡°But I still don¡¯t get it¡­ Why do I feel like this?¡± He stared at now even more appealing Drow. ¡°It¡¯s rather obvious if you think about it. What are these two items used for?¡± She asked expectantly. ¡°The first one is a skin product and the other one is perfume¡­¡± It finally clicked to him. ¡°It enhances the natural charms of a woman!¡± ¡°Precisely! It doesn¡¯t show under normal Inspect, just like your Faction Rep wouldn¡¯t, but each of them gives Beauty +1.¡± She explained revealing the secret. ¡°Ah, I see¡­ so there¡¯s nothing wrong with me. It¡¯s just that you all are beautiful!¡± ¡°Yes, the items are working as intended.¡± She beamed a charming smile at him. ¡°Thank you. Thank you, Drow Assistant!¡± Overwhelmed by gratitude and the realisation that he wasn¡¯t just going crazy like some rabid dog; he jumped out of the couch to hug his improvised therapist; impulsively, just like a rabid dog would. He took in the sensation in: she smelled so nice, and her body was soft and warm. Oh, and that blushing face was a total eye candy. Wait! These two items were dangerous! ¡°Worth every penny¡­¡± The Drow Assistant whispered fully embracing him. ¡°Ahem...¡± He cleared his throat and stepped away prying himself out of her rather tight grasp. ¡°Sorry for that.¡± ¡°Worry not, everything that happens in this office is strictly under doctor-patient confidentiality.¡± She purred suggestively. Thank you, no thank you! ¡°Once again, thank you Drow Assistant. Let¡¯s do this professionally this time.¡± He stretched his arm for a shake of gratitude. She shook his hand with a pout. ¡°So, Spider King, do I get any reward at all for my services today?¡± He was in her debt so¡­ ¡°What do you have in mind?¡± He asked the dangerous question. She gave him a hungry look. ¡°I¡¯ve heard you¡¯ve obtained a Monster Core, and even better, you can seed others with a piece of it.¡± She inched to him closer. ¡°I very much would like to get it myself, mostly for research purposes that is. So, would you kindly please put that seed in me?¡± His core had grown back to the original 500MP and then some more but albeit way more slowly. Hence there was zero issue with the request. ¡°Sure.¡± He agreed. ¡°That¡¯s the least I can do.¡± The Drow Assistant ran to the door and used a latch to lock them. ¡°Huh?¡± He was confused by that action. ¡°Let¡¯s do this!¡± She swung her lab coat off to the corner of the wall. While the Drow Assistant still had other layers of clothing on, the Spider King jumped forward to clear the misunderstanding. A firm hand rested on her shoulders. ¡°[Core Seed]!¡± He forced his mana inside. ¡°Eek!¡± She yelped trembling slightly at the forceful burst of power ravaging her insides. ¡°Here, done. I¡¯m off! [Shadow Walk]¡± He phased right through the door. ¡°Tch!¡± She clicked her tongue. ¡°So that¡¯s how it works¡­¡± She reached for her discarded notebook to make notes. ¡°[Status].¡± She brought the screen to note the changes. At that instant, her slightly frustrated face went completely blank.
Monster Race: Drow Magic Affinity: Fire, Earth, Wind, Air ?? ???????¡â??? ???
HP:80 MP:1100 STA:80
Active Perks [Detect Magic], [Drow Regeneration], [Elemental Arrow]
Passive Perks [Mana Well], [Elemental Affinity], [Darkvision], [Stealth]
Resistances [Elemental Resistance: Lesser], [Poison Resistance: Lesser] [Evolve?]
¡°I can evolve¡­ I can Evolve!¡± She rushed out of the office to catch up with the Monster King. Sensing the trail of magic he had left behind. 125 - The Trouble Brought By The Poorly Timed Evolution *Bang-Bang-Bang*, a series of pounding knocks shook the door. Drow Assistant had tracked her quarry by using Detect Magic; no doubt he was behind these doors. But they were locked so¡­ *Bang-Bang-Bang* ¡°Occupied!¡± A frustrated voice informed. ¡°Spider King, open up. This is an emergency!¡± ¡°Oh it¡¯s you¡­¡± ¡°Yes it is I, Drow Assistant. Will you open now?¡± ¡°¡­¡± *Bang-Bang-Bang*, she hammered the door with both of her hands. ¡°This is washroom, you know!¡± He yelled at her. ¡°Some things can¡¯t be rushed!¡± ¡°But it is an emergency!¡± She yelled back at him. ¡°¡­¡± After the sound of flushed water, the door lock clicked and the Spider King emerged from the cupboard-like room. His robe was ruffled, the sleeves rolled back, and his forehead dotted with fresh beads of sweat. A funky smell wafted from inside, but such things were expected and will be forgotten. ¡°What is so urgent?¡± He looked at the drow giving her an annoyed look. ¡°I can evolve! Evolve me!¡± She demanded. ¡°What, really? [Inspect]. You can! But why?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the Monster Core I assume.¡± It pushed her towards finally unlocking her evolution. ¡°Now please don¡¯t delay It any further.¡± He touched her shoulder with his hand. ¡°Good luck, [Evolve].¡± His mana dipped to negative, -1000MP, and the blinding light exploded from her body. The magic was so strong that its pressure by itself was enough to shove him back into the room. His head spun and he felt like he would pass out very soon, but not before a slew of messages: [Requirements have been met (Monster Core, Drow)] [Drow Assistant received Drider Evolution option] [Special requirement has been met (Elemental Affinity)] [Drow Assistant received Drider Destroyer Evolution option] [Special requirement has been met (Mana Well, Spidery Magnificent)] [Drow Assistant received Drider BroodMother Evolution option] [Perk Chaos Blessed was triggered] [Chaos requirements have been met (Monster King, Drider BroodMother, Drider Destroyer)] [Drow Assistant received Drider Calamity Evolution option] The system was broken to offer her something like that. ¡°Go home, Monster System, you¡¯re drunk! Ahhh!¡± The Spider King let out a pained grunt and passed out on the washroom floor. ¡­ The consciousness was returning to his mind, but his head still felt heavy. He opened his eyes, the vision was still blurry but he could see a monstrous outline of someone looming right above him. He blinked a few times to clear the blurriness. His eyes went wide! ¡°[Shadow Walk]!¡± He tried to escape but the magic refused to form. Indeed, he was at 0MP and Negative Mana debuff was shouting at him to stop trying. There was a terrifying monster standing right above him! Wait, no, he recognised the face. Yes, he remembered now, he had evolved her, and this was the result. She stood tall and imposing, her upper half was drow-like but her lower half was entirely spider-like. Her body was in equal parts terrifying and majestic, exuding the aura of power and regality. She had smooth obsidian skin which, despite its colour, was oddly reflective and shiny. She had six piercing red eyes gleaming with intelligence and authority. Her long silver hair was still bound in a ponytail which stretched all the way down her back, it give her form the air of feminine elegance. Below her waist, her body was completely spider-like. Multiple slender and chitinous legs extended from her torso, each ending in sharp and almost metallic claws. Her rear side, the spider abdomen, was big and bulbous giving her a lot of mass and the power which came with it. ¡°Don¡¯t stare at me like that!¡± She exclaimed while pressing his robe close to herself as she would with a bath towel; she was trying to hide her uncovered body. At some point, she must have stripped his robe to cover herself. Indeed, the transformation must have been a violent one, shreds of her garments lay scattered next to the door of the washroom. ¡°Why are we still in the bathroom?¡± He asked somewhat annoyed by that fact. With the Drow Assistant looming right above him, he couldn¡¯t even stand; the tiny washroom was clearly too small for her, not to mention both of them. ¡°My clothes exploded, I panicked and ran inside. As you can see, I am completely in the nude.¡± She said with a reddened face. ¡°Go get me some clothes, please. And stop staring!¡± He wasn¡¯t doing it on purpose¡­ He shuffled to slide under her and closer to the door. Her massive spider butt was blocking the access to the handle, so he tapped it to make her move. ¡°Eek!¡± She yelped. ¡°I¡¯m still tender, please be gentle.¡± She moved her massive body closer to one of the corners, allowing to finally open the door. ¡°I¡¯ll be back with something.¡± He stood to leave, still surprised at her managing to squeeze past the otherwise narrow doorway. She was lucky that all rooms were made spider accessible, otherwise she would be left naked in the corridor. But right before he left, ¡°[Inspect].¡±
Monster Race: Drow Variant: Drider Calamity Magic Affinity: Fire, Earth, Water, Wind ?? ??? ?? ??? ??? ??? ?? ?? ??
HP:1000 MP:2000 STA:500
Active Perks [Detect Magic], [Regeneration], [Elemental Web], [Paralysing Touch], [Synthesise: DriderSilk], [Empower Spiders], [Bestow Rank]
Passive Perks [Mana Well], [Elemental Affinity], [Darkvision], [Master Stealth], [Egg Layer], [Chitinous Armour], [Web Mastery], [Calamity], The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Resistances [Elemental Resistance: Lesser], [Poison Resistance: Medium]
She was a beast of a woman! Her base stats (1000:2000:500) were now in tow with his own! And just like Monster Duke she could now recruit followers and Bestow Rank upon them. Not to mention the fact that his fingers were itching to get that DriderSilk. With those news, he ran to the nearest workshop to get something agreeable with the fresh and improved form of the Drow Assistant. For now a simple robe will do, and later she could just make her own dress or something, after all she had that Web Mastery which implied that she could spin all sorts of designs using her silk. He explained the situation and the nearby spider helped to cut the readily available Blue Cloth. Since the Drow Assistant was stuck in the washroom, hence fittingly so, a simple robe much like a bathrobe was made in the matter of minutes. He ran back to the newly evolved drow with a spider in tow; hearing the abridged details the little guy was curious to see her new form. *Knock-Knock*, he knocked politely, ¡°I¡¯m back.¡± Something big and heavy moved inside the otherwise tiny washroom and the door parted ever so slightly. ¡°Thanks.¡± A hand reached to retrieve the bathrobe. ¡°And sorry for being so crabby before¡­ if you¡¯re curious you can come and have a good look. I don¡¯t really mind.¡± He was very curious. Drider anatomy was positively fascinating. However, he was curious about something else too. ¡°If you can make silk now, why didn¡¯t you just create some clothes?¡± ¡°¡­¡± A silence only indicated that the panicked Drow Assistant didn¡¯t think of that. Or perhaps not. ¡°What are you even asking?! I wouldn¡¯t do that while you were still in the room! It¡¯s like you watching me pee. The very idea of it is embarrassing.¡± He could hear her squirm and shuffle in the room. But she said if he was curious, he could come and have a look¡­ Women were so quick to change their minds! And now he was even more curious: From where exactly in her body does the DriderSilk come from? The door finally opened. ¡°And anyway, this was quicker.¡± She straightened her bathrobe, which covered her top and thick spider bottom equally effectively. ¡°Beautiful!¡± No, it wasn¡¯t the Spider King who chirped the praise. ¡°Spidery Magnificent!¡± The spider was positively ecstatic. The Drow Assistant smiled at the spider but then her face shifted to the Spider King; she was looking at him expectantly. Well, he didn¡¯t want to be outdone by a spider. ¡°You¡¯re absolutely gorgeous, Drow Assistant. I can¡¯t wait to see you in a proper dress!¡± ¡°Oh?¡± She smiled cheekily at him. ¡°Then I assume you¡¯ll make me one.¡± Right, this was on him, but he can turn it around. ¡°If you give me your DriderSilk, I will.¡± For some reason, she blushed, nodded, and didn¡¯t say much of anything else. The Drow Assistant squeezed her massive body through the doorway and then the free of them proceeded down the corridor. A strange phenomenon took place. Every time they passed the spider, the spider would look with bewitched eyes at the Drow Assistant and join them on their small wall. Soon they had a small flock of spiders trailing right behind. ¡°One. Of. Us.¡± The spider chirped. ¡°One of us.¡± Another repeated. ¡°One Of Us!¡± The other chanted. ¡°One Of Us!¡±, ¡°One Of Us!¡±, ¡°One Of Us!¡± ¨C the flock began the chant. The Drow Assistant was swarmed by spiders, picked up from the ground and despite her protests hauled outside the Spider Palace. Not even once did the Spider King think of stopping the spiders, indeed, this was a moment of celebration. Drow assistant was the first Drow to evolve, and her new form was simply Beautiful! He wouldn¡¯t be surprised if she went to become a spider idol of some sorts. ¡­ The Galleon Whale made yet another landing. With high expectations the Spider King went right inside the ship. The entire cargo hold was converted to something akin to a massive fish tank, and the best of all, it was full of aquatic life. There were Mer, yes, but also there were schools of fish swimming besides them. Day Sapphire waved her hand at him in greeting. ¡°I¡¯ve brought settlers!¡± She announced with a self-satisfied grin. ¡°Amazing!¡± He couldn¡¯t help but exclaim giddily. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of Mer!¡± By a quick count - no less than a hundred. ¡°And I¡¯ve brought you this.¡± She flashed sea-blue stone at him. ¡°Water Spirit Stone, you got it!¡± Now he was super excited. ¡°We did.¡± She flashed another smile. ¡°Now don¡¯t be shy.¡± She sent a jet of water towards him. ¡°Come, get down and greet my people.¡± Needless to say, he avoided the otherwise expertly aimed water jet, but he didn¡¯t mind getting wet. He discarded his royal robe and jumped right into the waters of the cargo hold. There, the Mer Princess greeted him with one of her now iconic tight embraces, yet still surprising him that instant. She gazed at him giving him a look he couldn¡¯t quite read, her hand lingered on him for a while as if expecting something, but soon enough she let him go. Perhaps, all Mer were touchy-feely just like this; he never had entertained that possibility before. Indeed, in some cultures even something as intimate as a kiss could be interpreted as a simple greeting. Day Sapphire swam to his side allowing him to take a better look at the Mer. They all were SapphireScales of various ages and mostly women, but luckily he did spot a few male Mer. And also Mer boys, who just like Mer girls, clung to their mothers as if afraid of his presence. ¡°Welcome to the Monster Realm, I¡¯m the ruler here. My name is Monster King.¡± He introduced himself using the Aura Projection to emit the aura of friendliness. ¡°Come, greet him.¡± Day Sapphire urged her kin. The Mer were looking at him with various gazes and different emotions: wariness, expectation, curiosity, gratitude, indifference, all sorts were there. He stretched his arms invitingly ready for a hug. ¡°Come, I won¡¯t bite.¡± A Mer Hunter swam up to him. And it was just a handshake he offered, and just a handshake was good enough. ¡°Welcome,¡± the Spider King began, ¡°to the Monster System.¡± With that said, he granted the access. The hunter looked at his arm with clear amazement and then back to the Spider King. ¡°Thank you, Spider King.¡± He gestured to what must be his wife and child indicating for them to come and greet the King. Just like that the ice was broken and the Mer were taken under the Spider King¡¯s protection. Strangely, there were no hugs, only handshakes, so maybe his previous assumption was not entirely correct. And while he was at it, the spiders had flown the ship right above the pond. ¡°With all of you hare, compared to the Deep Lakes, the pond might feel small and lacklustre. But we are working on the lake. It won¡¯t take much longer.¡± He informed them apologetically. ¡°It will be fine.¡± Day Sapphire hugged him from the side as if to reassure him. ¡°Get ready for departure in¡­¡± The spider above the deck chirped to inform beginning the count. ¡°3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­ Open the hatch.¡± The hatch on the side opened and the ship tilted to the side. The contents of the cargo hold spilt into the pond. The Mer and the fish, being the aquatic creatures, handled the momentary waterfall with grace. However, the Spider King had no such aquatic abilities, the rushing stream of water pulled him out forcefully, his body tumbled and spun in the water as he was dropping into the pond below. And then with no grace at all, he was tumbling down like a rock destined to hit the bottom of the pond. Luckily, Day Sapphire scooped him up right before he could hit the bottom and pulled him to the surface, allowing him to recover the lost pride. ¡°Are you alright?¡± She asked with a giggle, clearly amused by his water clumsiness. ¡°Thanks for the save.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± ¡°But hey, really, well done.¡± He looked at the nearby Mer curiously investigating the evolved plants. ¡°¡­¡± Day Sapphire had a distant look on her face. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± He asked somewhat concerned. ¡°Not everyone wanted to come. I¡¯ve convinced as many as I could.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s more than I expected anyway.¡± ¡°No, you don¡¯t understand, you see¡­¡± She recalled her visit to the Sapphire City. He learned about the frogmen and the raid on the Sapphire City. And about the aftermath of Day¡¯s meeting with her brother, the Mer King. In the gist of it, the Mer led by their King decided to start fresh in the Deep Trench. She only managed to snatch up her closest friends, people who trusted her words, and some other Mer she bribed. After finishing the story of her quest for more Mer, she hugged him tightly again giving him big begging eyes. ¡°But please,¡± she began, ¡°, even if they don¡¯t want to be a part of your kingdom, please don¡¯t abandon them.¡± He knew what she meant, the Mer King needed weapons and potions to survive in the Deep Trench. Actually, this wasn¡¯t a problem, this was an opportunity. ¡°I won¡¯t abandon them. It would be cruel of me, and mean to you, after all, they are your people. I¡¯ll help them if they¡¯ll welcome my spiders. You have nothing to worry about.¡± She expressed her emotions by planting a kiss on his cheek. ¡°Thank you! I¡¯ll repay you tenfold!¡± No, it will be the Mer who will repay in the form of monster parts and Water Spirit Stones. He¡¯ll gear them up to the teeth, and then make them gather resources for the Spider Kingdom as payment. And since he was already helping them. ¡°Also, there is the frogmen issue, and the captives they took¡­¡± He understood that much from her story. ¡°You¡¯ll help with that too?!¡± ¡°Sure.¡± The spider saboteurs were expert at sneaking in the shadows, they would just recapture the Mer; simple as that, no need to go to war and expose himself as someone hostile to the Demon Realm. ¡°It won¡¯t be a problem.¡± With those words, Day Sapphire became rather affectionate with her hands. Too affectionate. Hey, where are you touching?! ¡°We¡¯re in public.¡± He grappled her naughty hand. ¡°And please, I am a married man.¡± ¡°Is that so¡­¡± She pouted at him. He couldn¡¯t help but think¡­ recently he grew rather popular with women. Something to be happy, but apparently the popularity came with its own trials and tribulations. To distract her, and himself from the temptation, he pointed at the BlackLily. ¡°Now I have what I need to mutate it,¡± he took out the stone, ¡°Let¡¯s do it!¡± Surprisingly, Day invited other Mer to watch it as if it was a show for entertainment. ¡°[Mutate], [Imbue]!¡± He put more fanfare to it than normally. The flower changed once again, the leaves returned to their green colour and the petals turned from black to blue. BlackLily was mutated into WaterLily, an equally pretty flower with equally potent ability. When equipped it granted the Water Magic Amplification perk. Entertained by the performance the Mer cheered and clapped for the Spider King; they didn¡¯t even Inspect the flower for its abilities. Without further ado, he presented the flower to the Mer Princess. Mer began to clap and cheer with an increased vigour. And all he did was just to transform a single flower; they were an easy crowd to please. Day Sapphire received the floured with the biggest smile he saw so far, and her cheeks were flushed ping, clearly, she was embarrassed by the crowd. ¡°Congratulations!¡±, ¡°Well done!¡±, ¡°I¡¯m so happy for you!¡±, the Mer cheered one after the other. Truly, an exceptional reception; he bowed to the crowd. And then here she was, getting naughty with her hands again. And what was this? Another kiss! His lips were stolen! He pulled away from a wet kiss. ¡°I¡¯m wondering¡­ Are you on a Fertility+ Potion?¡± He whispered. ¡°No¡­ Why? Oh!¡± Realisation flashed across her face. ¡°I¡¯ll get one as soon as possible!¡± Her embrace only tightened. ¡°Please don¡¯t. I asked because I can¡¯t understand why you are¡­ so touchy with me?¡± He asked in a whisper since the Mer still had their eyes on them. ¡°Huh? Are you embarrassed? Lovey-dovey couples need to be lovey-dovey!¡± She said it as if it was the simplest thing in the world. Couples? Lovey-dovey? ¡°But we¡¯re not a couple, right?¡± He said it while smiling weekly, something fluttered in his stomach. ¡°That¡¯s right! We¡¯re married. I love you!¡± She shouted it for everyone to hear. Strength left his body¡­ and he almost fainted. The trial of the popularity was too tribulating for him! Obviously, there was a misunderstanding to resolve before his wife strangled him and ate all the Mer for breakfast. ¡°Day, let¡¯s go somewhere more private.¡± He offered. She grabbed his arm. ¡°I know just the spot, in the CreamKelp field, no one will hear us there. Let¡¯s go, I can¡¯t wait.¡± She dragged him enthusiastically. 126 - I Cant Be Your First, But I Shall Be Your Second! 😚 Hidden behind the dense and thick strands of the CreamKelp the newly married couple were having a rather intimate moment. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± The Spider King apologised for the umpteenth time already. He had cleared the misunderstanding with the Mer Princess, but that didn¡¯t solve the consequences he still had to face. ¡°Please, I understand.¡± Day Sapphire fluttered her long eyelashes at him. ¡°You don¡¯t have to tell your wife¡­¡± She offered suggestively. This temptress! Mer indeed were naturally charming. And no, he had to tell his wife; she was not perfect, but he still loved her. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Day, there¡¯s just no way I can take a second wife.¡± His words didn¡¯t seem to upset her in the slightest. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± She thought for a moment. ¡°If not a wife, then I can be your personal maid, Mer Maid, right?¡± She blinked at him seductively. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± It was his turn to be thoughtful. ¡°Spider King,¡± she addressed pointing at the sweet spot on her lower half, ¡°those do not grow back. You need to take responsibility.¡± She pointed right at him. She was referring to the scale she gave him. Yeah, now that he knew the meaning of the scale, it was rather special. ¡°Of course, I will take responsibility.¡± He declared like any man should. ¡°Then it¡¯s settled, from now on, I¡¯m your personal maid.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, my King.¡± She purred sweetly. ¡°I¡¯ll have a word with your wife in person. I¡¯m sure she will understand.¡± Was that really a good idea? ¨C He wondered. ¡°Actually, don¡¯t tell her anything. Not yet. Let me speak with her first.¡± Day nodded to herself hatching a plan of some sort. ¡°Are you sure about this?¡± He asked with worry. ¡°It will be fine, trust me.¡± She reassured. ¡°Why don¡¯t you go and get her.¡± ¡°Now?¡± ¡°Now is the best.¡± Maybe she was right, the longer he kept the misunderstanding going the worse it would get. And if a strange rumour reached the Lamia Queen that he took a second wife, he would be done for¡­ ¡°I¡¯ll get her right now.¡± He rushed to the Spider Palace. ¡­ The Lamia Queen was a surprisingly good swimmer, he had almost forgotten how much they loved water, especially hot springs. Well, this was not hot nor was it a spring, either way, his wife swam towards the Mer Princess and then she greeted her with a wet hug. And a kiss? ¨C Strange. ¡°Mer Princess, sss,¡± she hissed happily, ¡°he finally introduces us.¡± ¡°Lamia Queen, a pleasure to meet you.¡± Day smiled at the lamia while still in her embrace. Yeah¡­ he never introduced the two. In his defence, he was just very busy! And at some point, his wife had gone missing on one of her errands. But hey, this was a good start so far. Day Sapphire whispered something to the Lamia Queen¡¯s ear. ¡°I sss-see.¡± She hissed then looked directly at the Spider King. ¡°It¡¯s time for the girl talk. Sss-shoo!¡± She waved at him to go away. The Spider King gave Mer Princess a questioning look, she just blinked with her left eye at him giving a mischievous smile. ¡°Fine. Keep your secrets.¡± He swam out of the pond giving the girls the needed space. But his wife was rather unpredictable, at any moment he feared her turning on the Mer and trying to eat their naughty princess. So he stayed on the shore and observed the two talk animatedly from the distance. One of the mer swam close, pulled herself out of the water and joined him by his side. He looked at the surprising company, if he remembered the little mer was named Pearl. She was small and cute, her left arm was decorated by an improvised kelp bracelet with the BlackLily on top. Perl just stayed there quiet by his side while making ripples in the water with the slow movements of her tail. She was giving him sideways glances now and then but every time he looked back at her she turned her head away from him. So shy! The girl talk was taking some time, but by the looks of it, there won¡¯t be any hostilities. While enjoying the company of his quiet companion, he continued to wait for them to finish. Getting somewhat comfortable by his presence Pearl finally spoke up. ¡°Spider King, what does Evolve? do?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± He looked at her surprised. The way she phrased the question was peculiar. ¡°[Inspect]¡± His eyes widened in realisation. ¡°It means you can Evolve into something stronger, perhaps a different variant of Mer.¡± He explained it coolly while being rather excited about it. The excitement must have rubbed on her too. ¡°What, really?! Does that mean I will grow bigger?¡± ¡°In all honesty, I¡¯m not too sure. You¡¯ll be the first Mer to go through¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s do it!¡± She yelled pumping her fists into the air. ¡°Sure, why not...¡± It was up to Pearl to decide anyway. ¡°[Evolve].¡± [Chaos Blessed activated], oh no, something wild was about to happen. Pearl shimmered in purple light and her body began to grow and expand, albeit in moderate amounts. The tail got longer and so did her arms and torso. As she grew, she shed all of her sapphire scales dropping them on the pond floor. The light show ended revealing her new body. ¡°It¡¯s bigger!¡± She patted her chest with satisfaction. ¡°¡­¡± The Spider King just stared bewildered. No, not at her chest, at the Pearl; she had changed so much! The sapphire scales were replaced by black obsidian. Her blue skin was now a light shade of grey and her long hair had turned ashen. Her eyes were coloured purple and her mouth was now full of needle-like teeth. He could count them all in that broad grin of hers. ¡°[Inspect].¡± He invoked with anticipation.
Monster Race: Mer Variant: Obsidian Siren Magic Affinity: Dark ?? ?? ???¡â? ?? ??
HP:150 MP:200 STA:100 Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
Active Perks [Sonic Scream], [Syren Melody], [Draining Kiss]
Passive Perks [Obsidian Scales], [Camouflage], [Charming Voice]
Resistances [Water Resistance: Lesser], [Dark Resistance: Lesser]
¡°My scales!¡± Pearl had finally noticed, and her broad grin turned into a worried frown. ¡°They¡¯re all black! I¡¯m ugly now!¡± Tears began to pool in the corners of her eyes. In a sense it was his fault: sometimes, no, rather often, his Dark affinity rubbed on the creatures he was evolving, and what was done couldn¡¯t be undone. However¡­ ¡°Pearl, you¡¯re beautiful. You really are!¡± He praised to dispel her insecurity. ¡°Obsidian might be black, but it¡¯s still shiny! Believe me, your scales are no less precious.¡± He nodded. ¡°And your voice¡­ It¡¯s majestic.¡± Indeed, the sound of it was so good he would end up Charmed if not for his resistances. ¡°My voice¡­¡± She put her palm on her mouth only to remove it in a shout. ¡°My voice! It¡¯s different¡­ It¡¯s nice.¡± ¡°It¡¯s charming. Sing me a song.¡± He encouraged. ¡°Mmm¡­ Okay.¡± She smiled at him and began singing: === My enchanting voice will bind you tight ? Let us swim and play in the pond at night ? Don¡¯t try to escape, I¡¯ll give you my kiss ? Then you¡¯ll fall in my loving¡­ abyss ? You¡¯ll find no escape from my tight embrace ? My hands will guide you to the enchanted place ? Close your eyes, prepare for the bliss ? I¡¯ll take your love with my Draining Kiss ? === If the evolution lightshow wasn¡¯t enough to gather the attention of the nearby Mer, the Charming song did the trick. Mer surrounded the siren to listen to her short, improvised song. And once she was done a thunder of applause shook the pond with demands for more. The shy Perl blushed brightly but granted the Mer their request. The sudden burst of activity in an otherwise calm pond brought the ''girl talk'' to an abrupt conclusion. The two of them swam to the Spider King who was happily singing along to the siren¡¯s song. ¡°Ahem,¡± Day cleared her throat to get his attention. She was pouting for some reason. He ought to rename her the princess of pouts; she was doing that frequently. He looked at the Lamia Queen, her expression was neutral, she was clearly not affected by the song, nor was she overly impressed. ¡°Sss?¡± She hissed questioningly at his gaze. ¡°It¡¯s not fair!¡± Day Sapphire Interrupted their moment slamming the nearby water with her tail. ¡°Why does she get to evolve first!?¡± He could only shrug at that. ¡°Monster System works in mysterious ways¡­¡± ¡°Enough of that, sss, husband, we must discuss sss-something. Come.¡± She urged him with a thin smile. Oh no¡­ so he was in trouble, of course he was! On their way to the Spider Palace, the lamia didn¡¯t even hiss a single word. That was until they were in the confines of the palace walls. ¡°The Mer, sss, I¡¯m very impressed by them. Especially the Mer Princess.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± He gave her a questioning look. ¡°She understands who is in charge in here, sss, Mer are now my vassals, S-S-S!¡± She laughed. ¡°Finally, I get vassals for myself!¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°You have Drow, Kobolds, Centauri and others¡­ SSS! and what do I have? Only Lamia. But not anymore, sss, the Mer now serve me. Me, the Lamia Queen. S-s-s.¡± ¡°Is this what you talked about?¡± ¡°Yes-sss, the races with body tails sss-should sss-stick together, is what she sss-said.¡± She gave another smile. ¡°Wise she is-sss. I approved that instant.¡± ¡°Was there anything else you talked about?¡± He asked anxious, this couldn¡¯t just be it. ¡°Huh?¡± It was her turn to do that. ¡°Sss¡­ Oh, her only request was for her to be allowed to become your maid. You¡¯re not against that are you?¡± She glared at him. ¡°I¡¯ve already agreed.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°You can¡¯t say no, sss, I don¡¯t need Mer Maids, I have my Lamia Servants. And as my loyal vassals they will serve you right. I¡¯ll make sss-sure of that.¡± That was not a problem, no issues at all. All worked out in the end. But thinking about that. ¡°How are the Mer Maids supposed to serve me, here in the Spider Palace, which is on the ground, and they are in the pond, with no legs¡­¡± He just voiced it out curious about the logic of it. ¡°SSS!¡± Realisation flashed across her face. ¡°She tricked me!¡± The Lamia Queen hissed sharply. ¡°No, no. I take it back. It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯ll have your Mer Maids.¡± He jumped to reassure. ¡°And there is another thing¡­¡± he paused steeling himself. ¡°I might have kissed the Mer Princess a few times, involuntarily of course!¡± He left the part where he enjoyed those accidental kisses. ¡°Sss!¡± She hissed sharply. ¡°What of it? That¡¯s how they greet royalty, right? She kissed me later too¡­¡± She clearly found that slightly odd. ¡°Mer customs are sss-strange.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ they sure are strange.¡± He remembered how he got accidentally married¡­ twice. ¡°And about that lily flower ceremony.¡± ¡°Think nothing of it. Everything was explained, sss, but why are you so fussy about Mer? Is there anything fishy going on?¡± She asked with narrowed eyes. ¡°No¡­ not at all. Nothing fishy.¡± ¡°Good, sss. Oh, and you are forbidden from eating them. They are under my protection, sss, so keep your choppers to yourself!¡± She warned him sternly. Who put that idea in her head? ¡°There is no way I would ever eat any Mer!¡± He protested. ¡°Sss? Really? I¡¯m aware why you got them, and I¡¯ve witnessed the way you sss-stare at them with your hungry sss-savage eyes. Dear husband, you¡¯re scaring the Mer Children.¡± ¡°¡­¡± He couldn¡¯t just go and tell her that he found them simply Beautiful. ¡°I see. I¡¯ll keep my choppers to myself.¡± ¡°You better do.¡± She slithered to one of the nearby cupboards retreating a large container. ¡°Now, help me with that. The recent sss-swim washed it all off.¡± She handed him the container. It was filled brim full of KelpCream, no doubt about it. ¡°Why do you need my help?¡± He asked nonplussed. She gave him a naughty look. ¡°There is a lot of tail to cover, sss, and I think it might be fun.¡± He scooped a large glob of it and brought it to her back, surely she wanted him to help at the spots where she couldn¡¯t reach. ¡°Lower.¡± He moved down. ¡°Lower¡± Even further down. ¡°Yes there.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°Rub it in, sss.¡± He did. ¡°S-s-s¡­ SSS!¡± Indeed, it was rather fun. ¡­ Finally, the time arrived to release the Mer into the Dark Lake, it was named so because of its Dark infused waters. The pond near the Spider Palace was connected by a narrow canal to the lake so that Mer could visit him occasionally. The massive lake was done but that didn¡¯t mean that the work was over. The bottom of it was still rather barren and a lot of aquatic plants needed to be grown and planted. That¡¯s where the Mer came in, or course they will be bringing life to their own home with plants and fish. The goal here was to farm the Sapphire Scales then they shed them, but also to farm fish and CreamKelp. The cream blew up in popularity among the women in the Monster Realm, it was a necessity they couldn¡¯t do without. There was more demand than supply and it would only grow once it reached the Aurelian Dutchy. So here he was planting various plants using the indispensable Seed Archive. His diligent maid was right at his side as was her duty. She was rather talkative today. ¡°I¡¯ve dealt with your wife rather splendidly, didn¡¯t I.¡± He was of a different opinion. ¡°You tricked her.¡± ¡°No, I didn¡¯t!¡± She protested. ¡°Yes, you did.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± She relented. ¡°Just a little bit.¡± ¡°Yeah, it''s fine. I often have to trick her too; the woman is difficult.¡± ¡°Tell me¡­ she demanded a pond full of cream so she can bathe in it.¡± Yeah, that was something the Lamia Queen would ask. ¡°Excessive.¡± He seeded yet another CreamKelp. ¡°But we¡¯ll get there.¡± ¡°¡­¡± The Mer Princess went quiet for a moment. He found her silence strange, she was so talkative just minutes ago, so he gave her a curious look. ¡°Anything the matter?¡± He asked. ¡°I¡¯m doing well in here, don¡¯t I? I¡¯ve got you more Mer, the Spirit Stones will soon follow, and I¡¯ve dealt with a jealous wife¡­¡± She gave him a meaningful look. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t the good work be rewarded?¡± He couldn¡¯t argue. ¡°It should. What reward should I grant you?¡± He asked the dangerous question. ¡°Ah, but since you¡¯re the Lamia Queen¡¯s vassals, and not mine, it is she you should ask.¡± He joked. ¡°Do I need to tell her about the special scale? The one you keep hidden in your Inventory Space and cherish it dearly.¡± She looked at him mischievously. ¡°I bet you honour it every day at night or in the morning.¡± There was no ¡®honouring¡¯ being done with the scale and he kept it only because it was pretty! And this was blackmail! ¡°No¡­ no you don¡¯t. I was only jesting. So, what is it you want?¡± She gave him another mischievous look. ¡°I couldn¡¯t be your first, but I shall be the second!¡± She declared with unwavering resolve. ¡°¡­¡± He never had anyone come on him this hard. ¡°Plant your seed in me like you did with your wife!¡± She demanded. He turned around to see if there were any other Mer nearby, her words were very dangerous. Huh, strange, the Mer had mysteriously disappeared leaving them alone in the kelp seedling field, as if this was planned. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t¡­¡± He protested. ¡°Why? Just put that Monster Core inside me¡­¡± She pouted. ¡°Oh! You want that! No problem.¡± He touched her shoulder. ¡°[Seed Core].¡± ¡°Eek!¡± She yelped swinging her tail. The deed was done in under a minute. ¡°Here, you have it.¡± He smiled at her. The +100MP increase should have made her happy, however, she was glaring at him with her signature pout. ¡°That¡¯s not how I expected this to happen. So entirely unromantic! And why the shoulder?¡± Well, he could use another neutral spot like a hand. ¡°Should I have done a handshake? My mistake.¡± He apologised. ¡°No, a kiss, you dummy!¡± She stole his lips again. If anyone asked, there was no fishy business here. This was just a late midday greeting, a part of a strange Mer custom. The loops and hoops he had to jump to be agreeable to various races and their odd traditions. ¡°My enchanting voice will bind you tight ?. Let us swim and play in the pond at night ?.¡± She began to sing leaning towards him again. He knew how the rest of the song went; this was becoming rather dangerous. Mer Maids were dangerous girls! 127 – The Serpentine, The Fruit, And The Garden While the Spider King was gone on one of his many side quests the Lamia Queen took the reins of ruling the Spider Kingdom. The weight of the duty was unbearable and the job gruellingly hard. She was forced to lounge on the Spider King Throne and listen to the woes of petitioners; a labour-intensive task if you asked her. Her royal rear was planted firmly on the stuffed and silken pillow, the Divine Pillow, her long tail was resting on the steps leading to the throne, and she had a bored expression on her face. In her hand, she had a golden fruit, something she encountered by chance near the entrance to the Oberon Undermountain. Needless to say, she had raided the tree bare of its fruits. Not only the fruit was delicious, it also gave her +1000exp, that¡¯s exactly why she was biting into it greedily as if starved. The sweet juices leaked down her arm to the elbow where small droplets tricked down on the throne making it all sticky. It was past noon already and time for her beauty nap, however, a petitioner appeared; the first one today, and hopefully the last. She gave an exhausted look at the petitioner. The petitioner misunderstood that gesture as an encouragement to speak. ¡°Mighty Lamia Queen,¡± the centauri began giving a curtsy bow only the Centauri could pull off. ¡°I am here to bring an important matter to your attention. We are out of AshenClover and none remains in our stores¡­¡± She gave a meaningful pause. ¡°If this continues, I fear the lesser Centauri will revolt.¡± She bowed again but more apologetically this time. ¡°AshenClover, sss?¡± She hissed struggling to remember. it sounded like a weed and not something she would ever eat. But from the petitioner''s words she understood that it was a type of staple for Centauri. ¡°How cruel of my husband to force them to eat weeds¡­¡± She muttered under her nose. ¡°I¡¯ll speak to him about this.¡± She muttered again. *Mutter, *Mutter, *Crunch, *Mutter¡­ The Centauri Petitioner gave the queen a nonplussed look. Without getting a meaningful reply she looked beggingly at the nearby spider. The spider scuttered close to the Lamia Queen and chirped a whisper into her ear. Likely explaining the situation. ¡°SSS! I understand now. So, it is these Ashen Rabbits who are responsible for the AshenClover production?¡± The Centauri Petitioner nodded, and the spider chirped more whispers into the queen¡¯s ear. ¡°I guess, sss, I¡¯ll have to go and see what¡¯s happening with them. But do I have to?¡± She looked at the spider. ¡°Chirp-whisper* ¡°I guess I do¡­ Worry not, Centauri Petitioner, I¡¯ll sss-sort this at once. We can¡¯t have a rebellion, sss, not when I¡¯m in charge!¡± She really couldn¡¯t; that would be a massive dent on her otherwise immaculate royal image. ¡°Spider, please accompany me to the nest of Ashen Rabbits.¡± She beseeched the nearby spider. ¡­ The Lamia Queen went to the Ancient Forest and then north to the Magical Forrest, that was where the nest of the Ashen Rabbits was supposed to be. But first, she had to pass past countless odd and strangely symmetrical trees, their branches turned only at right angles giving the trees a box-like appearance. Some of them were infested with shadowy vines which clung to their stick-like branches. The vines shrouded the odd trees in shadows giving them a spooky look; no doubt, this was the work of her husband. ¡°Don¡¯t touch them.¡± The spider cautioned. ¡°It will Drain you.¡± Then she encountered another plant, this time more familiar. A big nut was resting on a single branch, buzzing and begging to be picked up. ¡°I know, I know, sss.¡± She hissed before the spider could speak up. ¡°I won¡¯t touch it, it¡¯s a TrapBush.¡± She recognised. There were other plants scattered nearby, all clearly mutated like the WitheringCabbage or RootSnare, or BewitchingFern, or SleepMoss, or¡­ Well, there was a theme: It was as if the entire Magical Forest was trying to trap you. How these Ashen Rabbits managed to survive here was beyond her understanding. ¡°We¡¯re almost there.¡± The spider informed her. And true to his words, soon she emerged into a large clearing, no, it was more than that. It was a beautiful garden, the Clover Garden. The silver plant she had mistaken for the weed before, the AshenClover, was growing here in vast quantities. The silvery clover patches were divided by a neatly paved path of cobbles. The sides of the cobble path were lined by neatly cut CageBush, it was cut into a perfectly symmetrical cube. Past the vast clover fields and at the end of the path she saw a densely packed bundle of buildings. The buildings were made from sticks and leather, and somewhat wonky in their design, clearly, they weren¡¯t made by spiders. Once she got closer, she saw the inhabitants of the Clover Garden beginning to emerge out of their tent-like hovels. It was likely they were coming out to tend to their gardens. ¡°That is as far. As I go.¡± The spider instructed. She gave the spider a puzzled look. ¡°I¡¯ve been instructed. To leave the Rabbits alone.¡± Ah, another strange command her husband must have issued. Whatever¡­ She slithered towards the bundle of the buildings. But before she could reach a rabbit hopped in a sprint to intercept her. At the first sight of the Ashen Rabbit she knew the creature was a primitive savage, probably worse than a kobold. It had that feral look and was pretty much naked, with the exception of the loincloth which he wore incorrectly hence giving away his sex. Well, at least she knew now that the rabbit was a he. ¡°Hello, spider.¡± The rabbit greeted her with a broad smile. She blinked twice then looked behind her. It was just her and the rabbit. ¡°Sss¡­ I¡¯m not a spider, I¡¯m the Lamia Queen!¡± ¡°Oh! I¡¯m sorry, I just assumed you were a spider. Spiders come in various shapes and sizes.¡± He leaned in to sniff at her rudely. ¡°You smell like them. But also like our Father.¡± ¡°Father?¡± She questioned. The rabbit just nodded. ¡°I¡¯m Ashen, welcome to our garden.¡± He offered his paw for a shake. She shook it. ¡°You know who I am right? I¡¯m the Spider King''s wife.¡± ¡°Ah!¡± The rabbit jumped. ¡°That makes sense. Everyone!¡± He shouted putting his hand together near his mouth. ¡°Come and meet the Lamia Queen, the wife of our Holy Father!¡± The rabbits hopped from all over swarming around the Lamia Queen. ¡­ It took a while, but she managed to reign in the rabbits. There was so much wrong with their settlement. The Spider King was clearly neglecting them. Poor, poor Ashen Rabbits, sss! As his dutiful wife, she took it upon herself to fix the wrongs. First things first, she couldn¡¯t bear the sight of these poor creatures eating only weeds; they looked so skinny and famished. That¡¯s why, she decided to share her travel ration with them. She opened a large backpack stuffed with the Fruits Of Knowledge and shared them with the rabbits. Upon eating it their eyes went wide and they began whispering amongst each other. Soon they were looking at her with awe filled eyes. Yes, that¡¯s how they should look at their Queen, sss! Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Now that she had their trust, she slithered to fix the second problem: none of them wore their loincloths right. instead of wearing it on their thighs, they tied the cloths on their heads wearing it as a bandana of sorts. Wrong! ¡°You wear it like this.¡± She fixed the loincloth for Ashen. ¡°I see¡­ The Father told us to wear clothing, but he didn¡¯t tell us where or how. Thank you.¡± Ashen beamed another smile. ¡°Did he, sss, tell you anything else? Anything of use?¡± She felt like complaining. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Ashen thought. ¡°We¡¯ve been told to grow AshenClover and expand the garden... Actually, it¡¯s good you came. As instructed, we expanded the gardens, but now that we have so many children, it¡¯s not enough for us. And¡­¡± He gave an apologetic look. ¡°We have almost none to gift to the Centauri who visit us.¡± ¡°I sss-see¡­¡± Indeed, she couldn¡¯t help but notice that for every adult there were at least ten or twelve children. The rabbits were rather fertile in that regard, she was even jealous of that fact. But also, this was the source of their problem and the Centauri Petitioner''s problem too. ¡°Can¡¯t you just expand the garden?¡± She offered. ¡°That would destroy the Magical Forest. We can¡¯t.¡± The rabbit shook his head. ¡°The Holy Spirit would be angry with us.¡± ¡°The Holy Spirit, sss?¡± ¡°Yes, it came to us and gifted us a boon, Blessing of The Great Ancestral Wisp.¡± Right, she saw that in the rabbit¡¯s status screen. Apparently, it shortened the time needed to rear the children into adults, granted the juveniles the exp gain boost, but also it increased the fertility for the adults. The latter only added to their problem. Well, the culprit was known, it was the Wisp this time. She wasn¡¯t surprised the Wisp was friends with her husband. So irresponsible, sss! However, there was a solution. ¡°How about sss-sending you the TomGrape?¡± ¡°No, we¡¯ve been told to be self-sufficient. But also, we don¡¯t like it much. It¡¯s just too sweet.¡± Self-sufficient? ¨C More stupid rules which made no sense. Husband, sss, what are you doing? ¡°SSS! If you can¡¯t grow your food here, you can always grow it sss-somewhere else.¡± She voiced another obvious solution. ¡°But where?¡± Ashen asked the good question. ¡°You''re right, sss, all good spots are taken. You will either need to make land or take it from someone else. Yes-sss.¡± She nodded. ¡°I know a good spot. But first¡­¡± There was another issue, the rabbits here knew nothing of weapons and nothing of fighting. In a sense they were lucky to be protected by the trap-riddled Magical Forest otherwise they would have been wiped out by monsters a long time ago. But maybe that¡¯s why their race reproduced so rapidly¡­ ¡°I¡¯ll teach you how to make weapons, and how to fight, sss.¡± She offered. Yet another thing her husband neglected to do! Sss! Luckily, the nearby CageBush provided the already straight and sturdy sticks in great quantities. And there were a lot of plants nearby which could be turned into poisons or used as weapons. The Lamia Queen wasn¡¯t a crafter, but she was competent, and like all lamia should, she knew how to make a spear. And even better the rabbits seemed to also have a natural knack for it. With no time at all, together with everyone¡¯s effort they made an Ashen Spear, it was infused with the Withering poison. And then they made Draining Net, it would work great for capturing. And for the times when the things went bad, they made throwables in a shape of Sleep ShellGrenade and Bewitching ShellGrenade; those big shells of BerryNut surely came in handy. By no means the rabbits were adept at using the weapons, but with more practice, they would get a hang of it. ¡°You can use these to claim new land, sss, and protect your gardens.¡± She patted a large pile of roughly crafted weapons. ¡°Thank you for teaching us, Holy Mother.¡± She smiled at her new title; she rather liked it. ¡°But, do you know a place where we could start a new garden?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ about that, sss.¡± She had to think that through. The rabbits here would need a lot of space. Not only to support their own population but also to grow enough AshenClover to satisfy the Centauri. She would tell those fat mares to grow their own food, but unfortunately they just sucked at farming. And most unfortunately of all, her husband fancied the nasty smelly food they made from their bodily liquids, meaning that there was clear favouritism going on. Sss, her husband was a flawed-flawed man¡­ But she loved him, that¡¯s why she helped to fix his mistakes. ¡°I know a good plot of land, yes-sss.¡± She hissed remembering. ¡°A kingdom in the east had fallen to ruin, sss, and I remember hearing that it was rather fertile. Yes-sss, you can go there to make your garden.¡± ¡°To the east?¡± ¡°Yes-ss to the east of here.¡± She pointed. ¡°Ah, sss, but the trip might be dangerous¡­¡± She paused to think. ¡°I¡¯ll lend you my Lamia Warriors to help you with monsters, no need to bother spiders.¡± ¡°Yes! We¡¯ve been told not to involve spiders in our tasks unless it is an emergency. Holy Mother, thank you!¡± Huh, it seems she circumnavigated another stupid rule. ¡°Yes, but don¡¯t rush, sss, make more weapons, sss, train your Rabbit Warriors, sss, and then go east to expand your garden.¡± She gave them simple instructions. ¡°I¡¯ll send you help when I get back.¡± ¡°Holy Mother, just one more thing.¡± ¡°Yes-sss, Ashen?¡± She addressed the rabbit. ¡°The fruits you gave to our children. Could you bring us more?¡± That was a good idea, the Fruits Of Knowledge would make them gain the first few Fighting levels in an instant. Moreover, it would work in tandem with the Blessing of The Great Ancestral Wisp forging the juvenile rabbits into warriors that much quicker. ¡°Good thinking Ashen, sss, I will do just that.¡± ¡°Thank you, Holy Mother.¡± He bowed deeply. Now the rabbits were fed, dressed, and taught how to defend themselves. She fixed all the wrongs and it felt great! The primitive and savage rabbits now seemed more civilised; all thanks to her. And actually, she sort of grew to like them and the title they gave her. With that, it was time for her to return to the Spider Palace and take her rightfully earned nap. ¡­ The Ashen Rabbits pushed east through the Magical Forest; they encountered some monsters but with their new fighting levels and the assistance of loaned Lamia Warriors they made quick work of them. Rabbits didn¡¯t eat meat, so they fed it to lamias and offered the rest to the Holy Spirit, however, they had use for bones and leather, so they took those. The trek by no means was easy, but they made it to the border of the Magical Forest, emerging into a more common variant of the greenery. They looked with horror at the scars of destruction, they were old, but they were clearly there. The rabbits saw defiled old stumps of trees and other transgressions made towards the Holy Spirit. They couldn¡¯t help but wonder what monster would do so. Later they emerged into a great clearing, no, they were just out of the forest. As far as they could see there were overgrown plains. A potential place for the new garden. However, making it so close to the forest was not the best of the idea, they now understood just how many monsters it housed. Instead, the rabbits moved further east. They encountered another strange sight, a cluster of abandoned buildings. They were made of defiled wood which was half rotten, but the land nearby had signs of plants growing nearby a long time ago. And the soil here was deep and black in colour, in other words, very fertile. There was no need to go any further. The rabbits decided to clear the dilapidated structures and make their New Garden here. Luckily, they¡¯ve brought all the seeds they needed, and the ground was not only fertile but also soft. It was just so much easier than trying to work with the soil in the Magical Forest; They¡¯d barely need to use their Burrow perk. At that realisation, everyone gathered to give a short prayer to the Holy Mother, the one who guided them into this promised land. Yes, the place was perfect, soon a massive silver garden will replace the dull and boring colours of brown and green. However, no place came without its challenges. While clearing one of the rotten structures the rabbits encountered a local monster. It was clearly a pest. It was small and stinky, its fur was messy and dirty, and while it wore some clothes they too were tainted with grime and unwash. It was Ever, who had found the small pest. The little monster yelped something incomprehensible at Ever while swinging a rusty knife at her. ¡°Ever, back away,¡± Ashen warned. ¡°I¡¯m just curious,¡± she protested. ¡°it¡¯s feral and dangerous,¡± Ashen stepped in between her and the rabid monster. ¡°But it looks intelligent enough. I wonder if we could tame it.¡± ¡°Ever, you can¡¯t be serious.¡± ¡°But I am, we have Animal Affinity. Let¡¯s put it to use.¡± ¡°Last time you did that you got bitten.¡± Ashen reminded her but stepped away regardless. The monster remained warry of Ashen growling and hissing at him. Meanwhile, Ever retrieved a mix of nuts and berries from her leather pouch. ¡°Pss-pss-pss,¡± She made a sound to get the attention of the monster. ¡°I¡¯m friendly. It''s food, take it.¡± She crouched stretching the offering towards the monster. Ashen not wanting to spook the monster further put his spear away and stepped right behind Ever. ¡°It will bite you.¡± He said knowingly. ¡°Pss-pss-pss.¡± Ever called again shaking the food in her hand. With the rusty knife still at hand the smelly monster approached Ever taking small and cautious steps. Ashen stiffed at that moment but Ever remained relaxed so as not to signal anything bad to now a somewhat calmed down monster. The filthy creature reached hesitantly towards her palm and pinched a handful of the food. It brought it to its mouth and munched on it greedily. ¡°Here we go.¡± Ever said in a calm relaxing voice. The monster reached again but with less hesitation this time. ¡°You see, it''s working.¡± She grinned at Ashen. ¡°Colour me surprised.¡± He looked with disbelief. ¡°Now-now, slow down little stinker.¡± She spoke to the monster. ¡°I have more in the pouch.¡± She reached for it to pour more food onto her palm. Now mollified, the monster munched happily taking small handfuls out of her palm. Ever reached for the monster¡¯s head to pet it. And then she did the monster gave her a toothy smile. ¡°See, we¡¯re friends now.¡± She looked again at Ashen. ¡°I guess, we can keep this one.¡± Ashen shrugged. And that was the first ever monster they¡¯ve tamed, but undoubtedly not the last. 128 - The Pleasures Of The Galleon Whale Cruise ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡± The Spider King cut the mana supply dimming the Comm Orb which was protecting the image. The recent caller was Duke Aurelius; the man had brought him an interesting proposition. No doubt, the duke had his own ulterior motives, but this was something which would work in both of their favour. You see, some time ago, the Fertile Kingdom had suffered a devastating defeat and its ruling class was pretty much wiped out. That resulted in the fracturing of powers and the fall of the kingdom. Currently, it was ruled by warring factions of various warlords: some were nobles of the Fertile Kingdom, others were bandits who had risen to power. But the biggest and strongest faction was the Covenant of the Black Hand. They had made their tower in the ruins of the Fertile Kingdom¡¯s capital and were slowly building their power from there on. They had money and magic to back them up, however, their right to rule wasn¡¯t recognised by either the Warlords or the people of the fallen kingdom. Yes, the Fallen Kingdom is what it is called now. However, the biggest problem wasn¡¯t the Covenant or the Warlords, it was something more mundane. Firstly, without the wood elves (who were mysteriously wiped out) to keep the monster population in check, the monsters spilt from the bordering forest to devastate the farmlands and the nearby settlements. Secondly, with the fall of the ruling class, there was no one to organise a Monster Hunter force to cull the monster incursion. The two issues resulted in the ever-diminishing harvest. Hence, as ironic as it might sound, the kingdom once known as the Fertile Kingdom was currently suffering extreme food shortages and a monster incursion as a cherry on top. This brings us to Duke Aurelius''s proposal: send spiders to clean this mess and in turn win the trust of the people. The man himself couldn¡¯t do it for two reasons: one, he was hated there; two, he was currently at war with the Holy Empire. Sure, the spiders could sort this mess and they will, but what¡¯s in it for the duke? ¨C well, eventually, he would get to annex the Fallen Kingdom into his dutchy. Or so he thought¡­ The Spider King didn¡¯t promise that outcome hence the words: ¡®I¡¯ll see what I can do¡¯. However, that didn¡¯t mean he wouldn¡¯t send the spiders to fix that mess of the kingdom. Even better, due to the lack of better things to do, he¡¯d decided to sort this personally. He turned to look at the Trusty Advisor. ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll get the ship ready.¡± He chirped simply. The spider was so competent that the Spider King didn¡¯t even need to explain his intentions. ¡­ The Drow Assistant watched the Galleon Whale being loaded with all manner of potions, and weapons as well. Something big was happening and her King was going somewhere, presumably on yet another quest. He did that rather often recently, leaving her to work in the magical workshop alone. His presence was dearly missed there, his vast mana pool and unique perks were indispensable in a lot of tasks involving complicated enchantment procedures. But forget all that, she was his personal assistant, and it was her job to assist him, hence they should go together! She used Detect Magic to sniff his lingering mana and track him down. She found him on the nearby bench just outside the Spider Palace. He was holding a Sapphire Scale pointed towards the sun, making it glow and shimmer. The Spider King had a ponderous expression on his face as if trying to solve an extremely hard problem. He was so deep in thought that he failed to notice her approach, or perhaps, she was just that stealthy. She took that moment to straighten her silken dress. The white dress contrasted well with the natural blacks of her body. It was something she had made herself out of her DriderSilk, and it held a good number of enchantments; she was very proud of it. ¡°My King,¡± she addressed to get his attention, ¡°I want to assist you on your Quest.¡± The shimmering scale quickly disappeared into his Magical Inventory. Their eyes met and she noticed a tinge of embarrassment on his face. At that moment a thought crossed her mind: ¡®Perhaps I¡¯ve made the dress too revealing.¡¯ Indeed, it was rather see-through in some places. However, she liked that type of attention. Feeling more confident she puffed her chest. ¡°As your personal assistant, I insist you take me.¡± Ah! Perhaps too confident; she regretted using the word ¡®insist¡¯. He gave her a good look over. ¡°If you insist then I must take you.¡± He nodded as if to reassure himself. ¡°You¡¯re a drider now and much stronger than you were.¡± True! And not just a drider, the Drider Calamity. Her uncle, the Drow Highchief, couldn¡¯t believe then he told him; he was positively overjoyed. But let''s leave the Drow schemes for another time. ¡°Yes, and I have access to all four elemental magics. My combined spells would surely come in hand.¡± She boasted to embellish herself. ¡°True, you¡¯re the only Wind caster we have. And your elemental magic is a sight to behold.¡± It was her turn to blush. ¡°Drow Assistant, let¡¯s go and check if the ship is ready.¡± He urged. ¡°Yes!¡± She exclaimed with vigour, a small dream of hers just come true. She had visited the ship on numerous occasions for research purposes, but she never had flown the thing. They went inside the control deck and even if she had seen it before she still marvelled at the spidery designs; something about their style just resonated with her. The buttons and turn knobs were made for spider hands, and the magical implement to power the Spider HyperDrive was an actual web, albeit metallic. And best of all the deck was filled with cute spiders! There was no Drow who wouldn¡¯t find them adorable. She took a moment to work with the spider crew producing a small set of notes. Just minor stuff like the stuff they held in the cargo hold and the Jobs of each crew member. But also, she began to draft a small schedule. Yes, everything had to be planned and organised! Not that the spiders needed much help with that, however, a certain someone did. With the preparations done, the ship soared to the skies. She checked a preliminary schedule, the first thing on the agenda was a small stop at the Great Ancestral Tree. Her King had some business with its spirit, better known as the Wisp. The Ancestral Forest, or the domain of the Great Ancestral Tree as it was known now, was a place she had some bitter feelings about. It used to be their home before things fell apart, and now was a taboo topic for the Drow. Needless to say, she felt anxious about meeting the Wisp. But as a good assistant would, she tagged along at the side of the Spider King. The Wisp greeted the Spider King with cheer and joy, clearly, they were good friends. The two expanded some pleasantries and then it was business. Spider King turned to look at her. ¡°Drow Assistant, how many souls was it again?¡± She had it all down in her notebook, she took a glance. ¡°17 470 Squirrel Souls contained in 211 SoulStones of various capacities and sizes.¡± Spider King gave her a thankful nod. ¡°Yeah, that.¡± He turned to look at the floating orb of light. ¡°Is that an agreeable amount?¡± The wisp expanded and pulsed excitedly. ¡°More than enough!¡± The deal was sealed. She followed the Spider King and the Wisp to the location at the base of the Great Ancestral Tree, a Nature Magic Circle. But unlike the elven circles she saw in her youth, this one was entirely different. Not only it was at least ten times bigger, the language used for magical glyphs wasn¡¯t elven either; It was something even more ancient. But there was another surprise, she could decipher parts of it ¨C they were Spider Chirp; It was a combination of two languages, a novel method to produce a magic circle. She urged her hand to draw a rough sketch of it in her notebook. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Meanwhile, the Wisp called his own assistants. The squirrels took the SoulStones in their paws and buried them in seemingly random locations in and around the magical circle. The wisp flew in the very middle of it and began channelling its mana. The circle came alive and the very air crackled with the green lightning of condensed Nature mana. Drow Assistant scribbled some numbers and calculations in her book. The magical formula solutions made her eyes to pop. ¡°1 000 000 MP¡­¡± She voiced the rough estimate in disbelief. She didn¡¯t know where or how the Wisp was pulling that out, but that must be something to do with it being the literal manifestation of the will of the Ancestral Forest. Or perhaps the souls had something to do with that. She made more notes scribbling a reminder to discuss all of this with the Spider ArchMage. The crackling lightning condensed at the altar right beneath the Wisp. If an untrained eye looked at the item on the altar they would see just a gnarled stick, while in actuality it was a piece of the Great Ancestral Tree itself, something the Elves would call a divine-grade artifact. It soaked the lightning bolts and Nature mana greedily. With the last lightning strike, the ritual concluded rather abruptly. The Drow Assistant did a quick Inspect on the item. Its name was rather ominous, Whispers of Grandeur. She worried it might be a cursed item, but after checking its properties she found no Curses or Hexes there. Actually, its properties were rather underwhelming, all it did was to enable the user to use the Grow spell. The amount of mana and souls used just didn¡¯t add up to produce so little. Unless the ritual failed or there were some hidden properties. Wait¡­ scratch the failure option. The Spider King was ecstatic with the gnarled stick, he was so happy he was rubbing it to his cheek and kissing it. ¡°My King, what does this staff do?¡± She asked just in case he saw something she didn¡¯t. ¡°It lets me to convert squirrel souls into Grow spell. Isn¡¯t it amazing?¡± He beamed her an excited smile. ¡°Anything else?¡± She asked just to be sure. ¡°No, that¡¯s it.¡± Huh, then she didn¡¯t understand what the fuss was about. A simple druid knew this spell, but also the Spider Kingdom had White Sprigans who could use it too. But hey, boys loved their toys; she did understand that. The Spider King ran up to the Wisp to express his thanks and share his excitement about the divine grade item. While the two spoke the Drow Assistant couldn¡¯t help but feel self-conscious, she was rather insecure in the presence of the Wisp. It was due to her once being an elf, and also, due to her now being a drider. She felt that their relationship with the Wisp was somewhat strained. Admittedly, however, over time the Drow had mended the relationship with the Ancestral Forest, and they even helped with a particularly nasty insect infestation which plagued the northern forest (now known as the Magical Forest); so her worry was unwarranted. Yet still, she felt strange magical pressure coming from the Wisp, it felt rather targeted. She found a good moment then the two just finished talking. She steeled herself and asked what had been bugging her for quite some time. ¡°The Spirit of Great Ancestral Tree,¡± she addressed. ¡°did I do something to displease you? Are you still angry with us Drow?¡± The Spider King gave her a puzzled look of surprise. ¡°Where did that come from?¡± The Wisp, however, flew closer to her face; she didn¡¯t shrug or shrink even if his magical presence was overbearing. ¡°You¡¯ve noticed, I see.¡± It buzzed. ¡°Of course you did, and the owner of not one but three talents is bound to be sensitive to all magic.¡± The Spider King gave another puzzled look but to the Wisp this time. ¡°You, of all men, should know the best.¡± It pulsed in laughter. ¡°Detect Magic, Elemental Affinity, and Mana Well makes her extremely perceptive to all magic.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± she nodded to affirm that statement. ¡°That¡¯s why I can detect Curses. But you didn¡¯t answer my question.¡± The wisp pulsed rapidly again before finally speaking up. ¡°Displeased? Angry?¡± It pulsed again. ¡°Quite the opposite. I¡¯m happy you grew so well in your new environment. I was looking so intently because we find your new form¡­ pleasing. It¡¯s much closer to nature than the elves were.¡± It buzzed happily. ¡°Drider: half-spider and half-drow; how splendid!¡± The wisp sure did like animals, and no doubt spiders as well. And hearing it praising her so much, made her wonder that instead of squirrels it was the spiders who were the Wisp''s favourite. ¡°Wisp, stop that.¡± Spider King began jokingly. ¡°She¡¯s mine, I¡¯m not loaning you my best assistant.¡± ¡°Tch.¡± It clicked its non-existent tongue. ¡°A shame¡­¡± For some reason, even if the two were joking, she felt happy that the Spider King didn¡¯t want to share her. ¡°Drow Assistant,¡± He gave her an amused look, ¡°you¡¯re all red.¡± ¡°Ahem¡­¡± She cleared her throat. ¡°We¡¯re behind schedule, if we want to reach Aurelian Dutchy by nightfall we should go.¡± The Spider King turned to the Wisp. ¡°She¡¯s right. Wisp, thanks again for the Whispers of Grandeur. See you later, bud.¡± ¡­ The ship was flying at full speed towards the Aurelian Dutchy. And while it was flying, there wasn¡¯t much for the Drow Assistant to do. She had updated her notes with the entry of items they purchased from the Wisp which was mostly Amber. But also there were some shapely furniture, wood crafts and other novelty items; all made using the Shape Wood spell. Even if she wasn¡¯t an elf anymore, she still could appreciate this type of craftmanship. The items were intended as gifts to the Duke Aurelius, who apparently had no furniture except for the ten times mended and repaired stool; a fact she struggled to believe. Anyways, having some free time didn¡¯t mean that she stopped being the King¡¯s assistant, no, she took her duties very seriously. And as all assistants should, she worried herself with the wellbeing of the King; and at this point, it was the future contents of his dinner. He planned to eat a premade meal, a bundle of cold and processed foodstuff. She won¡¯t be able to call herself an assistant if she would allow this to slide! No, he deserved a full and hearty meal, something made with love and nourishment. Well, while the Galleon Whale was a marvel of magical technology it didn¡¯t come with a fully equipped kitchen, or kitchen at all. So she had to improvise, which was not that hard considering her background. With rather little challenge she assembled an improvised Heat Plate, which burned using Agave Juice, hence a hot meal could be achieved. And for ingredients, well, she used something very special; no need to let it go to waste. She gave it a good scramble and heated it with small cuts of dried meat and fresh forest vegetables. She presented the meal to the Spider King. ¡°Wow, I am surprised. We have no facilities yet still you whipped something this amazing.¡± He leaned to look at his plate closer. ¡°It looks amazing, and it smells amazing. Don¡¯t mind if I do.¡± He reached with his hand to eat the food. She replied with a warm smile. Of course it was amazing, it was nourishing and made with love! Actually, judging by how quickly the Spider King devoured the food, she might just have outdone herself here. ¡°Magnificent, eleven out of ten.¡± He rated it while still licking his lips. ¡°I didn¡¯t know I missed fried eggs so much. But tell me, where did you get the eggs?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± She asked somewhat confused. ¡°Well, it¡¯s not like there are chickens here. I haven¡¯t seen any. The eggs you got are simply delicious, I wonder what¡¯s the name of the creature who laid them. Did you get the eggs from the Wisp? when we go back, I¡¯ll ask it if I could adopt these creatures.¡± She blinked twice. ¡°Those were Drider Eggs.¡± She said the most obvious thing there was. ¡°I beg your pardon?¡± The Spider King''s face went blank. As the wisp once said: ¡®You, of all men, should know the best¡¯; it was the Spider King who evolved her so he should know that she had that Egg Layer perk. Ever since that day, she would lay one egg: infertile and otherwise unwanted. However, it was packed with nutrients and latent magic, she knew because she ate a few unwilling to waste them. ¡°The egg you ate, I made it.¡± She told him with pride. ¡°¡­¡± he stared at her for a good minute. ¡°Well, it was super tasty. Thank you.¡± He bowed very deeply for some reason. No doubt, he was just extremely impressed by her cooking skills. ¡°If you liked it so much, I could make this for you every day. Ah, but not more often than once a day.¡± She said the latter apologetically. ¡°Unless¡­¡± She didn¡¯t get to finish. ¡°A part of me wants to say no¡­ but another part of me demands more delicious eggs. So, it¡¯s once a day? I¡¯m lucky the egg is ostrich-sized.¡± He gave her lower bottom a curious look. The Drow Assistant didn¡¯t know what an ostrich-sized meant but that sounded like a compliment. And clearly, he desired more than one a day, the Spider King was being greedy here, but she was in a good mood so¡­ ¡°With the use of Fertility Potion+ I recon I could lay three or maybe even¡­ five with the right stimulus.¡± She speculated. He jumped out of his seat. ¡°No! No, let¡¯s not do that. One is enough, thank you very much!¡± She couldn¡¯t understand the root of his overreaction just now. ¡°Are you sure about that? I don¡¯t mind you know.¡± ¡°No-no, I¡¯m positive. And just in case, stay away from that potion.¡± He warned her rather sternly. She took her notes out and made a note to investigate the side effects and possible hidden properties of the said potion. Noticing her nodding the Spider King¡¯s face mellowed and he sat back in his chair. Soon a gleeful look was back on his complexion. ¡°Cakes, Pies¡­ and maybe even Tiramisu¡­¡± he was muttering some strange incantation. She wrote the strange names in her notebook, more strange and unknown things to investigate. Just as she finished the spider chirped informing them that they soon be landing in Aurelian Duchy¡¯s capital. ¡°My King, we need to strap in.¡± ¡°Ah, yes. Thanks for reminding me.¡± So absent-minded! How did he manage so far without her? ¨C Another mystery to be solved. She noted that in her notebook. 129 – The Clash Of Dark And Light, Plus An Opportunistic Paraglider Somewhere at the border of the Aurelian Dutchy: The sun hung low in the sky as the battle between Corrupted Humans and the noble Holy Empire erupted on the battlefield. The air crackled with magical energies in anticipation of the incoming battle. The Holy Empire had gathered ten armies for this skirmish. Three out of ten were renowned and noteworthy: High Inquisition, Royal Mage Corps, and heavy armoured Imperial Knights; the rest were your rank-and-file levied peasant armies. With staffs held high, the Royal Mage Corps invoked the chants for their spells and launched the first slew of the Fire Balls arching in the air. This was the signal for the heavily armoured knights to launch their charge. Right behind the noble knights were your rank-and-file peasant recruits, the rest of the six armies. The brilliant and shiny inquisitors were scattered among the common men, both to give them a morale boost and also to heal them when the time came. All of them charged shouting a single phrase: ¡°In the name of the Holy Light!¡±. The Corrupted Humans were vastly outnumbered; the ratio was 10 to 1. However, it would take a fool to underestimate this Dark Force. The corrupted wore heavy armour, it was black like the night itself; and while they weren¡¯t mages they still had a hold on magic. It was the expensive Magic Scrolls which they burned with no restraint. They launched their own projectiles, and those were Dark in nature. But it was not the offensive magic they¡¯d used which made them formidable. Soon a Dark Cloud was summoned to obfuscate their entire army. That made targeting the Corrupted Humans harder, however, this was a battle on a large scale. All they had to do was keep firing in the general direction of the cloud and they still would hit someone. The Dark Cloud kept expanding and soon swallowed the front of the charging Imperial Knights. No one here wanted to fight at night then the dark forces were the strongest, hence the current time of early morning. Unfortunately, it seems that the darkness couldn¡¯t be avoided. ¡°Tch.¡± High Supreme Master General Commander No1, the one loosely in charge of the combined armies, clicked his tongue. It was hard to direct the men when you couldn¡¯t see what was going on. However, everyone here was trained to deal with such situations. All they had to do was to follow the simple order: kill everyone that wasn¡¯t human. No1 observed the battlefield from the Earth Tower erected by his earth mages. That¡¯s right, even as the battle was raging on the earth mages worked hard to erect ramparts and other defensive structures both to protect the archers and to prevent the enemy from advancing on them. The wind mages were scattered among the ranks of archers to boost their arrows, however, with poor visibility of the enemy that was of little use. The few remaining inquisitors worked their magic to keep the encroaching darkness at bay. There in the distant cloud of darkness, No1 observed pillars of light making pockets in it to reveal the horrors the inquisitors had to face. It was surprising to find that an Inquisitor Paladin was equally matched with a Corrupted Human. But it was of no big concern, eventually, the combined armies would surround the Dark Force and achieve their victory. The strategy was foolproof with few things which could go wrong. However, the battle just kept dragging on. Even if outnumbered, the Corrupted Humans proved rather difficult to corner and kill. Even worse, they somehow managed to launch a counterattack of their own. Hidden in the centre of the Dark Cloud something nasty was brewing on. Large projectiles in the shape of barrels were launched towards the earthen ramparts of the Combined Imperial Army; It was a siege weapon of sorts. ¡°Tch.¡± No1 clicked his tongue. No need to worry, not yet. The mages shot the flung barrels out of the air or used Wind magic to direct them away. However, in doing so they scattered strange blue powder in the air; it seems that it was the content of the barrels. Some powder burned off and some were blown away, however, some of it reached the men of the Holy Empire. At that moment they became sluggish and lethargic. ¡°The debuff is BlueDust, it causes Torpor and Sleep eventually.¡± One of his commanders relayed the findings. No1 didn¡¯t expect to see the use of Alchemical Weapons on a large scale, especially for siege weaponry. Not here and not so quickly, those took time to get ready. But even still there were Clerics to deal with such stuff, and they did so splendidly. ¡°Tch.¡± He clicked his tongue again. The BlueDust was just the beginning of it, some of the flung barrels carried highly flammable oil, and worse it was of a magical nature and hard to put out even with magic. You get hit by that, you die; the water mages did what they could but those were few in number; a known problem in the Holy Empire. Such an attack was bad for morale, and it was frustrating not being able to see what was happening in the guise of the Dark Cloud. But surely similar tactics were employed in the depths of it as well. ¡°Tell Clerics to deploy the Magical Shield¡±, he ordered one of the commanders. The spell was a protective dome-like barrier; it was perfect to counter ranged attacks, but rather costly in the MP upkeep. However, since the enemy gave the position of their siege engines, all he had to do was order a magical barrage on that place. And he did just so. The fire mages protected by the barrier spent their time to conjure a quick ritual, summoning a large Fire Meteor. And hopefully dealing the decisive blow to the Corrupted Humans. ¡­ Duke Aurelius looked at his Lantern Bearer, a young Corrupted Human entrusted with holding the Dark Flame. It was a great honour, however, the newbie was shaking in his boots. ¡°You have nothing to fear! The Dark Force is with us! Now, come closer I need to see what is happening.¡± The newbie obeyed still trembling at the horrors of the war. ¡°Aha, got ya!¡± Duke Aurelius locked his eyes on the nearby inquisitor and her squad. ¡°[Dark Bolt], [Dark Bolt], [Dark Bolt]¡­¡± He spoke rapidly and the pages in his Dark Tome burned one after the other. The paladin shrugged the first bolt and fought off the second¡­ however, by the twentieth bolt, she shrieked ¡°[Sacrifice: Light Bringer]¡± and just fell like a puppet with her strings cut. With the burst of light, the darkness was dispelled and the inquisitor¡¯s comrades turned their murderous looks towards Aurelius. Worse, they were also boosted by the sacrificial spell. It was just the Monster Duke and his poor minion Light Bringer versus twenty men. ¡°Don¡¯t you die on me.¡± He threw the newbie a potion and drank one himself. [Toxicity: 20], the message informed. It would be a near deadly amount for a normal man, luckily, he was not normal. Thank you, evolution! ¡°[Dark Blast]¡± He burned the scroll to stagger the charging men. The air was saturated with Dark mana allowing the Dark Empowered perk to work its magic. The potion he just drunk gave him a temporary boost in strength. And also he had that passive Super Bulky. The three made him a walking breathing weapon of mass destruction; someone worthy of the Monster Duke title. The tome right behind him was burning one page after the other as he kept firing the spells at the charging men killing another few in the process, but also he was running to face them in his own charge. Like the behemoth of a man he was, he crashed into swordsmen like a boulder immediately killing two in his maddened Trample. Swords came from all angles probing his Glem armour for weakness; there was none, he was completely surrounded by heavy metal. The only weapon which dealt damage was the recently retrieved Holy enchanted sword. Aurelius took damage with little care, it was painful but the HP soon will be replenished by the Regeneration Potion+. He swung his fat arm using the Mace Slam; he carried no mace there or even a weapon, yet still, the heavy blow right out exploded the Holy Sword¡¯s new wielder¡¯s head like the TomGrape under a hammer. The sword gained a new wielder, but that man suffered much the same. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Monster!¡± One of the remaining five shouted accusingly. Aurelius didn¡¯t bother to reply, yes, he was a monster. ¡°[Dark Blast], [Empower], [Rend Flesh], [Body Slam].¡± The truthspeaker was crushed into a paste. The remaining four turned to run away. ¡°Idiots. [Dark Bolt], [Dark Bolt], [Dark Bolt]¡­¡± Only fools tried to run away from someone capable of magic. With the four dealt with the Dark Cloud rushed back in to hide the atrocities of cold murder under the shroud of shadows. Duke Aurelius looked at the newbie Lantern Bearer, he was awfully pale. ¡°Well done, Minion.¡± He praised the newbie. The newbie didn¡¯t do much in this fight, however, he didn¡¯t run away at the sight of twenty charging men. If he did so, Aurelius would be left blinded by the cloud and would be in a pickle. Indeed, the newbie earned his praise! Similar scenes unfolded all around inside the Dark Cloud. Well, there were less use of Magical Scrolls and more use of various Potions and Grenades. The Aurelian Army primarily consisted of pale-faced and heavily geared men and women, the proper name for them was the Aurelian Order. The order was broken down into multiple parties of five, two Dark Knights, one Shadow Rogue, two Scroll Squires, and one Lantern Bearer. Those parties were currently engaging the Imperial Knights and dealing with them in all sorts of manner. A Fire Grenade was thrown at the healer, viscous FireAgave Juice clung to her otherwise pristine white ropes. Soon she was enveloped by the hot embrace of the all-consuming fire. She shrieked startling the men nearby, they tried to put the fire out, but the end result couldn¡¯t be prevented. Without the Healer the rest of the squad soon succumbed. A Frost Grenade froze the front line of the charging swordmen turning them into icicles. A nearby Cleric did his best to dispel the Frozen debuff saving five lives, but not before ten could be claimed with the Dark Arrow aimed directly at their heads. Worse, a figure cloaked entirely in shadows ambushed them from the rear and killed the only mage capable of Cast Light. Everyone found themselves staring at the impenetrable darkness of the abyss, and soon death followed. A rank of Imperial Knights was bundled up in a circular formation. The shields were big and sturdy and enchanted too. The knights were here to slay their enemy but were forced into this defensive manoeuvre. Dark spells battered the shield wall from all sides, but the knights were trained and knew how to weather such siege; all they had to do was to wait for the enemy mages to run out of mana, and then they would launch the counterattack. The Dark Arrow assault stopped but neither of them wanted to break the formation, not yet. That was the powder of the strange Blue Dust that found its way past their shields. The terrible need to lay down and sleep assaulted their minds. They were well trained so they fell asleep while still standing, yet still, none of them would ever wake. ¡­ The Spider King was informed that Duke Aurelius was currently out of the capital, and since he came by it would be rude not to say hello. With the flying ship, a side journey wouldn¡¯t take that long anyway. The Galleon Whale reached its destination and the Spider King went to the deck to get a good look at the unfolding battle. From high above all he could see was a shadowy carpet covering what must be the epicentre of the battle. He recognised the spell, it was Dark Cloud but cast on a massive scale, likely through ritual magic. The Holy Empire armies were surrounding the cloud from all sides, however, for some reason they hesitated to fully charge right into it; or perhaps they just couldn¡¯t. Indeed, there was an improvised defensive structure right at the side of the cloud, clearly staffed by mages, archers, and reserve forces. It even had an earthen tower overlooking the whole of it. From within somewhere nearby the earthen tower a nasty spell took hold. ¡°Fire Meteor.¡± Drow Assistant informed him helpfully. The vast amount of magic was pooling midway between the battlefield and the Galleon Whale, that was the spot where the spell was taking shape. Judging by its placing it was aimed at the centre of the Dark Cloud. ¡°Should I try to counter the spell?¡± She offered. Indeed, she could try to do that with either Water or Wind magic. While he wasn¡¯t here to do the fighting for Aurelius, he couldn¡¯t just stay and watch; that would be cruel. He nodded in affirmation. ¡°I¡¯ll try, but I¡¯m not sure I can do it in time.¡± The Drow Assistant pulled on her magic beginning to form a spell of her own. And mind you, while she was only a single mage her MP pool was at 2000MP, 20x of a human mage. However¡­ ¡°Oh, no!¡± She yelped in alarm. The human mages finished theirs first. A massive ball of fire began its fast descent towards the ground. ¡°Oh well, you tried.¡± He put his arm on the Drow Assistant. She broke her spell midway and the two just looked at the falling Fire Meteor with resigned faces. ¡°¡­¡± However! Not all was lost. A beautiful figure of a winged and radiant woman emerged from the darkness. As hard as it would be to believe, at that moment a magnificent and shiny light enveloped the dark cloud; no doubt it was the work of the Divine Shield. The meteor crashed on the magical barrier plunging it into the flames, however, the magic held and only a few pieces escaped down below through a few cracks. With her magic spent the Radiant Angel plummeted like a rock to the ground, clearly inflicted with Negative Mana debuff. Noble sacrifices like this, shouldn¡¯t be left to go to waste! ¡°We must rescue her.¡± The Spider King declared and started sprinting to the lower deck. ¡°I¡¯m coming with you!¡± The Drow Assistant ran right behind. It was a tad bit too dangerous to land the Galleon Whale here, instead they will be making an aerial drop. Admittedly, something the Spider King always wanted to do. A certain stunt was at work for quite a while, he wanted to use it to impress the Aurelian people but since the Duke wasn¡¯t there¡­ Anyway, the time was as good as ever. ¡°Are you ready?¡± He asked. ¡°Yes!¡± Warrior Leader Jr chirped. You see, the spider here was a child, or more precisely the most recent reincarnation of the Warrior Leader; the original royal mount perished due to old age. While the Spider Warrior Jr wasn¡¯t yet as massive as the original, it worked to an advantage for the stunt the Spider King was about to pull. He mounted the spider and they jumped through the already open hatch. ¡°Wee!!!¡± The spider chirped soaring in the sky. Right in tow, the Drow Assistant ran up to the ledge only to stop abruptly. She looked at the distant ground below with hesitation. ¡°What was I thinking¡­¡± She sighed. ¡°Not like this!¡± ¡­ High Supreme Master General Commander No1 was keeping a keen eye not only on the ground below the tower but also sky above. A white spot floating in the sky caught his attention. ¡°A monster?¡± No1 warranted a guess. It would not be unheard of for the Evil Forces to employ flying monsters. Perhaps this was the trump card of Corrupted humans. ¡°Ha!¡± He grunted a short laugh. ¡°Too late.¡± Fire Meteor was already falling to strike a decisive blow. ¡°My Seeing Lens.¡± He commanded the nearby servant. He needed one to inspect the flying monster better. Even if it came late, he would still need to deal with it. ¡°What a¡­¡± He had no words to describe what he saw through the lens. ¡°It¡¯s not a monster!¡± He still couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. Such magical implements were impossible! But here it was, hovering above the battlefield. An explosion shifted his attention away from the flying ship. ¡°Tch!¡± No1 clicked his tongue. Somehow, there was a Divine Shield, a high-level Light spell that protected the Corrupted Humans! ¡°This is nonsensical!¡± He had to pinch himself and check his Status for any foul play like Illusion. ¡°It was that traitorous angel.¡± A nearby commander explained. ¡°Yes, the accursed woman! I¡¯ve wondered where she disappeared to.¡± Well, that mystery was solved. ¡°Tell the mages to aim the next attack at that flying thing,¡± No1 instructed. ¡°Wait¡­¡± He motioned the mage commander to wait. He spied something else emerging from the flying ship. A deep frown formed on his face. And it wasn¡¯t just him who noticed; everyone had their eyes on it. A monstrous winged spider emerged from the ship, and it had a rider. The rider used the height advantage to fling Dark spells at his Royal Mage Corps. The attacks were powerful enough to shatter the Magic Shield outright. It seems that the flying ship wasn¡¯t their ace, it was¡­ it was¡­ ¡°Whatever fuck this is¡­ What is this?¡± He pointed at the monstrosity with clear frustration. ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡± A nearby Scribe fumbled with his words. ¡°it¡¯s the Monster King! 1050:4500:500.¡± She gave the three numbers HP:MP:STA. The frown on the No1¡¯s face only deepened. Those numbers didn¡¯t look good, the king of monsters was equivalent to the small battalion of mages, it wasn¡¯t surprising anymore that he managed to shatter the Magical Shield so easily. ¡°It seems there is more!¡± The scribe pointed at the distant flying ship. Indeed, another monster was emerging from its side, it didn¡¯t have wings but used a web ladder to descend instead. He spied at the monstrosity but couldn¡¯t quite understand what it was supposed to be, some sort of half-humanoid and half-spider. No doubt a product of some extremely evil Dark magic. ¡°And it is?¡± He asked the scribe. ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡± she fumbled again. ¡°Drider Calamity. 1000:2000:500.¡± ¡°Excuse me, did I hear that right? Calamity?¡± The scribe was pale and drenched in sweat, she simply nodded to the question. No1¡¯s frown was replaced by the expression of someone in deep thought. He was here to test the strength of the Corrupted Humans, to gauge their abilities and to probe their defences. He wasn¡¯t sent here to try to save the entire world from abomination which had a Calamity tag in its name! As frustrating as it was, the current battle was at a stalemate, however, with the appearance of the spider duo, the bloodbath would follow. ¡°Signal the retreat!¡± He commanded with all his authority. ¡°We¡¯ve seen enough.¡± It was stupid to fight an enemy you knew so little about¡­ 130 - To Follow The Thread Of The Spider But Yet To Remain Oblivious For some unknown reason, the Imperial Army had decided to retreat. But perhaps it was for the best; pursuing them would mean leaving the Dark Cloud and the strategic advantage it offered to the Aurelian Troops. However, their retreat meant that Duke Aurelius was victorious, and a small celebration soon followed. Saying all that, the war was nowhere near its end and most of the gathered army had to stay to protect the Aurelian Dutchy from any further attempts of invasion. The Spider King didn¡¯t have time to linger and participate; there was a tight ¡®schedule¡¯ for him to keep to. He congratulated Duke Aurelius and all that, and currently, he was back in the Aurelian Capital. A short stop here was made to bring Elisabeth the Radiant Angel back to her home to recover; she still was under the effects of Negative Mana and the magical coma it induced. He looked at the massive building. ¡°Is this her home?¡± He asked somewhat confused. The Drow Assistant looked at the map again. ¡°I¡¯m positive this is the place.¡± ¡°But this is¡­¡± The structure in front of them was clearly a temple, a rather new addition to the Aurelian Capital. The temple stood tall, its imposing spires and oppressive walls were made out of blackened Kobold Bricks. The intricate brickwork was adorned with delicate statues of spider crafters overlooking the street below much like gargoyles would. The IronOak entrance doors were broad and tall as if they were made for a giant, or perhaps a massive creature like Drider or even the Warrior Leader Jr. The entrance too was guarded by stone-carved figures of two spiders, the spider warriors this time. The inside was packed with cold stone pews and right above them the tall ceiling was decorated with intricate patterns resembling a web. The narrow windows were letting only so little light hence leaving the entire hall shrouded in shadows. There were no candelabra or candles to give light, however further in the hall, as the centrepiece of the temple, there was a massive lantern with an equally massive flame burning inside it. The flame burned cold and was purple in colour, and instead of light, it granted Darkvision. The temple wasn¡¯t devoid of visitors, all of its pews were actually full. The pious were rather young, and all wore the same type of garb ¨C a simple spider mass-produced blue tunic. The pious quickly turned to look at the Spider King and his two assistants. It seemed he had interrupted a mass prayer of some sort, but he couldn¡¯t help but think of who they were praying to. No doubt someone who was spider-related, and judging by the dark atmosphere some sort of a Dark Deity¡­ But why would a Radiant Angell be part of this? Her otherwise Light alignment just didn¡¯t seem to fit the theme. Since the interruption was already made and everyone was now staring at him, it was as good time as any to pose the question. ¡°Do you know her?¡± He pointed at the woman resting on the Warrior Leader Jr back. ¡°We¡¯ve been told she lives here. As you see, she¡¯s unconscious because of Negative Mana and will remain so for some time, but a good place to rest would be appreciated.¡± The gathering of the pious rushed to the angel. The worry on their faces told him that they recognised the woman, and indeed that she was involved with this temple. ¡°How¡¯s the war?¡±, ¡°We were praying for her.¡±, ¡°Will she be alright?¡±, such and so was said all at once. He answered their questions to the best of his ability and soon their attention was directed to his two assistants. They were clearly interested in Warrior Leader Jr. ¡°The biggest spider I¡¯ve seen!¡±, ¡°So majestic, so noble¡­¡±, ¡°What did you eat to grow so big?¡±, so and such was said between the awed oh¡¯s and ah¡¯s. And then their gazes shifted to the drider, and if they were interested before, now they were overly excited. ¡°A half-woman and half-spider? How is this possible?¡±, ¡°She¡¯s blessed, I am so envious!¡±, ¡°Her form is so beautiful. She is perfect!¡±, they spoke excitedly over each other. Drow Assistant, clearly embarrassed by the prodding looks, stepped back to hide behind the Spider King; not that it was effective with that large and spidery body of hers. ¡°I can see you worship spiders, and I understand your curiosity, but I need a place for Elisabeth to rest.¡± He tried to bring the pious back to the subject that mattered. ¡°It¡¯s not spiders we worship, it¡¯s the one who made them.¡± A pious woman explained. ¡°And the Radiant Angel is his messenger. Her bed chamber is nearby, let me show you.¡± She began to lead them. ¡°Ah!¡± She exclaimed realising something and then turned to the spider and half-spider to give them a grovelling apology. ¡°The corridors¡­¡± she began swallowing hardly. Yes while the hall was alright the rest of the building was made to accommodate the ¡®moderate¡¯ sizes of the humans, the two of his even more generously sized companions simply wouldn¡¯t fit. The grovelling woman was almost on the brink of tears at that realisation. ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡±, ¡°It¡¯s Okay.¡± He and his assistant spoke at once. The companions wouldn¡¯t fit so he was the one to finish this. The Spider King scooped the angel from the spider¡¯s back and carried her through one of the doors on the side of the hall. The narrow corridor was filled with doors on both sides, much like a dormitory would. Indeed, the massive temple wasn¡¯t just here to accommodate the prayers but also to house the pious as a monastery would. The woman leading him still had a concerned look on her face. ¡°¡­ We just didn¡¯t think the spiders would ever need to come to the servant quarters, you know. It is we who serve them, so¡­ And the two were just too large¡­ it seems we made a planning mistake¡­¡± She was mostly muttering. ¡°And thanks for bringing her back, but who are you?¡± The question took him back slightly. It even kind of hurt a bit¡­ Was he really that unpopular? ¡°Oh, right. I¡¯m still getting used to this.¡± The woman spoke out apologetically. ¡°[Inspect].¡± Then it was her turn to become staggered and be at a loss for words. The Spider King smiled sheepishly. ¡°That¡¯s right, I¡¯m the Spider King. But I don¡¯t want you to scrape or bow so don¡¯t worry about it. Let¡¯s just continue to her room.¡± Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! The colour in the woman¡¯s face returned and she did just so, however without uttering a single mutter this time; which somehow made it even more awkward. And it didn¡¯t help that the corridor was excessively long and that Elisabeth had decided to live at the very end of it. Eventually, the room was reached and the doors opened. The room was small and rather simple: bed, table, chair, wardrobe and a mirror; it was without much flair or flourish, however, there was an oddity. He couldn''t help but notice a set of peculiar equipment hanging on a wall next to her bed: whip, rope, blindfold, handcuffs, and other stuff like that. Well, it was not up to him to judge what the Radiant Angel did in her spare time, so he wouldn¡¯t. He just laid her to rest in the bed. ¡°If she simply rests she will recover, no other action is needed.¡± He informed the pious woman just in case. ¡°I understand.¡± She replied almost robotically. The side quest was over and it was time for him to get back on track, however, just before he could take the first step a weak hand grabbed him. ¡°Spider King, you¡¯ve saved me.¡± Radiant Angel spoke in a barely audible whisper. ¡°You woke sooner than I¡¯ve expected.¡± He was genuinely surprised. ¡°I¡¯ve been awake for some time already.¡± She admitted. ¡°I see¡­¡± Even if so, she was in no position to walk, so he didn¡¯t mind her pretending to be asleep. ¡°Just so you know, you saved the Aurelian Army. Well done.¡± He commended her. ¡°I know¡­¡± She tightened her grip. ¡°Don¡¯t go. Don¡¯t leave me. Not yet.¡± He looked towards the doors, the pious woman was already out and closing the doors behind her. He found it strange she left the two of them without saying anything. ¡°Elisabeth, I have a quest to fulfil, I must go.¡± He informed her unwilling to mess up the schedule the Drow Assistant worked so hard to plan. ¡°Not yet.¡± She looked at him beggingly. ¡°Stay with me.¡± People, then put in a vulnerable condition, often desire the company to feel more secure. It was basic instinct and he understood that much. ¡°I can¡¯t. But I think I have something that will make you feel better.¡± He gave her a meaningful look. ¡°You do?¡± She looked at him expectantly. He nodded. ¡°Get ready, here it comes. [Core Seed]¡± With those words, he lost some mana and she gained some. It was just a 100MP however it was still a significant amount. Elisabeth looked at him with wide eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve gained a new skill.¡± ¡°Yes, Monster Core, it raises your MP capacity.¡± She shook her head ever so slightly. ¡°No. I mean yes, I did get that but also unlocked a skill from my skill tree. It¡¯s called Initiation. He inspected her status and indeed Initiation was there.: Initiation: At the cost of 100MP bring a Corrupted Human closer to the Light and change their monster race to Angelic. The target will be recognised as your follower (Minion) and will be rewarded with a random perk and increased status points. Your angelic power will grow with the amount of followers you have converted. The skill was very similar to Duke Aurelius¡¯s Bestow Rank; both of them created Minions. ¡°Oh! Isn¡¯t that amazing!¡± He was happy for her and not jealous that she could create minions; not jealous at all! ¡°Yes, with this, more followers will flock to my cause.¡± ¡°Mhm, mhm.¡± He nodded. ¡°And that cause is?¡± ¡°To serve you and your spiders of course!¡± She said it as if it was the most obvious. ¡°And I was worried you were worshipping some Evil God.¡± ¡°What?! Oh you mean the Holy Light, no, I¡¯ve seen past its trickery and deception. And so do the followers I¡¯ve gathered. With this skill, Initiation, we will grow stronger and will eventually challenge the false and evil deity!¡± She said all that with maddened zeal. Yeah, the angel here was a bit crazy. But hey her vigour showed that she had recovered from the worst effects of the Negative Mana. ¡°Just don¡¯t go overboard with it, and don¡¯t force the Initiation on anyone.¡± He cautioned. ¡°Of course, only the most worthy will be rewarded.¡± She gave him a conspiratory grin. ¡°I see¡­¡± In that regard he didn¡¯t want to meddle. As long as everyone was willing and it did no harm to his spiders there was no problem. ¡°Well then¡­¡± He stepped to leave. Once again a hand stopped him. ¡°Won¡¯t you stay, just this time?¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid I won¡¯t, the Drow Assistant is waiting for me.¡± Disappointment flashed across the angel¡¯s face but only to be replaced by a smile soon after. ¡°Be good, my Lord.¡± She released her grip on him. He couldn''t quite understand the meaning of that sentence, however, ¡°You too, be good,¡± he replied. === === War or not, the web was cast onto the Aurelian Capital; escape is no longer possible. Under the directive of Lord G Bling, the spiders were working diligently to bring the spiders and humans closer together. It didn¡¯t take much to achieve their trust and now the spiders were as respected as any human if not more. However, the Master Plan required much more than that; the trust was only the beginning of it. Now the humans needed to learn the ways of the spiders, or as a certain angel would conveniently call it The Way. By the way, the angelic woman herself was an incredible asset which only sped up the process. Thank you Spider King for Evolving her and sending her this way! As it turns out, the young humans were the most receptive to the spidery teachings so the spiders began to gather them first. They started by stretching a helpful thread to their parents: Do you have an unruly child? Do you need a babysitter? Are you just tired and need a day for yourself? ¨C fret not human, send them to SpiderCare? and the spiders will look after them all. For free! With three meals and a bed included! And why not just leave them there? For a day, or a few¡­ or maybe even a week! Or even more! Do you have a teenager who needs an apprenticeship? Look no further, the spider crafters are recruiting, and as we all know there are no better crafters than spiders. Send your kid to SpiderWorkshop? where they will learn to be the best craftsmen they could ever be. If it need be, lodgings and meals are included! Are you lost? Maybe you just don¡¯t know what is your place in this world? Or perhaps you are looking for somewhere to belong? It might be that you just want to do good but don¡¯t know where to start? If so, visit the SpideryTemple where lost souls gather in search of The Way. It is a place where you can meet like-minded people and spiders, and also gather together to build a better place. With those threads the web was cast and soon it was full of eager humans. There, ever so slowly, ever so subtly, the spiders whispered their whispers: work is joy and joy is work, and there is no better joy than to work and be of service. To whom or what ¡®of service¡¯ the humans were the spiders would often omit. And it worked better if they told the little humans that they were bettering themselves, or society or the world in general¡­ But the spiders knew who they all were really serving and for what reason; the Soulbound duty had to be upheld and it would as long as the spiders lived. Soon the human minds will be theirs! However, that was only a small part of the Master Plan. The second phase was an uncharted territory and the hardest hurdle to overcome. The spiders might have tangled the human mind in their web, but the body remained human and hence imperfect. The Corrupted Human was a move in the right direction, however, a spider hybrid was more desirable, more Spidery Magnificent if you will. Yet still, the spider and a human were so far removed from each other that a hybrid seemed only as wishful thinking. Luckily, the ever-ingenious and now legendary spider, Lord G Bling, solved the unsolvable and moved the Master Plan closer to completion. The first spider-human hybrid will soon be born, and from there the spidery thread would only spread further. The plan was to intermarry the hybrids with other humans and thus extend the spidery influence even further. Having the spider blood in the human veins would mean that they too would have to follow the oath the first spider made. Only then they would experience the true joy of service, only then they would understand, and only then they would be allowed the full truth: the spiders live only to serve their King and this is The Way. But of course, the more ¨C the merrier, the bigger the spidery influence ¨C the better, the bigger the nest ¨C the greater the joy ¡­ 131 – Some Monsters Just Should’t Be Tamed The flying ship was making its way through the sky; beneath it were the wast lands of plains. Before the land was known as the Fertile Kingdom but now it was just the Fallen Kingdom. The reason for the name change was obvious: the once bountiful fields were left to fallow and most of the settlements were abandoned. But of course, there were good reasons for that, namely the raiding bandits but mostly monsters. Indeed, if one looked below the deck of the Galleon Whale, they would notice a roaming band of ferocious monsters. Those were the common Forest Drakes, they were lizard-like monsters or miniature dragons if you will. The biggest one was the size of a large warg and unlike the real dragon, it couldn¡¯t use a breath attack. The band of drakes were heading towards the seemingly abandoned settlement, probably in search of food. While it was a common monster in these parts it was the first time the Spider King had encountered the drakes. He used a nearby magical implement, Spider Scope, to increase the range for his perk, ¡°[Inspect]¡± he read the details of the biggest drake in the pack.
Monster: Forest Drake Alpha Status Effects: Famished
HP:250 MP:50/50 STA:200
Active Perks [Ferocious Bite], [Tail Swipe], [Rallying Roar]
Passive Perks [Venom Fangs], [Regeneration], [Leader]
Resistances [Physical Resistance: Lesser], [Magical Resistance: Lesser]
Indeed, the stats told him that this was a boss monster, however, it wasn¡¯t that strong. A good party of four or six humans should be able to take it down easily. However, it was not the individual strength of the alpha which made the drake band a threat, it was their sheer number. A quick count told him that there were at least over a hundred. ¡°Look¡¯s like a good morning exercise.¡± He concluded and headed to the lower deck. His noble mount, Warrior Leader Jr, was already waiting for him in anticipation. ¡°Go time?¡± He chirped with expectation. ¡°Go time!¡± He mounted the spider. The hatch on the side opened and the spider jumped out stretching his wings. The wings weren¡¯t an actual part of the spider, it was yet another magical item, SilkWeb Seraph. It was a masterwork quality glider made out of DriderSilk and reinforced with Living Wood. The exotic materials allowed the item to carry a set of powerful enchantments: Reinforced +3, Gliding, Cloaking Veil, Stealth, Speed Boost, Projectile Deflection, Terror +2. The last enchantment was more of a side effect and not an enchantment, but it was there and couldn¡¯t be removed. Actually, it was more like a feature and not a bug, yes, let¡¯s look at it like that. The spider and its rider cut the sky gliding right towards the pack of monsters. The drakes were perceptive monsters and soon caught the sight of a massive flying spider. Needless to say, they weren¡¯t too pleased about it. Luckily, they were landbound dragonoids (no wings) and were just forced to watch and groan at the incoming threat. The alpha roared rallying its minions around itself. It was commendable that neither of them broke and attempted to flee. But that didn¡¯t mean that the lesser drakes didn¡¯t try to hide behind their bigger brethren who managed to shrug off the Terror debuff. The gliding spider would soon reach the band of drakes where a fierce bloodbath would ensue, however, it didn¡¯t mean that the two wouldn¡¯t use the air superiority to their advantage. ¡°[Bombardment].¡± The simple chirp escaped the spider''s mouth. You know when you shake an apple tree, the one which is full of ripe apples and they just start hailing down on you one after the other in a heavy and painful rain? ¨C this was much like it. PetallBalls fell on the unsuspecting drakes and burst on impact clouding the entire area in dust, hence afflicting the drakes with Torpor or Sleep if they were weakwilled. And only then did the spider SLAM! right into the centre of the pack. Yes, there were better ways to deal with the monsters, safer ways too, but the two just wanted to have some FUN. ¡°Warrior Leader Jr!¡± The Spider King exclaimed not too pleased. ¡°You squished the alpha to a pulp!¡± He complained. Yeah, the massive spider had slammed into the alpha drake much like a hammer would at the ripe TomGrape; there wasn¡¯t much of the drake left. ¡°Our legendary battle is over before it even started¡­¡± He said with disappointment. Indeed, with the leader dead the drakes succumbed to Terror and were fleeing to all sides. ¡°Sorry, not sorry.¡± The spider chirped simply shaking the loose scales and bits of flesh off its spidery legs. ¡°[Deactivate]¡± He chirped again folding the wings of SilkWeb Seraph needly to its sides. ¡°Let¡¯s see who. Can catch and kill. The most.¡± He proposed. It was easy to forget that the flying mount was more than that, he was also a warrior and had that warrior spirit. ¡°It¡¯s on!¡± The Spider King flashed the spider a grin. ¡°[Transformation: Spider],¡± he shifted into a more agile form. The use of Transformation was not an attempt to get the upper hand against the large spider, it was actually done out of respect. He was a mage and would easily win this fight, hence an unspoken rule of the competition was that no magic was allowed; however, the use of perks was fine. Okay, let''s admit it, it was a lie; he did it to gain the upper hand¡­ There was just no way to otherwise compete with a massive spider! If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. The two now stood equal, both were spiders. The hunt began! The Spider King used all of his extra legs to quickly catch up to the fleeing drakes. ¡°[Spear Thrust],¡± he jabbed at the nearest one. Surprisingly the drake dodged the attack rather expertly. The forest drakes lived up to their reputation of high agility. He tried again without much luck; running and swinging your weapon was harder than one might think. Or maybe he just lacked practice. ¡°Argh!¡± He yelled in frustration missing again. ¡°[Spin Web: Net]¡±, he finally gave up trying to pierce the monster. A jet of threads fired from his free hand and quickly formed a net in the air. The net landed on the drake wrapping around it and arresting its momentum, soon it tumbled to the ground ¨C Trapped. The use of the perk drained his mana to produce a purple magical web, however, this was not against the spirit of the competition because technically this was still a perk. With the drake now stationary it was a lot easier to strike at it successfully. He turned around to see how his companion was doing. His jaw slung open at the sight: the humungous spider was just using Trample on the lesser drakes mowing down them in his relentless Charge; the spider was a combine harvester and the drakes his wheat. ¡°I need to step up my game or else¡­¡± He started towards the nearest drake. The Spider King still had one more trick under his spidery chitin. ¡°[Discharge Core],¡± he spent the mana stored inside to power boost his abilities. ¡°My final form!¡± Much like a boss monster at the end of his HP he glowed in magical red. The magical energy empowered his spider form making it grow larger, stronger and faster. The nearby drakes clearly felt the change and fled with ever-increasing vigour. ¡°You can run but you can¡¯t escape!¡± He yelled at the running drake. The legs under him moved so quickly that the image of them blurred and he was running faster than the wind. However, speed would not be enough to catch up with Warrior Leader Jr. He needed to up his damage dealt per minute. ¡°[Spin Web: Binding Thread],¡± he formed an elastic rope and attached it to his spear. ¡°Get over here, [Spear Throw]¡±, he tried. He expected to harpoon and pull the drake closer for a finishing blow but instead, due to his heightened agility and strength, the blow was powerful enough to practically explode the side of the drake. And best of all with a quick thug of his arm, he had the weapon back for another throw. ¡°[Spear Throw], [Spear Throw], [Spear Throw],¡± he was firing like a mobile auto launcher; six-legged-boosted empowered-boss-spider mobile-spear-auto-launcher! The spear projectile was aimed at the drakes with merciless precision making quick work of the monsters. It was good that his weapon was Reinforced otherwise it would have broken from abuse a long time ago. In the end, some of the drakes managed to escape but mostly they were dealt with. The two spiders met to tell the tally of their kills. ¡°57,¡± Warrior Leader Jr chirped contently. ¡°32¡­¡± He said with resignation. ¡°I guess you are named Warrior Leader for a reason. Congratulations, you won. Well done.¡± He commended the bloodied spider. ¡°And my price is. A Monster Core.¡± He chirped his demand. ¡°Indeed, you bested me fair and square. I think you deserve it.¡± He paused to look at the spider apologetically. ¡°But I have just discharged my core. We¡¯ll have to wait for me to recharge.¡± Which would take a few days. ¡°I understand.¡± He said clacking his mandibles excitedly. Judging that the boys had finished their FUN, Drow Assistant descended from the Galleon Whale which hovered just above. ¡°You did well eradicating the monsters.¡± She praised the two. ¡°But did this need to be this messy?¡± She pointed at the bloodied field littered with exploded and trampled drakes. ¡°Good materials went to waste.¡± She was right about that. The drake meat was known to be perfectly edible, no not just edible, allegedly it was rich in flavour and succulent then roasted, and even better, it granted a temporary buff of Regeneration. And let''s not forget the scales, Drake Scales were perfect for armour and arrow tips. Also, the Drake Eyes and Venom Glands had their use in Alchemy. Honestly, the entire monster could be used for one thing or the other. ¡°Yeah, let''s gather what¡¯s left of them.¡± He offered apologetically. ¡­ The ever-helpful spiders gave a spidery hand in the cleanup and butchering of the monsters making the otherwise gruelling work so much easier. Actually, they worked so efficiently that his efforts to help were just slowing the cleanup down. So instead, he whimsically decided to visit the abandoned settlement. From the first glance of it, it was rather obvious that the settlement fell to bandits rather than monsters. There were signs of fire and brutal melee. And by no means the settlement was small, this was more like a large farming village which housed at least 2500 villagers or so. But by the looks of it, after the bandit raid, the inhabitants either left or succumbed to the monster incursion. ¡°That¡¯s sad.¡± He idly kicked a piece of pottery sending it to the wall to shatter. Vandalism was never okay, but this place was already beyond repair; half-burned and dilapidated. ¡°Good land is going to waste.¡± He said the obvious. *Rustle*, *Bang*, *Thud*, a series of noises came from behind the wall to which he had just shattered the pot. His reckless noise-making probably roused a nesting monster from its sleep. A not so surprising find really, and then thinking about it, if the village had a nest of monsters they could also clear it and harvest the monsters for materials. He didn¡¯t want to get scolded by the Drow Assistant for wasting ingredients and making a mess again so he prepared Spin Web readying a net for capture. The monster would likely jump out of the nearby window or the broken doors. He stepped further away to give himself time to use the perk. And there it was a fuzzy monster with green scales! ¡°[Spin Web: Net]¡±, he shot it right at the approaching monster. ¡°Ah!¡± The monster screeched in alarm. Another one jumped right out of the doorframe pointing a fanged spear at him. ¡°Wait¡­¡± Those weren¡¯t monsters, they were his Ashen Rabbits! The one in the net wore a scale west made out of Drake Skales, and the one at the doorway was armed with a DrakeFang Spear. ¡°Rabbits? What are you doing here?¡± He questioned surprised. ¡°Spider?¡± The rabbit in the net yelped confused. The rabbit with the spear ignored his question giving him a good look. ¡°You look different than other spiders¡­ Why did you web Ever?¡± ¡°Sorry, I mistook you for monsters.¡± ¡°Spider, how could you! I¡¯m not a monster!¡± Ever struggled in the net. ¡°My apologies, wait¡­ did you say Ever? As in Ashen and Ever?¡± He moved to dispel his magical web. ¡°Yes I¡¯m Ashen, and she¡¯s Ever. We¡¯re here on the scouting mission.¡± He finally replied to the previous question. ¡°No, Ashen, we are taming monsters.¡± Ever protested. The male rabbit just shook his head as if to deny that statement. ¡°But spider, why are you so far from your nest?¡± Ashen asked curious. Okay, the two didn¡¯t recognise him in his spider form so he shifted back to a more human-like variant. ¡°Oh!¡±, ¡°Ah!¡±, both of them exclaimed. ¡°Yeah,¡± he smiled at their shock finding the expressions on the rabbits'' faces amusing. ¡°I¡¯m also scouting. But mostly killing monsters.¡± Ever was finally out of her bindings, she patted her armour as if to clean the dust from it. ¡°King, please don¡¯t kill them all. Some monsters can be tamed!¡± Ashen gave him a dubious look for some reason. ¡°Really?¡± He questioned, the only one he managed to tame properly was probably only the Enchanted Boar and IceShard Devourer. Of course, spiders didn¡¯t count because they weren¡¯t monsters, they were people! ¡°Monsters are notoriously resistant to all taming attempts.¡± He added recalling hearing it in the Aurelian Kingdom. ¡°Is that so, but I tamed one. You don¡¯t believe me? Come take a look.¡± Ever said with an annoyed pout. So the monster was inside the building; he was curious about what sort of creature it was. Ever urged him to follow and he did just so. From the first look at the inside, he understood that the two rabbits were scavenging the building for goodies. There was a bag stuffed full of unwanted or otherwise forgotten items. Ashen must have caught him looking. ¡°Treasures of the fallen civilisation.¡± He explained with pride befitting an archaeologist. No, Ashen, this is just junk! ¡°But where is the monster?¡± He questioned. ¡°Probably got spooked by all the noise.¡± Ever crouched down and poured some nuts and berries in her hand. ¡°Pss, pss, pss.¡± She called. And surely enough, from under the broken pile of furniture a monster emerged. ¡°See, I didn¡¯t lie. I tamed this one.¡± Yes, Ever, you did¡­ however, this wasn¡¯t a monster. ¡°Ever, this is a human girl.¡± He pointed out the obvious. She nodded. ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve seen its status, a human monster.¡± He did a quick Inspect just in case. No, it was just your regular human. But yes, she had that Tamed in her status; strange¡­ He looked at the poor child. ¡°Did these two kidnap you? Where are your parents?¡±, he spoke in human tongue. The child, who obviously didn¡¯t speak Spider Chirp and hence couldn''t understand the rabbits understood the Spider King because of his Language Comprehension. Well, he was too far gone to look like a human so she didn¡¯t make that mistake. However, her eyes went wide and then tears began forming at the corner of her eyes. ¡°My parents¡­ They are¡­¡± Looking particularly teary-eyed she didn¡¯t finish. ¡°¡­ the rabbits are my family now,¡± she wiped the tears and looked at him with recovered courage. ¡±Yes,¡± she nodded as if to confirm all that to herself. ¡°I see¡­¡± He understood the unsaid. However, he needed to clear up some misunderstandings the rabbits had. You just don¡¯t go around and Tame little girls, that''s just criminal! 132 – The Rabbit Village Is Doing Rather Well The abandoned farming settlement was less abandoned than he previously thought. Ever and Ashen weren¡¯t the only rabbits scavenging the place clean of any remaining goodies. Ashen blew a monster horn and soon the rabbits hopped from all around to form a large party. The party had thirty rabbits in total with an addition of five tamed pets. The Tamed, of course, were juvenile humans, and as it turned out the rabbits treated them like some sort of loot goblins. The kids were helping the rabbits identify and find useful items and other types of goodies hidden or left forgotten. However, what a child saw as useful was rather questionable by itself; leading to the rabbits gathering a lot of useless junk. Ironically, they seemed to value broken and half-rusted junk just as much as the tamed children did; strange¡­ However, the rabbits were competent in other areas; their equipment was proof of that. To make a vest out of Drake Scales or Warg Pelt you had to slay such monsters. The naturally sharp tips of their DrakeFang Spears were a further testament to that. While of course, the gear was of common or even shoddy quality, the materials used were still sturdy and more than enough to consider the rabbits well-equipped. Moreover, they had Grenades at their sides to use for emergencies and Draining Nets to capture or immobilise the local predators. The Spider King couldn''t help but marvel at the ingenuity and crafting ability of the Ashen Rabbits; they were doing rather well for themselves. Did someone teach them how to, or were they just that smart? ¨C Nah, it was probably the influence of the diligent spiders¡­ The rabbits were rather far from their original home and with the party gathered and safe Ashen gave the Spider King a quick run down. ¡°So you came here to make a new settlement.¡± He asked to confirm. ¡°Yes,¡± Ashen nodded, ¡°we came to the promised land to set up a New Garden.¡± Apparently, in the Magical Forest, they ran out of space to plant Ashen Clover. But also, as it turns out they experienced a sharp population increase, which consequently led to food issues. A few issues the Spider King didn¡¯t account for. But how was he supposed to know that the rabbits would explode in numbers so quickly!? ¡°And your new settlement, the New Garden, how many rabbits are there?¡± He asked to wrap his head around all this better. ¡°We don¡¯t keep the number,¡± It was Ever who spoke up, ¡°but I think it¡¯s close to 1000.¡± That was way too many rabbits! The last time he remembered, he left only two of them in the Clover Garden. How did this happen? And inbreeding apparently was not an issue; huh, Monster System worked in mysterious ways¡­ but perhaps the inbreeding was negated by the Blessing of The Great Ancestral Wisp boon all rabbits now possessed. The boon as a ¡®bonus¡¯ made them even more fertile. Jee! Rabbits be rabbiting ¨C he shouldn¡¯t have expected any less. Ignoring the contemplative look of the King, Ashen added. ¡°It¡¯s mostly children, that¡¯s why we have to work hard to provide for them.¡± ¡°That Wisp¡­¡± The Spider King wanted to complain, but what was done was done. ¡°I¡¯d love to see that new settlement of yours, the New Garden. Come, hop in my Galleon Whale I¡¯ll give you all a lift.¡± He offered. The rabbits readily agreed, the ship was loaded with junk and then flew towards the rabbit settlement. New Garden wasn¡¯t that far away, only a thirty-minute trip from where they were; that was by flying, walking would take much longer. The settlement was hard to miss, it was surrounded by shiny silver fields of AshenClover. It was good to see the fertile land be put to use once again; the rabbits had a lot of fields going on, but with the rising population, they would need them. The settlement by itself was surrounded by a thick and thorny wall made out of SpikeVine, it wasn¡¯t something you would want to attempt to scale. The inside of the wall was dotted by rabbit huts, where there was a lot of space still left to be filled. the huts were made out of straw and clay and further topped by grass roofs, it was simple but it served its purpose. In addition to the huts, there were comparatively large tents made out of monster leather serving as structures for social gatherings or perhaps even large storage. It gave the entire village that rustic vibe. Right in the centre of the village, if you stretched the meaning of the word, there was a large plaza. But instead of shopping, communal cooking and eating were done in the open space, but also a lot of crafting and resource preparation. The plaza was perfect to land the Galleon Whale. Perhaps noticing the spiders, or just because they were welcoming people, the Ashen Rabbits greeted the landing ship with cheers of joy and warm waves. And indeed there were a whole lot of juvenile rabbits; If the Spider King didn¡¯t know any better he would think that the entire place was run by children. The ratio was something like one adult to twelve children if not worse. A whole lot of rabbit children heard about the spiders but never met them, meaning that there was a lot of excitement going on. Needless to say, the ship was soon swarmed by rabbits who prodded it with their paws and pestered the nearby spiders with endless questions. Lucky to the rabbits, the spiders were a patient bunch and willfully indulged the rabbits'' curiosity. ¡°Sorry about that.¡± Ever apologised pushing through the horde of miniature rabbits. ¡°It¡¯s alright, kids will be kids.¡± The Spider King didn¡¯t mind one bit, not even if they were currently rummaging through his pockets. Ha, jokes on you rabbit children! ¨C those were empty, everything of value was in his Inventory Space. With that said, the loot bags the rabbits brought with them were now lying empty. What was the saying? ¨C one man''s trash is another man''s treasure. However, he didn¡¯t think it was the best idea to let the children play with rusty knives, but then again, perhaps that was how they got their first Fighting levels; which to his surprise many of the young children had. The Spider King was welcomed to a large tent and then offered a warm drink and some salad to eat. A nice gesture of the rabbits really, but he wanted something more hearty. ¡°By the way, I have Drake Meat in the ship. There might just be enough for everyone. Want to cook some?¡± He offered suggestively. ¡°Meat?!¡± Ever frowned. ¡°Eww! We don¡¯t eat that, that¡¯s monster food.¡± She looked at her tamed pet. The girl in question licked her lips, probably understanding what the talk was about. ¡°Meat!¡± She said in Spider Chirp. ¡°Oh! She can speak our language. You taught her?¡± He asked surprised. ¡°Yes, human monsters are more intelligent than they look. But she picks up only the strangest words¡­¡± Ever said as if complaining. ¡°Meat!¡± She repeated expectantly. ¡°Stay!¡± Ever commanded and the girl sat back down obediently. ¡°See, she also understands basic commands. That¡¯s why we are Taming them.¡± Ever reached into her pouch to retrieve some treats. ¡°You¡¯re a good little helper aren''t you, here.¡± If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The kid looked at the food somewhat unhappy, it wasn¡¯t meat, yet still she took it and ate it. ¡°I see¡­¡± There was a lot to unpack here. While walking to the tent he spied a few more human children following the rabbits but also cages housing captured humans presumably waiting in line to be Tamed. No doubt the rabbits were capturing stray humans during their scouting missions or other encounters; which wasn¡¯t an entirely ethical thing to do. But who was he to judge? ¨C It¡¯s not like he was on the side of humanity or even human himself¡­ However, mistreatment was never okay, so he would stay here and observe this for a little while. Ever proceeded to show all the tricks her tamed pet knew. Some of them were rather impressive, even if of little use, like the handstand for example. Clearly she had spent a great amount of time training her companion. As entertaining as it was that clover salad was getting rather boring rather quickly. ¡°Nah, sorry, I want meat. You don¡¯t mind do you?¡± He asked the hosts. ¡°We have a space for that outside.¡± Ashen offered. ¡°Yeah, might as well feed our humans.¡± Ever nodded. ¡°Meat!?¡± A quick fire was made and some rather succulent Drake Steak roasted. The rabbits weren¡¯t too interested however the smell attracted all the stray pet ¡®monsters¡¯ in the settlement. Girls and boys of various ages were salivating at large steaks. Luckily for them, there was enough. Actually, it would be best to show the rabbits how to preserve the meat. Even if they didn¡¯t eat it, there was no need to let it spoil and rot, they could sell it to the humans either here or in the Aurelian Kingdom. ¡°Help yourselves.¡± He urged the kids after grabbing the steak he wanted. The Drow Assistant came back just in time to give him the report while he enjoyed his succulent dinner. ¡°I¡¯ll give you rounded numbers,¡± she said while looking at her notebook. ¡°There are 1300 rabbits, 90 adults, 500 juveniles, 700 children. The juveniles will soon be able to bear children of their own and the gestation time is only a month.¡± ¡°A month?¡± That didn¡¯t sound real. ¡°Yes, various perks and boons accumulated to that effect. Also, they grow and become adults rather quickly. If you allow me to be rude, I would say they are very much like monsters.¡± Yes, she was right, monsters had that ability: to breed and grow quickly; the Ashen Rabbits were also of DemiMonster race. ¡°Will they be okay with food?¡± He asked slightly concerned. ¡°Surprisingly they are doing rather well. The amount they eat is little and it¡¯s primary AshenClover. My estimate is that they gather 5000 units and consume only 3000 units at the moment; running a surplus.¡± She concluded. And there was still plenty of land to farm and develop. Indeed, they were doing very well! Drow Assitant continued. ¡°I suggest they restart sending the excess AshenClover to the Spider Kingdom.¡± ¡°Yeah, that makes sense.¡± That¡¯s why he evolved them to begin with ¨C to grow clovers. ¡°The Centauri will be happy.¡± He smiled at the happy memory of those girls. ¡°How about the security and the captured humans.¡± She flipped the page. ¡°The settlement is fortified and they send regular patrols to dispatch the nearby monsters. I¡¯ve heard Lamia Warriors used to help them but since they established the fortification the serpentines had left. However, all is well in that regard.¡± He was surprised to hear that Lamia was involved. Then did the two become acquainted? Was his wife scheming to snatch another race under her tail as she did with Mer? ¨C that was something she would do. Hmm¡­ Not so quick dear wife! The rabbits were his! The Drow Assistant misread his face. ¡°My King, I see concern in your eyes. The rabbits are equipping themselves well, sure some will die to monster attacks but due to the sheer ability to reproduce they will prevail.¡± She tried to reassure him. ¡°And the humans are being integrated well into the Ashen Rabbit society, even if their status is low they seem well looked after. I don¡¯t see them beginning a revolt any time soon.¡± She was right in that regard. None of them were either cold or hungry, and it seemed that the rabbits weren¡¯t sending the little humans to die trying to fight monsters. It was quite the opposite, the rabbits were keeping the few humans safe. ¡°However¡­¡± Drow Assistant paused. ¡°There were a few scuffles with the bandits. And it¡¯s likely there will be more.¡± ¡°No doubt about that, the bandits had sacked that once large settlement we had just visited. The New Garden must look like a juicy target as well.¡± ¡°It probably does.¡± She agreed. ¡°But unlike humans, even juvenile rabbits have Fighting levels.¡± She reasoned. ¡°I¡¯ve noticed. But we''re here to solve the bandit issue too, not just monster incursion.¡± ¡°Correct.¡± She agreed again. ¡°I reckon we should visit the nearest bandit camp and give them a warm welcome.¡± Drow Assistant raised her eyebrow. ¡°You want me to use Fire magic?¡± ¡°Ha, no, not that warm. Let¡¯s try talking with them first. See what they¡¯re up to.¡± And for that, he didn¡¯t even need to go and visit their camp, he had noticed some rough-looking adults in the cages; the surviving bandits the rabbits had their scuffle with. The interrogation was rather short: the bandits were up to no good; he shouldn¡¯t have expected any less. Due to circumstances, the bandit group had grown rather large and was now working under one of many Warlords. They were tasked with raiding local villages for resources and then trading the loot off to the larger city ruled by their Warlord. That was how the Warlords now supplied their cities, through raids and extortion from the lesser villages and towns. The camp allegedly was fortified and well-staffed, it would be best to think of it as a small fortress. The gruff men he interrogated didn¡¯t have the precise numbers, but they mentioned at least two hundred veteran bandits with another two hundred recruits, plus the servants they kept and the slaves they captured. Yes, slavery was back in business in the Fallen Kingdom, and from what the Spider King gathered it was becoming rather lucrative. Indeed, this kingdom had fallen very low. ¡°Thank you for your cooperation.¡± The Spider-King thanked still surprised at how easy this was. It was very strange for the bandits to give all that information willingly. The two men were sweating profusely and shooting wary glances at his cute assistant. ¡°You won¡¯t feed us to that thing, right?¡± ¡°We told you everything you wanted.¡± ¡°That thing?¡± The Spider King asked offended. ¡°That¡¯s my irreplaceable assistant, mind your tongue.¡± He scolded. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t even eat you. You stink!¡± The woman in question replied in a human tongue. Indeed, as every assistant should, she was versed in many languages and without a perk to aid her; she was a woman worthy of respect. However, mercy had to be shown. ¡°Since you were so cooperative, I shall personally return you to your camp.¡± The two cages were loaded into the Galleon Whale. The sun was low in the sky signalling the approach of darkness, however, it wouldn¡¯t be much fun if the bandits missed the approach of his flying ship. The show was rescheduled to the morning. But that didn¡¯t mean that he couldn¡¯t have some fun: The AshenClover proved its worth and was due for a promotion. That¡¯s why he was now standing in the open field. Dark Flame allowed him to see despite the darkness. His assistant was by his side, making notes of some sort; the two original rabbits Ever and Ahen were also at his side. ¡°It¡¯s a great honour to witness this miracle.¡± Ashen bowed. ¡°I can¡¯t wait to see it!¡± Ever hopped excitedly. There wasn''t much need to put a ceremony. ¡°[Mutate],¡± the Spider King pushed his mana into the plant. The silvery leaves remained large and silver, but the flower stalk grew tall and large. The seed pod grew plump to the size of a fist, its fat seeds were barely fitting in the large pod. This was the goal of the Mutate, the clover now was producing large and millable seeds, and hence flour to make baking goods. The Spider King plucked the pod and extracted the seeds tasting one himself and offering others to his companions. ¡°Perfect.¡± He concluded, that it wasn¡¯t oily or starchy, it was mostly carbs just like he wanted. ¡°Not bad¡­¡± The drow assistant said despite her displeased face, likely unwilling to disparage his effort. ¡°Meh.¡±, ¡°Nuts are better.¡± The rabbits stayed honest. ¡°Tch!¡° He clicked his tongue. ¡°Just you wait until we mill this bad boy and turn it into bread.¡± He was positive that they would change their minds then. Like really, who didn¡¯t like bread? Well, okay maybe not bread but how about pies, either sweet or savoury? And since he had the eggs now¡­ He looked at the Drow Assistant with expectation. ¡°Will you bake me a pie?¡± He asked with big and sparkling eyes. ¡°A pie?¡± She asked somewhat confused. Well, he¡¯ll have to teach her. But before that, he pulled a gnarled staff, the Whispers Of Grandeur, and then scattered the rest of the mutated seeds. ¡°[Grow]¡±, he invoked magic previously inaccessible to him. Little motes of light in the shape of squirrel faces sparkled out of the staff and flew towards the seeds. The plants grew twice the size of the parent with even larger pods and plentiful seeds. The rabbits clapped entertained by the show this time, and his assistant made some more notes including drawings of little squirrel-faced motes. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t just stand here,¡± he used the Seed Archive to magic more seeds and handed them to the two rabbits. ¡°Let''s plant these bad boys and once the field is done, we¡¯ll celebrate it with a pie!¡± He declared. Unbeknown to the King, a new tradition was born in the rabbit village: every time the field was finished it would be celebrated with a fresh and warm pie. 133 - Eat A Pie, Be Human No More Late at night, right after the harvest, a new dish was born: Midnight Pie. The crust was made out of Clover Flour mixed with Drider Eggs, the filling was the iconic TomGrape, and the entire thing was sweetened with Slug Jelly. The entire thing was tempered in the magical flames of the FireAgave Juice oven. Due to all the exotic ingredients, or perhaps due to the way it was baked, no, maybe it was the time it was made¡­ Anyway, the Midnight Pie wasn¡¯t just finger-licking delicious, it proved a buff upon consumption: EXP Boost. The buff doubled the experience gained right until the next midnight. There was that, and due to certain ingredients, there was an extra bonus. ¡°My pet human can evolve!¡± Ever exclaimed raising the little girl into the air much like she would a trophy. ¡°She must have gotten access to the Monster System after she ate the pie.¡± Drow Assistant noted in her notebook. ¡°Slug Jelly can do that to humans.¡± Spider King looked at the giddy girl with curiosity. ¡°Evolve!¡± She exclaimed. Everyone directed their expectant looks at the King. Indeed, he was the gatekeeper to the evolution. ¡°With pleasure.¡± He took the girl into his hands. ¡°[Evolve]!¡± He invoked sinking no less than 1000MP into a comparably tiny body. The leather tent was basked in purple magical light and then the light subsided a fresh take on a human form was squirming in his hands. ¡°[Inspect],¡± everyone said in unison.
Monster Race: Corrupted Human Variant: Bunny Girl Magic Affinity: None ?????¡â?
HP:80 MP:50 STA:120
Active Perks [Zoom], [Hop]
Passive Perks [Scavenger], [Tamed]
The Bunny Girl, as all bunny girls should, had a set of bunny ears and a fluffy cotton-like tail, however, she remained mostly human. Most importantly, Tamed was moved from Status Effects to Passive Perks, which cemented it as a permanent thing. He put the improved human back on her feet. ¡°[Zoom],¡± she invoked with excitement. The tamed girl ran around the tent leaving only a blurry afterimage; she was quick! Something like that would be extremely hard to hit, and also catch. ¡°[Hop],¡± she tried another perk. ¡°Aw!¡± She slammed her head into the ceiling. ¡°You shouldn''t Hop in tents,¡± Ever scolded her. ¡°Stay!¡± She commanded. The command made the giddy girl to settle, yet still, she didn¡¯t look any less excited about her new abilities; or the improved looks. She touched her long bunny ears, ¡°I love them!¡± She said with a broad smile turning to check her rear. ¡°I love that too!¡± She wiggled her candyfloss tail. ¡°I¡¯m just like Ever and Asher now!¡± She looked at the two with sparkling eyes. ¡°Not quite, kid, but close enough.¡± The Spider King patted right in between the ears. And that concluded the small break everyone was having. The morning was bound to come soon and everyone buckled down for a short sleep; there was stuff to do and bandits to conquer. ¡­ The Galleon Whale was flying slowly towards the Bandit Camp. The camp was surrounded by a palisade wall and even had a few lookout towers; it wasn¡¯t quite a wooden fortress but it could be considered as a defensive encampment. The Spider King had some business with the local Bandit Leader, especially the part where they weren¡¯t exactly friendly with the settlers who just moved in ¨C his cute rabbits. The bandits had caused some trouble before, and the Spider King was here to end that. There were a few ways to solve issues like this: it was either to talk it out or come with guns blazing. Actually, why not both? ¨C yes, the Spider King decided to do both. That¡¯s why it was not the flying ship the bandits noticed first but a pack of monsters charging towards the Bandit Camp. The pack of Wargs were running in a maddened sprint straight to the walls as if intent on getting inside no matter the cost, but a keen observer would notice that the monsters charging with their tails tucked under as if fleeing something. A sound of alarm was blown from one of the lookout towers putting the camp on alert. Even if the wargs were few and the walls were tall, no monster attack should be left ignored; the bandits rushed to man the towers and the walls readying their bows and arrows. However, they soon would realise that this was unnecessary, or rather pointless. The ship, still unnoticed, was high above and right behind the fleeing monsters. Just before the wargs could get into the bandits¡¯ bow range, the ship descended from the sky flying low to stand between the wargs and the camp. A hatch on the side opened revealing a neat row of staffs. The rank of the Spider Dark Mages pushed their mana into the staffs making them buzz with power. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°[Empower],[Barrage],[Dark Bolt]¡±, they chanted in unison unleashing a combination attack. The projectiles were so numerous that the barrage formed a magical wave, it pulsed with power threatening to crash and sweep the monster pack away. Instead, the wargs were just blown to bits and then further disintegrated leaving nothing but dust. It was then the ship turned around to face the bandit camp. Everyone on the wall tensed up, and to begin with arrows weren¡¯t that great versus mages and what could they even do against the entire flying ship? Precisely! Everything panned out as intended. The flying ship was here just for a small show of power; flexing if you will. The Spider King did this to show that he meant business and that he was not to be messed around. However, the show wasn¡¯t quite over. The ship flew ever so slightly higher and once it was high enough it was time for the final act. The spider mages parted making space for the Warrior Leader Jr. The massive spider jumped to glide right towards the camp, of course, the Spider King was sitting atop the noble spider. At the sight of that the bandits were left screaming and shivering in their boots; no doubt this was the biggest and meanest monster they had ever seen. And it was flying right towards them! Of course, attempts were made to shoot the spider out of the sky, however, SilkWeb Seraph was equipped with Projectile Deflection; the arrows hit an invisible wall and simply fell back down like old leaves from the tree in autumn ¨C useless. Uncontested the spider slammed right into the centre of the bandit camp. The locals here weren¡¯t courageous enough to attempt to fight something like that, so they fled in all four directions. Or at least they wanted to, the very walls erected to protect them were now there to trap them. The few archers manning the walls jumped down only to be met with warning shots of Dark Bolt; the flying ship would not let them leave the camp. The bandits were truly trapped in this simple but spidery plot. ¡°Be not afraid!¡± The Spider King shouted using his Aura Projection at full power. He aimed for a calming effect trying to override their Terror. It worked to some extent: even if shaking and trebling a few of the bandits turned around to look at the gigantic spider and his rider. ¡°I come in peace!¡± He tried again. ¡°I just want to talk with your leader.¡± He reached into his inventory. ¡°Here, I even brought a pie as a peace offering.¡± The pie remained fresh and warm in his inventory, hence so the tempting smell wafted towards the bandits. ¡°So, where is the leader?¡± He scanned the crowd. Yeah, despite the pie offering he won no friends here, the bandits realising that they couldn¡¯t flee encircled the spider with their weapons pointed. He looked at the biggest and toughest bandit in the crowd, it was likely to be their leader. Surprisingly, ¡°I¡¯m the leader!¡± A voice behind him shouted out. He was forced to turn around at the sound of a feminine yet gruff and commanding voice. The woman was dressed in taunt black leather and cloaked in monster fur, much like a rogue or in this case Bandit Leader would. The Spider King Hopped off his noble steed to face the Bandit Leader properly; he dismounted to show respect. ¡°I¡¯m the Spider King, ruler of the Monster Realm.¡± He introduced himself. ¡°Never heard of it¡­ but that makes sense.¡± The woman muttered. ¡°I am Roe Banditessa, leader of this camp. And just so you know, we work under the Warlord Jerico.¡± She introduced. ¡°I don¡¯t care about him.¡± He dismissed the Warlord. ¡°I¡¯m here for you.¡± He gave her an intense look. His words made the woman step back. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean like that¡­ I¡¯m here to talk, honest. I¡¯ve even brought a pie.¡± He stretched the offering. ¡°Is that so¡­¡± The woman paused to think, or rather scheme something. ¡°Then let''s do it away from the prying eyes. Come.¡± She gestured towards the wooden longhouse. He whispered to his companion to stay and observe the rest of the bandits and then followed the Bandit Leader. Soon he realised that the woman had quite a few guards, those were the only people who decided to follow him and her; the rest used the opportunity to distance themselves from potential dangers. Hence, the Warrior Leader Jr was left with no bandits to observe; they avoided the spider like a plague. Roe Banditessa opened the doors for him to enter. ¡°After you,¡± she motioned welcomingly. She followed right behind with a quick yelp to her men, ¡°I won¡¯t need you,¡± and then she slammed the doors. Now there were only two of them in the hall of the longhouse. She was rather trusting of him, perhaps his aura had worked, or maybe it was the pie, regarless he smiled at her trust. ¡°Please take a seat.¡± She motioned to a nearby table. He set the pie on it and sat on one of the wooden stools. The table was scared by a knife and reeked of alcohol, and the stool creaked under his weight; an environment typical to a bandit den or a cheep tavern. The Bandit Leader pushed two nearby glasses in the centre, ¡°Give me a sec.¡± she moved to retrieve the bottle from one of the shelves. Since things calmed down, he changed his aura to that of friendliness. The glasses were filled with strong-smelling liquid and the bottle was set on the table. ¡°That¡¯s the best I¡¯ve got. Now, we can talk.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± He nodded. But before he would unmistakably sour the things he motioned to the Midnight Pie, ¡°Care for the slice?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not into sweet stuff, however, I will take the drink.¡± She raised her glass. ¡°A toast for a King¡­¡± She gave him a peculiar look. He wasn¡¯t much into drinks, but it would be rude not to. He raised his glass and downed the contents in one gulp. [Enhanced Poison Immunity: activated] Yeah, the drink tasted really strong, it was potent stuff so there was no surprise his perk would activate. However, he didn¡¯t grimace or make a face. It would be rude! Roe gave him a peculiar look. ¡°Another glass?¡± She offered. ¡°No.¡± He refused the rancid liquid. ¡°Do you know why I¡¯m here?¡± He deflected it further with a question. Of course she didn¡¯t, ¡°No Idea¡­ You said you¡¯re here for me...¡± She spoke slowly and careful about her words. ¡°Did I wrong you or yours somehow?¡± ¡°Indeed you did. But I¡¯m not angry.¡± He de-escalated preemptively. ¡°¡­¡± She remained thoughtful. ¡°It was my rabbits, Ashen Rabbits.¡± He explained. ¡°Ah, I see¡­ That makes sense.¡± She nodded. ¡°So this is what this is about.¡± She let a deep sigh out. ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯re here for an apology, is it a compensation you want?¡± She asked. Her voice was calm, however, her body was extremely tense as if ready to jump at any moment. Meaning that his friendliness aura had failed and the woman was just acting calm and reserved. ¡°No.¡± He reached for the slice of pie. ¡°I¡¯m here to solve banditry. Like all banditry,¡± he paused meaningfully. ¡°Permanently.¡± He ate the pie; It was delicious! The woman jumped up from her chair as if to run, but then stopped abruptly. ¡°Permanently? But you said you¡¯re not angry with us.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not. What I meant is I want to give you a second chance at life. A life where you aren¡¯t just Bandits, Bandit Leaders, and especially not Warlords.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re telling me to become a Farmer, I will not.¡± She told him bluntly. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t even suggest that.¡± He reached for the second slice. ¡°A Slave?!¡± She slammed her palms at the table. ¡°I¡¯d rather die.¡± ¡°Sorry, I failed to make myself clear. I didn¡¯t mean that either. Why don¡¯t you just try the pie, it will be easier than just explaining.¡± She gave him a dubious look. ¡°I insist.¡± He pushed the pie plate towards her. ¡°It better be not poisoned.¡± She said that but finally took a small bite of the pie. Realising the obvious truth, the truth that the pie was simply delicious she took a second but braver bite this time. And then another and another, and soon the pie slice was gone. ¡°I don¡¯t get it.¡± She looked at the pie plate and then at the Spider King; he was grinning at her broadly. After another few seconds, Roe¡¯s eyes shot open wide. ¡°Monster System? Corrupted Human? What did you do to me?!¡± She slammed the table again. ¡°Check your status.¡± He said to her calmly. ¡°[Status]!¡±, ¡°¡­¡±, ¡°My stats!¡±, she slammed the table again. ¡°They¡¯re higher, and I can take multiple Classes, no, those are Jobs now. And I can see my old Ranger and Rogue back in there.¡± ¡°Yeah, plus all the perks of Corrupted Human.¡± ¡°You¡­ This power? Why?¡± ¡°So you can take more Jobs and be a bit more than just a Bandit Leader.¡± ¡°But why? Why me.¡± She repeated. He gave her a cold look. ¡°Because it''s that, or I¡¯ll have to wipe you all out. A plan B really.¡± He admitted. ¡°Sorry? I don¡¯t understand.¡± She gave him a confused but also scared look. ¡°You¡¯ll have to abandon your old ways and become a part of the Monster Realm.¡± He said it as if it was the simplest thing in the world. ¡°To become your underlings?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t say it like that¡­ Currenly you work under this Jercio or whatever his name, no?¡± She nodded. ¡°Now you work for me. Simple, no?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Roe Banditessa was left speechless; nothing was that simple. 134 – Join The Dark Side, We Have Palm Juice! 🍹 The bandits here were no doubt hardened criminals, and this camp was only one of many camps plaguing the Fallen Kingdom, however, they were still people; and there were reasons they were pushed to banditry. Moreover, a kingdom without people would be useless, that¡¯s why the Spider King plotted to bring the bandits under his wing, or in other words reform them. It didn¡¯t take a genius to know what the Bandit Leader wanted, it was power. He will use that desire and slowly bind her to his command. Yes, she will be a tool to acquire the remaining bandit camps, but also an example for other bandits. But first, he needed to butter up the bandit a bit more. The foul swill the Bandit Leader had offered was replaced with a crystalline bottle containing Palm Juice. ¡°Try this,¡± he urged. Roe Banditessa smelled the clear liquid first and then took a small sip from the glass. ¡°It¡¯s good!¡± She downed the rest of it. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Just some juice from the desert. If you think that was good, the next one will blow your mind.¡± The Spider King rolled up his sleeves and mixed his special cocktail. ¡°What¡¯s in it?¡± Roe asked despite having seen him make it. ¡°The ingredients are secret.¡± He teased putting a slice of TomGrape on the side of the glass. ¡°Ta-da, I call this ¨CCharmer''s Concoction.¡± He pushed the glass closer to her hand. Roe gave him a puzzled look. ¡°Charmer¡¯s¡­ Concoction¡­¡± She voiced in amazement. ¡°Doesn¡¯t sound like something I should drink, but¡­ I can¡¯t resist.¡± Roe gave a brave gulp out of the decorated glass. And then she quaffed the entire cocktail without taking a single break for breath. It was impressive that she didn''t choke on the diced fruit bits, she just swallowed them together with the liquid; A professional drinker, eh? Or maybe that¡¯s just how the bandits were. ¡°Another one!¡± She demanded. To which the Spider King gladly obliged. Roe drank the second one just as quickly. ¡°You¡¯re meant to enjoy them.¡± He spoke as if to remind. ¡°I am!¡± She protested. ¡°Man, it seems I¡¯ve been missing out on life¡­ Is this what ya drink in yar kingdom?¡± ¡°We do¡­ In moderation.¡± Roe looked at the empty glass as if to urge him to fill it up. ¡°In moderation.¡± He reminded. ¡°I rather don¡¯t get you totally hammered. There is something I want to propose.¡± She looked at him with curiosity. ¡°But first, let''s go outside. There is something I want to show you.¡± They both stood up from the table. Ups! ¨C Roe was a bit wobbly on her feet so he had to jump in and support her. ¡°It seems that I¡¯ve overestimated your constitution.¡± ¡°Nonsense.¡± She clung to his side. ¡°I just tripped.¡± They walked out of the longhouse, and from a glance, you would think that the two were the best buddies just leaving the pub, supporting each other as they walked and whatnot. Roe¡¯s men, who were waiting right outside, gave curious glances at them but didn¡¯t say anything. He guided her right to where he left his noble mount. ¡°Now, observe this spider.¡± He motioned at his companion. The spider perked up standing ever so taller and ever so intimidating. ¡°Very terrifying, yes.¡± She admitted. ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant, check his stats.¡± ¡°But I¡¯m not a Scribe. Shall I call him?¡± She turned to her men. ¡°No, it¡¯s unessasary. You have access to the Monster System, just Inspect him.¡± ¡°[Inspect]¡±, a shiver ran down her back. ¡°Okay¡­¡± She turned to look at the Spider King. ¡°Okay,¡± he nodded. ¡±Now I¡¯ll bestow a boon to the Warrior Leader Jr. Observe it closely, I do this to show you that I could grant you a similar power if you prove yourself to be trustworthy.¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± She repeated not too sure what to expect. ¡°Warrior Leader Jr, your promotion is a bit late, and I¡¯m sorry for the delay, but here it comes.¡± He touched the side of the spider. ¡°[Core Seed]¡± And just like that it was done, of course, there were no physical changes, so he urged, ¡°Inspect him again.¡± Roe did just so, ¡°[Inspect]¡±
Monster Race: Primordial Variant: Spider Warrior (Giant) Magic Affinity: None ??? ??? ??? ??? ?? ??? ??? ??? ???
HP:5000 MP:200 STA:1000
Active Perks [SLAM!], [Trample+], [Sweep+], [Regeneration], [Empower Spiders], [Body Shield]
Passive Perks [Giant], [Greater Strength], [Intimidating Presence], [Leader¡¯s Aura], [Obsidian Armour], [Greater Vitality], [Perfect Mount]
Resistances [Dark Resistance: Greater], [Physical Resistance: Lesser], [Fire Weakness: Medium], [Light Weakness: Lesser] Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
She read through the updated table. ¡°He gained 100MP?¡± She asked just to check. ¡°Right, Monster Core doesn¡¯t show up. Yes, that and a few new perks, plus a potential for better evolutions. Show her Discharge Core.¡± ¡°[Discharge Core]¡± Spider chirped. Warrior Leader Jr developed a red-tinted glow and its body grew even bigger. ¡°ROAR!¡± The spider roared. ¡°Eek!¡± The Bandit Leader crouched indignantly and her men scattered to all sides. Spider¡¯s Intimidating Presence had finally pierced the bandit¡¯s defences. ¡°Stand up,¡± he picked Roe up. ¡°He won¡¯t attack. He¡¯s just showing off.¡± ¡°I¡­ I see¡­ It''s like seeing a Berserker, but much worse.¡± Oh, the spider could be much-much worse than that. ¡°Yeah, and with the monster core, it should eventually gain Magic Affinity and thus access to magic.¡± ¡°I will?¡± Warrior Leader Jr chirped excitedly. ¡°Eek!¡± Roe jumped to hide behind the Spider King. The King ignored the bandit¡¯s antics. ¡°According to the Drow Assistant, you will. You¡¯ll probably end up with Dark affinity like most of the spiders do.¡± ¡°No.¡± The spider protested. ¡°I¡¯m destined for Light! I¡¯ll be shiny like a star in the sky. A royal mount to be envied by all.¡± Apparently, the spider had big dreams, which somehow still involved Warrior Leader Jr giving the Spider King a ride. Awesome! ¡°And judging from your aura¡­ feared. The entire camp is afflicted with Terror.¡± He mentioned of handedly. ¡°Oh¡­¡± The spider dispelled the perk shrinking to its natural size. ¡±Better?¡± ¡°Yes, thank you, oh mighty and shiny spider.¡± It was Roe who replied, still quivering. Spider King turned to look at the Bandit Leader who was still clinging to him for her dear life; it was good no other bandits were present or else her otherwise ruthless image would have surely hit rock bottom. ¡°As you just saw, similar power could be yours.¡± Well not exactly, the woman could never match the greatness of the spider. ¡°All you need to do is to switch sides. Forget that Jerico jerk or whatever was the name.¡± ¡°Consider it done¡­ it¡¯s not like I¡¯d want to oppose¡­ that.¡± She pointed at the spider. ¡°Or you for that matter¡­¡± It seems he had finally convinced the woman. ¡°Good. Now tell me the location of the other bandit camps. We¡¯ll go and convert them too.¡± He looked directly at her eyes. ¡°We?¡± ¡°Well yeah. You know them better than I do, you¡¯ll help me, won¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s come to my ship.¡± And thus, he gained his first bandit follower. She will help him to flip the other bandit camps, but also he expected the bandits here to help with the monster extermination. After all, that was the original quest. And all quests needed a well-rounded party. Thinking about it: he was a mage, the spider was a tank, and the woman was a rogue, so all he was missing was a healer, a bard and an archer. The adventuring fantasy was within his reach! ¡°Hey, Roe? Do you have a competent Archer or a Bard in your camp?¡± ¡°Why?¡± She gave him a curious look. ¡°Nah, forget I asked, you probably don¡¯t. I think my assistant could take that role with her Web Mastery. Slinging webs counts as a ranged attack no? Or is it more of a support role?¡± She gave him a nonplussed look. ¡°Oh! And I already have a healer. I might just need to pinch her from Aurelius.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡­ The Galleon Whale was in no rush to fly and convert the other bandit camps, not yet. According to Roe were seven in total, and the last boss was the Warlord¡¯s City. The plan was simple, subvert the camps and make them rebel against this Jerico dude. A people''s revolt was always more popular than for example a forced spider invasion, but of course, he will advertise his spiders as monster exterminators and also a part of the people''s revolution. But first, some cleanup was in order. ¡°This is the report.¡± The Drow Assistant handed him a neatly organised file. It contained all the info on the Roe¡¯s camp. ¡°There¡¯s a lot of¡­ slaves.¡± He looked at the rather large number. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s the primary source of income for this camp.¡± Indeed, his eye had caught a few of them. Those were mostly women and children, and worse of all, they were poorly looked after. The slaves here were bruised and famished. ¡°Well, that has to stop.¡± ¡°What do you suggest we do?¡± Drider asked. ¡°Obviously, they can''t survive on their own. Let''s send them to rabbits, they treat their humans right.¡± ¡°Roe won¡¯t be happy about this.¡± ¡°You think she will rebel?¡± He asked his assistant. ¡°After all she saw? ¨C no.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll keep her distracted, and promise something in return. It will work out.¡± ¡°Do you still intend to take her to the other bandit camps?¡± ¡°Yes, I do. I hope that after seeing her, others will be more willing to become Corrupted Humans. The title is not exactly enticing.¡± ¡°Huh,¡± Drow Assistant chuckled. ¡°They¡¯re already corrupted, the whole lot of them.¡± ¡°I know¡­ Will fix that. Slowly, with time.¡± She noted something in her notebook. ¡°¡­fix humans,¡± she muttered. ¡°Anyway, go and grab Roe for me, it¡¯s time to depart.¡± The drider promptly left the ship¡¯s cabin. ¡°But it wouldn¡¯t be wise to leave this place unsupervised, not until the rabbits arrive.¡± He concluded. ¡°[Summon Darkness].¡± He called for his oath-bound bodyguard. Darkness pulled at his shadow and coalesced into a ball resembling a black slime. ¡°Master, meow!¡± Darkness spoke in a stolen voice. ¡°Darkness, watch over humans for me, will you?¡± ¡°Yes, meow! You¡¯ll come back soon?¡± ¡°Yeah, I reckon we¡¯ll subvert another camp by the end of today, and then three more the next day. The rest will naturally just fall in line.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t expect any less, meow!¡± *Knock, *Knock, someone knocked at the doorframe. The doors were wide open, yet the person remained out of sight. Were they shy? ¡°Come in.¡± He encouraged. Of course, it was Roe. She entered looking at the Darkness with suspicion. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to interupt anything important.¡± She circled the slime giving it a wide berth to come closer to his desk. ¡°I¡¯m ready to go. Just one request¡­¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I talked with my men. I¡¯ll be honest everyone is a bit tense. No offence but they see ya and yars as monsters¡­¡± she winced at the last word. He motioned for her to make her request. ¡°Right¡­ If you could leave some Palm Juice to my men, that would be appreciated. A noble gesture really, and something to soothe their nerves while I¡¯m missing. Otherwise, I fear they might misbehave; if ya know what I mean?¡± He did. ¡°Consider it done, and I¡¯ll leave a certain someone to supervise them until we¡¯re back.¡± He looked at his pet Darkness. ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Darkness.¡± It spoke in Roe¡¯s voice. ¡°Eh!?¡± She was taken aback by a speaking slime. ¡°Hello?¡± She replied uncertainly. ¡°Roe, I assure you Darkness is a well-behaved familiar, there is nothing to worry about.¡± He tried to de-escalate any future misunderstandings. ¡°If you say so¡­ So when do we leave?¡± ¡°Now. Let''s go to the control deck, you¡¯ll have a full experience there.¡± He grinned. ¡°See ya later.¡± Darkness turned to shadow and disappeared. ¡­ The Galleon Whalle was soaring high towards the sky, but not without leaving a small gift. Numerous crates of Palm Juice were stacked atop each other. The bandits looked at the booze licking their lips already, however not a single one of them dared to come and pry even a single bottle open. You see there was a guardian by the crates, a mere black slime, a creature commonly found in the sewers of large cities, however, the men here were wary of this monster. There was just something unsettling about the slime. Right after the flying ship disappeared from the horizon, the slime bobbed and quivered for the first time in a while. ¡°I¡¯m in charge!¡± It said with shocking authority. Strangely the voice sounded familiar. ¡°I¡¯m the Bandit Leader! Yeah!¡± The slime shifted and expanded taking a more humanoid form. ¡°What a¡­¡±, ¡°Eh?¡±, ¡°Are you seeing this?¡±, the men and women said so and such while pointing at the slime. Soon its transformation was complete, and instead of a slime, they were faced with a person all of them recognised. Sure, she was all tar-like black, rubbery looking and butt naked, but there was no mistake, the one standing infront of them was Roe Banditessa! ¡°What are ya gawking at!¡± She yelled. ¡°Get me my clothes!¡± She commanded. No one really understood what was happening, but either way, the bandits scrambled to obey the order. A brave soul approached the changed woman. ¡°Roe,¡± He observed that even if the skin was black it had all the scars and signs of past injuries, ¡°it''s you isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Of course it¡¯s me, idiot!¡± She punched the man in the gut. ¡°Watch where ya¡¯r looking! All of yas!¡± She threatened. Yeah, this was Roe alright. However, ¡°What did he do to you? Are you Cursed?¡± He asked what all of them were wondering. The question was answered with another punch. ¡°Mind yar own business.¡± She cracked a box open pulling a bottle out. ¡°So ya want to drink or not?¡± This was a stupid question. However, a doubt had risen in the brave man''s mind: it was unlike Roe to share her drinks so freely, but low and behold she was handing one bottle after the other. ¡°I told ya not to gawk at me, didn¡¯t I?!¡± She yelled at the man forcing everyone to back off. ¡°[Drain]¡± A tentacle shot out from her shoulder and slammed into the man. ¡°Ah!¡± He yelped and passed out. ¡°Ignore him¡­¡± Roe, shook a bottle in her hand. ¡°Come, get yar share while there still is some.¡± Yeah, there was definitely something wrong with their Bandit Leader, but it was strangely hard to refuse service like that, after all, even if a bit rugged she still was an eye candy, and what bandit could say no to free booze¡­ ¡°Tch!¡±, ¡°Aww¡­¡±, ¡°So that¡¯s it.¡±, there were low grunts of disappointment directed at the loyal man who brought her the promised clothes. ¡°What?¡± He questioned the annoyed gazes. ¡°Finally!¡± Roe shot a tentacle to retrieve the clothes. The clothes sunk into her body and then slowly reappeared on her tar-like skin. Bandits looked in amazement but didn¡¯t question the new ability. ¡°Ah yes, I¡¯ve almost forgotten.¡± Roe went to rummage deeper into the crates. ¡°You see this.¡± She shook a rather fancy crystalline bottle. ¡°Slug Jelly, that stuff will grant you power.¡± Well, some bandits were tempted, but¡­ ¡°I don¡¯t know if I want to become a slime.¡± Someone replied. ¡°Ahhh!¡± That someone was punched in the gut. ¡°Ya won''t, ya idiot. Ya¡¯ll become a Corrupted Human. So volunteers?¡± There was one foolish soul. Roe dispensed a tiny single drop to the bandit woman. ¡°Is that all it takes?¡± She questioned swallowing the drop. ¡°Oh! It¡¯s sweet! No¡­¡± She paused. ¡°I can feel it. The power! [Status], yes!¡± ¡°Pipe down will ya? It¡¯s temporary. Unless you unlock Evolve? ¡­ Anyone else?¡± She shook the bottle invitingly. Free status boosts were a tempting thing, and seeing that there was no risk of becoming a slime there were more volunteers. ¡°Yes, yes, he-he.¡± Roe cackled while spiking the Palm Juice with Slug Jelly. ¡°Join the Dark Side, become one with Darkness, he-he.¡± She put a plug on one bottle and uncorked the other. ¡°I should have done this from the beginning. He-he. Master will be happy.¡± Yeah, she was now talking with herself in the open. The bandits would be worried, but that wasn¡¯t outside her character; to put it mildly, Banditessa was a bit mad,. And the booze? It tasted even better with that extra sweetness. ¡°Hey, my Cook perks are back.¡± #Bandit1 ¡°Oh? Yeah, me too. I have my old perks!¡± #Bandit2 ¡°Yeah, but the Bandit class is nowhere to be seen¡­¡± #Bandit3 ¡°Who cares, all the perks and skills are still there.¡± #Bandit4 ¡°Guys! Guys!¡± #Bandit5 waved his hand in the air like crazy. ¡°I have that Evolve? !¡± ¡°No!?¡± #Bandit6 ¡°Go¡­ Go see Roe, maybe you too can become a slime.¡± #Bandit7 teased obviously jealous. 135 – Minions Above And Minions Below Turns out all bandits universally like juice, especially the palm kind. Due to that, or due to an overwhelming show of power, the remaining bandits quickly switched their sides. Actually, it was rather easy to bribe the bandits, however, people who turned their coats so readily were poor allies. The Spider King was well aware of that, hence so he needed to appoint an overseer, or rather a¡­ ¡°Roe,¡± he addressed the woman who was clinging tightly to her safety straps, ¡°I think you should become the Warlord.¡± ¡°Eh!?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s only natural for the bandit camps to unite and overthrow that Jerico dude. You¡¯ll be the leader of the revolt.¡± ¡°Eh-Eh?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will support you.¡± He reassured her with a pat on her shoulder. ¡°Gosh, you¡¯re stiff. Could it be you¡¯re afraid of flying?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of anything!¡± Roe said while trembling in her chair. ¡°Well, in any case, we¡¯re done obtaining allies and will be landing soon.¡± The Roe¡¯s Bandit Camp was already within sight. Once they disembarked, Roe and the Spider King were greeted with shock, but for different reasons. ¡°Who are they?¡± The Spider King gave a curious look to a bunch of pale-faced humans. ¡°[Inspect]¡±.
Monster Race: Corrupted Human Variant: BoozeVamp Magic Affinity: Dark ?? ?? ?? ?? ??
HP:80 MP:80 STA:80
Active Perks [Transformation: Bat], [Shadow Cloak]
Passive Perks [Limited Flight], [Vampiric Regeneration]
Resistances [Light Weakness: Medium]
Status Effects [UV Sensitivity]
The bandits were still human, no doubt about that, but their skin was greyish pale, they had prominent fangs and their ears were somewhat elongated now. Their three stats dropped to 80:80:80, but probably that was countered by their regenerative ability. Actually, the bunch seemed somewhat frail and emaciated. Was this because it was still daytime? But there was an even bigger question: ¡°Who had Evolved you?¡± This was unprecedented! The Vamps looked at each other as if unsure if to tell or not. ¡°It was Roe.¡± One of them spoke out. ¡°Roe?¡± The Spider King looked at the woman beside him, she was even paler looking than the Vamps. ¡°No, not her.¡± The vamp replied looking somewhat confused himself. ¡°¡­ The other Roe.¡± A different vamp pointed at the well-dressed figure standing on a side. She wore high boots, tight leather pants, and a laced leather vest; neither of the clothes was of a cheap kind. The taunt leather was shiny as if vaxed, parts of it were adorned with intricate stitching and subtle patterns. And let''s not forget all the pockets, pouches, belts and straps the rogue needed to keep her dastardly tricks and weapons. The outfit just screamed I am a Rogue! However, as nice as it was, judging by the taunt leather at her rear and the struggling laces on the chest ¨C the outfit was a size too small. And also, this Roe, while undoubtedly still a Roe, had a tar-like skin and black matted hair. She was like the more evil version of the original Roe, the Dark Roe. ¡°You!¡± The Original Roe pointed at her imitator. ¡°You¡¯ll ruin my best outfit! It¡¯s gonna be all stretched out!¡± And apparently, it was the clothes she cared the most and not the fact that there was a clone of her just standing right in front. ¡°Darkness!¡± The Spider King scolded. ¡°What did I tell you about stealing other people''s identities? Return to your natural form right this instant.¡± ¡°But¡­ But do I have to?¡± The Spider King gave his bound familiar a glare. ¡°Okay¡­¡± The Dark Roe¡¯s skin quivered and bubbled, it was rather disturbing, but right after the entire form shrunk on itself and a black slime popped out of a pile of slightly stretched leather. ¡°It was nice while it lasted, meow.¡± Of course, the bandits were looking still slightly nonplussed about which Roe was the original one. If you asked them, they sort of preferred the new and improved Dark Roe. Even if Dark Roe was crazier than usual, at least she wasn¡¯t hoarding all the booze for herself. ¡°My outfit¡­¡± Roe scooped her clothes, there was a sign of tears in the corners of her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s been defiled¡­¡± Darkness ignored the prone form of Roe and jumped towards the Spider King. ¡°Master, meow, I did well, didn¡¯t I?¡± It stretched a tendril towards the Vamps. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you can do that.¡± He admitted. ¡°But well done.¡± He patted the slime eliciting a satisfied quiver from it. ¡°Yes, I worked hard to borrow it from you.¡± It happily quivered again. ¡°So you can Evolve monsters now?¡± He asked just to be sure. The slime bobbed. ¡°Not quite, meow, only the creatures with potential for Darkness.¡± It was rather cryptic. ¡°I see¡­¡± He replied regardless. ¡°An another thing, Master?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°The Vamps need their juice, meow. We¡¯d run out and they''re sort of starving.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Oh, so it¡¯s not the light which made them miserable.¡± He looked at the almost shrivelled vamps. ¡°That too¡­ Meow. So could you?¡± ¡±Yeah, I have a few bottles left.¡± He retrieved them from his inventory. ¡°But I guess it¡¯s time to resupply. Come hop back in my shadow.¡± Darkness did just so and the Vamps swarmed the bottles like locusts the wheat. Upon ingestion of the Plam Juice, their forms bulked up with muscle and the eyes sparkled with newfound energy. Interestingly their stats jumped to 120:120:120. He turned to look at Roe who had been quiet for quite some time already. ¡°I¡¯ll leave you to plan the revolution. Once I¡¯m back I expect a solid plan.¡± Roe simply nodded. ¡°And don¡¯t worry about that outfit, I¡¯ll have the spiders to make you a new one. An Enchanted kind.¡± Life returned to her eyes, but only for a second; she nodded again. Darkness popped half-way from his shadow. ¡°Meow? Then she doesn¡¯t need the old one! Can I have it, meow?¡± Anger flashed across Roe¡¯s face and then she just threw the clothes at the slime. ¡°Thank you!¡± Darkness simply sucked the leather outfit in its body and disappeared in the shadow. Roe turned to look at the Spider King. ¡°That new outfit, it better be good!¡± She mouthed at the King. ¡°Sorry about that¡­ you know, children; they misbehave sometimes¡­ And it will be good, Spidery Magnificent rather. I promise you that.¡± He said apologetically. ¡°And if I¡¯m planning a revolt for ya. I want booze. A lot of it!¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°And there better be a reward at the end of it!¡± ¡°Money? Power? ¡­ Booze? You¡¯ll have it.¡± Roe didn¡¯t say anything but the smile was back on her face. ¡°Now, I¡¯m off to get supplies and to snatch my Healer.¡± Without wasting more time, the Galleon Whale departed the Bandit Camp. ¡°What are ya all gawking at!¡± Roe waved her fist. ¡°Back to work!¡± She walked up to one of the vamps. ¡°And you, go easy on that!¡± She snatched the booze bottle. ¡°Mine!¡± She snatched another right out of the vamp¡¯s hand. ¡°Also mine.¡± ¡°Can we have the Dark Roe back?¡± A vamp complained. ¡°Argh!¡± The bandit was punched in the gut. ¡­ At the Aurelian Capital, while the Ship was being resupplied, Spider King and Lord G Bling were having a small meeting. ¡°My King, could you clarify a rumour for me?¡± ¡°I guess, what is it?¡± ¡°Some little chirps had reached my ears telling me that rabbits can Tame humans. Is that true?¡± Ah, so the beans were out of the bag; it was only a matter of time. ¡°As strange as it sounds, It is true, they can. It¡¯s probably due to their Animal Affinity perk.¡± ¡°Is that so¡­¡± The spider clicked his mandibles in excitement. ¡°Then I would like to borrow a few of DemiRabbits from you, could I?¡± ¡°If they want to come, yeah. But for what reason?¡± ¡°You see, we had our fair share of struggles in the SpiderCare?. While the project is working, it is progressing at a slower pace than anticipated.¡± ¡°You want to Tame the children to make them better behaved? ¡­ ¡± He paused thinking this preposterous idea over. ¡°That¡¯s genius!¡± He slammed the table with a palm in excitement. The spider clacked his mandibles in agreement. ¡°That, and to train them better. This would allow them to raise their levels quicker and grow stronger faster.¡± The Spider King nodded. ¡°It''s good that you spiders are so invested in the children¡¯s future. You really are a selfless bunch. I¡¯ll talk with the rabbits and send the rabbit tamers your way. However, they just didn¡¯t have much success with common monsters, leaving the rabbit tamers with low levels.¡± ¡°But that¡¯s even better, no?¡± The spider asked. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll make two webs with one string. The rabbits need practice and we need Tamed humans. Surely, they¡¯ll gain their levels by taming the humans.¡± ¡°Once again¡­ You¡¯re right! And it will be a safe environment for them to raise their Taming.¡± ¡°Exactly!¡± Lord G Bling chirped exalted. ¡°Then, it''s settled. And how¡¯s the war with the Holy Empire going?¡± He asked somewhat anxious. ¡°It¡¯s fine. The humans are at a stalemate at the moment. What I gathered from the little chirps is that the Holy Empire realised that retaking the Aurelian lands would come only with a great cost. So they decided to cut their losses and abandoned that idea entirely.¡± ¡°That¡¯s rather smart of them.¡± The Spider King said with a tinge of disappointment. ¡°Not really. What they are doing now is imposing an Empire-wide trade blockade and reinforcing their border. Only the latter will actually work.¡± ¡°I see. So perhaps they think that Aurelian Dutchy still can¡¯t supply its food?¡± The spider nodded. ¡°With the Fertile Kingdom now fallen, that would be the correct assessment. The Aurelian people always had to rely on imports to feed their populus.¡± ¡°But they failed to take us into account.¡± The Spider King concluded. ¡°That¡¯s right. Imperial, Aurelian and as a whole humans remain ignorant of the greatness of the Spider Kingdom. Always underestimating us.¡± ¡°I guess staying hidden in the depths of the jungle has its benefits.¡± ¡°Indeed it does.¡± The spider chirped in affirmation. A small spider tapped with quick-paced spidery steps into the room. ¡°It is done.¡± It announced. The Spider King stood up from his chair. ¡°Well then, I still need to grab my Healer.¡± ¡°Good luck with your quest, and talk with the rabbits for me.¡± ¡°I will, [Shadow Walk].¡± He disappeared leaving trailing wisps of darkness. Only to reappear by the SpideryTemple. The pious Minions followers informed him where to find his quarry. The Radian Angel was meant to be in the temple''s dungeon. Why a temple needed a dungeon escaped him, but it definitely was there. He descended a steep set of stairs leading deep underground. The dungeon wasn¡¯t like the prison dungeon, it was built rather spacious, and instead of a narrow corridor leading to the many cells, it had a big hall clearly built for some type of ceremony. The stone surface on the floor was etched with a web pattern, and above, carved In the ceiling, was a spider sculpture overlooking the entire hall. On the sides, nested inside the pillars, there were Dark Lanterns, the purple flame flickered in it ever so slightly. The dungeon hall was an artwork by itself, however, it wasn¡¯t the thing which elicited a yelp from the Spider King. ¡°What a¡­¡± He was left standing mouth agape and speechless. The hall was not empty, aside from the Angel, as if trapped on the stone web, there was a gathering of people. ¡°We¡¯re not worthy.¡±, ¡°We¡¯re not worthy.¡±, ¡°We¡¯re not worthy.¡±, they chanted again and again. A thick crimson liquid was streaming from their bare backs and right to the floor. The tool to achieve that was still in the hands of the pious. *Crack, *Snap, ¨C a whip did its job. ¡°We¡¯re not worthy,¡± the pious said in unison. Moreover, each of them had a fresh ShadowVine collar tightly wrapped around their neck. The collar couldn¡¯t be pleasant because the plant afflicted Drain upon contact. A few of the pious were slumped to their knees, but even when their hands moved the whip and the chant continued. The blood pooled in the grooves on the floor to fill the etched web with crimson. Further away on a small pedestal stood a rather radiant woman, in contrast to the bloody and wounded pious she sparkled with cleanliness and health. Her being stark naked only added to the contrast making her stand out even more. Her pristine skin radiated a faint glow and her wings were stretched wide in a majestic way. The Radiant Angel was chanting a chant of her own, entirely different from the pious, hence it was drowned by their voices; at least until the last word of her chant. ¡°¡­ [Initiation]!¡± With those words, radiant light basked the fervent pious and the blood filling the web exploded in purple motes of light. As the motes were rising, they brushed past the skin of the pious. Upon touch their wounds closed and the crimson evaporated from their tainted backs leaving the skin fresh and renewed. There was more to it, old wounds, old scars, blemishes and imperfections, all old flaws disappeared at that moment. An uncanny transformation was taking place here in the spidery dungeon of a SpideryTemple. And not all of it was pleasant. The vine collar burst into a purple flame and soon crumbled to dust leaving a permanent mark on the necks of the pious. But that was the only mark which marked their now otherwise flawless bodies. And there was another small addition, a faint and wispy hallo formed above the pious heads accompanied by almost imperceptible ghostly wings of light on their backs. However, unlike their golden counterparts, the halos and the wispy wings were tinted in the shade of purple. The purple motes continued up to the ceiling and flowed into the mouth of the spider statue. There was no way for the Spider King to see, but the huge lantern in the temple hall proper burned with increased vigour and intensity as if fueled by this ritual. With the last motes gone, the ritual was brought to a conclusion. And only then did the Radiant Angel notice the shaken presence of the Spider King. As if suddenly embarrassed, her face flushed crimson red and she moved her wings to cloak her nudeness. The pious registered the sudden change in body language their HighPriestess exhibited, this was very unlike her, so they turned to look at the disturbance, only to kneel soon after. ¡°We¡¯re not worthy.¡± Everyone said in unison. ¡°Why did my Chaos Blessed activate?¡± The Spider King pondered while still shocked by the cult-like spectacle. However, there was another thing he was more curious about. ¡°[Inspect].¡±
Monster Race: Angelic Variant: Fallen Cherub Magic Affinity: Light ?? ?????? ??
HP:100 MP:200 STA:100
Active Perks [Angelic Heal], [Bless]
Passive Perks [Pristine Body], [Cherub Aura]
Resistances [Dark Weakness: Medium]
Status Effects [Minion]
Huh, so they maintained their Light affinity. But more importantly, it¡¯s not just Darkness who could force evolutions¡­ 136 - The Irregular Adventuring Party A mountain of fur and muscle, a WarBoar Behemoth, was charging towards the small party threatening to Trample It into a wet mush. Luckily the party had a Tank; he stepped forward to meet the monster''s charge. ¡°Not on. My watch. [Body Shield]!¡± Two titans clashed with each other, neither of them giving even an inch of the ground. A perfect opportunity presented itself for the party to attack the monster from the sides, however, that could not be done. WarBoar Behemoth didn¡¯t come alone, in its tow were no less than a dozen of WarBoars; moderately sized this time, however, just as big if not bigger than a warg. The boars squealed murder and launched themselves with clear killing intent. If nothing was soon done the party would end up surrounded. This could not be allowed! The Mage raised his staff high, ¡°[Multicast], [Weakness]!¡± The boars were targeted by an AoE debuff. Even if slowed down the monster charge continued; the WarBoars threatened to hit the party at both of its flanks. This was high time for the two party¡¯s Rogues to shine. The two were actually twins with identical perks and skills. In the party formation, the twins were conveniently at the sides and ready to counter the monsters. ¡°[Empower], [Slash]¡±, the rogue on the left decapitated the boar in a single strike ¡°[Overwhelm], [Cleave]¡±, the rogue on the right slashed the boar in two. The Ranger wasn¡¯t just standing there idle. She threw her Slinger''s Blade at the nearest monster, giving it a nasty piercing wound. With a firm pull of a sting attached, the weapon was back in her hands, but this time ¡°[Piercing Strike]!¡± *Crunch*, she pulled the blade out of the skull. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s better¡­ Oh! [Net], [Throw].¡± The rogue on the right was slightly overwhelmed by the number of the monsters. ¡°Thanks! [Swift], [Slash],¡± she finished the net-trapped monster with a quick and bloody strike. A WarBoar slammed its tusk right into the leather-clad thigh, piercing the light armour with little issue. ¡°Argh!¡± The Rogue on the left exclaimed in pain. Even if just as skilled as her twin she wasn¡¯t as lucky, after all, there was only one Ranger to support them. However¡­ ¡°I¡¯ve got this! [Heal]!¡± White light washed over the rogue on the left healing her wound in an instant and restoring the lost HP. ¡°[Dark Bolt]!¡± The Mage cast a spell on the WarBoar Behemoth scoring a direct hit. The attack left a spot of singed fur, but otherwise, it was just a small dent in the massive health pool of the monster. ¡°[Bullseye]¡± The Ranger invoked a perk and threw her blade right after. it sunk deep into Behemoth¡¯s left eye eliciting a roaring shout: ¡°Sque-eee-eal!¡± ¨C it was clearly very angry. ¡°Yes, my first critical hit!¡± The Ranger celebrated. ¡°Urgh! It is now Enraged.¡± The Tank slid back struggling to contain the Behemoth. ¡°Ranger, go easy with the damage.¡± The Mage warned. ¡°The Tank needs to keep the agro. [Weakness].¡± He cast on the WarBoar Behemoth to bring down its strength, however the spell was negated by the enraged monster. ¡°Tch! Its willpower is too high. [Dark Bolt]!¡± ¡°I need help!¡± The Rogue on the right yelled out; again slightly overwhelmed. ¡°Oh! [Rapid Throw]¡± The Ranger delivered a hit just in time. At the right flank, the charging boar staggered at the damage allowing the Rogue to roll to the side and thus dodge its attack completely. ¡°[Stab], [Slash], [Execute].¡± She released a combo move. While the WarBoar was charging right past her, she stabbed her short sword to its side, then she used that momentum to drive the weapon across its body ripping a nasty gash all the way across. Execute multiplied the damage and the monster tumbled to the ground like a boulder. The combo was executed so flawlessly that the monster didn¡¯t even have time to let out a single squeal; it was just dead. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m struggling here!¡± It was the other Rogue this time. The Healer patted the Ranger¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I¡¯ve got this. [Last Stand]!¡± She buffed her struggling ally. And just right in time. A boar slammed into the Rogue, however, she weathered the charge almost effortlessly and instead stabbed the monster in the neck. ¡°A crit! It¡¯s dead. And now it¡¯s yar turn. [Dodge], [Slide], [Cleave]!¡± All four limbs of the next WarBoar were cut at the knees leaving it flopping on the ground like a worm. ¡°Yes!¡± The Mage celebrated. ¡°Leave them alive if you can.¡± The monster was simply disabled. ¡°Well done!¡± The last member of the party congratulated. She was the party¡¯s Bard; not a fighter and only a level 1. But even so, she had her uses. She turned to the struggling Tank, ¡°You can do it, yes you can! You can do it, here you go! [Encourage]!¡± As she cheered and hopped motes of purple light flew out of her hands and showered the struggling Tank. He pushed against the WarBoar Behemoth with increased vigour. ¡°Just what. I needed.¡± ¡°[Dark Bolt].¡± The Mage continued to whittle the boss monster¡¯s HP little by little. The WarBoar Behemoth, not too happy about being pushed, roared again in desperation. ¡°Sque-eee-eal!¡± Red motes of light escaped its body and flew towards the lesser monsters. ¡°He¡¯s buffing them. Watch out!¡± The Mage warned. Not only was the previously cast Weakness cancelled, but the WarBoars were also Empowered. ¡°Rotten swill!¡± The Rogue cursed grasping at the fresh wound; she was hit by a tusk. ¡°[Heal]¡± ¡°[Net]! [Strike], [Strike].¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be okay. [Cleave]. [Dodge]. [Dodge]. [Cleave].¡± Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Just in case, here, [Last Stand].¡± ¡°Thanks, [Trikster], [Flurry], [Strike]!¡± ¡°Squeak!¡± *Thump¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Bard, throw me a potion.¡± ¡°One Stamina Potion coming right up. [Throw]!¡± Just like that, after a bit more trouble, the lesser monsters were dealt with. ¡°Show-time!¡± The Rogue exclaimed with a wicked grin. ¡°Show-time!¡± The twin repeated with an equally wicked grin. ¡°I¡¯ll see if I could Blind it. [Bullseye]!¡±, however, the Ranger wasn¡¯t that lucky this time. Matters not, the Rogues were at the flanks of the WarBoar Behemoth and the Tank still had its full agro. ¡°You can do it, yes you can! You can do it, here you go! [Encourage].¡± x2, the Bard buffed the main damage dealers. ¡°Hold on! Not yet. [Weakness], [Weakness], [Weakness] ¡­¡± The Mage released his brakes casting over and over again. ¡°Yes! Now!¡± ¡°[Empower], [Deep Stab], [Assasinate]!¡± She ripped at the side of the monster dealing massive damage. The other Rogue used a much simpler combo. ¡°[Empower], [Cleave]!¡± She did much less damage. However, if you weighed which Rogue was more successful it would be the one who did less damage. Why? Because she aimed her strike at the joint of the Behemoth¡¯s leg, severing it completely and forcing the boar to buckle down. ¡°Yes!¡± The Tank exclaimed. ¡°[SLAM!]¡± He Stunned the already staggered monster and stepped back to give the Rogues space. ¡°Let it rip!¡± The Mage encouraged. ¡°[Flurry], [Strike]!¡±, ¡°[Flurry], [Cleave]!¡±, the twins did just so. The monster¡¯s HP drained rapidly; its flesh was being shredded and the fur dyed in crimson. However, it was not all over. ¡°Sque-eee-eal!¡± The WarBoar Behemoth grew a size bigger and was now glowing in faint red light. Despite the missing leg and all the bleeding wounds, it managed to stand up and roar. ¡°SQUEAL!¡± ¡°Now!¡± The Mage shouted commandingly. ¡°[Dodge]¡±, ¡°[Dodge]¡±, the twins backed off from the monster. The boar spun like a wound-up gizmo sending dust and dirt around, however, its sharp tusks found no enemies. The Healer had her arms raised high already, her face was stern from the concentration. ¡°[Holy Smite]¡± She finally invoked. A pillar of light descended on the Berserk monster, it flashed upon contact forcing the rest of the party to shield their eyes. ¡°Did I do it?¡± She asked with concern. The flash ended and revealed a singed and slightly smoking monster, but it was still standing. ¡°Sque-ee¡­¡± It never finished and slumped to the ground; it was still breathing but just barely so. ¡°It¡¯s still alive!¡± Ranger rubbed her palms together. ¡°Don¡¯t mind if I do. [Entraping Web], [Throw].¡± A purple web was thrown on the WarBoar Behemoth. ¡°Bound and trapped.¡± She clapped her hands. ¡°And most of all ¨C alive!¡± Yes, they needed it alive. ¡°Well. Done!¡±, ¡°Congratulations!¡±, ¡°Yes!¡±, ¡°Wo-hoo!¡±, ¡°I can¡¯t believe we¡¯ve done this.¡±, ¡°Easy, GG!¡± ¡­ ¡°Send in the rabbits¡±, the Spider King commanded. Not too far away, the spear wall was broken and from behind it a horde of little rabbits flocked towards the Trapped WarBoar Behemoth. The little rabbits were wielding small daggers, and all of them were at Fighting lvl1; but that was bound to change. The horde hopped to the monster, all giddy and ecstatic, however, they hesitated to get within striking range. ¡°It¡¯s safe, my web would never break.¡± Drow Assistant reassured the little rabbits. ¡°You too, should go and help them.¡± The Radiant Angel urged their Bard, the Bunny Girl. ¡°O-Okay!¡± She unhinged the dagger from her side and looked at it with scepticism. ¡°Go. Christen your virgin blade.¡± Warrior Leader Jr nudged the Bunny Girl. ¡°O-Okay!¡± She ran to catch up with the dagger-wielding little rabbits who were swarming the boar like ants a sugar cube would. ¡°Squ.. squeal?¡± The WarBoar voiced slightly confused by the spectacle. Yes, it did look odd, but there was nothing to be confused about. ¡°So this is what ya call¡­ Power Leveling, hmm?¡± Roe Banditesa looked at the rabbit horde with bewilderment. ¡°But can they do it?¡± ¡°The one landing the killing blow will get the most Exp. But yes, even if they just hit the monster, they will gain a hefty sum from ¡®contribution¡¯.¡± The Drow Assistant explained. ¡°Go rabbits! Go! Slay!¡± Darkness urged unable to wait any longer for it to begin. The horde of rabbits sank their daggers into the monster, or at least tried to. The monster''s hide was thick like armour, and most of the rabbit attacks were deflected, but even so, a few landed; after all, all rabbits had that Luck. They were striking the Trapped monster again and again, chipping at its health not by 1HP at a time but more like 0.01 HP; it barely registered. Ever and Archen approached the improvised party. ¡°Thank you for showing us how.¡± Ashen bowed in gratitude. Ever just gave a thankful nod. ¡°My tamed pet did amazing! I knew the humans would prove to be useful!¡± ¡°Yes, you trained her well.¡± The Spider King Admited. ¡°She¡¯s a great Support, I mean Bard.¡± He corrected himself. Well, under the Monster System, there were no classes only jobs like Farmer, Crafter, Fighter¡­ and Bunny Girl¡¯s job was Support, so his correction was not actually correct! ¡°Yes.¡± Ever nodded again. ¡°And now we understand the roles of the party better.¡± ¡°So we need: Tank, Mage, Healer, Support, Ranger and Rogue?¡± Asher asked to confirm. ¡°We did our best to restrain ourselves and imitate the roles properly, and yes that is the standard, but the rogues can be swapped with any other damage dealers. Also, you can add an extra damage dealer, in my case it was another Rogue, but a Warrior would also be fine. ¡°I see.¡± The Drow Assistant looked at the King, she looked somewhat conflicted. ¡°I understand the Healer, the rabbits could entrust a member with potions and call him that. But where are they supposed to get the Mage? It¡¯s not like any of them can cast magic.¡± ¡®Not yet!¡¯ ¨C The Spider King wanted to interject. ¡°We¡¯ll just give them enchanted equipment capable of ranged elemental attacks, or Magic Scrolls - we have plenty of them.¡± ¡°The scrolls! That¡¯s right. Duke Aurelius doesn¡¯t know actual magic, but he is a formidable mage.¡± She opened her notebook, ¡°¡­ supplement magic with scrolls.¡± She made a note. Ever was hopping in place the entire time, clearly wanting to say something but never finding a chance. ¡°Yes?¡± The Spider King finally asked. ¡°But we have Mages!¡± She yelped excitedly. ¡°Well not quite. But few of our children have Nature affinity.¡± ¡°Is that so? Then they must have access to magic. All they need to do is learn some nature spells.¡± He looked at the Drow Assistant expectantly. ¡°I¡¯m an elementalist.¡± She shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s either White Sprigans, Dryads or the Wisp itself. They should ask them.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Asher exclaimed. ¡°The Holy Spirit, we¡¯ll ask it.¡± Yeah, the Wisp surely will help them. ¡°Sqe-eee-eal!¡± The party turned to look a the sound with a tinge of worry. [Fighting +100 exp], everyone got their share of the contribution. ¡°Oh!¡± The Spider King released a relieved sigh. ¡°They finally killed it.¡± ¡°Yay!¡± The rabbits cheered jumping on the defeated monster. ¡°We should harvest it for materials. I want the tusks.¡± Roe suggested. ¡°No, I want the tusks!¡± Darkness protested. ¡°I was the better Rogue than ya. I didn¡¯t get hurt. Not once!¡± ¡°Buzz off, slime!¡± ¡°Slime?¡± Darkness gave a puzzled look. ¡°I¡¯m Dark Roe, the leader of the bandits.¡± ¡°You!!!¡± ¡°You both will get a tusk! There is two!¡± The Spider King jumped in between the Rogues. ¡°Incidentally I want nothing.¡± The Radiant Angel smiled. ¡°Fighting beside my God is reward enough.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve told you I am not a ¡­¡± The Spider King looked down, someone was tugging at the hem of his robe. ¡°What¡¯s up, kid?¡± He looked at the little rabbit, a particularly bloody and excited rabbit. ¡°I can Evolve!¡± The rabbit jumped up and down giddily. ¡°Huh, but aren''t you too young? And it''s not like I gave you a Monster Core or anything.¡± He inspected the little rabbit, and indeed, she could evolve. ¡°She can¡­¡± but also she was one of the kids with Nature affinity, so maybe that¡¯s why. ¡°Well done!¡± Ever raised the kid. ¡°Amazing!¡± Asher patted her between the ears. ¡°Yay! Evolve! Yay!¡± The Spider King shrugged. ¡°Why not? Put her down and give us some space.¡± He paused. ¡°[Evolve]!¡±. 136.5 – Booze Liberation Army Always Strikes At Midnight The full moon was basking the City in the luminescent glow. The sky was clear without a single cloud, and if one looked up they would see a group of bats flying; it¡¯s just that the bats were unusually large. However, the bats weren¡¯t a rare sight here so most people didn¡¯t even give a single glance. ¡°It must be either in the warehouse or that large tower.¡± *Sniff, ¡°I reckon it¡¯s the tower.¡± *Sniff, ¡°Yeah, my nose tells me so too.¡± ¡°I can practically taste it!¡± The bats fluttered their wings with increased vigour getting ever closer to the large tower. ¡°The window isn¡¯t even barred. What are they thinking?¡± ¡°And there are no guards.¡± ¡°Well, it''s rather high.¡± The bat pointed at the distant ground below. ¡°There are a few of them down below. Right by the tower entrance.¡± ¡°They still haven¡¯t noticed us, let''s be quick.¡± ¡°He-he!¡± Later, the same night, if one dared to look up towards the moon they would see a rather odd peculiarity. No, it wasn¡¯t the surprising size of the bats, it was the sight of them clinging to round barrels and struggling to fly them through the sky. ¡°Huh!?¡± The midnight walker rubbed his eyes and looked up again. ¡°I¡¯m seeing things now¡­ I should go easy on the booze.¡± He looked at the bottle of RotGrogg in his hand and took another swing from it. ¡°Man, this is foul¡­¡± But it was the best the lucky few could still afford; there was just no booze left around. ¡°That Warlord!¡± He spat. ¡°Hoarding all the good stuff for himself.¡± Then he took another gulp of foul liquid, completely ignoring the real sight happening right above. Later, in the morning a panicked man burst through the bedroom¡¯s door. ¡°My Lord, my lord!¡± He shouted. ¡°What is it?¡± Jerico rubbed his still sleapy eyes. ¡°Are we under monster attack again? I told you to deal with it by yourselves.¡± ¡°No! The booze is gone!¡± ¡°What do you mean gone?!¡± He jumped out of his bed. ¡°It¡¯s all gone!¡± ¡°A night raid? How? We left plenty of guards. Why I didn¡¯t hear an alarm?!¡± ¡°You have to see it. It¡¯s just gone!¡± Jerico rushed to the tower. The guards were there, the gate was fine, there was no damage, but inside of the tower, it was all empty. ¡°But how?¡± It was as if the booze just evaporated. There was only one explanation. The guards turned against him and looted his personal stores! He glared at his men. ¡°Is this a sick joke? Am I not paying you enough? Who is responsible?¡± ¡°I swear, we don¡¯t know what happened.¡± A tired night guard replied shakily. ¡°Then we came for our shift, It was already like that,¡± the day guard explained taking no blame. ¡°Nonsense! You¡¯ll talk, or I¡¯ll execute you myself!¡± Embers of discord were lit that day. To be the Warlord, to rule over all bandits, one thing was necessary ¨C booze. Without it, the bandits would soon turn violent and unruly¡­ And a lot of high-quality stuff was taken. Either way, Jerico will have to find it or impose even higher taxes in the city to replenish the lost supply. Needless to say, the Commanders didn¡¯t receive their allotment for the day, no one did. And actually this wasn¡¯t the only store which happened to be raided so mysteriously. In just one night, the entire City was liberated from fiery liquids of all kinds! Even the RotGrogg went missing, and only suicidal lunatics drank that. ¡­ All seven Bandit Leaders had gathered at the not-so-secret meeting. The seven were surrounded by large piles of barrels and bottles, a veritable mountain of booze. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯ve done this!¡± ¡°Just look at all the booze.¡± ¡°How?¡± Roe Banditesa gave them an evil grin. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter how. What matters is that Jerico is done! Now take your booze and later we¡¯ll take the city.¡± ¡°And your¡­¡± One of the leaders paused meaningfully. ¡°Dark Patron, will he help us with that?¡± Three of the leaders gave curious looks because they never met this ¡®Patron¡¯. ¡°My sponsor is preoccupied. But he left us this.¡± She unwrapped a large pie. ¡°Ah, I know this.¡±, ¡°So this is it?¡±, ¡°Is there more?¡±, some knew of it already. ¡°A pie?¡±, ¡°Huh?¡±, ¡°What is it?¡±, and some didn¡¯t know. Roe pointed with her finger. ¡°Midnight Pie. This is our power, go have a slice.¡± Each took a slice. Three ate with courage and three ate with suspicion. ¡°Ah, I see!¡± The suspicion disappeared. ¡°So this is our strength?¡± Roe shook her head. ¡°No, this is my strength. I command the Vamps and I have all the booze,¡± she pointed at the barrels. ¡°I am the Warlord now.¡± The leaders nodded, they had already agreed on that. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°How about that Palm Juice? I heard it¡¯s better than the usual stuff?¡± Roe glared at the bandit. ¡°You¡¯ll get that after we take the City.¡± ¡­ Part of the agreement with the Bandit Leaders was that they needed to liberate their slaves and bound servants; that condition was an unnegotiable set by the Spider King. Roe Banditessa achieved that agreement with both threats and bribes; this was just how the bandits worked. Anyway, the liberated humans were pooled into a large group and were currently guided by the rabbits. They were unsure about their future since it didn¡¯t look too bright. The Bandit Camps weren¡¯t exactly homely, but at least they were safe there from the monster attacks. And no one knew about this new place they were being led to. Allegedly it was called New Garden, but for all they knew it could be yet another bandit camp to slave and toil without a single thank you. Of course, there were promises of safety, warm homes and plentiful food. However, the bandits lured unsuspecting peasants with similar promises. One day you agree to pay the bandits for protection from monsters and the next day they come to take all your stuff. They left the bandit camps, yes, but for the many, it meant that only the leadership changed; from bandits to humanoid rabbits. In other words, even if they were ¡®free¡¯ only a few humans truly felt liberated. To be free you needed a place to call home, you needed something which you could call yours¡­ And all of that was taken either by the bandits or the monsters. Currently, the large group was progressing through the forest; the rabbits insisted on making this shortcut even if the place was infested with monsters. No one here was a real fighter, and only a few adult rabbits were leading this otherwise massive group. Understandably, everyone was on edge. It was only a matter of time until¡­ ¡°SSS!¡± A massive monster hissed at the group. It was a massive Viper Devourer, a twelve-metre-long snake with a maw large enough to swallow a human whole. Worse, it was capable of shooting venom using its Venom Spray attack. The humans screamed and fled in fear to bundle up further away from the monster; No one could face a threat of this level! ¨C No one sane would¡­ but for some reason, the rabbits stepped forward to face the terrifying monster. ¡°SSS!¡± Viper Devourer charged to devour the nearest rabbit, but also, the youngest of them. ¡°[Spring Step],¡± the rabbit hopped to a side and towards a thick tree. Her legs connected with a tree bark and then a powerful kick propelled her past the viper and out of its charge. ¡°SSS!¡± It tried to snatch the rabbit out of the air but failed, instead its face was slashed with a dagger. ¡°?? ??????? ???? ????? ?? ????,¡± the rabbit spoke commandingly in her strange language. ¡°[Hop]¡±, ¡°[Hop]¡±, ¡°[Zoom]¡±, the other rabbits disappeared to the overgrowth leaving their comrade alone. ¡°Are they fleeing?! Leaving us to die?!¡± Someone questioned. It might not be so, not at all! ¨C the rabbit kicked at the other tree and flew past the viper¡¯s head slashing it again. ¡°???¡Á? ????. ? ???? ???.¡± She spoke something to the bundled humans. ¡°[Hop], ???????, [Spring Step]¡±. The viper tried to spray the little rabbit with poison but missed, the rabbit once again just zoomed past the monster. She hopped on a branch which was clearly too thin to support her weight, and yet it somehow did. Just like before, she kicked at the thick branch and propelled herself at an impossible speed. ¡°[Lunge], [Slash]¡±. ¡°Sss-shash!¡± The Viper Devourer cried out in pain; a large gash was left on its side. Enraged the monster tried to retaliate against the rabbit, but it just couldn¡¯t catch the rabbit who kept zooming past the monster and slashing it. The humans looked perplexed at the acrobatic moves the rabbit was pulling off. She used trees or branches to kick off and launch himself at the monster with breakneck speed. Sometimes she ran through nothing but leaves, leaving the biting viper with nothing but a mouthful of plant matter. Every time the rabbit flew past the monster she scored a nasty Slash. Viper Devourer was a formidable monster with a large HP pool, but it didn¡¯t mean it was bottomless. In the end, the viper collapsed to the mossy forest floor letting out its last ¡°Sss¡­¡±. ¡°????, ??¡Á?? ????¡± The little rabbit spoke to the humans waving them to carry on forward. Humans just looked in disbelief. How could a single rabbit be this strong? She is so little! It was almost scary. As they proceeded through the forest, soon the missing rabbits joined up. Their pristine silver pelts carried a few blotches or streaks of crimson, telling that they too fought similar battles like this, and seeing was believing so the humans felt safer with the rabbit company; especially next to the little rabbit. ¡°Hey look!¡± A boy pointed at the nearby tree. A young rabbit was hopping from one branch to the other. ¡°Yes! And there too?¡± A girl pointed to a different side. A rabbit was running practically atop the leaves. ¡°So cool, how do they do that?!¡± A boy exclaimed excitedly. ¡°I want to do that too!¡± A girl said pointing at the zooming rabbits. Indeed, the forest was full of scary monsters, but the rabbits were experts at dispatching them. Much later, the group emerged out of the forest and into the plains. And even later they reached the end of their destination. ¡°What is this?¡± An old farmer strained his eyes to see better. In the distance, past the wild vastness of the unruly grass, there was a shiny field of silver. ¡°Clovers?¡± An old farmer guessed. The rabbits smiled at the humans urging them to march faster, since everyone was curious they did just so. The group ran up to the silver field and looked at the magical sight with wonder. ¡°Are they edible?¡± A hungry man asked, and without waiting for an answer he pushed a silver four-leaf into his mouth; he smiled at the taste. The old farmer Identified the plant. ¡°It¡¯s unlike anything I¡¯ve seen before.¡± One of the rabbits approached the old farmer and handed him a bag. ¡°Seeds?¡± He looked happily at the contents. ¡°Ah, you must know I¡¯m a high level Farmer. Thank you.¡± He bowed in gratitude. ¡°?? ???????,¡± the rabbit replied and hopped to another human to hand more of the seeds. Tears welled up in the old farmer¡¯s eyes. After the fall of the kingdom he wasn¡¯t able to do what he liked the most¡­ He bit into a single seed testing its quality. ¡°Oh! We can make bread out of this!¡± His Farmer class told so. ¡°And¡­¡± Maybe he had stayed with the bandits for too long but¡­ ¡°We can brew beer!¡± If the sound of bread didn¡¯t catch the nearby human¡¯s attention the word ¡®beer¡¯ did, and everyone looked at the old farmer with expectation. ¡°It¡¯s clear what they want us to do. Let''s find a good field and plant these.¡± He urged his friends. And just like that, the humans settled at the border of the AshenClover fields, only to expand it further. The monsters of course were the ever-present threat, however, unlike the old lords and wannabe bandits, the rabbits reacted to the threat urgently and efficiently. Of course, such protection was never free, the humans here had learned that the hard way. However, as hard as it was to believe, the rabbits seemed to be different from the previous overlords ¨C not once did they come to collect any tax of any kind; it was rather strange. It seemed that the Rabbits were just happy to see the silver fields expand. Actually, the humans here received a substantial amount of charity from the rabbits. It wasn¡¯t just seeds to start the fields, but also clothes, tools, and building materials. And while there was a language barrier still, the rabbits were keen to help the humans in various activities like building houses or digging a well. Interestingly, most of the children were rather smitten by the rabbits hence often running away from home to play with them. But hey, children were children, you can¡¯t expect them to do farmwork all day. In the end, the rabbits weren''t overlords or masters sent here to watch over farmers and peasants, no, they were just good neighbours and good friends. It was rather strange for this Spider King, supposed Master of the Rabbits, to set the people free from bandits and then¡­ just leave them be without imposing any further demands. If so, he was a King unlike any other. And all was well, until¡­ ¡°Mom, when I check my Status, It says have this Tamed thing. What does it do?¡± A kid asked. ¡°Huh?¡± 137 – The Trouble In the Water The power leveling exercise allowed the rabbits to gain valuable Fighting levels. And a few with Nature affinity had gained their Evolution.
Monster Race: DemiMonster Variant: SilverShade Rabbit Magic Affinity: Nature ?? ?? ??
HP:80 MP:80 STA:80
Active Perks [Burrow], [Spring Step], [Hop]
Passive Perks [Animal Affinity], [Energize], [Luck]
This particular variant was more zesty than its predecessor with two key perks: Spring Step and Energize. The former perk, where the contact with nature boosted their STR and AGI, it allowed them to literally walk on leaves and treetops, and the latter gave them an uncanny amount of vigour; combining the two enabled the rabbit to launch some devastating attacks. With that, the number of capable fighters swelled in the rabbit population and the final solution to the monster incursion would soon be achieved. Just as the Spider King evolved the last rabbit: *Ring-Ring, *Ring-Ring, ¨C an incoming communication demanded his attention. He picked up the imaginary phone. ¡°Morning.¡± ¡°I¡¯m BURSTING!!!¡± He winced at the volume, plus an uncomfortable feeling of overwhelming pressure leaked through the communication. ¡°I am¡­¡± He began. ¡°Ha-ha! Got You!¡± Mirth washed over through the other end. ¡°I¡¯m Joking. I Took Care Of Myself.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± ¡°Huh? Is It Disappointment I Sense? How Peculiar.¡± He tightened his mental barrier. ¡°Please ignore that. So why did you call?¡± ¡°You Have To Urgently Come Back.¡± ¡°Why? Did anything happen?¡± ¡°It Didn¡¯t Happen But Is About To Happen.¡± ¡°What? What is about to happen?¡± He tried to pry deeper into Johny¡¯s mind. ¡°Mua-Ahh! So Forceful! Ha-Ha. No, I¡¯ve Said Too Much. Just Come Back, Alright?¡± ¡°Come on give me something. Is it an emergency?¡± ¡°Something Like That. Your Presence Is Essential. Okay, Bye.¡± Johny cut the Eldrich Telepathy short. ¡°I guess I have to go.¡± He looked east towards the direction of MegaFarm. ¡°My presence is essential¡­¡± He paused to think about it. ¡°[Summon Darkness].¡± A slime manifested out of his shadow only to grow further and then take the form of a woman dressed in tight leather. ¡°Yes, Master.¡± It, or well, she looked at the Spider King expectantly. ¡°Watch over the bandits for me, okay?¡± Darkness gave him an evil conspiratory grin. ¡°With pleasure.¡± The Spider King didn¡¯t overthink that gesture: Darkness was simply imitating Roe; she always smiled like that. But just in case. ¡°Don¡¯t bully her too much, Darkness. In the greater scheme, she is a paw we need.¡± ¡°I know that, Master, I do.¡± She said but the conspiratory grin grew only wider. ¡°Well then¡­¡± ¡°Master.¡± Darkness interrupted. ¡°There¡¯s a lot of bandits and only one me. Do I have permission to deploy my friends?¡± Indeed, Darkness needed to monitor not just Roe, but also the other six bandit leaders. ¡°You have my permission, yes.¡± He nodded. ¡°[Summon Minions]!¡± She invoked loudly and with authority. The otherwise mundane shadows, the ones which naturally were there, like a shadow of a tree or a rock, or just a spot of darkness in a corner, all of them quivered and rippled like disturbed water. Then one after another monsters began to rise out of the shadows, equally shadowy in their forms. If one looked carefully, and had the needed knowledge, they would recognise Shadow Wolves, Shadow Stingrays, Shadow Roadrunners and other shadowy friends of Darkness. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Oh, I see. You made quite a few new friends.¡± Darkness gave him a wicked smile. ¡°I¡¯m just that popular. And you can¡¯t have too many Minions.¡± That was exactly something Roe Banditessa would say. ¡°I think you¡¯re hanging out with Roe too much. She¡¯s clearly a bad influence.¡± ¡°What? No! We¡¯re best buds now, BFFs!¡± Sensing something Darkness jumped to proclaim. ¡°Don¡¯t separate us, Master!¡± Indeed, Darkness naturally copied the creatures it liked, first, it was the naughty Wyrmling and now it was the equally naughty Roe Banditessa. ¡°Is that so? Is that why you bully her so much?¡± He asked feeling dubious about the proclamation. ¡°Master, it¡¯s just banter!¡± Darkness protested. ¡°I don¡¯t bully her!¡± ¡°¡­¡± Perhaps it was. ¡°I¡¯ll leave it to you then.¡± Darkness gave him an odd salute. Anyway, the Galleon Whale was just nearby, and with the Spider HyperDrive the trip back home won¡¯t be long. ¡­ Even from above the Spider King could tell something unusual was happening. The spiders were moving hurriedly, filtering in and out of the streets. And by the looks of it the Drow were also there, and so were the Kobolds; weren¡¯t the little dragonoids afraid of the open spaces? Strange but it didn''t end there: there were even Fennec and Scorpionmen present, and so were the humans from the New Hope. It was as if the entirety of the Monster Realm was gathered for some reason. The need to amass such forces meant only one thing. ¡°Are we at major War? Is it the Demon Lord?¡± After all, he worried about that guy ever since the Centauri embarked on their quest to free all Centauri slaves. He didn¡¯t wait for the ship to land and jumped out of it instead. ¡°Hey!¡± Warrior Leader Jr chirped not at all too pleased and then jumped right behind. ¡°[Transformation: Spider].¡± His body grew and morphed into a beautiful but formidable spider form. ¡°[Spin Web: Glider].¡± A magical thread shot out of his fingers to form temporary wings behind his back. And soon two spiders were gliding in the sky. Their descent was quick and the landing was met with cheers and applauses. Drow High Chief, attracted by the stunt, ran up to the Spider King. ¡°That was spectacular!¡± He praised clearly impressed. ¡°Yeah. Mind telling me what the ruckus is about?¡± ¡°What? You don¡¯t know?¡± The High Chief looked at the bewildered King¡¯s face. ¡°King, it¡¯s the birth of your child.¡± ¡°Eh?! Oh no! Did I miss it?¡± ¡°No, according to the program, your child is hatching sometime at night with the rest of the lamia hatchlings.¡± High Chief produced a small leaflet out of his pocket and handed it for the King to see. There were a lot of events scheduled throughout the day. Brunch he missed, but he was in time for the concert, games, feast and then the final event. The Spider King let out a relieved sigh. It wasn¡¯t war, it was something more jovial, and he made it right in time. ¡°Come,¡± he gave the Drow a look, ¡°accompany me to the Concert.¡± High Chief looked up at the flying ship. ¡°My apologies, King. I have business with Drow Assistant.¡± ¡°Ah, yes. It has been a while since the two of you saw each other.¡± ¡°Yes, we¡¯ve only exchanged letters.¡± A familiar voice rang out from behind. ¡°I¡¯ll keep you company, yes-yes.¡± The Spider King looked at the bulked-up Kobold King, did he take an interest in pulling weights or something? The little kobold was not so little anymore, but still no taller than a dwarf would be, and yet he was just as buff. He walked up to the Kobold King, and his wife. Incidentally, the wife was a drow and she held a massive umbrella over the kobold. ¡°Hello dear friend,¡± he greeted, ¡°what''s the umbrella for?¡± he was curious, it wasn¡¯t raining or anything. It was the Wife who jumped in to explain. ¡°The umbrella is there to protect the Kobold King in case the sky falls down.¡± ¡°Yes-yes. By the way, you should meet my other wives.¡± He pointed to one of the open tents nearby. A bunch of multicoloured kobolds were surrounding one of the stalls in the tent, devouring the offered snacks. ¡°Wives, say hello to the Spider King.¡± No less than two dozen kobolds waved at the Spider King. Surely not all of them were his wives, right? Right? ¡°Kobold King¡­¡± The Spider King looked again trying to confirm the count. ¡°You surely have been busy. How many children do you have?¡± He asked somewhat curious. ¡°Ha! The kobolds are doing very well. We¡¯ve just counted them before coming here, it''s exactly 547, yes-yes. Wow, maybe the gym wasn¡¯t the reason why the kobold was so buff-looking! The Kobold King continued. ¡°And we have another 123 waiting to hatch.¡± The kobold gave a saddened look for some reason. ¡°Huh? Why the sad grin?¡± ¡°None of them are hatching today, no-no. It would have been nice if at least one shared a birthday with your child.¡± ¡°Is that so¡­¡± It was a strange reason to be sad. ¡°But, Kobold King.¡± He addressed and proceeded in a whisper. ¡°If the Lamia Queen asks about your kids, don¡¯t tell her the real number, say it''s ten or something like that, okay?¡± ¡°Why?¡± The Kobold King gave a curious look. ¡°She¡¯s rather competitive¡­¡± ¡°Huh?¡± The Wife gave a knowing smile. ¡°it¡¯s okay, Spider King. I¡¯ll keep my husband in check.¡± ¡°Yes-yes, you do that. Now, let''s go to the Dark Lake, I want to see it.¡± That was the place where the celebratory concert will be happening. ¡°That¡¯s right, you¡¯ve never seen it. Did you even meet the Mer?¡± The kobold shook his head. ¡°Then, some introductions are in order.¡± Actually, this was a good opportunity for the various races to mingle with each other. As it was, the Humans never saw the Fennec, nor did the Kobolds saw the Mer, or Centauri ¨C Kobolds, or so and such. That was so, but everyone knew the spiders, so perhaps they could be the medium to bring all friends together. As the Spider King walked towards the Dark Lake he noticed the spiders doing exactly that; it seems his idea wasn¡¯t original, someone must have thought about it already, likely the Trusty Advisor. And perhaps the birth of his child was the right excuse to bring all races together; in other words, they trapped two birds with one web. Nice! ¡­ The Spider King was sitting by his wife, the Lamia Queen. She was positively charmed by the flawless singing of the Obsidian Siren, or just Pearl as was her name. The young girl managed to captivate the hearts of the spectating crowd, of course, calling it just a crowd was an understatement. It was hard to tell the real number but perhaps there were 250,000 individuals, if not more; a scary number when you thought about it¡­ Well, the number was nowhere close to Aurelian Dutchy, and especially not the millions of the Holy Empire, but still, the Monster Realm was growing at an unprecedented speed. ¡°Fertility Potion¡­¡± He muttered to himself ignoring the otherwise captivating performance. While the siren¡¯s songs were good, all of them were romance-themed, and he grew somewhat bored of it rather quickly. Yeah, but try and tell that to the Lamia Queen who was staring at the singing mer with sparkly eyes. Even if he left his seat she probably wouldn¡¯t notice. Someone patted his shoulder shyly and he turned around to see a little spider, a spider messenger as was their kind known. ¡°You got mail.¡± It chirped bashfully and scuttered away in hurried taps of its little legs. Of course, not before handing a soggy note. He would scold the spider for ruing his mail, but well¡­ Anyway, he opened the damp parchment; luckily the writing was done in Blue Ink, a derivative of Blue Dust and hence water resistant. === My Dearest, How long has it been? Listening to Pearl singing made me realise that it is you who is my siren, it is your voice I seek. I¡¯ve missed your aura like a sailor would miss the sea. How long has it been? You¡¯re like a siren who took my heart captive. I find myself thinking about the time we spent in CreamKelp fields. About our last parting embrace. Your touch¡­ well, let''s say it had opened a tsunami within me. It was a tide which could not be stemmed, yet it feels so distant and I fear forgetting it. How long has it been? Now I find that there is this emptiness in my heart which makes me feel like a fish out of the water. I can¡¯t help but long to swim by your side, to have yet another underwater adventure. Let¡¯s make some waves again! How long has it been? To be honest, I¡¯ve been waiting for the right moment. The moment which never came. I have something very special to give you. Please come and see me, that would surely make my fins flip in joy. How long has it been? Too long, my Dearest. Too long¡­ You know where to meet me. Don¡¯t make me wait¡­ With all the love in the maiden¡¯s heart, Your Princess === ¡°What a¡­¡± He crumpled the note as soon as he read it. ¡°[Entropy],¡± the magic turned it to steam and dust. He gave a quick glance to his wife, she was still enthralled by the performance. He wanted an excuse to leave the concert, and now he had one. But what was the saying? ¡®Be careful what you wish for,¡¯ ¨C that one. Either way, he had to go. And not because he was going astray but because he had to set this mer back on the path of righteousness! ¨C You just can''t send love letters to happily married men, and especially on the day their child is born. Was this Mer Princess evil or something? Did she want him dead? If his wife had taken a single glance at the note, if there was a whiff of any infidelity, that would be it, he would be eaten raw! Of course, all around him were friends and acquaintances. So, his excuse for leaving was: ¡®I¡¯m going to the toilet¡¯ but he didn¡¯t even need to use that, because no one had asked; they too were enthralled by the siren¡¯s song. And just like that, he sneaked away from his seat unnoticed. The destination was the CreamKelp fields. 138 – The Unexpected Spider Cultivator A sparkly and shiny mer pointed her head out of the water. ¡°You came!¡± Day jumped out of the lake towards the nearby Spider King. He stopped the incoming embrace with a firm hand, yet still, the water splashed making him all wet. ¡°Of course I did. What were you thinking sending a note like that?¡± ¡°Oh, that¡­¡± She blushed. ¡°That song, I was just overtaken by it and wrote something embarrassing.¡± ¡°Aha, ¡¯make some waves¡¯, and ¡®make my fins flip in joy¡¯ - some rather bold phrases were used¡­¡± Day Sapphire blushed even harder. ¡°I¡¯m married you know.¡± He reminded. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°And soon I¡¯ll have a child.¡± Day fiddled with her hair refusing to meet his eyes. ¡°I know, it¡¯s just that.¡± She paused. ¡°I¡¯ve missed you. I really did.¡± She looked at him with big and sparkly eyes. ¡°There might have been some poor choice of words leading to a misunderstanding. So I¡¯m sorry.¡± However, instead of looking sorry, she was clearly ecstatic by the illegal meeting. ¡°Well, all I¡¯m going to say is that this can¡¯t go any further.¡± ¡°Go further where?¡± She asked giving him a puzzled look, which may or may not be fake. ¡°Go deeper into the CreamKelp fields,¡± he pointed at the nearby plants. She turned to look at the dense aquatic vegetation and remained quiet for a moment but then turned back to gaze wishfully directly into his eyes. ¡°But I prepared something very special¡­¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think I can afford it.¡± He said simply. ¡°Afford? It¡¯s a gift and gifts come free.¡± She smiled at him. Yeah, no¡­ things like that always had consequences. ¡°Look.¡± She produced two Rainbow Shells, just like the ones she wore on her chest. ¡°This is it, this is what I wanted to give you.¡± She offered the items with clear embarrassment. ¡°It¡¯s something to help you in your underwater adventures. I wanted to give it sooner but never found the time...¡± ¡°Huh? So you weren¡¯t trying to?¡± ¡°Trying what?¡± ¡°You know¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± She asked attempting to look innocent, but the colour of her cheeks told the truth. ¡°I see. So it''s like that... Okay, I¡¯ll take the shells. You just invited me to give this gift, that¡¯s it.¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s it.¡± She smiled. ¡°Now try them.¡± Well, the shells had to go on a specific spot but he doubted they would stick there, regardless, he tried. ¡°Ha-ha. What are you doing, silly? Not there.¡± She took the shells from him and pressed them to the sides of his neck. [You have equipped Deep Lake Delights. Temporary perk Water Breathing obtained.] ¡°Now, your underwater adventures can be a reality.¡± She looked at him expectantly. ¡°Wow, that¡¯s useful. Thanks!¡± He thanked. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°What? For some reason, Day just pouted at him. ¡°Never mind¡­ Wanna test it?¡± Yeah, he kind of did. How long would it work, and what would the ¡®water¡¯ breath smell like? He had all sorts of questions. He nodded. ¡°Come, swim with me.¡± She motioned. In the end, he still ended up in the CreamKelp field. Admittedly, he wasn¡¯t the best of swimmers. Day Sapphire was smiling at his attempts to catch up. ¡°Here, let me give you a hand, [Water Manipulation].¡± The water pulled him closer to the mer, he was still swimming but somehow faster and with more grace. ¡°Thanks. This is rather fun.¡± He replied. Even if he was underwater, his voice remained clear. Oh, and the Dark Lake ¡®water¡¯ breath smelled just like the water tasted ¨C cooling fresh but with a tinge of Dark zest. ¡°I want to show you something, come.¡± Day guided him past the CreamKelp field. Soon they went past the field and emerged into deeper waters. Likely the centre of the Dark Lake, and from the looks of it this was the new Mer Settlement. There was a good bunch of houses seemingly made out of coral and decorated with various shells. ¡°I can see you¡¯ve been busy. This is a nice place and it¡¯s coming along well.¡± ¡°We did the best we could. But still, we need to construct much more.¡± She pointed at a large netted area. ¡°The fish farms especially take a lot of resources. But it¡¯s coming along nicely.¡± Indeed, past the woven mesh, there was a large flock of fish swimming inside idle and without a single worry. ¡°And over here.¡± She pointed at the freshly grown reef. ¡°We¡¯re trying to farm clams, the ones you Mutated. But more importantly.¡± She swam closer to a rather large clam and picked it up from the silt. ¡°Argh.¡± She struggled to pry it open and failed. ¡°Please, open it up for me.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± He did just so. ¡°Oh¡­¡± Inside was a pearl. ¡°Yes, Black Pearl. A unique material to this lake, I assume Dark infused water has something to do with it.¡± He rolled the pearl in his fingers, it was round and shiny despite its colour. ¡°Any magical uses for it?¡± He asked. ¡°It''s useful by being pretty, isn¡¯t that good enough?¡± ¡°I guess it is.¡± ¡°But I¡¯m sure it has plenty of magical uses as well.¡± She reassured. He nodded and deposited the pearl into his inventory. ¡°And over there.¡± She pointed at the coral structure resembling a well. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll love it. Go take a peek.¡± The well emitted a blue sparkling glow, it was positively enchanting. Why did the Mer need a well at the bottom of the lake? Well, it wasn¡¯t for water for sure. Curious he swam up to the well and looked inside. It was filled with sparkling sapphires, no, they were scales. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°When we shed them, we store them here. I think we gathered a good ten thousand or so. They¡¯re all yours.¡± He blinked twice at the amount. ¡°Congratulations! This is our gift to you and your wife. May your child be like a sapphire ¨C precious, shiny, and sparkly. I¡¯m sure the spiders will be able to fashion a dress or armour, whatever is more appropriate.¡± Overtaken by greed, ¡°Don¡¯t mind if I do, [Magical Inventory],¡± he stored everything emptying the well completely. Day Sapphire looked at the now empty well with a pout. ¡°What?¡± ¡°No, nothing.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Wanna see my house?¡± She asked with a blush. ¡°Yeah, sure.¡± He was rather curious how the mer lived. Day grabbed his arm and pulled him towards one of the buildings. She was officially a princess but the house was just like the others. The inside consisted only of one room. Large shells, coral and stone were put together to form aquatic-type furniture: a few chairs, a table, a wardrobe, and a bed; it was rather modest. He noticed a shelf filled with a collection of carved figures of spiders, toys which could be acquired only with the special meal served in the Spidery Delicious. Somehow, the mer here found a way to get them, even if there was no underwater restaurant. The other thing that stood out was the large banner just above her bed. It was a gold-threaded hexagon with four golden orbs inside ¨C a symbol of the Spyder Kingdom. Clearly, she was one you could call a loyalist. Aside from that, the rest of the room was littered with various pieces of aquatic jewellery, ranging from pearl necklaces, to shell bracelets. She sure liked jewellery, but strangely, she wore none. Day Sapphire sat on her bed, it was plain stone, but perhaps, considering that they were underwater, it didn¡¯t feel hard to sleep on. As if reading his mind. ¡°Wanna test my bed?¡± She asked suggestively. ¡°Ha-ha. Good one.¡± He laughed. She smiled back. ¡°Huh¡­ I guess that¡¯s all I wanted to show. Let''s get back before the concert finishes.¡± ¡°Yeah, thanks for inviting me. It sure was fun to see your settlement. Oh, and thanks for this.¡± He touched his neck. ¡°Think nothing of it. I¡¯m just returning the favour.¡± She touched her shells and gave him another suggestive look. ¡°Right¡­¡± ¡°Do you still have my scale?¡± He pulled it out to show. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Are you keeping it safe?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Are you keeping it close?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Good, don¡¯t ever lose it. Now, let''s go.¡± She grabbed for his arm. ¡°[Hydro Charge]!¡± They flew like two torpedoes in the water. ¡°Too fast, too fast! I¡¯ll lose my trousers!¡± He yelled but Day didn¡¯t listen. ¡­ The Spider King sat back down in his chair, the only sign of the illicit escapade was his slightly damp hair, and he was back right on time. The crowd roared and clapped praising the solo singer. ¡°Sss! This was amazing!¡± The Queen Lamia turned to look at him. ¡°Who could know, sss, the siren could sing so well. Which sss-song was your favourite?¡± He wasn¡¯t there for the most part, so. ¡°They¡¯re all so good it¡¯s hard to pick.¡± ¡°I know, right!¡± She nodded in agreement. He looked at the leaflet. ¡°And now is the games and the feast?¡± ¡°Yes. But before that, come, sss!¡± She grabbed her husband by the arm and began dragging him almost at a sprint. He suspected that the Siren¡¯s song was again a culprit in this strange behaviour. Let¡¯s not speak of what happened in that cleaning cupboard and instead let¡¯s concentrate on a certain event which came right after the feast. No, not hatching, not yet. In a large open area where the feast was taking place, on a hastily erected stage, three highly evolved spiders were demanding everyone''s attention. The Trusty Advisor began: ¡°To commemorate this momentous occasion.¡± The Lorg G Bling continued: ¡°To celebrate the might of the Spider Kingdom.¡± And the Spider ArchMage finished: ¡°To enshrine our achievements in undying history.¡± ¡°We present you¡­¡± All three spiders pointed at the distance. As the sun disappeared over the horizon, casting an orange glow across the vast TomGrape fields, a shadowy figure emerged from the darkness in the east. It was a colossal structure, unlike anything anyone had seen or imagined before. It was a giant citadel nested on the back of an equally humongous metallic spider. It stood tall and magnificent on its eight enormous spider legs, the metallic surface reflected the fading light of sunset. From the distance, the citadel appeared almost alive, as if possessing a mind and will of its own. The heavy metallic legs moved with a graceful rhythm to carry the massive structure across the farmland. Despite its heaviness, the steps didn¡¯t cause any trembling or tremors, instead, it pierced the ground gently doing the minimum possible damage. The sheer size of the mobile citadel would be weapon enough, yet still, it had turrets nested on many towers both on the citadel proper and on its oversized metallic limbs. As all spiders should, it came with a terrifying spidery head. The head had the iconic mandibles moulded out of the strongest metal, they were big and imposing and undoubtedly capable of demolishing any other fortification with a single chomp. And as if it was not enough, a massive cannon was nested deep in the spidery mouth. The spider citadel continued walking with a scary grace. One would expect it to make more noise, but actually, it was eerily quiet in its motion. A trained mage would be able to quickly tell the reason behind the unsettling silence ¨C it was magic. The walking construct was powered by Dark magic, and if a mage was even more learned they would tell that it was powered by¡­ Souls. Thousands upon thousands of spider souls. While the horde of nearby spiders jumped in joy and clacked their mandibles in excitement, the rest of the more mundane races looked at the walking citadel with eyes betraying terror. Yes, at this moment, anyone sane and normal would feel fear because a sight like that was out of reality, it seemed more like a nightmare. A massive walking spider, a titan amongst titans, made out of the hardest metal and armed to teeth. It was too hard to believe this was real¡­ but it was. Like the spiders, the Spider King was positively giddy, he pointed at the approaching structure and yelled from atop his lungs. ¡°GIANT ¡®ENEMY¡¯ SPIDER,¡± he named it in an instant. ¡°This is amazing! How did you pull this off?¡± He asked the three spiders. ¡°Spider ingenuity.¡± The Trusty Advisor replied simply. Ever so slowly, the citadel reached the curious and frightened mass of people. Its motion stopped and its main body was brought closer to the ground. ¡°Everyone please Inspect it.¡± The Spider ArchMage urged.
Monster Race: Construct Variant: GIANT ¡®ENEMY¡¯ SPIDER Magic Affinity: Chaos ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ?? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???
HP:1,000,000 MP:1,000,000 STA:-1
Active Perks [Spite Of The Kingdom]
Passive Perks [Citadel], [Soul Engine], [Nascent Singularity]
Resistances [Physical Resistance: Greater], [Elemental Resistance: Greater]
The Monster System identifying the construct like this further proved that it was indeed alive, or at least partially alive. The HP and MP numbers were off the charts of course, and it had a mysterious type of magic¡­ ¡°Chaos affinity?¡± The Spider King asked. ¡°We¡¯re not too sure about that one either.¡± The Spider Archmage admitted. ¡°And before you ask, we don¡¯t know what Spite Of The Kingdom does either. It sounds a bit too dangerous to try it.¡± ¡°Strange¡­ aren''t you the ones who made it?¡± ¡°Yes and no¡­ there were some unexpected variables.¡± Lord G Bling mentioned offhandedly. Spider Archmage nodded in agreement. ¡°All was going according to the Blueprint until we started putting the spider souls. After a certain amount, a Nascent Singularity formed. It sort of has a will of its own.¡± Spider explained sounding apologetic. ¡°Singularity¡­ That sounds scary! Guys what did you create?!¡± Trusty Advisor jumped in as if to deny any wrongdoing. ¡°My King, I assure you it is safe and friendly. It simply embodies the unified will of perished spiders.¡± ¡°Yes, while communication remains difficult, from what we gathered it simply wants to fulfil the Eternal Oath.¡± The Spider ArchMage added. ¡°Eternal Oath?¡± He¡¯d never heard of that. ¡°The one the first spider made. To serve you, the Spider King, and thus to serve the Spider Kingdom.¡± The spider explained. ¡°I see¡­¡± He paused trying to wrap his head around all of this. ¡°Sss, are you boys done gawking at your toys?¡± It was the Lamia Queen who spoke. ¡°You can play with that later. The sss-sun is down, it''s time for our child to hatch. Come, sss.¡± She urged. X-Mas Special – The Gifting Spider In the late evening, a large family had gathered by the table: father, mother, and their seven children. The meal was over, yet right in the middle of the table a cloth-covered tray remained untouched; it was guarded by the parents throughout the meal. Naturally, the children were curious about the contents of the covered tray. Father looked at the mother giving her a meaningful look, she nodded in affirmation. Suddenly the mood in the room grew heavy and the faces of their parents turned serious. ¡°Children, be good.¡± Father began his warning. ¡°It will come at the latest hour, at the darkest night. It will come tonight when you least expect it.¡± ¡°Who? Who will come, father?¡± The youngest questioned somewhat confused. Father looked around as if afraid to utter the name. ¡°The gifting spider,¡± a worried whisper escaped his mouth. ¡°The gifting spider?¡± The youngest asked unable to understand the worry. ¡°Yes, the gifting spider.¡± Father whispered again. ¡°It comes out of the shadows when you¡¯re least aware. It takes the naughty children AWAY¡­ to the spidery place never to be seen AGAIN. And it leaves a gift in the child¡¯s place: something ¡®good¡¯ to replace the ¡®bad¡¯.¡± ¡°That is so, so be GOOD.¡± Mother added looking even more serious than the father. ¡°Oh no! I don¡¯t want to be taken AWAY!¡± The youngest exclaimed. Father raised his index finger up. ¡°That¡¯s so only if you are naughty,¡± he pointed out. ¡°I¡®m not naughty. I¡¯m not!¡± The youngest yelled. Father patted the youngest¡¯s head ruffling the hair to calm the child. ¡°I know, but just in case we still need to appease the spider.¡± ¡°Ap.. Ap-ease?¡± ¡°Yes, to leave an offering. I¡¯ve heard if you appease the spider then it would never take the children away, only the offering.¡± Father turned to look at the mother. ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯ve prepared this.¡± She removed a cloth from a tray. The tray was stacked with glasses holding a blue syrupy drink, and next to them was a pile of freshly baked treats. ¡°TomGrape biscuits! Yum!¡± The youngest reached to snatch their favourite snack; he wasn¡¯t the only one. ¡°No!¡± Mother slapped the greedy paws away from the tray. ¡°Were you listening? Those are not for you. Now, each of you grab a glass and a bunch of biscuits and leave them by your bedside. The treats are there for the spider. Understood?¡± All seven children nodded and did as told. ¡­ Later, in the children''s room: ¡°What a load of bollocks.¡± Sam, one of the children uttered. ¡°Sam! No cussing!¡± Emilly, the oldest of the children scolded. ¡°Yeah, no cussing.¡±, ¡°That is NAUGHTY.¡±, ¡°The spider will take you away.¡±, the other children chimed in in the telling off. Sam crossed his elbows. ¡°What? Don¡¯t tell me you all bought in that obvious lie.¡± Sam gave a bewildered look to his siblings. ¡°Mom and Dad wouldn¡¯t lie,¡± Emily said with a stern face. ¡°No-way¡­ Even you¡­ aren¡¯t you a bit too old to believe fairytales like that?¡° Sam smirked at his older sister. ¡°They''re obviously just trying to trick us into being good.¡± Emily blushed at the remark. Sam raised his chin higher and continued. ¡°Ha! You¡¯re stupid and immature! I¡¯m not afraid of some made-up spider.¡± ¡°Sam!¡± Emily tried to scold again. ¡°No naughty words, Sam!¡± The youngest jumped to reprimand. Emily ruffled his hair, the youngest one was always there to have her back. Suddenly the doors opened and the mother peeked through the gap. ¡°What is this ruckus about?! It¡¯s past your time already. To bed! Now!¡± She urged. With some minor groaning, the children obeyed and settled into their sleeping spots; soon the sleep overtook them and everyone drifted into the land of dreams. The children slept mostly in peace, but even in the most peaceful times could be disturbed by¡­ by a lot of things, but this time it was the nature¡¯s call. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Emily opened her eyes feeling slightly annoyed. ¡°Why did I have to drink that extra cup of tea,¡± she whispered mostly to herself. The warmth of the bed was so soothing and so welcoming that she didn¡¯t want to go, not yet, and instead tried to fall asleep again, but no matter how hard she tried the nature¡¯s calling was just too strong. She sat up and rubbed her bleary eyes, that was then, at the darkest night, in the latest hour, from the blackest shadow, something out of this world emerged. First only a spindly limb¡­ but it was enough for Emily to realise what was happening. She quickly jumped back in her bed and under the cover, yet she peeked at the shadow corner with a half-closed eye. Emily couldn¡¯t help but feel afraid. ¡®The parents were right¡­ It is coming,¡¯ unable to take her eye off she stared at the corner. Right after the first appendage came another, and then another, and soon a black obsidian body followed right after. Just like the place it came from, the vague form of the creature was cloaked in wispy shadows. Four yellow orbs gleamed in the otherwordly glow scanning the room. ¡®We have prepared¡­ It will be alright,¡¯ Emily tried to calm herself. Now fully out of the shadow, the spider took its first steps without making even the slightest sound. Emily was rather impressed by the spider''s ability not to creak these otherwise awfully creaky floorboards, but mostly she was terrified. The spider approached the sleeping spot of the youngest sibling, he was sleeping a peaceful sleep fully unaware of what was happening. The spidery eyes stared at his face intently as if judging. The spider remained like that for a good moment, but then it turned its head to the glass and biscuits. And instead of taking the offering, it went to look at another child. ¡®Ah! Is the offering not working?¡¯ Emily questioned slightly worried. However, her youngest brother was a good child, and so was the second youngest; the spider just left them alone. Now her youngest sister and the third youngest child, Gemma, was a bit of a troublemaker¡­ the spider took its time to scan her face, and then it turned to the side where Gemma¡¯s glass and biscuits were. ¡°Yummies. Can¡¯t. Resist.¡± It chirped in a distorted and barely audible whisper. That was when the spider gobbled up the syrupy drink and biscuits with great gusto. And right after it went to judge another child. ¡®¡­ So it¡¯s working.¡¯ Emily let out a hushed sigh of relief. Now the spider was at Sam¡¯s spot, and clearly Sam was the biggest troublemaker out of the seven, but with the offering, there was nothing to worry about, right? Right? ¡°Wah!¡± Emely pressed her hand to stifle her shout. The spider turned its head to the sound but luckily it didn¡¯t suspect Emily to be awake and just turned back to judge the naughty Sam. ¡®No!¡¯ Emily wanted to scream but stopped herself. ¡®Sam! What did you do!?¡¯ Her horror was directed at Sam¡¯s bedside, particularly at the empty glass and a plate full of crumbs. The troublemaker had eaten his offering! ¡®Sam! The gifting spider is real!!!¡¯ She wanted to scream but her body was frozen stiff. The spider finished its judging and turned to look at the bedside where the offering should be, evidently it was not there. ¡®What will happen now? What will the spider do?¡¯ Emilly worried. The spider chirped something incomprehensible. One of its spidery limbs moved to the nearest shadow to weave a large bag out of the wispy darkness. The other spidery limb moved close to Sam¡¯s face only to sprinkle some strange blue dust; poor Sam didn¡¯t even cough at it. ¡®¡­¡¯ Emily was just staring at what was unfolding right infront of her. ¡®it¡¯s nighttime, I should be sleeping¡­ If I scream or shout the spider will realise that I¡¯m awake and will deem me naughty¡­ I¡¯m not naughty¡­ I¡¯m good.¡¯ She reasoned and then closed her eyes. With her eyes shut tight, ¡®I¡¯m sleeping¡­ I¡¯m a good girl¡­ I¡¯m sleeping¡­¡¯ She repeated over and over again. Finally, something tickled her nose and then she fell into a deep slumber. ¡°Ha-ha-ha!¡°, ¡°Hi-hi-hi!¡±, ¡°He-he-he!¡±, boisterous laughter awoke Emily from her dreamy and otherwise peaceful sleep. She jumped out of her bed, tears welled into her eyes. ¡°You¡¯ve pissed yourself, ha-ha-ha.¡± Gemma pointed at the soiled linen with laughter. ¡°So what!? It happens to me too. It¡¯s an oopsy.¡± The youngest jumped to defend. ¡°Oh¡­ you¡¯re crying. Maybe I pushed it too far, sorry.¡± Even if still somewhat amused, Gemma apologised. ¡°I¡¯m not crying because I¡¯ve wet my bed. It''s because¡­¡± Emily pointed at Sam¡¯s spot, there was a child-shaped bulge covered by a blanket. ¡°Eh? Did I dream it up?¡± ¡°Huh? Yeah, he¡¯s unusually quiet¡­¡± Gemma finally noticed. ¡°Yeah, he would be the first to laugh.¡± The other sibling pointed out. ¡°Sam?¡± Gemma pulled the blanket off. ¡°Huh!? A bag?¡± Everyone turned to look at the bag and then at each other. ¡°The Gifting Spider¡­¡± The youngest uttered knowingly. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°But what is in the bag?¡± Gemma said somewhat curious and then reached inside it. ¡°Hey! I¡¯ve always wanted this.¡± She pulled out a large intricate doll. ¡°No way! Let me have a look.¡± Another sibling reached into the bag. ¡°A sword! Awesome!¡± ¡°My turn! My turn!¡± ¡°But¡­ but the Sam is missing¡­¡± Emily tried to reason. The youngest put an arm around her, ¡°He was naughty,¡± he said with a knowing look giving Emily a comforting back rub. ¡°And mean to everyone,¡± Gemma added. ¡°And I love this doll! The gifting spider is the best.¡± ¡°But¡­ but¡­¡± Emily stuttered. By this point, all of the five siblings had their gifts and the bag was almost empty. Gemma turned the bag over shaking it, a shiny yellow orb dropped on the floor and rolled towards Emily. ¡°An apple?¡± Emily picked the fruit. ¡°Huh¡­ all you got is some food. You must have been a bit naughty.¡± Gemma grinned at her. ¡°And you¡¯ve peed your bed.¡± ¡°Gemma! Your being mean again!¡± The youngest scolded. ¡°Here you can have my gift.¡± He offered an intricately carved animal to Emily; it was extremely realistic but for some reason it had wheels. ¡°I¡¯m fine with my apple, it looks rather delicious.¡± Emily patted her youngest brother on the head, then she turned to glare at her sister. ¡°Gemma, if you¡¯re mean the spider will take you next time!¡± Emily cautioned. Gemma¡¯s face turned a shade paler. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Emily! Forget I said that.¡± She apologised in an instant. ¡°But Sam¡­ will we ever see him again?¡± Emily voiced with concern. ¡°Sam?¡± A gruff and masculine voice asked. The father was standing in the doorway. ¡°Who¡¯s Sam?¡± Emily blinked twice. ¡°Sam¡­ My brother.¡± ¡°Huh, I have no son named like that.¡± The father appeared genuinely nonplused. ¡°One, two, three¡­ six, yep all six are here. Anyway, children, put your toys away, the breakfast is ready.¡± He left the doorway with a shrug. All the children looked knowingly at each other again. ¡°The Gifting Spider.¡± The youngest whispered. The toys were nice but from that day on, all the children were on their very best behaviour. 139 – The Children, They Grow So Quick. Right? In the centre of the large opening, surrounded by hundreds of lamia and then thousands of spiders, there was a pedestal and on it there was an egg. At first glance, the egg didn¡¯t look special, just another lamia egg, it was white and leathery like any other. But since it was brought outside and put on the decorated pedestal for everyone to see, of course, it was special. The egg trembled ever so slightly pulling everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°So it begins¡­¡± The Spider King looked at the egg with anticipation. ¡°Our first child, sss¡­¡± The Queen Lamia looked at the egg with affection. The egg trembled again, a bulge pressed against the leathery exterior, soon the shell split open. A tiny snake-like head poked out of the hole. ¡°SSS!¡± The child hissed demanding attention. ¡°Yes! [Inspect].¡± The Spider King invoked straight away.
Monster Race: Serpentine Variant: Royal Chaos Lamia Magic Affinity: Dark ?? ???????? ??
HP:15 MP:25 STA:12
Active Perks [Illusion], [Charming Gaze]
Passive Perks [Reflective Scales], [Chaos Blessed]
Resistances [Cold Weakness: Medium], [Dark Resistance: Lesser]
The child, like all lamia hatchlings, was more snake-like than human-like at this point, but the humanoid features will develop with time. But more importantly, the hatchling¡¯s skin was obsidian black and her big round eyes were purple; this was in contrast with Lamia Queen¡¯s pale tones. What this meant was that she was a Chaos Lamia and not Cave Lamia like her mother. Also, the stats were still low, but she was an infant so they will grow in time. But the most importantly. ¡°She inherited my Chaos Blessed!¡± He exclaimed slightly concerned, after all, that perk was a tad bit unpredictable. ¡°Oh, no¡­ Sss!¡± The Lamia Queen hissed in contempt. ¡°There¡¯s no doubt¡­ Sss¡­ She¡¯s the Chaos Lamia Queen!¡± Indeed, his wife had warned him that sooner or later a Chaos Queen variant would appear. But this was a cause of celebration, no? ¡°Why are you looking like that at our child?¡± He asked somewhat worried. ¡°SSS!¡± The hatchling hissed at Lamia Queen with an equal amount of animosity. ¡°SSS!¡± The Lamia Queen hissed back. ¡°We¡¯re different variants-sss, and more importantly, there can¡¯t be two Queens-sss!¡± ¡°There can¡¯t?¡± The Spider King struggled to understand some lamia traditions and customs to this very day. ¡°But she¡¯s our daughter.¡± ¡°She is, sss,¡± she acknowledged mellowing ever so slightly, ¡°but she¡¯ll never see me as her own¡­ We¡¯re sort of rivals now.¡± ¡°That can¡¯t be¡­¡± As if to prove the point the hatchling slithered off the pedestal and then towards her mother only to let out a piercing ¡®SSS¡¯ of harsh discontent. But then right after, she slithered to her father to display a completely different reaction. ¡°Sss.¡± She hissed softly and the hiss was filled with loving affection. And right after the hatchling coiled around the King¡¯s leg and then slithered expertly all the way up to his neck. It happened so fast that there was barely any time to react. ¡°Huh?¡± The Spider King felt something wet on his neck, it wasn¡¯t exactly a kiss because it came with a prick leaving two tiny punctures on his neck. ¡°Well, sss, at least she likes you.¡± The Lamia Queen commented with a nostalgic smile. Slightly confused about the bite, he pulled the coiled hatchling away from his neck. His daughter gave him a curious look and hissed a mirthful giggle of ¡®S-s-s¡¯. Her tail was now wrapped tightly around his arm and she looked rather comfortable. ¡°She¡¯s stronger than she looks.¡± He commented on the binding sensation. The previous harsh gaze of the Lamia Queen was nowhere to be seen and she approached closer. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t expect any less from our child¡­ if only she wasn¡¯t a¡­¡± ¡°SSS!¡± The hatchling child bared her razor-sharp fangs at her mother. ¡°A different variant¡­¡± The Queen Lamia finished. ¡°I think she¡¯s perfect.¡± He said honestly. ¡°And I bet, with some time and good parenting, you¡¯ll get along just fine!¡± ¡°SSS!¡± The daughter hissed again harshly making the Lamia Queen slither away to keep the distance. ¡°We¡¯ll sss-see¡­¡± She didn¡¯t sound too convinced. Well, even if the nearby cave lamias weren¡¯t exactly ecstatic about the turn of events, he was positively happy with this child. And in contrast, the young chaos lamias were giddily hissing something at the borders of the gathering. ¡°Anyways-sss, I guess we have a new queen, sss-o a ceremony is in order. Husband you should let the chaos lamias do their thing.¡± She pointed at the obsidian-coloured Lamia who were standing on the sidelines. ¡°Oh, I guess I should.¡± His wife and her subjects gave way to the approaching group of chaos lamias. ¡°My King, sss.¡± The oldest and the obvious leader of the group addressed. ¡°Finally, the day has come.¡± He simply nodded. The Chaos Lamia finished gathering infront of the Chaos Lamia Queen. The hatchling child refused to leave his left arm, so he just raised it towards the gathered group. The lamia lowered themselves giving the equivalent of kneeling. He couldn¡¯t help but notice his daughter¡¯s eyes glow in bright purple. ¡°Is this her Chaos Blessed in action?¡± He wondered in a whisper. All Chaos Lamia spoke in unison: ¡°Bound by blood and Chaos, sss, we swear an eternal oath to our Chaos Lamia Queen, sss, for she is our sovereign, our mistress, and the daughter of our King. In her presence, sss, we offer our fangs and sss-scales as sss-symbols of our loyalty, ready to strike fear into the hearts-sss of her enemies-sss. We pledge our mortal bodies and undying sss-souls for our Queen in this eternal oath. With her command, sss, we shall unleash Chaos upon the world. Long live the Chaos Queen! SSS!¡± The Chaos Lamia eyes glowed bright in purple. ¡°Long live the Chaos Queen!¡± They repeated and the glow disappeared. With those last words, the Chaos Lamia simply slithered back to the sidelines of the large gathering. The ceremony was rather short, and judging from the unusually pale face of his wife, the Lamia Queen, it was an unusual one. Indeed, it did sound somewhat menacing. The Spider King gave a glance to his daughter¡¯s eyes, they were back to the mundane purple. She raised her chin as if proud letting yet another giggle. ¡°S-s-s.¡± ¡°You won¡¯t unleash Chaos upon this world, will you?¡± He asked concerned. ¡°S-s-s.¡± Was the reply of the daughter. ¡­ While the birth of Chaos Lamia Queen was an unexpected one, the rest of the celebrations proceeded as planned. Various petitioners were waiting in line to shower either the hatchling child or her parents with gifts. Well, no one would outdo the GIANT ¡®ENEMY¡¯ SPIDER but there were a few gifts worth mentioning. ¡°¡­ and thus, I present you our best and brightest.¡± The High Chief pointed at the gathering of young drows kneeling behind him. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. For one reason or another, all of them were young girls, and for more unknown reasons they were wearing nothing but sacks for clothing. While the sacks were made out of Blue Cloth, by no way this was an appropriate attire for your ¡®best and brightest¡¯; well, the Drow had developed traditions of their own¡­ The High Chief Continued. ¡°As you might have guessed the assistants here,¡± he pointed at the group behind, ¡°they have unique perks and talents and will surely serve your child well. And of course, when the time comes, don¡¯t be hesitant to Evolve them into Driders!¡± Oh! So that was his angle¡­ More Driders. The prerequisites for the Drow to evolve were somewhat elusive, after all, the only drow to evolve so far was the Drow Assistant. Well, the time will show. ¡°I thank you for the young Drow Assistants, we¡¯ll look after them well.¡± He thanked. And so did the nearby wife. ¡°Yes-sss, thank you.¡± Albeit sounding somewhat withdrawn. No doubt she still worried about the future of two Lamia variants. There was nothing to worry about! He took the arm of his wife into his trying to comfort her. ¡°It will be fine.¡± He reassured. ¡°You can do this, no, together we can do this.¡± The next notable mention was Gareth. ¡°I present you,¡± he pointed at a flock of shadowy and tentacled monsters, ¡°IceShard Devourers! Fully trained and Tamed. With this, your transportation empire will reach new heights!¡± ¡°Yes!¡± The Spider King jumped out of his seat with clear excitement. ¡°You¡¯re absolutely right. I¡¯m so happy your little project worked out!¡± Gareth gave a self-satisfied bow right before leaving. While the IceShard Devourer wasn¡¯t a very fast monster, it could fly and that by itself was revolutionary! Moreover, it was capable of carrying a significant load on its back, and thus perfect for flying shipments. That was that, and the next were of course the Kobold King. ¡°My King,¡± He began from under the umbrella. ¡°I offer you my bestest daughter, yes-yes, so you can MARRY her!¡± A shy kobold emerged from behind the bulky Kobold King, her yellow scales were glistening in the light with a bright golden sheen. She didn¡¯t wear much for clothing except for a simple-looking loincloth yet most of her body was covered in gem-encrusted bands, bracelets and other jewellery. Well, there were a lot of ¡®off¡¯ points about all of this. First, the celebration was for his hatched daughter, so shouldn¡¯t the Kobold King offer a son to serve the Chaos Queen as a knight or something like that? Second, he was already happily married, and third¡­. The Lamia Queen jumped out of her seat. ¡°You lizard! I¡¯ll eat you and your daughter! SSS!¡± She proclaimed waving a fist. ¡°Eek!¡± The shy kobold disappeared behind her dad. ¡°Eek!¡± The Kobold King disappeared behind his drow wife. The Drow Wife, the one who still held the massive umbrella, sheltered her husband from the possible Lamia Queen¡¯s assault. ¡°I told him this was a bad idea. I did. We¡¯re so sorry.¡± She bowed deeply to the Queen in apology. And thus the ¡®gift¡¯ had to be denied. However, not before a curious ¡®[Inspect]¡¯.
Monster Race: Dragonoid Variant: Royal Gold Kobold Magic Affinity: Light ?? ?? ???? ??
HP:50 MP:500 STA:50
Active Perks [Claw], [Tail Swipe], [Carve Metal]
Passive Perks [Gem Sense], [Dragon Blood], [Gold Scales]
Resistances [Elemental Resistance: Medium]
And while the Spider King wasn¡¯t much into kobolds, this one was positively shiny; especially that 500 MP; which was rather unusual. Later he¡¯ll make sure to visit the Kobold King and propose that the two daughters become friends, surely a kobold like that is bound to become legendary. After kobolds came the Mer, or well the large fish tank with their representative, the Mer Princess. While they entrusted the Spider King with their Sapphire Scales it seems that it wasn¡¯t the only gift the Mer had prepared. Day Sapphire showered the Lamia Queen with a plethora of praises, and for what must be five solid minutes, and it did wonders to raise her otherwise sour mood. ¡°¡­ May the Queens be forever Beautiful!¡± With those words, the spiders rolled no less than a hundred barrels of Kelp Cream. ¡°All yours, my Queen.¡± Day Sapphire bowed to her Queen. ¡°How wonderful, sss!¡± The Lamia Queen exclaimed. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t expect any less from my sss-subjects.¡± She clapped her hands in glee. Indeed, the Mer were serving under the Lamia Queen, or at least this was the official story, but considering the events in the CreamKelp fields the reality was much different. Of course, the Queen didn¡¯t need to know any of that! Day Sapphire gave a cheeky wink to the Spider King and with that her tank was pushed away. The next one was the messenger spider coming from the territory of the Great Ancestral Tree, the wisp due to natural limitations couldn''t be present but they did send a present. ¡°From the Wisp. To the child.¡± The spider bowed handing in an item. The item was a wooden crown and it was rather simple in its design with no flair and decorations but as soon as the Spider King laid his fingers on the crown he could feel powerful magic swirling inside; and he didn¡¯t even have that Magic Sight! This was something very powerful¡­ ¡°[Inspect].¡±
Item: Crown of Dominion Quality: Legendary
Bonuses +500MP,
Active Perks [Bestow Rank], [Create Dominion]
Passive Perks [Growth: Medium], [Leadership Aura]
Resistances [Charm Resistance], [Undestructable]
Yeah, to be this powerful, the materials no doubt had to come from the Great Ancestral Tree itself. And the crown had some interesting perks. The only unknown there was the Create Dominion perk, it was even coloured red, well, it wasn¡¯t too hard to guess what it did, but even then, the exact effects of it were mysterious. Either way, this was a splendid gift. ¡°Spider, send our thanks to the Wisp.¡± And just like that, one messenger spider was replaced by another. ¡°From the Myconid Queen. To the child.¡± The spider bowed handing in an item. ¡°Oh?¡±, ¡°SSS?¡±, the two were generally surprised. The Myconid Queendom was a small one so no one expected any gifts, yet the spider had an item in its spidery hand. The item was only a tiny bead, no bigger than a marble. ¡°[Inspect].¡±
Item: Spore of Control Quality: Masterwork
Active Perks [Enthral]
Description A super rare and powerful spore that, when released, allows the user to permanently enthral the target.
¡°SSS! I want that. Give it to me!¡± The Lamia Queen demanded. ¡°Yeah, no¡­ this seems dangerous. Why would the Myconid Queen gift this to a child?¡± He questioned the spider. The spider just shrugged, of course, the spider didn¡¯t have those answers. ¡°Send her our thanks anyway.¡± He turned to look at his wife who was eyeing the seed greedily. ¡°No one is using this. This is a forbidden item!¡± He declared depositing it inside his inventory for safekeeping. ¡°If you sss-say sss-so¡­¡± She didn¡¯t seem to protest it too much, but. ¡°And I have my Charm anyway¡­¡± She pouted. Indeed, she did. More guests came bearing even more gifts, like the Fennec gifting perfume or Johny handing in jugs of SlugJelly or Centauri promising their Centauri Cavalry to the future cause of the Chaos Queen, or so and such. Perhaps the birth had split the Chaos and Cave Lamia further, but evidently, the massive gathering and united celebration only strengthened the Monster Realm as a whole. Strangely, or perhaps not, the Chaos Lamia made a nest inside the GIANT ¡®ENEMY¡¯ SPIDER, which mind you had that red coloured magic affinity. Chaos Lamia plus Chaos wielding construct ¨C one could foreshadow a lot of things from them coming together. But more importantly, the supermassive construct was destined to head towards the Aurelian Dutchy. The reason was simple, with the celebration over there was no reason to keep the walking fortress in the MegaFarm only for it to collect dust. Citadels like that were best put to use! After all, Aurelius proved that he could defend his territory and now was the time to send him some small help to break the stalemate with the Holy Empire. And also, to take the Fallen Capital, the capital city of the Fallen Kingdom. With those goals, manned by spiders and young chaos lamias alike, the citadel began its slow walk towards the distant east. The new Chaos Queen was perched in a chair right there in the citadel¡¯s spidery head and the command centre. She was too young to speak, not to mention issue commands, but she had capable and trusty servants and also the supervision of ever-reliable spiders. The Growth: Medium was there to grow her body and soul alike, not to mention the EXP boost, in other words, there was no better place for the future Queen to be. Just by being in the command centre, she would reap plentiful EXP and also hopefully learn how to be a splendid leader. Actually with the departure of the Chaos Lamia, the native Lamia relaxed and the jovial mood was back in their faces; It seems that two snakes were pleased by the same spider, even better! ¡°Dear husband.¡± The Lamia Queen gave a gaze filled with active Charm to the Spider King. By this point, the King here had a full resistance, but even, despite all her flaws, the super-duper-massively-flawed wife still had her charms. ¡°Yes, dear wife.¡± ¡°I want another child, sss! She grabbed his waist. ¡°Now? Here?¡± Her answer wasn¡¯t of a verbal kind, but she did answer and vigurously so. And thus, the Monster Realm continued to prosper. 140 – Dream Come True And Other Shenanigans There in the Holy Archive, a brilliant bright light was illuminating a tired wooden desk. The desk was very old, if it was aware it would celebrate its fifth century today. Atop the desk there were piles and piles of old and musky scrolls, some were so old that calling them ancient didn¡¯t even come close. That was precisely the reason why the Master Archivist was copying the almost disintegrated scrolls. There was old wisdom in the texts and such treasures had to be preserved for future generations. With the utmost care, he picked up a particularly ancient scroll, it was so fragile that if he didn¡¯t have the Archivist class it would have crumbled right there in his fingers. He turned the scroll to check for a specific mark only known and visible to the wielders of his class. ¡°A copy!¡± He exclaimed in surprise but also in a nerd-like glee. The scroll was at least a millennium old and even so it was a copy of a copy of something even older. ¡°What a find!¡± He was positively ecstatic. ¡°It will be my honour to reincarnate you, o¡¯ ancient scroll.¡± He took hold of a freshly pressed parchment and the imperial-quality ink, and then he used Scan on the old text. The more he scanned the more his brows furrowed. ¡°What is this?¡± He interrupted the skill to read the text with just his eyes. ¡°This can¡¯t be¡­¡± He read it again and again but there was no doubt. ¡°I have to let the Holy Emperor know. But first, [Scan],¡± he had to finish making the copy of a copy of a copy... === A very special type of magic was taking place in the secret laboratory of the Spider Kingdom. The laboratory was filled with various devices and implements, some for magical purposes others for alchemical. There in that room, some liquids boiled while others cooled, and various substances were changing forms and shapes; everywhere you looked there was a type of transformation taking place. Considering the place one would expect the magnificent spiders to run the laboratory, however, this secret place was staffed entirely by women, and very beautiful women at that. Excessive usage of KelpCream aside, the women here were gathered for something truly revolutionary. Lady Crimson, a petite woman with fiery red hair and a huge bulge on her stomach (pregnant), was leading the experiment. ¡°Drow Assistant, do you have your materials ready?¡± Drow Assistant was actually not a drow, not anymore, but a drider instead; she kept her old name for convenience''s sake. As a drider she was a half-woman half-spider and hence a very popular woman in the spidery Spider Kingdom. Yet it was not the beauty, popularity, or her smarts that she took the post pride in, it was her rare and exotic Drider Eggs. She even had the slogan down: the freshest of the fresh and the bestest of the best! ¡°Please temper them according to the previous experiment we devised.¡± Lady Crimson advised. Drow Assistant took a glance at her notebook and did so carefully following the written-down process. Lady Crimson moved to a side to retrieve something out of a box. ¡°And I will prepare the materials procured by the two who couldn¡¯t be present.¡± ¡°Do you need a hand?¡± A melodic-sounding voice offered. Of course, such a beautiful voice could only belong to Mer, and to be more precise, to the Day Sapphire the Mer Princess. The aquatic beauty was swimming inside the large tank. She moved her fish-like tail, and with those subtle motions her blue scales shimmered only to increase her otherworldly aura of enchanted beauty. ¡°I¡¯m fine thank you.¡± Lady Crimson dropped a large sack and a bunch of vials on the laboratory table. ¡°You just concentrate on purifying the water.¡± She instructed the mer. ¡°Aye-Aye, [Hydrokinesis]¡±. Water swirled inside but also outside of her tank. If one looked carefully one would notice black pearls tumbling inside the magic-manipulated stream. ¡°By the way,¡± Day Saphire began, ¡°who are the other two ladies? Have I met them?¡± Lady Crimson scooped a generous amount of the mysterious powder out of an equally mysterious bag to measure it on an alchemical scale. Only after she was sure that she got the right amount did she reply: ¡°I don¡¯t think you have. It¡¯s the most beautiful rabbit girl I¡¯ve seen called Ever, I would adopt her if I could. And the other is¡­ a mushroom creature named the Myconid Queen.¡± Clearly, Lady Crimson had her preferences. ¡°I would love to meet them! Both of them.¡± Day clapped her hands. The Drow Assistant was done tempering her materials and moved to retrieve one of the flasks. ¡°You¡¯ll meet Ever eventually, but the Myconid Queen might be a bit more challenging.¡± ¡°Day, send me some infused water.¡± Lady Crimson asked. Day manipulated a generous glob towards the Master Alchemist. ¡°More Challenging?¡± She asked retrieving a black pearl from the glob. Drow Assistant uncorked a flask and a small cloud of spores spilt from the container. ¡°She lives in the Mushroom Caves where she is bound to the ground, but also, she is a bit of eccentric, that¡¯s why.¡± Day Sapphire nodded in understanding. ¡°Oh¡­ so I assume those flasks came from her?¡± Lady Crimson took hold of one of the many flasks. ¡°Yes, without them this experiment would be impossible.¡± She toppled it into the mix of mysterious powder and infused water. ¡°Myconid Queen is rather masterful with her fungi magic,¡± she added. Aside from the idle chatting three, there was another woman, a shy and reserved centauri who was also a companion to a man best known simply as Bareth. The Centauri Assistant here was an individual with the lower half of a horse and the upper half of a rather well-endowed beauty; well-endowed was putting it only mildly. She put a steaming jug on the laboratory table. ¡°Mine isn¡¯t as good as our Champion¡¯s, I¡¯m sorry.¡± She said with self-depreciation. Lady Crimson swirled the creamy liquid and a pleasant smile flashed across her face. ¡°Have more confidence Centauri Assistant, yours is just as good if not better. Master Bareth must be a very happy man.¡± She praised trying to uplift the shy centauri. ¡°¡­¡± The Centauri Assistant simply blushed at the comment. Lady Crimson took the steamy jug and walked towards the Drow Assistant who was done with her part of the experiment. She gave the Centauri Assistant a meaningful look. ¡°The Drow Assistant will show you how to condense it into a higher form.¡± ¡°Yes, it''s rather simple.¡± She poured the steamy liquid into one of the alchemical devices. ¡°We¡¯ll separate it into two forms, one light and one heavy.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± The Centauri Assistant eyed the device curiously. ¡°We also need a solid state, for the base I¡¯m currently making.¡± Lady Crimson added. ¡°And for that, you''ll have to Churn it.¡± ¡°Churn?¡± The Centauri Assistant asked with panic adding, ¡°I don¡¯t think I know that perk. I¡¯m so sorry!¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Lady Crimson waved it off, ¡°It¡¯s nothing special. The perk is very easy to learn.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll show her. Come.¡± The Drow Assistant took Centauri Assistant to yet another device. The time passed and the necessary materials were coming along well, and with those the Final Formula was close to completion. ¡°But, Lady Crimson,¡± The Mer Princess addressed, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we add Slug Jelly to it? It would make sense, no?¡± Lady Crimson gave a knowing smile. ¡°I understand why you¡¯re suggesting this. But think about it a bit more.¡± She paused to give Day time for thought. ¡°The jelly makes everything taste good, you could add it to dirt and it would make it taste like ambrosia.¡± She added a hint. ¡°Oh, I get it!¡± Day jumped halfway out of her tank. ¡°The jelly would render our efforts mute. We¡¯re trying to make something amazing without relying on it.¡± ¡°Exactly!¡± Lady Crimson pointed her finger high. ¡°However, I fear we might fail without the necessary sweetness. This is why¡­¡± She put a large clay pot on the desk. ¡°Oh, what is it this time?¡± Day asked curious. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Lady Crimson scooped a drop of golden substance with her finger. ¡°I believe it¡¯s called Honey. Have a try.¡± She offered it to the Mer. ¡°Yum! So sweet!¡± Day licked her lips. ¡°Where did you get something like this?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve bought it from spiders.¡± She frowned but only for a short second. ¡°At a rather exorbitant price¡­¡± ¡°Makes sense, they love the sweet stuff.¡± Day reached for the container. ¡°And by the looks of it so do you.¡± Lady Crimson slapped Day¡¯s hand protecting the precious ingredient. ¡°Day, you must refrain. We need it for the Final Formula.¡± And also they needed the material the two assistants were working on at the moment. *Churn, *Churn, - the creamy liquid sloshed inside the wooden device. ¡°Keep moving your hands, like this. Up and down, up and down.¡± The Drow Assistant demonstrated. ¡°I think I¡¯ve got this.¡± The Centauri Assistant gripped a wooden shaft of the device and was driving it just like the drider had shown. ¡°Faster.¡± The Drow Assistant encouraged. ¡°Faster. Faster¡­¡± ¡°Won¡¯t it break?¡± The centauri looked at the wooden shaft with worry. ¡°It''s IronOak, it won¡¯t. Go harder!¡± *Churn, *Churn, *Shlosh! ¡°Oh, I¡¯ve got it!¡± The Centauri Assistant smiled broadly. ¡°I¡¯ve got Churn. [Churn],¡± she invoked straight away. *Churn-Churn, *Churn-Churn, she moved her hands vigorously in a rhythmic and almost hypnotic motion. Despite the success, the Centauri Assistant had a deep and pensive expression. ¡°Hmm¡­ but why is it a part of Cooking perks? Also, I¡¯m level 2 now, yay!¡± The smile returned and she doubled her efforts. Drow Assistant made a note in her notebook. ¡°That¡¯s the part we¡¯re also confused about.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Lady Crimson agreed. ¡°This is clearly Alchemy. Just look inside dear.¡± Centauri Assistant opened the churning device. ¡°Oh, I made it hard! How curious.¡± She commented on the contents. ¡°Precisely. The rhythmic motion hardened it, but in other words, It has been transformed! It should be Alchemy yet still¡­¡± Realising that not everyone was so interested in the minute details of the craft she didn¡¯t finish. ¡°Anyway girls, with that we¡¯ve got all the ingredients.¡± ¡°Yes! Now we can complete the Final Formula!¡± The Drow Assistant celebrated rushing to gather all the ingredients to the assembly table. The Centauri Champion inspected her fruits of labour again. ¡°I still can¡¯t believe I¡¯ve made this. Churn is amazing!¡± Lady Crimson grinned naughtily. ¡°Oh it is, it is very amazing¡­ Just go easy on the Master Bareth later, okay?¡± ¡°¡­¡± The Centauri Assistant simply blushed at the comment. ¡­ A tiny messenger spider tippy tapped right to the rather messy-looking bed. *Tap, *Tap, - the spider tapped the King rousing him from sleep. ¡°You¡¯ve got mail.¡± It chirped handing a folded note. The Spider King blinked the sleepiness away. ¡°Thank you spider.¡± He retrieved a slightly damp note. Judging from the wetness the culprit was obvious, yet still, he was curious about what sort of a shenanigan she was trying to pull off this time. He turned to observe the still-sleeping wife. She was sleeping in a deep slumber with her mouth wide agape, as a consequence a small puddle of drool had formed right under her head. ¡°Safe¡­¡± He ignored the encoaching river of drool and unfolded the damp note. === My Dearest, How long has it been? No, seriously, you¡¯ve been missing for weeks and everyone is worried. Confining yourself to the bedroom isn¡¯t a healthy thing, you should come out and get some fresh air at least twice a day. And how about our morning swimming sessions? Where did those go? So anyway, we¡¯re all worried and would like to have a small chat. You see, in your absence, we¡¯ve been discussing certain things, things involving the future of the Monster Realm. You still care about that, don¡¯t you? To entice you to leave your confinement we have prepared something very special. Something you¡¯ve been dreaming about for a long time. Yes, that thing! We¡¯ve made it possible. Don¡¯t ask how just come and see us. We¡¯re all be waiting you know where. With all the love in the maiden¡¯s heart, Your Swimming Instructor === He crumpled and disposed of the note casting Entropy on it. ¡°Swimming Instructor my ass¡­¡± He remembered something unpleasant. At one time, while he was rather deep in the lake, Day Saphire had snatched his breathing apparatus, the Deep Lake Delights, where at that moment he had to resort to rather unorthodox practices to obtain oxygen¡­ His swimming ¡®trainer¡¯ giggled and chuckled at her ingenious idea to make him do something he shouldn''t. Oh well, anyway this was in the past and no one saw, so what happens in the CreamKelp fields stays in the CreamKelp fields. He shook the memory away and pulled his clothes out of the Magical Inventory. It was time to go to the ¡®you know where¡¯ to see the ¡®that thing¡¯ and hear about ¡®certain things¡¯¡­ The ¡®you know where¡¯ wasn¡¯t that far, it was right here in the Spider Palace, or to be more precise right under. It was a basement area reserved for improvised experiments of often dangerous nature. It was the place to test/showcase the spells, scrolls, explosive potions and other things of that nature. Anyway, a meeting where the future of the Monster Realm would be discussed was exactly the reason he needed to make the excuse to leave his royal bed chambers and his ever more demanding wife. The wife would be fine if not for a certain supplement she was taking. ¡°I curse you, Fertility Potion! Whoever invented it is a madman!¡± With that whisper-shout, he left the room for good. There at the ¡®you know where¡¯ he was met with broad smiles and excited gazes. ¡°You came!?¡± Day Saphire exclaimed sounding surprised. ¡°We¡¯ve finished it, the Final Formula!¡± The Drow Assistant announced with pride. ¡°¡­¡± The Centauri Assistant simply blushed at his presence. ¡°From your subjects to you, our Spider King. Here, your Dream Come True!¡± Lady Crimson pointed at the certain something standing on the decorated pedestal. ¡°My dream come true?¡± He approached closer, still unsure what ¡®that thing¡¯ was. ¡°Oh! Yes, I remembered asking for something like this.¡± The Drow Assistant nodded knowingly. The item was a type of baked goods, something like a pastry of sorts. Yes, from the looks and smell of it, no doubt this was a pie. However, the girls had made a mistake and instead of putting a mesh-like crust lattice on the top, they closed the pie completely. However, that only made him more curious. ¡°I wonder what''s inside?¡± He reached for the nearby knife to cut at the pie. ¡°My Dearest, we filled it with our love!¡± Day announced shamelessly. ¡°Yes, well said. It is just so, my King.¡± The Drow Assistant nodded in agreement. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Jee, leave me out of this. I have my husband.¡± Lady Crimson blushed at the bold statements of the two. ¡°I¡¯ve only guided the process as a Master Alchemist. And the most materials came from the girls here.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± The Spider King cut the pie thinking about it. Indeed, a good pie needs eggs, butter, flour, yeast, sugar and other minor stuff. All of which weren¡¯t exactly common in this whacky magic world; how backwards! ¡°Is this, is this¡­ a cream pie!¡± He exclaimed observing the thick ooze leaking from the sides. ¡°This is amazing!¡± He had craved something like this for years. No doubt the eggs were Drider Eggs; the fine baking flour was actually the Clover Flour; the dairy products must be Centauri Butter, Centauri Milk, and Centauri Cream; the baking reagent must have come from a certain mushroom royalty, so likely it was the Myconid Yeast, plus a souring agent to curd the cream was probably a derivative of the Forbidden Sauce. The source of the sweetness was however still a mystery, it wasn¡¯t the Slug Jelly nor the TomGrape Syrup. However, what mattered the most wasn¡¯t the ingredients but the result, and if he could rate the taste it would be 11/10, or in other words the best thing he had ever tasted. He felt like he was in heaven! ¡°Oh-hhh¡±, he let out an undignified food orgasm. ¡°Oh, god¡­¡± He gobbled one piece after the other. So good was the cream pie that the use of cutlery was entirely forgotten and he simply gobbled the pie up using his bare hands. From the sidelines, he looked like a starved beast ravishing his prey ¨C totally barbaric. But no one in the room minded, actually, the girls took the King¡¯s unhinged gluttony as a compliment. ¡°Oh, he really likes that!¡± Day observed with a smile. ¡°We should bake him another.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°I wonder if my husband would like this just as much.¡± Moreover, the cream pie wasn¡¯t just an overwhelmingly delicious pie, it was so much more. [You have consumed Dream Come True] [All Negative Status effects cleared], ¨C he felt Drained no more. [You have recovered your HP], [You have recovered your MP], [You have recovered your STA], ¨C He felt the zest and vigour return to his blood, soul, and body. [Max HP +200], [Max MP +200], [Max STA +200], ¨C and that topped him up pretty well; very welcome! [You have gained: HP Regeneration+, MP Regeneration+, STA Regeneration+], ¨C all much needed for the next session with the wife. [You have gained EXP +1000] x6, ¨C times six because 1 pie = 6 pie slices; meaning that the pie was supposed to be shared. Oh well¡­ [You have gained: Detect Magic, Increased Stealth, Overwhelming Force, Agile Manoeuvres, Charming Voice, Energise, Heightened Dexterity, Fully Satiated, Bee Buzz], ¨C a plethora of active and passive perks. All of the above had a timer for the next 24h. The Spider King looked at the now empty pedestal, not even a crumb or a smear of the cream remained. ¡°Sorry I¡¯ve left you none.¡± He scratched his head awkwardly. ¡°But more importantly, did I detect hints of Honey? Where did you get that?!¡± ¡°You noticed,¡± Lady Crimson said knowingly, ¡°as expected of the Spider King. It came from the Dark Forest via the spiders.¡± Somehow this discovery sneaked past him undetected. ¡°Enough about food.¡± Day Saphire waved it off. ¡°Let¡¯s get real now¡­ We¡¯ve made your Dream Come True and now it¡¯s only fair for you to make our Dream Come True.¡± All of the girls looked at the Spider King expectantly, their gazes were so intense it was almost as if the entire future of the Monster Realm depended on the next actions of the Spider King. Dream Come True? Somehow he suspected that a simple cream pie wouldn''t be enough here. For him, the pie meant the world, but ladies here wanted something much more than some mere baked goods... But what could they possibly want from him? 141 – The Dangers Of The Seductive Honey Pot 🍯 There in the Holy Tower, in the middle of the night, a dim candlelight flickered at the bed table. On the most luxurious bed, in between the finest silks, a woman was having a restless sleep. Despite the excessive comforts her breathing was rugged and pained and her entire body was drenched in sweat. ¡°No¡­ No¡­ It can¡¯t be¡­ No.¡± She moaned turning and tossing in her sheats. Yet again she was having that nightmare, it was something which troubled her for quite some time, and it was the very reason she burned the precious Holy Candle to ward off such ailments, but apparently - to no avail. The nightmare persisted, worse, it became more vivid and clearer with each passing night. *Gasp*, she shot up straight and now was wide awake. ¡°It¡¯s no mere nightmare.¡± She finally came to terms with the reality. ¡°This is a vision¡­¡± It was utterered in fright. Indeed, she was an Oracle, she was gifted with an uncanny premonition and all of her visions had become truth with no exceptions. That was precisely why she was trembling so furiously. With her very core, she feared of it becoming a reality and thus her mind refused to acknowledge it for way too long. ¡°The Dreaded Place,¡± she uttered. ¡°Primordial evil which should not be disturbed,¡± she remembered. "Too late," she shuddered. ¡°Spiders¡­ Spiders¡­ Spiders¡­¡± The sensation of spiders crawling all over her body returned to her. ¡°The Calamity which can¡¯t be stopped.¡± Her face contorted. ¡°Wa¡­ Wa-ahh!¡± She bawled into her trembling palms like an infant. It took a while but finally she had calmed down. ¡°There is no need to delay this further.¡± The oracle steeled herself. Wearing nothing but a thin gown, the still frightened woman flung her soiled blanket and stormed barefooted out of her room. It was still the middle of the night, and in no way she looked appropriate, but she didn''t feel that insignificance like that mattered, not at this moment. ¡°The Holy Emperor must know. We must act!¡± She rushed through the cold stone floors in wild urgency. === In a place nicknamed ¡®you know where¡¯ the Spider King was standing surrounded by women of extraordinary beauty, but also talent. Lady Crimson, the highest-level alchemist in the entire realm, was smiling at him warmly. Drow Assistant, the most talented elemental mage and irreplaceable personal assistant was looking at him expectantly. She twirled and tossed her long hair playfully. Centauri Assistant, while not as excellent as Centauri Champion, or the nearby drider, was still a woman with tremendous weapons and skills in her possession. Her cheeks were coloured pink in blush and her two shy eyes were looking down at her own feet. Day Sapphire, the Mer Princes, perhaps was the most beautiful out of the four. Her gem-like scales glimmered in a blue glow and she carried that expression of self-confidence and pride. He also had a note from the Myconid Queen and a message from Ever the DemiRabbit. And for what they all wanted: Lady Crimson: ¡°You¡¯ve blessed me and my husband enough, consider this a small thank you.¡± She made a curtsy bow befitting a most noble lady. Drow Assistant: ¡°I want us to go and have tea sometime, just the two of us. It has been a long dream of mine.¡± Despite the simple words she looked at him like a predator would look at its prey. Centauri Assistant: ¡°I-I¡­ I want your¡­ the permission to marry Master Bareth!¡± She began with a stutter and ended with a shout. Day Saphire: ¡°I think you have a note and a missive. So let''s hear them first.¡± she appointed herself to be last. Lady Crimson reached into her special pocket to retrieve what looked like a ripped label from an alchemy bottle. ¡°This is from Ever,¡± a pleasant smile flashed across her face, ¡° I have noted it down so I don¡¯t forget.¡± She began reading: ¡°Our dearest Father, I hope the pie-making will go well! Surely with so many helping hands, it will come out better than the Midnight Pie! Just leave some for our beloved Mother.¡± For unknown reasons, Lady Crimson tucked the label right back. ¡°Oh, and I was asked to pass you this.¡± She gave him an enthusiastic combo of a wink + smile + a flick of a tongue ??. ¡°Ha! Aren¡¯t the bunnies just the cutest thing ever¡­ I¡¯m glad I¡¯ve met them!!!¡± He had to wonder where exactly Ever learned such gestures like this, but indeed, it was rather cute. And then from out of nowhere, the alchemist¡¯s mirthful expression soured. She went towards her lady back and retrieved a rolled parchment, the aforementioned missive. It was made out of a type of fungus, yet still, it was bleached white, cut expertly, and rolled with extreme care; it had that aura of the royal message, the only thing missing was the wax seal. She unrolled the scroll. ¡°I have read it a few times already and¡­ anyway, you better be ready, here it goes.¡± Lady Crimson cleared her voice and began: ¡°O¡¯ King of Kings, I beseech thee, may my humble offerings find favour in thine eyes and serve thee and thine kin well. I do present but one small entreaty, a trifling matter only thou, my royal liege, can rectify.¡± Lady Crimson gave him a hard-to-read look and continued right after a short resigned pause. ¡°Mine cave hath grown damp and humid, struggling to contain the tempest within. Methinks it shall soon burst forth. Would thou, O¡¯ King of Kings, deign to scrape my inner walls and expand my fungal cavern?¡± As she was reading, the Lady Crimson¡¯s brow was rising further and further up. ¡°She¡¯s not quite done you know.¡± With that comment, she continued: ¡°And whilst thou art engaged in this endeavour, I wouldst be honoured if thou wouldst plant thy seed within me, if it so pleases thee. I do believe that with thine presence within my body, I couldst bestow upon thee something truly extraordinary.¡± Lady Crimson rolled the parchment back up. ¡°A rather obscene request, no?¡± She looked at him and then at the rest of the women. Yeah, judging by their flushed faces all of them had misconstructed the true meaning. The Spider King felt obliged to clear this misunderstanding. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°No-no, what she wants me to do is to create more space in the Mushroom Cavern; she¡¯s growing mushrooms there. And the other thing is a request for me to give her a Monster Core.¡± He explained. For some reason, he didn¡¯t feel the explanation had reached the women. ¡°King, what you do in your spare time is entirely up to you.¡± Lady Crimson nodded in misguided understanding. ¡°All of us here are your loyal subjects and can keep a secret.¡± She gave another nod. ¡°But if she has some shrooms growing down there then there is a salve I must recommend. Otherwise, I fear it might not be safe enough for you to ¡®give¡¯ her anything.¡± ¡°OMG¡­ please stop!¡± He was beginning to feel embarrassed. ¡°Ha-ha! Made you blush.¡± Lady Crimson laughed mirthfully. ¡°I just couldn¡¯t pass a chance to tease our King.¡± ¡°Oh! So they weren¡¯t¡­¡± Day Sapphire muttered sounding relieved. ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s my turn.¡± Day straightened her back and puffed her otherwise modest chest. She surrounded herself in a royal aura beffiting her status as the Mer Princess. Her face was filled with resolve and confidence. However, a more discerning eye would notice that the confidence was just a fa?ade, her gills were wide open, the tail tip trembling, and her posture way too stiff. The other free women turned to look at the Mer Princess with looks of encouragement. Feeling supported by her comrades Day shot straight to point. ¡°I shall become your mistress!¡± It was not a request but rather a proclamation. ¡°Huh? A what?¡± The Spider King was rather taken aback by the suddenness and also boldness of it. ¡°A mistress,¡± Day said again but with a pout. ¡°I have everything arranged already.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°King, aren''t you lucky? She¡¯s quite a catch!¡± Lady Crimson grinned at him. ¡°It¡¯s only natural.¡± The Drow Assistant agreed. ¡°Congratulations!¡± Even the shy Centauri Assistant was jumping in to support. ¡°Huh? Huh?!¡± Hearing the Myconid Queen¡¯s simple and reasonable request they had those shocked looks, and yet, now they were dismissing this outrageous proclamation as nothing of real concern. ¡°But my wife, the Lamia Queen, she¡­¡± He was shot down in the middle of the sentence. ¡°As I¡¯ve said, I have everything arranged,¡± Day interrupted. ¡°I have her permission. No, actually, I have her blessing.¡± She smiled at him mischievously. ¡°???¡± Something was just not right. ¡­ The Spider King approached the royal bedchamber doors. He hesitated to open them. ¡°All of this feels like a prank¡­¡± He whispered to himself. He pushed the doors open, they felt uncharacteristically heavy. Inside the room, atop the large bed, there was his wife. She was wide awake and engorging herself in an unusually large amount of food. No, not food, desserts and sweets of various kinds. Crumbs were scattered all around the bedsheet and pillows, and on her face was an expression of pure ecstasy. There, surrounded by a pile of half-eaten treats, she was clutching a large clay pot. A greedy hand reached inside to retrieve the now familiar ingredient. Straight to the mouth it went, she gobbled it up in wild abandon reaching for another scoop right after. ¡°Oh, sss, husband!¡± She exclaimed finally noticing his presence. ¡°How was your breakfast with the girls?¡± So she knew¡­ ¡°Dear wife, Mer Princess has made a very strange request of me. I fear it¡¯s a prank of sorts.¡± ¡°SSS! Don¡¯t tell me you didn¡¯t take it sss-seriously?¡± She swallowed a great amount of sticky stuff in one big gulp. ¡°How could you!?¡± She accused. ¡°Huh? But¡­¡± She licked her fingers and then wiped her hand right on his pillow. ¡°She¡¯s my most loyal servant, just look at all the treats she had arranged for me, sss, of course, I would grant her a small request! Husband, good effort needs to be rewarded, you should learn from my good example.¡± She said that as if teaching him a lesson. ¡°But¡­ but¡­¡± He was looking for words. ¡° I see¡­ you must know your most ¡®loyal¡¯ subject well, and I¡¯m sure you understand what her being my mistress entails exactly.¡± He probed deeper with that statement. ¡°Sss, you might not know it, but I¡¯ve spoken with Day at length, we¡¯re good friends, sss. I think you struggle to understand this, sss-so let me explain. I am your wife and she is your mistress.¡± He tilted his head in confusion. ¡°I am The Wife, the Queen of the Monster Realm, sss, the only wife you¡¯ll ever have, I¡¯ll make that clear for you, my misguided husband.¡± She looked at him intently. ¡°I know of your many dalliances, sss, I am no longer a naive child. And in the end, with the guidance of my friends, sss, I have decided that I don¡¯t mind your misadventures.¡± ¡°Realy?¡± It was hard to believe. ¡°Why are you sss-so surprised, husband? Do you really know sss-so little about us Lamia? It seems I still have to teach you sss-so much. Sss-so sit down and listen.¡± She began an impromptu lecture. ¡°Sss-so¡­¡± Lamia were a race exclusively consisting of women. While they could procreate asexually by laying Lamia Servant eggs, a stronger variant of Lamia Warrior was preferred. And for that, they needed a male, where any male would do as long as he was one of the sapient races, however, strong individuals were preferred. Traditionally the Lamia would capture an unlucky male and drain him of life, of course, since the Lamia joined the Spider Kingdom much had changed in that regard. However, the point the Lamia Queen was making was that a male was destined to be shared by all Lamia eventually. The Queen of course had the first claim often taking the best of the best, and in the absence of other male captives was there to dictate who got their turn with her favourite plaything. Naturally, their union wasn¡¯t anything as barbaric as that. In a sense, the Spider King and the Lamia Queen were equals and neither of them had a command above one another. ¡°With the first of many of our children now secured, sss, I feel confident in sharing you with my best retainers.¡± She hisses out as if it was of no big matter. Yeah, the sense of morality the Lamia had was nothing like that of a typical human; at least he was aware of that quirk. ¡°Sss¡­¡± She hissed and narrowed her eyes. ¡°But that doesn¡¯t mean I might not get jealous, sss, you better make your mistresses known to me. Or else I might get an urge to eat them! SSS!¡± She hissed a warning. ¡°Oh, and no kobolds! I won¡¯t budge on that rule!¡± Of course, such a relationship would come with many rules. Now, considering the feelings and inclinations of the less-than-ideal Spider King¡­ Such an arrangement worked well in his favour, after all, there were so many temptations. ¡®Curse you KelpCream and MeowChanel No 69!¡¯ ¨C whoever made them was a madman; a na?ve and ignorant fool unaware of the hell such materials would unleash upon the world. However, there was a very important question to ask. ¡°What if someone gets pregnant?¡± Lamia Queen only smiled at that idea. ¡°Even better, sss-surely sss-such individuals, sss, would be sss-strong and sss-serve me and our children well.¡± She said hopefully but yet was hissing an awful lot. In other words, the children outside the royal marriage would bear no claim to the Spider Kingdom and serve only as its vassals. This was not that unheard of especially in medieval times. And a condition he could accept, after all, he would love them just as much. ¡°¡­¡± He paused to think about the inclinations of all of this. ¡°Sss-so, my dear husband?¡± She slithered closer. ¡°Do you find my Mer Princess acceptable?¡± Undoubtedly, Mer Princess was the one to push his wife towards the current event. It was almost scary how quickly she swam her way up from a simple guest to a position second only to The Wife, the First Mistress. She was a calculating woman and an expert seductress, she was one to watch out for, but unashamedly so, the King here rather fancied that naughty side of Day Sapphire. ¡°I do.¡± He finally admitted. ¡°Then everything is just as I planned, sss.¡± She hissed conspiratorily. Wait, was there yet another overarching scheme he was not aware of? The lamia didn¡¯t give him space to mull it over. ¡°Thank you, sss, *Smooch*, and CONGRATULATIONS!¡± He was left nonplused yet again. ¡°S-s-s,¡± she giggled, ¡°we¡¯re expecting.¡± She caressed her bulging belly. The bulge was completely in consequence of all the sweets she had just eaten. Even so, he crawled into the bed next to his queen and caressed her bulging belly with affection. ¡°S-s-s, we shall have as many as that primitive lizard.¡± She grinned at him expectantly. ¡°No, sss, we shall have more! We can¡¯t lose to lesser lizards!¡± In the end, the formidable achievement of the Kobold King had reached her ears. How frightening! ¡°Of course¡­¡± He smiled weekly realising that the restless nights would continue to follow, likely to the very end of him... His expecting wife will be placated for a while, so this was a good opportunity to store and accumulate the necessary nutrients. He reached into the clay pot yearning for the sweet taste of honey. ¡°No, sss!¡± She hissed slapping his hand. ¡°Mine! You get your own.¡± Unfortunately, she was unwilling to share. ¡°Oh come on.¡± He complained. She gave him a look infused with Charm. ¡°Well, sss, there is some of that here.¡± She brushed her finger past her lips. ¡°Oh? Oh!¡± He got the hint. In the end, he was allowed to ?? peruse inside that sweet-sweet ?? honey pot. 142 – It’s Time To Strike. It’s Hammer Time! In the white marble hall, amongst the statues of ancient but not forgotten heroes, there stood a brilliant golden throne. Its brilliance was only amplified by pure and splendid lighting, the illumination stemmed from a magical item best known as the Holy Candle, and there were no less than a hundred of them nested in decorative candelabras and chandeliers. There on the golden throne, showered in the candlelight of the Holy Light, sat the Holy Emperor himself. His gold-threaded robes were pristine white giving him that aura of both regality and purity. In his hand he held a massive sceptre, the divine grade item was a symbol of his rule, but also a tool of great power. His hand was clutching tight on the sceptre as if afraid to lose it, and his face was painted in an expression of deep contemplation. His empire was rocked by chaotic events, one after the other in a seemingly endless wave. It all started as something insignificant, just a disturbance in a border kingdom of no significance, and yet it somehow built up to this¡­ He had the feeling that the Holy Empire was inching towards a significant turmoil, something big enough to challenge his divine mandate to rule. The recent events were the most disturbing, first it was the Archivist and then the Oracle. The Master Archivist had brought him a time-honoured scroll, the old texts told a tale of an ancient power which should not be disturbed. Yet the descriptions of that which should not be awakened were all too familiar by this point. And then the High Oracle had barged into his bedchamber with the most unwelcome vision, she had foretold a great Calamity which soon will befall his holy domain. Moreover, the reports of his generals on the frontlines only strengthened the validity of the old text and the foreboding vision. All three had a certain common keyword. ¡°Spiders¡­¡± The Holy Emperor whispered with dread. Right after the whisper, a long sigh escaped his lips. ¡°We¡¯ve been wrong in our assumptions.¡± He tightened the grip on his sceptre. ¡°The Demon Lord had nothing to do with this.¡± Indeed, the power they were up against was much more ancient, primordial even, and likely just as troublesome as the Demon Lord. No! It was clearly worse. Either way, this called for urgent and regretfully desperate action where the best solution was a certain ritual. The Holy Emperor let yet another deep sigh. The ritual he was thinking was no mere feat to achieve, it required exotic ingredients and an obscene amount of mana. Worse, it would Sunder the involved priests and mages leaving the Empire crippled until they recovered. With resolve, the Holy Emperor turned to the nearby priestess. ¡°Call the High Priest and tell him to assemble the Clergy. We shall commence the Hero Summoning!¡± He said with all of his imperial authority. The previously bored and glazed-over eyes of the priestess brightened with a spark of excitement. ¡°At once, my holiness.¡± She had practically sprinted out of the hall. === Despite what one might think the Spider Kingdom had issues of its own, actually, it was on the cusp of experiencing a disaster of unprecedented proportions, a Calamity of its own. At the very foundation of the disaster was a certain substance, or to be more precise the lack of it. Yes, we¡¯re speaking about the ambrosia of the spiders, the Slug Jelly. You see, it could only be produced by one highly esteemed Johny the Magnificent Slug. While Johny was well-equipped to squirt a barrel of it a day, she still was a single slug, and one slug for 200 000 spiders was just not even near enough! The jungle was scouted and scoured for the kin much like Johny and wild DustyBlue fields were turned upside down, and yet, there were no slugs to be found. After all, it seems that Johny was a unique aberrant, a rare exception to what once was a sterile jungle. So what is there to do? ¨C indeed, a difficult question. To alleviate the issue substitutes were invented, like the TomGrape Syrup; it was close but it was never good enough. However, yet another promising candidate was found, it was the highly sought-after Honey, an ingredient found in the Dark Forest. The spiders liked it so much that they nicknamed it as the liquid gold. That liquid gold soon also caught the attention of the Spider King, and it seems he liked it just as much as his spiders. Let''s skip some minor events and let¡¯s just go to the natural conclusion. There in the ¡®you know where¡¯ the Spider King was sitting at the workbench. Atop the worksurface, there was a glass jar with a live beehive inside. The little bees buzzed and crawled agitated in their containment. He looked at little insects with curiosity, they weren''t exactly the bees he remembered but the critters inside were close enough. ¡°I just need to find the queen and then Evolve her.¡± Yup, this was the beginning of the Ultimate Solution to an encroaching calamity. ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡± A juvenile spider crafter chirped happily. This little assistant wielded a rather large hammer, it was there to squash the angry bees in case the evolution didn¡¯t go right. Thinking about it a fly swatter would have been more appropriate, but you can tell that to the spider¡­ The Spider King opened the jar and proded the hive breaking it in search of his quarry. The bees buzzed with anger and stung his hand. ¡°Hammer Time?¡± The spider asked expectantly. ¡°No.¡± He smiled at the overeager spider. ¡°It doesn¡¯t even sting.¡± It was his Enhanced Poison Immunity talking. Finally, he found the queen he was looking for, he pulled her out and closed the jar back up. ¡°Hammer time???¡± The spider asked again. A few rather Enraged bees escaped but that was of little concern. ¡°Not yet, spider.¡± He pulled the queen bee closer. ¡°[Evol¡­], hmm.¡± He stopped abruptly. ¡°I knew it! Bad bee! Hammer Time!¡± The spider swung up. He lowered the spider¡¯s hammer back down. He stopped because he remembered another insect-like creature from the Dark Forest. She was in part responsible for the presence of the hammer in this experiment. But anyway, she had left him something rather precious and completely on a whim he decided to spend it at this very moment. ¡°[Imbue: FairyDust], [Evolve]¡±, he imbued the queen during the evolution. The goal was something more than just a monster bee. The queen glowed in purple and her body increased in size rapidly; she stopped growing by the time she reached the size of a collectable figurine. Her final shape changed to a more humanoid appearance, her round head lost most of its insect-like features and the number of limbs shrunk to four: two hands and two legs plus a voluptuous bee butt at the back. Just like a fairy would, the bee queen had all the feminine features which were strategically hidden by tuffs of that yellow bee fuzz. The bee stretched her wings wide and buzzed with contempt pointing her improved stinger at Spider King. ¡°A failure!¡± The spider chirped at perceived failure in excitement for some reason. ¡°Hammer Time!!!¡± ¡°Nope!¡± The Spider King stopped the swinging hammer with his hand. The bee flinched at the prospect of being squashed. ¡°[Inspect]¡±, he finally invoked.
Monster Race: Apidae Variant: HoneyBee (Queen) Magic Affinity: Nature ?? ?? ??
HP:10 Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. MP:50 STA:50
Active Perks [Sting], [Pheromone Attack]
Passive Perks [Synthesise: RoyalJelly], [Egg Layer], [Hive Mind]
Resistances [Fire Weakness: Medium]
The small surprise was the RoyalJelly it produced and not Honey; the latter must be made by the workers only. ¡°I think the experiment was a success.¡± He announced giving a meaningful look to the spider. ¡°Oh. Okay then.¡± The spider put the hammer down reluctantly. The bee in question looked with fear at the hammer, then at the murderous spider and right after to the Spider King. ¡°Bzzz,¡± she buzzed but in a much more subdued tone, ¡°this royal bee is at your service.¡± With those words, she kneeled. Of course, the evolved bee spoke! At this point, it didn¡¯t even come as a surprise. ¡°Bzzz,¡± she buzzed again looking back at the jar of angry bees. ¡°But please spare the hammer from my subjects,¡± she glanced at the restless hammer. ¡°Ah, of course, I¡¯ll evolve them too.¡± Yet without the precious FairyDust this time. ¡°But first, let''s visit a friend of mine.¡± He picked up the glass jar and went for the exit. The Bee Queen fluttered her wings and followed right after. Disappointed at the lack of the ¡®Hammer Time¡¯, ¡°Tch!¡±, the spider clicked its spidery tongue. ¡°Maybe another time.¡± ¡­ Without much trouble, the evolved bee was brought to the highly esteemed Johny for inspection. ¡°Oh, How Marvellous!¡± Johny exclaimed in her eldrich voice. ¡°This Will Do, Yes, This Will Do.¡± There was a good reason for him to bring the bees to Johny. You see, one of the morning milking sessions might have gotten too sticky leaving Johny seeded with a Monster Core; a happy accident at that because the esteemed slug had obtained a Mutate perk. The perk was similar to the Spider King¡¯s Mutate but also different; it was more nuanced. As a rule, Johny¡¯s mutations always ended up with either Eldrich or BlueDust flavour, and sometimes both. Well, several rather vicious plants had to be exterminated, although there were just as many successes - namely a beautiful cherry blossom-like tree but with blue petals instead. The BlueBlossom trees were planted all around Johny¡¯s house, the gazebo, enchanting the already sureal feel of the structure. ¡°Go say hello to Johny.¡± He encouraged the Bee Queen. The bee landed on one of Johny¡¯s tendrils. ¡°Bzzz,¡± she buzzed curiously. ¡°Is this¡­ jelly I smell on you, bzzz? A RoyalJelly perhaps?¡± She asked with wonder while looking at the massive jelly sacks right infront, all six of them. ¡°Better. Slug Jelly.¡± She retrieved just a dollop. ¡°Have a try.¡± The bee slurped up the substance and her eyes opened in shock. Johny smiled at the tiny bee, however, the smile wasn¡¯t warm, it was the opposite ¨C cold and calculating; more like an evil grin. ¡°Got You. [Mutate]!¡± The bee fell off the tendril much like an autumn leaf. Shakes and convulsions rocked her body, a change was taking place. The iconic bee-black and bee-yellow was turned into blue and black, but more importantly, a set of eldrich tendrils sprouted on her back. ¡°Ta-Da!¡± Johny clapped in achievement. ¡°A Bee For the DustyBlue Flowers, And Other Blossoms I Have Mutated.¡± ¡°[Inspect]¡±, he had to check.
Monster Race: Lesser Eldrich Variant: JellyBee (Queen) Magic Affinity: Nature ?? ?? ?? ?? ??
HP:10 MP:50 STA:50
Active Perks [Sting], [Pheromone Attack], [Sprinkle Dust]
Passive Perks [Synthesise: RoyalJelly], [Egg Layer], [Telepathy]
Resistances [Fire Weakness: Medium], [BlueDust Resistance]
Status Effects [Minion]
¡°Okay¡­¡± There were more changes than he had assumed. ¡°She changed her race to Eldrich!¡± He was worried about that part. ¡°Won''t that make her hostile?¡± He remembered some rather carnivorous plants Johny had mutated. ¡°She¡¯s My Minion Now So There Is Nothing To Worry About.¡± Johny beamed him a confident smile. ¡°Now Hand Me The Rest Of The Bees.¡± He did just so, and while Johny was busy transforming the bee colony, the Bee Queen finally woke up. She glanced at Johny, and the slug glanced at the bee. They were silent like that for a good moment. Perhaps something was communicated, but either way, the Queen Bee bowed to the nearby King and with a quick buzz she flew towards the BlueBlossom trees. Soon after, the rest of the bee colony was Mutated into Eldrich JellyBees. The workers weren¡¯t evolved or imbued with FairyDust, hence they remained much like bees, just a lot larger plus an addition of an odd tendril or two. The busy bees flew around the flower garden poking their faces into dusty petals to gather what they needed. ¡°It Will Take Only A Moment¡± Johny informed. ¡°Come, Have A Rest.¡± She invited to sit in the nearby gazebo. True to her words, the bee workers didn¡¯t take long to gather the stuff they needed. They gathered on the table and around the conveniently placed bowl. A strange ritual followed, it was rather obscene: the bees formed a circle and began kissing each other while passing a blue-tinted liquid while at it. The end product was spat into the bowl and then fanned vigorously with their wings. Perhaps it could be thought of as spit or even vomit, but it was simply unaged honey, aware of such realities, and without hesitation, the Spider King dipped his finger into the still warm and sticky liquid and then right into his mouth it went. ¡°Yum!¡± He reacted at the taste of it. ¡°Not Slug Jelly but not Honey either. It''s entirely different!¡± Either way, it was just as sweet. Johny laughed at the quickly emptying bowl. ¡°Make Sure You Leave Some For The Spiders.¡± ¡°Oh, you¡¯re right. This was the purpose of this experiment after all.¡± He licked the last of it from his finger. ¡°Bzzz.¡± The Bee Queen landed on the table. ¡°Giving all these telepathic commands made me hungry.¡± She walked up to the bowl. ¡°Bzzz? It''s Empty!¡± She looked accusingly at the culprit. ¡°It was just too good,¡± was his excuse. He expected her to pout or make a scene, but instead the bee just smiled at him mirthfully. ¡°Really? And you haven¡¯t even tasted my¡­¡± She paused for suspense. ¡°RoyalJelly! It will blow your mind I¡¯m sure.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± He asked with expectation. ¡°Just a moment, Spider King.¡± The Bee Queen stepped right into the emptied bowl. Now considering that honey could be seen as bee spit or vomit, the royal bee jelly would be made similarly, no? However, the Spider King was not expecting what soon followed. The Bee Queen crouched ever so slightly. ¡°Bzzz,¡± she buzzed and then began leaking clear liquid right from down under. It was rather viscous and soon pooled into a sticky puddle. ¡°Ahh, I feel much better.¡± It was as if a great burden just left her body. This Bee Queen was rather shameless to do something like that right in front of him. He was positively shocked! ¡°Bzzz? What are you waiting for? This is a treat befitting a King, dig in!¡± It did start as a liquid but now was beginning to congeal much like a jelly would, however, considering the place it came from it was hard to think of it as such. Was this bee trying to prank him just like a certain fairy did? This was no RoyalJelly, this was bee pee! ¡°[Inspect]!¡± The Monster System disagreed:
RoyalJelly: A rare and precious substance secreted by the Queen Bee. It possesses mystical properties that can bolster the natural abilities and skills of those who consume it.
¡°Spider King, Is There A Problem?¡± ¡°Bzzz?¡± ¡°I guess not.¡± He scooped the now-cooled and congealed jelly with his finger. ¡°There goes nothing.¡± He licked it off. ¡°HUH!?¡± His eyes widened. ¡°This is amazing! I demand more!¡± ¡°Bzzz,¡± the Bee Queen buzzed apologetically, ¡°I can¡¯t do it on demand.¡± ¡°Wait, Wait, Wait! It Can''t Be That Good. Is It Better Than Mine?¡± ¡°¡­¡± He had to pause to think, it was a close contester. Johny misunderstood the silence. ¡°No!!! There Is That Little Spider Who Helped Me With Naughty Plants, The One With A Hammer? Spider!¡± Sensing the danger, ¡°Bzzz!¡±, the queen disappeared into the distance. 142.5 – Burning Need For Some Hot And Deadly Laser The giant spidery citadel was walking through the dense and ancient forest. Its tall metal legs were careful in their steps doing only the minimum damage. The citadel was almost out of the Ancestral Forest, the place it now emerged was the area where the Aurelian Kingdom had used to fell the trees to acquire Spirit Stones. The previous transgressions were all in the past, the area was seeded with young saplings; they were all too keen to grow into a new forest. With the lack of human activity, the forest was on the path of reclaiming its old territory. Just like all living creatures, it wanted to grow, plant its seeds, and expand. Perhaps that¡¯s why the Wisp had entrusted something very special to a certain individual inside the citadel. ¡°Sss,¡± She hissed while playing with a peculiar marble Uncle Wisp had gifted. The young Chaos Queen was barely a month old, but you wouldn¡¯t be able to tell that from just looking at her. Certain items and certain blessings had a way of messing with the natural order of things. Instead of being an infant, the chaos lamia was already a toddler. Much like a toddler would, the young Queen deposited the marble she was playing with into her mouth. ¡°SSS!¡± The Lamia Maid hissed sharply with worry. ¡°My Queen, Ancestral Forest Seed isn¡¯t food. Sss-spit it out!¡± She stretched her hand demandingly. ¡°No-hhh!¡± The Queen mumbled out and turned her head sideways in protest. ¡°My Queen, sss, if you swallow it, the sss-seed will grow inside your belly and then you will Explode!¡± Mind you, this was a real thing which could happen. ¡°Sss? SSS! *spit*.¡± The Lamia Maid took away the seed for safekeeping. ¡°Sss¡­¡± Bored the young Chaos Queen slithered closer to the control panel. She looked at it with sparkly eyes. The control panel had inviting levers, colourful buttons, and many switches which begged to be flicked. A very big and very red button had caught her eye, and without much hesitation, she pressed it. *Click*, It made a very satisfying sound. ¡°SSS!¡± The Lamia Maid hissed in alarm. ¡°This is the button of the Deadly Laser, sss, don¡¯t press it!¡± Luckily the weapon took time to spin and heat up, so the maid had to do was to press the button again. *Click*, the attack was cancelled. ¡°Deadly Laser!¡± The Queen hissed in excitement and pressed the button again. *Press*, ¡°No!!!¡± ¡°Sss? SSS!¡± *Press*, - On. *Press*, - Off. *Press*, - On. *Press*, - Off. The two battled each other much like children would. The nearby spider tippy-tapped closer to the two. ¡°Deadly Laser is for deadly enemies.¡± he chirped sternly. ¡°Exactly, sss.¡± The Lamia Maid added sternly. It was good the spider came, the young Queen would never listen to other chaos lamia but for some reason, spiders were an authority to her. Juvenile Queen stopped her play, ¡°¡­¡± and then looked at the spider beggingly. Her purple eyes were big and the moisture was building up rapidly at the corners. ¡°Now-now¡­¡± the spider patted the kid with affection. ¡°We just need. A deadly enemy. Simple.¡± The spider chirped as if it was the most obvious thing ever. ¡°Deadly Laser!¡± She jumped in excitement. The Chaos Lamia slithered closer to the massive screen and began gazing for enemies. Everything was just a tiny speck. ¡°Here.¡± The spider handed her the Looking Glass. ¡°Enemy!¡± She pointed. ¡°No, sss, it¡¯s a tree.¡± Lamia Maid corrected. ¡°Enemy!¡± ¡°A rock.¡± ¡°Enemy!¡± ¡°A squirrel.¡± Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°¡­¡± young troublemaker pouted, there were just no enemies around. ¡°I think¡­¡± The spider began. ¡°The squirrel can be. An enemy sometimes.¡± Indeed, the little critters were known to nibble on TomGrape vines, and if left unchecked could become a nuisance. But that was just a flimsy excuse for some ''FUN!''. The Queen beamed a brilliant smile, ¡°Enemy!¡±, she pointed with authority at the distant squirrel. ¡°Yes.¡± The spider nodded. ¡°Enemy sighting confirmed.¡± ¡°Deadly Laser?¡± Her hand hovered over the large red button. ¡°Sss?¡± ¡°Yes. Engage the laser.¡± *Press*, *Click*. *Sigh*, ¡°sss¡­¡±, the maid sighed in resignation. The laser mechanism spun up and the cell began to slowly heat up. A barely audible buzz filled the control room. The Chaos Lamia jumped up and down giddily at the anticipation. There was a lot more which happened behind the scenes: like the careful aiming of the weapon, and the mages guiding and pooling the necessary mana. The metal jaws of the giant spider opened ever so slightly, and a cannon peeked out much like a tongue would; the laser weapon was all hot and rearing for some action. ¡°All you have to do.¡± The spider pointed at another button. ¡°Press it. And shout a command to fire.¡± ¡°[Deadly Laser]!!!¡± The Chaos Lamia slammed the button as if her life depended on it. Inside the cannon, the rays converged forming a deadly beam. The purple blast shot out of the giant spider¡¯s mouth and then¡­ *Explosion!!!*, ¨C everything flashed in purple. Normally lasers don¡¯t make explosions, but you tell that to the one who named the attack. Where there once was a squirrel now was a small crater; everything inside was pretty much evaporated. Wisps of rich condensed mana swirled right above the destruction, and an odd miniature cloud or two were firing purple lighting to expend the leftover mana. ¡°Yay!¡± The Chaos Queen clapped at the destruction of the spider enemies, but then her jovial mood was stuck with a blank face betraying confusion. The culprit was the system message she has just received: [You¡¯ve slayed the Common Squirrel] [The experience was shared between the party] [Fighting +1 exp] No, not this one. [Chaos Blessed activated] Seemingly out of thin air, a small party of humans had manifested only metres away from the crater. Purple wisps of mana clung to their cloaks disrupting some sort of either Camouflage or Invisibility ability. There was clear panic in between their ranks. And no, these humans weren''t of an Aurelian kind, they were Imperials! ¡°Imperial Scum!!!¡± The spider chirped in alarm. ¡°[Deadly Laser]!!!¡± The Chaos Queen slammed the button but nothing happened. ¡°Sss?¡± ¡°The canon needs time to cool.¡± The spider informed following up with a suggestion. ¡°But we can use turret fire.¡± ¡°Imperial sss-spies!¡± The Lamia Maid identified the enemies. ¡°Save the turrets and leave them to us, sss, the Chaos Lamia!¡± Even before she uttered those words, the nearby defensive tower was already reacting to the threat. A rank of obsidian-skinned beauties assembled at needly carved slits in the wall. These weren¡¯t slots for arrowfire but for the magic instead. The Chaos Lamia here might still be very young, however, that didn¡¯t mean that they weren¡¯t well equipped to deal with the threat. They were dressed in rather scandalous black robes which unlike the loose wizard robes clung to their sleek serpentine bodies snugly, much like the leathers of the Rogue, but they were mage robes still ¨C Dark Robes manufactured out of DarkAgave and enchanted with all those Dark enchantments. They didn¡¯t have their Dark Staves yet, an item to be earned only after graduation, but they didn¡¯t need them to cast basic spells. An array of pretty manicured claws poked through the many wall slits, magic pooled at their palms, ¡°[Dark Arrow]!¡±, the girls chanted in unison. Projectiles of dark light shot out of their hands and rained towards the Imperial party. And they didn¡¯t stop with a single volley, ¡°[Dark Arrow], ¡°[Dark Arrow], ¡°[Dark Arrow], ¡­¡±, they chanted trying to best one another, after all, Chaos Lamia just didn¡¯t know how to hold back ¨C a trait which all of them seemed to share. Yet still, they were amateurs and most of the magic projectiles were off target, but what lacked in quality was substituted in quantity. Back in the command centre, the Chaos Queen clapped at the impressive light show. The projectiles were only metres away from the already fleeing humans, and soon they would be shredded like the Centauri Cheese. ¡°S-s-s!¡± She giggled mirthfully at the prospect of an otherwise gruesome sight and yet, ¡°SSS!¡±, it never came. Apparently, the Imperial Spies had a perfect counter. A dome of light shimmered in existence cancelling entire hundreds of Dark Arrows. It didn¡¯t crack or even shimmer at the assault, it was that powerful. The spider jumped on the nearby web. ¡°We might need. The turrets after all.¡± With those words, he skittered up to the ceiling and through a spidery hole to only spiders know where. And very soon, more powerful Dark Blast were shot out of the turrets. The protection the humans hastily erected began to crack and flicker. And by the looks of it, it was erected only to buy some time, because as soon as their Light Fortress shattered there was an internal flash-like explosion and all the humans were simply gone; the Dark magic projectiles hit only empty ground. Naturally, the spiders assumed that this was a trick of some sort: a rapid movement spell like Shadow Step or another Camouflage spell. Detection spells were used, namely, Detect Life and even Detect Soul, but the humans were truly gone as if spirited away. The spider came back out of his spidery hole. ¡°They¡¯ve got away.¡± He chirped apologetically. ¡°It¡¯s Okay.¡± The young Queen waved it off. She did get to see an amazing laser in action, plus an impressive light show, in other words, her need for destruction was satisfied at least until afternoon. And then no one thought much about the little incident, after all, some stray Imperial Soldiers and Spies were well expected in this little journey of the Giant ¡®ENEMY¡¯ Spider. The next destination was the Aurelian Capital! 143 – Unexpected Visitors ¡°Huh?¡± The priestess at duty looked at the nearby circle. ¡°Is this¡­¡± A blinding light flashed inside the temple¡¯s hall, the temple was dedicated to the Holy Light but even then such displays were extremely rare. The priestess shielded her eyes to protect them from blinding brightness. The flash was over and she blinked away an intrusive spot in her vision, her eyes landed on a party of six rather shaken humans; it was as if they manifested here on the circle out of thin air. ¡°Ah!¡± She realised that this was no miracle, such an abrupt appearance meant only one thing, ¡°Ferrystone.¡± The consumable item was connected to the Holy Light granting the user the ability to appear or rather Teleport to the temple of the Holy Light. However, the item was extremely hard to produce and so was reserved only for the Emperor¡¯s most trusted servants. Indeed, the men and women in front of her were the most renowned Rogues in the Empire. ¡°My oh my,¡± she realised in an instant that something was off, ¡°Are you alright?¡± The party of six just stood there extremely tense with faces beyond pale and distant gazes. It looked as if they went to Forever Dark (Hell) and then came back, it was as if they witnessed some unspeakable horror. ¡°Do you require healing?¡± She reached with her hand. *Slap*, the gentle hand was swatted away brutishly. ¡°Get away from me!¡± the woman shrieked. This was hardly an appropriate reaction but the woman¡¯s manic shout brought the rest of her buddies back from the bad place their minds undoubtedly had been lingering on. ¡°Calm down!¡± Another woman grabbed the panicked one by the shoulders. ¡°We¡¯re safe.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve survived! A moment later and¡­ No, we made it!¡± A man said. ¡°The Holy Emperor! We must tell him!¡± Another man exclaimed. ¡°Tell what? Please tell me what happened?¡± The priestess was just as eager to know. ¡°The oracle¡¯s vision, and the ancient text¡­¡± ¡°Yes?! Tell me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s worse than described. Much worse. We¡¯re screwed!¡± ¡°It¡¯s not just the Calamity, it¡¯s the Giant ¡®ENEMY¡¯ Spider¡±! The priestess was a learned woman but even so she wasn¡¯t quite following. ¡°???¡± ¡°1,000,000 HP!¡± The still panicking woman exclaimed. ¡°1,000,000 HP!!!¡± She repeated. Yes, that was a lot! The panicked woman wasn¡¯t quite done. ¡°I didn¡¯t sign up for this! We¡¯re all done!¡± She pushed at the woman trying to calm her. ¡°Let me go! I¡¯m done, I¡¯m out! We better run while we still can.¡± A rather rugged-looking man, the calmest of the lot and thus likely the leader, he slapped the panicking woman harshly. *Slap.*, ¡°You shut up! Do you want to get executed, because that¡¯s how you get executed! All of us will go to the Emperor and we¡¯ll give our honest report, I doubt that otherwise, he would believe us¡­¡± ¡°Ah!¡± The priestess exclaimed again remembering something. ¡°Our Holiness is rather busy with the preparations for the Summoning Ritual. You¡¯ll have to wait.¡± ¡°Priestess,¡± he pushed past the robed clergywoman, ¡°I¡¯m afraid the Giant ¡®ENEMY¡¯ Spider won¡¯t wait so neither shall we. Come!¡± He urged his still-shaken party. ===== With the happy spiders comes the happy Spider Kingdom. What are we on about? ¨C The Honey of course! Or whatever it was the Eldrich JellyBees made, no doubt it was more than simple honey but less than some mindbending cosmic ambrosia. This was Eldrich JellyBee Honey, but for convenience''s sake let¡¯s just abbreviate it to E-Honey. So the bees made that, plus other common derivatives like E-Wax and E-Propolis. Both of these had promising qualities to find use in the yet-to-boom spider beauty product line, especially when blended with KelpCream. Moreover, It turns out that combining the two with Blue Cloth makes a rather convenient item. The FoodSeal came with a property of NoSpoilage, which wasn¡¯t exactly canning or refrigeration but it had its uses. It was able to lock-in the freshness of ready-made meals but also could preserve foodstuffs like cheese, baked goods, and dried meat even longer. Wrapping raw squirrel and boar meat in it also sort of worked but only to some extent; after a while the unprocessed meat still went kind of stale. But wrapping it and then freezing it using IceShard Plankton, did absolute wonders. Somehow the wax locked in the natural flavours and prevented them to be lost during the destructive freezing process. The term ¡®FreshFrozen¡¯ gained entirely new meaning because in this case, the items would indeed remain fresh! Eldrich JellyBees were wonderful creatures and surely they soon will become an inseparable part of the Spider Kingdom. Interestingly, Johny became quite the beekeeper; in no time at all, the gazebo she lived in was soon surrounded by IronOak Beehives. With some help of Fertility Potion+ the Bee Queen outdid herself and was now a proud queen of a MegaColony of no less than a million bees; a scary number which will only grow. Of course, Johny was a single individual and couldn¡¯t be expected to tend to all the hives alone. That¡¯s where recently mutated spiders came to the rescue. Yes, it was a BlueDust resistant variant which could only be achieved with Johny¡¯s Mutate. Overlooking the recent achievements, the Spider King was casually sitting in the gazebo with Johny. ¡°I guess with all this done, we can go easy on our jelly milking sessions.¡± Indeed, the burden for Johny to provide was lesser now. ¡°What? Nonsense! You Shall Come And Milk Me Daily Like You Always Do.¡± An affectionate tendril wrapped around his neck and shoulder. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t exactly affectionate because¡­ ¡°Or Is That You Don¡¯t Like My Jelly Anymore? Is E-Honey better?¡± She tightened her tendril. ¡°Of course not. It doesn¡¯t even compare.¡± It was a simple truth. The tendril loosened only to tighten yet again. ¡°How about the Eldrich RoyalJelly?¡± ¡°¡­¡± That was a real contender. ¡°Gah! You¡¯re strangling me.¡± This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Oops!¡± The pressure lessened. ¡°I Didn¡¯t Realise, Sorry.¡± It seems she wasn¡¯t doing it on purpose, only subconsciously. ¡°¡­¡± Yet still, she looked at him expecting a clear answer. Well, the two substances came close but considering the way they were produced he had a clear preference. ¡°I like your jelly better.¡± He said the obvious. Johny launched herself to hug him. Was his preference really this important? Judging by her blissful expression ¨C yes. Well, even if an Eldrich Slug, Johny still was a woman, the idea of some insect besting her must have hurt her pride. ¡°Correct Answer!¡± She nuzzled closer. ¡°I Permit You To Drink It Straight From The Source. This Is Your Reward.¡± She puffed her chest up invitingly. Admittedly he didn¡¯t yet have breakfast, and who could say no to some delicious jelly, but drinking it straight from the jug¡­ That seemed a bit too much, no? ¡°It¡¯s Best Served Fresh. Dig In.¡± She jiggled one of her six. In reality, this was an offer hard to refuse, and he had no reason to. This was just Breakfast! [Expert Milking Technique activated], with that the jelly Quality went +1. ¡°Yum!¡± He exclaimed between the suckles. ¡°It does taste better!¡± It was almost strange, he could sense another +1 coming for no apparent reason. She patted his head. ¡°Drink Up My King, With Bees Here, You Don¡¯t Need To Restrain Anymore.¡± She was right, right up till now, he was rationing the Jelly giving most of his personal allotment to either his wife or the deserving spiders, but now¡­ *Suckle, *Suckle, *Suckle. ¡°There¡¯s Another Thing I Must Tell.¡± Her expression turned serious. ¡°Huh?¡± He looked up. ¡°No, Don¡¯t Stop.¡± She pressed his head back on. ¡°It¡¯s Best If I Show You.¡± [Eldrich Telepathy activated] A strong feeling assaulted his mind. It was pure unadulterated PLEASURE. ¡°Oops, Not That,¡± Johny wriggled her tentacles in embarrassment, *ahem*, ¡°this.¡± In an instant, he lost his sense of self and his mind was pulled to some distant place. He was looking through the eyes of someone else, presumably an unsuspecting Slug Jelly user. This wasn¡¯t the first time Johny felt it important to share the information she had gathered, yet still, such experiences felt odd. And this time especially was extremely clear and crisp, he felt completely ¡®inside¡¯ someone else¡¯s head; no doubt, recent and excessive jelly intake heightened his ability for Telepathy. Interestingly, men and women had a different feel about them, they always did. He got the sense that the person here was a woman. That assumption was only reaffirmed by the sight of two feminine hands working diligently to draw an unfamiliar glyph. Since he was inside the person''s head, the vision came with an attached sense of sound, but also emotions: he got a hint of high urgency but also pride. Whatever they were so meticulously working on was very important. ¡°I¡¯ve Been Observing For A While,¡± Johny interjected. ¡°They¡¯re Drawing a Summoning Circle.¡± She read the question marks rising in Spider King''s head. ¡°You Wonder What The Circle Is For? They Are Summoning A Hero.¡± That was worrisome, but also very exciting. ¡°From what I¡¯ve gathered: They¡¯ve Been at It For Days And Will Be There For Days To Come. The Summoning Ritual Seems To Be An Extremely Allaborate Affair.¡± Of course it was, they¡¯re summoning a soul from another world. ¡°Oh!¡± Johny exclaimed in his mind. ¡°So That¡¯s What The Hero Is.¡± Curious she prodded deeper into Spider King¡¯s brain. His vision of their target blurred and distorted. ¡°Hey!¡± ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ve Lost Concentration. It Seems You Know About This Hero More Than I Do. How Come?¡± ¡°It¡¯s because I¡¯ve also been summoned here, remember?¡± Albeit on a whim of a chaotic deity. After all, this wasn''t something he was keeping a secret of, but he didn¡¯t boast about it either. ¡°I See¡­¡± The connection quality on the Summoning Apprentice, that¡¯s what she was, dropped again; it went from 4k HD to a measly 240p. And he was rather intrigued by the design of the magic circle but a curious eldrich tendril reached to probe his mind instead, thus lowering the quality to an unacceptable level. ¡°Johny!¡± He felt like complaining. Better, it could be done both ways. Wanting to teach her a lesson he jabbed his proverbial tendril to probe the depths of her mind. Surprisingly her mind was left completely unguarded and he went a lot deeper than he should have or wanted to¡­ [Eldrich Telepathy deactivated], it cut abruptly; she was the one to do it. *Pop*, he freed his lips from the telepathy enchanting juice jug. ¡°Jonny, WTF!¡± He exclaimed at the images he had just seen. ¡°Not My Fault! You Went Too Deep!¡± She wriggled in panic. What he saw there, deep in her mind, wasn¡¯t a type of eldrich horror, but an extensive archive of memory images and memory videos. The memories belonged to the humans Johny spied on in her free time, and for activities and acts depicted in that archive¡­ well, let¡¯s just say they were of extremely private nature. ¡°It¡¯s All For Research Purposes!¡± She said defensively. If so, she was ¡®researching¡¯ some rather extreme and unsavoury things; very hardcore! ¡°Stop! I Don¡¯t Need Telepathy To Know What You¡¯re Thinking Now.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Will You Think Less Of Me Now, That You Saw It?¡± She said disheartened. ¡°No, of course not! We all have our preferences.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± He nodded honestly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I went into your forbidden folder. I shouldn''t have.¡± ¡°Think Nothing Of It, Forget it.¡± She waved it off. ¡°I¡¯ll try.¡± He smiled. A tendril reached towards his face. ¡°You Have Some Jelly Stuck. Here, All Better.¡± She wiped it off and put the subject back on track. ¡°Do You Think You Can Replicate The Circle?¡± This was the question of the day. ¡°No.¡± He admitted. ¡°It¡¯s too complex.¡± ¡°I Thought So.¡± ¡°Perhaps if we got a chance to study the full blueprint maybe then the spiders could come up with something. But anyway, I don¡¯t think it''s worth the trouble.¡± ¡°Agreed, We Already Have Our Hero.¡± What Johny must have been referring to was herself, after all, she was detrimental in taking down the Darkness. Plus there were a plethora of other things only she could do. ¡°I couldn¡¯t agree more. You¡¯re the best Hero we could ever wish for. I¡¯m sure the spiders would agree.¡± The already tight tentacles wrapped around him tighter. ¡°I Was Talking About You, Silly. But I¡¯ll Take The Compliment.¡± ===== Excited but also panicked voices had reached the depts of the Spidery Temple. ¡°It¡¯s there! It¡¯s there! The day had finally come!¡± An Apprentice Cherub exclaimed while running around excitedly. ¡°Really?¡± ¡°No way!¡± The other apprentices ran outside to see what the hustle and bustle was about. ¡°Huh?¡± Elisabeth, the lead angel of the temple fluttered her wings in slight confusion. ¡°What are they so excited about?¡± There was only one way to find out. She stepped out of the obsidian black temple and stretched her wings ready to take flight. ¡°[Calestial Wings]¡±, she activated the perk and soared towards the sky. She didn¡¯t have to fly high, just as she got slightly above the buildings, there in a distant horizon, she saw it ¨C the miracle manifest. ¡°How beautiful! How magnificent! How RADIANT!¡± She was exhilarated. A spider most grand and most magnificent was walking up to the Aurelian Capital. By now the many resident spiders were associated with luck and prosperity, and the sudden appearance of the spider so big was clearly a good omen. ¡°We¡¯re truly blessed. How wonderful!¡± Obviously, she was not the only one to think so. Right here, just outside the walls, there were already a massive group of pious revellers kneeling and praying fervently. The giant spider had gathered the attention of the resident spiders as well. ¡°Spidery Magnificent!¡±, ¡°So well made!¡±, ¡°I wish I was there to craft it!¡±, they chirped so and such. ¡°Well made? To craft it?¡± Elisabeth questioned the words giving a better look at the supermassive spider. ¡°Oh, it has a fortress on its back¡­ and is it made out of metal? I thought it was alive, and not a building, [Inspect]¡± She checked, and according to the system the humongous spider was something called a construct, and since it had HP it must be a living creature. ¡°But¡­ Giant ¡®ENEMY¡¯ Spider?¡± She pondered the name. ¡°That¡¯s no enemy, if anything it should be FRIEND!¡± She fluttered her wings to get closer to the construct. The closer she got the more she was impressed by the actual size of the spider. Huge, humongous, giant, massive ¨C all were an understatement of its real size. Once she was close enough, ¡°Hello, o¡¯ glorious spider friend!¡± She greeted while still in the air. No reply came, and she began to worry that perhaps the spider struggled to hear her. But then, *Clank*, a hatch opened on the side of its spider head and a small spider emerged. ¡°Come in!¡± It chirped invitingly. She expected to be invited to the citadel on its back, but not the actual head of the spidery construct, that was something outside her imagination. ¡°Ahem, yeah sure! Thank you!¡± Somewhat flustered she flew even closer. Perhaps it was unsightly for someone her age, but she felt giddy and full of excitement, much like a young girl would. She went through the hatch wondering what sort of wonders and miracles happened inside the giant spidery head. ¡°What could this FRIEND want?¡± She pondered, after all, miracles happened for a reason. The Elizabeth was due in for some shock, but that is for another time. The walking citadel stopped right outside the walls of the capital where throngs of people were already surrounding it. There were no illusions and no tricks, the walking fortress was clearly a weapon meant for mass destruction, yet the Aurelian people welcomed it with cheers and awe-struck gazes. For them, this was living proof that spiders were really quite something. But that was the most tame reaction. The wilder side of the Aurelian Capital recognised the spider citadel as some sort of demi-god and soon it became an avatar of their faith, a spidery messiah sent by the Dark Flame. Unbeknown to the zealous and a tad bit delusional worshipers, the sacred Dark Flame, the one in the large Lantern positioned in the centre of the Spider Temple, it soaked up their prayers growing bigger and shining with even more power. Perhaps it was only the wind or the crackling of burning AgaveJuice, but if one listened very carefully they could hear words coming from the core of the purple flame. ¡°Spiders¡­¡± it crackled very subtly. 144 – Do You Have What It Take To Ride The Storm Six rogues rushed into the Imperial throne room. The Holy Emperor was there on his throne, he was sitting in silence with his hands clasped together and praying silently to the Holy Light. ¡°I told you he¡¯s busy.¡± The priestess whispered. ¡°This cannot wait!¡± The party leader ran past the guards and to the throne. The nearby guards stopped the running party by crossing their longswords. ¡°My Holiness, It is urgent!¡± He shouted from the distance. The Holy Emperor let out a deep breath. ¡°Everything is urgent nowadays! What is it you¡­¡± He recognised the man. ¡°You¡¯re back so quick?!¡± He asked suspecting something dreary. After hearing The Story, the Holy Emperor sighed once again; he was doing it so much it had become a habit. He had sent his best Spies to get to the source of the looming disaster, to get to The Dreaded Place. This was no easy Quest to complete so he equipped them with Imperial treasures, some coming out of his personal vault. And yet the Invisibility Cloaks were rendered inert and the legendary artefact - the Divine Fortress was shattered. Worse, much of their gear came back disenchanted or with lowered quality, clearly an effect of unknown hostile magic. The spies not only didn¡¯t reach the jungle, the alleged source of the Calamity, but they didn¡¯t even make it into the bordering forest. The ultra-expensive FerryStones were the only thing that saved them, even if they lost valuable artefacts, it was still good that they came back to tell their tale. A harrowing tale that is¡­ A tale of the SuperMassive spider with a whole citadel on its back. The humongous spider by itself was a nightmarish threat, but who knew what sort of horrors were hidden in that citadel as well? Perhaps the Spider King himself? ¡°If it is coming, we must hurry up!¡± He slammed his golden sceptre into the ground. ¡°We must summon our Hero!¡± It was the only choice. There was more to it of course. The more resources they poured, the greater the summoning circle, the stronger the hero would be. And for the terrible threat of the Giant ¡®ENEMY¡¯ Spider, they needed a terribly mighty hero. ¡°We shall summon the best Hero of them all and I shall see to it personally.¡± With another slam of his sceptre the Holy Emperor stood up from his golden throne. ¡°But what of us?¡± The Spy Party leader asked. ¡°Can you infiltrate The Dreaded Place without Imperial Treasures?¡± He gave The Look. ¡°I think not! One of you will accompany the hero as a Rogue and the rest¡­¡± ¡°And the rest?¡± ¡°¡­¡± The Holy Emperor didn¡¯t reply. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have interrupted his prayer.¡± The Attendant Priestess whispered with a glare to the spies. ¡°I told you not to.¡± The spies glared back at the priestess. ¡°We¡¯re good as dead¡­ What¡¯s even the point?¡± The still-panicked woman mouthed under her nose. ¡°Priestess!¡± The Holy Emperor addressed. ¡°Gather the rest of the attendants, acolytes and anyone capable of magic. We must finish that circle.¡± She gave him a beaming smile. ¡°At once, my Holiness!¡± She practically sprinted out of the throne room. ¡°And you¡­¡± He glared at the spies. ¡°I¡¯ll deal with you later.¡± He turned to leave. As if knowing the guards surrounded the rogues. ¡°But¡­ But we brought essential info.¡± Another woman stammered. ¡°But we also failed.¡± The party leader said the obvious. ¡°Also, he¡¯s doing this so we don¡¯t spread the panic.¡± ¡°Oh, I get it now.¡± Another man replied. ¡°This is bullshit! Why did I even come?¡± The still-panicked woman complained. Soon the Imperial GuardCaptain appeared. ¡°By the imperial order, you are all under house arrest.¡± ¡°This is bullshit!!! REEE!¡± ¡°Arrest this woman!¡± ¡°REEE! We¡¯re all gonna die! All of us! Giant ¡®ENEMY¡¯ Spider is coming.¡±, *Gah!* ¨C she was knocked out by one of her party members. ===== In the nest-like spidery house, the Spider King was speaking not with a spider but with a centauri. He stood beside a stand-at table, such furniture was made to accommodate the unique Centauri needs, but by no means did he feel uncomfortable or unwelcome. ¡°Would you care for a glass?¡± The Centauri Assistant didn¡¯t wait for an answer and poured the still-warm Centauri Milk into the glass. ¡°Thank you.¡± The Spider King took a sip, it was creamy and delicious. ¡°Some Centauri Cheese?¡± She cut a thin slice of white cheese and then spread butter on top. ¡°Thank you.¡± It was fatty, but that¡¯s exactly why it was so delicious. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind.¡± He took some E-Honey out and spread it over the bite. ¡°Heaven!¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anyone combine the two. Is it that delicious?¡± ¡°Have a try.¡± He honeyed one of the slices. ¡°Oh! This is quite something and I¡¯m not even into cheeses. Bareth will love this!¡± She licked her fingers with the last bite. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°So, where is he? Your husband?¡± He asked the important question. ¡°Teaching a class, he¡¯ll be back soon for brunch.¡± She paused giving him The Look. ¡°Do you think¡­ we can do it? You know¡­ The thing?¡± She asked with a tinge of embarrassment. Indeed, this was the very reason he was here on this fine morning, he was here to help the Centauri to conceive. ¡°With the Monster System, everything is possible.¡± He said the obvious. ¡°I¡¯ve been taking Fertility Potion+ and¡­¡± Her cheeks flushed red. ¡°We¡¯re doing it whenever we get a chance, but¡­ I¡¯m beginning to lose hope. Please help me!¡± There must have been an issue of compatibility, and if so, it was good she called the Monster King to help! ¡°To get it working, I think Bareth needs to Evolve. It worked for Lady Crimson.¡± ¡°I know, that¡¯s why I¡¯ve asked for your help. Bareth is working very hard but¡­¡± ¡°¡­ But it¡¯s not enough.¡± He finished for her. ¡°He just needs a nudge, a helping hand, that¡¯s it. But also, it wouldn''t hurt for you to try to evolve too.¡± ¡°Me? But I don¡¯t think Centauri can evolve!¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, there hasn¡¯t been a single case yet. However, just a while ago the same was for the Drow right until we got our first Drider, so never say never.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± She was thoughtful for a moment. ¡°But how do I evolve?¡± ¡°That is The Question! It seems I just can¡¯t force Evolve the sapient races, but animals and plants are fine. However,¡± he raised a finger, ¡°granting a Monster Core seems to help. It¡¯s almost as if it changes something inside the person''s body, brings them closer to the Monster System, I guess.¡± He gave a meaningful look. ¡°So what you saying is that I should get the core?¡± ¡°You and your husband.¡± ¡°Then, may I ask you, my King, to grant me one? I shall forever be in your debt.¡± She bowed deeply. ¡°I owe you one for the cream pie so there is no debt. Shall we?¡± He offered his hand. ¡°Okay, let''s do it!¡± She took it. The fingers locked and with the, ¡°[Seed Core]¡±, he began injecting his mana. The Centauri Assistant squirmed at the sensation and her already flushed face reddened completely. ¡°¡­¡± She was making a funny expression with her face. ¡°A-Ahh!!!¡± A moan escaped her lips. From behind, ¡°What the two of you are doing?¡±, a voice of bewilderment questioned. ¡°Husband!? Ah! We¡¯re just! Ah! He¡¯s helping us, ah-ah-ah, to get pregnant. Uh-Ahh!!!¡± With the end of the rather obscene moan, she received a message telling her of her new acquisition. ¡°Well,¡± the Spider King turned to look at still bewildered Bareth. ¡°what can I tell¡­ She¡¯s rather sensitive. Your turn!¡± He offered his hand. The man in question gripped it and squeezed the royal hand with all might in the world, almost as if he was trying to crush it, but despite all that, ¡°[Seed Core]!¡±, the Spider King injected his mana. ¡°A-Ahh!!!¡± A moan escaped Bareth¡¯s lips. ¡°Huh?¡± Bareth¡¯s scream surprised the King. ¡°You¡¯re also sensitive?¡± ¡°No! Ah! I¡¯ll¡­ Ah! I will¡­ you and my, ah, wife, ah! A-Ahh!!!¡± The magic finished its job. ¡°Don¡¯t touch my wife like that ever again!¡± Bareth yelled still red-faced. ¡°Bareth! He¡¯s only helping us!¡± The Centauri Assistant jumped to intervene before this blew up any further. ¡°With Monster Cores we might be able to¡­ you know, get a child.¡± ¡°Monster Cores?¡± The expression on Bareth¡¯s face softened. ¡°Hey, I got that! And I can Evolve!¡± He let the hand go. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± The Spider King looked in puzzlement. ¡°What do you think I was doing?¡± ¡°Never mind that! Evolve me! Evolve me now!¡± ¡°Bareth!¡± His wife scolded. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I just¡­ With my age and all, I¡¯ve never thought this day would come!¡± The old Bareth here had some years accumulated but that had nothing to do with evolutions, and the Spider King was just as excited to see what would they get. With human evolutions you never knew, and that by itself was very exciting. ¡°The day has come!¡± He nodded at the man. ¡°I wish you luck in your,¡± he gave a look to the Centauri Assistant ¡°future endeavours. [Evolve].¡± ¡°Oh-hhh!!! Here I go!!!¡± Bareth yelled just before he began to glow in blinding purple. ¡°Power!!!¡± The light was shiny and brilliant. ¡°Evolution!!!¡± And just like always, it finally dimmed. ¡°Yes! I feel twenty years younger. Do I look twenty years younger?¡± He didn¡¯t, he was just the old Bareth, but just in case ¡°[Inspect].¡± ¡°Oh, Master Bareth¡­ [Inspect]!¡±
Monster Race: Corrupted Human Variant: DarkRider Magic Affinity: Dark ?? ?? ???
HP:150 MP:100 STA:150
Active Perks [Dark Cleave], [Spur], [Ride The Storm]
Passive Perks [Dark Empowered], [Mounted Beastmaster], [We Are One]
Resistances [Light Weakness: Lesser], [Physical Resistance: Lesser]
¡°Congrats, you unlocked Dark magic!¡± ¡°DarkRider! How fitting.¡± Centauri Assistant clapped in satisfaction. ¡°The magic can wait.¡± Bareth looked at his wife hungrily. ¡°But my new riding perks can¡¯t!¡± ¡°Bareth!¡± She was left once again red-faced. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, my King, but my duty calls me. I have to go! And do what I must!!!¡± He jumped right on the Centauri Assistant. ¡°Bareth?! Neigh!¡± ¡°I guess I leave you to it.¡± The Spider King made himself sparse giving the two much-needed space. However, even from outside, he could hear, ¡°[Spur]! [Spur!]! [Spur]!¡±, the DarkRider Bareth was invoking again and again for some reason. ¡°Neigh!!! Rider, you won¡¯t Tame me so easily!¡± ¡°I have Mounted Beastmaster! Mare, you will obey my will!¡± ¡°Neigh!¡± ¡°[Ride The Storm]!¡± ¡°Ah-ahhh!!!¡± The Spider King shook his head. ¡°Riding shouldn¡¯t be done in indoor spaces. But each to their own I guess.¡± He shrugged hoping that they won¡¯t wreck their own place too much. Next on his list was the tea with his Drow Assistant. 144 – Then The Prey Traps You Instead In the nest-like spidery house, the Spider King was speaking not with just a spider but with enhanced spider woman, a drider, or well the Drow Assistant. He approached a stand-at table, intricate and well crafted; it had no seats since driders couldn¡¯t use any. And all was well, but no - not really! This wasn¡¯t just afternoon tea with your local friendly drider, this was The Tea apparently, but that only would become clear later. the table was illuminated by a set of blue wax candles; fresh from the mould. Moreover, the candles were enchanted and burned with Dark Flame, the glowing purple reflected from the pale drider skin and her obsidian chitin making the woman right in front ever more seductive. Moreover, she wore only a silken gown, thin and almost transparent, it clung to her round spidery shapes leaving little for imagination; the cloth enhanced her natural charms further. Worse, a tempting smell wafted from the spidery woman, alluring and hard to resist. No doubt she did everything in her power to get that cumulative Beauty +3 passive. As soon as he stepped in her nest, right after his eyes landed on her spidery shapes, he knew he was trapped with no chance of escape. As if to prove the point, without prodding or assistance, the doors behind sealed themselves tightly shut. The Drider Assistant gave him a look only a predator was capable of. ¡°My King, please take a seat.¡± There were no seats of course, yet he still approached the table. And lo and behold, manipulated by a thread, a swing-like contraption lowered from the ceiling for him to sit. On the table It wasn¡¯t just candles, there right in the middle, there was a peculiar dessert. He was very curious about it, it didn¡¯t look familiar at all. The dessert jiggled ever so slightly, it tempted the Spider King with the sugary secrets it held within. ¡®Cut Me! Slice Me Open! Devour My Insides!¡¯ It begged sweetly in a tiny voice. He had to blink twice because he heard it so clearly! Perhaps it wasn¡¯t all just his imagination because, ¡°Ha-ha! I couldn''t help myself!¡± ¡°Ventriloquism!¡± This was what it was, he named the ability to speak for the puppets. ¡°What a curious perk.¡± She smiled at him. ¡°No, I don¡¯t have that. Not yet.¡± But she knew what it was! ¨C He realised. She gave him another smile, ¡°Let¡¯s get to it!¡± The drider sliced the desert not with a knife but with a thin silky thread instead. She cut through the crispy and golden outer shell to expose the yellow custardy inside. Then she deposited a slightly jiggly dessert not in a cake plate but in a solidified silk bowl; or was it woven silk; or however she¡¯d managed to make a solid bowl out of DriderSilk! ¡°I named it Flan!¡± She put the bowl right infront of her bewitched target. ¡°Care for some tea?¡± The Spider King nodded enthusiastically. Magically so, she spun a whole cup from scratch using nothing but her silk again. Once again, the idea that silk could only be used to make cloth was shattered. He inspected the cup curiously. It was completely solid with no holes and all, and probably harder than ceramics. ¡°Is anything wrong?¡± She asked curious. The cup was perfect! Well, not quite masterwork but still of very high quality. ¡°I¡¯m just amazed by your skills.¡± He put it down for tea. ¡°It¡¯s only natural, I¡¯m a half-spider.¡± She reached for the nearby teapot. The hot tea was poured into two silky cups. Unlike the common tea the liquid was only slightly coloured and mostly transparent, but from the rich fragrance, it was clear that the tea was very potent. ¡°I see you¡¯re also curious about what this is. It¡¯s WaterLily Tea, an ingredient the Mer should start producing on a larger scale if you ask me.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± He bit a slice of dessert and chased it with the tea. ¡°Mmm!¡± Both were amazing. But also: [You have obtained Web Strider], this one came from the Flan. [You have obtained Soothing Regeneration], and this one from the WaterLily Tea. ¡°Oh!¡± He exclaimed. ¡°I should have expected it to have extra properties.¡± ¡°That is so. The dessert grants you a temporary perk to run and scale through the web with increased ease, doubling your speed when you are on any spidery contraption. Very useful for spiders, but also for those who would normally find themselves trapped in the web.¡± She explained helpfully. ¡°And for the tea?¡± ¡°That one just increases your stamina regeneration. Simple, but also very useful.¡± And just like that, without even noticing he had already devoured his otherwise sizeable Flan slice. ¡°I must admit. This is amazing!" He eyed another slice greedily. ¡°Of course it is. I made it with my own eggs.¡± She said proudly. ¡°And with a dash of friend¡¯s milk.¡± She whispered the latter. ¡°This only makes me wish we had more eggs like that. Then we could share these desserts with everyone.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± She gave an embarrassed look. ¡°There is only so much I could lay. And I don¡¯t want to share them with anyone else. My eggs are only for the Spider King!¡± She announced with conviction. ¡°Is that so¡­ it¡¯s a shame, but not really.¡± He looked directly at her bewitching purple eyes. ¡°I¡¯m very honoured, and you always treat me with the best food. Thank you Drider Assistant!¡± ¡°I¡¯m your personal assistant after all.¡± She looked deeply into his eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll forever look after you.¡± He realised that he hadn¡¯t noticed that somehow their hands had found each other. They were just holding hands across the table, but the mood was getting rather pink. ¡°Spider King?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Can I see your Spider form?¡± She asked expectantly. The request was sudden but there was no reason to not entertain his assistant even if a little bit. ¡°Sure, [Transformation: Spider].¡± His body changed growing both in bulk and size. Skin was replaced by chitin and his legs by spidery appendages. He wasn¡¯t quite a drider, he ended up more spider than human in his case. Normally the transformation would rip his clothes, but he had developed a counter to all that. He just shoved his robes into his Magical Inventory during the critical moments of transformation. ¡°Spidery Magnificent!¡± She exclaimed excitedly at his ¡®naked¡¯ spider form. ¡°You should wear this form more often. It suits you rather well, our Spider King.¡± She emphasised his title. ¡°Should I?¡± He wondered. ¡°But I look rather monstrous. I would spook my subjects.¡± He said with worry. ¡°Spook them?¡± She questioned. ¡°You¡¯re surrounded by spiders!¡± She reminded him. ¡°I mean my more humanoid subjects. Like Aurelian Humans, and perhaps, Drow and Kobolds.¡± ¡°Now-now¡­¡± She shook her head. ¡°For one I know that the Drow like the spidery aesthetics. And the kobolds, I don¡¯t think they would mind. The Aurelian Humans, yes, It might have been spooky for them at the beginning, but having that changed a lot since when?¡± She reasoned. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± He was thoughtful at her words. ¡°What¡¯s the hesitation for? I think you¡¯re rather se¡­ I mean handsome in this form. Very regal!¡± She pointed at the natural protrusions on his head, they formed a spidery crown. ¡°Maybe you¡¯re right. I should embrace my inner Spider.¡± He nodded. ¡°Yes!.¡± A nearly wrapped bundle lowered from the ceiling. ¡°In that case. For you. Try it on.¡± She said nervously. He unwrapped the bundle revealing the gift inside. ¡°[Inspect]¡±, he checked curious. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
Item: Spidery Robes of Magnificence Quality: Masterwork
Bonuses +50MP, +10 Spider Rep
Active Perks [Master Stealth]
Passive Perks [Web Mastery], [Deflect Magic: Lesser] [Beauty +1]
Resistances [Reinforced +4], [Dirt Resistance], [Elemental Resistance: Lesser]
It was a beautifully woven DriderSilk robe. The robe was dyed black so as not to stand out from his naturally black spider chitin. The cloth was very light, but that didn¡¯t take away from its durability, after all, it was Reinforced +4; a rating which probably made it near indestructible. Plus it had lesser resistance to all four of elemental magics! ¡°Amazing! The Web Mastery will work well with my Spin Web!¡± He put the robe over his shoulders leaving the front open. ¡°It fits my spidery frame very well! And doesn¡¯t get in the way of my many spidery legs. Truly a masterwork!¡± ¡°Obviously! I¡¯m a half spider, so I know all the challenges well and thus can work around them.¡± ¡°Indeed, the spider clothing is no easy affair.¡± He admitted. ¡°And with this, I feel no longer naked!¡± He admitted again. ¡°Oh!¡± The Drow Assistant exclaimed as if realising something, her pale cheeks flushed with crimson. ¡°I think I can feel that Beauty +1¡­¡± ¡°Do you?! Am I really more beautiful?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Ah, perhaps I shouldn¡¯t have asked. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m fishing for compliments or anything. But you know, it¡¯s unfair that you ladies get +2 with the cream and the perfume. I feel left out!¡± ¡°Huh? But who stops you from using it too?¡± ¡°¡­¡± It was his turn to pause. ¡°Fair point. I just think those things are for women only.¡± ¡°Nonsense!¡± She refuted that point quite strongly. ¡°I wonder¡­¡± He had some KelpCream in his inventory, and he had purchased some perfume for The Lamia Queen just recently. ¡°I hope the Lamia Queen won''t mind¡­ here it goes.¡± He lathered some cream on his hands and his face and sprayed the perfume on the neck. ¡°What do you think? Did it take effect?¡± ¡°¡­¡± She looked at him with two big but dangerously predatory eyes. ¡°I lured you here¡­ to trap you¡­ and have my way¡­ but it seems¡­ my King¡­ that it is you¡­ who trapped me¡­ in your spidery web.¡± She said between hot breaths. ¡°Gah! Drow Assistant where are you touching? I¡¯m a married man!¡± ¡°But¡­ spidery whispers had reached me¡­ there is an arrangement¡­ in place.¡± ¡°I have to get clearance! And this is too sudden!¡± He protested. ¡°Beauty +4¡­ Can¡¯t resist!¡± She touched there should not be touched. Cream +1, Perfume +1, Clothing +1, that¡¯s only =3, ¡°It doesn¡¯t add up!¡± He pointed out. It seems she didn¡¯t care much about math or his protests at this point because threads of spidery DriderSilk shot up from above trying to bind him in a net. ¡°Gah!¡± He moved with expert precision and navigated the tangled mess with finesse. ¡°Ha! That¡¯s Web Strider for you!¡± ¡°Tch! It seems I¡¯ve made¡­ A miscalculation¡­¡± She flicked the table only to lunge at him in a spidery Pounce. ¡°I don¡¯t think so! [Shadow Step].¡± He dodged with no problem. ¡°Stop dodging¡­ and fertilise¡­ my eggs already!¡± She demanded. ¡°OMG! Beauty +4 is scary. It''s worse than charmed!¡± Or perhaps not, because after glancing at her status, she was exactly that ¨C Charmed. Yet, he had no control over her. ¡°Very Dangerous!¡± He dodged another freshly spun net. ¡°Stop dodging!¡± She demanded. ¡°Your essence will be¡­ mine, [Pounce]! ¡± She jumped again using the power of all eight of her legs. While he dodged the net, the room was not a football field, there was only so much space to move, so in other words, the net was dodged but not the drider herself. ¡°Got you!¡± She reached with her hand. ¡°[Paralysing Touch]!¡± ¡°Two can play this game!¡± He stretched his arm. ¡°[Spin Web: BindingRope].¡± After all, he had that Web Mastery. Her arm was bound by the robe and hence the deadly touch was avoided. ¡°Tch!¡± She clicked her tongue in frustration. ¡°You are¡­ no amateur¡­ at spidery!¡± He pulled the rope to unbalance her further. ¡°Yes, I am not.!¡± More of the purple magical threat shot from his arm. ¡°I can¡¯t¡­ I can¡¯t Dodge it¡­ what thread is this?¡± She asked bewildered at the impossible. Yes, normally it would be impossible to trap a drider with a tread, but this was no mere thread. ¡°It¡¯s my special Web.¡± He spared no mana to finish his spidery spell. ¡°[Bind]!¡± ¡°Ah!¡± She struggled against it. ¡°¡­¡± Defeated she gave him a hungry glare. ¡°To be¡­ bested ¡­ like this¡­ I like it!!!¡± She breathed even hotter. ¡°OMG! Are you into it?¡± ¡°Bind me¡­ Tighter!!!¡± She was so into it! ¡°Do with¡­ my body¡­ as you please¡­¡± ¡°What a heck! This is not the tea I came for!¡± He pointed at the scattered teapots and cups, not to mention still-lit candles. ¡°It is¡­ this is The Tea¡­ as it is meant to be!¡± ¡°Nope. Not the time, not the place. [Web Drain]!¡± He invoked sapping her stamina. ¡°Ah!!!¡± Unfortunately, she was also into it. ¡°¡­¡± He scratched his head. ¡°I know.¡± He reached into the inventory and doused himself and her with plenty of DarkWater. And just like that the dangerous cream and the perfume were washed off. ¡°Better he asked?¡± ¡°No!¡± She replied defiantly. ¡°Look what you made me do!¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t make you do anything!!!¡± ¡°You need to take responsibility.¡± He looked at the Traped but no longer Charmed drider. She was as completely wet, and her almost transparent gown now was truly transparent. ¡°I will.¡± He sighed, yet he was happy, no, not at the sight, but at the fact that her Beuty also dropped to only +1 reducing the danger level for him. ¡°You will? Then ask your wife¡­ so we can have The Tee next time. As it is meant to be.¡± ¡°¡­¡± He gave her a curious look. If in a messy way, she still had made it very obvious how she felt. ¡°I will ask.¡± He said it simply. ¡°Okay. Now untie me, please.¡± She paused. ¡°Or not¡­¡± She gave a cheeky grin. ¡°Ha-ha¡­ I will.¡± He undid his magical thread dispersing it into purple motes. ¡°Tch...¡± She clicked her tongue. ¡°Anyway, I wanted to show you something else.¡± ¡°Did you?¡± ¡°Yeah, we just got distracted. That¡¯s it.¡± She straightened her still-wet gown. ¡°Observe! [Elemental Web: Fire]!¡± She spun a fiery web into a humanoid puppet. ¡°[Imbue: Dark Spirit Stone]!¡± A dark pebble crumbled in her hand. ¡°[Create Puppet]!¡± The puppet took life and jumped out of her hands. ¡°Wow! Is it intelligent?¡± ¡°It is not.¡± She said with slight disappointment. ¡°Not the way you think it is. It is just a construct, but it can follow basic commands well. [Elemental Web: Water], [Imbue: Dark Spirit Stone], [Create Puppet].¡± She finished the combo spell creating another. ¡°Fight!¡± She commanded. The puppets began slapping each other rather viciously. ¡°They deal the elemental damage of their affinity, but the values remain rather low.¡± The Drow Assistant explained. ¡°Oh?¡± He watched fire fight water, and water fight fire. ¡°They have only 10HP and each attack takes off 0.1HP.¡± He observed. ¡°Look closer.¡± ¡°I see! Fire is weak to Water and thus takes double damage.¡± ¡°It is so. So which one would you think will win?¡± It was rather obvious: the Fire Puppet was on 2HP already and the Water Puppen on 6HP, however, It sounded like a trick question, yet still, he decided to entertain it. ¡°The Water Puppet, of course.¡± ¡°It would be so, if not for¡­¡± She gave a malevolent grin. ¡°Do your Special Fire Puppet #1!¡± The puppet stretched its arms wide and looked at the ceiling. ¡°[Arach Dominus]!!!¡± It shouted in a tiny but full of authority voice. And then, *Boom*, it exploded in a fiery explosion. ¡°It spoke!¡± Spider King exclaimed in yet another moment of amazement. ¡°Oh, and it took out its opponent. So it¡¯s a draw.¡± ¡°It is a draw.¡± She nodded. ¡°Incidentally, it¡¯s the only spell they know.¡± ¡°Very interesting.¡± ¡°The explosion deals a significant amount of elemental damage, but it¡¯s not quite powerful enough to kill a standard humanoid.¡± ¡°Very interesting¡­ But why did you make them?¡± She tilted her head. ¡°What do you mean? They''re cute! And they¡¯re useful. And there is no limit I can command!¡± ¡°That¡¯s rather broken! Nerf it, nerf it now!¡± She tilted her head gain but to the other side. ¡°The limitation is the Spirit Stones. It¡¯s rather expensive for a single puppet of 10HP, don¡¯t you think so.¡± ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right¡­ now show me the rest of the varieties.¡± And thus in addition to Fire and Water, Earth Puppets and Wind Puppets were created; a hundred of each kind. The Spider King looked at the tiny army with sparkling eyes. ¡°Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Hero, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished.¡± ¡°Spider King? What are you on about?¡± 145 – No Walls, No Forts, Nothing At All Could Stop The… Shiny metal legs, sleek and elegant, were making their way with well-timed and rhythmic steps. Unchallenged and unposed, almost as if gliding through the terrain, the spidery citadel was speeding smoothly towards the Holy Empire¡¯s border. The citadel proper was staffed with a surprising amount of fresh Aurelian recruits. Awed and inspired by the Spidery Magnificence of the Giant ¡®ENEMY¡¯ Spider humans flocked in hordes to sign themselves up for the war effort. Well, perhaps they sought the thrill of riding inside the massive spider, or perhaps they wanted a piece of glory which undoubtedly would soon follow. The citadel wasn¡¯t the only place to house fresh ¡®guests¡¯. There in the spidery head, the command centre, a bunch of unique individuals had gathered around the screen. One of them was undeniably an angel. She was radiant and beautiful, her blond hair was hanging loosely behind her back touching the pristine white feathers of her wings. Her toned body was draped with a light pure white tunic. A woman like her seemed out of place in an otherwise dark and spidery place like this. Yet, she smiled like an adolescent girl on her favourite ride. Her hand was clutching the hilt of her sheafed blade at her side with anticipation; she was positively giddy with excitement. Another one was a spider with considerable authority. His broad and tall spidery figure was draped in expensive clothing decorated with gems and golden thread. As if it was not enough, thick golden chains hung loosely from his neck. The chains were layered upon each other and there were so many you could consider the set as a type of chainmail. The spider wasn¡¯t exactly an angel, but he was just as shiny if not more; he was known as Lord G Bling. Right next to the spider was his wife, Lady Crimson. She was petite and elegant, and extremely good-looking, that is if you liked fiery-looking women. Everything about her was hot and fiery: her dress, her long hair, her eyes. From afar it was possible to confuse her with a burning flame because, no doubt, her favourite colour was red. But despite her blazing appearance, if you looked carefully, you would notice that her face was soft and her smile, even if faint, was welcoming. In her hands, was a tightly wrapped bundle. And in the bundle was her newborn child, but also the future of the Aurelian Dutchy. The first ever individual born from the union of a spider and human, and according to the System her race was Aranea ¨C not quite a spider but not a human either. She had the iconic four yellow spider eyes and a set of tiny mandibles, yet she only had two legs and arms just like a human would, on her head was a tuft of fiery red hair, and while there was some obsidian chitin on her body, most of it was your usual skin; indeed she was a wild blend of the two, a human and a spider. The named commander of the spidery citadel, the Chaos Queen, eyed her guests with curiosity, after all, all four were rather unique and interesting in their own way. And while yes, she was a commander here, the adults however were the ones making the next set of decisions; or advicing as they put it themselves. ¡°With this fortress, we shall have no problem in breaching the Imperial Walls.¡± Lord G Bling alluded to the defensive wall the Empire had hastily erected on the entirety of the border with Earth magic. Elisabeth, the Radiant Angel, fluttered her wings excitedly. ¡°The wall was never an issue for the spiders, nor me for that matter. But a hole for the rest of Aurelian troops to pour in will be appreciated.¡± ¡°So I guess, we¡¯re going on offence?¡± Lady Crimson asked while rocking her baby ever so slightly, a wicked smile flashed across her face. ¡°High time to test my newest brew¡­¡± She paused dramatically and looked at everyone. ¡°Searining Concoction of Ruinuos Consuming Hell ¨C SCORCH!!!¡± ¡°Searing Con¡­ Conc¡­ SCORCH!!!¡± Chaos Queen exclaimed with sparkling eyes of excitement. ¡°That sounds menacing¡­¡± Elisabeth shuddered. ¡°With this spidery fortress, do we even need that?¡± ¡°We do.¡± The Lord G Bling chirped matter of factly. ¡°We¡¯re projecting power here. The more the better.¡± ¡°Yeah, that will teach the Empire not to mess with us. Ha-ha-ha!¡± Lady Crimson cackled maniacly. ¡°Hee-hee-hee!¡± The baby laughed clacking her mandibles clearly also in approval. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± The angel cupped her chin thoughtfully. ¡°If it is so, then shall I bless the attack potions with my Bless?¡± ¡°Bless?¡± Lord G Bling questioned curious. Elisabeth smiled proudly. ¡°A new perk I¡¯ve acquired only recently. It sort of enchants the item giving it a boost in power. Just like this.¡± She pulled her sword out of the sheaf. ¡°[Bless]¡±, it glowed in brilliant... Darkness. ¡°Oh!¡±, ¡°Ah!¡±, ¡°I see!¡±, the observers clapped at the spectacle approvingly. ¡°The SCORCH ammo I¡¯ve prepared is stored in the warehouse. The one next to the main cannons.¡± Lady Crimson turned to look through the screen. ¡°If you want to help, I suggest you hurry up.¡± Elisabeth looked at it also. ¡°We¡¯re already here? It¡¯s way too quick. Where is the warehouse?¡± She asked slightly in a panic. ¡°I¡¯ll show you.¡± The nearby spider offered helpfully and ran towards a hole. The spider helper was of a little spider variant and fit through the spidery hole with no problem. The same couldn¡¯t be said about the angel. ¡°My wings! I got stuck!¡± It was not the wings which were in the way, but no one said anything to correct the angel. ¡°I¡¯ll help.¡± Chaos Queen slithered to help. ¡°[Tail Swipe]!¡± *Smack*, ¡°Ahh! My rear!¡± Despite all the shouting, surprisingly it worked and the angel was inside the spidery hole, which actually was an express spidery slide to the spidery warehouse. ¡°Ahhh!!!¡± Elisabeth shouted, the scream grew quieter with each passing second until it disappeared. ¡°Look.¡± Lord G Bling pointed at the screen. ¡°I can see Aurelius and his men. We should stop and pick them up.¡± He looked at the nearby control panel. ¡°What button was it again?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll help!¡± Chaos Queen slithered to a wall with many levers and many buttons. Expertly so, she lowered one lever and then another, and then slammed a combination of buttons. ¡°Are you pressing them at random?¡± Lord G Bling questioned. ¡°No! SSS!¡± Perhaps she was, regardless of such truths, the spider stopped. ¡­ Elisabeth was back in the control centre, she was sweaty and her feathers were ruffled. ¡°It seems I¡¯ve made it!¡± She brushed with her hand to straighten her wings. ¡°Chaos Blessed?¡± The Chaos Queen hissed out in puzzlement only to be ignored completely. ¡°I guess, we could have given you more time. But the shock factor wouldn''t be the same.¡± Lord G Bling noted. ¡°¡­¡± Duke Aurelius simply nodded. He had been here for a good hour already yet he was awfully silent the entire time. ¡°Did you get the Aurelian Army inside?¡± The spider asked. ¡°¡­¡± Nod. ¡°All of them?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Nod. ¡°Then, we shall open this with a bang.¡± Lord G Bling looked at the Chaos Queen meaningfully. ¡°Deadly Laser!¡± She slammed a rather large button with all of her might. Duke Aurelius perked up at the name of the weapon and he wobbled closer to the screen to see what it would do. ¡°¡­¡± Nothing happened of course, not yet, both Aurelius and Elisabeth looked at the juvenile chaos lamia with ¡®???¡¯ clear on their faces. Meanwhile, the laser finished powering up. The Chaos Queen grinned at the confused two. ¡°S-s-s! [Deadly Laser]!¡± A button was slammed again. A blinding flash reached the screen first and then it was followed by the sound of an explosion. ¡°Wow!¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°S-s-s!¡± And the little Aranea girl clapped at the show of lights. And that was that, but there were more. The thing was that the Giant ¡®ENEMY¡¯ Spider could simply walk over the puny imperial wall and then deposit the Aurelian Army further away for the assault on the fortress. Just so a single shot was wasted, yes, but It was done to strike fear into the nearby humans; this was done to show a tiny fraction of its power. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Now the Imperials knew what was coming, it was an ENEMY they couldn¡¯t even begin dreaming of defeating. And it had laser weapons! ¡­ Even before a deadly attack had yet to strike the wall, panicked shouts had spread through the defensive wall like wildfire! ¡°Monster!¡± ¡°Calamity!¡± ¡°Calamity!¡± ¡°Giant ¡®ENEMY¡¯ Spider.¡± A scout on the watchtower identified correctly. ¡°How are we even¡­¡± Everyone was already trembling at the monstrous sight. This wasn¡¯t something a mere mortals could defeat! ¡°Pull yourselves!¡± A nearby Paladin shouted activating his Leadership skill. The commanders all over, they all used similar skills to keep the levied men from routing. The paladin entrusted with the defence of the wall raised his bright glowing sword with authority. ¡°We humans, we stand united against this Calamity. It is one against many, we have the upper hand here! And remember, with the guidance of the Holy Light we can do this! It is because the Light always triumphs over the Dark! [Bolster], [Morale Boost]! We¡¯ll make sure the ENEMY won¡¯t make a single step past this wall!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± The men roared in unison. They were frightened no more, they would face this giant monster, and as always, they would come victorious. ¡°Yeah!¡± They roared again. That was then, *Explosion*, the paladin commander was violently ripped out of his feat and thrown into the air. He spun in the air wildly, his vision was filled with flying bricks and parts of his comrades. By some wicked stroke of luck, he landed whole atop the freshly strewn bricks. The only thing that saved him was not his gear, which was straight out of the Holy Emperor''s treasure vault mind you, but the vitality he gained by maxing the level of his class, Paladin lvl 10. He stood up still hearing an awful ring in his ears. His eyes landed on a massive crater where the wall should be. ¡°How am I even alive?¡± The destruction was devastating, and the casualties¡­ well it¡¯s best if he didn¡¯t dwell on those. He gripped the HolyLight Sword, a treasure entrusted to him to deal with the threats exactly like this. Well, this ¡®threat¡¯ was exceptionally big, but he believed that if he pressed hard enough he should be able to take at least a leg before he died. The ENEMY was approaching the hole in the wall rapidly so to oppose the menace he gripped his divine grade weapon tighter. ¡°Huh?¡± Something didn¡¯t feel quite right. The hilt he held so tightly crumpled in his grip and the blade itself shattered on the ground into many pieces. ¡°Huh!!!¡± Divine grade items were indestructible! ¡°What is going on?¡± He struggled to understand. That was when he realised, that his otherwise enchanted armour held none of the previous enchantments. It seems that the explosion had a devastating side effect; the enchantments were rendered broken! The spider was already at the crater and then it simply stepped over it and the rest of the wall. Whoever was still alive, and with their enchantments still in place, fired a bunch of magic or arrows at the spider, yet they did exactly 0 damage to it. Go figure! ¡°[Dodge]¡± the paladin did a heavy roll to a side, barely dodging a massive metal leg of the spider. He was right under the monstrosity, at its belly where the monsters would be at their weakest. Only then did he realise the sheer size of it, and the fact, that there was no weakness. The underside of the massive spider was lined with many turrets, each manned by either a spider or one of the corrupted humans. He froze feeling the attention of the turrets. He knew what would come next¡­ ¡°[Scorch]!¡± A distant voice rang from one of the turrets. And soon¡­ it was over. ¡­ No one expected the wall to fall so quickly, yet it fell. A sound of alarm was sounded telling the men to flee to the defensive fortress. It was erected here precisely to counter threats like this. The fortress here had a defensive magical barrier, and not a shabby kind, it was the same as in the Holy Capital itself, the Celestial Forcefield. It was known to be impenetrable. Even better, it was possible to make attacks from the inside of the barrier! The Imperials rushed to fill their post in the fortress. The Archers would fire their arrows, the Mages their spells, and the Engineers would use their war machines; eventually, they would chip away that scary-scary health pool of 1,000,000 HP! ¨C that was the plan. The spider citadel approached the fortress foolishly, getting right into the striking range of the mages. A plethora of elemental attacks rained on the spider. However, in equal numbers, the creatures nesting inside the spider fired their Dark spells. The magic projectiles collided in the air shaking it with multicoloured explosions, however, most of the magic made it past each other. The imperial magic found its target successfully while the spidery magic pittered out at the imperial barrier. The Enemy took damage, albeit only the slightest amount, yet it was the hope the Holy Empire needed. If it¡¯s HP dropped it meant that it could be defeated, and with Celestial Forcefield in place, they will do just so! The giant spider opened its mouth as if in anger, and a huge cannon emerged from its mouth. The barrier will protect them! There was nothing to fear! ¡°Slay the monster! End the calamity!¡± The Imperial Mage Corps leader pointed. ¡°The barrier will protect us! Attack!¡± He spurred his men. A beam of purple light shot out of the Enemy¡¯s mouth and collided with the barrier. A folly! An act of desperation! ¡°Ha!¡± The leader mocked the futile attempt. ¡°¡­¡± but¡­ the barrier... ¡°The barrier?! It shattered!!!¡± He shouted out in disbelief. Something impossible had happened, and the Terror was back in everyone''s faces. Yet, not everything was lost, the walls were here, and so were the towers, and the mages and the archers. They still could fight and they will. ¡°It seems its main attack needs time to recharge!¡± and if so¡­ ¡°We need to take it down before it does!¡± He commanded. Spurred by desperation the attack mages fired their bolts with increased vigour, and others blocked the incoming Dark Bolts with hastily erected Barriers. It was a stalemate almost! Until¡­ ¡°[Scorch]!¡± A thunderous amalgamation of voices reached the distant tower he was in. The Imperial Mage Corps leader looked trying to detect magic, yet it was a physical attack of sorts. To accompany Dark Bolt, thousands of physical projectiles were shot out of many turrets. Magic or not. ¡°Shoot them down!¡± He commanded. The physical vessels was shattered much like glass, however, the content inside just continued towards the imperial fortress. Worse, it was unaffected by magic. A square container whizzed past the commander''s head, only inches away, even in that split of a second he recognised what it was. ¡°A potion bottle?¡± He turned around in its direction. ¡°But why?¡± The funny-shaped potion smashed against one of the barriers. And then¡­ *Explosion* ¨C everything caught fire. Not only did it ignore the personal Barrier, but worse, the purple flame burned brighter as if fueled by the existence of the said barrier itself. Naturally, Water mages fired their spells to put the flames down. ¡°Don¡¯t¡­¡± The warning came too late. The flame engorged itself on magic! Now, it clung to everyone, refusing to be put down. The flame roared and crackled as if angry, it was so loud that it even overpowered the dying cries of the burned-alive. Mages tried all sorts of things, but nothing worked, actually it only fuelled the Dark Flame¡¯s anger. It was angry and it was ravenous, and unlike the natural flame, instead of giving light, it consumed it. Soon the entirety of the imperial fortress was shrouded in complete darkness, it burned in the cold merciless blaze. ¡°Gah!!!¡± The commander was enveloped by fire. ¡°Urgh!¡± He collapsed and trembled. ¡°So¡­ so Cold!¡± The cold blaze burned sapping him dry out of mana¡­ and then out of life itself. ¡­ Deep inside the fortress, a small group was attempting to fight off the ever-encroaching blaze. They weren''t warriors or mages, or anything like that, aside from a single Cleric they were just servants, simple men and women with barely any levels at their belt. The gathering of servants was desperately trying to put the blaze out, to douse the fire which prevented them from reaching the emergency escape tunnel. A woman poured a kettle full of water on the blaze. ¡°it is not working!¡± She said the obvious. They tried all sorts of things with no luck. The only saving grace was that the flame was smokeless so there was no risk of suffocating. ¡°But why is it so cold!¡± A man complained. They might not suffocate, but if this continued, they would freeze to death. ¡°This is not natural!¡± The cleric looked at the ice forming where the kettle water was just moments ago. ¡°Ah!¡± Her HolyLight Staff burst into purple flames spontaneously. ¡°I wasn¡¯t even close to fire!¡± She threw it away in alarm. ¡°Amazing! Now we have no light!¡± A man complained. It was just as he told, the staff was the only item capable of dispersing the unnatural darkness the purple flame was spreading. ¡°We¡¯re doomed!¡± A panicked voice cried from somewhere deep inside the darkness. ¡°This¡­ whatever it is... is Cursed!¡± The cleric yelped in frustration. ¡°But if so¡­ [Smite]!¡± She tried purely out of desperation. ¡°Sss!¡± The flame hissed in discontent. ¡°It worked?¡± She jumped in amazement. ¡°It worked! ¡°[Smite]!¡± She launched a ball of light towards the flame. With a few more spells the corridor was clear of flames. It was still cold but with the Dark Flame gone she could finally light a candle to disperse the darkness. She did just so. ¡°Come on.¡± She looked at the tired faces right behind her. ¡°The exit is just this way!¡± *Explosion*, the entire fortress shook again. At the end of the corridor, seemingly on plain bare stone, a new blaze burst into life again. ¡°Let''s hurry!¡± She urged while the path was clear. Guided by flickering candle flame they ran down the steps into the escape tunnel. The tunnel was narrow but it was straight. Afraid that the all-consuming flame would catch up to them they sprinted through near blinding darkness. While they were at it the temperature was rising ever so slightly, and soon they emerged out of the tunnel. They escaped the Cold the Darkness and the Dark Flame itself. ¡°We did it!¡± A servant exclaimed. ¡°Yes!¡± Everyone cheered. ¡°Shush!¡± The cleric cautioned. ¡°No! Not yet!¡± She pointed at the distance. The imperial fortress was burning in a purple inferno, and there in the midst of the cold tongues of the Dark Flame, the Giant ¡®ENEMY¡¯ Spider was standing victorious. It looked at the last remaining tower with contempt and then flicked it to ruin with nothing but a simple push of its massive metal leg. Everyone shrunk as if afraid to be noticed. ¡°We should have never challenged the spiders¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Nothing else needed to be said. The small party crawled like insects away and towards the safety. The servants behind her were ignorant but the cleric knew just how important her new ¡®mission¡¯ was. First, she had to warn others about the Giant ¡®ENEMY¡¯ Spider, but also about the cursed Dark Flame. Especially about the latter, and not the former, it was so because as a Cleric she detected a hint of Divinity leaking out of it; or the opposite of it. And if her worry was true, the Holy Light itself was now in danger! 146 - Desperate Calamities Require Desperate Actions A woman who not so long ago was in the elite party of elites amongst elites, the cream of the crop as to say, was now reduced to your average fugitive. The fools had tried to confine her to some musky old tower. Ha! They should have known better, after all, she was a Rogue. But saying all that, the escape still wasn¡¯t easy, she had to make some regretful ¡®sacrifices¡¯. ¡°That woman wouldn¡¯t just shut up!¡± She would have tattled on her before she could¡­ Anyway, the runaway rogue was already miles away from the Imperial Capital. As if spurred by impending doom, she moved day and night, never stopping for more than a quick nap or a snack. The exhaustion might have killed the mount she had stolen, but her two legs were still good to do the rest of the running. Where was she running so desperately? ¨C To where it all had started, of course. Why? ¨C It was very simple, she had no other choice. ¡°We¡¯re doomed! We¡¯re all doomed!¡± She yelled at the maddening memory. She said so, yet she was running exactly back to it; back towards the Calamity. Perhaps she did go mad, or even suicidal, but she was running so desperately only because¡­ because she wanted to live! She wanted to survive! None of which would make sense to the casual observer. If the fugitive rogue wanted to live, then why was she running back to her doom? ¨C Well, in her mind, it made perfect sense¡­ ¡°Is that?¡± She spied on a group of people. They were running as desperately as she was but in an opposing direction. ¡°Refugees? Then it¡¯s close!¡± She exclaimed happily. She was about to pass the party ignoring them completely, but¡­ ¡°Hey, you!¡± The Cleric grabbed Rogue¡¯s arm, and rather forcefully at that. ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing?¡± The rogue tried to get away. ¡°I could ask the same.¡± The cleric glared sternly. ¡°Do you even know what is out there?! Whoever or whatever you¡¯re running to¡­¡± She paused giving a pained expression. ¡°They¡¯re one with the Holy Light now.¡± She implied their death subtly. ¡°Tch! Let me go!¡± She struggled against a surprisingly tight grip. ¡°Don¡¯t be a fool. You¡¯ll die! There is nothing but death and all-consuming Dark Flame!¡± The cleric woman tried to caution again. ¡°Me a fool? Ha-ha-ha!¡± She cackled in bewilderment. ¡°It is you who are running to your deaths!¡± The cleric woman looked with confusion at the rogue. The rogue smiled knowingly as if illuminated by her previous experience. ¡°You can run but the Giant ¡®ENEMY¡¯ Spider isn¡¯t something you can escape from!¡± ¡°You¡¯ve seen it before? If so¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s in my head! I can still see it so clearly! Ha-ha-ha.¡± ¡°¡­¡± The cleric woman let go of the maddened rogue. ¡°The only way is¡­¡± The Rogue looked at the Cleric with ill-fitting pity. ¡°Your kind would never understand¡­¡± And just like that, the rogue was back to running. Luckily she didn¡¯t need to run far, indeed, the spidery presence was already there on the horizon. The unstoppable force was walking on its spidery legs pushing forward without a single concern. She felt her stomach cramping up, and something wanting to come up to her throat, luckily her stomach was empty. Admittedly, she was afraid, she was so afraid, but she had to face her fears and she had to face the giant spider. ¡°This is something I must do!¡± She steeled herself. In a couple more long moments, the mad rogue was finally standing right infront of the approaching spider. It was a single woman against a towering giant. However, she wasn¡¯t here to oppose the spidery menace. With all the vigour she could muster she waved an improvised white flag at the giant. ¡°Spider, I wish to defect!¡± She shouted out of the top of her lungs. ¡°I wish to defect!¡±, ¡°I wish to defect!¡±, ¡°I wish to defect!¡±, she repeated over and over again, hoping that her tiny voice would reach the towering behemoth. Soon, she was so close the spider could just squish her with its metal leg if it pleased so. Regardless, she stood firmly believing in making the right decision. Yes, she was here to defect, to sell out the Holy Empire to the spiders; this was her mad gambit. And she had good reason to believe her plan would work. After all, as an elite spy, she knew more than an average citizen of the Holy Empire. While the investigation party she was in never made it to The Dreader Place or even the Elven Forest, they did get to see the state of the Aurelian Kingdom, or Aurelian Dutchy as it was calling itself now. The place was positively swarming with spiders, yet, for some strange reason the Aurelian people were prospering, not only that, they were willingly supporting their supposed oppressor, The Spider King. To cut a long explanation sort, she was adamant that the spiders would treat her right if they found her useful. And useful she was, she was a spy, one of the highest level Rogues in the entire Holy Empire! What this meant was that she held a lot of sensitive information. She knew the locations of military installations, the skills and perks of all the Imperial Generals, and the composition of the Imperial Army with a full tally of Warriors and Mages. Moreover, she knew the many dirty secrets of the noble families who supported the Emperor, and the possible ways to set them against each other. She knew the complete layout of the land and many of its secret passages. Also, she knew things she was not supposed to know. All of which she was ready to give out for a small reward. A tiny bit of spider mercy. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I wish to defect!¡± The spider halted in its tracks arresting its otherwise unstopable motions. It was almost amazing that a single woman was able to stop something like this even if for a single second. The giant lowered its head as if to hear the defecting rogue better. ¡°I¡¯m a spy.S[ider, I have valuable information you¡¯ll want to hear. They''re summoning the Hero!¡± She began with her ace to entice the giant spider. Something clicked on the spider, much like a hatch opening. ¡°Gah!¡± She exclaimed trying not to get too tangled in a web. ¡°Ahh!!!¡± She felt herself being pulled up. And then into a tiny spidery hole, she went. The fugitive rogue worried for a second that she was being eaten alive but from the lack of moisture and acid, she realised that she wasn¡¯t in a stomach. She was on the floor by a strange turret, the room was pitch black but she could see due to Darkvision applied by some purple flame burning in a nearby lantern. And she was not alone, the room was packed with spiders. ¡®I¡¯m in! Everything went according to the plan.¡¯ She thought. Well, not quite. But lo and behold, it turns out this spidery Calamity could be reasoned with. And if so, there was so much to gain. First, the safety of her life, and second, the safety of her family. And then, depending on the spider, so much more. One of the spiders chirped something in its strange language and then blue powder reached her nose. She wanted to sneeze at the powder but she fell asleep before she could. ¡°Zzz¡­¡± ¡­ Holy Emperor looked at the oracle¡¯s pale face, her hands were shaking and so was her entire body. ¡°Bad news?¡± He asked knowingly. ¡°¡­¡± She tried to say something but no words came out. Yet she didn¡¯t need to say anything because the silence said it all: the foretold Calamity had reached the Holy Empire. ¡°Worry not, Oracle.¡± He said calmly as to instil that calmness in her too. ¡°The Summoning Ritual is ready. It seems we¡¯ve got it done just in time. Come.¡± He urged her to follow. They walked for quite a while, and during the trip, more and more people joined the Holy Emperor. By the end of it, he had a small procession, much like the Konga line, following behind. The procession emerged into the grand hall of the summoning ritual, which was actually done inside the Cathedral of the Holy Light. Seats and pews were all removed to make space for the ritual circle. Instead of broad strokes of your average magical circle, this one was many times more complex and detailed. Various geometrical shapes collided and enveloped one another to form something much larger. Thousands of glyphs were glowing faintly already in all of the colours of the rainbow. And in between all that, minute and swirling in its design, the ancient text of enchanting language filled all the gaps. Moreover, spaced all around the circle were piles of various alchemical dust or gems to be used as catalysers. Renowned Mages, Clerics, and Priests were bordering the circle with many more just outside the cathedral standing in their own supplementary circles. Actually, anyone with the slightest talent for magic was called in to help. Just like inside, there outside, acolytes, novices and apprentices were eagerly waiting for the word to start pouring their mana in. The Summoning Ritual the Holy Empire was trying to pull off was the biggest ever in its entire history, and for good reason. The bigger the circle, the more the mana ¨C the stronger the Hero they would summon. So needless to say, no resources were spared. The men and women behind the Holy Emperor walked to fill their predestined spots. Some of them, like the Minister of Magic, were here to guide the ritual. Others, like the Imperial Alchemist, and other sponsors of exotic materials and reagents, were here as honourable observers only. There were also other imperial subjects like Barons, Dukes and Kings. Either way, the cathedral was packed full of very important people. The Holy Emperor took his spot by the HolyLight Altar, which too was just recently improved by detailed glyphs and powerful enchantments. It was the key piece to start the summoning magic going, and it was his sole honour to do this. But first¡­ ¡°Citizens of our sacred realm,¡± he addressed, ¡°I stand before you today as your Holy Emperor,¡± he slammed his golded sceptre with authority, ¡°bearing both hope and urgency within my heart.¡± He gazed at the gathered people intensely. ¡°The shadow of darkness encroach upon our holy land, a Calamity never seen before. It threatens to consume all that we hold dear, to dim the Holy Light itself.¡± The gathered whispered among themselves, that much they had known already. ¡°At this very moment, as I speak, the Giant ¡®ENEMY¡¯ Spider is drawing closer and closer!¡± He named the threat publicly for the first time. ¡°It is a malevolent force born out of darkness and it is intent to see our destruction. So In this hour of need, it is with solemn determination that I declare the Summoning of a Hero!¡± He slammed his sceptre again. With that signal, the mages began injecting the circles with their mana. The glyphs lit up to be ever brighter and the enchanting text flaked off the ground to fill the air with flying letters. ¡°The chosen one shall be blessed by the Holy Light itself. But remember, my loyal subjects, that this fight is not theirs alone. Every one of you has a role to play.¡± He looked specifically at the party he had assembled for the hero, they were the best of the best. ¡°Together, we shall forge a united front against the encroaching darkness, and together, we shall prevail! The time has come to banish the Dark, and to usher in a new era of everlasting Light! [Summon Hero]!!!¡± He activated the key glyph with his sceptre. The circle was done warming up and thus had burst to full power. The alchemical dust evaporated into nothing, the gems turned to salt, thousands of glyphs flashed brightly, and the enchanted text formed a magical whirlpool in the air. Secondary and then ternary circles were birthed by the ongoing magic. There was so much going on, that it was nearly impossible to keep track of it all. Yet the Summoning Circle was drawn flawlessly and the magic proceeded without a single hitch. Only one thing was left to do. The Holy Emperor needed to say a small prayer. The summoning magic was whimsical but he was allowed to vaguely define the qualities of the summoned. He could ask for someone good with a sword, or a genius inventor, or an inspiring leader, that sort of stuff. Yet the request had to be short for it to work, and even then, according to the ancient texts, the outcome was never guaranteed. ¡°I pray for¡­¡± He paused thinking how to put it best. ¡°An expert at dealing with spiders¡­¡± In other words, he requested an Exterminator but of a Hero kind. With that last bit done, in the epicentre of the summoning spell, a ball of light blinked into existence. It was the beginning of the portal to summon a soul from an unknown world. The Holy Emperor, and the rest of the gathered, watched the ball of light grow with anticipation. Soon the Empire would get their much-anticipated Hero! 147 – Who Do You Call If You Have A Spidery Problem? The Holy Light Cathedral was filled with bright and brilliant light. In that holy place, the Divine energy flowed thick in the air. Something truly magical was taking place, yet it still was only midway through. While the casual observers gawked at the developing spectacle in amazement, the mages carried looks of exhaustion. The Summoning Ritual was hungry for mana, and a ritual this grand was especially ravenous. It sucked no less than 1,000,000 MP and it demanded even more. Still, It was enough to birth a divine portal; it was that tiny ball of concentrated light. However, it needed more to pull the Hero into this world. The necessary mana was ripped out forcefully from the thousands of participants and the Minister of Magic struggled to contain it all. Needless to say, many were afflicted with Sundered, a known side effect of the summoning magic. It was a worse condition than Negative Mana, it prevented mana regeneration entirely, sometimes even permanently. The participant Mages, especially the apprentice and novice kind, fainted and were dropping like flies in the hundreds. They knew of the risks, and they accepted them wholeheartedly; it was a small price to pay after all. The tiny ball of light grew bigger, it grew magnificent and radiant, and it was so bright it was almost blinding. By this point, only the most formidable mages remained conscious, however, their job was done and the ritual no longer demanded any extra mana. The glyphs blinked out of existence, and the flying magical text was pooled into the portal with the rest of the stray mana. This was the last stage, the only thing left to do was watch. ¡°Hero, please come to us!¡± The Holy Emperor encouraged through the Divine summoning portal. ¡°Come to the Light to expel the Dark. Get rid us of the spidery menace!¡± ¡°Hero!¡±, ¡°Hero!¡±, ¡°Come!¡±, ¡°Please!¡±, various other shouts of encouragement were shouted out by the gathered. The gesture was entirely unnecessary, the magic just needed some more time to do its thing, but it showed just how much everyone was invested in the ritual. Unbeknownst to the observers, the Divine Portal was taking its time to carefully consider its magical code. Its job was to pull a soul from another world; no easy feat to achieve even with the Divine magic. Just like water, such magic was always taking the path of the least resistance. Recently deceased or stray souls were easiest to pull, and the proximity to the nearest dimension was also a factor to consider, and so was the prayer it received from the Holy Petitioner. It considered these factors and found a surprisingly convenient solution. Of course, the Divine Portal wasn¡¯t sentient or anything like that, it just did what its code told, and it took the most optimal option pulling the nearest soul available which fit the criteria almost perfectly. ¡®Ah! I have outdone myself today, well done.¡¯ ¨C the portal would say if it was sentient. ¡®I¡¯ve found the perfect solution to the spidery problem, a hero amongst heroes!¡¯ The magnificent light ball pulsed and twisted, and then with a *Flash* it deposited the Hero the right there on the marble floor. The gathered had to blink twice and trice for their sight to return, but then it did, all cheered and clapped. ¡°Hero!¡± They cheered at the somewhat confused man. ¡­ The Spider King found himself in the Fungal Caves, where instead of trees various fungi and mushrooms grew to form a dense forest. He was here to tie the last of the loose threads, soon he would be free from his obligations. What obligations you might ask? You see, the Divine dessert he had eaten with great gusto, the unforgettable Cream Pie, it came with a cost. In turn for the culinary masterpiece, he had to please its chef; not one but all five of the women. He had worked through that list meticulously, pleasing their whimsical and odd desires. But in the end, he did it. Only one was still remaining ¨C the Myconid Queen. Her request still rang fresh in his mind: ¡°Mine cave hath grown damp and humid, struggling to contain the tempest within. Methinks it shall soon burst forth. Would thou, O¡¯ King of Kings, deign to scrape my inner walls and expand my fungal cavern?¡± ¨C He recalled. ¡°Seems simple enough.¡± He nodded to himself. He took good notice of his surroundings. The mushrooms were practically on top of one another. Having no choice, he had to step and squash them as he walked, but only the small ones. There were big mushrooms too, but also giant mushrooms. He had to weave around the giant fungal stalks, and sometimes crawl under or squeeze in between. ¡°This is no forest. This is a whole jungle!¡± Indeed the cave was rather overgrown. ¡°I can see her wanting to expand it.¡± Afraid of getting lost in the mushroom jungle he climbed atop a giant Fungiwood. By no means the cave was small, as far as he could see there were mushrooms already, and if so, the Myconid Queen had managed to expand it without him. ¡°Huh¡­ So why did she ask for my help?¡± He wondered. That was when his eyes landed on a large mesh-like mycelium patch on the distant cave wall. He had to strain his eyes, but he saw that the patch was leaking water, no, it was plugging an underground river; just barely. ¡°Ah, so this was the ¡®damp and humid¡¯ part the queen mentioned.¡± And the tempest would be the river itself. ¡°No wonder she had to stop her expansion.¡± But redirecting subterranean rivers wasn¡¯t exactly his forte either. ¡°Either way, it''s best if I talk with her.¡± He spied further. In the distance, there was a large patch of tamed mushrooms, to be exact it was a mushroom farm, or culture if you wanted to be specific. That was the end of his destination. Knowing the right direction he wasted no time reaching the farm. Soon he emerged from the overgrown myconid jungle into a culture of familiar crops. ¡°Chicken Of The Woods, Beefsteak Mushroom, Shrimp Russulas, Lobstery Caps¡­¡° He named them in passing. There were so many, and all were delicious. ¡°Hi!¡±, ¡°Hi-Hi,¡±, ¡°H-Hi¡±, the myconid farmers greeted giving a cute wave. ¡°Hello.¡± He greeted each and every. The little goomba-like fellows were creatures of few words so the King didn''t pester them further. There were no tall mushrooms here to block his vision so the Queen¡¯s Alcove was within his sight already. As he approached the alcove he was greeted by a mesmerizing display of bioluminescent fungi. it was casting an ethereal glow that illuminated the surroundings. The alcove itself was also made out of a type of fungus and it was porous in many places. The pores were spewing spores of various colours and which almost magically pulled together to form clouds of their colour; separate and unviling to mix with unmatching colour. The Spider King took a cautious breath in. ¡°It seems the spores have no adverse effect.¡± The air just smelled moist and earthy. He walked further into the alcove. A majestic throne carved out of old and gnarled Fungiwood caught his eye. The fungal theme was there, but the reason it caught his eye was the carved design of the throne. It was adorned with intricate carvings depicting spiders. Moreover, the throne was right in between two statues of magnificent spiders. They were almost like heroes protecting the Myconid Throne. Garlands of coloured moss and vibrant necklaces of multicoloured shrooms adorned the carved spiders. The Spider King recognised the two spiders, after all, they were rather unique. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Mushroom Spider and Stone Spider.¡± No doubt, the spiders did something heroic to deserve such an honourable spot by the throne. ¡°O¡¯ King of Kings! Thou hast come.¡± She greeted in a noble and refined tone. Of course, the main figure here wasn¡¯t the throne or the two statues, it was the Myconid Queen herself. Her base was still rooted to the ground, but from a quick glance, you wouldn¡¯t be able to tell that at all. The form she had taken during her evolution did it well to hide the fact. Her lower half was covered by a white fungal mesh mimicking the plump and puffed skirt of the dress perfectly. The pristine white fungal pattern went up all the way to her chest where it ended rather abruptly leaving a scandalous cleavage. Needless to say, the Queen was rather well-endowed, and the imitation dress she wore gave the impression that her feminine charms might spill out at any moment. Her hands were gloved by white gloves right up to the elbows, but they weren¡¯t gloves at all; it was part of her body, a type of leathery fungal flesh. Atop her head, just like a mushroom would, she had a giant hat, however, it didn¡¯t detract from her charm because it was elegant and very lady-like. Her facial features were delicate and soft, her nose was cute and small, her chin narrow, and her eyes were round with big eyelashes. She had that undeniable aura of nobility but also of elegance. Moreover, she mimicked human appearance so well that you wouldn¡¯t realise that she was a mushroom-woman at all. ¡°Myconid Queen,¡± The Spider King greeted with a bow of his own. ¡°It has been a while, but it seems you¡¯ve grown even more beautiful.¡± He admitted in full honesty. ¡°Verily, the Cream thy subject hath invented is of the utmost wonder. But let us not be swayed by frivolous pleasantries. I do presume thou art present to lend thy aid to my humble entreaty.¡± ¡°Yes, I am here for that.¡± He looked in the direction of a barely contained river. She beamed a warm smile. ¡°Let us not be hasty, for patience oft leads to better outcomes.¡± She clapped her hands. ¡°How hast thou fared, tell me all.¡± With those words, a fungal stool sprung out of the ground and the little myconids came running carrying trais laden with various fungal delicacies. He felt the urge to entertain her with the most recent gossip in part because she was bound to this cave and hence unable to experience finer things of life, like needless drama. ¡°Well,¡± He began. ¡°I guess I have a second wife. Sort of¡­¡± ¡°Oh! Oh?!¡± She exclaimed with barely contained intrigue. ¡°Who may be this blessed lady?¡± ¡°Day Sapphire, the Mer Princess.¡± ¡°Never met her¡­¡± She said regretfully. He looked back again at the plumbing issue. ¡°With some work, we might make an underground channel so she could visit.¡± ¡°That would be most wonderful, indeed.¡± They talked about this and that. The ready-to-burst river wasn¡¯t the only issue the Myconid Queen was having. Apparently, the Myconids were involved in their own War. Not a big issue really, just some trouble with the Centipedes. During the cave expansion, they had burst into one of the infested tunnels leading to some challenges. He looked back at the tray he was eating from. That was when he realised that the steamed meat bites served next to the mushrooms were likely of the centipede variety. It was delicious! ¡°The war is of no great matter, a minor thing really, we have methods to handle troublesome insects.¡± She swirled her finger and the nearby pink spore cloud floated right next to it like an overeager puppy. ¡°However, a modest enchantment in mine strength would be most welcome. Would you kindly¡­¡± She paused looking embarrassed. ¡°¡­ kindly grand me thy seed.¡± She dispersed the red cloud right in his face. She put it rather funny but he knew what she meant. ¡°Monster Core? No problem.¡± He waved the purple cloud away.¡± ¡°Give me your hand.¡± ¡°Huh? Will just a hand be enough? Aren¡¯t those matters meant to be more ¡­ involved?¡± ¡°I assure you, a hand will be enough.¡± He took hold of her appendage, it was squishy but oddly pleasant to the touch. ¡°[Seed Core]¡± At a forceful injection of mana, the Myconid Queen made a funny face; the expression was full of bewilderment but also ¡­ pleasure. The spell took effect within seconds. ¡°You don¡¯t mind if I?¡± He asked curious about one thing. ¡°For thee? ¨C Anything. But what hast thou in mind?¡± She still asked. Sensing that she wouldn¡¯t mind. ¡°[Inspect]¡±, he was interested to see her status.
Monster Race: Myconid Variant: Queen Magic Affinity: Nature ?? ?? ?? ?? ??
HP:50 MP:1100 STA:50
Active Perks [Grow: Mushroom], [Spore Cloud]
Passive Perks [Synthesise: Forbidden Sause], [Synthesise: Alchemical Spores], [Spore Mastery], [Fungal Command], [Mycelium Roots], [DeepCave Adaptation]
Resistances [Fire Weakness: Medium]
With that 50HP she was even more delicate than he had previously thought. And with that MP pool, she was clearly a glass cannon, that is if you considered her many spores as an attack magic. Those mostly did various debuffs and negative status effects. ¡°Thank you, O¡¯ King of Kings. I feel stronger already.¡± She bowed in gratitude. Seed Core didn¡¯t drain much magic, actually, it just shrunk his own Monster Core temporarily. Yet for some reason, he felt incredibly weak and woozy. ¡°My liege? Art thou unwell? Thou art pale all of a sudden.¡± [You¡¯ve been afflicted with Drained], the system message told him that something was really off. ¡°Perhaps, it¡¯s the mushrooms I¡¯ve just eaten.¡± He reasoned. ¡°My liege?¡± ¡°¡­¡± He felt something seriously wrong within his body as if a force was trying to rip him from inside out. ¡°What is this mana surrounding thee? It is so bright!¡± She voiced in alarm. Maybe it was blindingly blind, but by this point, he¡¯d lost the proper vision, the only thing he could see was the System prompts: [Congratulations!!!], the message screamed inside his head. [Welcome to the System!] [Error!], it buzzed in red. [You are being Summoned] [Error!] [You¡¯ve gained a unique perk: Universal Translation] [Error!] [You¡¯ve unlocked a new class: Hero] [Error!] [You¡¯ve gained a new blessing: Blessed by the Holy Light] [Error!] [You¡¯ve ¡­] [Error!], [Error!], [Error!], it blared insufferably. [The user is part of the Monster System] [Chaos Blessed activated], [Attempting a workaround] [¡­] [You are being Summoned] [You¡¯ve gained a new blessing: Blessed by the Holy Light] [You¡¯re magic affinity changes to Light], [Chaos Blessed activated] [Your magic affinity changes to Chaos] [You¡¯ve earned an Achievement: Isekai¡¯d for a second time!] With that last message, the world shrunk back on itself and the Spider King found himself in an unknown location. ¡°Huh?¡± He looked at the many-many unfamiliar faces all staring intently at him. But perhaps, worse of all was the fact that he was ¡®teleported¡¯ here completely naked! ¡®Curse you, Chaos Blessed!!!¡¯ He screamed internally at the awfully mean joke. This was some sort of a prank, right? Right? 148 – [Unbendable], [Indestructible], [Unyielding] … [Plot Armour]!!! The Holy Emperor looked at the peculiar man they just have summoned. Was this it, was this their Hero? Was this the Exterminator he¡¯d prayed for? Well, the summoned was an odd one for sure, and the nakedness was not an issue here; they had prepared for that. The nearby priestess was on the move to hand the hero his Holy Robes, yet with a ¡°Wait,¡± the Emperor stretched an arm to stop her. There was something wrong with the man right in front of him. For one he had a rather demonic-looking left arm, It was coiled with purple veins giving the impression of some sort of corruption reaching right to his heart. Moreover, right on top of his head, he had a set of horns. ¡°He¡¯s not human.¡± The Holy Emperor said the most obvious of all. Indeed, the gathered also soon realised that fact. Many were left speechless from disbelief. ¡°Demon¡­¡±, ¡°Demon Lord¡­¡±, cautious whispers escaped their mouths. Right on time, ¡°Monster King,¡± one of the Scribes dispelled the wrong assumption. ¡°What?! No way!¡± The Emperor exclaimed despite already knowing who the summoned was. ¡°He¡¯s the Spider King¡­¡± The Emperor uttered the better-known monicker. With those words, the slightly confused ¡®Hero¡¯ must have also realised in what sort of predicament he was. Just like his moniker implied the Spider King dropped his human disguise and promptly shifted to his true form; It was spidery and monstrous. Luckily, it was exactly what the Emperor needed to spur still-stunned observers into action. The deliberations of ¡®Why?¡¯ or ¡®How?¡¯ did this even happen were left for another time. ¡°Apprehend him!¡± The Emperor wasted no time in issuing the command. The nearby mages were mostly Sundered hence unfortunately useless. And since no one expected this, the Cathedral lacked the usual plethora of Imperial Guards. But what they had was the nearby party assembled for the future hero: Rogue, Priest, Ranger, Wizard, and Warrior; the five were the best the Holy Empire could offer. If you thought about it, It was very ironic - the Hero¡¯s Party was here to slay the one they were meant to serve. As seasoned veterans would, they were already on the move to promptly deal with the issue. Understandably, the Emperor wasn¡¯t a fighter, so he took a step back. At first one step but then another and then another; he was urging himself to safety. He didn¡¯t think much about this simple action, but perhaps he should have. Panic soon spread through the cathedral, after all, it was rather full of non-fighters or those rendered incapable of such. Much like the Emperor, they all were very keen to get somewhere safe. And soon, it was Chaos, people clocked the exit trying to squeeze and push past one another. Worse, they prevented the necessary Imperial Guards from coming inside! The guards struggled to come in, and the people to come out, both couldn¡¯t be done at once; it was very stupid! Anxious he looked back to see how the Hero¡¯s Party was fearing. ¡°[Shield Wall]¡±, the warrior slammed his shield down to protect his allies. ¡°[Piercing Shot]¡±, the rogue loosened an arrow. ¡°[Fireball]¡±, the wizard fired from his staff. ¡°[Ligh Barrier]¡±, the priest sealed her party preventing offensive Dark magic. It was a wise strategy, they ganged up on the Spider King while keeping their distance, yet it was all but a clever ruse. The rogue was currently invisible and sneaking behind to deal a decisive blow. The Spider King, being the monster he was, snatched the arrow right from the air and deflected the ball of offensive magic to the side with his other hand. ¡°[SpinWeb]¡±, he launched a net of purple web towards the warrior. ¡°No!¡± The priest exclaimed. ¡°Dodge it!¡± She yelped a warning. In retrospect, they should have expected a literal Spider King to be able to shoot webs! Light Barrier was useless against that, and the heavy warrior wasn¡¯t able to dodge it on time. ¡°Gah!¡± The warrior struggled against the binding web. ¡°Drain!¡± He voiced his negative status effect. It didn¡¯t work as expected, yet still, the rogue made his way undetected. ¡°[Assassin Strike], [Piercing Trust]!¡± He combined the two for something truly deadly. *Clash*, *Clang*, *Chaching*. ¡°Huh!?¡± The rogue exclaimed in bewilderment, both of his masterwork daggers just went and snapped in half. ¡°That was sneaky!¡± The Spider King yelled accusingly at the rogue. ¡°If not for my Obsidian Armour I would be in trouble. [Disintegrate]!¡± The spidery arm aimed for the rogue. Indeed, the sneaky rogue was unprotected by any barriers and that Dark attack would land just right, if not for ¡°[Phantom Step].¡± He dodged the blast with expert grace. ¡°Oh?!¡± The Spider King sounded surprised. ¡°Never seen that, is that an upgrade to Dodge?¡± Unbeknownst to the Spider King, the rogue had bought enough time to burn the draining web off the warrior. The burly man in question was no longer cowering behind a shield but launching himself towards their enemy. ¡°You yap your tongue too much spider!¡± The priestly woman glared at him. ¡°[Bless],¡± a bolt of light shot from her hands. The warrior had cleared the distance with his Relentless Charge in no time and was already mid-swing with his weapon. The Bless was aimed towards his weapon, enchanting it with the power of the Light, and presumably weakness of the Spider King. ¡°[Overpower]!¡± The warrior supercharged his attack but also, ¡°[Celestial Cleaver]!¡± He unleashed a skill only possible due to the timely support of the party¡¯s priest. ¡°For Oberon¡­¡± The Spider King winced at the unavoidable attack. Yet, before it could land a malevolent grin spread across his face. ¡°[Shadow Step],¡± He turned to a cloud of shadows for a split second and then emerged metres away from the warrior. ¡°Ha-ha-ha.¡± He laughed mockingly. ¡°I have my own version of the Dodge too.¡± He looked to gloat at the rogue. ¡°Huh? Gone again? That is sure annoying.¡± The rogue reappeared at the rear of the party. ¡°Wizard, give me some of those potions.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± He asked but by that point, the rogue was already quaffing down one potion after the other. ¡°Argh!¡± The rogue groaned. ¡°The Toxicity hits like a hammer, but¡­¡± He disappeared again. And while that was happening, the ranger and the warrior were keeping the spider king busy with their attacks. ¡°You got too close,¡± the Spider King smiled at the warrior, ¡°[Erosive Touch],¡± a spidery hand reached. ¡°[Auto Shield]!¡± The warrior invoked just in time. He was saved but his shield crumpled to dust. ¡°This is overpowered!¡± He spat a complaint. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. The Spider King swatted yet another Piercing Arrow out of the air. ¡°Tell that to your crappy System. The very thing which summoned me here!¡± He didn¡¯t sound too happy about that either. The wizard was finished handing in the potions but it was the priest who gave the signal with a shout, ¡°Now!¡± The warrior and the ranger drank their potions. Their veins turned dark and bulged out together with the swelling muscle. The following happened all at once: ¡°[Multicast], [Bless].¡± The priestly woman showered everyone in brilliant light. ¡°[Calestial Barrier]¡± And as a bonus she gave her party a temporary Light barrier. The ranger pulled on her bow with increased strength, her eyes burned fierily. ¡° [Power Draw], [Eagle Eye], [Overhelm], [Barrage] ¡­¡± She paused to take a deep breath, her hand was trembling from all the condensed power already. ¡°[All-Sundering Voley]!!!¡± She released her ultimate move. The warrior charged wielding his twice-blessed longsword, the already burly man was seemingly twice his previous bulk. ¡°[Warrior Spirit], [Limit Breaker], [True Strike], [Overpower] ¡­¡± He paused to gather his inner strength and unleashed his special strike. ¡°[Blade Of Justice]!!!¡± The mage gripped his staff tighter, magic was condensing and crackling around him already. ¡°[Arcane Conduit], [Phonix Essence], [Supercharge]¡­¡± He gathered Fire but also Light essence around him to fire his unique spell ¡°[Ignition Nova]!!!¡± Surprisingly so, the rogue manifested metres above the Spider King''s head. ¡° [Hiden Strike], [Assassinate], [Oddbreaker] ¡­¡± He paused readying his spare but no less deadly dagger. ¡°[Endgame]!!!¡± He ended it with his original finisher. All four attacks came all at once, and all were enchanted with Light element. Of course, the Spider King could try to dodge, or to shield, or to deflect, but he could only do one at a time¡­ In other words, he could negate one, perhaps two of the ultimate-special-unigue-finisher moves but not all four! The Holy Emperor was observing the fight with bated breath. It was incredulous how long the Spider King had lasted already. You see, the summoned would always come in the Weakened state with bottomed pools of 0MP and 0STA. The Spider King was no exception to that rule yet still¡­ ¡°Negative Mana.¡± The Emperor was impressed by the ability of their adversary. ¡°-200MP and he¡¯s still going.¡± That was the amount to kill your standard Mage twice already. ¡°Monsters come¡­ with monstrous abilities¡­¡± He reflected on this truth. Anyway, by the looks of it, the menace will be dealt with here and now. ¡°Perhaps I lucked out on this.¡± He considered it. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s exactly like the Holy Light intended?¡± After all, they did summon the Spider King in the Weakened state. ¡°He is at his most vulnerable. And we have all the power.¡± He looked at the final moment. ¡°Here it comes. The end of Dark¡­¡± The Spider King wasn¡¯t just standing there, of course, he would struggle, or try to. ¡°[Implode Core]!!!¡± He roared in desperation. Strange and unknown magic swirled around his spidery body as if to shield it, but just like the name implied¡­ *Explosion*, an overwhelming force detonated from inside within. It was bright and thick in purple, it blew out everything in the nearby vicinity. Men and women, their weapons and arrows, their spells and attacks, and even air itself were expelled away from the spidery monstrosity. Luckily the detonation had a forgiving radius, thus the cathedral was spared from collapsing. However, the nearby enchantments, be it on weapons, or protective Holy Robes, or HolyLight Candles, and so and such, they simply ceased to be. And the normal garb and clothes of mundane nature, those just crumbled to dust. The skin of the unlucky nearest, and the weakest of the lot, was torn off by the wild magic exposing flesh to ruthless Magical Burn. Some were killed right that instant, others rendered unconscious or otherwise incapacitated. But those with power and high levels, they were mostly just knocked off with a dent to their HP. All of the Hero¡¯s Party survived but everyone else nearby had no choice but to weather the merciless wrath of that strange magic; even the Holy Emperor itself. The only one who remained on his two, well, six feet was only the Spider King. ¡°Chaos Blessed?¡± He furrowed his brows looking nonplussed. ¡°Why did it activate again?¡± The Holy Emperor didn¡¯t know what exactly the spider was on about but from the slew of sudden System messages he deduced that must byte a type of some sort of evil and dark curse. [Warning! You¡¯ve been afflicted with Corruption] [Warning! All skills temporarily disabled] [Warning! You¡¯ve been afflicted with Chaos Blessed] ¡°Ahh!¡± The emperor clutched his golden sceptre tightly. ¡°It Hurts! It HURTS so much!¡± He didn¡¯t feel blessed at all, rather the opposite. [Warning!] Chaos energy swirls inside you] [Warning! The System is under attack!!!] [Error!], [Error!], [Error!], [Error!], [¡­], it kept blaring inside his head. All he could do was fight the pain and pray. Pray for the Holy Light to save him. Hope was not lost, the Hero¡¯s Party were back on their feet and there was another rather lucky outcome. The detonation cleared the entrance from the desperate and frightened opening way for the Imperial Guards. One platoon at first but there were many more stationed just around the cathedral. ¡°Yes¡­¡± The Emperor grinned through pain feeling illuminated. ¡°We¡¯re not trapped with him, he¡¯s trapped with us!!!¡± He had an entire Imperial Capital to throw at this single spidery menace. ¡°Kill him!¡± He ordered the already rushing guards. The Spider King glared at the Emperor. ¡°So it is as I thought!¡± He sounded disappointed. ¡°I thought I heard apprehend at the beginning. So I thought I¡¯ll tire this lot out and we can talk it out, but I guess that¡­¡± He glared at the Rogue. ¡°¡­ that Endgame finisher was there to kill me!¡± While Spider King was ranting like some sort of supervillain, the Holy Emperor checked the spider¡¯s status. The Emperor ignored all the system errors to voice his findings. ¡°-1000MP,¡± he spoke with a pained but still satisfied smile. ¡°If Negative Mana won¡¯t kill you, the Imperial Guards will!¡± ¡°Meh.¡± The Spider King scoffed at those words. ¡°You think a number low like that matters to me? You think I showed my true Power? You don¡¯t even know what I¡¯m capable of! I wanted to talk at first, but now¡­ I guess it¡¯s time to show you my¡­¡± The already Corrupted air of the cathedral grew a few levels heavier, and in response to that, the last remaining flicker on the now disenchanted Holy Candle flickered out. The otherwise bright and beautiful glass-stained windows were shrouded by an oppressive cloud of pure blackness. The insides of the cathedral were plunged into an abyss of darkness. All no doubt just a part of yet another curse. The Imperial Guards were already rushing through the entrance but there was still ground for them to cover, meaning they wouldn¡¯t make it in time. The Spider King continued, ¡°¡­ my [Unbendable], [Indestructible], [Unyielding], [Spidery Magnificent]¡­! He paused to ready his super-mega-ultimate spidery attack. Even in this overwhelming darkness, while the Spider King was busy chanting, a flicker of light was burning ever-bright. It was the members of the Hero¡¯s Party, but more precisely their Priest. The party, already back on their feet, positioned themselves between the Spider King and Holy Emperor as if to protect him. ¡°Holy Emperor, you must escape!¡± The priestly woman urged. ¡°Somehow I¡¯ve resisted the Corruption and I still have my Divine spell!¡± She tried to smile but it came out forced. ¡°It¡¯s one of a kind! it will be enough to kill him but¡­¡± She paused to gather the last of her remaining strength, yes, she hadn¡¯t used her ultimate finisher! Intent on interrupting the Spider King¡¯s combo she had to do without the supplementary magic of her own, hence so she cut her chant short, ¡°[Judgement Day]!!!¡± She fired her Divine spell before the spider, however, such power came at a cost; a cost she was ready to pay. ¡°Urgh!¡± Meanwhile, the Spider King raised his spidery arms with a flourish. ¡°Observe my power, witness my Darkness!¡± Purple lighting crackled in between the clawed spidery fingers. ¡°[Summ¡­] Gah!¡± A pillar of blinding light descended on him. The Divine spell the priest had cast so urgently was an upgrade to the Holy Smite. While it dealt no damage to normal enemies, it did 100x to anyone with Dark magical affinity. Needless to say, it would be enough to evaporate the spidery menace here and there. This was the end! The Light triumphed over the Dark! The Holy Empire was¡­ Saved? 149 – From Dust To Dust, From Pie To Crust 🥧 ¡°[Judgement Day]!!!¡± ¡°[Summ¡­] Gah!¡± The entire world turned white, more than that, it felt like swimming in the light itself: it was fluffy and soft like feathers on a baby chick; it was also warm and fuzzy like a hot bath after a long day; It even smelled like vanilla! The white strands of condensed light caressed the somewhat pale skin of the Spider King. They licked and prodded, fondled and brushed, sometimes it was a bit prickly but most of the time just very ticklish. A message popped into the Spider King''s vision. [You¡¯re magic affinity is Chaos; Judgement Day was negated] The text faded and the normal colours of the world returned to the Spider King. Regretfully, with the loss of the warm and fuzzy light, the comforting sensation also disappeared. He felt somewhat ¡­ disappointed. And just like that he was back in the midst of battle. His opponents were the persistent five: Wizard, Rogue, Ranger, Warrior, and Priest. With his vision back, he quickly scanned the rest of the room, everyone looked slightly shocked; he wondered why that was. ¡°Huh?¡± He realised something. The persistent five were down to four, and no, it wasn¡¯t the rogue who disappeared this time; it was the priest! Well, there was something in her place ¨C a pair of sandals filled with white dust, or perhaps it was salt. ¡°Did her spell backfire?¡± He wondered out loud. Unintentionally, due to clacking mandibles and the spidery voice, the question came out sounding rather mocking. Scornful looks were now directed at him, but also there were¡­ fear? ¨C No, Terror! The persistent four were pushing the Holy Emperor away to safety, yet for some reason, he insisted on remaining. The eyes of the Emperor were briefly locked on the pile of fresh salt and then they gazed at the Spider King. ¡°You Monster!¡± He accused. He had nothing to do with the priestly woman''s death, that was all on her, but more importantly, ¡°Not monster,¡± he tapped his spidery crown, ¡°but the Monster King!¡± The Emperor slammed his golden sceptre down cracking the floor in the process. Perhaps if he wasn¡¯t affected by Corruption the action would be accompanied by a formidable spell or a skill, but alas, ¡°Just die already!¡± Simple words had to make do. Indeed, there was no time to get complacent, the entire platoon of Imperial Guards was making its way towards the Spider King. This was no predicament he wanted to be in, especially not when he also was affected by negative status effects: Negative Mana and Shattered Core. ¡°We¡¯re done playing games, I guess¡­ ¡± The Spider King gazed at the running guards. Fortunately, he still had time to finish his unique ultimate-mega-special-move! After all, he couldn''t help but be impressed by the colourful combos of the persistent five, and he didn¡¯t want to be outdone by them. Seeing that there was some time just before the guards got to him the Spider King began with: ¡°I condemn you all to my: [Unbendable], [Indestructible], [Unyielding] ¡­ ¡± He flourished it with nonsense, none of the spoken perks were real, and he had no mana for that anyway. ¡°Darkness! [Summon Darkness]!!!¡± He finished with the only spell he could use at the moment. The Spider King¡¯s deliberate showmanship was not as cringe-worthy as you might think, because at the final words the Imperial Guards staggered breaking their Charge. They were¡­ Afraid! ¡°Ha-ha-ha!!!¡± He cackled clicking his mandibles menacingly. The Spider King¡¯s shadow bubbled and rippled as if alive, and soon blob of condensed darkness took shape. It didn¡¯t end with just a blob, instead, it transformed into a rather voluptuous obsidian-skinned woman all clad in taunt black leathers. ¡°Master?! It spoke in a strange voice. ¡°Meow!!!¡± It meowled at the platoon of the guards. ¡°Darkness, do your thing!¡± ¡°I understand! [Summon Minions]!¡± The Spider King might not had any MP left but that wasn¡¯t the same for his familiar. With those words, the shadows bubbled and swirled birthing various creatures of Darkness. One after the other they popped right behind the Imperial Guards, straight out of their shadows. ¡°More monsters!¡±, ¡°I expected spiders but¡­ wolves?¡±, ¡°They seem weak, let''s kill them.¡±, the guards reacted quickly. ¡°That¡¯s just a distraction! Get the Spider King!¡± Someone more competent issued a stern command. ¡°Fools, meow! Don¡¯t look down on my Minions. Go Get them!¡± The embodiment of Darkness issued a command of her own. ¡°What is this!¡± A guard swung his sword at the Shadow Wolf, yet it did no damage. ¡°Gah!¡± A draining tendril wrapped all around him. ¡°Sir, steel isn¡¯t working!¡± Someone said the obvious. ¡°And the Mages are all Sundered.¡± Someone added. The Guard Commander frowned rather deeply. ¡°They are monsters of the Dark, and are you a Paladin or not?¡± He frowned at the incompetence of his men. ¡°Just Smite them!¡± ¡°[Smite]¡±, ¡°[Bless]¡±, ¡°[Sword of Light]¡±, and other various Light skills were used on the shadow creatures. It was super effective! But just like the Guard Commander assumed this was a distraction. While all of this was happening the Spider King used yet another trick from his proverbial sleeve. Protected by Darkness he had some time for, ¡°[Magical Inventory],¡± he reached in to retrieve the items. ¡°What is that?!¡± The ranger exclaimed at the unknown spell. ¡°Wait¡­¡± The rogue began sounding bewildered. ¡°Is he eating cheese?¡± Indeed, numerous wheels of Centauri Cheese were retrieved and promptly devoured by a very-very hungry spider¡¯s mouth. ¡°Why is he eating during the battle?¡± The warrior questioned. ¡°Maybe it has some special properties like a potion?¡± The wizard guessed. Bingo! The wizard was right, the Spider King here was recovering his HP, MP, and STA without any drawbacks of Toxicity. Better, some of the food granted temporary perks and boons. Wanting to stack up on all of the buffs he promptly switched to a wide range of dishes consisting of: Centauri Cheese, Drider Eggs, Draw Milk, E-Honey, Forbidden Sauce, and many other exotic ingredients. ¡°Stop him!¡± The Emperor demanded. ¡°That¡¯s easy for you to say!¡± The rogue shot back. And he was right, their enchantments were broken and the use of skills locked by the curse. The only saving grace was the fact that there were no Shadow Creatures near them, likely due to lingering Light-infused mana; an aftereffect of priest¡¯s sacrifice. ¡°Tch!¡± The Holy Emperor clicked his tongue in frustration. ¡°I can try¡­¡± The ranger aimed. Her bow was just a bow, her arrow just an arrow, yet she still was a Ranger. The mundane arrow flew straight and true and then it knocked a peculiarly blue pie out of the Spider King¡¯s spidery hand. The food fell and splattered with all its wetness on the marble floor. The Spider King turned to look at the offenders. ¡°How dare you! This was the last piece of the most Divine food ever, the Cream Pie!¡± He yelled out enraged. ¡°Do you know how much it cost me? The things I had to do?!¡± He took a step forward. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. The party of four plus the emperor took a step back. One of the Imperial Guards had made it successfully past the Minions. ¡°For the Holy Empire!¡± He launched himself at the spider. ¡°Shut up!¡± The Spider King swung his arm enraged. The power behind that punch was something out of this world because with a sickening *Pop* the head went right off. ¡°¡­¡±, ¡°¡­¡±, ¡°¡­¡±, ¡°¡­¡±, the four were speechless. ¡°This is not right! That kind of power is unnatural!¡± The Emperor wasn¡¯t having this, he pointed his sceptre with authority. ¡°I should have done this from the very beginning!¡± ¡°Do¡­ do what?¡± The ranger questioned. ¡°Isn¡¯t your Imperial Authority sealed just like all of our skills?¡± The rogue asked with a tinge of fear in his voice. The Emperor scowled at the rogue, he wasn¡¯t supposed to mention that mind-controlling skill, it was an imperial secret! And yes, his skills were sealed, so he wouldn¡¯t be able to command everyone to charge the Spider King in a suicide-sure-way. Anyway, it wasn¡¯t a skill he was going to use, not exactly. ¡°It just happens so,¡± he shook his sceptre, ¡°that the divine grade items tend to be immune to all sorts of destructive magic. My sceptre is still enchanted with the divinity of the Holy Light itself.¡± His face was full of resolve. ¡°Spider King, you might have snuffled the light, but only temporarily. Brace yourself!¡± He thrust the sceptre towards the approaching spider. ¡°I free thee from thy chains, come hither to me, bathed in the sacred glow, [Holy Light]!!!¡± The golden sceptre exploded into a shower of shrapnel, taking a chunk of the hand holding it. ¡°Urgh!¡± The emperor winced in pain. But the chant was completed, and the divine essence of the Holy Light was set free. It came forth in the form of an all-cutting beam; a massive one. In that fraction of a second, a radiant flash illuminated the entirety of the cathedral, returning it to its previous brilliant glory. At the presence of the overwhelming light, the shadow creatures ceased to be all at once. But that was just an after-effect of the aimed beam. The beam struck the Spider-King, moreover, it reached way past beyond his spidery form evaporating a hole in the distant wall. A huge scar in the marble floor was scored all the way through, it burned bright with molten stone lava. Yet still, amongst the devastation, the spidery figure remained standing; slightly singed but somehow alive. ¡°Impossible!¡± The Emperor could not believe it. ¡°How are you still alive?¡± The answer was simple: [You took critical damage], [-1,000,000HP] [Perk Undying was activated], [Warning! You have 1HP] ¡°This was dangerous!¡± The Spider King summarised. Due to all the buffs his health was ticking back up to a healthy number, but he wouldn¡¯t want to repeat the experience. It was nothing like the Judgement Day, this was mighty unpleasant! ¡°Yeah¡­¡± The rogue sighted. ¡°I¡¯m out!¡± And just like that he was running. ¡°I can¡¯t even cast spells anymore. What use am I? Bye!¡± So was the wizard. The ranger gave the warrior an unsure look. ¡°I¡¯ll protect you, my Holiness!¡± The warrior stood firm, no, even firmer. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll stay.¡± The ranger nocked another arrow. The unenchanted arrow hit the mark right on the chest, but¡­ it simply clanged off the spidery obsidian armour. ¡°I tried¡­¡± She sighed. The Emperor dropped to his knees, his hands were clutching his head, he had that maddened look in his eyes, and his mouth was mumbling something incomprehensible. ¡°What the two of you are doing? Get him to safety!¡± The Guard Commander yelled out. The Imperial Guards finished surrounding the Spider King. The Spider King stood firm in his singed spot. ¡°You even killed my Darkness¡­¡± He resigned raising his hands. ¡°That¡¯s it, I surrender!¡± None of the guards approached to do the deed. They were simply cautious, and not still afraid, no not at all! ¡°Ha-ha-ha!¡± The Spider King cackled. ¡°Just joking. [Summon Darkness].¡± And just like that the dreadful thing was back at his side. ¡°Sorry, Master, meow! That light killed all the minions!¡± The Darkness apologised. ¡°Yeah, they had a hidden ace, or two. But I guess they¡¯re all out of tricks.¡± He grinned like a true villain. ¡°But not me. [Multicast], [Magical Inventory]!¡± Portals opened all around the Spider King. ¡°Fire!¡± A plethora of fiery and angry puppets popped out of the portals. ¡°Earth!¡± Heavy and earthen puppets jumped down right after. ¡°Water!¡± Flowing and sleek puppets landed one after the other. ¡°Air!¡± Dexterous and quick puppets desended. ¡°And let¡¯s not forget. The man, the myth, the legend¡­ one and only Aang!¡± A puppet-like no other walked out of the final portal. ¡°Get them!¡± The Spider King commanded. There were just as many puppets as there were guards. But those were only puppets, many times smaller than a guard and somewhat cute in their designs. A distant observer might laugh at the sight where a mighty Paladin was pitted against a mere puppet, however, no one was laughing. The Imperial Guards eyed the summoned monsters with suspicion. ¡°Sir?¡± Someone asked unsure how to approach the situation. The Guard Commander raised his sword. ¡°Just kill them!¡± After all, what else could be done? ¡°[Smite]!¡± Someone tried but that wasn¡¯t that effective. ¡°[Arach Dominus]!¡± The puppet set fire to not one, not two, but all five of the nearby guards. ¡°[Arach Dominus]¡±, ¡°[Arach Dominus]¡±, ¡°[Arach Dominus]¡±, the puppets exploded dealing their elemental damage. The space around the Spider King burned with fire, and at the spot where there was no fire, it exploded in eroding elemental water, or cracked into unnatural fissures shaking the ground beneath the guards, or blasted them off with powerful gusts of magical wind. And once again, it was Chaos. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here.¡± The Spider King urged his familiar. ¡°Meow!¡± ¡°[Shadow Walk]¡± ¡°[Shadow Walk]¡± The two disappeared without much opposition. But they didn¡¯t go far, only past the encirclement. There, still in the HolyLight Cathedral, but also the shadow realm: the place accessible through the Shadow Walk; the realm filled with darkness. In both places at once, the Spider King spied on the nearby souls. He was looking. Looking for the culprit of this farce. The realm was shadowy and dark, not much of colour was in there, with one exception of course. Souls of various colours burned bright in their bodies. With not much surprise, most souls here were burning bright in white, some brighter than the others. Mind you, it didn¡¯t have much with the person being good or evil, but more with their magical affinity. After all, the spiders were just the kindest bestest creatures and their souls burned black! Anyway, he found what he was looking for. A soul burning brighter and bigger than the others. The Spider King broke the spell. ¡°Found you!¡± He manifested right in front of the Emperor. Strangely, that holy aura the man held was nowhere to be found at this moment. He was being dragged away by two guards, and rather forcefully at that. ¡°Spiders¡­ The Holy Light¡­ Corrupted¡­ Error, Error, Error!¡± He was mumbling some nonsense. The guards yelped at the sudden presence of the Spider King brandishing their swords towards him. ¡°Help!¡± One of them shouted in alarm. ¡°Sorry for this.¡± The Spider King pushed his spidery claw forward. ¡°[Disintegrate].¡± He winced dipping at the negative mana again, but this was necessary, or he had told so to himself. A rather simple scene unfolded. The two guards together with their armour, and then the Emperor himself were turned to course dust. Just like that, without much fanfare, it was simply death ¨C it came at the most inopportune moments and claimed people at their weakest. What? Did you think he would let the Holy Emperor go? No way! He was a nuisance! And would have remained so! Sure there were better ways to go around this, but the Spider King was still at disadvantage. Just like the HolyLight Cathedral, the outside of it was positively stuffed with guards and other capable fighters. He could take a platoon or two, but not an entire army, not without a proper plan. So without much further ado, ¡°[Shadow Walk],¡± he disappeared before the nearby swords could get him. ¡­ It seems that the Holy Empire had summoned something truly out of this world; more than they bargained for. Perhaps it was hubris, or ineptitude of their mages, either way, the Holy Capital paid dearly for it. Much of their most powerful mages were rendered Sundered, a lot of the nobility were killed in a strange blast, and the survivors were left debilitated with a strange curse of Corrupted. Worse of all the Holy Emperor was dead! It was a very dark day for the Empire. The monster they summoned, the Monster King, or rather the Spider King, simply disappeared nowhere to be found. Many people feared for him to reappear, so the paranoia was through the roof. Some were fleeing the capital altogether, others holed up in their homes and mansions. The Imperial Guards were doing their best to keep things together but honestly it was hardly working. Without proper leadership the Holy Capital fell to the curse of Chaos. Some even began questioning the Holy Light itself! A blasphemy which wouldn¡¯t be allowed to go on in better times, but now¡­ Anything seemed to go. The true survivor of the battle, a man from the Hero¡¯s Party, the Warrior, he was walking in a somewhat dilapidated Cathedral. The recent battle stripped off much of its previous beauty: the stained glass windows were smashed into fragments, the marble floor was cracked or outright melted, many of the plentiful pillars were missing, there was a massive hole boring all the way through the distant wall, and much of the otherwise beautiful art didn¡¯t survive. Yet, it was still a Holy Cathedral, a place for those who still believed to gather and pray. Sadly, due to dead priests, missing authorities, and persistent chaos, it remained somewhat vacant. He spied only a few people praying, but surely give it a week or two, and more people would come to their senses. Admittedly, he wasn¡¯t here to pray so he wasn¡¯t the one to talk. He was here to better understand what went wrong in his battle. Yes, he was here to improve as a Warrior, he was here to glean some wisdom from the signs left behind. And there was a lot to be learned. He walked around tracing his steps and thinking how and why he had failed. He was at it for a while and for no other reason than his rumbling stomach, something unsightly caught his eye. It was the splattered mystery food the Monster King left behind, the one the Ranger knocked with her arrow. ¡°Ha!¡± He chuckled. ¡°He didn¡¯t like that. The monster went berserk!¡± He remembered with a smile. Indeed, he was a positive person taking little victories whenever he could. ¡°But thinking about it¡­ I didn¡¯t even land a single hit.¡± He shook his head. ¡°How could I do better next time?¡± He questioned himself trying to reflect. However, for some strange reason, his eyes often wandered back to the squished and messy pie. ¡°I wonder¡­¡± He paused. ¡°No, I really shouldn¡¯t.¡± He said so but his arm reached for it. The battle happened yesterday but the pie seemed fresh like baked a minute ago, albeit a tad bit crushed. He looked around to see if no one was looking, then he jabbed his finger through the crust scooping some of that gooey mess. And into his mouth it went! ¡°Delicious!¡± Tears welled into the corners of his eyes. ¡°I never had anything this tasty before!¡± He was eating splattered pie from the floor, in other words ¨C trash; but not a single cell in his body regretted that decision. ¡°Huh?¡± There was more to it. [Error!], no, not this one, he was still Corrupted and the System was doing that occasionally. [Congratulations! The System was overwritten] [Welcome to the Monster System!] From the sudden surprise he fell back on his ass. ¡°M¡­ M¡­ Monster System?¡± He stuttered slightly afraid but mostly he was intrigued. ¡°Oh!¡± 149.5 – Darkness To Dispell The Night, Terror To Give You Hope. A great calamity had struck the Holy Empire. As a consequence of some rather strange events, it all happened even sooner than anticipated. Who would have expected that the one they sought out to save them, the Hero, that he would be the one to strike this decisive blow? An overwhelming cloud of gloom and misery hung thick above the Holy Capital. Worse, their guiding light, the Holy Emperor himself, was dead! The Clergy needed the replacement and soon, yet none of the appointed heirs stepped forward; everyone had a syndrome of cold feet. Perhaps they were afraid of being assassinated just like the Emperor was, or perhaps they didn¡¯t want to be blamed for what would eventually happen ¨C the fall of the Empire. In other words, the Chaos remained deeply entrenched within the capital of the Holy Empire. It was hard to find hope¡­ and the Giant ''Enemy'' Spider was getting closer by the day. Yes, the Holy Empire still needed to deal with that threat, and without a Hero all seemed lost. Despair took the hearts of the people. That was the obvious, however, a certain less visible phenomenon was taking place in the HolyLight Cathedral. It set roots right at the end of the summoning ritual. At that time, a lot of magic was condensed at a single spot, then a portal was created, and then a soul pulled through. Such things were fickle and less predictable than you might think. An obscene amount of magic destabilised the space, no, the very fabric of reality. The immediate result was the summoning of the Hero, which was completed without a hitch, however, there was an unforeseen result as well. The fabric of reality was already thin at that point and then the use of Chaos and Divine magic had disrupted it even further. To cut this longwinded explanation short ¨C the wild mixture of mana and magic birthed a peculiar entity, or rather an embodiment of concepts, a new deity, a godling, or whatever you want to call it. But anyway, as all concepts should, it already had a name, it was the Dark Flame (A concept born from the Dark magic spell by the same name, Dark Flame). And to be more precise, it wasn¡¯t exactly born here and now, it only gained its proper divinity at this very moment. Well to be even more precise, it was attempting to usurp an already present spot. So whose spot did it attempt to take? ¨C It was rather obvious! There was a concept of the Holy Light, but also a concept of the Dark Flame. The two didn¡¯t want, or rather, couldn¡¯t exist in the same place and at the same time; not for long that is. While the battle raged things were in precarious imbalance, the surviving godling would be decided by the outcome of the battle. It was only natural that the Dark Flame would be snuffled out and stripped of its budding divinity if the Spider King lost, it would only make sense, and the opposite was also true. Since we know about the outcome let''s skip forward to a few days after the battle. Ignorant and unaware, the pious gathered inside the HolyLight Cathedral. They were here to consecrate the ashes of their Holy Emperor and also to say goodbye to all the recently perished, after all, the cursed Implode Core took a great number of innocent lives. Oblivious to the new ¡®owner¡¯ of the cathedral they brought no less than a thousand of HolyLight Candles. One by one they lit the candles and joined in a mass prayer. It was a silent prayer where you kneeled and put your hands together. They weren¡¯t speaking it out loud, but all of the gathered were wishing for salvation, both for the recently perished and for still living; but mostly for the still-living. ¡®Save us from the calamity.¡¯ ¡®I don¡¯t want to die.¡¯ ¡®Protect me and my children.¡¯ ¡®Give us light.¡¯ They were praying to the Holy Light, but that deity had been superseded by another, by the Dark Flame. Yet, much like a deity should, it still listened to their prayers. The godling liked to be prayed to, and like all deities it wanted to have followers, so it was happy in a sense. However, it had to let the pious know of the recent changes. After all, it''s name wasn¡¯t the Holy Light it was the Dark Flame now! At the whim of the godling, the light dimmed inside the cathedral, it got unnaturally dark and very quickly. The pious, while fervent in their prayer, didn¡¯t notice the change straight away. Not until all light coming from the HolyLight Candles were flickered off and all at once. The gathered froze at the sudden change, the entirety of the nearby surroundings were plunged into supernatural darkness. It was still midday, and the cathedral windows were huge and open, but not a single sunray reached the pious. It was as if they were cast into the deepest and darkest abyss. You would expect screams and shouts born from fright, but instead, there was only deadly silence. That was because each and every person felt it. They felt something more than them, they felt the air tinged with the aura of divinity. They¡¯ve experienced something a few mortals ever did. ¡°Be not afraid.¡± A spidery voice chirped inside their heads. ¡°¡­¡± It paused giving the mortals time to accustom, then it continued. ¡°You pray for light? I will provide.¡± It chirped with authority. With those words, the HolyLight Candles began to change. The pristine whine wax turned to vivid blue, the perfectly straight shaft twisted and bent into a crooked shape, and sometimes one candle morphed into two smaller candles but gnarled and misshapen. The change was quick and a real marvel of magical transmutation, but because of the oppressive darkness the pious weren¡¯t able to observe it. ¡°Let there be light!¡± The entity chirped. All thousand of the candles burst with the purple flame. True to its word, the godling gave them light, but more accurately it gave them Darkvision. The candles burned cold and emitted almost no actual light at all, however, everyone could see without a problem. ¡°You pray for protection? I will provide.¡± It chirped again. ¡°You pray for salvation? I will provide.¡± It said with confidence. ¡°My pious non-spiders, what is it you fear so much?¡± It asked sensing their terror. Needless to say, they were afraid of the one speaking with them at this very moment; the divine aura was thick and heavy. However, not a single one of them felt any hostility coming from it. The deity''s words rang genuine and true. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it A brave soul looked up directly at the peculiar flame hovering in the middle of the cathedral, it was there at the same spot where the summoning portal had appeared a few days ago. Of course, there was a fear that the brave one was looking and hearing some sort of evil manifestation or even a demon, but by this point¡­ who even cared? ¡°Deity¡­¡± He began. ¡°Dark Flame.¡± A stern chirp corrected. ¡°Dark Flame,¡± he nodded with resolve. ¡°We fear the calamity, we fear the spiders. Can you really save us?¡± ¡°¡­¡± The deity paused and showed everyone with its poorly controlled aura of confusion. The Dark Flame was surprised by those words. Very surprised. Its very concept, its ideals, its divine seed, its very essence was born from spidery thoughts and prayers. Yes, it is a divine concept that was first conceived not here in the now not-so-holy Cathedral, but in the Spidery Temple of the Aurelian Capital. Admittedly, it was confusing, yes, but the Dark Flame could only be born here in the Holy Capital, in a place saturated with divinity. It could only exist by usurping a spot from another deity. But enough of that, the deity¡¯s confusion was because the spiders were just very good guys. What did these mortals even do to earn their spidery spite? ¡°Do not be afraid of spiders.¡± The Dark Flame chirped simply. ¡°But¡­¡± The brave man had something to say. ¡°Do not be afraid. If you believe in the Dark Flame, in my ideals, there is no reason for the spiders to harm you.¡± ¡°Is that¡­ Is that so?¡± The brave man asked somewhat unsure. ¡°It is so. Why would my followers, be they spiders or non-spiders, fight each other?¡± It spoke out rhetorically. ¡°And, I¡¯ll always protect my followers!¡± it said with pride. ¡°¡­¡± The brave man had no answer. Actually, he had even more questions now. The divine aura grew a shade or two in thickness. ¡°I know mere words are never enough. Now, let me pick a worthy soul.¡± It scanned and probed the room for a worthy soul. ¡°Ah, you!¡± the godling found its quarry. A burly man began to glow in purple. ¡°Eh? Huh? What is happening to me?¡± He shot up from kneeling and was looking at his glowing hand. ¡°You¡¯ve already embraced my ideals, Warrior. Diligent, devoted and hardworking, as well as honourable and loyal to the bitter end.¡± The Dark Flame showered the burly man with praise. ¡°Moreover, you possess the Monster System already, which makes things a lot easier for me. [Dark Ascension]!!!¡± ¡°Eh? Huh?¡± The warrior repeated even more bewildered this time. His eyes darted as if reading some invisible text. ¡°Yes. Yes, I accept!¡± He exploded in brilliant purple. The divine magic acted quickly, the Warrior was transformed into something else. He grew taller and his old battle scars healed entirely. He was now a being known as a Fallen Imperial, but more precisely as a BlackGuard variant. ¡°Wow, my stats doubled!¡± He sounded happy at the changes. ¡°Human, the spiders should now see you as a friend.¡± The brave man looked at the ex-warrior in disbelief, something impossible transpired right infront of the entire congregation; he had witnessed a miracle. ¡°How¡­ What about me? I mean the rest of us?¡± ¡°Follow my ideals and you too shall be Ascended.¡± The deity said so growing twice the size in flame. ¡°Actually, as a show of my goodwill, let me bless all of you, my pious non-spiders. [Multicast], [Bless].¡± The Dark Flame used a fraction of its newly gained divinity to bestow them with a temporary blessing. It was a minor blessing only, but it did wonders on the tired and fatigued bodies of the pious. Vigour filled their blood and the colour returned to their faces. ¡°Praise be, Dark Flame.¡± A woman uttered. ¡°Praise be!¡± A desperate man added. ¡°No,¡± The Dark Flame willed to correct. ¡°Thank me with the words of ¡®Arach Dominis¡¯. Say Arach Dominis.¡± ¡°Arach Dominis.¡± The congregation repeated. The flame burned contently at those two spidery words. ¡­ Not just in the cathedral but everywhere in the Holy Empire, and all at once, the HolyLight Candles changed into DarkFlame Candles. This was the first sign of a much larger series of changes in the Empire. While the fragmented remainders of the Clergy recognised it for what it was ¨C the dark corruption of their holy deity. Aside from destroying the twisted candles, there was very little they could do about the whole thing. Moreover, the desecrated cathedral remained standing for a rather simple reason, everyone feared even greater calamity if they challenged this new but very hands-down deity. The same went for the misguided pious of the Dark Flame since fighting between each other clearly wasn¡¯t the solution here. And anyway, what could a mortal do against the deity? Deities were concepts embodying powerful ideals, normally they didn¡¯t have flesh bodies or anything like that. Even if they pulverised every single brick of the cathedral and slaughtered the misguided pious, the Dark Flame would continue burning in that same place it was conceived. The best course of action was to discourage people from praying to it. Yet it was difficult to achieve because desperate people always sought salvation, and those in dire need always latched onto whatever promised them that safety¡­ Moreover, the Dark Flame, unlike the previous inhabitant of the cathedral, was strangely willing to bestow its blessing on its followers. And just like so, the ranks of desperate and curious swelled seemingly overnight. Heresy would normally be spoken in hushed whispers, however, the fallen people of the Empire practically shouted blasphemy in open streets: ¡°The Dark Flame will protect us.¡± ¡°It has given us light in this Darkness, it has given us true sight.¡± ¡°The Dark Flame will guide us. It will bring us to salvation.¡± ¡°Come join the sermon! Everyone, please come.¡± ¡°If we want to survive. All of us need to be Blessed!¡± ¡°Brothers and sisters, come to the DarkFlame Cathedral. Let¡¯s Assend together.¡± There was that, but also there was more: ¡°The spiders aren''t our enemy. They are the saviours!¡± ¡°You have nothing to fear, we, the followers of the Dark Flame, will welcome them as friends.¡± ¡°Yes! They are coming here not to punish, but to save us!¡± ¡°Join us in the cathedral, let''s pray for our salvation!¡± ¡°Yes, yes! You must join the Monster System!¡± ¡°So it may be, Arach Dominis!!!¡± To a more grounded observer, all of this must sound like a complete drivel, yet the followers were surprisingly successful in their recruitment drive. And seemingly in less than a week, one god was completely superseded by another. Interestingly, even the old Clergy jumped ship in the end. Just a while ago, everyone was dreading the arrival of the Giant ¡®Enemy¡¯ Spider, but now they were fervently praying for that day. The entire capital, every single soul who could see the truth, the people who hadn''t fled the capital and stood firm in their noble beliefs, all of them were preparing for its spidery arrival. They made a huge hole in the otherwise formidable imperial wall so that it could fit better. They cleared the imperial plaza and made a huge nest so that it could rest after its long journey. They gathered large quantities of food to throw a huge feast for the spider. They cleared the imperial vault of everything nice and shiny so that the crafters and smiths had enough material for the blessed spider¡¯s welcoming gift; a super-massive jewellery piece. They gathered dancers, singers, and other entertainers to throw a show for the spider. Everyone was looking forward to it. Everyone was pitching in¡­ Everyone was desperate... The spider¡­ Had to be appeased!!! 150 – The Unquenchable Thirst Of The Chaos Queen
The Holy City, the jewel of the Holy Empire, was bustling with activity. People poured out of their houses, filling the streets. Everyone, without exception, was on the streets. Some wore warm, expectant smiles, while others gazed into the distance with worried expressions. Regardless, their hands were filled with neatly wrapped bundles. As if guided by an unseen force, they all moved towards the same destination¡ªthe massive breach within the city walls. The breach was growing larger daily, and workers were still toiling to widen it brick by brick. People streamed out of the breach toward an unnatural hill. They stacked their bundles neatly, increasing the hill¡¯s size. This was the Hill of Offerings, gifts intended for the messiah. A bundle slipped from a man''s hand, and the gift rolled across the packed ground. His trembling finger pointed towards the horizon. "Giant Enemy Spider," he uttered, his voice shaking. A warm hand rested on his shoulder. "Giant Friend Spider," a soft, feminine voice corrected. "Our messiah is finally here!" she exclaimed, her voice filled with ecstasy. One by one, people stopped what they were doing, gathering in a large crowd around the priestess. "Our prayers have been answered. It''s finally here!" the priestly woman welcomed the distant giant with open arms. "Our savior and our salvation. People, let''s pray!" she urged her flock. Fervent prayer filled the air, the number of zealots growing by the second. Even the most skeptical were now converted, for the truth was undeniable. The majestic form of the giant spider moved unimpeded, its movements fluid and graceful. Perhaps this giant was gentle after all. With each stately step, the prayers grew louder and more fervent. By the time the spider reached the walls, the prayers thundered, carried by thousands of voices, a welcome unlike any other. The colossal construct, half spider and half fortress, halted a few steps from the breach, towering over the gathered people. The people marveled at it with awe but also apprehension. They didn''t know what this messiah held in store for them. "It''s time, it''s finally time!" the High Priestess rejoiced. "O'' Friend, our savior, grant us your blessing!" In response, the spider opened its mandibles, and a massive cylinder extended from its mouth. A divine trumpet, perhaps, or something similar? The air hummed with warm vibrations, drawing purple particles around the trumpet. The priestess felt her hair stand on end and her skin tingle with a strange sensation. The air was filled with it¡ªthe spider''s power. "I sense a powerful blessing. Be ready." The fervent prayers intensified. Their eyes locked onto the majestic trumpet, awaiting its blessing. Then something unexpected happened. From deep within the giant spider''s mouth, a figure emerged. An angel! She was radiant and beautiful, her white wings glowing with warm light as she glided through the air gracefully. The angel landed directly in front of the priestess, her beautiful face betraying panic. "You''re the followers of the DarkFlame, are you not?" the angelic beauty asked. "Yes, we are. Are you the messenger of the Giant Friend Spider?" "Friend?" the angel fluttered her wings. "Yes, of course, a friend," she said, turning to look at the spider. "Hey! Hey, stop it!" she shouted, waving her hands. "Stop it, now!" The menacing ball of purple that had gathered at the tip of the trumpet fizzled out. "O'' spidery messenger, did we do something wrong?" The High Priestess fidgeted in front of the angel. "Have we displeased the spider? Are we unworthy of its blessing?" "No, not at all." The angel shook her head vigorously. "Believe me, you don''t want that ''blessing.''" "Well then, please tell our Friend that it is welcome to claim its gifts." The priestess pointed at the Hill of Offerings. "Oh, so that''s what it is!" "Yes," the priestess nodded with a smile. "And if our spidery savior finds it suitable, it can claim the palace as its nest." The angel gazed past the breach. "Hmm, It should fit, I guess." She stretched her wings wide. "Well then, see you at the palace," the angel said, taking to the air. "I''m glad this could be resolved peacefully," she added before disappearing back into the spider''s mouth. Something stirred within the spider. Hatches previously unseen flung open. Like a broodmother, the giant spider birthed spiders. Thousands of them. "Is this... Is this our blessing?" The High Priestess stared in disbelief. The spiders descended upon the hill, snatching the bundles with their spidery claws. They would take a gift and then give a chirp accompanied by a wave. Not long after, the giant spider stirred and began to move again. It squeezed past the massive breach in the walls, its nimble legs weaving through small houses and narrow streets. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The people followed right after the spider, amazed at its size and the lack of destruction. "Our savior!" "Our messiah!" "Our Friend!" The pious followed the spider with eyes full of zeal. However, there were others who saw the spider for what it was¡ªa fortress on legs, a construct capable of ultimate destruction. They were apprehensive, following mostly out of fear. After all, not so long ago it was known as a Calamity. The giant spider stopped by the palace. Its head tilted at the pristine palace walls curiously. The massive trumpet was gathering purple particles again, presumably preparing another blessing. The angel fluttered out of a hole within the spider. She hovered between the palace and the trumpet, her hands waving frantically again. The gathered ball of purple fizzled out, and the giant spider''s head slumped down. Why was the angel denying the blessing? The High Priestess rushed ahead to catch up with the angel. "O'' Radiant Angel, is something the matter?" the priestess shouted, cupping her hands. "No-no, everything is fine!" "If so, can we get our blessing, please." "I don''t think you want that ''blessing,''" the angel reassured her with a warm smile. "But we do! This was the prophecy. The savior will come to the Holy City and bestow us with generous blessings." The High Priestess pointed at the inert trumpet. "The blessing you''re pointing at might be too ''warm'' for you." The angel pointed out. "But how about this, [Bless]?" "I am thankful, Angel," the High Priestess brushed the golden motes off her robe. "But this mere blessing isn''t enough to save our Fallen Empire." "Oh... Yes, I guess your empire is indeed now fallen." "Yes, but the DarkFlame assured us that the glorious spider will grant us our salvation." She gazed back at the majestic trumpet. "Salvation you say... I don''t know if that''s what you''ll get, but either way, you''re getting something." "A blessing?!" "Not quite. A Queen." The angel said apologetically. "A... a... Queen!" "You''ll see her soon." The angel disappeared into the spider''s head again, only to reappear with something curious wrapped around her arm. "Is this?" "This is the only blessing you''ll get... Unfortunately," the angel whispered the last part, sounding rather apologetic. "The Chaos Queen!" "We''ll take her!" The priestess reached out enthusiastically. "EH?! The angel flapped her wings. "But she had almost evaporated you all, twice!" The angel''s words flew over the Priestess''s head, her eyes shining with zeal. Her hand continued reaching. "This is our blessing! A Queen to rule the Fallen Empire!" she concluded. The Chaos Queen coiled around the reaching hand. Her hand reached in turn, and then her tiny fingers squeezed. "Centauri Cheese, sss?" the Queen asked in an expectant hiss. The priestess''s face turned red, her hand reaching for the fingers clasping her voluminous bosom. And yet, she wasn''t brave enough to pull the Queen away. "What did she say? What does this mean?" "Ignore her words... And behavior. I think the Queen is just being hungry," the angel replied, her face also red. "Drow IceCream, sss" she asked in another expectant hiss. "???" "I am so sorry," the angel apologized again, her hand reaching to retrieve the Chaos Queen. A mischievous hand, tiny but powerful, slapped the angel away. A knowing glint shone in the little lamia''s eyes. "Priestess Milk!" she demanded with another squeeze. The High Priestess had enough, her knees gave out, and she collapsed on the pavement. ... The DarkFlame promised to bless the Fallen Emperials with a protector, and it delivered¡ªthe Giant Friend Spider. It promised a new ruler, both kind and wise, and it delivered¡ªthe Chaos Queen. Speaking of which, the queen was eagerly slithering towards the imperial throne. Behind her was the Radiant Angel, and behind her was the High Priestess. This was but the beginning, because right after slithered the Chaos Lamia, a hundred or so of them. And then all the spiders: navigators, engineers, gunners, mages, and so on and so forth. The palace grand hall was big but it still struggled to fit everyone inside. No problem, the spiders stuck to the ceiling, allowing the remaining fallen nobility inside.
Fallen nobles, merchants, and other personas who still remained within the Holy City, they looked at their new queen both with uncertainty but also hope. The queen slithered upon the golden throne, her small figure almost comical, contrasting harshly with the colossal throne. She parted her lips to hiss in a child-like voice. "The empire is fallen, sss, the city is mine. You are my now my sss-subjects." A simple statement, but it was true. Half of it were the zealots and the other half had no desire to oppose the Giant Enemy Spider, ups, Giant Friend Spider. The city was hers! With the Crown of Dominion in her hands, the angel stepped close to the queen. "Congratulations, your father would be proud," she fluttered her wings, flinging brilliant golden motes into the air. "To win the city over, without a single casualty, absolutely brilliant." "Sss!" The Radiant Angel lowered the crown onto the little lamia''s head. She took a knee in front of the throne, prompting others to follow. "My Queen," she fluttered her wings. "My Queen, sss." Chaos Lamia hissed with pride. "Our, little princess," the spiders chirped jovially, but their real loyalty remained somewhere else. "My Queen, my blessing," the High Priestess and her flock took the knee. The fallen nobles and merchants followed, saying the same line. The Chaos Lamia clapped her hands merrily. "S-s-s, fire!" she commanded, flicking her hand forward. "Ah!" The Angel flapped her wings in alarm. The nearby Friend fired a charged cannon into the sky, splitting the clouds. [Giant Enemy Spider activated the Fall Of The Kingdom] A beautiful web appeared in the sky, breaking up in a flash and then showering the Holy City in sparkling purple motes. "S-s-s," she laughed like a villain. "The Holy Empire. Nomore!" The crown on her twinkled with sinister light. [Crown of Dominion activated the special skill Create Diminion] "Welcome to, sss..." she paused, her eyes taking a red glow. The mood grew ominous. "Chaos Realm!!! S-s-s!" [Chaos Realm joined the Monster System] [Race change was activated: Human > Fallen Imperial] The High Priestess clapped her hands, "What a marvelous blessing!" She approached the throne, her face beyond ecstatic. "My queen, I shall welcome the new lambs. Instruct them in proper ways of the DarkFlame!" Seeing the opportunity, the young queen reached with her hand and squeezed demandingly. "Priestess Milk!!!"
151 – An Overly Sticky Situation At the shadowy hours of midnight, surrounded by a field of vivid blue flowers, inside a spidery gazebo, at the masterfully crafted ironoak table, there sat two curious figures: Johny the Magnificent Slug and Spider King, the ruler of the Monster Realm. Johny was practically glowing today, her blue-tinted but still translucent skin incredibly shiny and her head tendrils bubbly with excitement. Her long slug tail quivered with anticipation, though her upper body maintained an aura of calmness and stoicism¡ªa facade for appearances. She sat at the table, hands propping her ample bust, accentuating the voluminous jelly sacks to give the impression of imminent bursting. One tendril reached for the BlueWax candle, igniting it with the Fire SpiritStone. The candle cast a sinister purple glow from the Darkflame onto the table. Leaning towards the light, Johny smiled at the King. "That is better," she said, giving him a sluggish wink as a tendril extended towards his hand. "So, how can I help you?" The King clasped the rather slimy tendril, a matching smile curving his lips. "But Jonny, it was you who called me here at this late hour, away from my bed and my sleeping wife." Johny preserved her perfectly stoic expression while a tendril retrieved two petite teacups from beneath the table, placing them on equally cute plates. The cups and plates were adorned with pictures of jellybees engaging in rather peculiar type of water sports. Only after setting down the cups did Johny continue. "Ah, That Is Right. You Know, My King, Some Things Cannot Be Done Through Telepathy, Or Rather They Shouldn''t." Her tendril tightened its grip on his hand. "I see..." the Spider King swallowed audibly. Johny nodded. Despite the bubbly tendrils, she maintained her mask of perfect stoicism. Her hand moved away from her chest, causing the jelly to jiggle under the sudden force of gravity. It jiggled and bounced and quivered¡ªquite hypnotic! "Oh!" Breaking the hypnosis, the Spider King took the parchment she offered. Their fingers touched briefly before parting. He unrolled the parchment, revealing text and a spidery wax seal at the bottom. It was an official letter, enchanted with magic and impossible to tamper with. ===___=== Your Majesty, the Spider King, It is with the utmost reverence and exhilaration that I pen this missive to inform you of a monumental victory for you and yours. The Holy Empire, that bastion of celestial arrogance, has crumbled to dust beneath the weight of your daughter¡¯s dominion. The Holy City, once a beacon of false purity, now stands as a testament to the unwavering power of your lineage. Its inhabitants, once blinded by false truths, have been liberated from their intellectual shackles and now look up to your ever-diligent spiders and the true message they spread. Your daughter, the Chaos Queen, has demonstrated a tactical acumen and ruthlessness beyond her years. Her ascent to power has been swift and decisive, with not a single soul lost in this fight. However, the path to victory was paved with an unusual confluence of fortuitous events. The untimely demise of the Holy Emperor, a tragic accident cloaked in shadows, plunged the empire into a state of unprecedented vulnerability. Coupled with this unforeseen circumstance was the enigmatic emergence of the DarkFame, a spidery anomaly that has ignited a fervor of devotion among the masses. It is a curious twist of fate that the Holy City already possessed a cathedral dedicated to this mysterious force, a sanctuary that has served as a catalyst for our triumph. With your daughter securely ensconced upon the throne of the conquered, the work of unification and consolidation commences. The populace, surprisingly receptive to the change in leadership, exhibits a yearning for order and purpose. We are diligently working to establish a foundation of stability and prosperity, guided by the principles of darkness and chaos that are the hallmarks of your reign. May your daughter¡¯s reign be long and prosperous, marked by an era of unparalleled dominance. We eagerly await your wisdom and guidance as we shape the destiny of this newly acquired realm. Yours in eternal servitude, Elizabeth the Radiant Angel, Guardian of the Chaos Queen ===??? ??? ???=== As if to confirm the fact, the message appeared in his vision: [Chaos Realm joined the Monster Realm] The Spider King smiled but his eyes were sad. "Daughters, they grow up so quickly," he said, brushing away a single tear. "So she''s a fully fledged Queen now," he added, placing the scroll back on the table. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Johny tapped a tendril on a corner peeking from beneath the parchment. "There is a postscriptum attached under it." "Thanks, I''ve almost missed it." It was a creased, tear-smeared note written in haste and lacking the usual penmanship. ===___=== We¡¯re in a bit of a crisis, Your Majesty. We¡¯ve run out of the exotic delicacies your daughter craves¡ªCentauri Cheese and Drow IceCream. The Queen is becoming increasingly volatile without them. Just yesterday, she attempted to obliterate the Holy Quarters¡ªtwice! Thankfully, we managed to prevent catastrophe, but the strain is telling on both the priestesses providing the substitute dairy products and the Queen¡¯s temper. We¡¯re currently pacifying her with Priestess Milk, but it¡¯s a temporary solution at best. Please, send supplies immediately. I repeat, immediately. -E. ===^^^=== She hadn¡¯t even finished signing it properly. "Priestess Milk? What is this nonsense?" the King offered the creased note to the candle. The Darkflame didn¡¯t take it, refusing to burn it. "...," he sighed. "The realm is expanding too quickly. Logistics is becoming a serious issue," he sighed again. "My King, I''d Like To Offer A Warm Brew To Soothe Your Worries." Johny looked at him, her tendrils expectant. But the cups were empty, and there was no kettle or pot present at the table. The Spider King looked at the bottom of his empty cup. "Sure, but..." "Worry Not," Johny gave a mischievous smile, her hands propping her chest again. "Oh, I see," the Spider King replied with a mischievous smile of his own. To his surprise, Johny snapped her fingers. "A Moment, Please," her smile grew a shade more mischievous. A rhythmic buzzing filled the air. From the nearby orchard, among countless blue flowers, dots of blue and purple filled the sky. They were bees, or rather eldritch JellyBees¡ªhalf fairies and half bees. They buzzed in with melody, dancing through the air in swirls. Johny propped Spider King''s hand by the elbow, directing the cup higher and closer to his eyes. "Enjoy The Show. Something For Your Royal Eyes Only." The swirl of blue and purple grew closer, buzzing and flying around the gazebo. The Spider King looked at them in amazement. They were more like fairies than bees, humanoid in appearance but only as tall as a pinky finger. There in the air, they didn''t buzz but sang, they didn''t merely fly but danced a ballet in the mid-air¡ªa musical performance. A sole bee departed from the nearby group. She danced around the edge of the teacup, her tiny feet treading the narrow edge in a theatrical performance. Then she sat on the edge, her little feet dangling and her tiny face pointing directly at the keen eye of the King. The little JellyBee smiled and waved at him, her blue cheeks developing a warm shade of purple. There was a sound reminiscent of a miniature waterfall. And then she filled the teacup with hot, fragrant, steaming, viscous... Honey? Or at least an eldritch version of it¡ªthe BlueHoney, and only a squirt of it. The little bee blew an air kiss and departed the cup, allowing another to repeat the performance. Sooner than you might expect, the cup was filled with a warm brew unlike any other. "Amazing!" The Spider King marveled at the cup full of honey. Johny made a high-pitched giggle, raising her own cup into the air. "That did Take Your Mind Off Your Troubles, Didn''t It?" "Yes! I have almost forgotten about these little marvels." He took a sip from the cup. "Absolutely amazing! Best thing ever, my mind is soothed and my heart is warm." Johny slammed her half-filled cup, throwing the little bee off balance. "It Can''t Be That Good!!!" "???" He looked into her deep blues, noticing the beginnings of tears at her eye corners. "On second thought, it is subpar to your jelly, a poor imitation at most."¡ªNo, it was just as good¡ª"Yes, any day and any time, I''d take your divine ambrosia over this cheap knock-off." Johny was smiling brightly again. "Don''t Be That Harsh. And Don''t Lie For My Sake. Afterall, Our Minds Are Connected. Indeed, This Honey Is Exceptional." She brought the cup back to her lips, taking a greedy slurp. The King took a greedy slurp of his own. The honey tasted like youthful indiscretion with a hint of flowery zest. "An incredible product, yes. And the one responsible, the JellyBee Queen, where is she?" he looked around the buzzing cloud of bees. "She''s Buzz-ZZZ-y Making New Subjects." Johny, laughing at her own joke, put her empty cup on the table. "Is that so..." the Spider King hurriedly finished his cup, putting it by its twin. The bees buzzed around the gazebo, still singing and dancing. Johny shifted her hands, adjusting the heavy jelly sacks. ¡°Care For Another Brew?¡± she spoke directly into his mind. Her tendrill twisted the cups so that their handless touched, forming a familiar shape. ¡°No thank you. I think another... performance might be just too... satiating," he uttered hurriedly. Too much sweetness is bad for my heart.¡± Johny leaned closer to the candle flame, the purple flame reflected in her big blue eyes. ¡°I Think I Heard ¡®Too STIMMULATING¡¯, Ha-Ha,¡± She giggled. ¡°No! And stop reading my mind!¡± ¡°A shame...¡± Johny released the sacred hills back to gravity, freeing the hands to snap her fingers. *Bounce!*. With a snap of her fingers, the bees disapeared into the night, back into their flowers. Johny continued. ¡°I Don¡¯t Need To Read Your Mind To Know That You Still Worry.¡± The King''s eyes looked up and down, tracking the motion with perfect precision. ¡°Yeah, about the logistics and the supply lines.¡± ¡°No.¡± Johny shook her head, jer jiggly boddy swaying to the sides from the motion. ¡°About That Girl.¡± The King furrowed his brow, his eyes darting from left to right and back again. ¡°My daughter will be fine. She is in good hands.¡± Johny jiggled again from side to side, swaying all six of her jelly sacks. ¡°No. Not Her.¡± ¡°My wife?¡± *Jiggle-Jiggle*, *Bounce*, ¡°No. The Centauri Champion, Her.¡± Johny pointed her weapons at him. ¡°Stop reading my mind! And it was logistics then!¡± He slumped back into his chair and away from jello-like temptations. ¡°Without her it¡¯s hard to coordinate all of the supply caravans. I just wish she would come back soon from the Demon Realm.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Johny jiggled. ¡°Her Quest Is Taking Too Long. It¡¯s Time You¡¯ve Sent Her Some Spidery Assistantance.¡± ¡°As always, Johny, you are right.¡± He stood up from the table, his gaze distant. ¡°Hey!¡± a hand reached to stop him. ¡°???¡± ¡°Don¡¯t Shirk Your Duty! I Am About To BURST!!!¡± 152 – The Forbidden Princess Parts Panache
Lamia Queen woke up in the early morning. Beside her was her husband, the Spider King. He was still in deep sleep, but his body was shivering and trembling, his breath labored. No, it wasn¡¯t a nightmare he was having or anything like that. It was because during the night she had hoarded all the covers for herself, leaving her husband stranded and at the mercy of a cool night. The Lamia Queen was a good wife. She flung the mountain of covers, all four of them, back on her husband. She tugged him in tightly. ¡°You must have come back late, sss, you work too hard. Sss-sleep well, my dear husband.¡± She kissed him on a cheek and slithered to stand. The Spider King stopped shivering, his body relaxing, and an unconscious smile appeared on his face. ¡°No, mumble-mumble, stop. We can¡¯t, my wife, mumble-mumble,¡± He sleep-talked some nonsense as he always does. Whatever. She had many more wifey duties to perform, tucking in the husband and kissing him a morning kiss was just the beginning. The Lamia Queen stood up to dress, slithering towards her dresser. Her eyes opened in surprise; there was a present atop the dresser. ¡°Oh my, sss,¡± she hissed in pleasant surprise, her hand pressing at her modest chest. There on top of the dresser was not one, but six containers of jelly, freshly milked at that ¨C a gelatinous treat for her body and soul. A gift beyond gifts! But why so much, and so fresh? Ah, yes, she remembered now that her husband went late at night to tend to his pet animal. The jelly slug was rather demanding at times, calling her husband at the most inconvenient of moments. But how could she, the magnanimous Lamia Queen, be angry when she liked the slug¡¯s produce that much. She dipped her finger into the sticky and gelatinous mass, scooping a greedy glop, and into her mouth it went. ¡°The Spider King is, sss, a good husband,¡± she hissed in anticipation. If anything, he knew how to please his wife. She licked the jelly, one container, two containers¡­ All six were gone. Warm and fuzzy feelings filled her body, for once she was full, her sweet tooth demon satiated. The Lamia Queen was a good wife. Her husband deserved a gift, an equally pleasant surprise. But what? ¨C it was a conundrum. She looked at his sleeping form, seeking for answers. ¡°Volcano, mumble-mumble, fire. Lava¡­ Mumble-mumble¡­ So hot,¡± he mumbled some nonsense as he always does. Perhaps he was cold? The mornings here were rather chilly. She put two more covers on, that should do the trick. That was when her eye noticed a shinning blue trinket on his bedside table. It was a SapphireScale. She remembered this trinket of his very well. In her mind, she had vivid memories of her husband playing with this particular scale. More often than not, when he thought he was alone, he would pull it out and stare at it while deeply lost in thought. It was a habit of his. Once she saw him on his throne, twisting and turning the scale in front of his eyes, playing with it in the sunbeam coming from the window. His face was showered in reflected blues of the sapphire, making him look rather mysterious and handsome. At that time, he was staring at it with burning intensity, his breath heavy. Probably he was thinking about an intense battle where he slayed some fierce beast and claimed this sapphire-like trophy. Either way, at that time, she found his fierce expression attractive. There was another time where she saw him by the lake. With his feet in water and the scale in hand. He was using the scale to reflect the sun and shine sun bunnies on the lake surface as if to call some beast from deep within. A playful scene, yes, however, his expression was a sad one and filled with longing. Perhaps, he was missing the days where he fought at the frontlines as a Warrior and not as a King. Where he could claim many trophies like the one in his hand. Either way, at that time, she could sympathize with him. As a queen, just like him, she had to leave many simpler pleasures behind. There was another time where she caught him tucked inside the covers of the bed. He looked frustrated, angry almost. His gaze was distant, but his eyes burned with fiery passion. And as always, there under the covers, he was playing with his favorite trinket ¨C the sapphire scale. Or at least he pulled it out once he caught her looking. Huh? He looked rather sweaty and flustered. Eitheir way, at that time, she understood his anger, his fingers were looking for a distraction, and so was his mind. She understood the state of his beeing very well. That night he came onto her as a feral beast. That was very welcome. There were many other times¡­ The point is that someone might find his behavior odd, but not the Lamia Queen, she was a good wife, she understood her husband well. You see, the Lamia (plural) too liked to collect various trophies and mementos, even decorate their bodies with it. She, for example, even to this day, has a set of teeth earrings made from the first kobold she had slain. The kobold was delicious and the earrings a precious memento. Yes-sss! The scale her husband treasured must be something similar, something special, a memory he could touch and caress. She understood that well. However, the scale was raw and unprocessed, it was simply a Material. The Lamia were wise to turn their trophies into jewelry or even weapons, so this scale was a good candidate for something like this. ¡°Yes, sss, I think he would appreciate this,¡± her hand snatched the scale off the bedside table. The Lamia Queen was a good wife. She would process this into something very special, a surprise her husband would definitely appreciate. ¡°Sss,¡± she swooned, imagining all the hugs and kisses she would receive. ... The late morning wasn''t going well for the Spider King. Not at all. Forget the fact that he had overslept. There was so much to stress over. First, he didn''t want to blame all the sweets he had eaten just before bed, but he had a rather terrible nightmare. He dreamt of the chilling breeze of the mountaintop, there completely naked and without a single drop of a frost resistance potion. Stranded, hopeless, without any warmth. He didn''t remember what he dreamt next, but oddly enough, he woke up drenched in sweat, and under all six of those abysmally warm blankets. It made no sense. To dream of frost and freeze, but wake up feeling like he just took a bath in a magma lake. "Gah, I''m so wet and sticky!" Next, feeling tired and exhausted, he ended up dumpig the jelly containes, the ambeosia he''d worked so hard to extract, on top of the dresser. And then, of course, in this early morning, his wife of a glutton, got her claws on them. Her forked tongue and greedy fingers did a number on the containers; they were licked clean, all six of them, not a single drop of jelly remained. Not a drop! Shame, because it was reserved for the prominent spiders as their just rewards for a future Quest. And a spider would make it last a good month, so his wife, Lamia the Devourer, could learn some restraint from the spiders. "But will she ever?" Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. And then, the calamity struck. His forgetful self forgot to put the Mer Princess scale back into the Inventory space. Out of sight out of mind - as the saying goes, but his foolish self left it on a bedside table. Critical mistake, because it was now missing. Did... Did his wife know the true origin of the scale? He dreaded to think what happened to it. For all he knew, by now, it was likely thrust into the depths of the oblivion. The scale she entrusted to him - lost forever. "Sorry, Mer Princess. I will repent for my sins!" Hopefully, in the afternoon he will fare better. ... Outside, at the landing harbor meant for flying ships, the Spider King gathered an assembly of evolved spiders. A good hundred Spider Warriors, a necessary thirteen Spider Mages, a beast of a unit consisting of a single Warrior Leader Jr., and the usual hundred or so of support crew to man the Galleon Whale. The cohort of warriors wasn''t quite a legion but they were just as formidable. They donned armor black as obsidian, their pauldrons and back plates decorated with thorny, vicious spikes. At their hands, they held menacing weapons, axes glowing with either Frost or Fire, and sometimes Dark elemental magic. They also held terrifying shields, just as dark and just as thorny as their armor. Their helmets were horned, and their spidery feet tipped in sharp metal. Needless to say, they exuded an aura of Terror. The conspiracy of mages, all thirteen of them, hid behind enchanted cloaks, more a shroud of swirling darkness than a cloak. Their forms were obfuscated, but the golden glow of their eyes pierced the unnatural midnight darkness which was their form. Surely, hidden beneath the cloaks, they held numerous scrolls and potions at the ready, not to mention their mastery of Dark magic. They looked more like phantoms than spiders, creatures nearly impossible to harm with physical attacks. And the unit of a spider, the Warrior Leader Junior, well... It was equivalent to this world''s tactical nuke. Menacing, atrociously menacing. What else is there to say? The spiders stood proud, be it their chitin or their weapons, polished to perfection. Their golden orb-like eyes gazed at their King attentively, appreciating his head horns which formed a perfectly spidery crown. An occasional mandible clacked from excitement. It wasn''t often they had a chance to bask in his majesty''s aura and it was a rare honor to be gathered like this. Something glorious awaited them! The Spider King, the man, the one, the spidery legend, stood on top of conveniently placed supply crates - a stage for his performance. He was facing the flying ship, his back pointed to the spiders. Theatrically he flung his spidery cape, its jewels sparkling in the daylight, the n a fluid motion he turned to face the assembly. He scanned every single one of them, his gaze was villainous but also burning with passion. Once again, theatrically, he flung his cape but towards his back this time. Doing so he exposed his royal armor, a vest made of pure and pristine scales, light armor of immense power. He presented himself with pride. "Spiders," he addressed, his purple eyes glowing. "We need to go on a Quest!" He stretched his left hand, the darkened claws which were his fingers pointing towards the distant west. "As you know, certain kinds of supplies are dwindling. The formidable Centauri Champion remains missing, lost on her own Quest, and her presence is dearly missed. We shall aid her in her hardship and then bring her back. So once again, let''s go on a Quest!" "Aye-Aye," the spiders chirped, thumping their chests. The Spider King jumped off the crates, allowing the spiders to start loading the supplies. That was when his perceptive eye caught the pristine whites of his wife. She was slithering towards him in a mad sprint. "Oh no... Did I fail to escape in time?" He uttered, fearing the wrath of his wife. It was very likely she had sniffed the true origin of the vaguely heart-shaped scale. It was no mere jewel... Just so, in his haste, he tripped over a wrapped bundle of some generic supplies. "Butt-Rot! I should have used ShadowStep!" he cursed, scrambling to get on his feet. A surprisingly strong hand pulled on his cape, making him stumble again. Crouching, he turned to face the wrath of his wife. The Lamia Queen looked at him knowingly, her face stretched in a cold smile. That''s it, he was done. "..." No words came from the Spider King, he was gathering his might to face the wrath equal to a volcanic explosion. "Husband, sss," she hissed, her voice warm and deceptively loving. Aha! This was a moment where she would trick him to spill the beans.. . "This, sss," she took a familiar scale from behind her back. "!!!" "I''m returning this-sss to you," still smiling, she offered the gift. "Your battle trophy, sss..." Ah! She called it a battle trophy... a creative word to name the sin he was guilty of committing. His mind was shaking, but his hand was steady. He was a man! He would weather this. He would take the responsibility! "I see..." He took the scale. "???" Hey! It was different! She had done something to the scale! "Do you like it husband, sss? Go ahead, Inspect it." The Sapphire Scale had a DriderSilk string threaded across its tip, and the string itself was adorned with BlackPearls. But more importantly, it was obviously enchanted. Enchanted again and again. Layer upon layer. A feat seemingly impossible. There were so many enchantments that the necklace was actually vibrating in his hand, and if you listened very closely, it was humming, the humm oddly reminiscent of crashing waves. Mhm, an enchanted item. Brimming with arcane power. Yes-yes... Clearly this was a Bomb, and if not then an artifact meant to Curse him for his indiscretions. Either way, "[Inspect]" he invoked, ready to face the divine judgment. Item: LoveBound Necklace Quality: Masterwork Bonuses: +50MP, +10 Mer Faction Reputation Active Perks: [Hydrokinesis], [SonicSeduction] Passive Perks: [Beauty +1], [Reinforced +4], [Reflect: Charm], [Water Affinity] Resistances: [Water Resistance: Medium]
"Turn it over, sss. There is an extra." He flipped the scale, the back of it was engraved. The description reading: ''"In the depths of understanding, love forges its masterpiece." With wide eyes, he read the description again and again. Did... Did this mean she forgave him for his indiscretions?! "!!!" "Sss-so what do you think," drawing near she blinked at him, her cheeks flushed. "This is beyond amazing! The masterpiece like this? I am unworthy! Just... just how did you have it in you to make something like this?" He stared at his wife with starry eyes. "Husband, sss, you are worthy of it, and of much more." She puckered her lips, leaning for a kiss. A smooch was made, the bond between them growing stronger. "I shall admit a simple fact, true as the sky is blue. You are a good wife!" he purred and kissed her again. "Sss-stop it, sss, the sss-spiders are watching." She pushed him away, the gesture meant to stop herself, not him, from committing an assault in the broad daylight."Now put it on already." She said so, but it was her hands which clasped the necklace over his neck. That was when something unimaginable happened. [SYSTEM MESSAGE] A sinister, ethereal voice echoed through the mind of the Spider King. [Congratulations! Spider King, on your audacious and utterly shameless act of adorning yourself with a relic of such intimate origin. You have proven yourself to be a true champion of depravity. May your boldness be as eternal as your reign] [Achievement Unlocked: Princess Parts Panache] >+5 Reputation with female humanoid creatures. >-10 Reputation with all other creatures. >+25% chance to attract unwanted attention> Yeah... The Spider King''s hand reached to pluck the necklace off. "Sss, no," the Lamia Queen caught his intentions, her hand preventing his. "Wear this trophy with pride, sss, my good husband. Don''t ever hide it like you used to do. May it be known, that this necklace is my gift to you."She smiled in perfectly ignorant smile. After all, perhaps she didn''t know the true origin of the scale. But maybe she did, and was forcing him to wear his shame as punishment for his many-many indiscretions. Either way, it appears the necklace was staying on his neck. 153 - The Playful Splashing At The Thousand Feet Above Inside the Galleon Whale, in the Spider King''s royal cabin, a surprise awaited. "Mer Princess, what are you doing here?" The Spider King couldn''t believe his eyes. She was there in his cabin, casualty swimming in a crystaline tank. "What do you mean? I''m your maid, of course I''m coming with you," she spoke, her head poking out of the water. The Spider King, without even realizing he was doing it, grasped the necklace at his neck. Of course, she would react to that. "Oh? What is that? What is it you''re trying to hide?" She spun each time she asked a question, her blue scales shimmering in the light. Oddly excited. Did she know? She did, didn''t she? Slowly, oh so very slowly, he revealed the forbidden necklace. "Oh my!" she jumped halfway out of the tank, splashing the water. "Is that? It is!" she exclaimed, her mouth agape in shock. "How bold, how brazen!" She fanned her blushing face with her hand. "To carry this so openly... Are you trying to make a statement? Does this mean what I think it means?" she leaned over the edge of her tank, her sapphire eyes sparkling. "!!!" "Ha-ha!" she laughed sweetly, splashing some water on his face. "I''m just messing with you, relax. I know why you have this necklace," she slumped back into the water. "Your dear wife, it was her idea, and I was forced to help to enchant it..." Of course it was her idead! "Could you, let''s say, refused or something like that?" He asked just as he finished wiping the splashed water off his face. "How could I!?" she leaped out of the tank again, dousing the King in cold water again, his robe and all. "She came to me begging. Begging! Officially, I''m her servant, so how could I refuse..." she slumped back into the water. He wiped his face. "Hey, you keep splashing me! Don''t you have Hydrokynesis?" he asked because she should be able to manipulate the water, sparing him from all of the splashing. "You''re doing this on purpose, aren''t you? To get back at me for," He saw right trough her. "No!" She jumped again towards the edge. "Ha-ha." Her tail flicked, sending a generous splash. "Oh no you don''t, [Hydrokynesis]," he remembered he that too. The water swirled around him and then landed back into the tank. "But seriously, why?" his finger tapped at the glowing necklace. She smiled at him, not rushing to answer. Even though it felt like hours, the silence lasted only a moment. "You''re right, I was trying to get back at you. Not for what you did, but for what you didn''t do." Her eyes moved to gaze at the blues of the necklace, and her hand to her own chest. "You see, a perfect opportunity presented itself, and now you''re forced to wear a piece of me. My scale forever close to your heart... I find it rather romantic, and so should you." "It is," he admitted, adding, "in a twisted sense. This is a gift from the Lamia Queen, she even engraved it. If she ever knew where the scale came from, or rather from what part..." he didn''t finish. "What does it matter? I know you like this necklace, just look at you, complaing but actually giddy like a teenager. You''re happy for getting to wear something very special, she''s happy for gifting you an unforgettable memento, and I''m happy for you getting to wear it. Everyone''s happy, so is there a problem?" "When you put it like that... I guess it''s fine." She relaxed, turning to float on her back. "Then, all is good, but..." she paused, her blues looking at his purples, a piercing gaze directly at the soul. "Do wear it with pride. That would make me very happy." The room descended into near silence, there was only a silent hum coming from the necklace. "Hey, Day," he called her by the name. "Yes, I''m at your service." She swam up to the edge rather excited. "You were sent here to do your maid duties, yes?" He walked close to the window of the tank. "Yes, on the Lamia Queen''s orders, I''m your maid. And on the same orders, I''m to remain in your chamber, assist with your daily needs, and spy on you." she giggled right after finishing her sentence. "Oops, the last bit was meant to be a secret," she gave him a playful wink. "It seems my wife sent a wrong spy..." he dipped his hand into the water. "But isn''t this perfect? We get to sleep in the same room..." she took his hand in hers. "What was she thinking..." it was very likely she wasn''t thinking at all. "And how are you even supposed to do your maid duties? We''re a thousand feet in the air, and you''re trapped inside a water tank." "Oh? When was that ever an issue. I am very good at my job, observe. [Hydrokynesis]!" She pointed her fingertip at the water. With a practiced twirl of a finger, she manipulated an orb of water out of her tank. The orb flew through the air, its surface quivering ever so slightly. It flew to the ceiling corner, sticking to it. Its inside swirled in a vortex, collecting old sediment and dust. Quickly, the orb slid through the entire length of the ceiling, leaving the surface sparkling. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "Just like that." She flicked her finger. The dirty blob flew out of the window. "All done," she gave him a self-pleased grin. "Hmm... I want to try this too," the Spider King pointed his palm toward the water. "[Hydrokynesis]!" The tank shook, and the water inside stirred. "Hey, hey-hey-hey! What are you doing!" In panic, she squeezed hard on the hand she was holding. The Spider King strained, struggling to wield unfamiliar magic. "Hey! Careful! Easy, go easy on it!" "I almost got it. And let my hand go, I think your interfering with my spell." Her hand gripped even harder. "I think you should stop this. My entire body is feeling funny." Indeed, the tank was shaking violently, its water bubbling and swirling in chaotic currents. "Almost... Just another push!" he swung his hand up. "Ahhh!!!" she lost the grip on his hand, her body swept by the current. With a scream, the entire tank was emptied. Its contents were hovering in the air in a quivering bubble of water. And inside that bubble, trapped like a mosquito in amber, was Day Sapphire. "I did it," the Spider King celebrated, his hand moving the bubble across the royal chamber. The maiden inside the bubble tumbled like a sock in the washing machine. Eventually, she found steadiness within the water but ended up tail up and head down. "This is no way to treat a princess! Put me down!" she flailed her arms in protest. "Hey, I was thinking, does this count as flying? You are high in the air, so are you swimming or flying?" He asked in scientific curiosity. "I''m on the flying ship, of course I am flying!" she tried to stabilize her body but failed. "Hey! Your magic is interfering with mine! Stop it." "Hmm... I don''t know." He gazed through the small window. "The weather is nice, let''s go outside." He walked, taking the enormous bubble with him. "No, no-no-no! I''m sorry for splashing you with water on purpose. And teasing you. I''m not good with heights, please put me back in my tank. Please!" She begged, her voice distorted by the water. "Huh? What did you say? I think I have some water in my ears from all the splashing you did. I can''t hear you." He walked through the doors, the bubble squeezing through but just barely. "He-eee-lp," she squeaked from within the bubble. ... It was strange how easily some people could conquer their fears. One moment, Mer Princess was cowering in her bubble, the next she didn''t want to return to the confines of her tank. Her body was half out of her bubble, her eyes twinkling with excitement, and her hands pointing from one thing to the other, to the sky and to the earth below. Her view of the world was expanding. "I never thought a distant horizon could be so beautiful. The ground looks like an endless sea of green, and the deep blue sky reminds me of my home. And hey, are clouds as fluffy as they look? Do you mind taking me there? I wonder how they taste." The Spider King smiled at her childlike wonder. "Unfortunately, you can''t eat the clouds. They''re just miniature water droplets suspended in the air." She ignored the boring explanation. "i''ve always thought that there must be a lake in the sky because how else would it rain." The Spider King cupped his chin, his expression thoughtful. "While we''re on a water topic, how come I''ve never seen Mer hovering in bubbles just like this?" he pointed at the bubble he had made for Day. "Don''t be ridiculous, water manipulation on this scale is impossible..." she paused, catching herself. "I mean for any normal person. A bubble like this would just cost too much mana. It''s impractical." "You''re right. It is rather draining. But I think I could keep this on for a whole day," he boasted shamelessly. "Is that so? Your mana pool must be very big. I would be a very happy woman if you could keep it up for a whole day," she winked at him, her cheeks slightly pink. "I wouldn''t mind..." he paused, his eyes narrowing all of a sudden. "What is that ahead? Birds?" He pointed at the brown blob in the distance. [Warning! You''ve attracted unwanted attention] The flock turned to fly towards the ship. "Can''t be simple birds, they''re just too large," she pointed out the obvious. "Monsters then, and they''re coming right towards us." For a tiny moment, he regretted gaining that achievement. A little spider, junior of the crew, scurried closer to the Spider King. "My King, would you like to engage the Spider Hyperdrive?" He wavered. If he did so, he would need to stop this casual cruising and he was winning easy Mer affection points here. "My King, would you like to blast them with cannons?" the spider offered with a happy chirp. "Wait!" It was Mer Princess who interjected. "What if they''re not hostile?" He nodded. "However unlikely, it is a possibility. And I am curious." He strained to see better. "Let''s wait and see." As the flock approached, it became clear that they were vaguely humanoid in nature, half birds and half humanoid. A good flock of fifty of them. The Spider King stared at the unknown monsters, his heart throbbing with excitement. Mer Princess puffed her cheeks, her expression that of displeasure. "I get it, I do, but you shouldn''t stare at them that much." Indeed, these humanoid monster birds were all women and they were flying stark naked ¨C not exactly uncommon for monster races. And they were getting rather close. Overwhelmed with curiosity, he did his manly duty, taking their three sizes, "[Inspect]!" he looked for health, mana, and stamina stats.
Monster Race: Harpy Variant: Mountain
HP:50 MP:50 STA:150 ??????
Active Perks: [WingGust], [AirSnach]
Passive Perks: [TrueFlight], [EggLayer]
Resistances [Wind Resistance: Lesser]
The harpy he inspected was feathered in brown plumage. Just like her feathers, her hair and eyes were brown. Her face was pretty and youthful. She had wings for arms, and claws for feet. She looked impossibly thin, famished even, however, she was still very feminine and beautiful. The little spider fidgeted anxiously in its spot. "My King, how do we proceed?" "It''s best if we don''t intimidate them. Let''s see if they can talk." 154 – I Cant Think Of A Title, Im Getting Birdbrained The harpies circled the ship a few times before boarding the deck. By orders, there were only a few spiders stationed there, but even so, the harpies remained cautious. They kept to each other, maintaining the close formation. One of them, presumably the leader of the flock, stepped out of the flock. Her clawed feet tread the deck with bravery, her feathers puffed like a peacock. She was aiming for a nearby spider, a little dude stationed there to keep the deck clean. She stretched her wings and puffed out her chest, striking an appealing pose. Perhaps a courteous greeting of sorts. Or perhaps not. For a fleeting moment, her eyes glowed in a familiar crimson. The glow prompted a vague memory within the Spider King, too distant to remember well. The spider chirped a spidery greeting, giving the puffed-out harpy a cute wave. The walking bundle of feathers frowned, as if displeased by something. Her nose twitched and her feathers deflated. Hey, you scoundrel, when a spider gives a cute wave, you wave it back! The harpy fluttered her wings. "Girls, this one won''t do. It ain''t a male," losing interest, she turned away from the spider, ignoring its little chirps completely. Mer Princess poked her head out of the bubble, leaning in to whisper. "They speak the Demonic language." Meaning that the harpies are subjects to the Demon Lord. The harpy, puffed like a peacock again, strutted towards the Spider King and the Mer Princess, her entourage following her like ducklings from behind. The harpy glanced at the floating bubble, neither impressed by the impossible magic nor interested in the Mer inside. Her gaze locked on the Spider King, her expression turning lecherous. "Finally a male," she pointed at the Spider King with the tip of her wing. "This one is mine. You go check inside," her other wing pointed at the steps going down. The flock split in two, one part went down the stairs by the deck, the other remained behind the lead harpy. Feeling the harpy''s burning gaze, the Spider King straightened his back. "Greetings, I am the..." He didn''t get to finish. "Hey, listen!" The harpy spread her wings and puffed her chest. "Look into my eyes," her brown eyes turned crimson. [LoveBound Necklace activated the Reflect:Charm] Suddenly her pose changed completely. Her wings hung low and she looked at him with heart-filled eyes. "Hey! I''ve just noticed how handsome you are. Give me your name, handsome," she spoke in a songbird voice. "I am the Spider King, captain of this fine vessel, but I am more interested in you, feathered strangers. Who are you, and why did you board my ship?" "Hey? You''re interested in me? Hehe," she fluttered her eyelashes, fanning her face with a wing. "Let''s go somewhere private... and I''ll show you everything you want to see." She leaped forward trying to snatch him with her wings. He fended her off. "That... That is unnecessary. How about I learn your name for starters." "Who cares about that? Hey, how about a kiss?" she leaped again, offering a feathery embrace. "Ah!" she exclaimed suddenly, rubbing the back of her head. "Bad harpy, bad! No horny!" the spider cleaner spoke in semi-broken Demonic, waving the broom threateningly. The harpy fluttered her wings, the heart shapes disappearing from her eyes. "Eh? What happened? What was I doing? Oh, right." She puffed her chest out. "Look into my eyes, [Charm]!" It was reflected right back at her again. "Hey mister, want to make a baby?" A splash was launched from within the bubble, dousing the harpy in cold water. "What are you doing? I am wet now!" She complained, striking an angry pose. "You''ll pay for this," her eyes glowed again. The little spider bonked her head with a broom a second time, knocking the heart shapes out of her. The Mer Princess splashed the heated harpy for good measure. "You must be birdbrained or something... Don''t you get it, the Charm won''t work on him, you featherhead!" The harpy tilted her head sideways. "It won''t? But..." she pointed her cute nose upwards, sniffing at the air. "But he reeks! A strong, overpowering musk of a male!" The Spider King shuffled closer to the bubble, leaning in to whisper, "Day, do I stink? Why didn''t you tell me?" "You don''t! There''s clearly something wrong with the head of that bird," she didn''t bother to whisper back. "Oh, okay." But before the Spider King could lean away, Day grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling him close again. "But just in case, I''ll give you a good bath later. In my tank and all, full service," she whispered the last part with a wink. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Engaged in whispers, the Spider King failed to notice the approach of the harpy. Her nose was now close and sniffing at his chest. "Yup, the same smell, the one we picked up an hour ago," she pulled her nose away. "Are you sure my charms won''t work on you?" she asked, nuzzling her cheek against his chest, her wings aiming for a hug. "Enough!" Day flung her hand towards the harpy. "[SplashAttack], he is a King and you must treat him appropriately," she doused the harpy in water. "Hey! You bubble monster, don''t do that! I can''t fly with wet feathers." "Huh? They were wet before I even attacked, you harlot of a harpy. Spider, bonk her!" "Now, now ladies, let''s relax. No need to fight." He stood between the two. "Let''s start fresh, perhaps at the dinner table?" The harpy perked up, forgetting what all the ruckus was even about. "Dinner?! Sign me up!" "Then come inside, let''s catch up with the rest of your flock. I worry about them. I hope the spiders treated them right." They headed towards the stairs heading down. A bunch of harpies had already gone down there, and the rest were following right behind the Harpy Boss. The steps led down to the mess hall. The harpies who had split up from the leader beforehand were left in a pitiful state. Something very terrible had happened to them. They were huddled together in the corner and shivering, their expressions frightened and full of tears. "Boss," a harpy from the group cried, "don''t go any deeper! Terrible things will happen to you!" She tugged at the cloth binding her chest. "A trap?!" the lead harpy turned back towards the steps. Above the stairs, standing tall and proud, the little spitter blocked the narrow passage with its broom. It was staring at the trapped harpies, its yellow eyes glowing menacingly. "Rule number one," the spider chirped, raising a digit of its claw. "You shall not be naked!" The spider slammed its broom into the ground. "[GetEm]!" From beneath the darkness, from within the shadows, from unseen holes and hatches, spiders spilled. They clacked their mandibles, their claws spinning a blue thread. These guys were juniors looking after the ship, little and cute spiders, but at this moment they were as formidable as the grown-up spider warriors. "Ahh, help!" the harpy flapped her wings. "[WeaveWeb]," the spider chirped, catching the harpy with a lasso-like string. The Spider King rubbed his temples. "None of this was supposed to happen. But rules are rules." He watched the spider dress the Harpy Boss in an expertly woven tank top. Why tank top? ¨C You can ask the spiders that. ... There was resistance at first, but as soon as the food came out, the harpies warmed up to the spiders. It was at the dinner table where the harpies told their sad story. Once upon a time, the humans invaded the Demon Realm, pillaging and plundering through its territories. Contrary to what some might think, it was a golden age for the Harpy Village. War was a time for bounty and rewards. And bounty and rewards they had plenty of. Moreover, warring humans were the optimal mating partners, their blood young and their essence strong. The harpies snatched many of these young men, growing the Harpy Village as a result. And all was well. Unfortunately, the Demon Lord pushed the humans back, winning back the conquered territories. The realm no longer hired the harpies as scouts and messengers, the rewards dwindled, and the bounty dried up. And yet, there were now over a thousand mouths to feed. More often than not, they were on the brink of starvation, but they managed somehow. But troubles didn''t fly alone. The Harpy Queen was growing old, her nest without eggs for months already. Someone had to take her place soon. The village was plunged into chaos, flocks of harpies competing with each other. As the custom dictated, the flock that snatched the most males would get to lead the village into its new future. That was why flocks of harpies were flying great distances away from their village, hunting for bounty in hopes of crowning a new queen. That was their story. After putting the story pieces together, the Mer Princess was rubbing her temples. "None of this makes any sense. They are completely birdbrained. Hunting for males won''t help their situation! The village would get even bigger, and then they would all starve for good." The harpy swallowed the tomgrape she was eating. "The flock is stronger with more harpies! And I want to be a new queen!" She flung her wings to protest Mer''s words. "Nonsense! That way of thinking will be your doom!" the surface of the bubble bubbled from her shouting. The harpy flapped her wings, her feathers puffing up. "What would you know? You''re just a bubble monster, ugh!" She stuck out her tongue. "How many times do I have to tell you? I''m not a bubble monster! I''m Day Sapphire, the Mer Princess, the Maid to the..." "Yeah-yeah, whatever... Hey mister, listen, are you sure there aren''t other males on this ship? Someone we could snatch away?" The Spider King, who had been deep in thought, looked at the flapping harpy. "No, only spiders." "Spiders are no good!" she tugged at her tank top, her wings failing to take it off. "Can you come to our village? Just a small visit. Please!" "..." "Pretty please! Pretty please with a feather on top!" She looked at him with big, begging eyes. "Don''t look at me like that... We have a Quest to finish... We can''t." His heart was wavering. The harpy in front of him was just too pitiful. The big, cute begging eyes soon turned crimson, activating the Charm ability. The floating bubble quivered with anger. "Do you have straw for brains?! [WaterSplash]!" she splashed the harpy back into working order. "Oopsie, bad habit," she shook the water off her feathers. "Hey mister, please reconsider. If you do, there''s a reward for you." "A reward?" The Spider King perked up. "Yes! A Reward!" Excited beyond explanation, the harpy jumped on the table. "I''ve almost forgotten about it! But we harpies have something that sells well." She squatted above the bowl carrying tomgrapes. "???" "Just give me a moment!" she made herself comfortable. "No! Spider King, don''t look!" the Mer Princess cautioned. The warning came too late... "!!!" An egg was laid within the bowl. "Go on, grab it while it''s still warm," the shameless harpy urged him. Slightly shell-shocked, the Spider King took the egg in his hand. "It''s bigger than I have expected." "Thanks, I do try!" She gave him a sunny smile. "Now eat it!" "Eh? Can I?" "I assure you, it''s very delicious." "Spider King, don''t you dare to eat it!" the bubble bubbled. "I''ll tell your wife!" "... I''ll just put it in my Inventory then." The harpy jumped off the table. "Fine by me. Now you''ve got your reward. Mister, you must visit my village." "Village... Eggs... HarpyEggs..." something hard to explain burned inside the Spider King''s eyes. ... The Galleon Whale changed course, flying towards the distant mountain in the north-west, its feathered passengers gorging themselves on the plump tomgrapes. 155 – Under The Blue Tanktop The Feathers Be Ruffled High atop a towering mountain, nestled among peaks kissed by clouds, lay the Harpy Village. The cliff face, a jagged, brown scar on the mountain''s side, was a honeycomb of homes, each a small, round hole burrowed into the rock. The wind howled through the crevices, carrying the crisp scent of clouds and the distant rumble of echoes. Young harpies, their feathers rustling in the wind, flitted in and out of their homes, their laughter echoing through the village. They were the first to spot the unfamiliar construct, a colossal, winged ship gliding through the sky. "A flying ship!" they shrieked, their eyes wide with wonder. "A big, big flying ship!" The older harpies, their wings bigger and other proportions more generous, gathered to watch the spectacle from afar. They welcomed the approaching ship, their right wings waving a warm greating. The Galleon Whale, a marvel of engineering, soared through the sky, its white hull gleaming in the sunlight. The harpies watched in awe as the ship docked by nearby outcrop, its landing gear connecting to the side of the mountain. The Harpy Boss stood at the helm, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Hey! Come aboard, everyone!" she called, her voice carrying over the wind. The harpies, their curiosity piqued, scrambled aboard the ship, their wings rustling with childish giddiness. They explored the deck, their eyes wide with wonder at the strange devices and unfamiliar sights. Strangely, the stairs leading down bellow were barred shut by a thick grate. Now and then, down below the stairs, pairs of golden eyes gleamed from within the shadows. This ship was hiding secrets... As the harpies marveled at the ship, a hatch creaked open at the ship''s side, and a tiny spider, dressed in a sailor''s uniform, leaped out. It was followed by a figure cloaked in shadow, a silhouette against the bright mountain sunlight. "Rejoice, Harpies!" the spider chirped. "I present to you: the Spider King." The harpies gasped as the figure stepped into the light. He was a King, his torso covered in shimmering scales, his cape flowing like a river of darkness. His eyes, purple and deep, seemed to bore into their very hearts. "A male!" they exclaimed, their voices filled inappropriate thirst. "Finally a male!" The harpies, their hearts pounding with excitement, surged forward, their wings outstretched. But before they could reach him, the Harpy Boss stepped between them, her wings blocking their path. "Hey! He''s mine," she declared, her voice firm. "Keep your feathers away." The harpies, their desire for this male burning within them, ignored her warning. Their eyes glowed crimson, their feathers puffing up with passion. "Careful!" the Harpy Boss warned. "He can reflect our Charm!" Just as the harpies were about to pounce, another spider, wielding a broom, rushed out of the hatch. "No! Bad! No horny!" It shouted, its chirp filled with authority. The scene descended into chaos. .... The cave was a spacious, echoing chamber, its walls adorned with strange, bioluminescent fungi that cast a warm glow. The air was thick with the scent of damp feathers and ancient stone. The Spider King, a figure of imposing stature and regal bearing, sat upon a crate. His eyes were fixed on an old bird, the Harpy Queen. Her feathers were a tapestry of greys, many shades, perhaps all fifty. Her face, though wrinkled with age, held a timeless beauty that bellied her years. The best part was that with age came wisdom ¨C this Harpy Queen no birdbrain. She leaned forward, her eyes sparkling with anticipation. "Spider King," she began, her voice a soft, melodic whisper, "thank you for your gifts. This tomgrape, not only is it delicious, but it is also filling. Is it a magical fruit?" The Spider King nodded slowly, his eyes fixed on her plummage. "Yes, something like that." "Then it must be expensive!" She leaned back, her feathers ruffling slightly as she crossed her legs "A hundred crates... How will I ever repay your kindness?" "Think nothing of it," he shrugged, his expression dismissing her concerns. "It''s not that expensive, and it was a gift." "Then we must give you a gift in return," she leaned forward again, her eyes filled with determination. "And don''t even think of refusing." The Spider King hesitated for a moment, but only a moment. "Only if you insist," he relented. "I do," she said, switched her legs up again. "But it''s too bad we harpies are so unfortunate. Our village is poor. The only thing we can give is our... service." The Spider King raised an eyebrow, his interest piqued. "Service? Perhaps, do you mean your eggs?" he asked with a smile of a merchant. She replied with a sly smile, her eyes twinkling with mischief. "I was thinking about something else," she spoke, her voice soft and seductive. "How about I send you a few samples first? And I don''t mean the eggs." His swallowed audibly. "I can''t! I mean, I would like the eggs, yes, egs only, please," he replied, his tongue tripping but his tone firm. "Only a few eggs, a good dozen, and we could call it even." She chuckled softly, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "Hmm... You drive a hard bargain. Eggs? But you see, it has been a while since I''ve laid any. Old age, you see." The Spider King nodded in understanding. "I didn''t mean to snatch the Queen''s eggs. Your average harpy eggs would suffice. Yes." "Just HarpyEggs? It seems I have misunderstood," she replied, her wing scraching her chin. "But even then, I don''t think we have any at the moment. But..." "It''s fine, don''t worry about it," he waved a dismissive hand. "I understand that the girls haven''t been eating well, that''s why." This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. She nodded sadly. "Yes, that''s the reason, but..." she didn''t get to finish. "Don''t worry about it," he interrupted her. "It seems I''ve asked something inconsiderate. My apologies, forget I''ve asked." "Hey, listen! Let me finish," she exclaimed, her wings suddenly becoming animated. "But, if it''s the eggs you want, then we''ll give them to you. There is a way, you see." "There is?" he asked, this body leaning forward in expectation. The Harpy Queen nodded vigorously. "Take a group of harpies with you. They''ll lay some for you. Problem solved!" "..." he considered her proposal for a moment, his eyes filled with thought. She continued, "You''re a smart man, so I''ll tell you this straight. We have too many harpies. I was thinking of setting you up with some," she gave him a myschevious grin. "Just take them; they are good girls, I assure you." The Spider King hesitated, his mind racing with thoughts of the implications of her offer. "Listen," she said, her voice growing serious. "They would lay many eggs for you. You want the eggs, don''t you?" The Spider King nodded slowly. "Just take them," she urged. "I can even let you have your pick. Why are you being so shy for?" "I''m not being shy! I was just having an ethical dilemma," he replied, his musings over. "Harpy Queen, you drive a hard bargain..." he paused, his body taking a more relaxed pose. "I will take in your harpies!" The Harpy Queen''s eyes lit up with joy. In a flash of movement, she leaped from her nest and planted a passionate kiss on the Spider King''s cheek. "The deal is now sealed; you can''t back out of it!" she declared, her feathers trembling with excitement. "Is it how this works?" he chuckled softly. "It is! What? Did you expect a handshake?" she chuckled back, stretching out her wing. "As you can see, harpies don''t have hands." "Indeed you don''t," he gave her a compassionate smile. "Now let''s head out and pick you some good harpies with wide hips. You like your eggs big, don''t you?" she beamed, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "No! I''ve said I like them as smart as possible!" The Harpy Queen narrowed her eyes slightly. "Hmm... Do you want to check them one by one? Ask some questions in private?" "I wouldn''t have time for that," he vaved it off with a wrist. I guess I''ll have to trust your judgment." "I knew you''re a smart man," she smiled triumphantly. "Go ahead, you can leave this to me," she dismissed him with a playful flick of a wing. ... The Harpy Queen watched the ship as it disappeared into the distance, a tiny speck against the vast expanse of sky. She turned to the Harpy Boss, who had landed nearby. "Queen, I''ve brought that male," she tilted her head at a sharp angle. "Why did ya let him go?" "Oh, you chick of a harpy." The Harpy Queen rolled her eyes. "Did you think your flock could snatch him?" "Hey, of course no! I''m not featherbrained!" The chick of a harpy bristled. "That''s why I used my charms well. I''ve lured him here so that the entire village could help." The Harpy Queen shook her head. "Then you must have straw for brains," she replied with contempt. "Even a thousand harpies wouldn''t be able to snatch a male like him." The strawbrained harpy''s eyes widened in realisation. "Is he that strong?" "Stronger than you can imagine," she replied, her voice filled with respect. "!!!" "Don''t worry," the Harpy Queen said, her voice softening. "When your feathers are young, you make mistakes." She looked in distance again, then continued. "However, it was good you brought him here. Hey, look, we get to wear this." The Harpy Boss looked down at her tanktop, her expression one of confusion. "Hey! You mean this? It''s so uncomfortable," she tugged at it with the corner of her wing. "Hey! The spiders are gone. It should be okay to take it off." "Cease your hey-peeping and think for a moment," the Harpy Queen encouraged. "Why would he give us the colours of his house?" "Hey? The colour of his house? You''re telling me this cloth has a meaning?" she tugged again, her brown eyes wide with disbelief. The Harpy Queen clicked her tongue. "Was your head in your feathers the entire time?" With her wing, she flicked the back of the head of that birdbrain. "Didn''t he call himself a King? Didn''t his spiders wear the same colors? Think, hey, think!" "???" The Harpy Boss''s eyes narrowed, her feathers still. "Hey, do you get it? Hey?" The Harpy Queen asked, her voice filled with concern for this featherbrained youth. "I''m sorry, I don''t," she shook her head. "Explain to me, please." "Hmm... How do I explain it so that even you could understand..." the Harpy Queen hesitated momentarily, then replied, her feathers filled with finality. "Listen, we are now under a spider''s wing." The Harpy Boss''s flapped in suprise. "Hey? As in under their care and protection?" "Finally you get it," the Harpy Queen replied, giving a satisfactied smile. "Now fly out and catch yourself another stray male! You want to be harpy Queen don''t you?" ... Inside the Galleon Whale, twelve harpies were perched neatly on a bench, their feathers shimmering in the dim light. The Harpy Queen had kept her promise; this bunch seemed smarter than the rest, or at least better behaved. So far, they had been very obedient, making no trouble and speaking only when addressed. Were they waiting for orders or something? Either way, there was a small surprise. One of the harpies was unlike the others. Her feathers were a vibrant green, a stark contrast to the muted browns of her companions. She was a Forest Harpy, clearly a rare breed native to the forests far from the mountains. Curious, the Spider King asked, "How come you''re so far from your true habitat?" The Forest Harpy panicked for a moment, her eyes darting to her mates as if seeking help. "Me? Are ya speaking with me?" she stammered, her voice filled with fear. "Oh, ya looking at me, of course ya speeking with me," she fumbled, her words a jumble of excitement and confusion. "Ya''re smart to know that my home isn''t the mountain." The Spider King nodded. "No smarts needed, Identify skill thats all. But why were you at the mountain? So far away from the forest?" The Forest Harpy hesitated, her eyes filled with sadness. "Us Forest Harpies can''t return to our forest," she replied, her voice barely a whisper. "There''s trouble in our forest." "Trouble? What kind of trouble?" he asked, in a low and soothing voice. The Forest Harpy moved her wings in panic as if realising something. "Oops! The Queen told me not to make trouble for ya," she replied, her wings failing. "I don''t know if I should tell ya." The Spider King put his hand on her shoulder in reassurance. "Please do," he said, his voice gentle. "I want to hear it." The Forest Harpy hesitated for a moment, then calmed and began to speak, "But, hey, it''s a long story." The Spider King smiled. "Go ahead, I want to hear it." The Forest Harpy took a deep breath and began to speak. "Once upon a time, the Harpy Village prospered inside the forest," she said. "And all was well... until it wasn''t." A shiver ran down her feathers as she continued. "A serpent, big and mean, moved into the forest. It claimed it as its territory. This monster saw us harpies and our eggs as a convenient snack, raiding our village periodically." She continued, her gaze distant at the old memory. "Us harpies, being able to fly, managed. But only barely, moving and rebuilding our village again and again," she recalled with a sigh. "It was bad, but it was manageable." She paused to still her quivering wing, she took another deep breath. "However, one fateful day, things turned to worse. The monstrous serpent found our village at night. It was hurt at that moment, blood oozing from a gash at its side. But it was nothing to celebrate, perhaps because of ts wounds, it came to us with ravenous hunger." The Forest Harpy''s eyes filled with horror as she continued. "The scouts meant to warn the village were ambushed and swallowed whole," she said. "The serpent found its way to the Queen''s nest, devouring the Queen and all of the eggs." The Forest Harpy''s voice almost broke as she continued. "Lucky few escaped, but soon we realized that without a flock and a Queen to lead us, we''d be doomed! And the forest was clearly no longer safe. So in our desperation, we flew to the neighbor village, miles and miles away, swearing to serve under a new Queen. And that''s it," she finished. "That''s terrible..." the Spider King said, petting her head gently, his heart ached for the Forest Harpy and her people. His other hand formed a fist. "Would you like to avenge your village?" "Huh?" she replied, her plummage puffing with disbelief. The Spider King smiled. "If you know where it is, I could fly there and we could blow this serpent up with my spidery might!" "I... I do... But... But can ya realy do that? The serpent is super strong, ya know," she replied, her voice returning to her. "I can!" He grinned. "Let''s do this Side Quest!" he exclaimed. The Galleon Whale changed course yet again. 156 – One Egg To Strike, The Other To Love The Galleon Whale glided over the lush forest, the trees dense and towering. Spider stood at the helm, a spyglass clutched in its claws. Its eyes scanned the verdant canopy, searching for a monstrous serpent. "That must be it," the spider chirped, pointing a claw. The spider indicated a patch within the forest where the trees had been uprooted and bent to form a massive nest. Nestled in its heart was a colossal monster. Its long, snake-like body was shielded by formidable, forest-green scales. Its snake head was immense, its jaws capable of swallowing a harpy in a single bite. It napped carelessly in the open, likely believing itself the undisputed King of the Forest, or worse. The Forest Harpy shuddered at the sight of the monster. "It''s bigger than I remember." The Spider King shrugged. "It''s not that impressive." "Hey, how come? It even has a scary title, King of Monsters." "Wait, what? Isn''t that awfully close to Monster King?" "Unforgivable!" the spider chirped angrily. "Ready the cannons! We''ll blow it up!" "No, wait!" the Spider King stopped the running spider with a hand. "I''m not so petty to be angry about its title. It''s just a monster." "Cancel the cannons!" the spider chirped. "However, what it did to the harpies, I can''t let it go. We''ll be slaying it." "Ready the cannons!" the spider chirped. "But this revenge is for the Forest Harpies to claim. I don''t want to take it away from them." "Cancel the cannons!" "The harpy here will slay it. It is her right, no, her duty!" he patted the feathered shoulder. "Me? Hey, it can''t be me!" "Don''t worry, I''ll equip you well. It will be a piece of cake." "Hey? A piece of what?" "It''s a figure of speech. Don''t worry about it." ... The ship hovered high above the nest. The Forest Harpy practiced laps around it, while the other harpies cheered her on. "Hey, you can do it!" "Hey, it will be okay!" "Hey, we believe in you!" "Hey, I''m just shouting!" The flight testing was complete. Her gear was as good as it would ever be. Her equipment was light: aviator goggles and a sash. The goggles were specially made, a magical device to enhance her vision. The sash was made of light but durable leather, designed for item storage. She hovered in the air, her wings flapping, gathering courage for what lay ahead. The Spider King pointed down. "Stop worrying. Just take a good aim and drop it." "Hey, Spider King, I''ll do my best! Here I go!" She darted down towards the nest. In her foot, nested in her clawed fingers, she held a round item: the Thorn Grenade. The grenade left her grasp, and she flapped her wings to soar back up into the sky. The grenade flew true, hitting the monster''s long tail. It exploded upon contact, showering it with nasty thorns. The thorns ricocheted off the thick scales, doing no damage. But it was enough to wake the monster. The King of Monsters stirred from its slumber, searching for the creature that dared to offend it. Its emerald serpentine eyes scanned the treeline, its detection skills activated, but it failed to find the brazen offender. Back at the side of the ship, the harpy flapped her wings in panic. "Hey, it didn''t work!" "Don''t worry, we''re just Item testing. Try the next one." "But I''m scared! It''s awake and angry!" "Just keep your distance and it will be okay." "Hey? Okay!" The harpy darted down, Explosion Grenade in the claw of her foot. She got close, but not too close. It was time to drop the grenade. Suddenly, the King of Monsters looked up, its eyes locking onto the flying harpy. There was rage within its merciless gaze. "Eek!" she panicked, her wings flapping to carry her back towards the ship. She fled but not before dropping a special charge. The charge flew down like a stone, hitting the monster right between the eyes. Alas, there was no explosion. The harpy reached the ship again, her wings flapping frantically. The grenade was still in the claw of her foot. "Hey! I''m sorry! I got scared." The Spider King looked down. The monster''s head was slick with egg goo, its expression enraged from the indignation the harpy had caused it. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. "Haha, good thinking. Now it''s Blinded. Quickly drop the grenade." "Oh, right! Hey, here I go," she descended for a second attempt. This time, there was an explosion that reverberated through the forest. The harpy flew back to the ship, her feathers ruffled. "Hey, it''s still alive. And very, very angry!" "Yes, you''ve Enraged it. Well done! Now test the rest of the grenades." "Oh, okay!" The Frost Grenade was dropped, freezing a good chunk of its scales. "Keep going!" the Spider King encouraged. The Fire Grenade soon followed, cracking the frozen scales. "Hey, it''s trying to flee." "Why are you so surprised? Of course, it is. It has no ranged attacks and no way to get you." "Hey, you''re right!" "Don''t let it escape. Use Sticky Grenade!" The grenade was super effective, binding the monster to the trees and arresting its movements. "Hey, my grenade sash is empty. What do I do now?" "Here, [Inventory], take it, but be careful when dropping it." The harpy took a crystalline orb. She tilted her head, inspecting a vortex of darkness swirling inside the crystal. She flinched back when a web of purple lightning flashed inside all of a sudden. "Hey, it looks different. What is it?" "A prototype the Darkness Spider had developed, the Void Grenade." "Alright! Hey, here I go!" She darted to drop the charge. The grenade smashed on the head of the serpent shamelessly titled as the King of Monsters. The crystal cracked, unleashing the darkness and thunder within. Like a ravenous beast, the void vortex ravaged the monster, its darkness dislodging the scales and ripping off chunks of monster flesh. The King of Monsters screamed in rage and defiance, but even those were swallowed by the swirling void. "Hey, it''s dead. I''ve killed it!" she plunged towards the Spider King, her wings enveloping him in a tight embrace. "Thank you! Hey, tankyou! Hey!" she planted a kiss after a kiss. "Hehe... No need to thank me. You did it yourself." ¡°But I want to thank you! *Smooch*, I think... *Smooch*, I think the nightmares I was having. *Smooch* They will stop.¡± ¡°Hey, hey, hehehe... Hey, I have a wife stop it.¡± He spoke with all the harpy heys. "But hey, I want to thank you! All Forest Harpies owe you." "Just lay me some good eggs, alright?" "Oh!? Alright!" With a final smooch, the harpy let him go, but not before giving a cryptic wink. ... Inside the royal cabin, the Spider King was enjoying a royal bath. "Who would have thought that a bath inside the cabin would be such a splendid addition?" "Your wife, apparently. You can thank her." "Gee, this truly feels amazing, so refreshing. Thank you, wife. You''re the best." "I know I told you to thank her, I do, but now I feel like resting my hands for some reason. Massage is over!" "No, please don''t. My shoulders are still tense." "Then praise me too! This is my tank, my water, and my service. Maids deserve their thanks just as much as wives do!" "Well, if I must. Ahem... My dearest maid, I thank you with all my heart for your unwavering diligence in cleansing the water, preparing my bath, and especially your soothing massages which have brought me great comfort and relaxation. You are indeed a treasure to me." "Oh my! But why so formal all of a sudden?" "Just keep those fingers working. I have more if you''re interested." "Oh? Go on then... my dearest King." "Yes, that''s the spot! Where was I? Oh right. My dearest maid, your cleaning is impeccable, your bedmaking is a work of art, and your... ahem... special service is most... refreshing. You have my deepest gratitude." "Special service you say? How about here?" "Hey, not there..." A loud knock interrupted the playful scene unfolding in the bath. "Who is it?" The only reply was the sound of someone falling down and quickly running away. "That was odd. I should check it." "Don''t forget the towel. You don''t want to... Well, I guess the spiders wouldn''t mind either way." "Oh, you couldn''t be more wrong. They absolutely would." He opened the doors. "Huh? A gift basket? Where did they even get the basket?" "Why are you so fixated on the basket? It''s the contents that matter. Bring it to the tank. I want to see what''s inside. Let your maid check it for you. It''s my duty." "I fear you might get it wet. I''ll check it myself. Oh, I see. It''s all filled with feathers. Here, look, brown feathers." "Must be from the harpies then. But is it all just feathers? It seems odd to gift someone a basket full of feathers. And the basket is rather large. Are you sure there''s nothing else inside?" "Positive. Hundred percent positive. Yup just all feathers. You know, the harpies are a bit bird-brained, so let''s not look down on their gift too much." "I''m not looking down on them. King, careful, don''t slip! The floor is..." The Spider King slipped, his hand losing its grip on the basket. The basket tumbled, its lid opening, spilling the feathers inside. However, there was more than just the feathers. "..." "Eggs?! Fresh, steaming HarpyEggs!" "..." "You scoundrel of a King! What were you planning on doing with these eggs?" "Ouch, my butt hurts." "Wrap your towel back on!!! And then answer my question." "My intention was to eat them, of course." "But they''re harpy babies! You can''t! I won''t allow you!" "Huh? But the eggs aren''t Fertilized. The harpies just lay them every two or three days. They''re just like chickens, or well, close to." "Chickens? I don''t know what that means, but it sounds derogatory. Wait! Don''t distract me with strange words. Fertilized or not, how can you even think of eating them?" "But it''s normal, isn''t it? I''ve eaten stranger things... hmm, like that raw fish you''ve insisted I''d eat." "Raw fish is just normal food." "For Mer maybe. Eggs are normal for me." "Oh... Oh! I understand now. Too often, I forget about our racial differences. I''m sorry for my previous outburst. That was unbecoming of a maid. I promise to do better." "Ah, it''s fine. Misunderstandings happen." "With you... Those happen way too often." She paused, her finger making a swirl in the water. "Yet I feel I owe you an apology. Want to continue where we finished?" "..." He looked at the blushing maid, then at the scattered eggs, then at his empty wrist. "Oh, look at the time. It''s time for my dinner. I''ll be taking these and whipping something up for myself," he gathered the eggs quickly, eleven of them. "Hey, don''t leave me floating here. I''m your maid. Let me cook for you. Hey, are you listening? Take me with you! Hey, why are you leaving only with a towel on? That''s inappropriate! Hey?!" "Hey-hey-hey, you sound like a harpy! The harpies are scared of the bubble monster, it''s bad for their egg productivity, that''s why I''m leaving you here. And it''s not like you can cook. Mind you, eating food raw isn''t cooking, and I know you would ruin my precious eggs." "You worried about that? If you want me to crawl after you, I will. Look!" "..." "I''m crawling. Look at my tail scraping the floor. The beautiful sapphire scales getting damaged and chipped. Is that what you want? Your dearest maid, your treasure, to crawl after you? Is this the kind of King you are?" "Fine, I''ll take you with me. But don''t harass my harpies, and hands off my eggs." "Oh... Is that why you got so jumpy in the bath?" "No comment, [Hydrokynesis]." "Thank you for the lift!" 157 – The Echoes Of Pleasure And Rage The Spider King was sitting at the table, his hand supporting his enlarged stomach. ¡°This EnchantedBoar Bacon and HarpyEggs truly were splendid.¡± The Mer Princess finished her last bite. ¡°I still think you made a mistake for not choosing grilled fish instead of bacon, but yes, the eggs were delicious.¡± ¡°Huh? Who eats eggs with fish, you weirdo.¡± Yes, the Mer Princess, despite her previous protests, ended up eating the eggs too. But let¡¯s leave her hypocrisy aside. Just so, she ignored the comment about beeing a wierdo and insted reached for the used plates. ¡°Give yours to me too. I¡¯ll wash them.¡± ¡°Here you go.¡± She put the plates and cutlery in her bubble, the cleansing water there purified the dishes in no time. ¡°Wow! Quite an ability you have. You would make an excellent dishwasher! ¡°Thank you! I do try to do my maid abilities to my best! Be it dishes or clothes you can leave it to me.¡± She beemed him a sunny smile, taking the comment as a praise. Conveniently so, a nearby spider cleaner put a stack of plates into her bubble, giving her a chirp of thanks and then scrambling away. Begrudgingly, she washed the entire stack in mere seconds, stacking the plates back on the table. The Spider King chuckled seeing his maid to pout. ¡°Job well done. Care for a desert?¡± She perked up at the question. ¡°I have something simple, but highly delicious. [Inventory],¡± he took out a small jar. ¡°It¡¯s BlueHoney! And it tastes best then eaten with a finger,¡± he scooped a generous blob and into his mouth it went. ¡°Yum! ... Go ahead, give it a try!" She dipped the finger in, and then into her mouth it went. ¡°Yum, delicious!¡± she reached for more. There was something captivating about watching a girl eat honey from her finger. Or rather there was something about the way this maid chose to eat it. ¡°Wow... You realy are enjoying it,¡± he swallowed the pooling saliva in his mouth, there was alot for some reason. ¡°Mhm... But I shouldn¡¯t be enjoying this alone. Let¡¯s share it, here,¡± she offered her honey covered finger. Watching a girl eat honey was one thing, but eating it from her finger would be an entirely different experience! He swallowed again, opening his mouth open wide, his expectations high. ¡°Hey! Thanks!¡± the cheery voice belonged to the harpy. ¡°Yum!¡± she smacked her lips, licking off the honey. ¡°Hey!¡± the Mer Princess looked at her finger with shock. It was licked clean. ¡°...¡± Watching a girl feed another girl, was also an experience. ¡°Hey! Hehe... You¡¯ve said you¡¯d share it. Why the sour expression? Hey, why are you crying?¡± ¡°If you want honey, use your own fingers, you featherbrained harpy!¡± the Mer protested, her eyes tearing. ¡°Hey! I can¡¯t. I don¡¯t have any.¡± The Spider King nodded with simpathy and understanding. ¡°Good point. Let me help you, here.¡± ¡°Yum! Delicious!¡± ¡°Hey!¡± the maid exlaimed much like a harpy would. Another harpy manifested near the table. ¡°Hey! What is this! I want it too!¡± ¡°It is yumy! Hey, King, Give her some!¡± ¡°Yum!¡± ¡°...¡± the maid was silently pouting. More harpies manifested, surrounding the table. ¡°Me! Hey, me! ... Yum!¡± ¡°Now me! ... Yum!¡± ¡°Yum!¡± There was something captivating about feeding harpies the honey. Eating honey was a sweet experience, yes, but feeding it to harpies was even sweeter. So much unexpected experience. Then suddenly, ¡° Yum. Thanks!¡± the finger was licked off clean with a chirp. ¡°Spider Navigator?¡± the Spider King looked at his finger, his expression troubled. It didn¡¯t feel the same with a spider. How odd... The experience was not sweet. ¡°Yes!¡± The spider licked the spidery lips, or at least the equivalent of there off. ¡°Why are you here?¡± he looked at the spider, his expression slightly puzzled. The Spider Navigator opened the spidery mouth, big and wide, but no chirps escaped it. Instead the spider looked at the Spider King expectantly, the four yellow eyes big and begging. ¡°Aren¡¯t you cute. Here you go.¡± ¡°Yum! ... Spider King, we¡¯ve reached our destination. The Dark Forest.¡± ¡°Oh? So quick? I didn¡¯t even notice...¡± ¡°Yes! Get ready. Bye-bye.¡± The navigator gave a spidery salute and scrambled away. The harpies too, curious about where the journey took them, ran outside. Suddenly the mess hall was rather empty. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Spider King,¡± the Mer Princess opened her mouth wide, her sapphire eyes big and expectant. He showed her the empty jar of honey, it was all licked clean. ¡°This is so unfair...¡± she pouted again. ¡°Life is unfair,¡± he nodded like a sage. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go outside,¡± he stood up to leave the table. ¡°Ahem! Are you going out wearing just this?¡± she pointed at the bath towel wrapped around his waist. ¡°Oh! Right...¡± ... In the depths of the Dark Forest, hidden by crooked but giant trees, lay a secret outpost. The Spidery Outpost was a base established for covert operations within the Demon Realm. The outpost served other purposes as well, such as exploring and documenting the Dark Forest. It also traded with the Mer residing in the Deep Lake. Additionally, it was a supply base for the Cream Cheese Cavalry, the Centauri mercenary band. The latter was the very reason the Spider King was here, or to be more precise, it was for their leader, the Centauri Champion. The Centauri Champion was undertaking her own Quest, something about freeing her people and reclaiming the Centauri lands. However, she was taking too long! Her, and her people¡¯s, presence was sorely missed within the Spider Kingdom, and the cheese storage was running dangerously low. Unacceptable! It was time for the Spider King to lend her a spidery hand. The spidery force, consisting of mages and warriors, disembarked the flying ship, leaving it to continue the supply runs. From here on, hidden by the darkness of the night, they would travel by land. Their new destination was the Ruins of the Centauri Castle. Mounted atop his trusty steed, Warrior Leader Jr., the Spider King began his adventure. The maid floated beside him in her bubble, and the harpies flew ahead to scout. They left the forest, skirted past the lake, and then emerged into expansive meadows. The terrain was mostly grass, but some areas were flooded by water, turning them into seasonal marshes.Despite the terrain, the spiders traveled quickly, and at this pace, they would reach their destination by daybreak. The daybreak was near. The ruined castle was still distant, but its tower tops were already visible. Just then, the harpies returned with disturbing news. With distressed Heys!, they reported an army, a siege, and Centauri barricaded inside the castle ruins. The news shocked the Spider King. He grabbed the nearest harpy and asked, ¡°Centauri? How are they faring?¡± ¡°Hey! Not good! I''ve seen... corpses..." the Forest Harpy lowered her head in sorrow. His precious girls were... some of them... were... Dead! ¡°Who, who is attacking them?¡± the Spider King demanded. ¡°Oni! It is the Oni, a race of warriors!¡± the Forest Harpy replied. Whoever they were, they had done something unforgivable! ¡°They will pay! Spiders, attack!¡± the Spider King commanded. ... For centuries the Oni were the neighbors to the Centauri, both races competing for territory and dominance. The Centauri were winning for a while, but that was until the Centauri lost badly to the advancing human army; disappointing the Demon Lord and thus losing their honor. Seeing the opportunity, the Oni attacked the weakened Centauri, raising their castle, killing their steeds, and enslaving the rest. Much honor was gained during that campaign, propelling the Oni as the best warriors within the Demon Realm. And yet, seemingly out of nowhere, a Centauri Champion appeared, a mare previously thought dead. She attacked Oni camps, freed her people, and amassed a huge slave army in a mere few months. Imagine the dishonor, the shame the Oni were forced to bear. This couldn''t stand! The Oni would not lose the honor and the lands they''d won rightfully by blood and sword. Thus they amassed a huge army in return, attacking the Centauri Castle again. They hoped to deal a final decisive blow and end the Centauri race for good. They brought ten thousand warriors, wearing Heavy Samurai Armour and armed with Curse Katanas. Two thousand archers, Yumi Longbows in their hands. And no less than twenty siege machines. With odds stacked against them, the slaves died in hordes in their futile attempt to defend the castle. However, the walls remained stubborn, refusing to crumble and let in the main force. The Oni needed one more push, one more attack, to breach the cracked gate. Soon the Centauri would cease to be. A sound of a horn greeted the morning sun, no, it was a sound of warning from Oni Ccouts. The Oni turned to look to the east, an unknown enemy was approaching. They were coming shrouded in unnatural darkness, their forms obfuscated and hard to see. Quickly, the Oni turned their siege machines around, aiming for the mysterious threat. "Loose!" the Oni Engineer commanded. An explosion resounded instead, knocking the Oni Engineer to the ground. A siege machine was blown to splinters. One and then the next. The archers spotted distant fliers in the sky; they aimed and shot their arrows. The flyers were too high. The arrows never reached them. More explosions resounded, shaking the archers. Some came with frost and fire, others with slime or nasty thorns, but too few to make a serious dent in their numbers. The cloud of darkness was getting close, however, and that disturbed them the most. "Attack them! I shall lead the charge!" The Oni Commander shouted. Bravely the Oni split their force, a third of it running towards the approaching darkness. As they approached the veil of darkness, it thinned. With shock and drenched in cold sweat, they looked at the horrors exposed. Monsters... terrors from the darkest Oni nightmares... they were running within the unnatural darkness. Their forms horrible and spidery. Six legs, tipped in metal like sharp spears. Their chitin obsidian black. Atop it, armor of nasty thorns and serrated spikes. In their hands axes glowing from many enchantments, and shields just as spiky as their bodies. Four eyes, yellow and radiating malice. But most importantly, they emitted that palpable aura, a chill that ran down the Oni''s spines and curdled their blood... Terror. Their hearts wavered, but they charged nevertheless. If they died, they would die with honor. From behind the spidery stampede, orbs of purple light blinked into existence. Soon the vision of the Oni was drowned in purple. Rain of purple bolts struck them before they could strike the monsters. Nasty magic cut through their armor, boring through twice enchanted lameral plates like paper. Then gnawing at their skin, then flesh, getting inside their guts and pulping their insided. This was Dark magic, ancient and arcane, the most nasty of its kind. Like puppets with their strings cut, the first line of Oni dropped before even reaching the monstrous spiders. But there was a second line and then a third, a thousand samurai warriors each. Craving vengeance, they finally clashed with the nightmarish spiders. Striking at them with their thousand folded katanas, weapons able to cut metal like dry bamboo. Like thunder, like explosion, like shattered glass, that ear-piercing sound echoed throughout the battlefield. The katanas they were so proud of shattered like old pottery thrown at the wall. Impossible! But before they could face the reality, they were plunged deeper into the nightmarish abyss, the scene unfolding in front of them didn''t align with what they thought was real or possible. They were plunged into a living hell. Disembodied heads, their eyes glazed with terror, rained down like hail of stones. Limbs frozen in magical ice were shattered with a single blow, ice shrapnel hitting the Oni behind. Screams of burning men echoed around, hellish fire charred Oni alive. Others, struck by supernatural darkness, simply withered to dust, their empty armour clanging to the ground. The third line of Oni witnessed the incomprehensible horror. The screams and cries pierced their ears. Crimson blood of their comrades rained on their faces, blinding their eyes. Ash of Oni flesh burned their lungs, stealing their breath away. Chunks of frozen meat clanged off their armour plates, shattering the remnants of their resolve. They stood there Stunned, their eyes vacantly looking at the approaching stampede of monsters. Their minds struggled to comprehend what the hell just happened. Minutes... minutes only passed. And yet, it was enough for the darkness to claim a third of their army. The spiders chirped like one, a vicious unrecognizable curse, full of vile and anger.A monster within monsters jumped forward, leading the stampede. It was a spider unlike any other. It was different. It was positively giant. It was like an unstoppable boulder, all clad in black metal. It even had a rider. Another monster, a man, or rather a King. His most prominent feature was the horn crown and the aura he emitted. The aura of dread was similar to the Demon Lord''s but many times more powerful. "Die! You all will Die!" The monstrous king cursed at them in perfect Demonic. 158 – The Price of Oni Honour Is A Steep One The Oni watched the carnage unfold before them. Dread and horror froze their blood. What had they ever done to deserve this? Fighting wasn''t an option. Running away didn''t seem like it either. However, there was one thing they could do, a slim thread of hope. "Quickly, break the gate! We''ll barricade ourselves inside!" the Oni Kaiser commanded in desperation. "But the Centauri? How about them?" "We''ll kill them! Now, break that gate!" the Oni Kaiser turned to look at the sole Oni Shaman. "And you, erect the barrier and buy us time." "It will be done!" Their lives depended on this. The Oni Samurai jumped to man the Torii Gate, its ram slamming against the gate, each hit a thunderous explosion. The Oni Shaman slammed her staff into the ground, its golden rings clanged like bells, shaking and warping the air around, forming a dome barrier. Oni outside the barrier slammed their fists against it, shouting desperately to be let inside. Yet the barrier blocked their voices, their cries falling on deaf ears. "Back off! You''re sapping my barrier!" the Oni Shaman roared at desperate figures. The Oni Kaiser furrowed his brow in anger. "What a disgraceful sight. You are Samurai! Fight with honour, die with honour! [Rally]!" He gave them a tiny bit of courage, just enough to at least turn and face the darkness. And that darkness came to claim them all. Spiders charged to decimate them, their unstoppable charge trampling the heavily armoured samurai like they were straw ragdolls. The archers aimed and fired a cloud of arrows, hitting both Oni and sliders alike. The men suffered under the friendly fire, but the spider... it seemed they couldn''t care any less. A horned rider, his mount a giant spider, was like a whirlpool of death. Each strike he struck was a life stolen. The spear in his hands glowed in ravenous red, its shaft drenched in blood. Souls of the slain Oni manifested as specters only to be sucked into the spear tip, ending up devoured. Soon the spider rider earned a new name ¨C Shikigami, the Death itself. Those who saw him uttered that name before their deaths. "Dark magic..." the Oni Shaman frowned. "Perhaps Soul magic, the vilest of the sorts. Let''s just hope he isn''t a Necromancer," she muttered under her nose. "Well, I can play this game too... Ready the sacrifices!" The Oni dragged the slaves, pitiful girls bound in ropes and blinded with a cloth sash. Attached to their foreheads was a long strip of paper, the paper was marked in weird symbols brushed in black ink. The Shikigami was working quickly, his spear engorging itself on souls. By this point, the remaining samurai slumped on their knees, the will to fight left their bodies, and so did their souls. Was it the sheer aura of dread that killed them? Or was it something else? They simply ceased to live... Either way, the spiderish monstrosities were left with their claws free. Their anger was directed at the protective barrier. "So it is time," the Oni Shaman gathered her resolve. "[Sacrifice]!" she slammed her staff again, the golden rings clanged, sending visible vibrations through the air. The paper slip burned, burning the soul it was attached to. The pitiful girl screamed in pain, years of life expiring in seconds, soon she turned into a pile of salt, leaving only binding ropes behind. The spent soul empowered the barrier, its life would keep it up for at least an hour. Enough time to breach the gate, barricade themselves in the castle, and then... well, they would think of something... Spiders surrounded the barrier, they couldn''t get past it, nor could their attacks. Only the light of their eyes, the murderous glow of yellow, reached the Oni inside. The murderous intent was so thick that it clung to the Oni''s skin like viscous slime. "Breach it! Breach the gate already!" the Oni Kaiser raged at his men. The spiders raised their axes high and struck the barrier in unison, their axes straining against the impenetrable dome. Of course, their attacks were futile; the barrier would never buckle that easily. "Relax, we... we have... time," the Oni Shaman swallowed her own words. As soon as the spiders struck the barrier a second time, it began to crack. This was not supposed to happen! It should have lasted an hour, not a few seconds. "[Sacrifice]," she repaired the barrier with another soul. Yet, it cracked again. "[Sacrifice]," it didn''t last. "[Sacrifice]... [Sacrifice]... [Sacrifice]!" Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Whatever this darkness was, whatever these spiders were, they weren''t normal... The barrier was cracking and cracking quickly. "Kaiser, you better be quick!" she warned him, only a few more slaves remaining. "This gate! There is something wrong with this cursed gate!" He ran to man the Torii siege machine himself. The Oni Shaman was standing in a field of ash and salt; she was out of sacrifices. "Samurai!!!" she shouted in desperation, her voice strained. "I need your honour! I need your sacrifice. Give me your souls and save your Kaiser. With your noble sacrifice, we can still do it!" This wasn''t a command; she was practically begging them. "Do it! I command you, [Command]!!!" the Oni Kaiser gave her the necessary support. The barrier was painted in a web of cracks; unnatural darkness was seeping through them already. With utmost urgency, with trembling hands, the Oni Shaman glued the paper slips to the heads of the volunteers. Her only regret was that she didn''t have more paper slips, only another 24. Normally, this would last her a day, but with the spiderish menace in sight... "[Sacrifice]!!!" she slammed her rod, turning all twenty-four into pillars of salt. "It''s all up to you," she left the rest to the Oni Kaiser. The protective dome thickened, shining in perfect golden light. The light was bright, and the honourable Oni souls strong, so strong that it even pushed the encroaching darkness away, forcing the spiders to recoil from the blinding light. Despite the small victory, the Oni Kaiser raged, "Gah! It refuses to break! What is wrong with this gate?! Come, help me, lend me your magic!" he demanded of the shaman. She was there, surrounded by ashes, her form supported only by her staff. "What do you want me to do? My magic is spent..." She trembled at the sight of returning darkness. "Useless wench!!!" he raged. The Torii was hitting the gate, each strike an explosion, but even to this moment, the gate simply refused to give. The brilliant light dimmed, the dome began to crack, and eventually, it shattered. Low fog of shadows, thick as miasma, descended upon the surviving Oni, licking their ankles and freezing their toes. Soon, the Oni were surrounded by an impenetrable veil of darkness. Evil spiderish eyes glared murderously at them. The spiders stood still, content at simply looking. But for how long? A voice, shrill and unearthly, cut through the unnatural darkness. "Who Is Responsible?!" it came from nowhere and everywhere, echoing within the darkness. A horned figure stepped out of the shadows. Everyone gasped at the sight; this was the Shikigami, the Death itself. "I will repeat, Who Is Responsible?!" the Shikigami pointed his soul-devouring spear at them. "Tell me, and you might live." The Oni Kaiser looked at the stubborn gate; there wasn''t even a single crack on it. Then, he looked at the Shikigami. Shame and indignation tugged at his heart, so much dishonour, but soon all that turned to anger. No, not just anger but bubbling and seething rage. What even was this Shikigami? He never saw or heard about such a creature; shikigami were merely stories to scare the children. And he was no child! He was Oni, even better, the Oni Kaiser! He had years of experience under his belt. He wore thrice-reinforced heavy samurai armour, each plate plucked from a dragon, enchanted to the point that it was able to deflect all elemental attacks. And even better, in his hands, he held his companion, a blade made from the best metal mined at the ancestral mountain, the metal folded no less than a thousand times, then tempered under the sacred waterfall, and then enchanted in an occult ritual turning it into a cursed demonic blade. Its name was the Single-Kill True-Strike Heavenly-Cursed Thundering-Water Dragon Claw-Style Naginata. Even better, it was a naginata against a spear. In other words, the Oni Kaiser had an overwhelming advantage. Whipping himself into a Berserk rage, doubling his stats, he charged towards the guaranteed victory. "Rahh!!!" "!!! ... ??? ... [Disintegrate]," the Shikigami uttered with an uninterested flick of his wrists. "..." In an instant, the dragon-plated armour crumbled to dust. The many enchantments were freed, spewing a shower of sparkling motes. Then the Oni Kaiser''s skin evaporated, and his flesh turned to ash. The bones fell to the ground and simply crumbled to dust. Alas, the Nodachi remained. Cursed weapons were immune to Dark magic. Even better, it was still in the hands of the Oni Kaiser, but he no longer was just an Oni. He was now a specter, a disembodied soul with a single purpose ¨C to reclaim his honour. "Ha! I bet you didn''t expect this!" The Oni Kaiser, now a Specter, activated a plethora of skills, condensing them into one sure-kill-ultimate-attack. "Now [Die]!!!" he charged. The Shikigami simply scoffed, raising his spear ever so slightly. "???" The Specter''s face contorted into something unpleasant. "!!!" Before he could finish his strike, his body was sucked inside the glowing spear. Alas, the Nodachi continued moving, the blade flying towards the Shikigami''s exposed neck. It struck true, and then... The blade shattered like a glass bubble under a boulder. The Shikigami brushed the debris off his shoulder, his eyes were back on the remaining Oni. "Last time I ask, Who Is Responsible?!" The Oni trembled under the unbearable dread. But no one spoke up. It was either fear or perhaps honour that prevented them. The Oni Shaman, buckled under the pressure, her legs turned to mush. This creature here was no mere Shikigami, or even the Death itself; whatever he was, he was many times worse. The Oni Samurai might have hoped to die with honour so their souls could be reincarnated into wealthy and happy lives. But they were all mistaken! This monster here in front of them, this thing... it ate the souls it slayed. Meaning there was no salvation in death, only hell in the Shikigami''s spear, or wherever the souls it devoured went. To everyone''s surprise, the Oni Shaman shouted, "He! He was the one responsible!" she pointed at the pile of dirt. "He was our Oni Kaiser!" The dread aura lessened in an instant. "Oh... I see... Shame... I thought to make him suffer." "... will... will you spare us?" she asked in a trembling voise. "At least spare our souls." The Oni just stood there trembling. With weapons still in their hands, they were hoping for an answer. Honour or not, no one dared to attack this embodiment of dread and death; no one was mad enough. "It depends on what I see past the gate," the Shikigami walked towards it. 159 – Cursed Weapons Of Mass Destruction The gate that refused to be breached. The gate that had survived a thousand rams must be the gate of legends. It was the guardian, the bastion protector, and the defender of all Centauri. So why was it so special? It was rather simple: two things. First, it was made by magnificent spiders. Second, it was made out of unbeatable IronOak and unyielding Glem. The Spider King looked at the gate. He knew that even he would struggle to defeat it. Now, he needed it open, and opened quickly. Shouting and knocking was one way to do it. But there was another way. Whoever installed the gate made a slight mistake. You see, the Oni, with their Torii machine, had rammed and slammed at the gate in feral abandon. Meanwhile, the true solution was simple. Instead of a PUSH, it was a PULL. The Spider King grasped the large handle and then gave it a firm tug. The gate strained, something creaked and something broke. And then, rather obediently, it opened. Ah, it seemed it was latched by a broom from inside. This was the thing that broke. Either way, the gate was open. The Spider King rushed inside, seeking survivors. He didn''t need to rush far. Girls clad in dented armour met him, their faces hostile. A series of lances were pointed at him. They were Centauri, but they weren''t the girls he recognised. "Be careful! He doesn''t look like Oni!" they warned each other. "Monster, you shall not pass!" a lance was struck at his neck. This wasn''t the warm welcome he expected, but that didn''t matter. In the corner of his eye, he spied her, his Centauri Champion. "[ShadowWalk]," he walked past the hostile strikes, reappearing right in front of her. "Centauri," the word got stuck in his throat, "Centauri Champion, what happened? Quickly take a potion!" Her form was battered and bruised. Her lance was the only thing that kept her still standing. "Spider King?!" she looked at him as if she saw an illusion, unable to believe her own eyes. "Is it really you?" The Centauri defenders rushed to apprehend him. "Lower your lances!" the Centauri Champion commanded with all the authority she could still muster. "Don''t you recognise who he is?" With those words, spiders spilled out of the gate, dragging the Oni captives behind. They were bound in webs, their expressions traumatised. "Is he... Is he... The Spider King?" a nearby Centauri stuttered in realisation. The King in question pressed the healing potion into the Centauri Champion''s hands. "No... The potion, I can''t take it. It won''t help..." she said so, the relief obvious on her face, like a wave it washed down her body, making her collapse on her knees. The Spider King caught her in his hands. "But your injuries, they look dire. And what do you mean it won''t help?" "It won''t. The Oni, they..." she stopped abruptly, a star in her eye twinkled for a brief second, her expression changing. "I''m too weak to... to drink the potion..." she slumped into his hands. The Centauri Champion closed her eyes, her lips parted ever so slightly. She looked so weak and so helpless, a real damsel in distress. "Say no more!" He uncorked the potion and quaffed half of it. He knew exactly what he needed to do. Their lips connected in a life-saving kiss, the potion being passed into her mouth. She drank it like her life depended on it, with greedy gulps. He broke the kiss, checking on her condition. There was no improvement. Actually, she was now entirely limp in his hands, her body heavy and hot. Oh right! He had administered only half of the potion. With urgency, he forced the rest of it. Alas, her wounds still refused to heal. She opened her eyes ever so slightly. She looked sleepy, she looked like a maiden recently woken from a deep and vivid dream. "More... I need more..." she spoke in a weak whisper. "Cough, cough..." No! He won''t lose her! Not here! Not in his hands! He retrieved another potion, more potent this time. "Centauri Champion, stay with me!" He pressed his lips to hers again, passing the sweet-tasting potion. Again, she drank it like her life depended on it. "!!!" There was no improvement. Actually, it seemed her condition was growing only worse. Her face was flushed, and her breathing hot and ragged. Her legs were trembling, and her arms were wrapped super tightly around his neck. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. "Centauri Champion!!!" He administered yet another potion. She drank it like her life depended on it. "...more..." she begged as soon as he broke the kiss. Someone tapped the Spider King''s shoulder. He turned to look at the interloper. It was a Centauri knight, her cheeks hot and purple for some reason, her breaths hot. Her condition was similar to the Centauri Champion''s but perhaps not as severe. He looked around noticing that other knights had similar expressions, their faces flushed red. Were they affected too? Was there a curse ravaging the castle? Some incurable sickness? It would make sense, after all, the castle was under siege for some time. Shyly, the Centauri knight spoke. "Oni, they use Curse Katanas. Wounds inflicted by them can''t be healed by scrolls or potions," she said matter-of-factly. "???" he was confused. "Potions can''t heal her," she reiterated. Suddenly, the strength returned to the Centauri Champion. He could feel the might of her grip on his neck and shoulders. It felt angry. Surprised, he turned to look at her. She was glaring murderously at the Centauri knight. "You are demoted!" she roared, the previous vocal weakness all but gone. "But... But I... I understand," the knight bowed in apology. The Spider King was still confused. "Centauri Champion, will you be alright? I thought you were dying!" She looked down, unable to meet his eyes. "I''m hurt but I''m not dying. And yes, the potions are ineffective." "Oh... But we must do something about your wounds!" "Time will heal them. I''m mostly just exhausted... But... I feel like I would heal in your hands quicker. Please don''t let me go," her eyes met his, there was an unspoken desire within them. "I guess I don''t mind," he held her tightly. "It has been a long time, Spider King." "Too long..." he felt his eyes begin to moisten. "Are you crying?" "No, my eyes just got sweaty all of a sudden." "Oh you..." ... Some wounds could heal only with the warmth of the bed and good rest. Following her suggestion, the Spider King escorted the Centauri Champion to her room. The room was spacious but barren of furniture. Instead of a window, there was a hole of crumbled stone, the morning sun shining through it. Through it, he could see the inside of the Centauri Castle, most of it in ruins. Also, there was no bed in this room. "Would you kindly help me with my armour?" she asked him, her legs and arms stretched wide. That''s right, she had quite a few pieces on, and you can''t rest with something heavy like that. It was up to him to make her comfortable. He unclasped the clasps on the equine half of her back. Heavy plates dropped on the stone floor, threatening to crack it. "This one too, please," she knocked at her chest plate. Admittedly, dressing and undressing armour wasn''t his forte, hence why he reached for the clasps from her front. "..." he couldn''t quite reach it. He would need to get rather close. "I don''t mind, go ahead." Well, if she didn''t mind, neither did he. He ended up giving her an awkward hug, her plate pressing against his chest. He didn''t fiddle with the clasps for too long. The chest piece was freed. Unwilling to make the previous mistake and let it drop, he grabbed it by the sides. Something formidable threatened to spill from behind it. "Go ahead," she encouraged. Feeling like a kid unboxing a gift, he pried the plate away. A bundle of joy jumped at him with gratitude, puffing up happily at their freedom. And yet, the gift he was looking forward to was under another wrapper, the armour padding. "Go ahead," she urged. Belts and more clasps awaited. But those weren''t a challenge either. Soon, the padding, two pieces, one for the top and the other for the lower half, were removed. "Go ahead," she demanded. "???" All she had now was a thin cloth, much like a tight gown covering her skin. It barely kept her modest. Where was there nowhere to go ahead! If he removed that... "Go ahead," she insisted, puffing out her chest. Weapons of mass destruction bobbed at her vigorous insistence, so tight was that cloth that it threatened to rip at any moment. She shouldn''t be so careless with her movements! "..." And no, he couldn''t go ahead. If he did, there would be no turning back. But also, this was the time he noticed many wounds across her body. They were fresh battle scars, some still red with blood. "It must have been hard for you. Fighting so fiercely for your people." He spoke those lines with admiration. Realising that the Spider King wouldn''t go ahead, her shoulders slumped ever so slightly, but her lips were smiling. "It was... I thought I was done for, but my King Charming came just in the nick of time and saved all of us." He folded her armour padding and set it aside. "But Centauri Champion, what were you thinking? Why didn''t you ask the spiders for help?" "This was my Quest, and my people. I wanted to save them with my own power. That''s why I insisted that the spiders don''t interfere." "But..." he didn''t get to finish. "But, I know now that it was a mistake. I knew it for quite a while yet insisted on doing this on my own. And then... I almost got everyone killed. I feel ashamed," she wrapped her hands around herself. He took her shaking hands into his palms. "Don''t feel ashamed. Mistakes are there to learn from them. But you should have called the spiders if you were struggling." "Yes, I''m sorry. Pride stood in my way. I won''t make this mistake ever again." "Just remember, you can always rely on me and my spiders. Just give a word, any time. Don''t struggle on your Quest alone!" "Yes... In the end, it was you who saved me and my people again. For a second, or was this a third time already?" "Think nothing of it. I guess it''s my duty after all." "No, we''ll be forever grateful. I''ll be forever grateful... I would like to repay you in some way," she fluttered her eyelashes. "You know... here we are...the two of us... Do you have anything in mind?" "No... not really. A simple thanks is enough." "You say that, but I see your eyes and where they''re looking. I see your thirst, and I understand your desire. All you need to do is but ask," the deadly weapons bobbed in temptation. The Spider King cupped his chin, his expression thoughtful. "You drive a hard bargain, Centauri Champion, so I find myself unable to refuse. But I am a King, and for appearances sake, I must remain modest. Then, all I ask is a small glass. One glass no more." She beamed him a perfect smile. "Go ahead, it''s self-service." ... There was nothing better than a fresh glass of milk in the morning. It was creamy, warm, and invigorating. The Centauri Champion was left to rest in her room, on her face a smile full of satisfaction and gratitude. By a knock of a spider, the Spider King was invited to the courtyard. Once there, he was taken by surprise. "Hail, the Spider King!" the Centauri thumped their hooves in unison. There was a whole herd of them, a thousand maybe more, all standing in a neat formation. These were fresh faces he hadn''t seen before. And yet again, fortunately or not, they were mostly women, girls equipped with formidable weapons. If he played his cards well, the Centauri Cheese shortage could be resolved within days. 160 – White Mushy-Mush Of Powerty, The Demonic Grain There in the courtyard, the Centauri girls looked at him with wide, starry eyes. He didn''t know what the Centauri Champion had told them, but they clearly had very high expectations for him. They wanted a speech, and disappointing them was not an option. And the spiders were in for it as well. They had already decorated the courtyard with the flags of the Spider Kingdom, and even built a stage for a royal address. A tiny spider messenger, draped in exquisite blue cloth robes, burned a spidery scroll in its spidery claws, activating a Wind spell. It chirped with all the authority and fanfare it could muster, its tiny voice becoming a roar of a cannon. "We present to you the Captain of the Galleon Whale; Rider of Warrior Leader Jr; Slayer of the Oberon Worm; Master of Darkness; Owner of Spider-Nom-Nomicon, the SoulWell and the Giant ''ENEMY'' Spider. Ally of the Ancestral Forest; Sovereign of NewHope, NewGarden, WyrmCity and Spidery Outpost; King of Lamia, Kobolds, Draw, Dryads, DemiRabbits, Corrupt and Fallen Humans, and of course us Spiders; ruler of the Monster Realm, Chaos Realm and Spider Kingdom included; the one, the only, the true, the undefeated, the legendary, the spidery Spider King!!!" Yeah... The announcement was too long and the titles too many, but from the looks of it, the Centauri liked it. The girls were clapping their hands as if their lives depended on it. He stepped forward, giving them a politician''s wave. "Wow, what a lovely crowd. To think I would be welcomed so warmly. I don''t deserve it. Thank you, thank you." The herd settled, eagerly waiting for his next words. "My fellow Centauri, let me tell you, you have the greatest mares of all the mares I know. The greatest! No one can match your speed, your courage, and the quality of your milk. You are simply beautiful! And your lethal weapons? Don''t get me started on your lethal weapons. You are the envy of every other creature!" The mares in the crowd were blushing, while others stood proudly with their chests puffed out. "But folks, beauty aside, your beloved Centauri Castle, a symbol of your pride and greatness, has fallen into ruin. It''s a sad sight, a disgrace to your heritage. But worry not, with the help of my spiders, we can restore it to its former glory. Together, we can make Centauri Castle great again! And the Oni will pay for it. We''ll make them pay!" Cheers and thumps of hooves erupted from the crowd. "Remember, what was lost can be reclaimed. Your lands, your territories, and your pride. We will take back what is rightfully ours. The Oni will tremble at the sound of your hooves!" More cheers. "But first things first, we need to rebuild your economy. Your meadows are the best in the land, perfect for growing the most delicious crops. Let''s make Centauri self-sufficient, the envy of the neighbouring kingdoms. You''ll be so strong, so prosperous, that even the dragons will want to do business with you." Even more cheers. "And let''s not forget about your unique talent, a gift from the gods themselves. A talent that no other creature can match. What is it? It''s your milk! Your delicious, nutritious milk. Let''s make Centauri the dairy capital of the world! Milk, baby, milk!" The Centauri were like ¡°...¡± ¡°So, let''s get to work, Centauri! Let''s make Centauri great again! Let''s make history! Together, you and spiders, we can achieve anything. Believe me, it''s going to be tremendous!" ... He had made promises and now he had to keep them. Oddly enough, rebuilding the castle would be the easiest part; spiders were good at such things. However, for the Centauri to truly prosper, they would need more than just a castle. That''s why the Spider King was discussing this with the Centauri Champion, the two of them at the dinner table. She arrived for dinner dressed to the nines, wearing a familiar blue dress embroidered with golden web patterns. It was a scandalous dress, with thin fabric, a revealing cut, and a tight fit; her lethal weapons were practically on display for everyone to see. Very... very intimidating. Fearing total obliteration, the Spider King kept his eyes and hands busy by taking notes in the notebook entrusted to him by his irreplaceable assistant. She, the Drow Assistant, wasn''t here, so he was taking notes for her. "So we agree that the Centauri population will increase rapidly," he scribbled a number in his notebook. "With the Fertility Potion, yes. With the Fertility Potion+..." she gave him a sultry smile he couldn''t see. "... you can triple that number," she promised. "No!!! The + variant is too dangerous!" he protested, crossing something down. "How come? Last time I checked with Lady Crimson, it was perfectly safe." She retrieved a vial from her special holding space and placed it on the notebook''s page. "This is the one, isn''t it? Should I be concerned?" He noticed the vial was half empty. "Why do you have something so dangerous?! No, forget I asked. It isn''t dangerous for ladies, but for men... You have very few stallions in your herd, I imagine they would struggle with the demand. Potion+ would be a death sentence for them." Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. A hand took the half-empty vial and stored it securely. "Then you put it like that... I understand," she whined shyly, her face turning red like hot coals, but he was too preoccupied with the notebook to notice. Wishing to steer the conversation back on track, the Spider King pressed forward." Anyway, with the growing Centauri population, you''ll need more food. The castle is surrounded by lush meadows, so it would be easy to start growing something." "But we already are growing something." "You are?" Taking his eyed away from the notebook, he looked at her in surprise. "Just wait for dinner to arrive, and then you''ll see," she gave him a wink. Speaking of the devil, a Servant Centauri, a girl he definitely recognized from somewhere, galloped into the dining room. She had a sour and somewhat defeated expression, carrying a large tray with a lid in her hands. Presumably the dinner. She set the tray on the table, gave a curtsy bow, and left without speaking a word. "A knight I have demoted. Don''t mind her," the Centauri Champion neighed, her hand already on the lid. "Ta-da! We even included some white meat. What do you think?" He looked at the tray, his eyes inspecting the local food. There was a selection of dishes. He picked up the first dish. It was a bowl filled with some mush, white grains boiled to softness. Taking some, he chewed, savoring the flavor... Or rather, the lack of it. "Mushy and bland... I don''t like it." He gave his honest opinion, scribbling something in the notebook. "No? Well, for flavor, you can add this. Here, just a few drops." He dripped a few drops of the condiment onto the crumbly mush. The drops were dark like the night, almost looking like poison. The pristine white was tainted with black color, the black diluting into an ugly brown. Visually, the dish that was 3 points dropped to 2 points. And the taste... "OMG!" He looked at the Centauri, his hand trembling and eyes filled with something hard to describe. "This is disgusting! So salty!" "Huh? Really?" she tasted it. "No, I think it''s alright. How about this one?" "What is this? Mush triangles wrapped in leaves? I guess I''ll try." He bit a chunk of it. "Tastes like weeds and poverty. Or is it wet cardboard..." "Huh!? I guess you need some meat in it. Hmm, how about this," she pointed. It was some random raw fish covered by mushy-mush and wrapped in yet another weed. Following the Centauri Champion''s direction, he dipped the mush circle into the poison sauce and then it went into his mouth. "Ohhhh!" he exclaimed. "Is this it?! Finally!" she clapped her hands enthusiastically. "No! This is dreadful, borderline inedible." "Huh!!!" "Who made this monstrosity, I demand to know!" He stood up, slapping his palms on the table. "Well... It was your maid, we entrusted Day Sapphire with these dishes since she had the highest level in Cooking." "Oh..." he sat right back down. "It makes sense why there is raw fish where it doesn''t belong. To be honest, none of these look appetising to me." "No? How about this one? You must try this one." He tried a few more dishes, but in the end, all of them tasted like mushy-mush of poverty, wet cardboard, a white pile of nothingness, or a waste of time and energy spiced with a zest of rancid weeds. Dreadful, absolutely dreadful! "I can''t believe you were eating this." He scribbled something in the notebook angrily. "I wouldn''t wish it for my biggest enemy..." He put the lid back onthe tray, sealing this disgrace forever. "I really thought you would enjoy our local cuisine, but I guess our tastes are just too different," she neighed. "I guess so..." His disappointment was immeasurable, and his dinner was ruined. "However," she smiled, puffing her weapons proudly, "There is a dessert! Something special just for you," she beamed him a perfect smile. "Really!?" He stood up excitedly, looking all around. "Yes!!! Fresh Cream CheeseCake! Made with love by yours truly. And stop looking around, the cake is right here." It was hard to describe or explain where she pulled it out, but she did. He looked at the superior dessert with ever-increasing hunger. "Go ahead," she encouraged. Forsaking sticks, spoons, or forks, he ate with his bare hands! Like a famished beast, he devoured the cake, taking greedy chunks of it. Within seconds, the cake was demolished. The Spider King looked at his Centauri Champion with teary eyes. "Thank you! This was beyond delicious!!!" "Oh? I have some leftover Cream Cheese in my room, if you''re interested that is?" "Say no more! Let''s go!!!" ... Some time later. The Spider King was walking around, his eyes fixed on the Oni captives. Naturally, they were the ones who ruined the castle, so they would be the ones who would fix it. The Oni were clearing the rubble and sweeping the ground. Surprisingly, they were very well-behaved, obedient even. They didn''t groan or complain, actually, they worked rather quickly. Or maybe there was no surprise at all, after all, the spiders were there to set a good example. But they did look poorly, as if afflicted by a terrible disease. Their faces were pale, their hands trembling, their foreheads drenched in sweat. The Spider King observed with worry. He couldn''t allow a disease to break out. The longer he was there, the more their condition worsened. Suddenly, a vaguely familiar centauri, the girl he had definitely seen somewhere before, slammed an oversized gong. "Lunch time," she shouted. Well, luckily the Spider King was spoiled by a certain centauri not so long ago. He wasn''t hungry. And the gong was for captives anyway. Oni captives swarmed towards a gigantic pot, that familiar centauri was serving something there. The Spider King approached the pot, curious about their meal. Alas, it was that... "Mushy-mush! How dreadful..." he frowned at the sight. The gigantic pot was filled with that flavorless grain of poverty, boiled to a consistency of mushy wet cardboard. This was a war crime! And likely the reason why the Oni looked so pale. "Don''t feed them that!!!" he protested. "But..." the centauri flailed her spoon in confusion. "Are you trying to poison them?" "What? No... But, this is..." "Stop this torture at once. We''ve brought plenty of tomgrapes, give them that. Spiders, help her!" he istructed. The spiders mobilized to snatch the bowls straight out of the hands of the Oni. Soon they were bestowed with a tomgrape each. Unsurprisingly, the Oni looked at the tomgrapes with skepticism, some even grumbled in dissatisfaction. Fools! They will learn the glory of the tomgrape! "Eat!" the Spider King commanded. The Oni ate, their expressions going through all seven colors of the rainbow. Some cried, some laughed, some dropped to their knees to pray to some unknown deity. The Spider King went back to the centauri by the pot. "Am... Am I demoted again?" she whined with worry. "Huh? No. I am here to dispose of this cursed food. [Disintegrate]," he turned the white mushy-mush mush into dust. "!!!" the centauri reacted with shock and horror. "From now on, this demonic crop is forbidden, get rid of it." "But..." "No buts! Destroy it all! ... Oh, but perhaps it''s a job too big for a single centauri, sorry for that." He realized that he should delegate thid task appropriately, so he turned around to address the spiders. "Spiders, Disintegrate this evil crop, cleanse this castle of this evil affliction." The centauri looked at the dust in her pot, her expression complicated. "I will be definitely demoted for this... again..." she whined in a whisper. 161 - The Dark Alchemy Of Death And Rebirth Then the Oni came to siege Centauri Castle, they came well-supplied. Crates upon crates of food were in their possession; all were seized as compensation during their defeat. However, it wasn¡¯t just the food that the spiders stripped from the Oni. That day they''ve lost so much more... ... A spider donning the most magnificent robes walked with spidery swagger, the robe black like the night and the swagger full of authority that only a Dark Mage could muster. The Oni captives whispered to each other, eyes widened in horror at the sight. The appearance of a mage was rare; the appearance of a monster mage was unheard of. The spider reached the warehouse, which was filled with bags upon bags of food. The spider eyed the bags with scorn. A claw reached into a bag, piercing it, spilling the white grains. ¡°Forbidden crop of poverty,¡± it chirped a gravelly chirp. ¡°All must be destroyed. [Disintegrate],¡± it chirprf, pointing a claw and turning an entire pile of bags into dust. The Oni watched in horror as their sacred grain was desecrated, an act most vile. And yet all they could do was tremble at the might of sinister magic. ¡°[Disintegrate], [Disintegrate], [Disintegrate]...¡± the spider cursed and spat, its chirps filled with anger. None present understood the root of the spider¡¯s fury, or why it was destroying the sacred grains with such zeal. Bags of food, enough to feed an army of ten thousand, were all turned to dust. Madness beyond comprehension! The Oni felt their sanity drain away... ... Outside the castle, in the flooded fields, the Spider Warriors threaded the shallow waters. Equipped with enchanted weapons, they reaped the grain shoots like reapers of death. They weren¡¯t harvesting; they were destroying. The destruction was heralded with a chirpy tune, chirped by three warriors and one apprentice. Spider 1: ¡°We strike the stalks, we tear them from their root,¡± Cute Little Spider: ¡°To rid the land. Of the cursed shoot!¡± Spider 2: ¡°Let no grain stand, let no seed fall,¡± Cute Little Spider: ¡°We¡¯ll burn them down. We¡¯ll crush them all!¡± Spider 3: ¡°This grain is a plague, a curse on the earth,¡± Cute Little Spider: ¡°Destroy it now. It has no worth!¡± Spider 1: ¡°With axes of ice, we freeze the land,¡± Cute Little Spider: ¡°To kill the crop. By the King¡¯s command!¡± Spider 2: ¡°With flames we sear, the roots we scorch,¡± Cute Little Spider: ¡°Turning wrong to right. With our burning torch!¡± Spider 3: ¡°In windy strikes, the stalks we crack,¡± Cute Little Spider: ¡°The cursed crop. Will never come back!¡± All Spiders: ¡°We dance, we sing, with fury we destroy,¡± Cute Little Spider: ¡°To cleanse the land. Is our joy!¡± Spider 1: ¡°No more hunger, no more need,¡± Cute Little Spider: ¡°The King has spoken. And we heed!¡± Spider 2: ¡°The fields are gone, the land is bare,¡± Cute Little Spider: ¡°Now only. Dust and ashes there.¡± Spider 3: ¡°We¡¯ve done the deed, the work is done,¡± Cute Little Spider: ¡°No evil grain. Beneath the sun!¡± All Spiders: ¡°We¡¯ve danced. Sung. And destroyed,¡± Cute Little Spider: ¡°The grain of poverty. Forever. Gone!¡± The song of the diligently working spiders reached inside the castle walls. Its chirpy tune rang loud and clear, its echoes bouncing off the stone walls. The Oni felt their sanity drain away... ... The Oni were allowed a break, a short reprieve to rest and eat. And yet, as surprising as it was, the spiders never ceased their work. The Oni, having nothing better to do, observed the busy spiders. In the courtyard of the castle, they engaged in something odd. Be it fragments of broken armor or katana chips, all of these and more were brought and stacked into large piles. The busy spiders sorted the discarded items. More spiders, of a different kind, crowded around the piles. In their claws, they wielded strange tools, implements unfit for normal hands, clearly magical devices. They crafted with such skill and precision that even the master artificers would be jealous. They melted, welded, and milled the scrap, making something new. Another pile, of bits and bobs, was made, their true purpose yet unknown. Other spiders grabbed the newly crafted pieces. Chirping a spidery tune, they assembled the doodads, putting them together like perfectly fitting puzzle pieces. Piece by piece, something strange was taking shape. It was a metal effigy of monstrous proportions. It was a metal-clad embodiment of nightmares. It had claws, graspers, blades, and mashers. If it was vicious and nasty, you name it, and it had it. It stood as tall as a siege tower, a machine made for destruction. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. But why would the spiders make something so dreadful? The Oni didn¡¯t even dare to make a wild guess. All they could do was stand and watch as the nightmare took shape. And yet, it was just a hulking giant of inert machinery and scrap. Too big, too heavy, too impractical to be moved around. Was it meant to stay here in the courtyard, to terrorize and menace the Oni as they slaved away? To be a reminder of their failed invasion? All questions but no answers. Oh, how much did the Oni hope that the metal effigy would stay inert. That it has been assembled to remain an unmoving statue. They prayed and hoped for the metal-clad nightmare to stay still. Alas, it wasn¡¯t meant to be. The spiders stirred. No longer were they bringing scrap to be sorted, no longer were they crafting alien puzzle pieces, no longer were they tending to the metal giant. It was done. It was completed. The spiders gathered around the metal-clad effigy, chirping and dancing around it in a spidery frenzy. A tiny spider, smaller than most, climbed on top of the giant. In its tiny claws, it held a pebble, raising it high with an expression filled with joy and pride. And it was no simple pebble¡ªthe tiny thing was brimming with power, power of a sinister kind. The pebble was veiled in a shadow of night, the darkness spreading outwards from the tiny claw it was held in. It hummed and whispered something into the air, wisps of echoes that didn¡¯t quite form any words. With another joyous chirp, the tiny spider slotted the pebble into the premade socket. Then it jumped away from the metal-clad giant; the Effigy Of Death And Destruction was now completed. The hulking mountain of scrap and machinery jerked, its joints creaking. Then it roared, the exhaust pipes on its back spitting purple fire. The Oni watched with horror as this metal-clad monstrosity breathed its first life, the breath coming as a torrid flame. With another roar, it stirred. The bladed and clawed appendages were apparently its legs. The metal groaned and creaked, but in the end, it stood up on all six. It stretched its graspers and grinders, feelers and gnashers, all limbs designed for some terrible purpose. Alas, vaguely¡ªvery vaguely¡ªthe metal-clad giant resembled a spider. After all, the spiders shaped the nightmare in their image. The Effigy Of Death And Destruction roared again, its movements growing more fluid. What did it want? Why was it so angry? Perhaps as a newborn, it was hungry. Perhaps it was craving...death and destruction? The Oni would run, but there was nowhere to run. They simply clutched their heads and screamed. This nightmare was too terrible for the Oni psyche. The Oni felt their sanity drain away... ... You have to count your blessings no matter how small¡ªso she thought. A certain centauri, a girl twice demoted, was mending the stones on the castle walls. She was working there with the Oni; yes, her demotion was that bad. But at least she wasn¡¯t out in the field, or the battlefield, or whatever it now was. There, outside the castle walls, a metal-clad giant toiled in the fields. This humble centauri girl couldn¡¯t even begin to understand how or why it was made, or what it actually was, but she did Inspect the vaguely spidery contraption. Its name was the Fertilizer Combine Spider. The Oni, however, had a different name for it. They called it the Metal-Clad Effigy of Death and Destruction. A fitting name, perhaps, especially considering what it was doing in the fields. As its name suggested, the combine was fertilizing the fields, prepping them for the future crop. And that would have been fine¡ªif not for the fertilizer used. You see, around the Centauri Castle, there had been a battle recently. Casualties numbered in the thousands. Yes... The combine spider, like its flesh brethren, worked diligently. It used its graspers and claws, picking up the scattered remains like litter. The parcels were brought to its maw, which was filled with spinning grinders. Flesh was stripped from bone, everything going somewhere deep into its metallic stomach. But flesh and bones weren¡¯t the only things it fed on. On a few rare occasions, she had observed the combine spider venture back into the castle, where it drank the water purified by the Mer maid and then ate the abandoned dust in the warehouse. As odd as it was, in that order¨Cwater than dust. And what came in, had to come out, hence the "fertilizer" part of its name. So yes, she was very happy she didn¡¯t have to tread the fields. The spiders there, however, didn¡¯t seem to mind one bit. They mixed the soil with the vaguely reddish paste of dust and flesh, chirping a melodic tune. For some reason, she felt that the Oni''s sanity was draining. ... The Spider King was left to ponder a conundrum. The fields were almost ready, but there was no crop to plant. He was pondering it all the way to the first light of the midnight moon. The preliminary candidate, the crop highly praised by Centauri and Mer alike, was never an option. It was the Grain Of Poverty! He couldn¡¯t allow it! He wouldn¡¯t! He tapped at the table, thinking of other options. A glass of milk was placed on his office desk. ¡°You¡¯re thinking too hard,¡± the Centauri Champion smiled at him. ¡°Have a drink and come to bed.¡± He looked at the glass; the milk was still steaming. It was warm and creamy, its fragrance carrying hints of clowers. ¡°AshenClower!!!¡± he exclaimed in realization. ¡°Spider King, where are you going? You haven¡¯t finished your drink!¡± He didn¡¯t listen; he was running outside, toward the fields. In her hurry to catch him, a small vial slipped from her hand. She hadn¡¯t corked it yet, and the last drops of the precious potion spilled on the floor. ¡°Butterfingers!¡± she cursed at the loss, too great to bear. But with the glass still there, not all was lost. ¡°I¡¯ll make him drink it later,¡± she muttered, galloping after him. By the time she caught up to her King, his hand was already in the soil. A purple flash of light made her avert her eyes for a moment. She blinked the purple spot away, her gaze landing on a familiar plant. ¡°AshenClower? But it¡¯s different; its flower is red. Why?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you like them? Isn¡¯t this your favorite food?¡± ¡°It is. But I was asking, why is it red?¡± ¡°A random mutation, that¡¯s all. It¡¯s CrimsonClower now, nothing to worry about. Care to give it a try?¡± He plucked a clover leaf and offered it to her. ¡°Yum! As delicious as ever!¡± ¡°Good! And the flowers will yield edible grains. Grains brimming with flavor and prosperity, not blandness and poverty!¡± ¡°You seem excited.¡± ¡°I am! We have an entire field to seed, come help me.¡± This wasn¡¯t the seeding she had in mind for this midnight evening, but alas, it had to do. It was the King¡¯s command. ... The Oni were waking at the sound of a gong, the hour early. As strange as it was, while the day was filled with horrors, their night was oddly peaceful. Few of them remembered a time they slept so well. ¡°What is this dust?¡± an Oni brushed something blue away from his eyes. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Blue powder?¡± The others too noticed the presence of this mysterious substance. Either way, the gong had rung; it was time to go back to mending the castle walls. Once there, at the tall walls, by the gaps and cracks, they gasped in shock. ¡°The fields?¡± ¡°Are these flowers?¡± ¡°What is this?¡± Indeed, seemingly overnight, the castle was surrounded by a sea of crimson, plants that were tall and wide, their flowers red. They grew in the soil where their comrades rested. A bad omen if you asked them. The Oni felt their sanity drain away... 162 – Even If Your Life Depends On It, Dont Do It In the early morning, just outside the castle, the Spider King admired his hard work. The once desolate fields now bloomed with crimson clover blossoms. ¡°To think I''ve achieved this in just one night. Magic is amazing!¡± He wiped a bead of sweat forming on his forehead. The Centauri Champion reached out to pluck a fresh blossom. ¡°Yes, well done, Spider King. I, no, all of us Centauri, appreciate this.¡± The blossom went into her mouth, and she chewed it with great gusto. ¡°Well, you helped me, so no thanks needed. But, phew, I feel tired... Any more and I¡¯d have to dip into negative mana.¡± She let out a deep breath, a snort only Centauri could make when excited. ¡°Tired, you say? Shall I carry you back to the castle?¡± ¡°Carry? Haha, like give me a princess carry? Or a piggyback ride? Haha, no, I think I¡¯ll manage.¡± ¡°But I insist! It¡¯s the least I can do,¡± she said, kneeling beside him. ¡°Come on, hop on.¡± ¡°Haha, you can¡¯t be serious.¡± ¡°Do I need to beg?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll beg. My King would honor this humble mare by gracing her with your...¡± ¡°Stop it! This is embarrassing... Fine, you can give me a ride.¡± ¡°I¡¯m happy to be of service. Hop on.¡± ¡°Just don¡¯t mention this to Warrior Leader Jr. It''ll get jealous, you know.¡± He mounted the Centauri Champion. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m not too big, am I?¡± ¡°My King, you¡¯re of perfect size. Not too heavy, not too light.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m riding a Centauri...¡± ¡°Hold tight, here I go, [RelentlessCharge]!¡± ¡°No! Be gentle with me!¡± He''d never believed it would be him screaming this line. ¡°Slow down, take it easy! I¡¯ll fall!¡± She ignored him, galloping even faster. ¡°I told you to hold tightly!¡± ¡°Then pardon me!¡± he said, hugging her tightly. His hands embraced both the strength and softness of her lethal weapons. That''s just how it worked when riding a Centauri, unless there was a harness or something¡ªwhich would be even more improper. She didn¡¯t seem to mind one bit, happily galloping through the clover field. ¡°How is it? Am I quick enough? Should I go even faster?¡± She sounded excited. ¡°Please don¡¯t! I¡¯ll fall!¡± ¡°Hold tighter, then!¡± ¡°I am!¡± ¡°Tighter! I¡¯m going to go Faster!¡± And faster she went. The Spider King clung on like his life depended on it. ¡°Hey, you¡¯ve missed the castle gate,¡± he couldn¡¯t help but notice. ¡°I¡¯m taking the scenic route.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Am I faster than Warrior Leader Jr.?¡± ¡°Yes! Like five times! Please, slow down.¡± ¡°Exactly! I should be your royal mount, not it.¡± ¡°Denied!¡± ¡°Why?!¡± ¡°... No reason.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to go Faster!¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°Are you holding tight?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°Hold Tighter! [SpeedBoost]!¡± ¡°Ahhh!!!¡± And so he held on, as if his life truly depended on it. ... Even the formidable Centauri Champion didn¡¯t have endless Stamina, hence she was forced to drop him by the castle gate eventually. The ride had been... Fast. And despite all the shouting, it wasn¡¯t unpleasant, it was quite the opposite but he would never admit that. Whatever she had tried to prove, she had proven it. Hurriedly, before the jealous Warrior Leader Jr. could catch wind of this, he dismounted. ¡°Thank you for the ride. It was AMAZING,¡± it was the Centauri Champion who said it with a grin. ¡°Stop that, people will misunderstand!¡± he replied quickly. Indeed, this mare was rather sweaty, her hair disheveled, and her attire a mess. They had been gone for the entire night... just the two of them... A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°Misunderstand what exactly?¡± she said, her smile mischievous. Before he could answer, a spider messenger, a tiny fellow, tugged at the hem of his trousers. ¡°Morning, King. You have a guest. In your office.¡± ¡°A guest?¡± ¡°Yes, the Oni Shaman. Please come.¡± ¡°Oh, her...¡± he muttered, following the spider. ¡°I¡¯ll leave it to you. See you at the breakfast table, my Rider, my Spider King,¡± the Centauri Champion said something unessesary, making sure the other mares heard the extra title. ¡°If Warrior Leader Jr. comes after her, it¡¯s her own fault. I¡¯ve warned her,¡± he muttered to himself. As he followed the spider, thoughts of the Oni filled his mind. It was likely they wanted to negotiate, but he had no intention of dealing with them. Their crimes were too great to forget or forgive. Still, perhaps¡ªjust perhaps¡ªthey had something to offer. If so, he was curious. With no particular expectations, he stepped into his office. There she was, the Oni Shaman. It struck him that he had never gotten a proper look at her before¡ªthe de facto leader of the Oni convicts. She clearly belonged to one of the demonic races. Her skin was red, her eyes yellow, and her horns, also red, protruded from her forehead. Her white hair was tied back in a long ponytail. She was slim, with a delicate physique, a stark contrast to the otherwise muscular Oni. But she was a Shaman, after all. Like from all of the convicts, the spiders had confiscated her clothes, replacing them with a spider-woven Spidery Jumpsuit. The garb was a marvel of spider ingenuity, extremely durable and nearly impossible to stain. For some reason, the top of her jumpsuit was undone, hanging loosely at her waist. Her chest was there for all to see, but worry not, it was bound in white bandages. Why bandages? Who knows? Who cares? Despite her crimes, the spiders had made her feel welcome. They¡¯d brought her a plate of sliced tomgrape, and she even had something to drink. Wait... this was his office. And the glass in her hand was his glass, the glass containing white, creamy liquid. She was halfway through it. ¡°...¡± It was too late to stop her. Their eyes met. The Oni Shaman quickly finished her drink, her expression curious. He just hoped the milk the Centauri Champion had left yesterday hadn¡¯t spoiled¡ªit would reflect poorly on spider hospitality. Wiping the cream from her lips, the Oni Shaman spoke. ¡°Greetings, Shikigami, the Death itself,¡± she greeted respectfully. He was aware of the moniker the Oni had given him, but he didn¡¯t like it. ¡°I am the Spider King. That should be obvious.¡± ¡°Ah, of course. I beg your forgiveness, Spider King.¡± She bowed. She tried to hide it, but he caught her lips moving and her eyes glowing in that familiar light¡ªclear signs of a silent Inspect skill. Then, her whole body tensed, her back refusing to straighten. She remained frozen in the bow. ¡°Should... shouldn¡¯t it be... the Monster King?¡± she asked in a laboured voice. Yeah, the cat was out of the bag, but he didn¡¯t care. ¡°So what if I am? You¡¯ve heard of me?¡± ¡°No, I haven¡¯t...¡± she squirmed. ¡°But isn¡¯t that awfully close to...¡± she hesitated, ¡°the almighty Demon Lord?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know about almighty, but perhaps it is. However, I doubt we¡¯re similar at all, and I don¡¯t think we should be compared. Just call me the Spider King.¡± ¡°Understood,¡± she straightened at last, something dangerous glinting in her eyes. ¡°So, what is it you wanted to talk about?¡± ¡°...¡± She remained silent, simply staring at him. ¡°Go on, I won¡¯t bite. Say what you need to say.¡± She took a deep breath before speaking. ¡°I know magic, soul magic. I have spells that might interest you.¡± Yes, he remembered that barrier, it was surprisingly tough. ¡°Go on,¡± she had his attention. She stepped closer. ¡°And I know more than a few of the Oni Shogun¡¯s secrets, things that might be of interest to you.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± he raised a brow, she had his interest. She leaned in, her smile growing wider. ¡°But I¡¯m not going to tell you,¡± she said slyly. Of course she wasn¡¯t, not unless he gave something to the Oni Convicts. She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. ¡°Yes, my lips will remain sealed. The precious secrets are mine to keep. You¡¯ll have to torture me to get them out.¡± Or, just make some concessions for her. Like special treatment or something. ¡°Right, so what do you want in return?¡± ¡°Me?¡± She squirmed for some reason. ¡°No, I¡¯m telling you, I won¡¯t sell my secrets. You¡¯ll have to torture them out of me.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°And t has to be you. You know I¡¯m a Shaman, my resistances are high. Only a being as strong as you would be able to break me.¡± ¡°Huh?!¡± ¡°Yes.¡± She leaned even closer, right up to his ear. ¡°If you want my secrets... you must... tor-tu-re me.¡± ¡°!!!¡± Why the heck was she purring like a cat into his ear?! She leaned away, her dangerous eyes locking with his. ¡°This is the only way," she added, the glint in her eyes ever more dangerous. ¡°Right...¡± This woman was Crazy! The war must have been too much for her. She looked dangerously low on sanity, especially with that look she was giving him. ¡°Now...¡± She looked at him expectantly. ¡°What will it be? What sort of evil, twisted torture do you have in mind? It better be something awful, or else I¡¯m not spilling my secrets.¡± ¡°Right...¡± Yup, she was a total nutter. But... a strange thought, as insane as the Oni was, still prickled his mind: Perhaps he could play along? ¡°You want my secrets, don¡¯t you?¡± She squirmed expectantly. ¡°I have something in mind. A torture most evil, so bad it was prohibited. It¡¯s very bad. I strongly advise you to tell me your secrets now, or else you might die.¡± ¡°My lips remain sealed.¡± ¡°Last warning. The technique I¡¯m about to use is so terrible it was forbidden even in the Spider Kingdom, which resides in the Dreaded Place, a place beyond your worst nightmares. It¡¯s just that bad. Last chance to reconsider.¡± ¡°Do your worst... Spider King.¡± She might be mad, but she will regret it anyway. ¡°I¡¯ve warned you. [Inventory].¡± He retrieved a single item: a green feather gifted to him by the Forest Harpy. He wasn¡¯t lying about this technique being forbidden in the Spider Kingdom. The last time he did something similar to his mischievous wife, she had wetted herself. Now... how long would this crazed Oni Shaman last? And no, he wasn¡¯t angry that she''d drunk his milk! ... It was already afternoon, and the Oni were as busy as ever repairing the castle. The Oni Shaman, however, was hiding in the darkness of the cellar that served as her room. She wasn¡¯t imprisoned or anything like that. She was there by her own free will. She sobbed into her pillow, her tears salty and full of still-fresh embarrassment. And how could she not cry? Her pride, her honour as the Oni Shaman was all gone. She had cast it all aside so easily. And the worst part? She did it of her own free will. No... she had even demanded for it. ¡°Bah-ah-ah...¡± she sobbed, her pillow soaking up her tears. As strange as it was, when she met the Spider King and gazed upon his purple eyes, in that most crucial moment, she lost her sanity for some reason. Her darkest desires escaped the cage of her mental prison, and she ended up spouting some wild nonsense... ¡°Bah-ah-ah... I¡¯m so embarrassed...¡± she cried, her pillow getting awfully soggy. She didn¡¯t know what was worse: wetting herself, telling all the secrets, or secretly enjoying the entire thing... ¡°Bah-ah-ah... I am the worst...¡± she bawled, her pillow was now completely drenched. ¡°Look at me... making another wet mess. Bah-ah-ah.¡± The only saving grace was that the embarrassment only hit her once she returned to her room. But hey, wasn¡¯t this strange? There, with him, she felt one way. She was like an unhinged demon, her heart¡¯s darkest desires were laid bare. And now, when she was alone, even if still disturbed, she felt perfectly sane(???); none of that bubbly feeling in her stomach was there anymore. She felt one way in his presence, and another without him... What could all of this possibly mean? For some reason, she wasn¡¯t crying anymore. ¡°Could this mean that I am... I am in...¡± She couldn¡¯t say it. ¡°No, it couldn¡¯t be!¡± The bubbly feeling was back, but not in her stomach¡ªthis time, it was in her chest. 163 – All Things That Jiggle Have A Degree Of Lethal Charm The sound of the gong called everyone for lunch. Oni, Centauri, Harpies, and even spiders rushed to get their food. The Spider King was no exception. The girls had promised him a dessert, though what exactly it was, he didn¡¯t know. All he knew was that he was really looking forward to it. Once he reached the dining room, the first thing he noticed was a metric cube of something blue and gelatinous, weighing down the table and jiggling ever so slightly. The second thing he noticed was his three special girls: the Centauri Champion, the Mer Princess, and the Forest Harpy. They stood by the table, fire burning in their eyes. They were playing a game similar to rock-paper-scissors. ¡°River!¡± the Mer Princess played scissors. ¡°Mountain!¡± the Centauri Champion played rock. ¡°Wing!¡± the Forest Harpy played paper. ¡°No!¡±, ¡°Not another tie!¡±, ¡°Hey!¡± Thus they played another match. And another. And another. One victory was not enough, it seemed they were aiming for three points. But this game was unfair; the Forest Harpy had no hands and could only play ''paper''. The poor-poor harpy... The Spider King felt sorry for her. But perhaps he shouldn¡¯t have... ¡°Mountain.¡±, ¡°Mountain.¡±, ¡°Wing.¡± ¡°Hey-Hey! I won again!¡± ¡°This is unfair. I demand a rematch!¡± ¡°You¡¯ve cheated! I demand a rematch!¡± The other two glared at the harpy, clearly not too happy about losing. The Spider King wanted to facepalm¡ªhow could they ever lose to a harpy? All she could play was Wing! ¡°Hey, a win is a win. And, hey, he¡¯s here!¡± The three lined up in front of the giant jiggling dish. They stood tall and proud, each bringing out their own special charm: lethal weapons were propped up to heighten the danger, feathers were puffed to give extra volume, and scales were glistening to steal his attention. The Spider King was lost! He didn¡¯t know where to look! He settled on the gelatinous cube, its jelly trembling at his gaze. Gelatinous and bouncy, a metric cube of food. The three girls pointed their hands, or wings, towards the trembling dish. ¡°We present to you,¡± the Centauri Champion began, but didn¡¯t finish. The Mer Princess spoke next, ¡°The Proof of Affection.¡± ¡°Hey! A dessert made with our...¡± The other two smiled bitterly, their eyes on the Forest Harpy. ¡°... ?? Love ??,¡± the harpy sent him a kiss. Everyone looked in surprise. The kiss was a material thing! Red lips floating in the air, aiming for the innocence of the Spider King. The Spider King, unfazed, caught the kiss and put it in his Inventory. ¡°Hey!¡± the harpy flapped in protest. He ignored the harpy¡¯s antics, his attention back on the trembling dish. ¡°You¡¯ve made this? Wow! I am amazed!¡± He poked it with a finger, making it sway and shake. Something was captivating, even charming, about the movements it made. ¡°Hmm... The Proof of Affection, is that so?¡± The Mer Princess gave him a loving smile, ¡°Yes, it¡¯s made out of your favourite ingredients.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± the harpy fluttered her wings. ¡°I¡¯ve laid the eggs... most of them. But hey! Each is a bundle of ?? Love ??.¡± The harpy sent another kiss, and straight into Inventory it went. ¡°Hey! Stop doing it!¡± ¡°And I,¡± the Centauri Champion boomed with pride, ¡°I gave my milk, every drop imbued with love... I mean Love. Huh? ?? Love ??!¡± She tried to send an air kiss, but it didn¡¯t work. ¡°Hey! You¡¯re doing it wrong. It¡¯s ?? Love ??!¡± ...Straight into Inventory. The other two gave a jealous glare, envious of the harpy''s skill. ¡°Wonderful!¡± he said, already looking forward to the dessert. ¡°But, Day my maid, what ingredient did you add? I hope it¡¯s not fish.¡± He hoped with fingers crossed. ¡°How dare you! No, it is something very special.¡± ¡°Special? What is it? Tell me.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not telling, it¡¯s a maiden¡¯s secret.¡± He looked at the other two. They smiled and shrugged. ¡°I see... Either way, it looks delicious.¡± He cut a slice of the cube. To make one thing clear, it wasn¡¯t jelly, it was more like chilled custard, but blue in colour¡ªsolid and quite wobbly nonetheless. He tasted it, savouring the flavour. True to its name, it was filled with affection. The union of CentauriMilk and HarpyEggs was a holy matrimony of flavour. Sweet notes danced on his tongue, his mind filled with pleasant emotions, and his heart with warmth. It had creamy hints of bountiful clover fields, the rich freedom of the clear skies above, and the sweet depth of a blue ocean. ¡°Wa-wo-we-wa,¡± was his very nice reaction. He ate one bite after another, each tasting better than the last. But a whole metric cube of dessert was far too much. And good things taste better when shared. Alas, neither Spiders (tomgrapetarian) nor Centauri (vegetarian) were very keen on such foods. So in the end he shared it with Oni Convicts. The gesture was so welcome, and the dessert that good, that the fight broke out... ... At the calming reddish hues of the late evening, the Spider King sat at his office desk, deep in thought. DriderEggs were nice, but HarpyEggs... they were also nice. One was readily available, the other¡ªnot so much. With a nice flock of Harpies, he could enjoy delightful desserts daily. As such, and as always, life boiled down to food. ¡°And a King can¡¯t go to battle on an empty stomach,¡± he reasoned with himself. Now, taking in the Harpies just for their eggs was a flimsy reason. There were people, like his wife, who might misunderstand his good intentions. After all, much like the Lamia, the Harpies were an all-female race. So he had to think of other reasons besides their eggs. ¡°Well, they¡¯re good scouts. We could use them to scout the Centauri territory,¡± he thought of a better reason. ¡°And the grenade tests went well. They make for good Bombardiers.¡± Yes, it was settled. He would take a nice flock of Harpies, where scouting and bombing would serve as his excuse. But no matter how good an excuse was, it was always wise to run it past trusted friends. He found his maid, Day Sapphire, swimming in a large tank. A very, very large tank. Good for her! However, she wasn¡¯t swimming idly; she had a job. Her task was to purify the water, her body infusing it with her essence. A spider scuttled past him, carrying a pile of dirty dishes in its claws. It simply dropped them into her tank and scuttled away. There was a mountain of them at the tank''s bottom. It seemed his maid was taking her dishwashing duties rather seriously. The Spider King pressed his palms and face against the crystal glass, shouting into it to get her attention. ¡°Hey! We need to get more Harpies!¡± he opened, skipping any pleasantries and going straight to the point. The mer swam to the edge of the tank, her gaze suspicious. ¡°Oh? To get more eggs?¡± ¡°No... they are good for scouting. We need to secure the Centauri territory!¡± ¡°And also get more eggs, right?¡± A spider climbed the steps towards the top of the tank, carrying a water jug in its claws. It filled the jug but not before taking a delightful slurp directly from the water. It clapped its mandibles with satisfaction and scuttled away. ¡°No...¡± the Spider King denied. ¡°The Harpies proved effective as bombardiers. That¡¯s why! Thats my reason!¡± ¡°And also, you want the eggs?¡± Another group of spiders dropped a load of Convict Jumpsuits into the tank. The clothes spun in the water vortex the maid was regulating. Dirt and grime separated, only to be further purified by her magic. She was doing a splendid job! ¡°No...¡± He denied again, trying to ignore a little spider that was casually swimming in her tank. ¡°Really? I saw the way you look at them... The way they lay their eggs!¡± she accused, her eyes still suspicious. ¡°Huh! All lies! ... They¡¯re just really great girls and would be perfect additions to our forces.¡± He watched as another group of spiders used spidery treads to fish out the cleaned dishes and laundry. ¡°... And a perfect addition to your diner platter. No?¡± she asked, still suspicious. ¡°Okay! I admit it... I want their eggs. They''re very delicious!¡± ¡°Hmm... That¡¯s a perfectly normal reason. And their eggs are delicious. You should have said so from the beginning!¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°So when are we going? I¡¯m tired of being the dishwasher.¡± ¡°And the laundry machine,¡± he added the unnessesary. The Mer Princess, his maid, but also Dish-cum-Laundry machine, glared at him, anger bubbling in her industrial-sized tank. ... Just as the Spider King was about to leave for the Harpy Village, a disturbance drew his attention. A giant spider, a well-known legendary figure, was squaring off against a Centauri, a mare renowned for the lethality of her weapons. ¡°The only mount fit for the Spider King is a spider! It¡¯s only natural,¡± the Spider Leader Jr. declared, its enormous body standing tall and proud. ¡°Nonsense! The Centauri are much quicker, and our backs are more comfortable,¡± the Centauri Champion neighed with passion, her lethal weapons swaying with resolve. ¡°I shall be his only mount! Just like the Warrior Leader before me! It is my duty!¡± ¡°No! You are too big, too bulky! There is no elegance in your form. But I¡­ It¡¯s as if my very body was made to carry him, to give our King a perfect ride.¡± ¡°How dare you! I¡¯m the most handsome of spiders, and that is a fact! What¡¯s so great about your frail, squishy body? You lack chitin, you lack mandibles. How can you even think of being a royal mount if you lack the necessary qualities? You simply can¡¯t!¡± ¡°Frail? Squishy? You¡¯re wrong! For the ride to be comfortable, it needs to be soft and elegant!¡± She puffed her chest, her weapons swaying proudly. ¡°And, just so you know, he likes them a lot!¡± This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°Don¡¯t swing your lethal weapons at me! If it''s a fight you want, you¡¯ll get one!¡± ¡°Finally, bring it on!¡± ¡°Then it¡¯s a Duel!¡± All the Spiders and Centauri gathered in the courtyard, each faction taking its side. It was decided that the two would duel, with the Spider King as the judge. This was not a race but a lance battle, a traditional Centauri method for resolving conflicts.The goal: to inflict the most damage in ten hits. On one side stood the Centauri Champion, clad in heavy full plate armour. It was black, polished to a near-mirror finish, its glossy surface gleaming despite its darkness. She held a long lance, glaring at her opponent from the slit of her helmet.
Monster Race: Centauri Variant: Champion Magic Affinity: None ?? ?????? ??
HP:250/250 MP:50 STA:250
Active Perks [RelentlessCharge], [Trample], [OverwhelmingForce]
Passive Perks [SwiftHooves], [AgileManoeuvres], [LanceProficiency]
Resistances [DarkWeakness: Lesser]
On the other side stood the Warrior Leader Jr., also clad in heavy black armour, so dark it seemed to swallow the very light. In its claws, it gripped a long lance. From the slit of its spidery helmet, four yellow eyes burned like violent suns.
Monster Race: Primordial Variant: Spider Warrior (Giant) Magic Affinity: None ??? ??? ??? ??? ?? ??? ??? ??? ???
HP:5000 MP:200 STA:1000
Active Perks [SLAM!], [Trample+], [Sweep+], [Regeneration], [EmpowerSpiders], [BodyShield]
Passive Perks [Giant], [GreaterStrength], [IntimidatingPresence], [Leader¡¯sAura], [ObsidianArmour], [GreaterVitality], [PerfectMount]
Resistances [DarkResistance: Greater], [PhysicalResistance: Lesser], [FireWeakness: Medium], [LightWeakness: Lesser]
The odds weren''t in the Centauri Champions'' favour, however, she stood ready for the Duel. The gong rang out, Gong!, echoing across the courtyard, signalling the start of the fight. ¡°[RelentlessCharge], [OverwhelmingForce]!¡± The Centauri Champion charged with all her might, her lance aimed with deadly precision. ¡°[Charge]!¡± The spider rushed forward, though not as swift. In seconds, they covered hundreds of strides. Contact! The air itself seemed to explode under the sheer power of the collision. The two duelists now stood hundreds of strides apart again. The crowd watched in disbelief. The Centauri Champion had not only evaded the spider¡¯s lance, but she had also managed to strike a blow, dealing a staggering -1HP to the Warrior Leader Jr. It was unprecedented! The spider had taken damage! The Centauri erupted in triumphant cheers. ¡°1:0,¡± the Spider King announced, his voice echoing in the tense silence. ¡°Ha! First strike, Spider.¡± The Centauri Champion¡¯s voice dripped with pride. ¡°I hope you weren¡¯t planning to intimidate me with size alone.¡± ¡°A lucky blow, Centauri!¡± The spider growled, its mandibles clicking with frustration. ¡°Power isn¡¯t always in the first hit.¡± Gong! The gong rang out again, marking the start of the second clash. The two combatants lunged forward, but the Centauri Champion was already a blur of motion, her lance cutting through the air with lethal precision. Another hit. Another point. The crowd roared as the spider''s massive bulk struggled to keep up, its counterattack missing wildly. ¡°Power?¡± the Centauri sneered. ¡°You move like a boulder, clumsy and slow. No King wants to ride a lumbering beast.¡± ¡°I am a fortress, Champion.¡± The spider''s voice trembled with barely controlled rage. ¡°My strength is my shield.¡± ¡°But what good is a shield if you can¡¯t even touch me?¡± Gong! The gong rang once more, and the Centauri Champion moved with an elegance that seemed almost effortless, her agile body manoeuvring through the courtyard like a dancer. Her lance struck true yet again, a testament to her lance proficiency, the sound of impact explosive and decisive. The spider''s counter? Slow, unwieldy, and far too late. ¡°Look at me!¡± the Centauri boasted, prancing in circles. ¡°Elegant, swift. A King deserves to ride in style, with grace and nobility. Can you even gallop, Spider? Or do you just scuttle in the dirt?¡± The Spider Leader Jr.''s chirp was filled with frustration. ¡°I carry the weight of armies. My steps shake the ground!¡± ¡°Yet you can¡¯t even shake me! Your steps don''t have my charming sway!¡± she taunted. Gong! The Centauri Champion moved with lethal precision, hitting her mark with ease. The spider counterattacked slugishly, barely grazing her armour. ¡°Do you know what it means to carry royalty? Comfort, Spider. Comfort!¡± Her tone was booming, infused with pride. ¡°My back is soft, my stride smooth. No King wants to ride atop jagged spikes and hard chitin.¡± The Spider Warrior snarled, its chirps defensive. ¡°I am built for war! Kings need power, not comfort!¡± ¡°A ride fit for a King requires both!¡± Gong! Another point for the Centauri Champion. Her swift hoves make it look effortless, while the Spider Warrior struggles to keep up. ¡°Speed, Spider! Speed! A quick rider is a deadly one. You¡¯re slow and cumbersome. If the King needs to flee, you¡¯ll get him killed before you even take a step.¡± The spider bared its mandibles. ¡°I am power incarnate! No one can break through my defences!¡± ¡°You mistake bulk for strength. It¡¯s not about how much you can carry but how quickly you can act.¡± Gong! The Centauri Champion circled the Warrior Leader Jr. like a predator, striking her sixth blow. The Spider''s lance wobbled, missing entirely. She stood proud, her lethality for all to see. ¡°And then there¡¯s this! The sway of my weapons, especially when they are unbound by armour! A King can ride into battle, and I will fight for him with lethal elegance. Can you do that, Spider? Can your strikes, the sway of your weapons, grab everyone''s attention? Can you be the envy of the battle?" Warrior Leader Jr. clasped the spidery mandibles, "My legs are many, my claws are sharp. I can fight in many lethal ways!" ¡°Then why haven¡¯t you hit me once? Where is your battle grace? Where is your elegance? There is your lethal sway? You have none!"¡± Gong! Her strike landed true, while the spider missed yet again. The spidery warrior was faltering, its once intimidating presence dimming with every missed strike. "Your defence is falling, Spider. What if it was an enemy hitting our King? A King needs someone who can protect him. Thus you need a way to distract the opponent and make them miss. Just like I do with my LethalSway! ¡°¡­¡± The Warrior Leather Jr. seethed in silence. Gong! The Centauri Champion¡¯s next blow is precise, flawless. The Spider Warrior barely raised the lance in time, and missed once more. "Spider, you think your size intimidates? No. What truly intimidates is charm under pressure. Look at you¡ªflailing, desperate. Our King appreciates beauty and grace. He needs someone like me." The spider chirped, growing desperate, "My size alone can strike Terror into the hearts of any foe! What use do I have for soft and squishy charms like yours?¨CNone!" "Fear is fleeting. No one wants to think of fear or remember it. But a perfect charm¡­ It remains in the memory forever. Fear wins battles, but charm wins wars." Gong! The ninth clash comes, and the Centauri lands yet another blow. The Warriror Leader Jr. stumbles, the once-spidery stance starting to falter. "Nine strikes, Spider. Nine! Still think you''re the best mount? The PerfectMount? You¡¯re slow, cumbersome, charmless, and completely outmatched." "I am... power... I¡­" "You¡¯re losing." She cut him off. "A King needs a mount who doesn¡¯t just endure, but excels. I am that mount!" Gong! The final gong. The Centauri Champion charged one last time. Her strike was perfect, her lance drove home with a final, explosive blow. The spider could barely lift its weapon, its entire body trembling under the weight of defeat. "Ten strikes, Spider." Her voice was triumphant "You never touched me. I told you¡ªyou may be strong, but you lack grace, speed, and charm. The King deserves more than brute strength. He deserves a perfect ride¨Cgraceful and soft, speedy and precise, lethal and charming." Warrior Leader Jr. bowed its head in defeat, "You... you are right. I cannot match your elegance. I cannot match your speed or control. I don¡¯t have your lethal style. I see it now... the King deserves a mount like you." The Centauri Champion stood tall, her chest swelling with pride. ¡°Finally, you understand! I am the one who will carry the King into his spidery glory!¡± The Spider King, bewildered, tallied the final score: ¡°A perfect score, 10:0.¡± The Duel was concluded. The spider kneeled, the strength leaving its body. ¡°It is my defeat... I am unworthy.¡± Its body began to glow faintly, purple light radiating from its chitin. ¡°Take this... I don¡¯t deserve it.¡± ¡°A PerfectMount?! I¡¯ve obtained a PerfectMount!¡± the Centauri Champion exclaimed, her voice full of surprise and triumph. She galloped joyfully toward the Spider King, intent on celebrating in his embrace. ¡°!!!¡± the Spider King was almost knocked down by her lethal weapons. The gathered crowd, both Spiders and Centauri alike, cheered. The duel was exceptional! Despite all odds, despite her low stats, the Centauri Champion claimed a perfect victory. Yes, she only dealt -10HP, but it was enough to prove her point. She celebrated giddily, the tight embrace of her weapons suffocating the Spider King. However, not everyone took the defeat lightly. The Warrior Leader Jr. slumped to the ground, its expression growing more depressed with each passing second. ¡°I¡¯m unworthy to be a mount¡­¡± The colour was draining from its obsidian armour, black turning to grey. ¡°I have failed my spidery ancestors¡­¡± Flakes of chitinous armour fell from its body. ¡°I might as well become dust¡­¡± The brilliant yellow of its eyes dimmed. ¡°[ShadowStep]!" the Spider King escaped the lethal danger. "No!¡± A gentle hand landed on the despondent chitin. ¡°Warrior Leader Jr., you are still my royal mount!¡± he spoke softly, his words sincere. ¡°But¡­ but I lost¡­¡± ¡°You might not be perfect, but I will ride you nonetheless.¡± ¡°???¡± The colour slowly returned to its chitin. ¡°Spider King? But I won this?¡± the Centauri Champion interjected. ¡°I will ride one for battle, when I need intimidating power and near-impenetrable defence. I will ride the other for lessure, when I need graceful speed and lethal charm. I am the King, why can¡¯t I have two royal mounts? I can, and I will. Any objections?¡± ¡°Your wish is my command!¡± the spider perked up, its depression vanishing as if it had never been there. ¡°Your wish is my command!¡± the Centauri Champion parroted, though her chest deflated ever so slightly. ¡°Ah, but it would be unfair not to celebrate the victor. Centauri Champion, you proved your might and resolve. You persevered through this near-impossible challenge¡ªno, you excelled. As long as it¡¯s within my power, I shall grant you one wish.¡± The Centauri Champion¡¯s chest swelled with joy. ¡°What? Really? Anything? Anything I want?¡± ¡°As long as it¡¯s in my power,¡± the Spider King nodded. ¡°Finally! Finally, the day is here! My dream will come true.¡± She galloped in a circle, her movements filled with mirth and joy. ¡°This is so unfair¡­¡± the Warrior Leader Jr. grumbled under its mandibles. [ChaosBlessed activated] ¡°Hehehe!¡± The Centauri Champion laughed, her laugh a bit unsettling, almost crazed. ¡°It¡¯s happening! It¡¯s happening! Hehehe¡­¡± Her eyes began to border on madness. Suddenly, The Spider King felt a shiver of dread. He had a bad premonition about this wish¡­ 164 – The Ride That United Them Forever A certain centaur stood in the courtyard. She had a delicate but athletic figure, her coat and hair brushed to perfection, her skin cleansed and perfumed. Her attire was a blend of light armour and a dress. There were plates protecting her sides, pauldrons, and padding, but also delicate fabrics. Cloth clung tightly to her upper body like a second skin, and a frilly skirt swayed gently in the wind. The best name for her attire would be a battle dress. This mare stood in the courtyard, her presence strong and imposing. Her whole body radiated an aura of lethal beauty. She was the most beautiful of all the mares, her charms undeniable. She was also the strongest, her speed and grace were unmatched. She was the Centaur Champion, a mare who could only be ridden by a King. ¡°Go ahead, I¡¯m all yours,¡± she bubbled, standing at the ready. In one quick swoop, the Spider King mounted her. ¡°How is it? Are you comfortable?¡± she asked, adjusting her posture. ¡°Your back is surprisingly comfy.¡± He basked in the warm sensation between his legs. Her shape was perfect, as if her body was made for the sole purpose of riding. ¡°But are you sure we should be doing this without a saddle?¡± ¡°Yes, the saddle would spoil it. We¡¯ll ride raw, just like nature intended.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ but there are no stirrups or a bridle for me to hold on.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t know you were into that sort of thing¡­¡± she neighed softly, blushing ever so lightly. ¡°I just need something to hold on to, that¡¯s all,¡± he said matter-of-factly. ¡°Then, go ahead,¡± she encouraged. ¡°¡­.¡± ¡°Go. Ahead,¡± she insisted. ¡°¡­.¡± ¡°Better,¡± she gave a satisfied smile. ¡°But hold tighter!¡± Tighter he held, basking in the soft sensation in his palms. Her shape was perfect, as if it was made for the sole purpose of holding on. ¡°Let¡¯s start it slow this time,¡± he suggested, still slightly afraid of her speed. ¡°Good idea. Let¡¯s enjoy this.¡± Her body moved, her gait slow. Together, they moved toward the castle gate. A small escort of Centaurs and spiders followed after them. The Centaur Champion picked up her pace, going quicker. He couldn¡¯t see it, but she wore a warm, sunny grin on her face. ¡°When we¡¯re like this, it¡¯s almost like our bodies are connected. Don¡¯t you think?¡± Indeed, he could feel her muscles moving, the warmth of her body, and even her heartbeat. ¡°I agree. In battle, the rider and his mount are one.¡± ¡°I like this feeling,¡± she bubbled, her hand pressing his closer to the warmth of her chest. He felt her heart starting to beat faster. Was she nervous about something? If so, that made two of them. The stroll was casual, but they were out of the castle walls in no time at all. Time flies when you enjoy it, right? ¡°Let¡¯s go faster. Ready?¡± she asked, her neigh mischievous. ¡°Yes!¡± he pressed close to her, holding tight. She galloped with grace, her body somehow not shaking much. But perhaps it was a stable ride because he sat just right, he held just right, he also helped her to stabilise. Either way, this was a soft and pleasant ride. ¡°My King, go ahead, lean into my back, make yourself comfortable. It will be a while until we reach the Spidery Outpost.¡± He did as she suggested, pressing close, resting his chin on her shoulder. By now, he wasn¡¯t just comfortable¡ªhe felt secure, protected from all stress and worldly dangers. He realized that he trusted this mare, trusted her with his life. As she galloped, cold gusts of wind brushed past him, but he didn¡¯t need to worry about the chill¡ªthis ride came with its own heating function. It was very luxurious. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the Centaur Champion smiling. "We''ve grown closer, haven''t we?" she asked. "I think we have." "Do you think we could grow... even closer?" she asked with a hint of hesitation. "Why not? But can we even be closer than we are now?" "Well, it''s up to you..." she implied something deeper. "And then there''s my wish..." "Ah yes, you haven''t told me what you want. What is it?" He felt her heart beating faster. "I believe, a long time ago, you wished for something similar. And you have it, but... not quite the real thing. I believe I could do better. So much better." She took a deep breath, gathering her resolve. "My wish is to achieve the Ultimate Cream Cheese! Please, allow me to gift it to you." That was surprising! And it was so much like her. To put it simply, her wish was to give him a special gift. This centaur was a very cute mare, no doubt about it. So kind. Too kind! And he didn¡¯t deserve her. "Sure!" he readily agreed. "So, are you missing the Ingredients or something like that?" "Something like that..." she replied with a blush. "It''s something only you can provide." "I''m glad to help!" he piped up in excitement. "What is it?" Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. "It''s a cream, a very special type of cream..." "Oh?" "Yes... you know what I mean, don¡¯t you?" "I have no clue! What is it?" "It¡¯s a bit embarrassing to say..." she neighed shyly. "I can''t... I can''t say it." "You have to say it! We must make that Ultimate Cream Cheese! I want it!" He hugged her tight, as tight as he could. "Well..." Her face flushed deep red. "It''s not just the cream. The cream is the easy part... It''s... it''s where you put it... and what happens after..." "???" He wasn¡¯t following at all. And it was unusual for her to be this flustered. "Stop teasing me... I know you know..." "I¡¯m confused. Just say it. Say what you need of me," he demanded, holding on with authority. "Ahh... I want you to ride me..." she neighed softly. Well, that came out of nowhere. "..." He paused to think. "But I already am." She snorted, her breath hot. "... Not like this, you silly." "???" "For my wish to come true..." Her cheeks burned red, her chest tense. "Spider King, please ride me through the night! Allow me to gift you the Ultimate Cream Cheese!" "!!!" He almost fell off. "What sort of cream cheese is that!?" "The Ultimate kind! Something which can only be achieved when a mare is expecting. So please, give me a foal, and I''ll give you the best dessert ever!" So, her real wish was¡­ a foal. Why did she have to ask in such a roundabout way? He pondered the craziness of it all and the chaotic mess he had landed himself in. He should¡¯ve known better than to accept her ride through those crimson clover fields. Now, he had a crazy wish to grant. Mistaking his silence for something else, she whinnied softly. ¡°Is¡­ is that a no?¡± Her voice cracked, the corners of her eyes moistening. ¡°Sorry, that just took me by surprise,¡± he said, caught off guard by the situation. He had made the declaration to grant her wish in front of everyone, Centauri and Spiders alike. It would be very unkingly to back out now. He just hadn¡¯t expected this development. ¡°A promise is a promise¡­ so it¡¯s not exactly a no,¡± he added, surprising himself with his own words. She galloped with more energy, her steps full of enthusiasm. ¡°Then it¡¯s a YES!¡± It was a complicated yes. True, the Centauri Champion was capable of crafting sweet and near-unbeatable desserts. Her body was a bomb of flavour¡ªalmost lethally so. The connoisseur in him screamed ''yes!'', a big, shameless ''YES!!!''. Truth be told, his heart desired the Ultimate Cream Cheese, the forbidden dessert. However, there was still reality to contend with. He might be a King, but he wasn¡¯t free to do as he pleased. He¡¯d need to seek counsel, whether it be spidery or of the Lamia kind. ¡°I¡¯ll have to make proper arrangements. Can you wait until then?¡± he asked, hopeful for some time. ¡°Oh, you mean your wife? Don¡¯t worry about her.¡± ¡°Huh!? What do you mean?¡± He nearly fell off again. She grabbed his hands, pressing them back to her chest. ¡°I sort of brushed this past her. She said it was alright.¡± ¡°No way she said that!¡± And yet, he felt her heartbeat going steady, her pulse ¨C calm. She wasn¡¯t lying. ¡°Yes, she did! We discussed this before I left for my Quest. Well, there were conditions, of course.¡± ¡°Even with conditions... I don¡¯t expect her to be this understanding,¡± he slumped back into the warmth of her body. ¡°The Lamia Queen might be young, but she¡¯s wise beyond her years¡ªshe knows her husband well. You should give her more credit.¡± ¡°So¡­ what are these conditions?¡± ¡°Right. It all makes sense if you think about it. I won¡¯t be your wife, I won¡¯t even be your mistress. Not officially, anyway. My only duty is to birth a foal¡ªan heir to all Centauri, an ever-loyal vassal to the Spider Kingdom. This would enshrine the Forever Alliance between the Centauri and Spiders for ages to come. Such was her condition. A condition I gladly agreed to.¡± ¡°This doesn¡¯t sound like the Lamia Queen at all!¡± He couldn¡¯t imagine his mischievous wife plotting such things. Then again, she was a troublemaker. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± the Centauri Champion neighed softly. ¡°The Spider Advisor might or might not have whispered in her ear during our discussion. And, I may or may not have given the advisor all the blue jelly the Centauri had secretly stockpiled.¡± She admitted it quickly, as if it were of no consequence. Now things were making more sense. ¡°But why now? Why haven¡¯t I heard of this?¡± ¡°There were other conditions. First, I had to liberate my people. Second, I had to secure the Centauri Territory. I did need some help with the latter¡ªthank you for that. My Quest is now complete, and my reward¡­ I mean, my wish... is soon to be fulfilled, yes?¡± It seemed life had aligned as it should. He¡¯d be sure to give the Lamia Queen more credit next time. But anyway, "Let''s not rush into things. There is a¡­ natural order to all this.¡± Now it was he who blushed. ¡°I think the natural order is progressing just fine. You are riding me, after all. Haha.¡±
¡°¡­¡± ¡°Aww, you''re so cute when you''re embarrassed! Are you excited for the dessert worthy of a King, the Ultimate Cream Cheese?¡± The Centauri Champion teased, her voice light and playful. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Please look forward to it. I have great things planned.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Oh! And don¡¯t worry about naming our foal. I already have the perfect name.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ It¡¯s obvious. It¡¯s the thing you like the most!¡± ¡°Which is?¡± The bold and brazen Centauri Champion suddenly turned shy again. ¡°¡­ you know. It¡¯s the very thing we¡¯ll be making.¡± Something he liked the most¡­ something they¡¯d be making¡­ If that were the case, the foal might end up with a rather obscene name. ¡°Forbidden Dessert?¡± he guessed, trying to stay mild. ¡°No, silly! It¡¯s Cream Cheese! That¡¯s the name I¡¯ve settled on a long time ago.¡± ¡°Cream Cheese, huh? I do like it¡­ But is this a boy¡¯s or a girl¡¯s name?¡± ¡°Obviously a boy¡¯s,¡± she neighed, her confidence returning. ¡°And what if it¡¯s a girl?¡± He hugged her closer, tighter. An embrace worthy of a King. ¡°Nope. It¡¯s gonna be a boy, a formidable stallion! Don¡¯t ask me how, but I just know it,¡± she neighed, her steps growing bolder with each leap. ¡°And what if¡­ it¡¯s a spider?¡± ¡°Huh!¡± She almost tripped. ¡°Is that even possible?¡± ¡°Well, I am a Spider King, so anything¡¯s possible.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Her gallop slowed, a serious look darkening her face. ¡°A spider¡­ Half-Spider, half-Centauri¡­¡± She was clearly imagining some grotesque abomination, her complexion paling. ¡°Hahaha,¡± he laughed, brushing it off. ¡°Don¡¯t take me seriously, I was only joking. It¡¯ll be a handsome stallion. I¡¯m sure of it.¡± ¡°Oh! Hahaha! Yes!¡± The spring returned to her steps, light and full of energy. The Spider King couldn¡¯t help but smile. Spider, Centauri, or a bizarre mix of both¡ªeither way, he was surprisingly happy about this whole development. Perhaps it had been buried deep in his heart all along, but for quite some time now, he had yearned to grow closer to the Centauri Champion. He was sure of that now, the throbbing heart in his chest was the proof. ¡°I feel that from now on, we¡¯ll grow much-much closer.¡± He leaned forward, planting a soft kiss on her cheek. ¡°Oh my¡­ careful now, or you¡¯ll make me trip again.¡± The Spidery Outpost was still a good distance away. Usually, long trips weren¡¯t enjoyable, but the Spider King didn¡¯t mind this one at all. It was so pleasant, so warm and soft¡ªhe didn¡¯t even want to get off. It was as if the Centauri Champion had been made for the sole purpose of being ridden. Indeed, she was the PerfectMount. Perfect for him in every way. The two¡ªSpider King and Centauri Champion, rider and mount¡ªfelt inseparable, united as one as they rode toward their shared destiny. It wasn¡¯t just about fulfilling a wish anymore. It was about their bond, one growing ever stronger, sealed by something as simple yet significant as the Ultimate Cream Cheese. While they frolicked like a youthful couple, flirting at every given chance, a certain spider glared from the shadows. Four yellow eyes glowed with jealousy, but also with determination and resolve. ¡°I will not. Let my spot. Be stolen,¡± the spider chirped a whisper under its mandibles. ¡°I will excel. I will Evolve.¡±
165 – The Lethal Allure Of Restored Charms. Be Warry Of This Harpy!!! From the dense clouds, a ship of pure white IronOak emerged, gliding silently through the mountain winds. Its hull, smooth and seamless, shimmered like bone polished to a fine gleam, the unique wood seeming both ancient and otherworldly. No sails adorned it; instead, spidery symbols etched along its spine pulsed with a faint purple glow, propelling the ship forward as if by sheer will. The ship moved as if weightless, floating like a ghost over the rugged peaks. The Harpy Village, perched precariously on the steep cliffs, was a collection of airy nests carved within the mountain face. As the ship approached, the wind carried the scent of mountain air, mingling with the faint hum of magic emanating from the vessel. The ship hovered gracefully before deploying its landing gear onto a stone landing pad carved into the mountainside. A gust of wind lifted the feathers of the harpies, who watched in awe, their eyes wide, as the ship settled like a dream descending from the heavens. From the flying ship, the Spider King descended in all his regal splendour. His Spidery Robes of Magnificence flowed like liquid midnight, woven with golden threads that shimmered with arcane power. Draped beneath those robes, he wore the Vest of the Lamia Queen, a vest made from the skin of some legendary formidable predator. The pure white scales glistened like ice under the sun. Around his neck hung a necklace¡ªa single blue mermaid scale that hummed with unknown promise, no doubt a piece of jewellery that could either charm even the most resilient of maidens; or perhaps resist their charms. Yet, it was not he alone that held the harpies'' gaze, but the mighty creature upon which he rode. The Centauri Champion galloped forth, a sight as intimidating as it was captivating. Her battle dress was a contradiction of form¡ªarmoured pauldrons gleamed with deadly purpose, while a frilly skirt billowed around her powerful frame, swaying with each confident stride. Concealed in her attire, she carried a set of weapons of the most lethal kind, so formidable and large that they could barely be contained. They swayed rhythmically with her movements, inspiring the moderately equipped harpies to aspire for more. The harpies, perched on the rocky outcrops and suspended nests of their mountain village, stared wide-eyed at this display of might. Though they had seen the Spider King once before, they didn¡¯t know he was in command of such a formidable creature. The Centauri Champion¡¯s presence was something wholly new¡ªa living weapon of grace and strength, a mare that could only be ridden by one of true royalty. Intimidation mixed with awe as the harpies'' feathers ruffled in response. Their sharp eyes followed every motion of the Centauri¡¯s lethal sway, both fear and admiration stirring within them. They could feel her power, the coiled energy ready to strike at a moment¡¯s notice, and yet there was an undeniable beauty in the way she carried herself, in the pride with which she served her King. The harpies whispered among themselves, impressed but also inspired by this union of spider and centauri, a perfect balance of grace, danger, and¡­ loyalty? Was this something they could ever replicate? One of the Harpy Bosses, a familiar girl feathered in mature browns, glided forward and joyfully extended an invitation. ¡°Hey! Spider King, fancy seeing you again! The Harpy Queen wanted to see you. What a coincidence, hey! Come!¡± she said, her excited voice echoing through the mountain. The Spider King dismounted gracefully, landing with the quiet authority that defined him. He turned to the Centauri Champion, resting a hand on her armoured flank. "Wait for me here. I won¡¯t be long." The Centauri Champion gave a slight nod, her posture unwavering. "As you command, my King." With that, he followed the Harpy Boss deeper into the mountain''s rocky heart, where the Harpy Queen''s cave awaited. The cave opened before him, a grand cavern with jagged stone walls and wide, natural windows carved out by wind and time, revealing a breathtaking view of the horizon. But it was not the view that caught the Spider King¡¯s attention¡ªit was the array of goods scattered across the chamber. Crates filled with spidery goods lined the cave¡¯s interior, their contents carefully arranged. Tucked among them were boxes of Tomgrapes, the harpies'' most cherished delicacy, their deep blue skins glistening in the dim light. Rolls of finely woven BlueCloth sat in a neat pile, perfect for the harpies'' nests, their vibrant hue matching the sky beyond. Spidery Harpy Tanktops, custom-fitted for harpy wings, were draped over the crates, alongside delicate bone trinkets¡ªearrings and necklaces, all painstakingly crafted by the dexterous claws of spiders. The Spider King narrowed his many eyes slightly in recognition. These were the wares of one of his spidery merchants, carefully curated to appeal to the harpies'' tastes. The sight was unexpected but not unwelcome¡ªa small surprise in the midst of his visit. The Spider King stepped further into the cave, the dim light casting flickering shadows on the stone walls. It was the glow of spidery candles that bathed the room, their blue wax melting slowly, while flames of unnatural purple danced atop them, casting a strange, almost divine-like light. The air felt thick, not just with the scent of goods and tomgrapes, but with something far more intoxicating¡ªa scent like the distant heat of a desert, arid yet oddly sweet. It clung to the air, curling into his senses, making him grip the ever-precious sapphire scale around his neck. The necklace hummed gently, a subtle warning, reminding him of its power to reflect charms. He wasn¡¯t sure if he would need it here... The Spider King spied deeper into the cave and past the many crates, and there she was, the true surprise of his visit. Gone was the aging Harpy Queen he remembered, with her once-dull grey feathers and the tired creases of time etched on her face. Now, she stood before him, radiating a vigour that shocked him to the core. Her feathers, still coloured in all fifty shades of grey, now gleamed like polished silver, catching the purple flame¡¯s light and casting it back with a metallic sheen. Her face was all but free of the wrinkles he once knew, leaving only the faintest traces of age, now more a whisper than a mark. And her figure¡ªwell, it was fuller, her bust boasting a newfound spring and volume. Her presence dominated the room, not just through her appearance but in the air she carried around her¡ªenticing, alluring, irresistible. Dangerously harpish! Her dress, too, was unlike anything he¡¯d seen before. It was spun from the finest blue cloth the spider artisans had ever made, its design intricate and elegant, a spidery web of patterns that clung to her form perfectly, highlighting her new youth. The Spider King¡¯s gaze drifted over her, from the hem of the dress up to the sharp intelligence in her harpish eyes. He swallowed, fingers tightening around his necklace, its cool surface grounding him, holding him back from falling under the charm she seemed to cast without even trying. The Harpy Queen, who had been examining a crate of goods, turned, her eyes widening slightly at the sight of him. Surprise lit her features, but it wasn¡¯t shock¡ªit was something softer. Something warmer. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°Spider King,¡± she greeted, her voice carrying a lilt that hadn¡¯t been there before. It was brighter, lighter, as if her voice, too, had been rejuvenated. ¡°Hey! I didn¡¯t expect you so soon!¡± ¡°And I did not expect to see you like this,¡± he replied, his voice steady but his mind spinning. ¡°You¡¯ve¡­ changed.¡± She smiled, a hint of pride glinting in her gaze. ¡°Hey, yes. I owe that to your spiders.¡± She gestured around the cave, which was filled with crates of goods. ¡°They¡¯ve brought wonders¡ªcandles, fabrics, trinkets. But none so wonderful as KelpCream,¡± she said, running a taloned foot through her rejuvenated feathers. ¡°And the perfume¡­ it¡¯s like the desert winds. I can hardly believe it. I don¡¯t feel like an old Harpy Queen anymore. I feel young again! Hey-Hey!¡± The Spider King remained still, his hand subconsciously grazing the necklace at his throat, his eyes taking in her transformation. It was remarkable, and yet dangerous in its allure. She seemed almost too perfect, too youthful. Was it the cream that had given her this glow, was it the perfume that made her so enticing, or was it something else? Indeed, the beauty products of the Spider Kingdom were rather¡­ dangerous. ¡°And for that,¡± she continued, stepping closer, her feathers catching the candlelight, making them sparkle like stars caught in the rippling surface of a lake, ¡°I owe you thanks. Your spider merchants have brought more than just Beauty back to me¡ªthey¡¯ve returned something I thought was lost forever.¡± She paused, her eyes glimmering with an emotion he couldn¡¯t quite place. ¡°Hey! I feel alive again!¡± The Spider King¡¯s lips curled into a smirk. ¡°I see¡­ My merchants have been busy.¡± ¡°Oh, they have,¡± she said with a soft laugh, her eyes narrowing playfully. ¡°But their craftsmanship is beyond compare. Your spiders truly know how to weave not only fabrics but¡­ miracles.¡± She gestured to her dress, running her talons along the spidery patterns sewn into the blue cloth. ¡°This dress, this beauty, this¡­ youth. I owe it all to you and your people.¡± Her gaze grew more intense, her amber eyes locking onto his as she stepped even closer. ¡°So tell me, Spider King, is there anything I can offer you in return? Anything at all? No price is too great for what you¡¯ve given me. Name it, and it¡¯s yours. Hey?¡± His fingers pressed on the necklace, the special scale thrumming again, its gentle hum a reminder of the protection it offered. The Harpy Queen¡¯s beauty was undeniable, but there was something deeper beneath her offer¡ªsomething more than gratitude. An invitation, perhaps? Or was it a challenge? The Spider King paused for a moment, his eyes narrowing in thought. The Harpy Queen stood before him, her rejuvenated form calling to him enticingly. There was a harpish hunger in her eyes, not just for gratitude, but something more. He could sense it¡ªthe invitation behind her words. His fingers brushed over the necklace again, he was so thankful for this charm-resistant gift. Truly, his wife deserved more credit than he was giving her. The shape of the scale felt reassuring in his hand, it gave him the strength to engage in the delicate dance he now had to perform. "I need no reward," he began, his voice even. Then, a thought flickered through his mind, and his lips curled into a subtle smile. "Or perhaps, there is something¡­ after all." The Harpy Queen¡¯s eyes brightened immediately, her chest feathers puffing with excitement. She stepped closer, her wings swaying with eagerness, casting flickering shadows in the purple candlelight. ¡°Oh?¡± Her voice was feathery-soft, wrapping around him with anticipation. ¡°And what is it, my dear Spider King, that you desire? Name it, and it shall be yours.¡± He kept his voice steady, though amusement tinged his tone. ¡°Your harpies. I want them¡ªno, not just to borrow them as before. I want them entrusted to me, their abilities, their natural talents. The Forest Harpy you lent me has proven herself indispensable. Her ability as a bombardier, her grace in the skies¡­ truly unmatched. I could use more like her in the Spider Kingdom, and perhaps even in Centauri Territory.¡± He leaned in slightly, lowering his voice. ¡°And the eggs they lay¡­ their taste is beyond compare. Not to mention all the desserts we can make out of them. A King needs desserts fit for a King! So, I wish to extend our alliance. Entrust your harpies and their HarpyEggs to me.¡± For a moment, the Harpy Queen was silent. She blinked, absorbing the Spider King¡¯s words, and then her lips curved into a delighted, almost mischievous smile. ¡°Ah, the harpies and their eggs, you say? You flatter me, Spider King. But of course, the harpies are yours. We are loyal to your spidery cause, always have been.¡± She drew even closer now, so close that he could feel the warmth radiating from her, mingling with the scent of the desert perfume she wore¡ªheady and tantalizing. ¡°You want them¡­ for their special skills and their eggs, do you? Well, I¡¯m sure we can arrange that. In fact, I¡¯m delighted by your request.¡± She ran a corner of her wing delicately along one of the spidery patterns on her blue dress, as if emphasizing the intricate connection between their two peoples. ¡°But I do have something more special in mind.¡± Her eyes glimmered with that same playful mischief as she placed a wing on her hip, tilting her head slightly. ¡°Perhaps I could give you a¡­ more personal gift.¡± The Spider King raised a brow, intrigued but cautious. ¡°Oh?¡± Her wings shifted, feathers rustling like whispers in the silence of the cave. ¡°You see,¡± she continued, her voice lowering to a sultry, harpish purr, ¡°my nest has been empty for years. I thought my time had passed, that no more eggs would come from me. But with these marvellous spidery gifts¡ªthe cream, the perfumes, the potion, the beauty they¡¯ve restored¡ªwell¡­¡± She let the implication hang in the air with the feathers, her eyes gleaming. ¡°It seems my fertility has returned, Spider King. My nest can hold eggs again.¡± There was no mistaking her offer now. The Harpy Queen¡¯s gaze was unwavering, full of both challenge and invitation. ¡°And for you, I could lay a special egg. Just one, a token of our bond¡­¡± The Spider King exhaled slowly, feeling the weight of her words and the tension that crackled in the air between them. He could sense the power of her charm, her seduction carefully woven into her words and movements. But he had anticipated this; that¡¯s why, even if he was impressed, he wasn¡¯t exactly Charmed. More importantly, he had come here with a purpose, and that purpose did not include complicating matters further. Regret tinged his next words, but they were resolute. ¡°Your offer is generous, truly. But I must decline.¡± He smiled, the necklace humming victoriously. ¡°My interests lie in the alliance, in ensuring the prosperity of our kingdoms. The usual HarpyEggs are a good gift enough, and all that I would need for now.¡± The Harpy Queen¡¯s wings fluttered, her feathers rippling in a delicate wave of regret. ¡°Ahh, such a humble King,¡± she purred. ¡°Very well then, no super-one-of-a-kind special egg from me.¡± She gave a mock sigh, though her smile remained playful. ¡°Hey, but you know where to find me if you change your mind.¡± The Spider King chuckled, shaking his head lightly. ¡°Indeed.¡± The conversation turned back to practical matters. Together, they ironed out the details of their new alliance. The harpies would scout the Centauri Territory from now on, their sharp eyes and swift wings invaluable in securing the borders. The Forest Harpies, at the request of the Forest Harpy Boss, would be relocated to the jungle of the Spider Kingdom¡ªa gesture of thanks for the Spider King¡¯s intervention in slaying a particularly vicious snake-monster that had once terrorized their ancestral lands. The Harpy Queen spoke animatedly, her mind sharp despite her playful demeanour. Every now and then, her eyes would linger on him, as if contemplating what might have been, but she made no further attempts to sway him from his chosen path. As the final details were agreed upon, the Spider King stood, his robes swirling around him with the movement. The necklace hummed softly, but he knew he had nothing to fear here¡ªnot from her charms, nor her allure. Their alliance was stronger than ever, bound by mutual respect, trade, and the promised loyalty of her harpies. The Harpy Queen walked him to the entrance of her cave, her feathers catching the light of the coming sunset. ¡°You¡¯ve done much for my people,¡± she said softly, her voice warm and sincere. ¡°We are in your debt, Spider King.¡± He inclined his head. ¡°And I am in yours. Our alliance will continue to grow, and our bonds get stronger. I¡¯m sure of that.¡± With that, the Spider King stepped out of the cave. The Harpy Queen watched from the entrance of her cave, her expression unreadable, but a hint of that playful mischief remained in her feathers. She had offered him much today, and though he had declined her most personal gift, their bond had deepened. The harpies would fly for him, and their eggs¡­ their eggs would grace his table. And if he ever wanted more, they would be there for him. Always at the ready. She would make it her royal order. 166 – The Spidery Thread That Webs Towards The Forbidden… Ride? The Spider King emerged from the Harpy Queen''s cave into the cool embrace of mountain air. His robe, adorned with the spidery patterns of his kingdom, fluttered like living shadows in the breeze, tendrils of black and gold against the vibrant sky. It was sunset¡ªthe hour of transformation when the world seemed to burn with fading light, the mountainside bathed in a sea of red and gold hues. Below, the rugged terrain sprawled out, jagged rocks softened by the delicate glow of twilight, while above, the heavens bled into darkness, streaks of pink and crimson clinging to the horizon. Yet for all the beauty the world offered him at that moment, it was not the sunset, nor the mountain air, that captivated him. No, the most striking vision before him was his Centauri Champion, standing tall and proud among the crags. She was a figure of deadly elegance, the polished black of her armour gleaming under the dying light, each plate reflecting a flash of sunset fire. Her body moved with the controlled grace of a noble mare, each subtle shift of her muscles sending her lethal weapons swaying in harmony with the rhythm of her breath. Her battle dress fit snugly, outlining her every curve, but it was her hair that truly mesmerized him this time. Braided and flowing, it danced in the mountain wind, strands occasionally catching the light, turning them into ribbons of molten gold. The Spider King¡¯s chest tightened, his hands briefly clutching the necklace at his neck, as if to ground himself in the moment, as if to protect himself against her Charm. Alas, there was no magic involved, the necklace was powerless infront of her natural charms. The feelings he felt were true. The Centauri Champion hadn¡¯t noticed him yet, distracted as she was, she was neighing softly to another figure beside her. His sharp eyes narrowed, inspecting the figure. A spider. Young, barely more than a hatchling, its chitinous body still bearing the obsidian sheen of youth. This was no soldier or assassin, no warrior to match the Centauri¡¯s might. Instead, it was a merchant¡ªa travelling spider peddler. The same spider, no doubt, that had delivered the endless crates of goods to the Harpy Village, laden with dangerous wonders and secret delights. Yes, the fellow was still little but it seems it wasn¡¯t discouraged from climbing great heights and achieving great things. Truly, the spiders were impressive people. The Spider King¡¯s eyes drifted upwards, and he saw the Centauri Champion¡¯s hand¡ªthe one not propping her lethal weapons¡ªgrasping something small and delicate. A vial, barely the length of a finger, filled with a liquid that shimmered faintly in the dying light. His breath caught as he recognized it: a potion, its contents undoubtedly questionable. She clutched it with intent, her fingers brushing over its crystalline glass surface before she deftly slipped it between the fabric of her battle dress, nestling it deep within the crevice of her chest¡ªhidden, yet so tantalizingly close. The Spider King felt a rush of something¡ªamusement, intrigue, perhaps even a flicker of jealousy at the way she handled the potion, as if it were some secret to be kept from him. His lips curved into a smirk. He knew of the effects of the potion all too well. But was it intended for him or for her? ¨C that question still lingered. She straightened, her battle dress rattling softly with the movement, and at last, their gazes met. The Centauri Champion¡¯s eyes widened for the briefest of moments before a flush crept up her neck, staining her cheeks a delicate pink that stood in stark contrast to her hardened, lethal appearance. The blush was subtle, but he noticed. Oh, he always noticed. Her reaction was clear, though unspoken. She fancied him. Just as he fancied her. She flicked her braid back with a casual toss of her head, the strands of hair catching the breeze again, whipping like the tail of a great beast ready to strike. The motion sent her weapons swaying in tandem, a lethal, hypnotic motion that matched the intensity of her gaze. "Spider King," she addressed him, her voice low, tinged with respect but layered with something deeper, something unspoken yet simmering between them. The young spider merchant, oblivious to the undercurrents of their exchange, gave a quick spidery greeting¡ªits tiny legs scurrying through the rock in a clumsy, awkward dance. It seemed eager to depart now that its transaction was complete, perhaps sensing it was no longer needed. With a hurried bow, it scurried off into the shadows, disappearing among the rocks to continue its business, likely to peddle more unstable, questionable potions or some equally dangerous concoction. Now, only the Spider King and the Centauri Champion remained, the quietude of the mountain broken only by the occasional whistle of the wind through the rocks and a random hey of harpies. The Champion stood tall once more, her brow furrowed slightly, though the faint blush still lingered on her cheeks. Her hand moved, fixing the position of her lethal weapons, propping them up in a display of power and might¡ªan unconscious gesture of habit, or perhaps something more. Her eyes were unreadable, though the tension between them was palpable. "So," she asked, her voice stronger now, but still rich with the underlying current of something unsaid, something personal. "How did the discussion with the Harpy Queen go?" Her question was casual, but there was something in the way she asked it¡ªher intense gaze never leaving his, her hand still resting near where the potion had been stored, nestled safely between the cushions, close to her heart. The slight tremble in her breath was infused with anticipation. And her lips, though pressed into a neutral line, seemed on the verge of curling into a frown, as if she dreaded the answer but still wanted to hear it from him. The Spider King considered his words carefully. He could see the flicker of uncertainty behind her steady fa?ade, the way she shifted her weight ever so slightly, the way she moved her tail from side to side in poorly hidden anxiety. She wanted to hear more than just the results of his negotiation with the Harpy Queen. No, what she truly wanted was something unspoken, the details of something that she thought he might have done. The wind picked up again, causing his robe to billow out behind him, tendrils of spidery thread mingling with the last rays of sunlight. He took a step toward her, his boots crunching softly on the gravel beneath them, his sharp eyes never leaving hers. "The Harpy Queen," he began slowly, his voice as smooth and commanding as the shadows he commanded, "was most... generous." The Centauri Champion¡¯s breath hitched ever so slightly, the blush deepening as her gaze flicked down to his lips, then quickly back up. She adjusted her stance, her armour rattling softly, as if bracing herself for what he might say next. ¡°But worry not, haha, I refused her offer to make a special egg.¡± He finished with a teasing smile. Her posture relaxed. ¡°Why would I be worried? It¡¯s not like I would get jealous or anything like that.¡± She walked up closer to him, leaning in for a whisper. ¡°After all, I¡¯m your royal mount, the only one you shall ride deep into the night. Now, hop on,¡± with a purr of a whisper she tapped behind her back. ¡°Don¡¯t mind if I do!¡± he mounted her in one swift motion, almost practised to perfection. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The Centauri Champion walked slowly towards the Galleon Whale, her hand resting close to the treasure tucked away at her special holding place. The Spider King hugged her tighter, wrapping his arms around her chest. Still curious he decided to ask. ¡°I¡¯ve seen what you¡¯ve purchased. Do you think it will work?¡± Her step hitched, but only for a fraction of a second. ¡°It will. I have no doubt,¡± she spoke with resolve. ¡°I will make the Ultimate Cream Cheese. I mean¡­ together we will.¡± ¡°Yes, together.¡± The warm moment hung in the air between them, heavy with the unspoken tension of desires soon to be fulfilled. The Spider King¡¯s smirk deepened, the cool mountain air around them crackling with the electric charge of things that were soon to happen. And with that, the sun finally dipped below the horizon, leaving them walking towards the shadow-veiled entrance of the flying ship. The short ride to the ship was over, but the true ride was yet to begin. ¡­ The Galleon Whale soared through the night sky, cutting through the darkened clouds with silent grace, its white hull glowing in the cold light of the luminescent moon. Inside the ship¡¯s command deck, a nest of spidery activity chittered. The webs glistened along the walls, catching the light of the DarkFlame lanterns that illuminated the room in a soft, eerie glow. Six-legged, four-eyed, figures skittered across the room, pulling levers, twisting knobs, and manipulating complex webs of controls with nimble precision. Their smooth motions reflected the natural dance of a well-woven web, each movement practised to spidery perfection. At the centre of the command deck, perched atop the throne of threads and metal, sat the Spider Navigator. Unlike the other crew members, this spider didn¡¯t move with the frenetic energy of her(?) comrades. Her stillness, however, was deceptive, masking the intricate web of thoughts spinning inside her mind. Her spidery uniform¡ªa neat, blue garment adorned with gold embroidery and web-like patterns¡ªhung perfectly on her delicate frame, though she couldn¡¯t resist toying with the collar, her spindly fingers tracing the edges as if seeking to make herself more comfortable in her own chitin. Her mandibles twitched with a mixture of spidery anxiety and focus, her yellow eyes glinting with unreadable thought. She was a spider, after all. While the spiders had no gender, her mind was a tad bit unique. Different. Chaotic. It was feminine. And today, rather troubled. She fiddled with the brim of her sailor''s hat, adjusting it atop her head, her nervous habit betraying the tension she refused to acknowledge. ¡°Spiders don¡¯t show weakness. Spiders don¡¯t doubt.¡± she chirped softly to herself, her melodic little voice barely above a whisper, as she tugged on the edges of her uniform once more. The words, meant only to her, were absorbed into the clicking and the magic humm of the command deck, but also swept aside by the larger chaos brewing inside her mind. To her right, in the corner of the command deck, a crystalline tank shimmered, its walls reflecting the dancing lantern flame like a submerged treasure. Inside, the Mer Princess floated in restless discontent. Her sapphire scales glistened like jewels beneath the swirling water, each one catching the low light and throwing it back in a cascade of shimmering blues. Her long hair, blue and wet, fanned out around her, giving her the appearance of some forgotten sea goddess, beautiful and mesmerising all at once. But that beauty was marred by the expression on her face¡ªone of frustration, her brow furrowed and lips curled into a slight pout. The water in her tank swirled with her mood, reacting to her agitation, the currents curling like angry eels around her slender fingers. "I thought this trip would be exciting," the Mer Princess complained, her voice muffled by the glass of the tank but still clear enough to carry her discontent to the Spider Navigator. "Back at the castle, all I did was laundry, dishes, and other mundane tasks. I¡¯ve had no chance to dive deeper¡­ develop my bond with the Spider King. And here I thought this trip would be my chance. An escape where I could tread the deeper waters¡­" The Spider Navigator turned her head slightly, offering a nod of acknowledgement. ¡°I understand,¡± she chirped in support, her voice as small and melodic as the web she spun in her mind, though her attention was not entirely on the Mer Princess¡¯s grievances. Her claws tapped absently against the metal armrests of her spidery throne, twitching in their own private rhythm. Her mind was elsewhere, tangled in a web of her own concerns. The Mer Princess, oblivious to the Navigator¡¯s internal distraction, continued venting. Her arms crossed over her chest, and her tail flicked against the inside of the tank, sending another ripple through the water. ¡°I was sure that I¡¯d at least share a cabin with the Spider King. After all, I¡¯m his personal maid, aren''t I? But no, I was kicked out! How am I supposed to perform my duties if he won¡¯t even let me into his cabin?¡± The Spider Navigator chirped another line of support, her mandibles twitching slightly as if to express empathy. But her four eyes weren¡¯t on the Mer Princess at all. They were fixed on a distant point in the room, on the flickering flame of the DarkFlame lantern, her mind drifting toward a different set of problems. Her spidery claws tugged again at the cloth, smoothing the hem of her uniform in a compulsive gesture. The King¡¯s orders had been¡­ different. The destination of the Galleon Whale wasn¡¯t its usual stop at the Spidery Outpost. No, this time they were headed toward the Centauri Castle. And that, for a spider of routine, had spun a sticky web of doubt in her mind. But was this really that troubled her so much? No¡­ There was something deeper, something far more disturbing weaving its way through the recesses of her mind. Something she dared not speak aloud. She knew what it was. What if¡­ spiders had a gender? Her claws stilled for a moment, her mind caught in the trap of the stray thought. It was a question that had lingered in the background of her thoughts for so long now, but she had always pushed it away, too afraid to face it. One notable exception aside, spiders had no gender, everyone knew that. They were beyond such trivial distinctions. But her mind¡­ her mind was different. She felt it, deep within the web of her consciousness. Her mind was feminine. She was sure of it, in the same way she was sure of her skills as the ship¡¯s navigator. And yet, if spiders did have a gender¡­ what would the Spider King prefer? The question spun through her thoughts, tangling itself in every corner of her mind. The Spider King was a mystery, his preferences and desires unorthodox, wrapped in layers of shadowy webs and chaotic threads. She had served him faithfully, spun his commands into action with precision, but this? This was different. She clicked her mandibles softly, an anxious sound barely audible above the hum of the deck. Would he prefer a feminine mind? Would that even matter to him? Or was she only projecting her own insecurities, her own desires, onto him? Her mind fluttered, caught between the spidery web of duty and the confusing tangle of identity. What was she? A Navigator, yes, but beyond that? She adjusted her hat again, the motion automatic, as if the act of straightening her uniform might somehow straighten the chaotic mess inside her. Meanwhile, the Mer Princess¡¯s frustrations boiled over, her tail thrashing against the glass as her sapphire eyes darkened with bitterness. ¡°¡­And then he locks himself in the cabin with that Centauri Champion!¡± she huffed, folding her arms even tighter across her chest. The water bubbled with her irritation. ¡°Allegedly, they are discussing some ultimate dessert. But if that¡¯s the case, why wasn¡¯t I invited? I helped bake The Dream Come True! I assisted with The Proof of Affection¡ªwhich, mind you, jiggled perfectly! But no. I¡¯m just¡­ excluded.¡± The Spider Navigator gave another nod, another chirp of acknowledgement, but her attention was barely there. The more the Mer Princess spoke, the more her voice seemed to bubble out into the background, a distant hum beneath the chaos in the Spider Navigator¡¯s mind. She couldn¡¯t focus¡ªnot on the Mer Princess¡¯s complaints, not on the task at hand, not on anything except the gnawing, crawling anxiety within her. Doubt wasn¡¯t supposed to cling to her like this. Spiders didn¡¯t doubt. They acted. Decisively. Swiftly. But now¡­ now she found herself Trapped, caught in a web of her own making. She needed to know. She needed to ask the Spider King directly. About the course, yes, to dispel her professional doubts. But¡­ deeper than that, hidden within the thick strands of her consciousness, she needed to know something far more personal. Something about herself. The Mer Princess¡¯s voice faded into the background, her pout still prominent, her arms crossed tightly over her chest as she swirled in her tank. The water bubbled with her lingering annoyance, but the Spider Navigator barely noticed. Her focus had shifted entirely to the task ahead. She tapped a spidery finger on the control panel, setting the ship to a casual autocruise. It would have to do for now. Without so much as a glance toward the Mer Princess, still venting in her corner, the Spider Navigator scurried from the command deck. Her many legs tapped lightly against the ironoak floor as she made her way down the corridor, her mind spinning with thoughts of duty, identity, and the¡­ the Spider King. Behind her, the self-absorbed Mer Princess continued to pout and vent, completely unaware that her audience had left. 167 – The Concealed Weapon Of Lethal Charm. Spidery Magnificent!!! The Spider Navigator, all six legs tapping with restless precision, skittered down the hallway toward the King''s cabin. Her spidery uniform¡ªa crisp, intricate web of spidery fabric spun for her¡ªhung neatly on her slender frame. It was an immaculate look, a testament to her diligence, yet she couldn¡¯t help but fidget with the collar. Normally, a uniform like this was enough, but now, she felt like she ought to wear something else. Something more¡­ feminine. There, by the King¡¯s cabin door, stood Darkness, the shapeshifting slime. Or rather, crouched. Darkness had taken on her human form, a lithe, rogue-like figure adorned in tight black leather, her slimy body expertly imitating the folds of buckles and belts as if they were armour. Her eyes¡ªdeep and dark, like the void¡ªwere pressed close to the keyhole. She spied through it, her form comically contorted as she leaned against the heavy ironoak doors. The Spider Navigator approached, her spidery feet skittering at the floor, though Darkness, lost in her observation, failed to notice her. "Hello, Darkness," she chirped in a sweet spidery chirp, giving her a polite wave. Darkness nearly jumped, spinning away from the keyhole with an exaggerated yelp that sounded more like a certain wyrmling¡¯s signature phrase than anything else. "Meow! Spider Navigator!" she exclaimed, quickly straightening herself and trying to regain her composure. Her body wobbled slightly, the fluidity of her slime form betraying her nervousness. The Spider Navigator tilted her head curiously. "What are you doing here, Darkness?" Her spindly legs tapped quietly as she moved closer to the door. Darkness, looking bummed out, pouted like a child caught in mischief. "Meow... Well, I was put on guard duty. Kicked out, actually. The King is busy inside." She tried to puff out her chest as if to show she was taking her duty seriously, but her rogue-like stance, combined with the slight jiggle of her slime form, made it hard to take her seriously. "Guard duty?" The Spider Navigator chirped in thought, her mind weaving through the current events. She tried to peer past Darkness toward the keyhole, but it wasn¡¯t her nature to pry¡ªat least not yet. "I need to see the Spider King. I have... important matters to discuss with him." Darkness''s expression was conflicted. Her rogue mask slipped slightly, revealing the playful creature beneath. "No can do, meow! He¡¯s in a very important discussion, something about national security!" She leaned in conspiratorially, eyes glinting. "¡­the making of the Ultimate Cream Cheese." The Spider Navigator chirped in acknowledgment, though her mind was elsewhere. "Ah, of course. The Ultimate Cream Cheese." She nodded thoughtfully, her spidery legs tapping a pattern on the floor. "I suppose that sounds important." Her gaze shifted to the door. "But my matter is important too. I will wait." Darkness jiggled slightly, a complicated mix of amusement and nervousness playing across her face. "Well... I guess that¡¯s fine, meow," she said, relaxing a bit and leaning back against the door. "But don¡¯t expect it to be quick. They¡¯re... testing their weapons." As they waited in silence, the occasional muffled sound seeped through the heavy wood of the cabin door. It was impossible to ignore the voices inside. The Spider King''s deep, authoritative voice resonated, rich with excitement, while the softer, yet strong voice of the Centauri Champion echoed back in response. ¡°Centauri Champion, you have the most lethal of weapons. Have I told you that?¡± came the Spider King''s voice, brimming with enthusiasm. "You¡¯ve mentioned it more than once," the Centauri Champion replied, her voice carrying the weight of a warrior who knew her worth. ¡°Now, go ahead!¡± she challenged him. ¡°Don¡¯t mind if I do!¡± an excited voice boomed a reply. Darkness flicked her head toward the door, her ear pressed close once again. "Oh, meow... This is getting good," she whispered, her tone suggestive, as if she were eavesdropping on something much more salacious than a weapon test. ¡°Your weapons¡­ they feel so good in my hands. Their just perfect!¡± The Spider King exclaimed with delight. ¡°I¡¯m happy to be of service. Now use your special technique,¡± The Centauri Champion urged. ¡°Don¡¯t mind if I do!¡± The Spider Navigator¡¯s curiosity piqued. "Weapons? Special techniques?" She moved closer, tapping her legs softly as she positioned herself next to Darkness. "What sort of weapons are they testing?" Darkness gave a knowing nod. "It¡¯s the Expert Milking Technique, meow! The Spider King¡¯s favorite." The Spider Navigator chirped in understanding. She had heard of it before¡ªan ingenious method developed by the Spider King to extract BlueJelly in vast quantities, a remarkable skill that had strengthened the Spider Kingdom¡¯s economy. "Ah, the Expert Milking Technique..." The Spider Navigator mused, her mind momentarily distracted from her anxieties. "But he¡¯s found a way to weaponize it?" Darkness nodded with a smirk. "Seems like it, meow!" ¡°As expected of the Spider King!¡± she chirped feeling proud of her King. Suddenly, the sounds from the cabin grew louder, as if the battle within had reached its climax. Thuds, grunts, and the clang of shuffling hooves filled the hallway as the Spider King and Centauri Champion duelled with ferocious intensity. The Spider Navigator pressed her ear closer, the thrill of the battle sending shivers through her spindly legs. Darkness, equally enraptured, was now fully focused on the keyhole, her body squishing slightly as she leaned into the door. "Our Spider King is a formidable fighter," the Spider Navigator chirped with pride, her voice carrying the unmistakable air of admiration. She tapped her legs softly in anticipation, her earlier anxieties fading as she became engrossed in the scene unfolding on the other side of the door. At least the sounds of it. "Meow, you¡¯re telling me!" Darkness whispered back, her face flushed with excitement. Her slime body wobbled slightly, as though the mere thought of the King¡¯s prowess in battle was enough to unsettle her form. Inside, the sounds of the duel intensified, and it was clear the Centauri Champion was being pushed to her limits. Her heavy breathing and the sharp slaps of her weapons against the Spider King¡¯s techniques reverberated through the door. "Spider King..." the Centauri Champion¡¯s voice was strained, but there was an undeniable challenge in her tone. "Isn¡¯t it time you showed me... your spear?" The Spider Navigator blinked, her spidery mind weaving together the significance of that request. Of course, the Devouring Spear, the King¡¯s signature weapon. Her curiosity grew tenfold, eager to hear how the King would respond. There was a brief silence, punctuated by the sound of rustling, perhaps the King retrieving his legendary weapon from his Inventory. Darkness, her eye still glued to the keyhole, jiggled with anticipation. "..." "???" The silence that followed the shuffling and creaks inside felt dense, almost uncomfortable. Even with all of her legs grounded, the Spider Navigator found herself fidgeting, uncertain. The King''s voice boomed once more, cutting through the tension like a knife through silk. "Centauri Champion!" The Spider King¡¯s voice carried a certain regal strength. "A Human can¡¯t be measured by Centauri standards, but I am no mere man. Observe! Transformation: Spider!!!" A delighted clap echoed from within the room, followed by the overjoyed voice of the Centauri Champion. "Ohhh!" "This is only the beginning!" The Spider King continued, his voice brimming with the pride of his transformation. "OHHH!!!" The Centauri Champion¡¯s excited neighs followed, and the distinct sound of hooves clattered wildly against the wooden floor, vibrating through the door. Outside, the Spider Navigator tilted her head, the yellows of her eyes glinting with curiosity. She knew, of course, the Centauri Champion was notorious for her love of duels, always yearning for challenges worthy of her prowess. There was no doubt in the Spider Navigator''s mind that the Centauri Champion had never fought the King in his true form. The thought of witnessing such a battle excited her, a tangle of fascination starting to weave its way through her mind. But her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the Centauri Champion neigh a challenge. "Come at me, my King, come!" The Spider King¡¯s response was swift and decisive. "Don¡¯t mind if I do!" The Spider Navigator¡¯s head tilted further. She wanted to see it, to witness the show of secret weapons and hidden techniques. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Darkness was still glued to the keyhole, her obsidian eyes wide with anticipation, her body nearly melting into the door. She seemed to be in the perfect position to witness the spectacle, and it irked the Spider Navigator that she was missing out on such a rare moment. With a slight huff, she tugged at the hem of Darkness¡¯s faux leather outfit, the slime¡¯s human form perfectly mimicking the texture. "I want to see too!" she chirped, tapping her spidery claws impatiently. Darkness slapped her claw away, her voice turning into a series of distressed meows. "Meow! Wait!" She turned her focus back to the keyhole, pressing her face against it as if she could merge through the door itself. "It¡¯s about to get good!" Inside, the tension in the air built like a rising tide, and the Spider Navigator could hear the Centauri Champion¡¯s voice crack with challenge. "Spider King! Don¡¯t you dare go easy on me! I want your full force!" The King¡¯s hesitation was palpable, his voice faltering ever so slightly. "Full force?" "Yes!" the Centauri Champion roared. "I want to feel all of your might! Don¡¯t hold back! Bring it on!" There was no denying the excitement now. The Spider King¡¯s voice roared back with a thunderous, "Don¡¯t... don¡¯t mind if I do!" The Spider Navigator let out a small giggle, her mandibles clicking together in amusement. "The Centauri Champion is a fool if she thinks she can handle the full power of his spear," she chirped, her excitement brimming. "She doesn¡¯t stand a chance. He¡¯ll wipe the floor with her!" Darkness, still glued to the keyhole, gave a small, knowing nod. "That spear is mighty... Meow, how is she not afraid?" The sounds from the duel grew more ferocious by the second. The pounding of hooves became thunderous, shaking the very walls of the cabin, and the sharp thuds of the bodies colliding told of the fierce struggle inside. Furniture smashed, shelves clattered, and it sounded as though the entire cabin was being torn apart in the heat of battle. It didn¡¯t take a genius to see that duelling in such a confined space was a dangerous decision, but the Spider Navigator wasn¡¯t one to question the King¡¯s methods. "Meow... this is too much..." Darkness whispered in awe, her form beginning to wobble as the intensity inside the room reached new heights. Her slimy body could no longer maintain its human form under the weight of the chaos, and with a soft, almost defeated splat, she melted into a puddle on the floor. Seeing her opportunity, the Spider Navigator darted forward, her spidery legs moving with elegant precision as she pressed her eye to the keyhole. "My turn!" she chirped excitedly. "..." What she saw inside was... unexpected, to say the least. There were no weapons¡ªno gleaming swords or shining spears¡ªjust flesh of bodies. The Spider King and the Centauri Champion were locked in a duel of strength, yes, but not in any form the Spider Navigator had anticipated. Their bodies moved in sync, clashing with an intensity that was mesmerizing in its own right. "As expected of the Spider King," the Spider Navigator whispered, her voice filled with awe as her eyes tracked the movements of the King. His spidery form was a marvel of grace and power, each of his spidery limbs working in perfect coordination, subduing the Centauri Champion with ease. "Meow?" Darkness bubbled up from her puddle on the floor, her voice incredulous. "How can you watch this so calmly?" The Spider Navigator was utterly enraptured, her breath catching in her chest. "This... this is incredible! I¡¯ve never seen such a duel before! The technique! The grace!" Her voice was a flurry of excited chirps, her legs tapping energetically on the floor. "What is this? What are they doing?" "They¡¯re making the Ultimate Cream Cheese, that¡¯s what they¡¯re doing," Darkness gurgled, her slimy form undulating with unease as she tried to process the scene inside. The Spider Navigator¡¯s many eyes widened, glistening with pure, spider-like wonder. "Oh! The technique! His unique skills!" She was practically bouncing on her spidery feet, each tap a sign of her growing excitement. "It¡¯s... it¡¯s amazing!" Darkness, still a puddle on the floor, groaned. "Aw, don¡¯t step on me..." she muttered as she tried to slither out of the way of the overly enthusiastic spider. The Spider Navigator, however, was lost in her own world, her mind weaving the scene into a perfect web of memory. Every movement, every technique the King executed was committed to her memory with meticulous care. His majesty, the sheer might of his body, the way he moved with such power and precision¡ªit was awe-inspiring. And the Centauri Champion? She was utterly subjugated, her body trembling under the King¡¯s dominance. "My King..." the Centauri Champion¡¯s voice trembled, weak and breathless. "Finish me... Give me your SweetRelease!" The Spider Navigator blinked. SweetRelease? Was that a new type of dessert? She had never heard of the Centauri Champion begging for mercy quite like that before. Moreover, the Centauri Champion¡¯s performance was lacklustre, she didn¡¯t deserve any desserts! If she were in the Champion¡¯s place, she thought with a shiver, she would never beg for such a thing. No, she would face defeat head-on. But then, the more she thought about it, the more enticing the idea became. Losing to the King in such a duel... it didn¡¯t seem so bad. No, in fact, she wouldn¡¯t mind losing at all. ¡°Huh,¡± her mind was becoming all webby all of a sudden. ¡­ With the ultimate defeat of the Centauri Champion, the sounds of battle stilled. Darkness regained her composure, her form shifting back to the human guise she favoured. Meanwhile, the Spider Navigator stood motionless outside the door, her spindly legs trembling with a mix of nervousness and anticipation. The echo of the battle still resonated in her, her mind awash with thoughts she had never entertained before. The duel had awakened something within her, something deep and unsettling. Feeling the moment was right, Darkness knocked lightly. ¡°Spider King?¡± ¡°I told you to wait outside, Darkness,¡± a voice boomed from within, full of authority. ¡°Meow! But you have a visitor.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ It¡¯s not the maid, is it? The room is a mess, but tell her I will clean it up this time.¡± ¡°No! It¡¯s the Spider Navigator.¡± ¡°A Spider Navigator?¡± The voice from within carried a note of surprise. ¡°Yes! Apparently, it''s important.¡± The Spider Navigator offered a thankful nod to Darkness, her four yellow eyes glinting with gratitude. ¡°One moment!¡± The sound of hurried shuffling followed from behind the door. ¡°Okay, you can let them in.¡± Darkness opened the door, and it even hadn¡¯t been locked. But before the Spider Navigator could squeeze through, Darkness''s hand stopped her gently by the shoulder. Leaning in close, she whispered, ¡°Keep the whole eavesdropping thing a secret, meow?¡± ¡°I know,¡± she chirped, squeezing past the half-opened door, her small frame slipping through the crack. Her eyes scanned the cabin, this time taking in the details properly instead of through the keyhole. Much of the destruction from the battle had already been tucked away in the Spider King¡¯s magical Inventory, and ingenious idea to quickly clean his room. As expected of the Spider King! However, the cabin was left almost eerily bare. Yet, the signs of chaos still lingered¡ªdeep dents where hooves had struck, and long scratches from where his spider legs had sought purchase. The occasional sticky purple web clung to the ceiling, but that by itself wasn¡¯t that bad. But those stray puddles of milk pooling in the dents of the floor were an entirely different matter. Actually, there were droplets of milk clinging to the walls and even the ceiling, and the maid would certainly have her hands full cleaning it all up. Her gaze lingered on the Centauri Champion lying on the bed. Beneath a heavy cover, the Champion¡¯s eyes were distant, glazed over with something beyond comprehension¡ªan expression of unearthly bliss frozen on her face. She had lost the duel, but from the look of her, losing to the Spider King must have been... something else entirely. The Spider Navigator couldn¡¯t help but wonder if the experience was as thrilling as it looked. Then, she looked at him¡ªthe Spider King, in all his majestic and terrifying glory. His true form was still imposing, and though the mysterious weapon he had wielded was now concealed, the memory of it lingered in the air. She could feel the weight of his presence in the room. ¡°Spider King!¡± The Spider Navigator gave a spidery wave, but the action felt awkward as her cheeks flushed with an unspidery heat. ¡°Spider Navigator, did something happen?¡± His tone was calm but curious. ¡°Yes!¡± She chirped, her spidery claws fiddling nervously with the hem of her uniform. ¡°What is it?¡± he asked, his own concern starting to mirror her anxiety. ¡°It¡¯s about the course you set. The Centauri Castle.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± His spidery brow furrowed for a moment, then a flash of realization crossed his many eyes. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right. We¡¯re meant to keep the Galleon Whale secret from the Demons.¡± Spider Navigator nodded quickly, her claws now fidgeting with her hat. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. The Centauri Territory is now secure, the ship can land there without being found. We¡¯ll have the spider mages erect a cloud of darkness to keep its landing concealed.¡± His reassurance was calm, authoritative. She nodded again, this time fiddling with the buttons of her uniform as she swallowed back her words. The Spider King raised an eyebrow, clearly sensing there was more. ¡°Is there something else?¡± Her mandibles twitched, her chirp caught in her throat. This was the moment she had dreaded and longed for in equal measure. Her spidery core buzzed wildly, and for the first time in her life, she was unsure of how to proceed. ¡°It¡¯s okay. Speak up,¡± he urged gently, his mandibles clicking softly. ¡°Spider King¡­ I want to Evolve.¡± Her words tumbled out at last, and she looked up at him with wide, pleading eyes. Four of them. Double the usual trouble. His reaction was unexpected. A warm smile spread across his face, and his voice took on a softer tone, almost fatherly. ¡°Ah! You¡¯re so cute,¡± he said, as if talking to a child. ¡°But you see, as unfair as it is, I just can¡¯t force Evolve you, my precious spiders. The world is unfair, I know.¡± His spidery hand came down to gently pat her head. She clasped his hand with her claws, her voice firmer now. ¡°You won¡¯t have to. I will evolve on my own. Die and moult anew, just as so many of us have before. I just need your permission.¡± ¡°Oh!¡± His surprise was genuine, but his smile remained. ¡°No permission is needed. Go ahead, my cute Spider Navigator.¡± ¡°Really?¡± She asked, still holding his hand as if fearing of losing its warmth. ¡°Yes, become the best spider you can be. The best spider a spider can be,¡± he encouraged with a reassuring smile. Her heart soared at his words, and the tangled web of confusion in her mind began to unravel. ¡°Thank you, thank you so much!¡± Her voice was filled with a kind of giddiness she hadn¡¯t felt before. But one more question burned in her. ¡°One more thing,¡± she hesitated, glancing at the Centauri Champion, still lost in her bliss. ¡°Yes?¡± The Spider King¡¯s attention remained fully on her. ¡°You like females, right?¡± The question was blunt, but she couldn¡¯t suppress it any longer. His response was delayed by a blush that crept across his features, a rare sight. ¡°Well, yes¡­ Why?¡± Her claws brushed shyly past his fingers. ¡°I... Don¡¯t mind me,¡± she stammered, unable to fully voice what she truly meant. The words felt too heavy to chirp aloud. ¡°I know what I need to do. Thanks!¡± She quickly let go of his hand and scuttled out of the room, her mind weaving a webby plan. The Spider King blinked in confusion, left unsure of what had just transpired. The Spider Navigator tapped her legs giddily as she returned to the command deck, a lightness in her step that was filled with a youthful zest. He had called her cute¡ªand she hadn¡¯t even evolved yet! And It would only make sense for the Spider King to like a feminine spider variant even more! ¡°Hehe,¡± she giggled, a strange joy bubbling up at her core as she sat at her command throne. Her mind buzzed with possibilities, imagining the new form she would take, the evolution she would undergo. "So much to plan. So much to research!" she chirped happily. ¡°Spider Navigator?¡± The Mer Princess, halfway out of her tank, blinked at her in confusion. ¡°Where have you been?¡± ¡°Hehe,¡± she giggled again, ignoring the Mer Princess¡¯s question. Her thoughts were consumed by the future, by the parts she needed, the body she would mould for herself. The Mer Princess bubbled from her tank, curious. ¡°You seem happy. Won¡¯t you share what happened with me?¡± There were things she saw¡­ and the things she wanted to experience herself¡­ ¡°National secret. No can do,¡± the Spider Navigator chirped back, her mind already drifting towards her next threads, the body part she would need to acquire. The weapons of lethal charm¡­ 168 – All Hail The Monster King!!! The first rays of the sun hit the grey stones of Centauri Castle, illuminating its now fully-repaired walls. The early morning sky burst into a chorus of harpish heys as fresh recruits took flight, scouting the Centauri Territory. As the old saying went: "An early spider catches the prey." The Spider King took it to heart, leading by example, busying himself with the web of schemes that constantly churned in his mind. Far outside the castle, he stood amidst a patch of barren land, his plans¡ªwoven like intricate webs¡ªleading him here. The Spider Advisor had recommended this distant patch, a place where the heretical seeds of poverty used to grow, the place were the taint of the mushy blandness was forever gone. Cleansed. ¡°I am truly blessed with competent advisors,¡± he mused aloud, casting a glance at the spider beside him. Not the Spider Advisor himself¡ªno, that one never left his post. This was the Spider Archmage, a loyal companion, cloaked in veils of dark, tangible shadow. ¡°We¡¯re always here to support you,¡± the spider chirped, its voice soft yet ominous beneath the curtain of condensed night around it. "Now then," the Spider King said, drawing a seed from his SeedArchive, the thorny thing prickling his palm. "A simple ThornVine you shall be no more. [Comprehend]," he muttered, his mind dancing through webs of arcane blueprints. He envisioned the new path, its mutation already unfolding in his imagination. ¡°Seize your new potential, [Mutate]!¡± With a surge of his will, he bathed the seed in his mana. The air crackled with energy, and the seed throbbed with an eerie, unnatural glow of purple. ¡°Show us what you have become! [Grow].¡± With a flick of his wrist, he cast the seed four spider spans¡ªjust about four meters¡ªinto the field. The seed struck the ground and exploded into life. It pulsed, growing larger with every throb, like a ball made of thorns. Then, with a snap, four thorny limbs shot out from the pulsating ball, snaking through the soil, searching hungrily for prey. "Good!" the Spider King observed, his voice filled with approval. "But for what comes next, you will need to be stronger. [Reinforce]!" His hand glowed as he imbued the growing monster with hardened strength. The thorns sharpened, the vines thickened, reinforced with his mastery. ¡°Spider King! There¡¯s another! Don¡¯t forget it!¡± the Spider Archmage chimed in, its dark veil trembling with excitement. ¡°Ah, I wouldn¡¯t dare.¡± He smirked. ¡°[Spidery Magnificent]!¡± With another flick of his wrist, a wave of energy surged into the plant, Infusing it with the deadly elegance and unbreaking loyalty of the spider. The plant twitched and rippled, and from the mass of vines sprouted two more thorny appendages¡ªsix in total. A perfectly spiderish number. ¡°Better,¡± the Spider Archmage chirped, pleased. The shadowy spider handed him a gleaming stone. Not an ordinary pebble, but a SoulStone, filled with the energy of a single soul. "Your moment has come, my King. Time to shine." The Spider King felt a rush of anticipation. He had recently leveled up, unlocking a new skill¡ªSplice. The power to combine life into something entirely new. With this stone, he would finally test its true potential. ¡°The moment of truth, then.¡± He took the SoulStone, feeling the squirrel''s soul giggling inside it, desperate for release. ¡°Let¡¯s see if this works, [Splice]!¡± He crushed the stone in his hand, reducing it to dust, but what remained was no simple fragment. A smiling squirrel face¡ªwispy and translucent¡ªdrifted up from his palm. It hovered for a moment, giving a wink to the Spider King, before it shot forward toward the mutated plant. The squirrel''s soul merged with the monstrous vines, and the plant convulsed, its thorny limbs flailing wildly. It grew larger, misshapen, its form changing ever so slightly until¡ªsuddenly¡ªit stopped. The thorny limbs drooped to the ground, motionless. ¡°Did it... Did it fail?¡± The Spider King took a cautious step closer, uncertainty creeping into his voice. Before he could question further, a message appeared before his eyes: [Congratulations! You have created your first monster.] ¡°A monster?¡± The Spider King¡¯s surprise was evident. He had not expected such a result. The Spider Archmage clapped its spidery hands, thrilled. ¡°As expected of the Spider King! Or should I say... Monster King?¡± Ah, yes. He was a Monster King, not human, but a variant¡ªa powerful, monstrous ruler. Yet still... to have created such a being. "[Inspect]," the Spider Archmage darted forward, circling the still creature. ¡°It even has a monster core. Petty, of course. It¡¯s only a level 1 monster, after all.¡± ¡°I... I created a monster,¡± the Spider King murmured, his mind racing to catch up with the reality before him. Yes, he had done it before¡ªlike with Johny and the Myconid Queen¡ªbut those times had been influenced by higher, chaotic forces, the ChaosBlessed perk. But now the unpredictable perk was silent. This felt... different. Inevitable. As if this was the natural next step. Natural and perhaps even mundane. The harpies will always sing their hey¡¯s, and Monster Kings, well... create monsters? The Spider Archmage pointed. ¡°Look! It¡¯s moving again!¡± The plant monster stirred, jabbing its thorny appendages into the ground, lifting itself up. Its form resembled a bulbous, thorn-covered mass, walking on spindly vine-like legs. It buzzed¡ªa low, droning sound that made the hairs on one¡¯s neck rise. ¡°Aww,¡± the Spider Archmage chirped. ¡°Isn¡¯t it cute? It sings to us!¡± Despite its terrifying appearance, the plant monster didn¡¯t seem hostile. In fact, the Spider King felt something... a connection. It was faint, almost imperceptible, but there was a thread linking his core to the creature''s. ¡°Sit,¡± he commanded. The plant monster immediately slumped to the ground, obeying. ¡°Roll.¡± It rolled, flailing its thorny vines. ¡°Speak.¡± The creature buzzed. ¡°It even knows tricks!¡± The Archmage bounced in delight. ¡°Try something more complicated!¡± ¡°Spin clockwise twice, speak, then roll again.¡± The monster gave a sad, droning buzz, unable to follow. Its vines drooped down. ¡°Ah, too much for it.¡± ¡°Well, let¡¯s not get distracted,¡± the Spider King said, brushing off the minor failure. ¡°There are many more plants to Splice.¡± ¡­ A while ago, the Spider King sought the counsel of the Spider Advisor, his mind heavy with a single promise: to make the Centauri Territory great again. The Spider Advisor responded with a plan so intricate, so brilliantly spiderish, that it mirrored the complexity of a web spun by no less than a thousand of spiders. It was no simple web, but rather a plan of many threads, each requiring the Spider King¡¯s careful participation. Only once these threads were spun together, perfectly aligned, could the King¡¯s ambition be realized. The Centauri Territory was no stranger to conflict. Once, the Oni Shogunate had swept across its borders, sacing the Centauri and seizing their most fertile and valuable lands. Other demonic kingdoms skulked at its edges, ever-hungry for a larger slice of the Centauri¡¯s domain. In the Demon Realm, such struggles were a tradition, a ceaseless contest where rival races clashed, believing only the strongest deserved to rise. But the Spider King¡¯s plan required something different. The Centauri could not rebuild their strength amid constant battle; they needed time to recover what had been lost, to cultivate their strength (and perhaps land) once more. They needed to be left alone. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Thus, the first thread of the spiderish plan was spun: to make the Centauri Territory undesirable, a place no Demon would covet. It was a deception, a carefully woven fa?ade meant to deter any who would come too close. The solution was elegantly spiderish¡ªan illusion of corruption, of cursed and blighted land. The Spider King was charged with making it so, to twist the land¡¯s appearance with nightmarish flora, an eerie and grotesque transformation meant to signal magical affliction. A well-spun lie, one that only spiders could perfect. And so, here we are. In the present moment, standing on the threshold of that first thread. The Spider King, cloaked in shadow and power, stood tall in a barren field that stretched like a canvas of desolation. In one hand, he held a large, weathered bag brimming with mutated seeds¡ªmonstrous creations of his own design. In the other, a peculiar tome, its pages alive with ancient knowledge. At his side, much like a loyal shadow, the Spider Archmage lurked¡ªa figure of quiet menace, his four eyes reflecting the cold light of dusk. The two of them, king and mage, stood like performers before a macabre stage, the crowd of onlookers¡ªa mixture of spiders, Centauri, and Oni¡ªgathered in anticipation. The land had been transformed into a ritual ground, runes etched into the soil, awaiting the power that would soon flow through it. The crowd watched, a strange sense of excitement mingling with unease. They knew that what they would witness was but the first of many steps, the beginning of the Spider King¡¯s grand web, one that would weave the future of the Centauri Territory with threads of darkness and chaos. It was a carefully orchestrated moment, where every action, every word, would help to spin that first thread of the plan into motion. The Spider King concentrated. The monster blueprints in his mind were clear, he selected the best mutated seeds, the best candidates, much of which he had already tested with the Spider Archmage. He reached into the bag, his hand scattering the multi-shaped and multi-coloured seeds in the field. His voice rose, deep and commanding. "I cast these seeds into the hungry earth. They are not mere plants but promises. Promises of monstrous life to be." He kept scatering the seeds, his purple eyes gleaming with spiderish power. The etched runes glowed, lighting up the bareren field in a magical light, albeit only a faint glow. The Spider Archmage tilted its head toward the crowd of spiders gathered around them, not all, only a select few¡ªhis most trusted apprentices¡ªready to assist with the spell. Their bodies, black and sleek, shifted eagerly at the Archmage''s signal. ¡°Lend your power,¡± the Spider Archmage commanded, the chirp reverberating through the air like a distant shriek. ¡°Feed the soil with your mana, weave your essence into this magic, so that our King''s will might take hold and grow.¡± The Spider King continued. "Observe! I do not simply plant¡­ I Grow life into being. These seeds will Evolve and Mutate. They will not be left to vague fate or idle nature. No! There are now in a web of chaos!¡± At another signal, the apprentice spiders positioned themselves in a circle around the field. In perfect synchrony, they began to hum, their chirps harmonizing in a haunting melody that rippled through the air. Dark mana poured from their spidery bodies, pooling into the ground, where the Spider King¡¯s seeds awaited transformation. The Spider Archmage turned his attention back to the Spider King. ¡°Now, my liege, the stage is set. The earth is brimming with our power. The time has come to unleash the full strength of your command. We, your loyal followers, will hold the flow steady¡ªyour will shall shape it!¡± The Spider Archmage raised its claw, its form briefly expanding as if absorbing the surrounding shadows, its mana feeding into the ritual alongside its apprentices. Purple tendrils of energy spiraled outward from the spider, binding with the magic already surging in the field. ¡°Observe! I shall Splice the chaos seeds with the essence of creatures. They might be small, insignificant, but they are full of life. Spider Kingdom¡¯s Squirrels come forth and give us your blessing!" The Spider King raised his other hand, the pages in the tome he held flipped on their own. Spitting forth a series of magical circles but also unleashing a wave of souls¡ªghostly, wispy forms that took on smiling, feral shapes. Squirrel faces, grinning with the chaotic glee of freedom, thousands of them swirled around the Spider King in a vortex of souls. The Spider Archmage¡¯s eyes smiled as they watched the chaos unfold. ¡°Yes, yes, Grow, Evolve, Mutate,¡± the spider muttered to itself, excitement lacing its chirp. ¡°Seeds, become the monsters our King envisions. Become the protectors of the Centauri Territory!¡± The spider poured the mana nessesary to achieve the transformation. Just then, one of the smaller spiders faltered, its mana flickering. The Spider Archmage''s gaze snapped to it, and with a swift flick of the claw, the Spider Archmage reinforced the spiderling, sharing some of the mana to steady the flow. "We must not falter!" the spider hissed sharply. ¡°The King¡¯s will must be absolute! Pour everything you have into the land!¡± The web of magical circles glowed with increased power, and the seeds responded, growing big and monstrous in mere seconds. Their thorny tendrills beckoning the vortex of souls to come closer. The Spider King stretched his arms wide, his voice booming with authority. "Fly, my little critters. Merge with the seeds of chaos. Bring them life! Not the kind of life that grows under the sun¡¯s tender rays¡ªbut life from nightmares. Life that thrives in shadow, in terror, in Chaos." The SquirrelSouls laughed as they darted into the soil, diving into the mutated plants. At once, the earth began to tremble, cracking in a glowing spider-webbing from where the plants rooted their tendrils. The earth heaved, splitting open as the mutated plants grew ever bigger, but they did not grow like normal plants. No, the Spider King¡¯s Farmer perks took hold. From the cracks in the earth, vines emerged¡ªdark, writhing, covered in pulsating thorns, their movement unnatural, as though driven by purpose. The Spider Archmage and its apprentices maintained the delicate balance between chaos and control, allowing the King¡¯s vision to take full root. "Awaken, my children!" the Spider King¡¯s voice thundered over the field. "You are not mere plants. You are nightmares made flesh! I have woven the threads of chaos into your very essence. Grow! Stretch forth from this barren soil and become the monsters you were meant to be!" The plants obeyed, their monstrous shapes unfurling in mutated beauty. Tendrils and thorns, thick as limbs, curled through the air, the vines themselves crawling like serpents seeking prey. Their appendages twitched with newfound life, given a purpose that defied nature¡¯s order. "Plant monsters, you are not born merely to terrify. No. You are the guardians of this land." His hand swept across the field, where more of the monstrous flora began to take shape. Some bore massive, jagged teeth like flowers of death, others had eyes sprouting from the stems, glaring with malevolent intelligence. "Those who seek to trespass here will know only fear. They will see you, feel you, and they will run. That is your task." The monstrous plants groaned as they continued to grow, towering and twisting into impossible shapes. Their forms were the stuff of nightmares, and yet, in their misshapen grotesqueness, there was beauty¡ªa twisted, protective beauty. "Terror is the weapon I give you," the Spider King intoned, his hand pulsing with dark power. "Your presence alone will turn armies away. Let the fools who dare cross these lands be struck dumb with fear at the sight of you." The Spider King raised his hands up towards the sky, and from under his feet surged the CentipedeSouls, these ones darker, more twisted than the souls before. They flew into the monstrous plants, disappearing into their cores. The plants reacted immediately, their thorns sharpening, their vines hardening like ironoak under the King¡¯s will. "I grant you more than fear, though. I give you strength. Strength and will to protect this land, to crush those who would dare destroy it. Your thorns will pierce armour. Your vines will strangle life itself. You will not only be nightmare-born; you will be Reinforced with monstrous viciousness." The plants groaned as their monstrous appendages grew thicker, harder, their tendrils coiling with reinforced power, ready to tear through anything that challenged them. The field now teemed with life, but not the kind that belonged in the natural world. These were terrors with purpose, born from chaos, but shaped by the Spider King¡¯s will. Still, one final touch was needed. The Spider Archmage spoke again, the chirp triumphant as the last of the ritual¡¯s power settled into the soil. ¡°My King,¡± the spider said with a sinister smile creeping across its many eyes, ¡°your monster garden is almost complete. Just one more push!¡± "You are born from chaos, yes," the Spider King continued, his voice softer now, as though addressing his children. "But you are also my creations. And as such, you must bear my mark. You must carry the glory of spiders, the mastery of webs, the perception of four-eyed predators and the speed of the six-legged hunters." He placed a hand on the nearest vine, which seemed to ripple under his touch. Chaotic energy flowed from him into the plant, and across the entire field, the monstrous plants began to change once more. Webs of dark, sticky silk began to appear between their vines and thorns, catching the light like threads spun from shadow. Their tendrils now bore the intricate patterns of spiders, their surfaces bristling with a spiderish sheen. "I bestow upon you the Spidery Magnificence. Your thorns shall carry venom, your tendrils the cunning of webs. Let your enemies become tangled in you, helpless before your might. You will not only be fearsome¡ªyou will be unbeatable Hunters! Masters of your own fate!" At last, the transformation was complete. The once-barren land had become a nightmarish garden, a living fortress of monstrous plants, their tendrils writhing, their eyes glowing with intelligence. Yet despite their terrifying forms, they stood as protectors of the Centauri Territory, bound to the Spider King¡¯s will. "Centauri, look upon my works," the Spider King adressed, his voice filled with pride. "This land is no longer barren, no longer weak. It is now a fortress of nightmares, a garden of horrors that none shall breach." He looked to the crowd, their faces a mixture of awe and fear. "These creatures are ours, born from my power. They will guard the Centauri land with their lives. They will protect what is yours, and what is mine. But to those who would dare set foot here uninvited¡ªthey will find no welcome, no mercy. Only Terror. Only Death." The Spider Archmage stepped back, its form dissolving slightly into the veil of shadows that surrounded it, allowing the Spider King to deliver his final declaration to the crowd. The Spider King lowered his arms, the final surge of Chaos magic sinking into the soil. "This is the first thread I weave," he said, his voice low but filled with promise. "And it is only the beginning. My monsters will grow, and with them, the Centauri Territory will rise once more. Stronger. Unyielding. Protected by horrors that none will dare to challenge. The Centauri Territory will be great again!" The spiders erupted in a thunderous chirp. ¡°All hail the Spider King!¡± The Centauri slammed their feet on the ground and their fists at their chests. ¡°All hail the Monster King!¡± 169 – The Forest That Should Not Be The Oni scouts trudged through the desolate landscape, their destination clear in their minds. Centauri Castle¡ªonce a proud fortress, now a place veiled in mystery. The Shogun had grown impatient with the eerie silence that surrounded the Centauri Territory. There were no reports from the Oni Army they had sent, but also no retaliation skirmishes from the Centauri side either. There were rumours whispered of strange happenings, but none had returned to confirm them. And so, Kuro, the seasoned captain of the Oni Scouts, led his small band to investigate the silence. There were six of them in total: Kuro, the leader, a hulking figure with black horns and scars from countless campaigns, Riku, the silent shadow always lurking at the edges of the group, Tenzo, loud and brash with a thirst for blood, Yasuke, the Shogun¡¯s nephew on his first scouting mission, and the brothers, Sota and Roku¡ªloyal to each other above all else, but deadly when it came to anyone else. For days, they had trekked across barren hills and empty plains. The air was thick with tension, as if the land itself was holding its breath. But now, something far worse stood before them. A thick fog hung low over the horizon, shrouding the landscape beyond in a sickly grey mist. Where they expected to see the plains that led to Centauri Castle, they were met with something far more sinister. A forest. Dark, twisted, and sprawling, it stretched as far as the eye could see. ¡°This wasn¡¯t here before,¡± Kuro muttered, his hand resting on the hilt of his katana, his face tightening with unease. The trees loomed above them, monstrous, snake-like trunks twisted in unnatural angles. Black scales covered the bark, which was interrupted by hollow eyes blinking from within the knots and crevices. The eyes watched them, cold and unfeeling, reflecting their every movement. ¡°This place stinks of sorcery,¡± Riku muttered, his eyes flicking around at the shifting shadows. Kuro shot him a sharp look. ¡°We have orders. We reach the Centauri Castle. Whatever magic this is, it will not stop us.¡± His voice, though firm, betrayed a tension he could not hide. He felt it too¡ªthis place was alive. Stepping forward, they ventured into the mouth of the forest, the ground shifting beneath them, wet and slick with an oily substance. The blue moss clung to the soles of their boots, squelching with each step. Around them, thorny vines hung like webs, weaving themselves through the canopy, inching ever closer. They moved not with the wind, but with purpose, stretching out as though feeling for the Oni, searching for weakness. Riku slowed as his eyes fell upon the blue moss underfoot. His foot slid, nearly losing balance. ¡°Watch your step,¡± he warned the others, but his voice wavered. The moss shimmered with an unnatural light, as if a pulse of life ran through it. He felt eyes on him¡ªwatching from the trees, from the earth itself. ¡°This forest¡­ it¡¯s unnatural,¡± Yasuke whispered, his usual cocky bravado stripped away by the suffocating dread that filled the air. Kuro pressed on. ¡°Keep moving. Our goal is close.¡± But the words felt hollow. The deeper they ventured, the more alive the forest became. The trees groaned, their roots slipping beneath the soil with uncanny grace. Vines slithered like snakes above, their thorns gleaming in the dim light that filtered through the dense, overgrown canopy. The first to fall was Sota. The group had been walking in tense silence when a sickening snap echoed from above. In an instant, one of the vines shot down, its razor-sharp thorns wrapping around Sota¡¯s neck with terrifying speed. He screamed, struggling to wrench himself free, but the vine was too strong. The thorns dug deep into his flesh, drawing a choked cry for help as it yanked him off his feet. ¡°Sota!¡± Roku¡¯s voice was raw with panic as he slashed at the vine with his blade, but the vine tightened, pulling his brother into the black tangle of branches overhead. ¡°Sota! No!¡± Roku¡¯s cries turned to frenzied shouts, his blade hacking wildly at the trees, but it was too late. His brother was gone. No body fell from the canopy, no blood dripped down to mark his passing¡ªonly the echo of his final, gurgling breath hung in the air. The forest had swallowed him whole. Roku stood frozen, eyes wide with horror. Kuro grabbed his shoulder. ¡°We need to move. Now.¡± But the forest had awakened, and it wanted more. Tenzo, ever the brash warrior, was next. He had rushed ahead in a blind fury, determined to cut a path through the twisted undergrowth. His feet struck the slick moss beneath him, and with a startled yell, he slipped, landing hard on his back. Before he could rise, the blue moss rippled beneath him, and in a moment, jagged ferns burst forth from the earth like blades. The ferns, deceptively delicate in appearance, slashed through his armour with terrifying precision, slicing into his flesh with every movement. ¡°Tenzo!¡± Yasuke screamed, rushing to help, but it was useless. The ferns, sharp as razors, shredded Tenzo''s body, leaving him a broken, bleeding mess on the forest floor. His lifeless eyes stared up at the sky, wide with shock. The group¡¯s resolve shattered in an instant. ¡°Run!¡± Kuro ordered, his voice hoarse with fear, but the others had already started fleeing. Yasuke, his face pale, darted into the undergrowth, with Riku following close behind. Kuro could hear their ragged breaths, the frantic pounding of their feet, but the forest was far faster. The ground beneath them began to pulse, undulating as if alive. The trees moved, shifting closer, their roots stretching out like hungry claws ready to entrap them. The vines above seemed to sense the panic, writhing and twisting, their thorns gleaming hungrily. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Kuro kept his katana at hand, eyes darting around for any sign of an attack. But the forest was relentless. From every angle, it shifted, twisted, morphed. Riku¡¯s instincts had always kept him alive, but here, in this twisted nightmare, they betrayed him. He saw it ahead¡ªan inviting glow amidst the darkness. A flower, its petals a deep, alluring red, glowed faintly from within, casting a soft light in the gloom. It was beautiful. Impossible to resist. His feet moved toward it, his hand reaching out as if compelled by some unseen force. ¡°No! Riku, stop!¡± Kuro shouted trying to catch up, but the moment his words left his mouth, the flower snapped shut with a sharp hiss. Its petals closed like the jaws of a beast, and a cloud of red spores exploded outward, engulfing Riku in a choking mist. He staggered back, coughing violently, his eyes bulging in pain. The spores clung to him, filling his lungs, turning his skin a sickly shade of purple. Blood dripped from his nose and mouth as he collapsed, his body twitching in its death throes before finally going still. Yasuke, now a trembling wreck, stumbled forward in a blind panic. His once proud posture was broken, his breath coming in ragged gasps as he ran through the forest, desperate to escape. But there was no mercy in the forest¡¯s heart. A creature emerged from the underbrush¡ªa ball of twisted, green growth, its spindly, thorn-covered legs clicking menacingly as it skittered forward. It had four eyes, all gleaming with wicked intelligence, and it moved with the precision of a spider. Yasuke didn¡¯t have time to scream. The creature¡¯s claws wrapped around him, thorns piercing his flesh as it dragged him down. In an instant, vines shot out from the forest floor, cocooning his body in a web of greyish strands. His body twitched and struggled, but the vines tightened and the monster dragged him away. Yasuke, the forest swallowed him too. Kuro and Roku were the last. The trees shifted around them, closing in like a cage. The blue moss pulsed beneath their feet, the thorny webs above tightening, growing thicker, trapping them in a living labyrinth. Kuro gritted his teeth, gripping his katana tighter. ¡°We need to move, Roku. There¡¯s still a chance¡ª¡± But the words faltered in his throat. Ahead of them, something moved. It was a familiar figure, its body wrapped in sinewy, plant-like tendrils. The eyes were hollow, lacking any light, but its limbs twitched with unnatural life. This was Sota! Or at least his dead body. It stood, frozen for a moment, before lurching forward, its cold arms reaching out with unnerving speed. Kuro swung his katana, slashing at the creature, but it was too late. The vine-webbed figure latched onto Roku, who still believed it to be his brother. The creature dragged Roku into the underbrush, where the vines waited, hungry and eager to claim a new body. Roku¡¯s scream was the last thing Kuro heard before the forest swallowed him too. Kuro stood alone, his heart pounding in his chest. The forest, now silent once more, watched him with its unblinking eyes. Kuro¡¯s breath came in ragged gasps as he stumbled through the labyrinthine forest. The once-proud Oni captain pushed forward, his heart hammering against his ribcage, blood pounding in his ears. Each step felt like a futile struggle against an enemy he could not see, a force he could not fight. The trees shifted and closed around him, their bark rippling with strange, unnatural movements. The evil eyes blinked from their hollows, watching his every move. The vines above slithered, the ground beneath him pulsated, and the air was thick with the stench of forbidden sorcery. He was the last. He had watched them all fall¡ªhis comrades, his brothers-in-arms¡ªall claimed by the cursed forest. Sota was strangled by a vine, Tenzo butchered by a fern, Riku poisoned by a flower, Yasuke cocooned by a plant monster, and Roku¡­ Roku was killed by a creature which wasn¡¯t quite his brother. It all stunk of foul sorcery. The forest had toyed with them all, one by one, and now it was his turn. Kuro slipped on the treacherous blue moss, the slick, oily substance coating his boots. He caught himself just before crashing into the ground, narrowly avoiding the serrated ferns that awaited his misstep. His body screamed with exhaustion, and his mind reeled from the trauma. The forest was closing in, tighter and tighter, and with every blink, the world seemed to shift. The trees were no longer just towering¡ªthey were looming, bending toward him, their hollow eyes gleaming with cruel delight. He slashed at the vines that descended toward him, his katana biting into the thick, thorny tendrils, but there were always more. They seemed endless, reaching out like claws eager to drag him down into the suffocating dark. A creature emerged from the shadows¡ªa hulking mass of green growth. It was a boulder of a monster, bigger than the last. It scuttled over the moss with a hundred tiny root-like legs like a centipede. Its single eye, big as a fist, locked onto Kuro. The monster buzzed a low, droning cry¡ªa challenge. Kuro raised his katana, ready to defend himself, but the creature was fast¡ªtoo fast. It lunged at him, its many legs skittering through the slippery moss with frightening dexterity. A thorny tendril on its back, thick as a leg, was already midswing. Kuro dodged, narrowly avoiding the creature¡¯s strike. His muscles screamed in protest, exhaustion threatening to overtake him, but he couldn''t stop. He swung his sword wildly, severing the creature¡¯s tendril, and it screeched, retreating momentarily into the shadows. But Kuro knew it was only a matter of time before it, or something even worse, returned. The forest was alive, sentient perhaps, and it wanted him. His comrades had been claimed¡ªdragged into the maw of this nightmare, and now he stood at the edge of death¡¯s grasp. The creatures of the forest moved with cruel intelligence, each trap and horror perfectly placed, perfectly timed. And yet, through the swirling fog, there was a glimmer of hope. In the distance, beyond the reach of the twisted trees and writhing vines, Kuro saw the faintest hint of light. A break in the endless darkness. His breath hitched¡ªan escape, perhaps, or at least a chance to flee this cursed place. His heart hammered in his chest, and with the last of his strength, Kuro ran. The forest roared behind him, the vines thrashing through the air, the creatures stirring from their hiding places. The ground shifted beneath his feet, roots rising like snares to trip him, but Kuro kept running, desperation pushing him forward. His vision blurred, his body weakened, but the light was there¡ªso close now. Just as he broke through the last line of trees, something lashed out from above¡ªa vine, thick and bristling with thorns, snaking down with unnatural speed. Kuro felt the sting as it grazed his shoulder, but he didn¡¯t stop. He pushed through the pain, diving out of the forest''s reach, and collapsed onto the open ground. For a moment, he lay there, panting, the cold air of freedom washing over him. The silence felt almost deafening, but the cries of his comrades still rang in his mind. Kuro lifted his head and looked back. The trees stood tall and still now, as if they had never moved at all. But he could feel it¡ªbeneath the surface, they waited. The hollow eyes gleamed faintly from the darkness, watching him. The forest had not forgotten him, nor forgiven him for escaping. It would remain, lurking, waiting for anyone foolish enough to wander into its depths. Kuro pulled himself to his feet, his body aching, his mind reeling from the terror of it all. He was the only one left, the last survivor of a doomed mission. But he had a duty, a message that had to reach the Shogun. He turned away from the forest and began the long, agonizing journey back, haunted by the memory of his fallen comrades and the horrors that had claimed them. The forest had let him go this time. But in his heart, Kuro knew it was only a matter of time before it came for him again. 170 – The Seeds Of Poverty There were many ways to achieve victory in war. A head-on battle was merely one of them, and to be frank, the least inventive. Hidden beneath the shadowy veil of night, a group of spiders skittered through a vast, waterlogged field. The water was shallow, but enough to make it thoroughly unpleasant, with green plants poking just above the surface. "How utterly horrid," the spider grumbled, trying in vain not to get its spindly feet stuck in the mud. Sticky, cold, and entirely beneath its dignity. Unpleasantness aside, the spider cutter had a job to do¡ªan important one, no less¡ªweeding. Its mandibles chomped at the plants, claws ripping them out with a flourish, while its feet disturbed the field with a somewhat ungraceful plop. And this spider was not alone. An entire spawn of them had been tasked with eradicating this foul infestation. The Spider King himself had issued the decree: the weeds of poverty must be destroyed at all costs. So, the spiders toiled away, ensuring the weeds didn¡¯t go to seed and spread their filthy poverty across the land. A paper lantern flickered in the distance, glowing like a lone star, bobbing nearer and nearer. Soon, the panicked silhouette of an Oni Farmer stumbled into view. His mouth hung open, his eyes wide with disbelief. The spiders paused from their industrious work to chirp a hearty, ¡°Good evening!¡± and offered him a spidery wave for good measure. The farmer¡¯s disbelief quickly turned to rage, as farmers¡¯ disbelief often does. With a guttural roar, he charged at the spiders, swinging his hoe wildly in a manner most unbecoming. ¡°Wah!¡± the spider squeaked, nimbly dodging a blow. The farmer was clearly trying to chase them away! ¡°How incredibly ungrateful!¡± The spider swarm was doing this poor chap a favour, weeding his field for free, and this was how he chose to repay them? ¡°Rahhh!¡± The farmer swung again, more determined than before. ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing, farmer?¡± one of the spiders chirped indignantly. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re just helping you out!¡± another joined in, a little miffed. ¡°We¡¯re weeding your field! It¡¯s a public service, you know!¡± chimed in a third. Naturally, not understanding a single word of SpiderChirp, the farmer bellowed, ¡°RAHHH!¡± again and continued his assault, swinging his hoe with reckless abandon. ¡°There¡¯s clearly something very wrong with this oni,¡± said one spider, deftly avoiding the hoe. ¡°Obviously. The grains of poverty have addled his mind,¡± another spider remarked sagely. ¡°Absolutely. No other explanation. Why else would he allow an entire field of weeds to grow?¡± ¡°That must be it.¡± ¡°Ouch!¡± a spider yelped as the hoe caught its carapace, scratching it. ¡°Well, that¡¯s quite enough of that! Time for a nap, naughty man! [Throw]!¡± With a flick of its claw, the spider lobbed a small ball made of blue petals at the farmer¡¯s head. Upon impact, it exploded into a cloud of fine dust. The farmer let out a single, confused cough before collapsing into the shallow water like a puppet with its strings cut. ¡°The weeds of poverty are dangerous,¡± a spider chirped at the now peacefully slumbering farmer. It delicately turned him over to make sure he wouldn¡¯t drown, because, of course, drowning was far too dramatic. ¡°The grains of poverty taint your mind, you know. Best not eat it.¡± It tucked a plump tomgrape into the farmer¡¯s pocket as a gesture of goodwill. ¡°Right, then!¡± the spider said with renewed purpose. ¡°Spider cutters, let¡¯s wrap up this weeding business and move on to the next field!¡± ¡­ Meanwhile, another squad of spiders prowled through the shadows. Their target? A warehouse. Not just any warehouse, though¡ªthis was a warehouse of poverty. ¡°It¡¯s got to be this one,¡± one spider whispered, pointing a spindly leg at the largest structure in town. ¡°Careful now. We can¡¯t be seen. [ShadowVeil].¡± ¡°[ShadowVeil],¡± the others echoed, vanishing into the murky gloom as they scurried closer. ¡°Wait a minute... it¡¯s guarded,¡± another spider said, spotting two dozing sentries by the front. ¡°Not a problem. Let¡¯s use the spidery entrance. Up the wall we go.¡± And being spiders, up they went, scampering with ease. ¡°Here we are! No guards up here,¡± one of them smiled, satisfied to see the ventilation hatch¡ªfondly known as the ¡®spidery entrance¡¯¡ªunguarded and conveniently open. They slipped inside. But once inside, the scene that met their many eyes was nothing short of an abomination. Mountains of the foul grain littered the warehouse, the very seeds of poverty itself. ¡°It¡¯s even worse than I imagined,¡± one spider gagged, thoroughly disgusted. ¡°They¡¯re forcing the peasants to eat this muck. No wonder they¡¯re all so poor,¡± another observed with a shudder. ¡°Well, we¡¯re here to fix that,¡± the leader of the spider saboteurs declared. From its spidery uniform, it pulled out a scroll, dark as night, and unrolled it with the utmost care. ¡°[DarkScroll: Disintegrate],¡± the leader chirped solemnly. The scroll burst into purple flames, casting an eerie glow over the spider¡¯s smug face for the briefest of moments. The purple light faded, and so did the mountains of grain. In their place was nothing but dust, the illusion of powerty shattered. ¡°There,¡± the leader chirped with great satisfaction, ¡°now the peasants will finally see the grain for what it really is. Flavourles dust. Rubbish!¡± The other spiders nodded in agreement. ¡°Right, off we go! If we¡¯re quick, we can reach the next town by dawn.¡± And just like that, the spider saboteurs vanished through the spidery hatch, scurrying off into the night. Unseen, unnoticed, but oh so pleased with themselves. ¡­ The spider scouts scurried along the gravelly road, their mission straightforward: locate fields for the spider cutters and towns for the spider saboteurs. Speed was key, and to achieve it, they relied on their trusty spidery magic¡ªShadowStep. With every invocation, their spindly forms dissolved into shadows, slipping into the Shadow Realm. They¡¯d take a single step but reappear leagues away, as though the distance had never existed. Upon re-emerging, the spiders glanced around. Alas, no fields, no cities¡ªjust wilderness and disappointment. ¡°[ShadowStep],¡± they muttered again, vanishing into shadows once more. Another leap through shadowy dimention. When they reappeared, they found themselves face to face with a large group of Oni¡ªperhaps a dozen. The spiders were in luck! They could finally ask for directions. The spider scout leader waved cheerily at the Oni. ¡°Good evening, travellers! We¡¯re looking for a town. Is it far from here?¡± it chirped politely. The friendly inquiry was met with fiery glares and an all-too-familiar air of hostility. ¡°Huh? No, wait, let me explain¡­¡± the spider began, sensing the growing tension. ¡°We mean no¡­ no, no¡ªhey!¡ªharm!¡± But before it could finish, something rather rude was hurled in its direction. Clearly, these Oni were not in the mood for pleasantries. ¡­ The Oni Scouts had their own business to attend to. Their task was simple enough: keep the roads clear of bandits and monsters. They weren¡¯t expected to clear out a bandit camp or subjugate a monster nest¡ªjust scout it out and report back. And that¡¯s why they were patrolling this very road. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. The night had been quiet so far, peaceful even, to the point of monotony. The only sounds were the rhythmic footsteps and the soft rustling of their paper lanterns. Then, quite unexpectedly, the flame in the lead scout''s lantern flickered and dimmed. There was still plenty of oil, so that wasn¡¯t the issue. A strange chill swept over the group¡ªno wind, just ominous cold. ¡°Hold,¡± the Oni scout leader barked, raising his arm. His instincts were screaming that something was amiss. Without warning, a cloud of darkness¡ªdarker than the night itself¡ªappeared right in the middle of the road, smothering what little light remained. From the shadows, one by one, nightmarish figures emerged. Spiders¡ªmassive, evolved, and entirely too large for comfort. And dressed in... clothes? The Oni Scouts, battle-hardened though they were, couldn¡¯t help but tense up. Monsters, they were used to. But monsters emerging in such a supernatural manner? That was new. The largest of the spiders scuttled forward, flailing a vicious claw as if trying to intimidate them. It didn¡¯t exactly work, but it was unsettling all the same. Then, the spider let out the most grating, ear-splitting screech. Another attempt at intimidation, no doubt. The scout leader held firm, but his less-experienced comrades weren¡¯t as composed. One of them, desperate, reached into his pouch, pulling out a fistful of grains¡ªhis food ration. ¡°Yokai, begone!¡± he cried, flinging the grains at the monstrous spiders. The scout leader rolled his eyes. Throwing sacred grains to ward off evil spirits was an old superstition, one that had no place on a battlefield. Yokai weren¡¯t real. They were bedtime stories for children. Yet, to everyone¡¯s astonishment, the spider recoiled with an unpleasant hiss, backing away from the thrown grain. ¡°It¡­ it worked?¡± the scout leader stammered, genuinely surprised. ¡°Of course it did!¡± the scout exclaimed triumphantly. ¡°Begone!¡± He hurled another handful of grains with renewed vigour. Before long, the rest of the scouts followed suit, tossing their rations at the spiders like seasoned Yokai slayers. To their shock and delight, the sacred grains worked wonders. The spiders dissolved back into shadows, vanquished. The lanterns flickered back to life, burning brighter than ever, casting a warm glow over the now-relieved Oni Scouts. They erupted in cheers, clapping the grain-throwing scout on the back, congratulating him on his quick thinking. Even the Oni scout leader joined in, patting the lad¡¯s shoulder with genuine gratitude. After all, the best battles are won without fighting. But as the cheer subsided, the scout leader frowned, deep in thought. ¡°Yokai¡­¡± he muttered under his breath. He¡¯d seen it with his own eyes, yet he couldn¡¯t believe it. Yokai weren¡¯t meant to exist. And now he¡¯d have to report this bizarre encounter to the local Daimyo. What was he supposed to say? ¡®Vanquished by food rations¡¯ wasn¡¯t exactly the stuff of legends. And then another, more pressing matter came to mind. ¡°¡­ But, lads,¡± he said, glancing down at the scattered grains covering the road, ¡°what are we going to do about our night lunch?¡± The scouts all looked at the ground in dismay. Their celebratory grain-flinging had left them without a single morsel. ¡­ The warm rays of the sun tickled the Oni Farmer¡¯s eyelashes, coaxing him awake. A broad smile stretched across his face¡ªit was rare to feel so well-rested. Not a single trace of stress lingered in his bones. But then, slowly, he realised something wasn¡¯t quite right. For starters, he was outside. Then he realised he had slept on a pile of dirt. And finally, it all came flooding back... ¡°No...¡± He shook his head. ¡°Surely I¡¯ve had too much Sake and dreamt up this nightmare.¡± He stumbled to his feet, looking out at his fields. ¡°¡­¡± Stress surged through him, wrapping tightly around his chest. His bones ached with dread. ¡°Gone! All gone!¡± His voice cracked. The once lush fields now lay barren. ¡°How will I feed my family?!¡± He clutched his head in despair. Then, another grim realisation hit. ¡°No! The fields belong to the Daimyo... How will I pay my land tax?¡± His knees buckled as if ready to give way. ¡°Wait¡­ no¡­ think.¡± He rubbed his temples. ¡°It was monsters. Yes! It wasn¡¯t my fault!¡± Surely, in such situations, it was the Daimyo¡¯s responsibility to protect the peasants from monsters. But still, a cold dread settled in his stomach. ¡°I¡¯ll be punished...¡± He didn¡¯t even want to lift his head, defeated before the day had even begun. With heavy steps, he dragged himself back to his minka, his family home, barely managing to slide open the paper partition as he entered. ¡°I¡¯m back...¡± he muttered, sadness thick in his voice. ¡°Wel... welcome... back,¡± came his wife¡¯s sorrowful reply. He looked up and noticed fresh tears glistening in her eyes. A sinking feeling filled his chest. ¡°What happened?¡± he asked, dread settling deep within. She wordlessly brought forward a familiar clay pot, its presence already sending a chill down his spine. Slowly, she opened the lid. Inside, where there should¡¯ve been grain... was only dust. ¡°!!!¡± Tears pooled in his wife¡¯s eyes once more as she shrugged helplessly. ¡°It¡¯s... it¡¯s the same in the storeroom... all dust,¡± she said, wiping her face. The Oni Farmer was distraught, but he pulled his wife into a hug. ¡°How... how could this happen?¡± He needed answers. The youngest of their twelve children, ever bold, piped up. ¡°It was the Yokai!¡± ¡°The... the Yokai?¡± The Oni Farmer¡¯s eyes widened as fragments of his nightmare returned to him. ¡°Yes! I saw it last night! It was rummaging through the cupboards. I wanted to cry for help but... I was too afraid!¡± the child explained, more excited than frightened. ¡°Then it threw something at me, and I fell asleep!¡± ¡°!!!¡± The Oni Farmer knew of the culprit. ¡°A big spider... with claws for hands, four intelligent eyes, and a terrifying face you can¡¯t forget?¡± The child frowned, thinking for a moment before replying, ¡°Hmm... Yes, but it had a cute face!¡± The Oni Farmer didn¡¯t quite agree on the ¡°cute¡± part. But as that question of the Yokai lingered, another pressing concern gnawed at him¡ªwhat would they eat if all the grain had turned to dust? It was then he felt something poking from his pocket. Reaching inside, he pulled out a large, unusually blue fruit. ¡°???¡± ¡°Dear, what is it?¡± his wife asked, curiosity and concern mingling in her voice. ¡°I... I¡¯ve no idea,¡± the Oni Farmer confessed, staring at the mysterious fruit. Their youngest child, ever curious, leaned in to take a sniff. ¡°It smells delicious! I¡¯m hungry. Can we eat it?¡± The Oni Farmer turned the fruit over in his hands, his mind a tangled web of thoughts. Was it a blessing? Or perhaps a curse? But with nothing else to eat, it seemed better than starvation. ¡°Let¡¯s try it,¡± he finally decided, cutting a tiny slice with a knife and popping it into his mouth. A wave of joy filled his senses. The fruit was unbelievably delicious, but as he waited¡ªhis family staring at him intently¡ªhe realised something peculiar. Not only was the fruit delicious, but it was extremely filling. His hunger, despite only taking a tiny bite, had all but disappeared. It was strange, but he felt... satisfied. ¡°Well... this is something special,¡± he mused, slicing the rest of the fruit into thirteen pieces, enough for the whole family. They ate together, their worries momentarily forgotten as the crisis of breakfast was averted. But the looming question of lunch, and dinner for that matter, still weighed heavily on the Oni Farmer¡¯s mind. He sighed, knowing he would have to petition the Daimyo for emergency rations. And surely, he¡¯d be punished for the state of the fields. Still, he was the Oni Farmer¡ªan eternal optimist. No matter how grim things looked, he always found a way. There was no doubt in his mind that a good Kami was watching over him and his family: after all, he¡¯d miraculously survived the Yokai encounter and now had this edible blessing to push him forward. With a quiet word of thanks to the unseen forces that protected him, the Oni Farmer gathered his courage. It was time to face the Oni Daimyo. ¡­ The Oni Daimyo, one of many lords overseeing the cities of the Oni Shogunate, yanked furiously at his horn as if it were the source of all his problems. His eyes blazed murderously at the growing pile of reports on his desk. Today was not a good day. He paced in front of the table, barking at no one in particular. ¡°Hundreds of farmers! All begging for forgiveness!¡± His fist came down with a thud on the table. ¡°Their fields destroyed by... Yokai! Yokai of all things!¡± He shook his head in disbelief. Yokai. Monsters from myths, for crying out loud. He would¡¯ve laughed if the reports weren¡¯t confirmed by his scouts. But, alas, they were. Two urgent tasks now stared him in the face: dispatch the Oni Samurai to protect the remaining farmers and fields, and issue emergency rations and seeds. Simple. Except for one problem. ¡°I HAVE NO SAMURAI TO SEND!¡± His voice echoed off the walls as he glared at the ceiling as if it could help. ¡°The Shogun¡¯s taken them to fight the Centauri!¡± He ran his hands over his face, fingers scraping his horn. ¡°And what rations? What seeds?!¡± He punched the table again, splintering the surface. ¡°All turned to dust! Sabotaged by some accursed magic!¡± He growled, pacing once more. ¡°It¡¯s the Tiefling Conclave! I know it! Their dark schemes have cursed us!¡± There was nothing. No food. No seeds. No soldiers. His mind buzzed with the looming threat of revolt. What would he do when the starving peasants turned to rioting? He had no Samurai left to keep order. ¡°RAHHH!!!¡± His rage boiled over again, and with one final strike, he snapped the table clean in half. He took a long, heaving breath, forcing himself to calm down. The broken wood scattered beneath his feet. ¡°I... can¡¯t do this alone,¡± he muttered, as much to himself as to the universe. ¡°I¡¯ll have to beg another Daimyo for help¡­¡± His teeth clenched at the thought. ¡°He¡¯ll help me. He has to help me. Why else did I marry my daughter to him?¡± He sank to the floor, fishing out a roll of parchment and a brush from the debris of his desk. He would write a letter¡ªan urgent one. Just as he began, the doors burst open, slamming against the walls with an echo. An Oni official stumbled into the room, his face pale with panic. He hadn¡¯t even bothered to knock¡ªan oversight that normally would have earned him a trip to the dungeons. But the Daimyo¡¯s eyes narrowed on the parchment the official waved wildly in the air. ¡°Honourable Daimyo, an urgent letter!¡± The official¡¯s hands shook as he held it out. The ribbon bore the unmistakable seal of urgency, along with a crest the Daimyo knew all too well. It came from the very Daimyo to whom he had married his daughter. ¡°Give it to me!¡± he snapped, yanking the letter from the official¡¯s hand and tearing it open with impatience. His eyes darted over the words. ===Letter Start=== Honoured Father-in-Law, I write to you with a heavy heart, my dear friend. A calamity of unprecedented proportions has befallen my domain, a catastrophe that defies explanation. It is as if the very earth itself has turned against us. Our sacred grain fields, the lifeblood of our people, have been ravaged by a mysterious force. Not the blight of disease nor the wrath of the elements, but something more sinister, something that whispers of arcane origins. To make matters worse, the grain we had stored in our granaries, our safeguard against such times, has been mysteriously transformed into dust. A blight upon our supplies, a cruel twist of fate that leaves us on the brink of famine. I fear the foul hand of the Tiefling Conclave may be at work, their dark magic twisted against our innocent people. But this is merely speculation, a shadow lurking in the corners of my mind. My father-in-law, I beseech you, not as one Daimyo to another, but as a son to his father. Send aid, swiftly and with all your might. Our people are starving, our lands are desolate, and our future hangs by a thread. Let us stand together against this darkness, united by blood and by the bonds of friendship. Your devoted son-in-law ===Letter End=== ¡°...¡± The Oni Daimyo¡¯s grip tightened around the letter, his knuckles white. ¡°RAHHH!!!¡± His rage erupted once more as he crumpled the letter in his hand, tossing it aside like trash. His fingers tugged harder at his horn, this time genuinely trying to tear it from his head. If things kept going this way, there would be only one option left. He would have to commit... Sudoku¡ªa mathematical ritual known for bringing a swift and honourable end to one¡¯s life. 171 – The Dangerously Powerful Meal The Fertilizer Combine Spider lay in the shadow of the towering Centauri Castle, its spidery form at rest but brimming with a latent, terrifying energy. Its many claws, graspers, and gnashing blades¡ªintricate and jagged like a nightmare of metal¡ªwere tucked neatly against its sides, the arrangement resembling the folded legs of a predator in repose. A low hum, deep and arcane, echoed from its bladed maw, a sound like the heavy breaths of a beast lost in a dream. The hum resonated in the air, thick with foreboding and reverence. Around the slumbering Combine, the Oni Convicts gathered, their forms casting long shadows in the waning light. These Oni were no strangers to desperation, sentenced to toil in the blood-soaked fields surrounding the castle. Yet tonight, their movements were careful, deliberate. In their hands they carried candles¡ªtheir wax was blue and their flames flickered in strange, otherworldly hues of purple. The faint glow illuminated the Combine''s dreadful majesty, its edges catching the DarkFlame light in a way that made it seem even more alive, even more dangerous, despite its slumber. In the flickering candlelight, the Oni Convicts whispered their prayers, low chants that carried the weight of both reverence and fear. Their offerings¡ªsmall, insignificant things¡ªwere raised in trembling hands. Dead rats, monstrous vermin caught in the fields, and other pitiful creatures: all sacrifices meant to appease the Combine. They were careful as they approached, mindful of the many sharp blades lying idle in the great maw. Each offering was thrown in, vanishing between the teeth of the machine. With a sudden, whirring flick of its claws, the Combine''s maw churned, the blades humming to life just long enough to mulch the offerings into a fine, blood-flecked paste. The slumbering beast buzzed louder, as if in contentment. The Oni offered more prayers, their voices rising in unity, their eyes gleaming with the flicker of ceremonial zeal. For in this dreadful construct, they honoured the Oni who had died during the ill-fated siege of the Centauri Castle, the samurai whose shattered armour had been forged into the Fertilizer Combine Spider itself. In this spidery union of death and machine, the Combine was as much a Shikigami as it was a Kami (God). The Oni Convicts knelt, their prayers now drifting to the vast, crimson fields that stretched as far as the eye could see¡ªfields that smelt deeply of Oni blood. From these chaos lands, the strange, red-streaked grain had bloomed: the grains of the matured CrimsonClover. This blessing, nourished by the sacrifice of the fallen, now promised to be the daily meal of the living. The first harvest had just been reaped, the seeds more sacred than any crop they had known. Each grain gleamed like a drop of blood, rich with the memory of death and honour. It was the Oni¡¯s connection to those who had died here, a grim reminder that even in death, they sustained the living. The final prayer ended with a heavy silence, broken only by the distant clang of a massive gong. The day¡¯s labours had ended, and it was time for the evening meal. The Oni Convicts, weathered and drained of sanity, trudged to the mess hall, their expressions a mix of anticipation and dread. What would they be served? The spiders had hinted at something new¡ªa meal unlike any they had tasted before. Inside the mess hall, the spiders, bedecked in aprons and spidery chef¡¯s hats, scuttled from the kitchen with a practised efficiency that belied their monstrous appearance. With surprising dexterity, they formed neat lines, each spidery claw bearing food. Their claws worked like well-oiled machines, passing crimson loaves along the assembly line. The convicts waited, their stomachs gnawing, as the smell of unfamiliar bread filled the air. ¡°Quickly. Quickly. Form a queue,¡± rasped one of the spiders, its voice a deceptively melodic chirp in the Demonic tongue. Its many legs moved with purpose, though its voice carried none of the warmth expected of a chef. There was only the efficiency of a predator feeding its prey. At the front of the queue stood the Oni Shaman, her presence commanding silence. She reached out, her hands steady, to accept the first loaf¡ªa crimson chunk of bread that looked like a piece of the blood-soaked fields itself. The loaf gleamed under the dim lights, its color unnervingly vivid. She examined it, turning it over in her hands, feeling the weight of something sacred, something born from the blood and ashes of her kin. She sniffed at it as if trying to uncover the secrets hidden within. The scent was oddly enticing, a blend of warmth and something more¡­ something almost forbidden. ¡°What is this exactly?¡± she murmured, her voice half-drowned by the hum of activity around her. "CrimsonBread," the spider chirped a response, its sharp claws clacking as it motioned for her to move along. "Next!" The name lingered in her mind as she shuffled forward to the next spidery station, where another spidery conveyor offered a drink ration. Her fingers idly squeezed the loaf, feeling its surprising softness. This wasn¡¯t the dense, tasteless bread she¡¯d expected. This was something else entirely. "Bread Of The Samurai," she whispered to herself, giving it a more fitting title. After all, it was made from the seeds nourished by the fallen Oni¡ªtheir strength, their blood, their sacrifice. She took a tentative bite, her eyes widening instantly as the flavours bloomed across her tongue. "!!!" The bread almost slipped from her grasp in shock. This wasn¡¯t the sustenance of prisoners or convicts. No, this was a feast, on par with the lavish meals she''d tasted in the Shogun''s Palace. But there was something more to it, something intimate, powerful. The bread was fluffy, light, with a touch of savory salt that lingered at the back of her throat. She closed her eyes briefly, offering a silent thanks to the Oni who had fallen so that this could be possible. Their essence was here, within the bread, and it filled her with a strange mix of reverence and guilt. Finaly, her steps brought her to the next spider, its legs tapping the ground impatiently as it tended to a barrel on its left and a towering stack of tankards on its right. More barrels were being rolled in, accompanied by the metallic clatter of additional tankards being stacked higher and higher. The spider extended one to her, already filled with a bubbling, deep red liquid. "Quickly. Quickly. Come," the spider chirped in rough Demonic language, offering the tankard. The Oni Shaman took it cautiously. The drink swirled within, its red hue deep and foreboding, yet it did not carry the scent of wine, nor the sharpness of sake she was accustomed to. Bubbles rose lazily to the surface, adding to the strange allure. "Is this¡­ a potion?" she asked, her mind leaping to the unnatural speed with which the harvest had been turned into drink. Use of Alchemy, perhaps? "No. This is CrimsonAle," the spider responded curtly, moving its attention to the next Oni in line. "Next!" CrimsonAle. The word felt too plain, too mundane for something born from such extraordinary circumstances. She lifted the tankard to her lips, curiosity mingled with caution, and took a sip. "!!!" The taste was unexpected, earthy and metallic, but balanced with a strange smoothness that made it dangerously easy to drink. It wasn''t wine. It wasn¡¯t sake. It was something else entirely¡ªan ale, yes, but with a hidden fierceness that seemed to burn quietly in her throat. The taste paired perfectly with the Bread Of The Samurai. Together, they formed a complete, if unsettling, meal. "This is the Blood Of The Oni," she muttered under her breath, renaming the drink with a reverence befitting its origins. The name felt right. More than right, it felt necessary. She was drinking the very essence of those who had died in the fields, their lives distilled into something that gave her strength. It was sobering, yet intoxicating at the same time. The drink''s subtle fieriness crept through her, warming her from the inside out. Taking her place at a nearby table, she set the crimson bread and tankard down before her, allowing herself a moment of quiet. The sounds of the other convicts faded as her thoughts turned inward. "The Bread Of The Samurai and the Blood Of The Oni," she whispered, the weight of her words pressing down on her like the intricately wowen webs overhead. The realisation struck her, cold and unforgiving: it was almost as if she was consuming the dead themselves. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. "No¡­" She shook her head, pushing the thought away. "We¡¯re honouring their sacrifice¡­ the sacrifice which gives us sustenance." As the words left her lips, something strange washed over her, a tingling sensation that spread through her limbs, subtle but unmistakable. Her muscles felt stronger, her breaths deeper and more efficient. It wasn¡¯t just food. The bread and ale carried something more. A notification appeared in her mind: [You have obtained: StaminaRegeneration, StrengthBoost] She stared down at her hands, flexing them. The power thrummed through her veins, as if the spirits of the fallen Oni were lending her their strength, urging her to carry on. "¡­The sacrifice which gives us strength." Her reverie was interrupted by a chirping voice. "Anyone for seconds?" One of the spiders skittered over, its tone oddly cheerful. The Oni convicts nearby looked up in disbelief, their eyes wide. "Seconds?" she muttered, her gaze narrowing suspiciously. Why would they be offered more? This was already more than any convict could have hoped for. It felt wrong, excessive. And yet, the others did not share her wariness. With eager movements, they rushed to form a new queue, desperate for more of the crimson sustenance. "Come. Come!" the spider beckoned, its voice urging them on. The Shaman¡¯s eyes darkened with suspicion. This was no ordinary generosity. Something in the way the spiders moved, the precision of their feeding, felt calculated. As if they were preparing the Oni convicts for something more than just a hearty meal. Her grip tightened around the tankard. What was the true purpose of this feast? ¡­ The Spider King rubbed his hands together with glee, his purple eyes gleaming in satisfaction. "The Oni, they liked it!" he exclaimed, turning to his maid, the Mer Princess, who splashed nearby with a sly grin on her face. "Of course they did," she said, flipping her tail playfully. "I helped bake it, after all." He nodded vigorously, his enthusiasm undampened. "And the ale! It turned out splendidly, didn''t it?" The Mer Princess twirled a lock of wet hair around her finger. "Yes, yes! Those DarkSpores did wonders. The fermentation was nearly instantaneous!" "The Myconid Queen deserves all the credit. I¡¯ll have to send her a letter of my deepest gratitude," he mused. "You should send her more than just a letter," the Mer Princess interjected. "With the way things are going, we¡¯ll need spores by the mountain-load. Think she can keep up?" The Spider King stilled in thought. "Hmm¡­ it''s been a while since I visited her domain. Who knows what she¡¯s up to? Thanks for reminding me, though. I¡¯ll pay her a visit once things calm down at Centauri Castle." The Mer Princess winked, moving to the edge of her basin. "That¡¯s what I¡¯m here for, your majesty. To remind you of all the things you forget. Oh, and speaking of duties¡­ your bath is ready." She gestured toward the large basin in the room, which conveniently doubled as her personal living space. The Spider King discarded his robe, moving toward the basin with a sigh of relief. "Ahhh¡­" he murmured, sinking into the warm, infused waters. "You always make the perfect baths. I swear, you¡¯ve got a real talent for this." "Glad to be of service," she said, swimming closer to scrub his back. She paused for a moment, a mischievous smile curling her lips. Her voice dropped to a whisper as she leaned in, lips brushing close to his ear. "Rumor, rumor¡­ I¡¯ve heard you¡¯ve been making the Ultimate Cream Cheese." Instantly, the Spider King¡¯s entire body stiffened, his shoulders tensing up. "W-where did you hear that?" he sputtered, his eyes darting around in a panic. The Mer Princess chuckled, her hands working gently to massage away the tension. "Relax, relax. You might not realize it, but your ultimate dessert-making session is the hottest topic in all of Centauri Castle right now." His face flushed, the heat rising up his neck. "I... I didn¡¯t think it would get out so quickly." "Oh, it did." She flashed a wicked grin. "Apparently, the dessert was a great success. But, and here¡¯s the annoying part, none of the noble mares will tell me any of the juicy details. The Centauri Champion? Won¡¯t say a word. Keeps giving me that superior look, like she¡¯s part of some exclusive ''cream cheese club.'' Ugh, it¡¯s maddening!" She folded her arms dramatically. "Come on, won¡¯t you let me in on the secret? Just a little taste of the truth, what transpired then and there?" He squirmed in the water. "I... I¡¯d rather keep it private." "Oh, come on!" She leaned in closer, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. "I won¡¯t tell anyone. I promise. Cross my heart." She even made a little ¡®X¡¯ motion across her chest with her finger, pouting just enough to be irresistible. "But... aren¡¯t you my wife¡¯s spy?" he pointed out, turning to her to give a sidelong glance. The Mer Princess placed a hand over her heart, feigning hurt. "Ouch. You wound me, my King. While technically I am her spy, sent here to keep an eye on you¡­" She leaned in closer, whispering conspiratorially. "I¡¯m your loyal maid first and foremost. And I don¡¯t need to tell her everything. Besides, she already gave you permission, didn¡¯t she? I¡¯m just asking for me!" She batted her eyelashes innocently. The Spider King hesitated, still unsure. "Is that so¡­?" She nodded vigorously, her enthusiasm infectious. "Come on! I¡¯m dying to know! You don¡¯t even have to give me the whole story, just the highlights!" He sighed, knowing he was trapped. "Alright, alright. But only because you asked so nicely." With a deep breath, the Spider King began to retell the heroic tale of his daring and delicate quest to make the Ultimate Dessert. The Mer Princess leaned in, her eyes wide with excitement as he spoke of the meticulous preparation, the precise balancing of various techniques, and the tension-filled moment when the Centauri Champion had the first taste. By the end of his tale, the Mer Princess tilted her head curiously, her tail flicking playfully behind her. "Oh my... You had to transform. That little detail must''ve slipped through the gossip mill," she mused. "Yeah." He chuckled softly. "It wouldn¡¯t have worked otherwise. You know what they say¡ªright tools to make the right dessert." "I see¡­ I see¡­" She murmured thoughtfully, her voice trailing off as her eyes sparkled mischievously. The Spider King¡¯s body twitched slightly. "Hey, um, isn¡¯t the water getting a bit too hot?" "Oops! My bad, my bad!" Day Sapphire laughed nervously. "Let me just adjust that¡­" The water swirled, but the heat only intensified. The Spider King straightened his back, eyes narrowing in suspicion. "It¡¯s only getting warmer! Are you even¡ª" "Oops! Sorry again!" she interrupted, her hands slipping around him, pulling him into a close embrace. He felt her chest shells press against his back, and he sighed, half-exasperated. "Day Sapphire¡­ my loyal maid¡­ You¡¯re thinking of something forbidden, aren¡¯t you?" "Me?" She tilted her head in mock innocence, resting her cheek against his shoulder. "I¡¯m just moved by your heroic tale, that¡¯s all." "..." She giggled softly, her fingers tracing small patterns on his chest. "You know¡­ a little spider chirped a rather curious question at me recently. She¡ªyes, she¡ªasked what body part of mine you like the most." He raised an eyebrow. "Oh? The spider asked that?" "Yes," she hummed, voice dripping with playful intrigue as she hugged him tighter, her sapphire scales catching the soft light of the bath. "Curious, right? But let''s not get distracted¡­ what part of me do you really like the most?" The Spider King''s hand instinctively grasped the necklace his wife had given him, fingers curling around the centrepiece. "Your beautiful sapphire scales, of course," he replied without hesitation, his tone resolute. A wide grin spread across her face. "I knew it! I told my cute spider friend the exact same thing!" Her hand slid down his chest with a teasing slowness. His body tensed up again. "Hey! The water¡¯s getting way too hot, and now this?" He stood abruptly, escaping her embrace. "Are you trying to¡ª" He stopped mid-sentence, catching the sly gaze she was giving him. "¡ªget me into trouble?" With utterly shameless audacity, Mer Princess beamed at him, eyes gleaming like precious stones. "Why not¡­ we could make a little dessert, yes? Just the two of us? The Queen wouldn¡¯t find out, I promise!" She gave him the most exaggerated, pleading look she could muster. The Spider King¡¯s hand tightened on the necklace as he closed his eyes in a brief prayer. "LoveBound Necklace, give me the strength to resist this troublesome maid¡­" "Just a tiny dessert!" she begged, her voice soft, teasing, and absolutely irresistible. "A teeny tiny one! I don¡¯t want to be left out of the fun, you know." He opened his eyes but then closed them straight away, resisting the gleam of her scales. "LoveBound Necklace, give me strength to resist this troublesome maid¡­" "We¡¯ll be quick!" she pleaded, moving in front of him, her expression the picture of innocent temptation. "I won¡¯t take much of your time. Just a short bake, I swear. Please!" "LoveBound Necklace, give me strength to resist this troublesome maid!" He repeated, his voice firm, but there was a slight waver in his resolve. The troublesome maid wasn¡¯t giving up easily. She pressed closer, her charms turned up to the maximum, batting her eyes as if she could break through his iron will. "We¡¯ll be done before you know it. Just a teeny tiny dessert baking session¡­ for me???" The Spider King¡¯s grip on the necklace was fierce now, his face tense and his eyes squeezed shut. "LoveBound Necklace, give me strength to resist this troublesome maid!!!" he chanted, practically willing the necklace¡¯s magic to shield him from her relentless advances. A heavy silence hung between them. For a moment, it seemed like she might push further, but then the Mer Princess sighed dramatically, throwing her arms up in exaggerated defeat. "Fine, fine!" she pouted. "But you¡¯re no fun sometimes, you know?" The Spider King, finally free of her barrage of requests, exhaled in relief. "This necklace is my only defence¡­ without it, I''d be doomed..." She smirked, giving him one last mischievous glance. "Don¡¯t think the battle¡¯s over, my King. I¡¯ll get my dessert someday." And with that, she swam off with a flick of her tail, letting the Spider King leave the now cooling bath. 172 – Sacrifice and Madness, The Chains Of The Oni The Oni Convicts, bolstered by the blood-soaked power of their sacred rations, tackled their duties with a newfound vigour. Muscles swelled under layers of scar tissue, and their eyes gleamed with an unsettling mix of fervour and duty. The sweet scent of the CrimsonClover fields clung to the air, light and refreshing, as they waded into the heart of their task: exterminating the creeping vermin that dared to feast on the new sacred crop. But this wasn¡¯t mere pest control¡ªno, this was a sacred ritual. The method was brutal and unrelenting. The Oni Shaman, with her Convict Jumpsuit now adorned with multiple talismans made from bones, stood at the front of the procession. Her hands moved in practised motions, fingers twitching as the improvised drums began to beat, each thrum echoing through the field with a low, shamanic pulse. She began her chant. "From shadows deep, where creatures creep, To fields of crimson, where clover¡¯s seen, Come forth, small ones, of night and morn, Your presence felt, your mischief born." The chant was low at first, a whisper on the wind, but with every beat of the drum, it grew, until the very air around them seemed to quiver with anticipation. Beneath the giant clover leaves, the monstrous vermin stirred¡ªsmall, misshapen beasts, evolved by demonic nature and imbued with an unnatural hunger. They slunk toward the sound, their beady eyes reflecting the flickering DarkFlame of the lanterns, entranced by the primal beat and the Shaman¡¯s empowered voice. "To Oni''s might, your path is set, A mighty club, a deadly threat. So gather near, and heed the call, Before your kind, forever fall." The beat quickened, a frantic crescendo, and the monsters could not resist. One by one, they emerged from the shadows, drawn to their own doom, until they stood in droves before the Oni. The field was a sea of trembling, insignificant life¡ªwaiting, almost begging, for the crushing end. The Oni Convicts hefted their clubs, nothing more than wooden instruments, but in their hands, they were weapons of pure, unyielding death. Without hesitation, they swung. The first strike splattered blood across the ground, and the next followed with a wet crunch. The rodent-like creatures barely had time to scream before their bodies crumpled under the force, bones snapping under Ogre-like might. Blood poured into the earth, staining it in a deeper red, as if the very land itself was eager to drink of the slaughter. Yet the monsters kept coming, compelled by the beat, driven to their deaths by the Oni Shaman¡¯s chant. "Oni, arise, with strength untold, Protect the sacred fields, where life unfolds. Drive back the pests, the verminous mob, To restore the peace, by our sacred oath." The drumming ceased. The only sound was the quiet squelch of severed bodies, limp and broken, as the Oni began gathering the corpses. With each swing of the club, the air had thickened with the metallic scent of blood, and now that silence reigned once more, the field felt heavy with an eerie reverence. The slaughter was a sacred ritual. Each lifeless form was an offering, fuel for the sacred machine that dominated the castle courtyard¡ªthe Fertilizer Combine Spider. Back in the castle, the Shaman approached the towering construct, her face carrying notes of both devotion and grim purpose. It stood like some ancient idol, its massive legs folded beneath it as it slumbered, exuding an ominous hum that resonated in the bones of all who stood near. She raised a bloodied hand toward it. "Hear me, devourer of flesh! I offer these, the pests that would consume your bounty. Let their sacrifice nourish your hunger, and may your gifts of growth be bestowed upon the fields again." With a series of mechanical clinks and whirrs, the Fertilizer Combine Spider came to life. Its maw opened, grinding gears visible within, as the Oni began to feed it the carcasses. Each monster was consumed by the machine, its innards glowing with an arcane energy as it mulched the bodies into something far more useful¡ªfertilizer, dark and rich, imbued with a twisted kind of magic. The Oni Shaman watched, her eyes reflecting the sickly light of the process, her lips whispering a prayer. "The cycle of life endures. From death, new life shall arise. May the land be fruitful, and may the spiders''s purpose be fulfilled." The reverence was interrupted. Above, cries of Heys pierced the sky as a flock of harpies descended, their wings beating the air with the sound of ruffled feathers. These creatures, too, were bound to the Centauri Castle, though the Oni had little interaction with them. Yet today, they arrived bearing gifts. With ungainly grace, they dropped large parcels wrapped in vines, their harpish faces gleaming with mischievous pride. ¡°Hey! More fertilizer!¡± one harpy chirped, grinning. Another quickly jumped ahead. ¡°Feed it to the Combine,¡± she said, flashing a knowing smile toward the Oni Shaman. The Oni Shaman, caught off guard by this sudden generosity, gave a nod of thanks. It was rare for the harpies to contribute to the sacred machine''s upkeep. ¡°Thank you for your gifts,¡± she said, bowing her head. The harpies, Hey!¡¯ing amongst themselves, took off into the sky once more, leaving the Oni Shaman and the convicts to examine the parcels. Curious, she sliced through one of the vines, unravelling the package. "!!!" The Oni Shaman recoiled in shock, her heart skipping a beat at the contents. What had once been presumed a monstrous carcass was, in fact, the cold, lifeless body of an Oni Scout. His skin was pale, drained of life, and his limbs were bound tightly by the vine wrappings. Without hesitation, she turned to the Oni standing at her side, her face filled with reverence. "No doubt this scout died with honour. Let¡¯s not allow his sacrifice to be in vain," she pointed towards the maw of the sacred machine. "His flesh and blood will continue living with us. May his spirit give us strength." "May his spirit give us strength," the others echoed, their voices a low murmur as they gathered around. They lifted the body of their fallen brother and carried him toward the sacred maw of the Fertilizer Combine Spider. The machine whirred to life as the offering was deposited, its spidery blades spinning with a gnashing hunger. It devoured the body with great gusto, as though feasting on the finest of desserts. When it finished, it belched out a burst of purple flame, the exhaust pipes exhaling in satisfaction, and its engine purred with contentment. The sacred machine gave a low hum, almost as if it were offering its own gratitude to the Oni. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. The Shaman stood in silence for a moment, looking curiously at the remaining three vine-bound parcels. An understanding began to dawn upon her as she reached for the next one. She felt it in her bones¡ªthe other packages were of the same quality and nature. All three were the bodies of Oni Scouts. But whether it was morbid curiosity or some deeper compulsion, she found herself unwrapping them one by one, checking their faces. Her breath caught in her throat as the last parcel revealed the familiar face of Yasuke, one of the Shogun''s nephews. The Shaman¡¯s hands trembled. Yasuke¡¯s face was ashen, his eyes closed in a semblance of death, but there was something strange¡ªsomething off. Being a shaman, she could still sense a lingering presence, a soul that hadn¡¯t yet departed. Souls rarely stayed with the dead for long, and as she pressed her palm against his cold chest to send it to the afterlife, she felt it: a faint pulse, weak but undeniably there. "He''s alive," she whispered, her eyes widening in disbelief. "Yasuke is alive!" Her fingers traced the vine bindings that constricted his body, and it was then that she realized what afflicted him¡ªthe ParasiticVine. The cursed plant fed on life itself, slowly draining its host until nothing remained but a husk. She could see the vine pulse faintly, leeching what little strength Yasuke had left. Without a moment to lose, the Shaman began to chant, her voice resonating with power. "Ancient spirits, cleanse this soul, restore my friend, brave and sound, [BreakCurse]!" Magic surged from her fingertips, spilling over Yasuke''s body in waves of shimmering light. The parasitic vine hissed, withering beneath the power of her spell until it crumbled into ash. The colour returned to Yasuke¡¯s face, his chest heaving as he suddenly sat up, eyes wide and full of confusion. He collapsed into a violent coughing fit, expelling a thick, green sludge from his throat. The vile substance hit the ground with a splat, and within it, a small, immature seed writhed momentarily before dying. "Yasuke! It¡¯s me!" She knelt beside him, a relieved smile tugging at her lips. Her hands reached for his, steadying his trembling fingers. ¡­ Yasuke, his coughing fit finally subsiding, lifted his head to face the figure that had saved him. "Yasuke! It¡¯s me!" she exclaimed, her voice tinged with an unsettling excitement. Her grin, wide and strained, was unnervingly unnatural. Her eyes flickered with a madness that gnawed at the edges of her sanity. Yasuke felt a chill creep down his spine. He recognized her¡ªthough she was gaunt and emaciated, a shadow of her former self¡ªthis was Kurama, the Oni Shaman, once a favoured plaything of his uncle. The sight of her now filled him with unease. "Kurama?" he whispered, unsure if he got her name right. She nodded, the smile never leaving her face. "Yes, it''s me. But don¡¯t stand up just yet," she said, her voice lilting with an eerie calm. "I¡¯ve removed the affliction, but you¡¯re still Drained. It¡¯ll take time to recover." With a deliberate motion, she handed him a piece of bread¡ªpeculiarly crimson in colour. It was soft, fresh, and its enticing smell immediately made his stomach growl with hunger. He was famished, the ache of starvation gnawing at his insides, and without hesitation, he devoured it in one bite. [You have obtained: StaminaRegeneration] Strength surged back into his limbs, enough for him to rise shakily to his feet. "Thanks, Kurama... The Shogun will..." His words trailed off as something caught his eye¡ªsomething so horrific it paralyzed him where he stood. Towering before him was a monstrosity unlike anything he''d ever seen. It was an amalgamation of metal and death, a twisted, hulking machine that exuded Terror. Formed from the broken remnants of battle¡ªtorn armour, shattered katanas, and jagged shards of weapons¡ªit stood like a colossus of nightmare. Plates of metal and twisted blades bristled from every surface, all melded together into a Metal-Clad Effigy of Death and Destruction. Clawed pincers, grinders, and vicious, bladed limbs sprouted from its body in odd angles. Its spidery head bore a maw filled with spinning blades, gnashing idly as if waiting to devour anything foolish enough to come close. The machine groaned, emitting a low, tortured hum, like the anguished cries of the damned souls whose essence might still cling to the scrap. It was too large, too vile, and too unsettling to be a mere construct¡ªit was alive, or worse, waiting. And then, the horror deepened. Yasuke¡¯s gaze shifted to the Oni surrounding the machine. They moved in a feverish dance of madness, their eyes empty of reason, consumed by some horrific reverence. The bodies of his comrades, Soka and Roku, were dragged before the machine. Before Yasuke could react, he watched in abject horror as the Oni unceremoniously tossed Soka into the maw of the metal behemoth. The blades within spun to life, shredding the body into pulp in an instant. He trembled as the machine belched purple flame, infusing the air with something ancient and arcane. The Oni convicts, far from horrified, chanted in unison, "May his spirit give us strength," before offering the body of Roku to the maw. Yasuke stumbled back, his legs giving out beneath him. He collapsed, his heart racing, terror clawing at his mind. "What... Why???" he choked, his voice barely a whisper. He felt like a child lost in a waking nightmare, his mind struggling to comprehend the depth of the atrocity before him. Kurama, her voice calm yet brimming with mania, stepped closer. "Yasuke," she said, her smile now devoid of any semblance of sanity. "This is our Kami. We must offer it sacrifices." She gestured toward the Metal-Clad Effigy of Death and Destruction as if it were a sacred deity, deserving of worship. "This... This thing?" Yasuke stammered, his voice cracking with disbelief. He tried to scramble away, but his body refused to cooperate. His strength was faltering again. He looked at Kurama, desperate to see some glimmer of the woman he once knew, but all he saw was madness. "What happened to you? What happened to all of you?" Kurama''s expression softened, almost tender, but her eyes remained wild, feverish. "The Spider King protects us. We serve him here, within Centauri Castle. We are Convicts, but we are blessed by the Spider King¡¯s mercy." Her gaze drifted upward, and Yasuke followed her eyes. Dark figures¡ªmonstrous, skittering shapes¡ªcrawled across the castle¡¯s walls, their many legs clicking in the shadows. Spiders, massive and unnatural, moving with a horrifying intelligence. "The... Spider King?" Yasuke stammered both in confusion and disbelief. "Yes," Kurama continued with manic reverence. "We are safe under his rule. We serve the sacred machine. We feed it and it protects us, blessing the land with life." Her words, though mad, were filled with an unshakable conviction. Yasuke''s heart pounded in his chest. Every instinct screamed at him to flee, but there was nowhere to run. The castle walls loomed high and unyielding, and the dark creatures prowled the shadows, watching. His eyes flickered between the nightmarish machine and the Oni, who now gathered drums and began to play a fevered rhythm, their chanting rising in fervour. They were lost, every one of them, their minds sacrificed to the forces of chaos. The hum of the machine deepened, and Yasuke felt a cold wave of dread wash over him. The Metal-Clad Effigy of Death and Destruction stirred, its bladed limbs twitching to life. With a sickening creak, it rose, its appendages unfolding in a display of uncanny grace. It took one step, then another, the ground trembling beneath its weight. The Oni cheered, their drums echoing the machine¡¯s dreadful cadence. Yasuke¡¯s legs buckled again. His sanity was slipping away with each beat of the drum, with each step of the metal colossus. He was trapped in a waking nightmare, surrounded by madmen worshipping a machine of death. Kurama gripped his arm, having more strength than any gaunt woman should. "Come, Yasuke," she whispered, her breath hot against his ear. "We must support the Sacred Machine. It walks to bless the fields. We are its servants now." Yasuke''s vision blurred. The ungodly machine, the chanting Oni, the skittering spiders¡ªthey all swam before his eyes. His mind screamed for escape, but there was no way out. He was trapped like a fly in a web. He could feel his sanity slipping through his fingers like sand. The last coherent thought that flashed through his mind was this: ¡®This is worse than death¡¯. 173 – A Spider Which Trapped The Oni In Its Brilliant Web The Oni Shaman drifted into uneasy slumber, only to find herself ensnared in a nightmarish web. Tangled in a mass of sticky threads, her limbs were tightly bound, the clinging strands denying any hope of movement. No matter how fiercely she struggled, her efforts were futile¡ªthe more she fought, the tighter the web constricted. From somewhere deep within the binding strands, a voice¡ªa soft, spidery whisper¡ªcalled out. ¡°Come, come, come...¡± it beckoned, the sound a dark, insidious chirp that tugged at the corners of her mind. She strained against her bindings, but they held firm, binding her ever tighter. ¡°Come to the Spider King... come to him...¡± the whisper repeated, its tone now sweet and luring. She wanted to respond, to scream or curse, but even her mouth was sealed shut with the sticky threads, her voice stolen by the same web that imprisoned her. ¡°Come... come... come...¡± The chirp persisted, weaving through her mind. ¡°Surrender to his will¡­¡± It urged. ¡°He will set you free...¡± Free? The word echoed in her thoughts, but the threads tightened their grip around her body, as if amused by the very notion. Every inch of her was shackled, every breath laboured, trapped in a web spun from the very essence of her fear. ¡­ The Oni Shaman jolted awake, a gasp tearing from her throat. The night still blanketed the world outside, but sleep no longer seemed possible. The spidery whisper echoed in her mind, relentless and insidious: ¡°Come... come... come¡­¡± Her heart pounded in her chest as she whispered to herself, her voice trembling. ¡°If I come... will he set me free? Will my nightmares end?¡± She knew the answer, but the question gnawed at her, a desperate flicker of hope in the darkness. It was him who had bound her. Why would he release her from the very web he spun? And yet, despite the bitter knowledge, she felt an irresistible pull, an unseen thread guiding her steps. Without realizing it, she found herself wandering through the cold, empty corridors of Centauri Castle. The silence was unnatural, the ever-watchful spiders conspicuously absent. Her mind felt clouded, thick with fog, as if something unseen was smothering her thoughts. She closed her eyes, willing the haze to clear, and when she opened them again, rather suddenly, now she found herself standing before familiar, heavy wooden doors. The Spider King¡¯s office. It was the dead of night¡ªhe wouldn¡¯t be here. And yet, her hand moved, trembling, to knock on the door. Before her knuckles could make contact, the door creaked open on its own, the sound slow and deliberate, as if welcoming her into the darkness ahead. From the gap in the doorway, the whisper came again, slithering into her mind, sending a chill through her back. ¡°Come¡­¡± Her breath caught in her throat. The voice¡ªit was the same as in her dream. Despite every instinct urging her to flee, her body disobeyed. Her hand pressed against the door, pushing it open, allowing the shadows within to swallow her whole. The room was dim, the only light a faint glow from a small lantern in the corner, its DarkFlame flickering eerily. The flame didn¡¯t brighten the space; instead, it granted her the DarkVision, a strange ability to see shapes shrouded in the dark. She spied a figure seated behind the desk. The figure was dark as the night itself, shrouded in the midnight¡¯s shadows, his form obscured, but four glowing yellow eyes pierced through the void, locking onto hers. ¡°Sit,¡± a clawed hand emerged from the shadowy veil, gesturing to a chair nearby. Her heart raced in her chest, every fibre of her being screaming against compliance. Yet, as if some unseen force had already claimed her, she sat. The shadows around the figure began to melt away, dissipating into the air like smoke, revealing its true, unsettling form. ¡°!!!¡± She gasped, her breath sharp. The creature before her was not the one she had expected. ¡°You¡¯re... not the Spider King.¡± The words fell from her lips, half question, half realization. Yet here it was, sitting at his desk, occupying his space. ¡°I am not,¡± it chirped, its mandibles stretching into a semblance of a smile. ¡°I¡¯m known as the Spider Archmage,¡± it spoke, its voice chirpy as if praising itself. The creature leaned in closer, its spindly claws creeping toward her, reaching for her hands like a predator about to seize its prey. Panic crashed over her like icy water, snapping her out of whatever trance had held her. She moved to bolt from her chair, but the spider¡¯s claws had already closed in, pinning her in place by her shoulders. She was trapped, the cold, sharp tips of its fingers grazing her skin. ¡°Ki-ki-ki,¡± the spider laughed, pleased about something. ¡°Do not be afraid,¡± it clacked its mandibles together as it spoke. She was afraid¡­ She was Terrified, in fact! This spider was nothing like the smaller, more mundane creatures she was used to¡ªthose spider farmers that wandered the clover fields, or even the overseers who guarded the Oni and aided the Centauri. No, this one was something else entirely. Evolved. Wrong. Its yellow eyes gleamed with a malevolent intelligence, but worse¡ªmuch worse¡ªwas the hunger. A primordial hunger that seeped from its very presence, like a palpable aura that wrapped around her, coiling tighter with every second. Its body was an abomination, far more disturbing than any creature she had encountered. Long, spindly arms ending in claws, not fingers. Its chitinous chest was encased in thick plates, the edges serrated and jagged like the teeth of some monstrous trap. Six legs, each one sharp and dagger-like at the tip, clicked against the floor with a metallic scrape as it shifted. And its face... the features were unmistakably sapient, yet warped into a twisted, inhuman semblance. It was a nightmare made flesh, an embodiment of terror that rivalled even the Demon Lord. She could feel fear gripping her mind. Ugly wasn¡¯t the word for this thing¡ªit was pure, distilled horror. And despite the overwhelming dread flooding her, she couldn¡¯t tear her gaze away from its eyes¡ªthose hungry, yellow orbs that bore into her¡­ hungering for her very soul. The spider¡¯s voice broke the suffocating silence. ¡°You see,¡± it began, its mandibles clicking in rhythm with its words, ¡°we are pleased with your performance¡± It gave her a terrifying smile. ¡®We? Who is we?¡¯ ¨C she couldn¡¯t help but wonder. ¡°You¡¯ve taught the Spider King many useful things,¡± the Spider Archmage continued, a chirpy warmth to its tone. One of its claws moved from her shoulder to pat her head with a semblance of affection. She recoiled inwardly, her body tensing, but still, she remained frozen in place. Her already red skin flushed an even deeper shade of crimson, embarrassment mixing with dread as the creature¡¯s touch lingered too long. Uninvited, the image of a green feather fluttered into her mind, flooding her thoughts with shame. ¡°¡­ the Soul Magic,¡± the spider chirped, grinning widely. ¡°It was the missing piece. The thread that stabilised the web we have been weaving.¡± The spider finally released her, but before she could think to flee, it reached for one of the desk¡¯s drawers. Her heart pounded violently in her chest, her legs ready to bolt¡ªbut her body remained paralyzed, as though she was trapped in a web. From the drawer, the Spider Archmage withdrew a dark crystal, setting it on the table with a deliberate motion. Inside its obsidian surface, a swirling mass of light flickered¡ªa web of glowing, purple threads. And at the centre, barely visible, trembled a small red dot, pulsating faintly, like a trapped fly. She held her breath in realisation. She knew what it was. As a shaman, she was intimately familiar with souls and their use in magic. But this... this was something different. A soul, trapped and immobilized, suspended in a cruel, ethereal prison. The spider¡¯s mandibles curled into another grin. ¡°Yes,¡± it chirped, its voice dripping with satisfaction. ¡°An OniSoul. Now we can trap them... move them... use them freely..¡± Its claws tapped the crystal, the sound faint but sharp. ¡°All of them. However we please.¡± If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°¡­¡± A cold dread washed over her. She couldn¡¯t find words; she only trembled. In her magic, she could manipulate souls¡ªuse them to cast spells, to guide spirits¡ªbut never could she trap them, never could she store them. This was something beyond her¡ªa power that belonged in the hands of the Demon Lord himself. And if the spiders could use the Oni souls freely¡­ What does this mean for the Oni Convicts? The spider clacked its mandibles again, as if reading her thoughts. ¡°Do not worry, Oni Shaman,¡± it chirped, its tone sweet. ¡°Ki-ki-ki... living are far more useful than the dead. You might not be free, but your freedom is... not far off.¡± Its eyes gleamed, yellow orbs filled with a meaning she could not fully grasp. She swallowed, her throat dry, and before she knew why, the words slipped from her lips. ¡°You want me to surrender to his will?¡± The spider¡¯s eyes widened, surprised, before a delight spread across its spidery features. ¡°Ah, so you understand! Perfect,¡± it chirped, its voice rising in joy. A claw reached for another drawer, this time retrieving a small crystalline flask. It placed the vial in her trembling hands. The liquid inside was viscous, a strange shade of blue, swirling thickly in the dim light. The scent that drifted up as she uncorked it was sweet¡ªtoo sweet¡ªpulling at her senses, clouding her already-foggy mind. ¡°Drink,¡± the spider urged, its voice a quiet command. ¡°And you shall be free,¡± it chirped a dark promise. She lifted the crystalline vial with trembling fingers, trying to appraise the strange potion within. But whatever knowledge she possessed as a shaman failed her now. All she could discern was a vague impression¡ªsomething about an eldritch slug. Its texture was jelly-like, and the origin seemed dubious at best. Yet, the sweet aroma teased her senses, a temptation too alluring to dismiss. A dangerous sweetness, like honeyed bait, coaxed her mind toward the edge. She told herself it would be just a taste¡ªa single drop to test whether it was harmful. The spider¡¯s eyes glowed brighter, its grin widening as the vial touched her lips, mandibles clicking in what could only be described as conspiratorial delight. Her intent had been cautious¡ªonly a drop¡ªbut the moment the liquid touched her tongue, an overwhelming need took hold. The sweetness overwhelmed her, and before she realized it, she was gulping down the entire vial, her throat burning with urgency, her mind succumbing to the thick, syrupy euphoria flooding her senses. ¡°Ki-ki-ki, delicious, isn¡¯t it?¡± the spider rasped, leaning closer as it watched her with a knowing glee. Her body ignited from the inside out, heat roaring through her veins as her eyes shot wide, then rolled back into her skull. Her whole frame trembled violently, fingers digging into the wood of the chair¡¯s armrests until they nearly splintered. Good was an understatement¡ªeuphoria crashed into her like a tsunami, obliterating thought, almost dissolving her mind into a formless, blissful haze. She felt her consciousness slipping, melting away, her body wracked with tremors of near ecstasy. A sudden notification blinked in her mind: [You have consumed SlugJelly. Temporary perk: OgreDevourer obtained.] OgreDevourer? The name echoed strangely in her head, yet something primal awakened within her, gnawing at her insides with an insatiable craving. But it wasn¡¯t food she desired... not in the conventional sense. Her gaze shifted toward the dark crystal on the table, the SoulStone that now glowed with an almost unnatural allure. Hunger, a monstrous hunger, twisted in her gut. ¡°Ki-ki-ki!¡± The spider pushed it closer towards her, its claws tapping the crystal¡¯s surface. ¡°Go ahead,¡± it chirped with encouragement. Her hands, still trembling from the potent magic coursing through her, moved on their own. She reached for the SoulStone, her fingertips brushing against its cold surface. The crystal flared to life beneath her touch, the purple web inside it throbbing as the soul, the small red dot caught in the ethereal strands, began to shift. With a sudden release, the soul tore free from its prison and flew toward her, sinking into her palm only to melt in it like a snowflake. It was absorbed in her palm, mixing with her blood. ¡°!!!¡± She slumped back in the chair, her body beginning to spasm again as the soul integrated with her. Her eyes rolled back once again, and this time, something entirely new¡ªsomething dark and consuming¡ªrippled through her mind. It wasn¡¯t euphoria, not like before, but something even more foreign. It was... power. A raw, undeniable power, coursing through her body like wildfire. Her skin buzzed with it, her muscles tightened, and her senses flared to life, sharper than ever. ¡°How... curious,¡± the spider chirped, its voice thick with intrigue. Its yellow eyes blinked in astonishment. ¡°It seems you can... Evolve.¡± ¡®Evolve?¡¯ she thought, struggling to keep her mind together. It wasn¡¯t just her mind¡­ she felt mysterious magic messing up her body, churning her insides¡ªa guttural and visceral feeling, but not an unpleasant one. She felt overwhelming might. She felt countless possibilities. It was strangely... intoxicating. Chaotic power surged through her, possibilities unfurling in her mind like threads of fate just within reach. She could almost grasp them, almost see them¡ªnew forms, new strengths. But it was too much. Her vision darkened, her consciousness slipping away, spiraling into the vortex of chaos. She collapsed forward, her head striking the table with a dull thud. The last sensation she registered was a peculiar weightlessness, as though her body was suspended by treads. Was she falling asleep? Or had she been dreaming this entire time? The line between reality and nightmare blurred as she drifted into unconsciousness, her mind lost in the shadows once again. ¡­ The Oni Shaman woke abruptly, finding herself tangled in her bed, her red skin damp with sweat. The sheets clung to her, uncomfortably wet, sticking to her body in a way that felt wrong. She groaned, a low sound of discomfort and something else¡ªher muscles ached, not just from the strain of the nightmare but from an unsettling, lingering sensation. Her breath caught as the remnants of it still clung to her mind¡ªa web of threads she could not escape. ¡°Ohhh,¡± she muttered, forcing herself to sit up despite the odd heaviness in her limbs. ¡°What a nightmare¡­¡± Her fingers pressed against her temples, trying to soothe the dull throb in her head. ¡°I must have imagined the entire thing¡­¡± Of course she did. The spiders would never allow her to wander through the castle in the dead of night, not with the vigilant eyes that were always watching, always lurking. The dream¡ªno, the nightmare¡ªhad to be her mind playing tricks on her. It had been vivid, yes, but nothing more than that. And yet¡­ The memory of that spider¡¯s looming form crawled back into her mind, sending an involuntary shiver through her. She hugged herself, hands gripping her trembling shoulders. ¡°That spider¡­ it was terrifying,¡± she whispered to no one, the fear still gnawing at the edges of her thoughts. But it hadn¡¯t all been fear, had it? Beneath the terror had been something else, something too primal to ignore. Her cheeks flushed as she recalled the wave of raw power, the rush that had surged through her at the nightmare¡¯s end. The visceral, near-ecstatic sensation still lingered on her skin, as if her body remembered it even now. She trembled at the memory. ¡°Ugh, just another dream, that¡¯s it,¡± she sighed, rubbing her face in an attempt to shake off the feeling. It wasn¡¯t the first, and it certainly wouldn¡¯t be the last. Lately, her dreams were always filled with webs, spiders, and those unsettling feelings of both terror and desire. She had learned to dismiss them, telling herself they were just dreams, nothing more. Still, that last sensation¡ªthat pulse of strength that had wrapped around her like the sticky threads in the dream¡ªit had felt disturbingly real. Her fingers twitched, as though her body was still recalling the grip of something powerful, something¡­ irresistible. Just in case, she opened her Status screen, a flicker of worry in her expresion. ¡°Yeah¡­ just a bad dream,¡± she exhaled with relief. Her screen was clear¡ªno strange perks, no odd powers, certainly nothing like OgreDevourer. She laughed softly at herself for even entertaining the thought. ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± she whispered. But then her breath hitched, freezing in her throat. A message lingered in the corner of her vision, a small, unsettling notification that hadn¡¯t been there before, tempting her with an eerie persistence: [Do you want to join the Monster System?] ¡°???¡± Her heart pounded, but it wasn¡¯t from fear. No¡­ it was something else. A disturbing curiosity stirred within her, and despite herself, she leaned closer to the strange message. ¡°Monster System?¡± The words seemed absurd, like some spidery prank. And yet, something about them tugged at her, the same way the dream had pulled her deeper into its web. She hesitated for only a moment, her curiosity overpowering whatever caution she should have felt. ¡°¡­but is there any harm?¡± she wondered aloud. Two seconds passed, then she made her choice. She selected YES. And with that single choice, it all came crashing back¡ªthe dream, the nightmare, the power that had flooded her veins. It wasn¡¯t a figment of her imagination. It was real. She gasped as a now familiar sensation hit her like a tidal wave, knocking her off her feet. Her mind whirled, overwhelmed by the flood of strength surging through her body, filling her with a power she didn¡¯t understand but craved nonetheless. The room around her dimmed, distant, as her body trembled with the force of it all. Another message blinked in her mind, but she could hardly focus, her thoughts spinning out of control. She grasped for clarity, trying to pull herself back from the edge, to understand. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she stood up on shaky legs, blinking rapidly as she tried to gather her thoughts. The realisation dawned on her, her breath coming in short, sharp gasps. ¡°I can¡­ I can Evolve,¡± she whispered, blinking in disbelief. ¡°The nightmare¡­ the spider¡­ the soul I had devoured¡­¡± It wasn¡¯t a dream. It was all too real. The power that had surged through her¡ªit had been real. It was happening. Whatever chaotic forces she had unknowingly bound herself to were now pulling her deeper into their web, and she couldn¡¯t turn back. The dream wasn¡¯t over¡­ It had only just begun. And¡­ And If she could Evolve, what would she become? 174 – Of CrimsonClovers, Cheese, And Evolutionary Quandaries: A Kings Delicate Breakfast Disruption The Centauri Territory thrived under his spiderish reign, the fields lush with CrimsonClovers, their vibrant hue a promise of bounty. Noble mares, brimming with a potent mix of nutritious food and unmentionable potions, filled the land with their creamy offerings. The future seemed radiant for the Centauri, as the castle cellars swelled with an abundance of rich, delicious cheese. Spiders, efficient as ever, diligently rolled massive wheels of cheese into the belly of the Galleon Whale. The cheese had reached peak maturity after a long month of aging, and thus, The Quest for Cheese was officially completed. Yet not all quests were as easily resolved. His subjects, ever resourceful, seemed to sprout their own quests like seeds bursting into bloom. And as fate would have it, he¡ªthe Monster King¡ªwas at the heart of each one. Warrior Leader Junior, his royal mount and the leader of the spider warriors, had embarked on a monster extermination mission. The objective: accumulate experience and refine the combat techniques that would make him a mount worthy of a king. The quest was all about growth¡ªsharpening the spider¡¯s skills for the next ride¡ªand likely a rematch with the Centauri Champion. Perhaps inspired by Junior¡¯s valour, or maybe out of some deeper sense of rivalry, the Spider Navigator had joined the fray, setting off on the extermination mission as well. With both his mount and navigator off hunting, the Spider King was left landlocked¡ªwithout his usual means of transportation. Meanwhile, a dark covenant of spiders had petitioned him for an intriguing favour: they wanted to release a few Oni souls currently in his possession. Their goal? To create a companion for the Fertilizer Combine Spider¡ªthe proposed Harvester Combine Spider would make quick work of the time-consuming task of harvesting the CrimsonClovers. It was a clever, spiderish solution to a mundane problem. Also, his maid, the Mer Princess, had been hinting at her own quest¡ªone that involved diving deep into the abyssal waters to slay some ancient lake dragon she referred to as the Serpent of the Abyss. The request had come from her brother, the Mer King, and while it sounded troublesome, it didn¡¯t strike him as particularly urgent. For now, it could wait. Also x2, his best friend, Johny the Magnificent Slug, had called. They always chatted in the morning, Johny giving him the spicy details of what happened all around the Monster Realm. This time, however, it was to offer a side quest. Apparently, during his royal absence, a new predicament had unfolded within the Spider Kingdom. Gareth, one of his loyal subjects from New Hope Fortress, had been captured and was now held prisoner in the Spidery Palace. The quest came directly from the imprisoned man himself (presumably innocent). This was another quest to untangle. And then¡­ ¡°Shikigami of¡­ I mean Spider King! Spider King!¡± A familiar voice shattered his thoughts. An Oni, breathless and shouting, sprinted toward him. Was this yet another side quest? ¡°Oni Shaman?¡± He raised an eyebrow, surprised by the crazed look in her eyes. In a wild frenzy, she seized his arms, her grip tight and desperate. ¡°Evolve me! Evolve me!¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Confused but intrigued, he cast a quick Inspect. What he saw surprised him: ¡°You can Evolve!?¡± His eyes lit up with curiosity. ¡°Yes!¡± She squeezed his hands tighter, her words tumbling out in a manic rush. ¡°The spiders¡ªthey¡ªit doesn¡¯t matter! Just evolve me like you promised!¡± Her fingers dug into his skin, her desperation strong. He frowned, racking his memory. He hadn¡¯t promised her any such thing¡ªhadn¡¯t even spoken to her recently, in fact. She must have dreamt it up. But no matter. If she could evolve, it was certainly worth investigating. With a flicker of power, he gave the command, "[Evolve]!" Purple light exploded from her body, blinding him momentarily. When it subsided, there she stood¡ªchanged, yet somehow the same. Her Oni features remained intact: the horn, the muscular yet gaunt frame, but her skin had shifted from deep red to a cold, eerie blue. In her status, a new and ominous perk appeared: OgreDevourer. A slight disappointment tugged at him¡ªit wasn¡¯t the most impressive transformation he¡¯d witnessed¡ªbut the Oni Shaman didn¡¯t seem to share his sentiment. ¡°Yes!¡± She fell to her knees, trembling. ¡°I feel it¡­ The power, the possibilities! All are now unlocked!¡± ¡°???¡± He stared at her, unsure whether she was truly sensing something beyond his understanding or if she was simply losing her mind. Slowly regaining her composure, she bowed before him, her eyes burning with a manic devotion. ¡°Thank you, Spider King! Your magic has opened my mind. I won¡¯t forget this! I¡ªand all of us Oni Convicts¡ªwill serve you, your spiders, and your sacred machines with all our strength.¡± Sacred machines? He looked at her, bemused. What on earth was she talking about? ¡°With your permission, can I Bestow your blessing upon my brothers and sisters?¡± Her voice quivered with delirium, her eyes gleaming with hunger. ¡°My blessing?¡± He arched an eyebrow. ¡°And what blessing are we referring to exactly?¡± ¡°The Monster System!¡± she exclaimed, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Ah, so that¡¯s what this was about. Similar to Duke Aurelius and the Radiant Angel, the Oni Shaman had the potential to welcome her people into the Monster System, making them subjects of his reign. No doubt the spiders had a hand in this development. The web they¡¯d been weaving just became much easier to complete. A smile spread across his lips. ¡°Go ahead! Invite them to join our ranks.¡± His voice was filled with intrigue. ¡°Then, perhaps you¡¯ll cease being Oni Convicts and become something greater.¡± ¡°Reformed! Transformed! Yes!¡± She grinned wildly, eyes glittering with newfound purpose. ¡°Freedom. Possibilities¡­ and power! ¡­ Ki-ki-ki!¡± Her laughter took on an unsettling, spidery edge¡ªonly the clattering of mandibles was missing. ¡°Right¡­¡± he muttered. She was as giddy as an Oni hopped up on CrimsonBread and CrimsonAle¡ªcarbonated and full of energy. Maybe it was time to adjust their diet. Still, he waved her off. ¡°Go. Bless your brothers and sisters.¡± Just as she turned to leave, she paused, realization striking her. ¡°Wait¡­ I¡¯ll need the Oni souls for that.¡± He cocked his head. ¡°Oh, so there¡¯s a price to pay?¡± She nodded. ¡°Something like that, yes.¡± Her head lowered in supplication. ¡°My King, would you trust me with the Oni souls?¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The Monster King¡¯s brow furrowed again. She was a shaman, after all, capable of twisting souls into whatever dark spells she pleased. He couldn¡¯t let that power slip from his control. ¡°No,¡± he rasped. ¡°I need them for the conception of the Harvester Combine Spider.¡± Instead of being dejected, the Oni Shaman clapped her hands, her eyes sparkling with mad admiration. ¡°Another sacred machine?! You keep blessing us!¡± She gazed at him with that same unsettling, manic devotion. ¡°Right¡­¡± He wasn¡¯t done yet. ¡°However, I will entrust a spider with a SoulStone. Just enough souls to bring all the Oni Convicts into the system. Their transformation will be in your hands.¡± ¡°Yes-yes!¡± She bowed again, over and over, her excitement overflowing. ¡°Of course. I¡ªwe¡ªwill not disappoint you or your spiders.¡± With another wave, he dismissed her. She scurried off, eager to welcome her brethren into something new and monstrous. Finally, some peace. He continued along the KoboldBrick path back to his office, the occasional spider waving in greeting as he passed. Life was good. Despite the ever-growing number of quests, things in the Centauri Castle seemed to be settling down. As he neared his office, he noticed the door slightly ajar. Someone was inside. He stepped in to find the Centauri Champion mid-task, struggling to slot an enormous, dark crystal into a pre-made slot on the table. The crystal was obsidian-like, and every few seconds, a purple bolt of lightning crackled within its depths, forming web-like patterns. Ah, yes. The Drow Assistant had sent word about this not too long ago. This was the magnum opus of the Darkness Spider¡ªManaCrystal: Dark, version six. The final, perfected version. A power source capable of fueling magical rituals and defensive barriers. This particular crystal was charged with no less than 100,000MP¡ªan absurdly high amount, considering the average human mage could only muster around 100MP. With this, the Centauri would be able to erect a barrier rivalling those once used by the now-extinct Elves. However¡­ ¡°Hey!¡± The Spider King protested, rushing forward. ¡°Centauri Champion, you''re pregnant! You shouldn¡¯t be lifting heavy weights!¡± His hands hovered awkwardly around the crystal as she finally managed to slot it in place. ¡°I¡¯m perfectly fine!¡± the Centauri Champion insisted, brushing him off with ease. ¡°Actually, I¡¯m so fine I could even lift you. It¡¯s almost breakfast time, do you want a ride to the dining hall?¡± The Spider King crossed his arms, trying to hide the hint of temptation creeping into his thoughts. ¡°No, no¡­ we shouldn¡¯t.¡± Her eyes sparkled mischievously as she adjusted her stance, the lethal weapons rising with an almost palpable threat. ¡°Are you sure about that?¡± She teased, pointing the deadly set directly at him. And by weapons, it wasn¡¯t her actual armoury he was concerned about. Did¡­ did they grow a size? Two sizes? No, three sizes? Is that even possible? He swallowed. ¡°¡­I, uh¡­¡± ¡°You don¡¯t think I¡¯m too fat for a ride, do you?¡± Her question came out suddenly, catching him off guard. ¡°What?¡± He snapped out of his hypnotized state. ¡°No, of course not! You¡¯re more beautiful than ever!¡± She sighed, gesturing to her lower belly, her tone softening. ¡°But look at my belly! It¡¯s so big.¡± It was indeed large, a noticeable bulge forming on the centauri half of her body. But instead of alarm, his heart warmed at the sight. ¡°That¡¯s not just fat.¡± He placed his hand on her rounded belly, feeling the life within. ¡°That¡¯s our boy, the young Cream Cheese,¡± he whispered, a proud smile curling his lips. ¡°I¡¯m so glad he¡¯s growing strong.¡± With tenderness, he kissed the bump. She melted at the gesture. ¡°Aww, aren¡¯t you just the sweetest? So, are you sure you don¡¯t want that ride?¡± He gulped. ¡°Positive¡­¡± He lied through his teeth. Clearing his throat, he moved on hastily. ¡°Anyway, breakfast can wait, let me show you how this crystal works first.¡± As he explained the mana sequences and arcane runes, he did his best to focus. But her tight dress¡ªbarely holding her lethal form¡ªmade concentrating a feat of sheer willpower. The fabric strained, looking like it could burst at any second. His thoughts wandered again. Wouldn¡¯t that be¡­ wonderful? ¡°I didn¡¯t quite get it,¡± she interrupted, leaning in closer, her body pressing against his. ¡°Could you explain it again?¡± The two of them stood close at the table, his side pressed against her tall frame. Given the height difference, her deadly weapons hovered perilously close to his face. One wrong move, and he might be knocked out cold¡ªthough he wouldn¡¯t mind that at all. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ BURSTING!¡± He whisper-shouted in awe, unconsciously quoting a certain best friend. Her eyes widened. ¡°Wait! Did I press something wrong? Is it going to explode?¡± Panic spread across her face as she hugged him tightly in alarm. To his left of his head was a lethal weapon. To his right, another. Both equally soft and equally deadly. If this was his end, it would be heaven. ¡°Uh, no it won¡¯t,¡± he mumbled after savouring the moment for as long as he could. ¡°False alarm¡­¡± ¡°Oh, right¡­ Sorry, you can¡¯t see.¡± She let him go, blushing slightly as she realized how tightly she had been holding him. ¡°Right¡­¡± He cleared his throat, trying to regain composure. ¡°So, back to the crystal. For the deployment of the dark circle, you have to touch this sequence here,¡± he continued, pointing out the markings. ¡°But make sure the eidolon configuration is set up properly, or else¡ª¡± ¡°Mhm¡­ aha¡­ I see¡­¡± She nodded, barely listening. Then, she interrupted him again, a mischievous glint returning to her eyes. ¡°Hey, aren¡¯t you thirsty?¡± His focus shifted immediately from the crystal to her. He licked his lips instinctively. ¡°Well, now that you mention it¡­ I could use a morning drink.¡± She smiled knowingly. ¡°Just make sure to leave some for the young Cream Cheese, okay?¡± The Spider King didn¡¯t need to be told twice. Fresh milk, directly from the source¡ªit didn¡¯t get more organic than that. And this particular serving? Rich and creamy, a taste of freedom straight from the CrimsonClovers. It was as delightful as a maiden¡¯s first kiss, both innocent and indulgent. To put it straight, it tasted better than he remembered. There was just something about it. ¡°Spider¡­ K-King¡­¡± A voice stammered from the doorway. He blinked, realizing with a start that someone was at the entrance. Of course, in his rush, he had forgotten to close the damn doors. ¡°Spider Navigator!¡± He hastily wiped the cream off his lips, standing up straight as if nothing unusual had transpired. ¡°Back so soon?¡± The petite, cute spider blinked twice, her claws fidgeting nervously with the brim of her little sailor''s hat. Her mandibles trembled as she asked, ¡°W-what were you doing? W-what was that technique?¡± "..." He paused, not quite sure how to explain it. ¡°Breakfast?¡± ¡°Breakfast¡­¡± She chirped, her eyes catching a glimpse of the Centauri Champion, just before the lethal weapons were gracefully sheathed. ¡°¡­ I see,¡± she said with a hint of longing, one claw scratching at her chitinous chestplate. ¡°Ahem,¡± he cleared his throat, standing taller in an attempt to regain his dignity. It was just breakfast, alright? Nothing strange about that! ¡°So, why are you here, my cute Spider Navigator?¡± Her posture brightened up immediately, claws ceasing their nervous fidgeting. ¡°I¡¯ve got enough EXP, so¡­¡± The sentence trailed off as she began fidgeting again. ¡°Oh, that was rather quick! Congratulations!¡± ¡°Yes!¡± She chirped with bright, starry eyes. ¡°All thanks to Warrior Leader Junior. We wiped out entire settlements together!¡± Her four spidery eyes gleamed with vivid memory. ¡°Wait¡­ settlements?¡± ¡°Ah!¡± The Spider Navigator quickly corrected herself. ¡°I mean, monster nests. Yes, monster nests!¡± ¡°I see¡­ That¡¯s good, right? Well done!¡± He praised, though a part of him still questioned her slip of the tongue. She continued, excitement bubbling over. ¡°Anyhow, I have enough EXP to¡­¡± ¡°To?¡± ¡°To be reborn, to mould anew. I shall Evolve, for¡­ for you. To serve you better!¡± Her spidery body bounced with joy, mandibles clicking in excitement. He sighed internally. Spider evolution wasn¡¯t exactly a straightforward affair. His Evolve perk didn¡¯t work the same way on spiders as it did on other creatures. No, the spiders had their own intricate process¡ªone that involved gathering experience throughout their lives, storing memories, and then laying eggs upon death. Their memories, their essence, would be imparted into the egg, allowing them to be reborn, reformed to better suit the Kingdom¡¯s needs. This whole ¡®dying to evolve¡¯ thing still disturbed him. ¡°So¡­ you¡¯re here to say temporary goodbyes, right?¡± He asked cautiously. ¡°And where are you laying your eggs? We¡¯ll want them in the Spider Kingdom, I imagine.¡± ¡°Eggs?¡± The Spider Navigator tilted her cute head, a fait flush on her cheeks. ¡°We can do that when I¡­ Wait, were you thinking I¡¯m dying?¡± Her disappointment at the realisation was almost tangible as she chirped, ¡°I¡¯m not dying! I¡¯m Evolving! In a proper way! The blueprint is complete! I have all the parts I need!¡± ¡°Blueprint? Parts?¡± The Spider King too tilted his head to one side. ¡°Are we building a new vehicle here?¡± ¡°Just Evolve me already!¡± she exclaimed, jumping up and down in a spidery frenzy. ¡°I promise it¡¯ll work this time!¡± He turned to glance at the Centauri Champion, still standing beside him, an amused smile decorating her lips. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me,¡± she said, waving him off. ¡°We can finish your breakfast later.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not about breakfast¡­¡± he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. ¡°I just have a bad feeling, that¡¯s all¡­ Let¡¯s do this outside, just in case.¡± 175 – Right BodyParts For Right Evolution A while ago, before the evolution, and before the extermination quest, a certain spider was going around asking people certain things. This was no one else but the cute (hehe, the Spider King did call her that) Spider Navigator going on her BodyPart shopping Quest. She scuttled down the corridor, her six legs carrying her with youthful grace, though her small body barely contained the excitement. She had begun her journey of interviews, seeking the perfect pieces to shape her evolution. The first stop? The Mer Princess. Spider Navigator paused at the large, aquarium-like tank that housed the Mer Princess. The water shimmered, light dancing across its surface, and within, the Mer Princess herself was washing a mountain of dishes, her sapphire scales catching the light with dazzling brilliance, showering the dishes in an otherworldly glow. Each movement was practised, almost playful, as though she was aware of just how captivating she looked. With a swish of her tail, the Mer Princess turned, catching sight of the Spider Navigator hovering near the edge of her tank. "Oh, my spider friend," she spoke out from the depth. "What brings you here? Come to give a hand, perhaps?" The Spider Navigator shuffled nervously, her claw tapping against the glass of the tank. ¡°I¡­ I came to ask you something... Something personal.¡± The Mer Princess¡¯s eyes sparkled with curiosity. "Personal, is it? How intriguing! Ask away, my little friend.¡± The spider hesitated for a moment, then blurted out, ¡°What¡­ what part of you do you think the Spider King likes the most?¡± The Mer Princess blinked once, then twice, before she swam forward, her long hair trailing behind her. She leaned in close, her scales glinting in perfect sapphire blue. ¡°Oh, my little friend,¡± she said, a wide smile across her face. ¡°Why, it¡¯s my scales, of course.¡± The Spider Navigator tilted her head, mandibles twitching. ¡°Your scales?¡± ¡°Mmm, yes,¡± the Mer Princess sang, flicking her tail in demonstration. ¡°They shimmer, they shine¡­ and the Spider King has always had an eye for shiny things, hasn¡¯t he?¡± She paused, her gaze narrowing playfully. ¡°Or have you never noticed how he watches me when I swim? I always put a show for him, haha.¡± The Spider Navigator¡¯s spidery leg tapped in rapid succession, considering. She had seen the Spider King¡¯s gaze linger on the Mer Princess before, yes. But¡­ was it truly just the scales? ¡°He even wears my special scale around his neck,¡± the Mer Princess continued, her voice a little more serious now, though no less smug. ¡°Always close to his heart. A keepsake, a reminder of how much he values me.¡± The spider¡¯s mandibles clicked softly in thought. A scale, worn so close? She had noticed it before. Perhaps, it was something more than just admiration... The Mer Princess flicked her tail again, causing blue light to ripple through the water and the dishes inside. It was a rather magical sight. ¡°See?¡± she said with a sly grin. ¡°Shininess is something he loves. If you¡¯re trying to catch his eye, my little friend, you¡¯ll want to glitter. Dazzle him. Charm him. Like I do.¡± The Spider Navigator¡¯s eyes took in the fairytale-like sight. "I want to be shiny too. But¡­ scales? Are they a must?" ¡°You don¡¯t need scales, no. Anything would do. Just make sure you shine like a gem. Or at least, in your case, gleam like the morning dew on a web.¡± The spider pondered this for a moment, her body swaying slightly. ¡°But¡­ don¡¯t you think he likes something more about you? Something other than shininess?¡± The Mer Princess leaned back, considering the question. Her fingers trailed lazily through the water, creating soft ripples as she pondered. ¡°Perhaps,¡± she mused, a twinkle in her eye. ¡°I hope so¡­ But shininess¡­ shininess is what makes me stand out. And standing out is the first step, wouldn¡¯t you agree?¡± The Spider Navigator nodded slowly. Yes, standing out¡­ that was the key. If she was to evolve into something truly captivating, something the Spider King couldn¡¯t resist, she would need to dazzle and bewitch. And if he liked shiny things¡ªlike the Mer Princess¡¯s sapphire scales¡ªthen shiny she would become. She looked up at the dazzling mer in appreciation. ¡°Thank you, Mer Princess. I think¡­ I think I understand now.¡± The Mer Princess smiled, a sly, knowing smile. ¡°Good. I¡¯m glad to help.¡± As the Spider Navigator scurried away, her heart raced. The webish blueprint was starting to come together. She would be shiny, yes¡ªbrilliant and dazzling, like the magic of the sapphire scales. As she turned the corner, a stray thought crossed her mind, bringing a giggle to her mandibles. Would the Spider King really notice shininess alone? Perhaps, but there were many more interviews to come¡ªand many more body parts to discover. ¡­ The Spider Navigator moved swiftly, her legs ticking across the stone floor as she approached the training grounds. The sound of hooves thudding against the earth echoed around her, accompanied by the sharp clanging of metal. It was here that the Centauri Champion, with her noble stance and impressive stature, honed her techniques. A figure of strength and pride. The spider hesitated at the edge of the field. The Centauri Champion was an intimidating mare, her polished armour accentuating the lethal set of weapons she displayed so proudly¡ªall part of her dangerous allure. The Centauri¡¯s eyes flicked down to the small figure scurrying toward her, and she paused, a slight smile forming at the corner of her lips. ¡°Well, well, little navigator. Have you come to observe my power? Or are you here to challenge me?¡± Her voice was deep and authoritative. The Spider Navigator, undeterred by the Centauri¡¯s towering presence, waved a spidery greeting. ¡°I¡¯ve come to ask you a question¡­ Something of a personal nature.¡± The Centauri Champion arched an eyebrow, her interest piqued. ¡°A question? I don¡¯t often get visitors asking for anything other than training lessons.¡± She planted the butt of her lance into the ground and leaned on it, pointing the deadly weapons at the little navigator, exuding confidence. ¡°I wanted to ask,¡± the spider began, her chirp low but determined, ¡°what part of you do you think the Spider King likes the most?¡± ¡°What part of me?¡± She straightened, eyes full with pride. ¡°That¡¯s an easy answer.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°It¡¯s this, my weapons.¡± She gestured towards her lethal set, the unmistakable curve of her armour accentuating the magnificent shape beneath. Her armour, though protective, seemed to serve a dual purpose¡ªboth shielding and drawing attention to what lay beneath. ¡°The King knows strength when he sees it. He knows power. He¡¯s always admired what I bring to the battlefield.¡± The spider¡¯s legs shuffled as she watched the Champion with awe. ¡°But¡­ ahem¡­ weapons? Do you think that¡¯s what makes you attractive to him?¡± The Champion chuckled, the sound rich and dangerous, her tail flicking behind her. ¡°Of course! Beauty, little navigator, is not just about softness or fragility. It¡¯s about danger too. Power has a certain allure. The King knows that. He¡¯s always been drawn to the thrill of danger, the challenge of facing someone who could end him with a single strike.¡± She straightened, her chest rising with pride, the curves of her armour shifting with every breath. There was no mistaking the intent behind her words. The Spider King¡¯s gaze didn¡¯t linger out of admiration alone, but out of awe for the raw power she carried within every line of her body. The Spider Navigator¡¯s mandibles clicked thoughtfully. ¡°So¡­ you mean to say danger is¡­ captivating?¡± ¡°More than captivating¡ªit¡¯s irresistible,¡± the Centauri Champion said with a grin, her eyes sharp and focused. ¡°The Spider King may admire beauty, but it¡¯s the lethal beauty that truly holds his gaze. When I move, when I wield my weapons, I can feel his eyes on me. Not just because I¡¯m strong, but because I¡¯m dangerous. He can¡¯t help but watch.¡± The spider looked down at her small, unimposing body, pondering this new perspective. ¡°Do you think that to be truly¡­ captivating, I must be dangerous too?¡± The Centauri Champion leaned in closer, her breath warm against the air. ¡°Beauty without power is fleeting. But a lethal charm? That stays with you. It¡¯s unforgettable.¡± Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. ¡°A King like ours, he doesn¡¯t just want a beauty to look at. He wants someone who can stand by his side, someone who can enthral and destroy in equal measure. That is why¡­¡± Her hands moved to caress her belly for some reason. The spider blinked, her eyes wide as the realization settled in. She had seen it herself¡ªthe King¡¯s glances, the way his gaze lingered on the Champion¡¯s form not just in admiration of her beauty, but in awe of lethality, her capability to strike down any lesser foe. A few could even begin to compare with the deadliness of the Centauri Champion''s weapons, and even fewer could challenge her. This was her might. ¡°Lethal charm¡­¡± the spider mused. ¡°I think I understand.¡± The Centauri Champion straightened again, spinning her lance effortlessly before resting it against her shoulder. ¡°Good. You¡¯ll find that beauty and might are not so far apart. In fact, when combined, they become something truly deadly.¡± A pair of lethal implements¡­ that¡¯s what she needed. A formidable, fearsome edge that would both intimidate and captivate. Beauty and grace, yes, but with a lethal bite. She imagined herself not just as a charming, dainty spider, but as something more¡ªa creature who could enchant and destroy in equal measure. Obliterate all lesser opponents just by her intimidating presence alone. ¡°Thank you, Centauri Champion,¡± the spider chirped, giving a thankful nod. As the Spider Navigator scurried away from the training grounds, her mind buzzed with possibilities. Lethal charm¡­ yes, that was the key. She would not just be a pretty little thing for the Spider King to admire. She would be powerful, captivating, and¡ªif necessary¡ªdeadly. ¡­ The Spider Navigator clung to the side of the Galleon Whale as it glided gracefully over the shifting clouds of the realm. Her claws tapped restlessly against the control panel, her mind racing with thoughts of her next interview. This time, she would speak with the Drow Assistant, not just a drow but actually an evolved drider. The Spider Navigator¡¯s mandibles clicked nervously. The Drow Assistant was not just another figure in the realm. She was, perhaps, a future rival. Beautifully spiderish, and¡ªif the rumours were true¡ªsomeone the Spider King held in high regard. It was rumoured that her unique perks were the quality the Spider King most valued. But the Spider Navigator wasn''t here to research that, she was on a mission to become the most enticing spider ever! Finally, deep inside the Oberon Mountain, the Spider Navigator scurried across the corridors of the Drow Archive, hurrying towards the Drow Assistant¡¯s workshop. The chamber was dimly lit, the air thick with the scent of parchment, enchanting ink, and polished stone. The drider stood elegantly by her desk, looking up at her tomes, her half-elven face was illuminated by the soft glow of a DarkFlame. Her lower half, a massive spider body, rested gracefully on the stones beneath¡ªelegant and unnervingly alluring. ¡°Ah, the Navigator Spider,¡± the Drow Assistant said, her voice smooth as silk. She did not rise from her workstation but acknowledged the spider¡¯s presence with a slight tilt of her head. ¡°What brings you to my study today?¡± The Spider Navigator bowed slightly, her eyes flicking over the drider¡¯s magnificent figure. "I¡¯ve come to ask you a question, if I may," she began, her tone respectful but direct. The drider arched a slender brow, setting her enchanted quill aside. ¡°A question? How curious... What is it that you seek?¡± The spider clicked her mandibles nervously, stepping closer. "I¡¯m asking around¡ªwhat body part of yours do you think the Spider King likes the most?" "Ah, the King¡¯s preferences, is it?" She leaned back in, her long fingers steepling beneath her chin as her eyes sparkled for a moment. "I would have thought it obvious.¡± The Spider Navigator waited, expectant. "He values my mind most, of course," the drider said smoothly, her voice carrying a note of pride. "My ability to assist him in the intricacies of ruling, managing his busy schedule, keeping his notes in check, and assisting him in otherwise mundane but no less important activities." The spider sighed internally. "Yes, yes, I know all about that. Intellect is all well and good, but..." She twitched her claw nervously, knowing she had to press the issue. "I¡¯m more interested in... physical attractions. You know, something irresistible." The Drow Assistant¡¯s smile widened. She straightened her posture, her massive spider form shifting as she crossed her arms over her chest. ¡°Ah, you mean something a bit more¡­ carnal?¡± The Spider Navigator¡¯s legs shuffled awkwardly. ¡°Something like that¡­¡± The drider chuckled. ¡°Very well. If you¡¯re asking what the Spider King cannot take his eyes off physically¡­¡± She paused for dramatic effect, her spider body shifting ever so slightly, revealing the full expanse of her enormous, perfectly rounded abdomen. It sparkled in the light, polished to a magnificent sheen, and its sheer size was nothing short of awe-inspiring. ¡°The answer is this,¡± the drider said, striking a predatory pose. ¡°My spidery behind.¡± The Spider Navigator took a step back, her many eyes widening as she took in the sight. ¡°Your¡­ behind?¡± The drider nodded slowly, a hint of smugness creeping into her expression. ¡°Indeed. The King finds it mesmerizing. Its size, its shape, its undeniable¡­ presence.¡± She shifted slightly, causing her abdomen to glisten in the light, a perfect display of spiderish allure and charms. The Spider Navigator found herself without words. She had never considered that the King¡¯s tastes might extend to something so¡­ bold and spiderish. But then again, this was the Spider King¡ªa ruler of spiders, a being who appreciated all things spidery, monstrous or not. ¡°And,¡± the drider continued, her voice silky, ¡°it¡¯s not just about size. It¡¯s about balance, proportion. A perfectly shaped behind is more than just large¡ªit commands attention, it exudes authority, and, well, let¡¯s be honest¡ªit¡¯s rather magnificent, isn¡¯t it?¡± It made sense. A spidery rear that was both shapely and grand could be the key to true beauty. Something the King couldn¡¯t help but admire, just like this drider¡¯s. She could already imagine herself evolving something similar¡ªa spidery magnificent, round, and utterly captivating backside. "You see," the Drow Assistant continued, "while the King values intelligence, he is, at the end of the day, a man. And all cultured men appreciate finer things¡ªsuch as a well-formed rear. It¡¯s simply in their nature," she smiled knowingly. The Spider Navigator nodded eagerly, her mind racing. ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought of that, but¡­ you¡¯re right. The Spider King would definitely appreciate something like that.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± the Drow Assistant replied, her smile turning predatory. ¡°If you want to capture the King¡¯s attention, Spider Navigator, you need a behind as big and shapely as mine. Size matters, after all.¡± The Spider Navigator bowed low. ¡°Thank you, Drow Assistant. I know what I must do now.¡± As the Spider Navigator scuttled out of the workshop, her mind was spinning a new thread. A spidery behind¡ªglorious in size, perfectly shaped, something no other spider could compete with. It was bold, it was daring, and above all, it was spiderly magnificent. ¡­ The next place was just nearby. The Spider Navigator skittered across the damp stones of the mountain tunnel, her legs clinking lightly as she approached the entrance to the Myconid Caves. This realm was unlike the others she had visited, bathed in a perpetual mist that saturated the very air, carrying the scent of earth and fungus. Yet, there was something oddly inviting about the place, something tugging at her senses, almost clouding her judgment. As she entered the sprawling cavern, illuminated by bioluminescent fungi, she marvelled at the otherworldly beauty of the place. Fungi of all shapes and sizes grew deep within, but more importantly, a certain regal figure awaited her. The Myconid Queen stood at the heart of her court, a vision of fungal nobility. She wore a long, flowing gown made entirely of her own body, the mushroom fibres stretching and curving in elegant folds. Her wide-brimmed hat cast a shadow over her face, but her eyes¡ªyellow and luminous¡ªpeered out with ancient wisdom. Her gloved hands rested lightly on her dress, a pose of aristocratic grace. But beneath her dignified exterior, there was something subtly sensual in her appearance¡ªa hint of concealed eroticism that made the Spider Navigator both curious and cautious. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°Thou art come to mine halls, tiny one,¡± the Myconid Queen said, her voice rich and slow, infused with the speech of a time long passed. ¡°Speak thy purpose, and let us see what thou seekest.¡± The Spider Navigator waved the iconic spidery greeting. ¡°Hello, Queen of Myconids and all fungi alike, I¡¯ve been going around asking the most esteemed creatures of the realm a question. A simple one.¡± The Myconid Queen tilted her brimmed hat slightly, her glowing eyes narrowing with intrigue. ¡°Ask, and thou shalt have mine answer.¡± The spider paused for a moment, taking in the Queen¡¯s alien but regal visage, then she spoke. ¡°What body part of yours does the Spider King like the most?¡± At this, the Myconid Queen let out a puff of spores, a red mist that slightly obfuscated her face. ¡°Ah, thine inquiry art most intriguing, tiny one.¡± She smoothed the porous folds of her gown as she spoke, her movements slow and deliberate. ¡°Thou asketh of mine most... enticing quality?¡± The Spider Navigator nodded eagerly, watching the Myconids Queen¡¯s graceful gestures. ¡°Yes. If it¡¯s not too bold to ask.¡± The Myconid Queen smiled. With a gloved hand, she reached downward, lifting and then pointing at an unusual feature hidden under the folds of her gown. ¡°Then behold, mine secret place, a source of great fascination for the Spider King.¡± The Spider Navigator blinked in confusion as the Myconid Queen gestured to a damp, oddly shaped organ¡ªa part of her mushroom body that seemed to pulse with life, a small orifice that oozed a faint, misty glow. The spider tilted her head, clearly unsure how to respond. "That? But¡­ Your Fungal Majesty, what would the King find so appealing about, uh... that?" The Queen puffed another cloud of spores, blue this time. ¡°Thou art mistaken, little one. ¡®Tis not the organ itself that captivates the King, but the spores it doth emit. The scent of them¡ªfragrant, alluring¡ªdraweth him to me.¡± The Spider Navigator furrowed her brows as she tried to comprehend. ¡°So, it¡¯s not the¡­ appearance of it, but its special properties?¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± the Myconid Queen said, her voice softening as if to teach a youngling. ¡°Mine spores carry not only a scent like that of the finest perfumes, but they hold within them a power to cloud the senses. The lesser minds become ensnared, captivated, entranced by the fragrance.¡± She waved a hand, and a faint mist of pink spores floated into the air, filling the chamber with a delicate, earthy aroma that was both intoxicating and strangely comforting. The Spider Navigator¡¯s eyes fluttered as she caught the scent, her senses momentarily clouded by its subtle charm. The smell was unlike anything she had experienced before¡ªwarm, inviting, and laced with an undertone of mystery. The Queen continued, her tone taking a cunning note. ¡°The Spider King hath always been drawn to such subtleties. The ForbiddenSauce, the DarkSpores, to name but a few. The way mine spores scent the air, bestowing minds with pleasant illusions and even transforming real things, growing something new or transmuting something else through alchemy¡­ ''tis is the power of transformation that he doth admire.¡± She paused, her cunning eyes locking with the spider¡¯s. ¡°Thou seeketh answers, so know this¡ªtrue beauty lies not in what one doth see, but in what one doth feel, smell, and perceive.¡± The Spider Navigator pondered on this. She had never considered the power of scent before, but the Myconid Queen¡¯s explanation made sense. A fragrance that could captivate the senses, cloud the mind, and draw attention without even needing to be seen¡ªthere was power in that. And as she had already learned, power could certainly be¡­ enticing, in the right context. ¡°I want similar ability. But,¡± the spider chirped cautiously, ¡°I¡¯m not sure spores would suit me.¡± ¡°Nay,¡± the Queen agreed with a slow nod. ¡°Spores art mine own gift. But thou art not without thine own weapons of allure, little one. Mayhap thou might evolve something akin¡ªpheromones, mayhap¡ªan invisible touch upon the senses that stirreth desire.¡± The Spider Navigator¡¯s eyes lit up at this. Pheromones¡ªyes, that could work! Something subtle, unseen but felt. A scent that could wrap around the Spider King, making him think of her even when she wasn¡¯t near. She could already imagine herself evolving this fragrant weapon of seduction. It wouldn¡¯t look out of place on a spider, either¡ªno damp and porous mushroom orifices needed! ¡°Thank you, Myconid Queen,¡± the Spider Navigator chirped with gratitude. ¡°This was the most insightful.¡± The Myconid Queen inclined her head, her gloved hands resting delicately in her lap. ¡°Go forth, little one, and craft thine allure. But remember¡ªtrue beauty doth not always lie in what is seen, but in what is felt.¡± As the Spider Navigator scurried away from the Myconid Caves, her heart was light with new inspiration. The scent of the Myconid Queen¡¯s spores lingered in her memory, a reminder of the subtlety and power she could weave into her own evolution. Yes, she would evolve something that the Spider King couldn¡¯t resist. Something fragrant, enticing, and completely her. Because even the cutest of spiders needed a secret weapon to stand out in a world of strange and wonderful creatures. ¡­ Today¡¯s destination sent a thrill through the Spider Navigator¡ªa place steeped in whispered legends and mysterious allure: the Gazebo of Johny the Magnificent Slug, the Spider Kingdom¡¯s most enigmatic figure. Twice evolved and eldritch in nature, Johny was more than just a creature of power; she was the very pulse of the kingdom¡¯s deepest desires. Her reputation stretched far beyond the gazebo''s delicate borders, and no spider could deny the quiet power she held¡ªnot the Spider King himself, nor his Lamia Queen. There was something about Johny, something unnameable, that no one could resist. And it wasn¡¯t just the coveted jelly she produced¡ªalthough that alone was reason enough for most to seek her out¡ªit was the essence of her. Her being exuded comfort and danger in equal measure. The Spider Navigator felt her pulse quicken as she neared the gazebo, where the air smelled faintly of sweet Tomgrape Tea. From her perch, Johny turned her head, a slow, meaningful motion. Her tentacles moved in spirals, beckoning without words. She was already waiting, already knowing. ¡°You¡¯ve come to ask about him, haven¡¯t you?¡± The words slithered from Johny¡¯s mouth, her tone gentle yet all-seeing, as though the question had been hanging in the air before the spider even arrived. The Spider Navigator froze, momentarily caught in the weight of Johny¡¯s gaze. There was no secret hidden from the eldritch slug¡ªno intention, no scheme, no desire that slipped past her. Johny, the kingdom¡¯s spymaster, was more than just a supplier; she was the keeper of all secrets, a silent witness to the kingdom¡¯s most intimate moments. Feeling the futility of evasion, the spider chirped her admission. ¡°I have,¡± she said, her voice a quiet chirp. ¡°I seek to understand what the Spider King admires most about you¡­ about your body.¡± Johny¡¯s lips curled into a bright smile, knowing and mysterious. The air around her shimmered, a fine cloud of BlueDust swirling as she emerged fully from the gazebo. Her immense, jelly-like form swayed from the motion, her transparent skin catching the faintest glow as if she were made of liquid moonlight. She was mesmerizing¡ªher body an ethereal mass of undulating softness, her tentacles coiling and inviting. Despite the strange, otherworldly nature of her appearance, there was an undeniable warmth to her presence. A comfort that wrapped itself around the Spider Navigator like a heavy, silken web, coaxing her into ease. Her many legs, tense moments before, began to relax. Johny''s voice resonated, light like a lullaby, yet heavy with unspoken truths. ¡°He admires all of me,¡± she said, puffing out her chest. ¡°From my tentacles to my slug tail, from my softness to my jelly¡­ He delights in everything I am.¡± The Spider Navigator listened intently, watching as Johny¡¯s body undulated gently. The slug¡¯s entire form seemed to shimmer with a kind of quiet confidence, a certainty in her own magnificence. ¡°What part¡­ specifically?¡± the spider asked, her spidery eyes focused on Johny¡¯s swaying form. ¡°There must be something he appreciates more, something he¡¯s drawn to.¡± Johny¡¯s tentacles writhed as if excited. ¡±Oh, curious hatchling,¡± she replied, her eyes full of happy memories, ¡°the King¡¯s hands have travelled every inch of me, from my tentacles that reach where no hands can, to my tail that curls beneath him like a seat.¡± Her hands and tentacles rose as she spoke, their tips brushing the air with a languid grace. ¡°But if you ask what he loves the most, it is the softness, the jiggle, the way my body responds to his touch.¡± The spider¡¯s mind spun, imagining the Spider King¡¯s hands tracing the smooth, pliant surface of Johny¡¯s body. She had always known the King had a certain fondness for hugs and close interactions, but the way Johny spoke of it, the way her body moved, was something beyond simple attraction. It was a deep, primal connection¡ªsomething the Spider Navigator longed to understand, and perhaps to replicate. ¡°Your softness¡­¡± the spider murmured, her chirp tinged with awe. ¡°Is that what draws him to you? The way your body feels?¡± Johny¡¯s tentacles curled inward as if caressing an invisible form. ¡±Yes¡±, she said, her voice softer now, more intimate. ¡°There is a joy in being touched, in being held, in knowing that your very presence is a comfort. My softness is my prowess, the way my body yields to his hands, the way I am always welcoming, always... friendly to his touch. But only his and no one else''s.¡± The Spider Navigator willed a web of an image to form in her mind, there the Spider King¡¯s hands lingered on Johny¡¯s body, enjoying her friendly softness and that jiggly sensation. It wasn¡¯t just bouncy allure¡ªit was an invitation, a promise of warmth, of comfort that could be found nowhere else. ¡°And your tentacles,¡± the spider ventured, ¡°do they¡­ serve a similar purpose?¡± A slow smile spread across Johny¡¯s face, though her eyes remained fixed on the spider. ¡°They do more than serve. They explore, they reach, they caress. They find places where to go, offer touches that surprise and soothe. The Spider King¡­ enjoys their curiosity.¡± One tentacle reached out, curling gently around the Spider Navigator¡¯s leg, its touch both firm and yielding. ¡°They bring him closer, draw him in, make him feel... cherished.¡± The spider shuddered slightly at the touch, not out of fear, but from the realization that there was a depth of intimacy here that she had not fully understood. It wasn¡¯t about danger or dominance¡ªit was about closeness, about offering something that could only be felt in the most vulnerable moments. Johny¡¯s body, with its softness and jiggle, was the proof of that. ¡°And the jelly-like jiggling?¡± the spider asked, her voice a curious whisper. ¡°Is that what he likes too?¡± Johny giggled, her entire body trembling in the motion. ¡°Oh, yes,¡± she said, her words sweet. ¡±He loves how I move, how my body sways and undulates at the touch of his fingers. It makes him smile, makes him want to touch more, to hold more, to embrace more. It is a reminder of my Magnificence, of the comfort I offer with every jiggle and sway. The Spider Navigator paused, taking in everything Johny had said. The King¡¯s affection for this slug wasn¡¯t just about a specific body part¡ªit was about the entirety of her being. Her softness, her pliancy, her willingness to be touched and held¡ªall of it created an irresistible allure. And that allure was something the spider needed to incorporate into her own evolution. ¡°I understand now,¡± the spider said quietly. ¡°You are... admirable. And your connection with him is on another level entirely.¡± ¡°Yes¡±, Johny replied, her voice wrapping around the spider¡¯s thoughts. ¡°He craves the comfort I provide, yes. That friendly softness that welcomes him without question. The knowledge that I welcome him and him alone.¡± The Spider Navigator looked down at her own petite, hard body, feeling a surge of determination. She had come to understand the King¡¯s desires in a way she hadn¡¯t before. It wasn¡¯t just about being lethal, or shiny, or even intellectual. There was a beauty in being soft, in being inviting, in offering comfort in a world of danger. Without speaking it aloud, the spider made her decision. She would evolve to be soft, to have that same jiggliness, that same welcoming presence that Johny possessed. She wanted the Spider King to touch her, to hold her, to find comfort in her presence, just as he did with Johny. She left Johny¡¯s Gazebo knowing that her evolution had already begun¡ªsilently, subtly, but with purpose. ¡­ The Spider Navigator skipped through the expansive halls of the Spider Palace, her skips giddy in excitement. Though she had passed through the Throne Room before, its mesmerizing atmosphere never failed to captivate her. There was something intensely spiderish about the place, something ancient and profound. Webs, spun with impeccable craftsmanship, draped the corners like intricate lace, and the room itself seemed alive with the hum of unseen energies. At the far end of the hall, an intricate dome stood like an egg cloaked in mystery, housing the magnificent throne¡ªregal, dark, and undoubtedly spidery. The very air pulsed with something arcane, as though the walls whispered of promises and possibilities, of forgotten magic and hidden desires. And upon that throne, or rather casually lounging on it, was the last figure she needed to meet. As the spider approached, the gossamer curtain of webs parted, revealing the Lamia Queen, draped languidly across a divine-looking pillow, her serpentine body coiled beneath her like a bed of polished scales. Her pale skin glowed with a faint luminescence, soft and shimmering, while her half-closed eyes stared vacantly in boredom. She watched the spider¡¯s approach with the calm detachment of a ruler accustomed to being sought after. "Ah, another petitioner, sss..." The Lamia Queen hissed sounding bored. You have sss-something to announce, don¡¯t you? Sss-something that needs fixing, yes? If so, consult the Spider Advisor. Sss¡­" She dismissed, biting into a tomgrape she was holding. The Spider Navigator, undeterred, gave the fitting greeting, bowing her head in deference. "I do have something to ask," she chirped, her voice soft but firm, knowing better than to waste time on pleasantries. "I¡¯ve come to understand what it is about your body that the Spider King finds most irresistible. What is it that binds him to you?" The Lamia Queen¡¯s boredom evaporated in an instant, her fanged lips curling in a slow, deliberate arc. She shifted slightly, allowing the soft threads of her dress to fall away from her serpentine stomach, her smooth, porcelain-like scales reflecting the light. "Sss, there was a time," Her red eyes twinkled with mischief as she began, "when I thought it was my lamia charms¡ªmy eyes, my skin, my scales, or even my tail he liked the most. After all, he would come to me in the evenings, seeking the embrace of my coils, yearning to be bound in my tail¡¯s hold. I thought it was my natural allure, my beauty that held him." The Spider Navigator nodded, her eyes tracing the smooth curve of the Lamia¡¯s form. It made sense. The Lamia Queen was breathtaking¡ªher delicate skin and ethereal features the very embodiment of feminine elegance. But her tone suggested something more, something deeper. The Lamia Queen placed a slender hand upon her stomach, her fingertips brushing over the taut surface as if to make a point. "But I was wrong. What the Spider King, my husband, truly values... is this." Her finger trailed below her midriff. The spider tilted her head in slight confusion. The Lamia Queen¡¯s stomach? Her flat, smooth lamia belly? Why would the Spider King, with all his desires and power, be fixated on something as simple as that? The Queen saw the confusion flickering across the Spider Navigator''s eyes and chuckled softly. "S-s-s, not the belly itself, sss" she explained, her voice dipping into a more intimate tone. "It is-sss what lies-sss beneath¡ªthe ability to give him a child. The ability to bear his legacy. That, more than anything, is what binds him, sss, my dear husband, to me, his beloved wife." The spider tapped her leg on the woven carpet, processing the meaning of the Lamia Queen¡¯s words. The ability to bear his legacy. Of course, the Lamia Queen had gifted him something truly special, something beyond beauty or seduction. It was the promise of the future, the assured future of the realm in the form of an heir. The Queen¡¯s hand lingered on her stomach, her red eyes smiling softly as she regarded the spider. "He may never sss-say it aloud, but I have sss-seen it in his eyes, in the way his hands rest upon me here, s-s-s. He desires what I can give him, and there might be another gift. SSS¡­ He trusts in the future I can give him." The Spider Navigator remained silent for a moment, the realization sinking in. She had come seeking superficial beauty¡ªcharm, grace, allure. But the Queen had given her a far deeper truth. The ability to bind, to charm, was not just a matter of physical beauty. It was something greater, something that extended beyond mere appearances. The Lamia Queen¡¯s bond with the Spider King was built on the foundation of legacy, of life. ¡°I understand,¡± the spider finally said, her chirp thoughtful. ¡°But your lamia charms¡ªyour beauty, your strengths¡ªthey cannot be dismissed either, can they?¡± The Queen smiled once more, her fangs poking out. ¡°No, spider, sss, they cannot. Charm is woven into everything I do, from the way I sss-speak to the way I sss-slither. It is in my sss-seductive gaze, in my enticing sss-scales, in my sss-serpentine tail. I am a natural charmer, after all, I am the Lamia Queen.¡± Her crimson gaze lingered on the Spider Navigator, a quiet, seductive power hissing beneath the surface of her words. ¡°But charm, true charm, is not in the seduction alone. It is in the binding, the binding more expert than any tail could have. The ability to wrap another so completely in your presence that they cannot imagine a world without you. To hold them with both body and soul.¡± The spider''s limbs twitched with a mixture of understanding and admiration. ¡°To bind them,¡± she echoed quietly. It was almost like a spider¡¯s web, the way the Queen wove her charms around the Spider King, drawing him closer with her every movement, her every look, her every action. She offered her body, giving him something special to only bind him further. The Spider Navigator could feel it now¡ªthe subtle pull of the Queen¡¯s enchantment, the invisible threads of charm that wrapped around her own mind. ¡°But, sss, even beyond that,¡± the Lamia Queen continued, her hiss soft and dangerous, ¡°there is the promise of what comes next. I might have him now, sss, but it is the ability to give him what he truly desires-sss that binds-sss him to me. I remain more allowing, sss, and more willing than any other wife could be. Yes-sss¡­¡± Yes... Charm, beauty, binding¡­ and legacy. It was a potent combination, one that no other in the realm could replicate so completely. The Queen had mastered it all¡ªboth the seductive allure and the deep, almost primal understanding of the Spider King¡¯s desires. "I understand now, you are as wise as they say," the spider chirped, nodding. The Lamia Queen¡¯s lips curved in a satisfied smile. "Indeed. But remember... not all bindings are made with coils and threads. Some are made with words, with promises, with loyalty and understanding, with assured mutual success and future. These are familiar bonds of family, and those bindings are the strongest of all." The Spider Navigator bowed low, the weight of the Queen¡¯s wisdom settling heavily upon her. As she turned to leave the hall, the web in her mind was almost complete. She would evolve¡ªyes, she would become more charming, more enchanting. But she would also learn the art of binding¡­ The familiar ties of family intrigued her. And though the path to legacy might be more difficult, it was not impossible. There was always a way. ¡­ The Spider Navigator had ventured far and wide, her small frame weaving through the dark and chaotic corners of the Monster Realm. She had asked the personal, the intimate, the dangerous. And now, her list was complete¡ªa compilation of wisdom, body parts, and power gathered from the realm''s finest, each possessing the key to her evolution. From the Mer Princess, she had learned the allure of shininess. The mer¡¯s sapphire scales had captivated the Spider King, and the Spider Navigator would take that lesson to heart. Her new form would glitter, a dazzling shimmer that would catch the King¡¯s eye, making her impossible to ignore. She would sparkle, bedazzle¡ªbecome a gem in the King¡¯s gaze, as radiant and irresistible as the finest of jewels. From the Centauri Champion, she gained the knowledge of strength, of danger. The Champion''s lethal weapons, her pride and power, were something the Spider King respected. To be truly captivating, the Spider Navigator knew she must be dangerous, capable of both seduction and destruction. Lethal grace would be woven into her very form, making her not just a vision to behold, but a force to reckon with¡ªsomething that could hold her King¡¯s admiration through might alone. From the Drow Assistant, she found an unexpected gift: the allure of a perfectly shapely spider behind. It wasn¡¯t intellect alone that the King admired, though the drider was a master of it. No, it was something simpler, more primal¡ªher magnificent form, her spidery behind that the King could not tear his gaze from. And so, the Navigator would take that too, a perfectly crafted rear, enviable among all spiderkind, round and shapely enough to draw attention with every step she took. The Myconid Queen offered something far more subtle. From her, the Spider Navigator learned the art of scent¡ªan intoxicating allure that went beyond sight and touch. The Queen¡¯s spores, while potent, were not for a spider. But her essence, her elegance, was more than just visual. She would take that, refining it into pheromones¡ªan invisible power that would draw the Spider King closer, make him feel her presence even in her absence. The air itself would carry her charm. Johny the Magnificent Slug revealed the charm of friendly softness. The slug¡¯s body was a masterpiece of squishiness, jiggle, and comfort. The Spider King was drawn to it¡ªher softness was magnificent, friendly, and inviting. The Spider Navigator would mirror this, making her form soft to the touch, her movements full of delightful jiggles and bounces, a body that would beg for the King''s hands to rest upon it, that would entice him with its gentle sway. And finally, from the Lamia Queen, she learned the art of binding¡ªnot just with charm, but with soul. The Lamia Queen¡¯s ability to entrap, to hold her prey in a delicate bind of seduction, was something the Spider Navigator coveted. She, too, would evolve to bewitch, to ensnare with her gaze, her words, her very presence. She would learn to bind the Spider King not only with her body, but with a future¡ªa promise so rich that he would be unable to refuse it. Six pieces. Six powers. Each one woven into her form, piece by piece, thread by thread, each one a step closer to the web of perfection. She would become the most enchanting, most captivating spider to ever walk this realm¡ªa spider beyond compare. She would be shiny, lethal, shapely, fragrant, soft, and binding. A spider the Spider King could not resist. 176 – Captive to the Spiders Grace Somewhere in the courtyard of the Centauri Castle. The Spider King thrust his hand forward, the motion sending his royal cape into a dramatic flutter. ¡°It¡¯s your time to shine, Spider Navigator. [Evolve]!¡± His palm surged with power, the energy pulsing through him and into the awaiting spider. The tiny and cute spider exploded in a brilliant burst of purple light, a spectacle that filled the courtyard with an arcane glow. The Spider King staggered, his legs wobbling beneath him as the mana drain hit him. ¡°Oof¡­ It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve dipped into the negative.¡± His voice came strained with exhaustion but also anticipation. This evolution had devoured every last drop of his mana, thousands of MP vanishing in an instant. [Warning! ChaosBlessed activated.] ¡°???¡± The Spider King''s brow furrowed. ChaosBlessed? Now? Of course it had activated! That blasted perk had a knack for activating when you least expected it¡ªand when its interference was likely to herald something far more unpredictable. He turned his gaze back to the blinding light, hope flaring within him despite the ominous sign. The activation always heralded great changes. But whether it was for better or worse, he had yet to determine. Before his eyes, the tiny and adorable spider was already shifting, growing. He could feel her gathering the raw, surging energy, sculpting it into something greater. The dazzling purple light began to dim, slowly revealing what lay beneath, her new form coalescing in the aftermath of the evolution. And then, as the brilliance subsided, the Spider King¡¯s breath caught in his throat. What stood before him now wasn¡¯t the petite, cute creature he had known. No, this was something far beyond even his wildest expectations¡ªa figure so magnificent and spidery that the words seemed inadequate to describe her. The Spider King blinked once¡­ twice¡­ a third time¡­ His mouth opened, closed, then opened again. He simply couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing, and¡ªwas his heart racing? Of course it was. How could it not, when standing before him was the very embodiment of power, beauty, grace and elegance? He took a good look at the Spider Navigator. Her torso, sleek and feminine, flowed gracefully into a pair of finely tapered legs-¡ªfour in total¡ªeach a testament to her new form¡¯s grace and agility. At the core of her figure, her abdomen swelled into a strikingly voluptuous shape, reminiscent of a delicate hourglass. Flanking her shapes her exoskeleton shimmered like polished obsidian, each segment glinting with a dark, iridescent hue that shifted from deep purple to midnight. This glossy surface resembled the mer scales, each plate a jewel unto itself. The other parts of her body yielded to soft skin, still midnight black but no less shiny and glistening. These bulbous portions were where the true magic of her transformation resided. Incorporated into her elegant form was a set of lethal weapons¡ªtwo perfect, shapely implements that glistened with a deadly sheen. Propped by her arms, they jumped out from her figure, pointy and elegant, capable of delivering a swift, lethal strike. The deadly set embodied both beauty and danger, it complemented her enchanting visage, a stark reminder that this spider had the capacity for utter destruction. And yet, the lethal set had an equal rival. Perhaps it was even the crowning glory of her spidery physique. She had those magnificent curves of the spidery behind. It was shaped like a perfectly sculpted fruit, round and full, inviting and tantalizing. Its form was so captivating that it could draw the gaze of even the most aloof. It was a perfect symbol of a spider. A slight motion caused a subtle jiggle of her spidery and not-so-spidery parts. It was both alluring and mesmerising, embodying the softness that beckoned to be touched. The hypnotic jiggle exuded an inviting warmth that encouraged affection. With each moment, the slightest breath she took, there was a delightful bounce, a gentle sway that created an alluring dance, making her not just captivating in appearance but also in touch. Her face, too, was a portrait of beauty, with sharp angles softened by the smoothness of her features. Four cute eyes glimmered like yellow gemstones, their depths were rich with colour, radiating intelligence and secrets untold. And at the corners of her plump lips was a set of no less cute mandibles. She had an irresistible smile on her face, radiating an aura where you couldn¡¯t help but smile back. Even more, there was something about her scent. It was an intoxicating blend of sweetness and poison, enveloping her entire form like an invisible cloak. It wafted through the air, reminiscent of blooming BluePettal flowers and rich jungle scent, invoking an urge to inhale deeply, to savor this spidery fragrance that whispered of forbidden promise. The scent alone was capable to trap any lesser man, no webs were needed. In her evolution, the Spider Navigator became a creature of exquisite complexity¡ªa spider embodying the brilliance of dazzling light, the thrill of danger, the gravitas of shape, the allure of fragrance, the softness of touch, and the art of binding. She was a masterpiece, a captivating force that threatened to draw Spider King into her world, ensnaring him with a promise of something forbidden and irresistible. Each part, each power, was woven into her very being, crafting a web of perfection. She would stand as the most enchanting spider to ever grace the realm, a creature destined to capture the hearts of all who liked cute and spidery. ¡°Spider King, don¡¯t stand there like a fly bound in thread. Say something.¡± The Spider Navigator gave him The Look, her four glittering eyes flashing with playful challenge. ¡°UwU!!!¡± The Spider King blurted something completely incomprehensible, his hands reaching out, trembling, toward her shimmering form. ¡°Ki-ki-ki!¡± She chirped a soft giggle. It was unbefitting of him, but he couldn¡¯t stop. His mind, his body¡ªthey were utterly captivated, caught in the delicate web of her charm. ¡°Oh my, I feel trapped! What is this magic? What have you done to me!?¡± ¡°Ki-ki-ki!¡± She teased again, her chirp a soothing melody. ¡°I can¡¯t¡­ I can¡¯t resist!¡± he gasped, his hands grazing her body. The sensation was overwhelming¡ªher body, shimmering in its obsidian segments, was soft to the touch, too soft, like the finest silk he¡¯d ever felt. ¡°The glimmer, the shine¡­¡± What is this almost deadly attraction? ¡°And then¡ªthis magnificent shape, these curves... and that intoxicating scent?¡± Her fragrance¡ªrich and almost sweet, like something forbidden¡ªinvaded his senses. He couldn¡¯t stop touching her, couldn''t stop marveling at the delicate bounce in her form, the enticing softness that seemed to draw him deeper and deeper. ¡°Ki-ki-ki¡­ don¡¯t stop¡­¡± she whispered, her voice a low chirp of satisfaction. Every move she made seemed calculated, each slight jiggle, each delicate shift in her weight, making her impossible to resist. ¡°A-ah!!!¡± The Spider King exclaimed as something darted between them. ¡°No, no, no! Rule breaker!¡± chirped a spidery voice. It was the spider peacekeeper, hopping on its legs, brandishing a peacekeeper''s stick menacingly. ¡°Your uniform? Your clothes?¡± The spider''s voice rose, looking at the Spider Navigator, accusation burning in its eyes. ¡°M-my¡­¡± The Spider Navigator stammered, a flush creeping above her mandibles. ¡°They tore away¡­ It¡¯s not my fault!¡± Indeed, the remnants of what had once been her Navigator Uniform lay in tattered shreds at her feet, completely unable to contain the stunning new form she had evolved into. Hastily, the spider peacekeeper spun a roll of blue cloth, draping it over her, hiding her magnificence away. ¡°A-ah¡­¡± the Spider King sighed, his shoulders drooping in defeat. ¡°Sometimes we should be able to bend the rules, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°No!!!¡± the peacekeeper chirped, smacking its stick against the cobbles with finality. Yet, perhaps it was for the best. A moment longer, and the Spider King feared he would¡¯ve been completely ensnared, bound to her with something far stickier than any web¡ªsomething¡­ forbidden. He swallowed hard, his heart still racing. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°Okay, Spider Navigator,¡± he cleared his throat, trying to regain composure. ¡°Let¡¯s get you a new uniform. Something cute to match your new form.¡± With a playful, knowing smile, the Spider Navigator nodded, her eyes twinkling with mischief as she spun a little in place, casting the web of her charms around him once again. The King could already feel it tightening again. ¡­
Monster Race: Primordial Variant: Spider Navigator (Cute) Magic Affinity: None ?? ?? ??? ?? ???
HP:200 MP:200 STA:200
Active Perks [ScentCharm], [Enthral], [BindingThread], [LethalStrike], [Map]
Passive Perks [BriliantExosceleton], [LethalSet], [SpideryMagnificent], [SpiderPheromones], [FriendlyBounciness], [MonsterFertility], [PerfectNavigation] [Beauty +2]
Resistances [Dark Resistance: Medium], [Charm Resistance: Medium], [Fire Weakness: Medium], [Light Weakness: Lesser]
¡­ The Galleon Whale glided majestically through the skies, its massive bulk heavy with precious CentauriCheese destined for the distant east. Aboard the floating vessel, the Spider King watched the Spider Navigator, whose deft hands and delicate touch guided the ship across the heavens. Her magnificent form was a sight to behold, a lethal beauty that mesmerized him with every sway and jiggle. The ship slowed, pulling into the docking platform carved into the face of Oberon Mountain. The Spider King¡¯s gaze lingered on the overly cute spider one last time, a flicker of melancholy tugging at his heart. It was time to depart, though he found it hard to tear himself away from her spidery presence. ¡°Thank you for the ride,¡± a faint smile pulled at his lips as he stepped away from the deck. ¡°it was my utmost pleasure,¡± she replied, giving a playful wink. With a final nod, he whispered a command: ¡°[ShadowWalk].¡± The shadows rippled and swallowed him, his form vanishing into the tunnel that led deep within the mountain. He re-emerged moments later into the familiar cavern, the musky air thick with the smell of damp earth and fungi. Yet beneath it all, he detected the unmistakable scent of Nature magic¡ªa heady blend of life and decay. The cavern was an immense fungal forest, towering mushrooms with glowing caps cast eerie lights that danced on the slick stone walls. Everywhere, mushrooms puffed and spat clouds of spores, the air thick with their magical essence. His eyes narrowed as he caught sight of the tall, swirling clouds of DarkSpores, the very substance he needed to fulfil one of his side quests. As he navigated the cavern, careful not to disturb the many alchemical fungi, his foot nearly squashed a tiny mushroom-like figure that sprang to life and darted away. Myconids, the living denizens of the cave, scuttled and fled before him, their tiny forms bobbing along as they made their way to a central chamber. The Spider King felt a tug of curiosity¡ªhe had a hunch where they were headed. It didn¡¯t take long before he found himself at the heart of the Myconid Court, where the grand, regal figure of the Myconid Queen awaited him. Clad in her flowing white gown, she stood gracefully among the glowing fungi, her presence as enchanting as ever. Seeing him, she puffed a cloud of pink spores into the air, and with a flick of her wrist, she conjured a mushroom stool beside her. "Ah, ''tis a most welcome surprise, mine old friend," she intoned, her voice as ancient as the earth itself. "I did not expect to gaze upon thy spidery visage this day." The Spider King took his seat, offering a smile. "I hope I haven¡¯t disturbed anything important?" ¡°Disturb?¡± HSheer smiled puffing a delicate cloud of pink spores. ¡°Nay, thou art never a disturbance. In truth, it doth please me greatly. But methinks thy presence doth portend more than mere pleasantries.¡± ¡°You assume correctly. I have come with a proposal.¡± He glanced past her, surveying the confines of her domain. ¡°I want to expand your cavern.¡± ¡°Oh mine¡­¡± She puffed another cloud of pink, fanning it away with her gloved hand. ¡°So forthright, I do like it. But how large is it? ¡°Big, four times, no¡­¡± he paused raising his finger. ¡°¡­ten times, yes. Ten times bigger than this. What do you say? Can you handle that?¡± "That is much to taketh in¡­ yet I do enjoy the challenge. When dost we begin?" ¡°As soon as possible?¡± ¡°So eager art thou¡­¡± she puffed a thick mist of pink. ¡°I must admit, I do like it.¡± ¡°Well then, I shall bring the kobolds at once¡ª¡± A hand grasped his arm. "Before thou dost start," she emitted a cloud of cold blue. "There is a matter I must mention." ¡°Hmm? What is it?¡± "''Tis quite embarrassing¡­" Serious, he leaned in closer. ¡°There¡¯s no need for embarrassment between friends. Tell me.¡± "¡­" With a puff of more blue, she continued. "I hath a minor infestation down there¡­ centipedes. They may trouble thee during thy expansion attempts." ¡°Centipedes, you say?" He grinned, raising his chin higher. ¡°I¡¯ve seen worse than centipedes. They won¡¯t hinder me.¡± Her fingers grazed his arm, a lingering touch. ¡°Thou art most brave, I do like it,¡± her hand moved to point. "Their nest lies yonder, deep within this tunnel. I prithee, cleanse it thoroughly." "Consider it done," he strode forth, careful not to tread upon the small gooba-like creatures that swarmed to their queen as if attracted by something. ¡­ The Spider King here wasn¡¯t going to tackle this cavern expansion alone. Why would he, when he had such capable helpers? With a Drow FireWalker on his left and another on his right, the Spider King strode into the damp and overgrown tunnel, its walls slick with an unholy mixture of decayed fungi and slime. The air was fouled with the thick scent of decay. Each drow gripped a FlameThrover, their fingers coiled tight around the trigger as they moved ahead of the Spider King. Fire spat from the nozzles, licking up the tunnel walls and consuming the slimy rot that clotted the passage. The flames turned the clots to blackened ash in an instant, clearing the path. Trailing behind them, a group of kobolds shuffled along, their sharp claws at the ready. They would expand the tunnel, break through the stone, and dig deeper as soon as the path was cleared. But first, the fire. Always the fire. A second burst of flame roared from the nozzles, and with it came the sound they had all been waiting for: a screech, shrill and monstrous, echoing from the depths of the tunnel. ¡°Centipedes¡­¡± The drow on the left rasped, her voice a dry whisper in the shadows. ¡°I love the scent of their sizzling flesh,¡± her eyes gleamed with savage glee. ¡°Yes,¡± the other drow hissed, licking her lips as she turned her gaze down the tunnel. ¡°Rot aside, It smells almost like the burgers at the Spidery Delicious?.¡± The Spider King¡¯s brow lifted at the mention. ¡°Centipede Burgers? I haven¡¯t tried them yet.¡± Another screech echoed through the tunnel, this one louder, more desperate. A blast of fire followed, the flames illuminating the passage ahead, revealing the writhing mass of segmented bodies fleeing into the darkness. The drow grinned wickedly, the flames casting a spooky shadow across her face. ¡°You haven¡¯t? It¡¯s a must.¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± the other drow chimed in. ¡°You should totally come with us after we finish here.¡± The Spider King nodded in agreement, but the moment of levity was short-lived. The kobolds had begun their digging, their claws scraping against the stone walls, sending loose rocks and dirt crumbling to the floor. Another burst of fire, another screech, then silence. Then¡­ The tunnel walls trembled. An ear-piercing cry tore through the air, so loud it sent shockwaves down the stones, stunning the Drow and Kobolds alike. A thick mist of miasma flooded in from the depths ahead, afflicting everyone with a debuff. The Spider King frowned, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the dark passage ahead. Whatever lay in the depths had been disturbed¡ªand it was far more dangerous than the centipedes they had been sizzling. From deep within the tunnel, something stirred. The sound of countless legs scuttling against stone. It was followed by the unmistakable echo of something far larger shifting in the shadows. The tunnel seemed to vibrate with animosity, a foul, monstrous presence awakening from its slumber. The drow on his left tightened her grip on the FlameThrover, her grin faltering. ¡°That¡­ That was no mere centipede.¡± ¡°No,¡± the Spider King murmured, a flicker of excitement dancing on his face. ¡°It wasn¡¯t.¡± The scuttling grew louder, closer, and with it came the overwhelming sense of dread that something ancient¡ªsomething foul¡ªwas crawling deep inside the cavernous depths. 176.5 – I Bestow Upon Thee The Spiderish Mischief In the land far and distant, in the Oni Shogunate, there the food is growing scarce and the people desperate, strange rumours are spreading like wildfire. Yokai ¨C once a stuff of myths and tales ¨C are believed to be to blame. In a uniquely Oni-styled building, where walls are made of clay bricks and the floors of straw mats, an Oni wife hugs her husband''s arm, her face full of worry. ¡°Dear, all the farmers are talking about... you know¡­ them.¡± *Shudders*, ¡°I¡¯ve heard children went missing in the village nearby. Spirited away during the night!¡± *Trembles*, ¡°I don¡¯t think the Yokai are real but¡­¡± The Oni husband, a burly man, his skin red like fire, puffs his bare chest out. ¡°Ah, I¡¯ve heard of the rumours! Fear not, I¡¯ll protect you and our children!¡± *Thumps his chest*, ¡°Look, I¡¯ve already boarded all the doors and windows.¡± The wife looks at all the boarded doors and windows. ¡°Dear, all good and well.¡± *Nods in approval*, ¡°But it''s them we are talking about. The hairy¡­ the scary¡­ the six-legged¡­ spiderish Yokai! Will it really be enough?!¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ my barricade could stop a bandit but¡­ Yes, Yokai are a bit different.¡± ¡°Dear, I can¡¯t help but worry!¡± ¡°Ah! I just remembered! A bunch of passing guards were mentioning a certain ancient charm. They said it works against the Yokai. A Warding Charm It''s called!¡± ¡°A Warding Charm?!¡± ¡°Yes, It''s an old charm really. Ancient even. One where you scatter sacred grains around doors and windows, cracks and corners, that sort of thing. The guards were convinced it would keep the Yokai away. ¡°Is that so¡­ the grains might be sacred but it is our food too. Ah¡­ But I can¡¯t help but worry.¡± ¡°Shall we scatter some around then?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have much food left, but let''s do this. Anything to protect our children.¡± ¡°¡­And we can collect it all up in the morning!¡± ¡°That¡¯s the thinking, Dear! Let¡¯s do this.¡± Just so, the two Oni scattered pearly white grains around the house. They tossed them around the doors and windows, cracks and corners, sealing the house in an almost forgotten ritual. ¡­ The doors were sealed shut, the windows boarded, the gaps and cracks warded off. The house was protected, proofed against the mysterious six-legged yokai. Or was it? The youngest of the children, Little Ryuji was the only one still awake. Hunger gnawed at his belly. ¡®Why did we have to throw our dinner away?¡¯ he looked at the scattered grains with scorn. They were everywhere, by the doors, by the windows, by his bed, in his underwear, and all around Dad¡¯s treasured chamberpot. ¡®Such a waste¡­ I¡¯m hungry¡­¡¯ Either way, he couldn¡¯t sleep. The fire crackled in the fireplace, dancing lights keeping Little Ryuji warm and entertained. Slowly ever so slowly, he began drifting to sleep. But then¡­ Something odd sparkled in the fireplace. Blue, crystalline powder fell from the chimney, snuffing the fire below in an instant. ¡®The fire? It''s Gone!¡¯ Then a woven thread, purple and shimmering, dropped on a cooling embers. ¡®Huh? What is going on?¡¯ Ryuji wanted to shout, but all that came out was a hushed whisper. ¡°It¡¯s them¡­¡± Indeed, he too heard the stories. The tales about the Yokai. Apparently, they snatched all the naughty children in a nearby village. ¡®!!!¡¯ The fireplace coughed, spitting a cloud of blue dust. Ryuji hid under his blanket, and yet, he peeked an eye out. Curious and afraid. Fine powdery dust spread around the room, coating everything in it. Little Ryuji, being the only one awake, pressed his blanket to his nose ¨C afraid of mysterious dust. ¡®¡­ Not me¡­ please not me¡­ I was good! I am good!¡¯ he whisper-shouted fully aware that he was exactly the naughtiest of the children. Just then, then the dust tickled his eyes and nose, he spotted something shimmering in the fireplace again. Legs, long and spindly reached out of the fireplace. Sinister feelers scratching against the sooty cobbles of the chimney. And then¡­ there it was¡­ ¡®Yo¡­ Yokai¡­¡¯ He uttered under the blanket, feeling too sleepy and too weak to shout. But then¡­ ¡®???¡¯ he took the strange sight of the Yokai. ¡®It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s not scary? Odd¡­¡¯If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Indeed, he didn¡¯t find the creature scary at all. He simply marvelled with half-closed eyes at the entity that emerged from the chimney. It came dressed in a comically large and fluffy coat, blue in colour, its spindly legs peeking from right under it. On its head it wore a funny hat, it was just as blue with a very fluffy rim and an oversised pom-pom on its top. Whatever this was, the get-up looked very silly. ¡°Ho-ho-ho!¡± the Yokai chirped jovially, reaching for its pocket. A spidery claw scooped another pile of blue dust only to blow it all away and into the air. Seeing it coming, Little Ryuji plugged his nostrils and simply peeked at the strange yokai from the crack in his blanket. ¡°That should done the trick, Ho-ho-ho.¡± It chirped. ¡°Helper Sam, come out already.¡± Something else rustled and scratched against the cobbles in the chimney. And then, with a *Thud* and *Bam*, that someone dropped on the cooling embers in the fireplace¨Cass first of course, and right on the coals. ¡°Ouch-ouch-couch¡­ It¡¯s still hot. It burns!¡± ¡°Helper Sam, next time use the rope! That¡¯s why it¡¯s there! Ho-ho-ho!¡± the ho¡¯s came out slightly less jovial this time. It seems the embers weren¡¯t quite put out because¡­ ¡°Father, Father Frosty! Help me! My pants are on fire!¡± Helper Sam jumped out of the fireplace to pat the small flame licking at his rear. ¡°Shush Sam! You¡¯ll wake the denizens! ¡­ Take this, Ho-Ho-Ho!¡± the ho¡¯s were aimed at a certain backside. ¡°Wah! Don¡¯t begin spanking my ass out of nowhere!¡± ¡°Stop running around in circles! Ho-ho-ho! Stop, I say! You¡¯ll set everything on fire, Ho-ho-ho, not just your ass!!! Let me¡­¡± ¡°Ahh! It¡¯s too hot! ¡°Ho-ho-ho-ooo!!! *Smack*, ¡°¡­ Done and dusted.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not Ho-Ho-Ho at all! It-it burned a hole!!!¡± ¡°But the fire is out. Ho-ho-ho, all is jolly!¡± ¡°Nothing is jolly! I can see my bare ass!!!¡± ¡°Ho-ho-ho! Stop shouting, you¡¯ll wake the denizens!!!¡± ¡°Ah!!! ¡­ It¡¯s shining right through like a moon!!!¡± ¡®¡­¡¯ Ryuji didn¡¯t know what to think of this. ¡®But hey, this other yokai¡­¡¯ This Helper Sam, just like the spiderish Father Frosty, he was dressed in a fluffy blue coat and wearing an oversized hat with a silly pom-pom. However, ¡®He¡¯s, this strange Helper Sam, is no yokai. No-no-no.¡¯ That is exactly so, much like Ryuji, Sam was just a boy ¨C albeit, minus the Oni horn. ¡°Ho-ho-ho! We¡¯ll patch the hole later with a web. Now help me.¡± ¡°Yes, Father Frosty! Let me get our bag, it¡¯s still in the chimney.¡± The boy ran back to the fireplace, and out of it he retrieved a large bag bursting with mystery. ¡°Ho-ho-¡­-huh? Hey Sam, what is this line of tiny sacks by the fireplace?¡± ¡°Eh? Those? They¡¯re just old socks left to dry.¡± ¡°Socks, socks¡­ sacks, sacks¡­ what''s the difference then you¡¯re a spider and have no toes? ¡­ Either way, Ho-Ho-Ho, isn¡¯t this convenient?! Pass me the gifts Sammy boy, I¡¯ll stuff the offerings in them conveniently placed tiny sacks!¡± ¡°Are you sure about that? And its socks, not tiny sacks!¡± ¡°Yes-Yes. Quickly let''s stuff them there and go to the next house.¡± ¡°Yes, Father Frosty¡­¡± Ryuju, now half asleep, dust tickling his nose, observed the two stuffing the ¡®tiny sacks¡¯ with mysterious items. In the end, Little Ryuju didn¡¯t get spirited away, but perhaps something even more dreadful happened. ¡®No¡­ my socks¡­ don¡¯t put that in¡­ there¡­¡¯ He fell asleep. ¡­ In the wee hours of the morning, in the near-abandoned inn, two Oni sat by the table. ¡°I know you won¡¯t believe me but look at this.¡± Puts a stuffed sock on the table. ¡°Ah, so you finally lost it¡­ Why are you showing me your stinky old sock?¡± ¡°No! Check what''s inside the sock. He-he, isn''t it particularly¡­ stuffed?¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Takes a mysterious item out of the sock. ¡°Huh?! Half-eaten Bread?¡± ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ve got pecish on the way here¡­¡± ¡°No¡­ forget the half-eaten part. Why is it blood red? Don¡¯t tell me¡­ they?¡± ¡°Yes¡­ It was the Yokai! They stuffed all of our socks with strange bread! Strange delicious bread!¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°I knew you wouldn''t believe me but it''s true!¡± ¡°No, I believe you¡­ even if there¡¯s famine, isn''t it dangerous to eat something like that?¡± ¡°You do? Oh, and it was Ryuji who took the first bite so¡­ Well, it turned out safe to eat so¡­¡± ¡°You can¡¯t be serious? How can you eat something as suspicious as this?¡± ¡°Why not? Aren¡¯t everyone is sort of starving at the moment.¡± ¡°It¡¯s food conjured by the Yokai! You should know better!¡± ¡°But it smells so good¡­ just smell this delicious half-eaten loath. Yum!¡± Takes another bite. ¡°So-ooo good¡­ ah, a bit dry. Ah¡­ if only¡­¡± ¡°Stop eating it! What if it¡¯s cursed or poisoned?! Or worse!!!¡± ¡°But It isn''t! I¡¯m not about to boast, but as everyone knows my wife is a first-rate chef, she checked me and the kids for the negative status effects. Nothing! Only scrumptious deliciousness! ¡­ And actually, believe it or not, the bread gives status buffs. ¡°???¡± ¡°There is that look again¡­ You think I¡¯m making it up? If you don¡¯t believe me just try it yourself. Here, have this half-eaten piece. I have plenty to spare at home.¡± ¡°Are they all half eaten? ¡­ well¡­ I guess It won¡¯t hurt to try¡­ Nom-nom-nom¡­¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°Delicious!!!¡± ¡°I told you!¡± ¡°Ah, but¡­ a bit dry.¡± ¡°I know...¡± Looks at the innkeeper intently. ¡°Say, as an innkeeper won¡¯t you have a bit of sake left somewhere?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Yes, this savouriness would pair well with something alcoholic, but¡­ The unjust tax imposed by the Oni Shogun aside, my personal stash was also raided by bandits¡­ I have none¡­¡± ¡°Ah¡­ and here I thought I would share this bread with you and your family.¡± Begins stuffing the half-eaten bread back in the not-so-tiny sock. ¡°Wait, wait, wait!¡± ¡°So¡­ you DO have some?¡± ¡°Well¡­ not exactly. You might not believe me but¡­ I better show you this.¡± Two Oni walk outside and stop near the freshly boarded-up well. Sacred grains are scattered all around it as if to ward something off. ¡°A sealed well?¡± ¡°Yup. Sealed it a few hours ago¡­¡± ¡°???¡± ¡°Let¡¯s unseal it!¡± ¡°Huh?! Are you sure?! ¡°Yeah. Nothing to worry about¡­ I think.¡± The Oni Innkeeper roped a full bucket out of the well. ¡°Oh!? What¡¯s this?¡± ¡°As you can see it''s not simple water anymore. It has been Yokaified at some point during the night!¡± ¡°Look! It''s red! And it''s froffy! Did Yokai poison your well? That¡¯s bad! But why are you showing me this?¡± ¡°I did think it was poison at first at first but¡­ doesn¡¯t this smell good?¡± ¡°Yes¡­ Yes! It does smell good!¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you take a sip?¡± ¡°I guess¡­ why not!¡± Sips. ¡°Oh! I see. Yes-yes. So that¡¯s it.¡± Takes another sip. ¡°Mmm¡­¡± ¡°Hey¡­ did you just drink a whole bucket?¡± ¡°Another!¡± ¡°It¡¯s not poison, is it? Is it?¡± ¡°Another!!!¡± ¡°Just give back my bucket! ... And let me try it already!¡± ¡±Wow! It tastes even better with half-eaten bread! ¡­ Nom-nom-nom¡­ Slurp-slurp-slurp¡­¡± ¡°This is my well! Let me try! As the Oni fought over the bucket, the village priest ran up to them flailing arms. ¡°Guys, guys, you won¡¯t believe this!!!¡± ¡­ That morning the Oni Village grew uncharacteristically lively. Each Oni had an unbelievable story to tell, each tale involving Yokai. The not-so-tiny socks were stretched full of bread, the mundane well water was turned to frothy ale, wives and missuses found themselves dressed in blue extravagant dresses at the early morning wake, the ill and the ailing were mysteriously healed and their pockets filled with strange blue fruits, and all sort of manner of miracles happened that night ¨C all mischievous buts, in the end, positive things. The villagers started thinking¡­ ¡°It''s they we are talking about but¡­ are they really that bad?¡± 177 – Unexpected Surprises The air itself was thick with the acrid tang of sizzling lichen, the fetid sweetness of coagulated slime, and the acrimonious musk of charred centipede flesh. The carcass of the Ancient Centipede BroodMother Hermaphrodite sprawled across the cavern floor, its once-imposing form now a charred, mutilated ruin. The Spider King¡¯s eyes flicked over the scene, his expression a blend of triumph and mild disgust. Even with the fiery ferocity of the Drow FireWalkers at his side, this had been a messy battle, though not much of a challenge. The BroodMother had fallen like so many others before it: screaming, chittering, and eventually silent. Nearby, two drow stood admiring their handiwork, their blackened faces split into identical, sharp-teethed grins. "Heh,¡± one of them said, her voice a low purr laced with malice, ¡°we¡¯ve slain something truly legendary. A real trophy for the DarkHalls." ¡°Yes,¡± her companion agreed, his ruby-red eyes gleaming with an unhinged glee. ¡°I¡¯ve gone up two whole levels. We should celebrate¡ªthis calls for something special!¡± The first drow turned to him, her grin widening to reveal a savage grin. ¡°Are you thinking what I¡¯m thinking?¡± Her voice carried the kind of glee reserved for the most unholy of mischiefs. ¡°Oh,¡± he replied, mirroring her expression, ¡°I do. I absolutely do!¡± The Spider King, unsettled by their exchange, shifted uneasily in his spot, almost slipping on the slime. His commanding presence faltered as he fixed his gaze on the two unsettling figures. ¡°Erm¡­ Just what, exactly, are you two thinking?¡± The first drow tilted her head, her smile now a rictus of malicious delight. ¡°Oh, mighty King¡­ Isn¡¯t it obvious?¡± Her companion chimed in. ¡°We¡¯re going to eat this bad mother@#*&er.¡± The Spider King froze, his face contorting in stunned horror. His gaze snapped to the grotesque heap that was the BroodMother¡¯s remains¡ªa sloughing, bloated mass of viscera, glistening slime, and the unmistakable stench of something foul. The thought of consumption was entirely revolting! ¡°No,¡± he rasped, his voice sharp with incredulity. ¡°No, no, no¡ªabsolutely not! That thing is¡­ it¡¯s revolting, it¡¯s vile, it¡¯s¡­ inedible in every conceivable way! There¡¯s no way it can be edible!¡± The two drow exchanged glances, their expressions unreadable yet somehow deeply unnerving. ¡°No way? Your majesty, just observe,¡± the first one said, already pulling a crude blade from her belt. ¡°It¡¯s really delicious.¡± The Spider King watched, appalled, as the drow descended upon the carcass with an unsettling enthusiasm, their laughter echoing off the cavern walls. He turned away, muttering to himself, ¡°No way they''re eating that thing ¡­¡± Behind him, the sounds of butchery mingled with exclamations of delight. ¡°Look at the marbling on this segment!¡± ¡°Oh, this slime layer is going to make a killer glaze¡­¡± The Spider King shuddered. ¡°Don¡¯t forget the venom sacs,¡± A thick, black ichor oozed forth, hissing as it met the air. ¡°Fresh venom adds such a bold bitterness to a dish. It really brings out the umami!¡± ¡°Oh, and the brood marrow!¡± The second drow¡¯s eyes gleamed with excitement. ¡°Do you see this? This is liquid ambrosia! The richness, the depth¡ªthis could elevate a stew to divine levels!¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. It¡¯s¡­ intoxicating. The scent alone makes me want to weep. A little fennel moss, maybe some crushed emberroots, and¡ªoh, yes¡ªthis will be legendary.¡± The Spider King, still facing away, let out a low groan of dismay. No way it could be actually edible. Behind him, the butchery continued with morbid enthusiasm. ¡°Hey, look at this cartilage¡ªit¡¯s still pulsating! Do you think we could pickle it?¡± ¡°Why stop there? We could fry it, ferment it, and pickle it! This is a feast fit for gods¡ªor devils. Take your pick.¡± ¡°You know,¡± the first drow said, gnawing idly on a small, charred piece of the thing, ¡°I almost feel sorry for the others. They¡¯ll never know the delights of freshly harvested BroodMother Hermaphrodite pieces.¡± ¡°Ah, yes-yes¡­ if only there was a place specialising in cooking centipede delights.¡± The Spider King blinked. ¡°Wait¡­ There is a place!¡± He turned to face the drow; the two were still smiling in a conspirational way. ¡­ Inside the shadowy, web-draped embrace of SpideryDelicious?, a sultry figure emerged, weaving through the tables effortlessly like a shadow through the night. The Drow Waitress approached the Spider King, her every step a tantalising dance, the dim glow of the light reflecting off her oiled skin. ¡°Chu-u~!¡± she cooed, her voice sweet as poison as she struck a pose dripping with allure. The Spider King¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°O_O¡±. How to describe her? The waitress was a dark enchantress, radiating an aura that could corrupt the purest soul. Her ¡®uniform¡¯ was scandalous¡ªa sinful collection of black leather straps and minimal chitin armour, strategically placed to both conceal and display. Two shimmering carapace cups barely constrained her bounty, while another small plate of polished exoskeleton guarded her lower treasures, though it revealed just enough to send imagination spiralling into the deep abyss of dark delights. Very¡­ Very Scandalous! ¡°Your meal is ready, chu-u~!¡± she announced, her voice laced with a dangerous sweetness. With an almost blinding smile, she placed a platter before him, the gleaming carapace lid catching the dim light like a trophy won from some forbidden conquest. ¡°Behold! Our Spider MasterChef has truly outdone themselves, chu-u~! I present to you: the Ancient Centipede BroodMother Hermaphrodite Stroganov Delight! Chu-u~!!!¡± With a flourish, she leaned way too low, way too seductively, revealing way too much of her ample bounty. His eyes widened as she removed the lid, presenting him with a true feast for the senses.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Indeed, it was a masterpiece of a dish. The flesh was dark and glistening, pulsating with an inner life. The insect plating barely contained the succulent bounty, which threatened to spill over at any moment. A seductive scent of oil and spices tickled his nose, awakening a primal hunger within him. This was a delight he could not resist. ¡°Wh-what is this divine meal?¡± he stammered, torn between savouring the view and succumbing to the dish¡¯s forbidden nature. ¡°Chu-u~?¡± She tilted her head, her eyes curious about his bewildered gaze. ¡°It¡¯s saut¨¦ed centipede segments infused with steamed mushrooms and forbidden sauce, chu-u~.¡± The Spider King, eyes still wide, he didn¡¯t know where to look anymore! When did the spiders have the idea to add such scandalous waitresses as staff?! Not that it was a bad idea¡­ but¡­ ¡°Ahem¡­¡± His mouth already watering, he tore his gaze away from her¡ªdifficult as that was¡ªand finally looked at the dish for the first time. ¡°Oh! So this is what the Spider MasterChef is capable of¡­ I can¡¯t believe something so deadly could become¡­ this¡­ This APPETISING!¡± ¡°Chu-u~? Oh, no, my King! You can¡¯t go wrong with Centipede, it¡¯s the finest delicacy! Mince it, mash it, boil it, squish it¡ªalways delicious, chu-u~!¡± Her eyes gleamed with passion as she extolled the virtues of insect flesh. ¡°I see¡­ but what¡¯s up with that cute ¡®Chu-u~¡¯ you keep adding randomly?¡± ¡°Chu-u~? What do you mean?¡± She blinked at him innocently¡­ but also invitingly. ¡°Never mind¡­¡± His greedy fingers reached for the delight. But she was faster. With a mischievous gleam, she pulled the tray back. ¡°Oh no, no, no, chu-u~! Not so fast, my King! First¡­¡± ¡°???¡± Her lips curled into a knowing smile as she struck an even more provocative pose, her voice dropping to a playful purr. ¡°Before you feast on this delight, allow me to bless your meal. Chu-u~!¡± She raised her hands over the dish and began a slow, sultry chant, each word dripping with exaggerated sweetness: ¡°With a sprinkle of magic, chu-u~!¡± Her slender fingers dusted the dish with glowing flakes of who-knew-what. ¡°And a dash of charm, chu-u~!¡± Her beaming smile was a definition of dark mischief. "May this food be sweet and neat, chu-u~!" A wink sharp enough to pierce armour followed. ¡°A tasty treat that can''t be beat, chu-u~!" She blew an air kiss that seemed to shimmer in the dim light. ¡°Eat! Consume! Devour! Chu-u~!!!¡± The Spider King blinked, utterly in disbelief. ¡°¡­I have no idea what just happened. But this dish¡­ it looks ten times more tempting now!¡± ¡°Chu-u~! That¡¯s the power of WaitressMagic!¡± She clasped her hands, practically glowing with pride. Unable to resist any longer, he seized the bountiful delights right in front of him. His eyes widened as he sampled the dish. He was hit with that rich, soft smoothness which practically melted at the smallest of pressures ¨C it was so juicy, so succulent! And yet, there was this joyful bounciness, the springiness and elasticity that popped out all filled with sinful spices. ¡°!!!¡± The utensil clattered from his hand as he staggered back in his seat. ¡°Divine! Scrumptious! Delicious! There¡¯s no way this is¡­ this is not¡­!¡± ¡°But it is, chu-u~!¡± she chimed, bouncing her delights with glee. The King leaned forward, his face a mask of rapture. ¡°Help! I can¡¯t stop! My hands¡­ Ah!!! They¡¯re moving on their own! This is too good! Amazing!!!¡± ¡°Ch-chu-uuu~!!!¡± The waitress jumped away from the Spider King and turned to address the room. ¡°You heard the King! The Spider King himself approves this dish, chu-u~! Everyone, get it while supplies last!¡± The room erupted into chaos, with patrons shouting for their waitresses, desperate to sample the new SpiderKing-Approved? (rights pending) dish. The Spider King, meanwhile, continued to gorge himself, lost in the sheer ecstasy of the meal. ¡­ Still enthralled in the decadent afterglow of his indulgence at SpideryDelicious?, the Spider King allowed himself a moment to savour the sight of his subjects revelling in their sinful meals. The atmosphere was thick with the alluring aroma of forbidden spices, the restaurant patrons immersed in their own gluttonous ecstasies. ¡°I really shouldn¡¯t have called the waitress for that third helping... urgh.¡± He groaned, placing a hand on his abdomen, the weight of overindulgence dragging at his regal posture. ¡°But, alas, duty calls. I must check on the Kobolds¡ªsurely by now, they¡¯ve finished cleaning the slime and the lichen, and expanding the cavern.¡± He shuffled out of the restaurant, his feet clicking against the cobblestones of the Drow UnderCity¡¯s sprawling, shadowy streets. But as he turned a corner, his eyes narrowed, and his keen ear twitched at the unmistakable sound of a commotion. ¡°Washoi! Washoi! Washoi!¡± The chanting echoed through the cavernous city like an otherworldly song, punctuated by the rhythmic padding of tiny feet. A procession of desert Fennec marched through the streets, their high-pitched voices chanting in unison. The Spider King¡¯s brow furrowed¡ªnot just from the noise or disturbance but from the strange spectacle. ¡°Washoi! Washoi! Washoi!¡± They paraded boldly, their large, fluffy ears bobbing with every chant, but it wasn¡¯t their unbearably cute appearance that drew gasps from the onlookers. It was the thing they carried. Above their heads, perched precariously in their tiny paws, was an enormous, scandalous, girthy object. The way it caught the faint light of the cavern was both dazzling and deeply, deeply disturbing. ¡°Washoi! Washoi! Washoi!¡± The thing¡¯s elongated, unmistakably suggestive shape gleamed in gold. Every curve, every detail, every¡­ bulge was rendered with an artistry that could only be described as obsessively thorough. The Spider King felt his fingers tremble. His otherwise stoic face cracked like thin ice. ¡°What in the name of the Chaos is this obscene thing?!¡± ¡°Washoi! Washo¡ªOh! The Spider King!¡± One of the Fennec, a particularly wide-eyed specimen with super fluffy ears, turned to him, his cheerful voice utterly unbothered by the King¡¯s outrage. ¡°We were on our way to your palace. This saves us the trouble, yes-yes!¡± The King¡¯s eyes darted from the fennec¡¯s innocent smile to the towering atrocity they held aloft. ¡°You were going to parade¡­ that thing ¡­ to my palace?!¡± At his words, the procession halted. The Fennec all tilted their heads in perfect unison, their ears flopping like synchronized flags. ¡°Well, yes,¡± the fennec chirped, his tone genuinely perplexed. ¡°Is there something wrong with our solid gold statue? It was carved meticulously to resemble the real thing! Did we miss some details perhaps?¡± ¡°Oh no, you didn¡¯t miss details,¡± the Spider King spat, his voice dripping with sarcasm. ¡°In fact, it¡¯s disturbingly detailed! Too detailed! And did you say¡­ solid gold?!¡± The Fennec¡¯s ears drooped further. ¡°Y-yes?¡± ¡°How dare he, that scaly little noodle!¡± The Spider King¡¯s fury erupted, his feet stomping as he paced before the bewildered procession. ¡°First, the wyrmling dares to call himself a God Emperor. Now he commissions¡­ this, this thing! A gilded monstrosity of his own¡­ anatomy! That narcissist!¡± Yes, the scandalous elongated thing was a statue of no one else but the little wirmling itself. ¡°But¡­ but¡­¡± The Fennec whimpered, clutching the perfect Great Desert Whirling Statue tightly, as if its mere existence might shield them from the Spider King¡¯s wrath. ¡°And now he dares infringe on my authority as a King!¡± the Spider King continued, gesturing wildly at the obscene idol of a scaly desert noodle. ¡°I don¡¯t make statues of myself, do I? Let alone statues of¡­ of¡­ solid gold!¡± With trembling paws, the fennec took his paws off the statue to offer a leaflet, his oversized ears drooping so low they nearly brushed the ground. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± The Spider King snatched the leaflet and began to read, urgently scanning what looked like a doodle of a child. === Spiderish and not-so-spiderish, folks with a tail, with a claw, or with none at all¡ªeveryone and all are invited to my royal wedding. Yes-yes! It happens soon, so you better not miss it. Or¡­ Or else! Meuw! ¨C The Great Desert Wyrmling, The Only and True Pharaoh of the Scorching Desert. === The Spider King¡¯s voice rose with each word, his outrage exploding. ¡°A wedding?! This youngling of a hatchling is getting married already? And to whom? Why am I only learning about this now?!¡± Before he could demand answers, the Fennec stumbled under the weight of the statue. With a collective gasp, the procession lost their grip. ¡°¡­¡± The solid gold monstrosity plummeted. With an earth-shaking CRACK, it shattered the pavement and landed squarely on the Spider King¡¯s toes. ¡°RHEEEEE!!!¡± His screech echoed through the UnderCity as the Fennec scrambled back in panic. The offending statue lay sprawled on the ground like a fallen god of bad taste, its gaudy form gleaming mockingly in the cavern light. 178 – Hot and Spicy Desert Secrets and Other Things You Didn’t Know You Want to Know Trekking through the treacherous dunes, the Spider King pulled his royal cloak tight against the biting gusts of desert dust. Each step was a test, the swirling sand stinging his exposed face and hands. On the back of his hand, a glimmer caught his eye¡ªa dusting of powdery crystals, scintillating like gems of the sands. Earth SpiritStones ¨C the commodity of the WyrmCity, fine shimmering treasures hidden within the sandy dunes. ¡°I¡¯m close. I know I am,¡± he muttered, though each step through the storm seemed to pull him further into an abyss of swirling chaos. ¡°And yet¡­ I can¡¯t help but feel I¡¯ve never been farther away.¡± Ahead, the sandstorm cleared and a looming silhouette rose from the shifting sands: one of the city¡¯s monolithic guardians. The SandStorm Obelisk stood proud, its angular frame humming with ancient, chaotic, albeit familiar power. Spirals of shimmering dust whipped upward, drawn into a raging vortex encircling the city like a living, swirling barrier. This wasn¡¯t just a shield; it was an unyielding storm given form, a wall of fury warding off all intruders. The Endless SandStorm. ¡°It¡¯s gathered so much,¡± the Spider King murmured, approaching the obelisk. Its surface bristled with crystalline sediment¡ªglassy fragments of SpiritStone clinging like flies to the web on the weathered monolith. He reached out to touch it, his fingers grazing the crystalline deposits. Sparks leapt from the surface, biting at his skin with a sharp, electric crackle. ¡°The Earth arcana here is stronger than I imagined¡­¡± he muttered, rubbing his singed fingers. ¡°And its interference¡­ well, that was unexpected.¡± A rare note of frustration entered his voice. ¡°So strong, it¡¯s blocking my ShadowWalk. A royal inconvenience.¡± He picked at the crystalline deposits, shards breaking free and vanishing into his Inventory with a faint shimmer of purple light. The power of the obelisk surged through his fingertips as he worked. ¡°If I harvest these, it will weaken. But even so¡­ .¡± Beyond this obelisk, countless others loomed, their grandeur hidden by the storm¡¯s unrelenting dust clouds. Each one a keystone in the endless enchantment protecting the city. As long as even one stood, the endless vortex would rage, impenetrable and unyielding. He sighed, shielding his face from the swirling grit as he turned his gaze back toward the obscured horizon. ¡°I¡¯ve completely lost my sense of direction¡­¡± he admitted, scanning for any break in the storm. ¡°This¡­ this feels like a maze.¡± Another sigh. Another step forward¡ªaimless, or perhaps guided by some unseen but chaotic hand. ¡°Someone tells me I need to go this way,¡± he muttered to no one in particular, his royal cloak billowing as he disappeared into the sand clouds. Onward he trudged, through the chaos of the storm, his patience wearing thinner with each passing moment. ¡°¡­That blasted noodle of a wyrmling,¡± he growled. ¡°How does he expect his guests to find their way to the city?¡± Only the howling wind answered. A harsh, unrelenting dirge that offered neither comfort nor direction. He continued walking, his thoughts swirling like the sand around him. ¡°¡­ Perhaps I should have asked those Fennec to escort me¡­¡± It was, of course, far too late for that. ¡°¡­ I, the Spider King¡­ I am totally, utterly, and completely lost,¡± he finally admitted, his pride crumbling under the weight of his predicament. Then, like a whisper of salvation, a voice rose from the storm. ¡°¨CSpider¨CKing¨C¡± The words slithered through the air, faint but undeniable. They came from everywhere and nowhere. ¡°¨CCome¨CCome¨C¡± He halted, his eyes darting, searching the turbulent haze for the source. The sound wasn¡¯t carried by the wind¡ªit was the wind. The very grains of sand seemed to vibrate with each syllable. ¡°¨CFollow¨CMy¨CWhispers¨C¡± The Spider King frowned. ¡°Huh?! Speak louder!¡± he bellowed, his voice swallowed by the storm. ¡°Your words are lost in this infernal wind! I don¡¯t know where to go!¡± ¡°¨CThis¨CWay¨C ¡­ ¨CSpider¨CKing¨C¡± The whisper came again, stronger now, as if the storm itself was guiding him. ¡°¨CFollow¨CMy¨CWhispers¨C¡± Compelled by a force he could neither see nor explain, he trudged forward. Each whisper seemed to rise before him, carving a faint path through the chaos. ¡°¨CSpider¨CKing¨C¡± it repeated, insistent. ¡°¨CCome¨CThis¨CWay¨C¡± Step by step, the storm began to thin. The oppressive roar softened, giving way to an eerie stillness. At last, he emerged into a pocket of calm¡ªanother tranquil eye at the heart of the storm. ¡°!!!¡± The sight before him stole his breath. Instead of the anticipated obelisk or the elusive gates of WyrmCity, he stood before a monolithic tree. It towered above him, impossibly vast, its gnarled trunk blackened and scarred as if burned by millennia of torment. Shadows clung to its tar-like bark, swirling and churning slowly. Its branches were jagged and spindly, like the crooked legs of a spider poised to strike. The air around it was thick, almost suffocating, laden with an aura of chaos and something dark. Something ancient and hungry lingered here. Yet, he recognized it immediately. Actually¡­ A creation of his own making! ¡°The Whispering Baobab!¡± he exclaimed, his voice competing with the roar of the sandstorm. ¡°¨CYes¨CIt¨CIs¨CI¨C ¡­ ¨CYour¨CServant¨C ¡­ ¨CThe¨CWhispering¨CBaobab¨C¡± the whispers cooed, now emanating from the tree itself. Its words slid across his skin like cold, hard, appendages of the spider. ¡°¨CNow¨CCome¨CCloser¨C ¡­ ¨CCloser¨C¡± The Spider King hesitated, but the tree''s call was strong, its voice echoing in his mind. ¡°¨CCome¨CCloser¨CSpider¨CKing¨C¡± And so, already knowing how it goes, he rested his hand on the shadowy bark of the baobab. ¡°¨CMy¨CKing¨CListen¨CTo¨C¡­ ¨CMy¨CWhispers¨C ¡­ ¨CI¨CHave¨CSecrets¨CTo¨CTell¨C¡° The Spider King closed his eyes, leaning closer to the sibilant voice of the whispering tree. The tar-like shadows of its bark oozed over his hand, claiming it as though the tree itself demanded tribute for its whispered truths. Tendrils of darkness coiled up his arm as the connection deepened.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Suddenly, a vision erupted within his mind¡ªswirling, violent, and chaotic. A monstrous shadow emerged, majestic and commanding, its silhouette obfuscated in the veil of darkness. It felt ancient¡ªfar older than the desert sands that swirled endlessly around him. Its presence was primal and domineering, radiating a cruel majesty that eclipsed even the scorching sun. The Spider King¡¯s breath hitched as fragmented details of the beast came into focus. A raptor''s fierce plumage, catching the dim light in hues of gold and crimson. The razor claws of a lion, striking and lethal, each talon glistening as if dipped in the molten heart of the earth. And its face¡­ a haunting, otherworldly visage of beauty that seemed neither mortal nor entirely divine. But the vision faltered. The image cracked and shattered, like a fragile mirage exposed to the cruel winds of the desert. Desperate, he willed the connection to hold, pulling with all his focus. Yet the more he strained, the more elusive the creature became. ¡°What is that beast?¡± he demanded, voice tinged with awe and frustration. His hand remained encased in the shadowy bark, tendrils writhing like a horde of spiderlings around his wrist. ¡°¨CIt¨CIs¨CA¨CSecret¨C¡± the baobab crooned, its voice playful but plottingly coy. The Spider King exhaled sharply. ¡°Hmm¡­ But I know you know that secret. Come now, Mighty Baobab, reveal the truth.¡± ¡°¨CA¨CPayment¨CI¨CDesire¨C¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I don¡¯t particularly feel like being extorted by a tree. Hopefully, you won''t ask too much?¡± ¡°¨CSomething¨COnly¨CThe¨CSpider¨CKing¨CCan¨CProvide¨C¡± The King arched a brow. ¡°That totally doesn''t sound foreboding... What is it?¡± ¡°¨CT¨C¡­¨CTe¨C¡­¡± The whispers stumbled, sounding a tad too excited. ¡°¨CTen¨CWhole¨CSquirrel¨CSouls¨CI¨CDesire¨C!!!¡± The Spider King didn¡¯t hesitate. ¡°Deal!¡± He slammed the ethereal squirrel souls directly into the tree¡¯s bark, watching as the shadows greedily consumed them. The bark rippled and pulsed, the baobab¡¯s spindly branches wriggling with unbridled glee. The wood groaned and creaked, emitting eerie, bone-chilling sounds as the tree devoured its payment. ¡°¨CThe¨CCreature¨CYou¨CSaw¨C ¨CShe¨CIs¨CA¨CWife¨COf¨C¡­¨C Of¨CYour¨CFamiliar¨C¡± ¡°What?!¡± The Spider King jumped back, eyes wide with the scandal of it all. ¡°No¡­ no way!¡± He paced in agitation, his thoughts a jumbled in a web. ¡°But rather than springing this piece of gossip on me, wouldn¡¯t you tell me what manner of creature she is?¡± ¡°¨CShe¨CIs¨CA¨CMaiden¨CIn¨CLove¨C¡± ¡°No, you insufferable tree, I mean her race!¡± ¡°¨CEven¨CThe¨CViolent¨CWinds¨CDo¨CNot¨CKnow¨C ¡­ ¨CI¨CDo¨CNot¨CHave¨CThose¨CWhispers¨C ¡­ ¨CBut¨CShe¨CIs¨CSomething¨CGreat¨C¡± The Spider King slammed his fist against the bark in frustration. ¡°What use are you then? Give back my Souls!¡± ¡°¨CThat¨CI¨CCannot¨CDo¨C¡° The baobab¡¯s branches waved dismissively, shadows flickering in apology. ¡°¨CBut¨CSpider¨CKing¨CListen¨CTo¨C ¡­ ¨CMy¨CWhispers¨C ¡­ ¨CI¨CHave¨CMore¨CSecrets¨CTo¨CTell¨C¡± ¡°Secrets? Bah! Through that connection we shared¡­ I too have seen an inkling of your mind!¡± ¡°¨C!!!¨C¡° ¡°You¡¯re just full of ''hot n¡¯ saucy desert gossip''!!!" ¡°¨C¡­¨C¡° ¡°What is this expression?! I¡¯ve never seen it on a tree!¡± Slightly amused the Spider King poses a demand. ¡°Just tell me how to get to the WyrmCity already!¡± ¡°¨CT¨C ¡­ ¨CTwe¨C ¡­¡± The whispers faltered again before bursting out in unison. ¡°¨CTwenty¨CWhole¨CSquirrel¨CSouls¨CI¨CDesire¨C!!!¡± ¡°Deal!!¡± The Spider King once more delivered the required souls with a dramatic slap, pressing them into the slighly flustered bark. ¡°Now talk!¡± ¡°¨CKing¨C ¡­ ¨CYou¨CWas¨CMeant¨CTo¨CFollow¨CThe¨CCobbled¨CRoad¨C ¡­ ¨CFollow¨CThe¨CRoad¨CAnd¨CYou¨CWould¨CReach¨CIt¨C ¡­ ¨CNo¨CMagic¨CNeeded¨C¡± The Spider King paused, deadpan. ¡°The road? Well yes, it was there in the beginning¡­ But I just thought using ShadowWalk would be faster! ¡­ My bad. Where¡¯s this road?¡± ¡°¨CHmm¨C ¡­ ¨CI¨CDo¨CNot¨CKnow¨C¡± The baobab whispers casually. ¡°WHAT?!¡± ¡°¨CI¨CAm¨CA¨CTree¨CRooted¨CIn¨COne¨CPlace¨C ¡­ ¨CI¨CDo¨CNot¨CWalk¨CNor¨CTread¨CThe¨CRoads¨C ¡­ ¨CHow¨CWould¨CI¨CKnow¨C?¡± ¡°Rheee!!! Is gossip is all you good for? Give back my Souls!¡± He slammed his fists against the bark furiously. ¡°¨CBut¨CI¨CCan¨CAsk¨CThe¨CViolent¨CWinds¨C ¡­ ¨CThey¨CCan¨CShow¨CYou¨C¡± The Spider King glared. ¡°You¡¯d better not be messing with me again!¡± ¡°¨CI¨CAm¨CNot¨C ¡­ ¨CYou¨CAre¨CMy¨CKing¨CAfter¨CAll¨C ¡­ ¨C[Summon]¨C¡± The sand beneath the baobab erupted in a swirl of elemental magic, grains spinning with guided precision. From the vortex, a creature began to form¡ªa squirrel, its body composed entirely of sand, its glowing eyes sharp and mischievous. ¡°!!!¡± The Spider King blinked in surprise. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you could do that!¡± ¡°¨CNow¨CI¨CCan¨C ¡­ ¨CFollow¨CIt¨C ¡­ ¨CIt¨CWill¨CGuide¨CYou¨C¡± ¡°Meep-Meep,¡± the squirrel let a sound only a squirrel was capable of. The Spider King exhaled, his anger ebbing away as he patted the tree¡¯s bark. ¡°Thank you, Mighty Baobab. You¡¯ve actually saved me this time.¡± ¡°¨CCome¨CAgain¨CSpider¨CKing¨C ¡­ ¨CI¨CWill¨CHave¨CMore¨C¡­ ¨CGossip¨C¡­ ¨CI¨CMean¨CSecrets¨CTo¨CWhisper¨C¡± ¡°Aha! So it is gossip! ¡­ Sure thing, but only when I¡¯m not in a rush.¡± ¡°Meep!!!¡± The sand squirrel impatiently scurried forward, urging him to follow. With a wave goodbye to the whispering gossip tree, the Spider King stepped into the dust storm once more, the sand squirrel hopping ahead to guide his path through the swirling chaos. ¡­ A cloth-veiled figure emerged from the swirling storm into the tranquil eye of calmness. Fine grains of sand cascaded from their robes as they stepped forward, their wide, overly big, blue eyes locking onto the towering majesty of the Whispering Baobab. ¡°Wow! No wonder my TreasureSense was tingling!¡± Their voice carried a breathless awe as they took in the ominous tree¡¯s sprawling, shadowed form. The baobab¡¯s branches creaked and wove themselves together conspiratorially, casting flickering patterns over the sand. ¡°¨CA¨CCustomer¨C ¡­ ¨CI¨CMean¨CAnother¨CLost¨CSoul¨C!!!¡± the whispers cooed, sly and inviting. ¡°¨CCome¨C ¡­ ¨CCome¨CCloser¨C ¡­ ¨CI¨CHave¨CHot¨CDesert¨CGossip¨C ¡­ ¨CI¨CMean¨CSecrets¨CTo¨CTell¨C¡± ¡°Wow! Secrets? Yes-Yes!¡± The figure hopped forward, excitement bubbling over in their every movement. They skipped up to the tree with a childlike giddiness, their veiled ears twitching beneath the hood. ¡°¨CRest¨CYour¨CPaw¨COn¨CMy¨CShadowy¨CBark¨CAnd¨C ¡­ ¨CSurrender¨CYour¨CMind¨C ¡­ ¨CI¨CMean¨CListen¨CCarefully¨CTo¨CMy¨CWhispers¨C¡± ¡°Yes¨CYes! My paws are all here!¡± They pressed their furry hand eagerly against the shadowy bark. ¡°My treasure thingy is tingling already¡ªthis will be good!!!¡± The baobab¡¯s tar-like surface writhed in delight, the shadows weaving a webby pattern. ¡°¨COh¨CYour¨CMind¨CHas¨CDelicious¨CSecrets¨C ¡­ ¨CI¨CMean¨C ¡­ ¨CListen¨CTo¨CThis¨C ¡­ ¨CThe¨CSpider¨CKing¨C ¡­ ¨CHe¨CAnd¨CThis¨CCentaur¨CWoman¨CHad¨CA¨CTryst¨C ¡­ ¨CHee¨CHee-¨C ¡­ ¨CAnd¨CNow¨CShe¨CCarries¨CHis¨CChild¨C!!!¡± Through the shadowy connection, the baobab flooded the fennec¡¯s mind with dodgy and scandalous images¡ªblurry yet undeniably steamy fragments of the ordeal. ¡°Wh-what is this!¡± The figure recoiled, pulling their paws back as their cheeks flushed a deep red beneath the veil. ¡°My TreasureSense is tingling, but this is not the treasure I wanted!¡± ¡°¨CTch¨C¡± The whispers clicked, a sound like branches snapping underfoot. ¡°¨CNoone¨CAppreciates¨CMy¨CSecrets¨C ¡­ ¨CI¨CKnow¨CWhat¨CYou¨CWant¨C ¡­ ¨CI¨CSaw¨CIt¨CIn¨CYour¨CMind¨C ¡­ ¨CHere¨C[Summon]¨C¡± The sand beneath the tree stirred, and an adorable creature began to take shape from the grains. A tiny sand squirrel, its body glimmering faintly with elemental magic, formed and blinked at the veiled figure with eyes like polished gemstones. ¡°Wow! So cute! I didn¡¯t know you could do that!¡± The fennec¡¯s eyes sparkled with delight as they crouched down, bushy tail wagging beneath their robes. ¡°¨CNow¨CI¨CCan¨C ¡­ ¨CFollow¨CIt¨CAnd¨CIt¨CWill¨CGuide¨CYou¨CTo¨CThe¨CObelisk¨CYou¨CSeek¨C ¡­ ¨CIts¨CRiches¨CAre¨CYours¨CTo¨CHarvest¨C¡± ¡°Yes-Yes! I will! Thank you, mighty tree!¡± The fennec hopped to their feet, already preparing to follow the elemental guide. ¡­ Then the baobab¡¯s whispers called out again, stopping the fennec. ¡°¨CNot¨CSo¨CFast¨C¡± ¡°???¡± ¡°¨CHalf¨COf¨CThe¨CSoulStones¨C ¡­ ¨CBring¨CThem¨CTo¨CMe¨C ¡­ ¨CThat¨CIs¨CMy¨CPrice¨C¡± ¡°Half?¡± The fennec straightened, their sparkling eyes narrowing into cunning slits. ¡°As an upstanding fennec, I can¡¯t part with half. How about one percent?¡± Their voice grew firm, a merchant¡¯s fire igniting as they leaned closer to the bark. ¡°¨CForty¨CNine¨CPercent¨C¡± the whispers countered. ¡°Hmm... Five percent!¡± The negotiation escalated into a fierce and animated haggling session, shadows and sand swirling around the two combatants of wit. The tree¡¯s creaks and groans blended with the fennec¡¯s rapid-fire counteroffers. The air between them crackled with conspiracy as the two negotiated on the illegal heist on the SandStorm Obelisk. 179 – A Trove Of Enchantments To Dazzle The Sights ¡°Meep!¡± With a final chirp of triumph, the sand squirrel dissolved into a fine puff of golden dust, its Quest fulfilled. ¡°Squirrel! I will not forget you,¡± the Spider King called after it. No longer lost, he stepped onto the cobbled path. Now out of the storm, the jagged stones, weathered but sturdy, led onward through the scorching sun. The distant walls of WyrmCity shimmered like a mirage in the distance. He squinted up at the unrelenting sun. It glared back at him, merciless and blinding, yet strangely¡­ he did not feel the barren desert¡¯s hostility. The path was flanked by rows of Sunfire Blossoms, their vibrant orange petals flaring outward as if they had stolen fragments of the sun itself. Their golden cores pulsed faintly, absorbing the heat, filling the air with otherwise gentle warmth, making the merciless heat from above so much more bearable. ¡°Isn¡¯t this nice?¡± he muttered, his voice touched with guarded wonder. ¡°The path feels magical.¡± A sudden gust of wind brushed against his face. ¡°!!!¡± He braced himself for the familiar sting of sand and searing dryness, but instead, a sweet, heady perfume filled his senses. It was intoxicating, almost overwhelming. He stopped in his tracks, nostrils flaring as the fragrance curled around him like a striking serpent. Oddly it reminded him of the bindings of his wife, the Lamia Queen. ¡°Ah,¡± he murmured, spying a cluster of golden blooms nestled among the dunes. ¡°Sand Lilies¡­ Of course.¡± Their delicate petals shimmered like gold. ¡°If I remember well, the lilies are the source of that dangerous perfume¡­¡± Shaking off the lingering haze, he continued down the path. The air grew heavier, suffused with the lilies¡¯ presence, their aroma mingling with the faint, sun-baked scent of the cobblestones. ¡°What¡¯s this sparkle ahead?¡± He squinted, his pace slowing. ¡°A river in the desert?¡± He narrowed his eyes. No, not a river. The mirage twisted and danced, the shimmering air playing tricks on his vision. A serpentine gleam cut through the dunes, mirroring the glint of sunlight on flowing water. ¡°That must be the SandScale Ferns.¡± He nodded, recalling the peculiar plant. Its ferns grew in snaking patterns, their glistening surfaces invoking illusions. ¡°A deception,¡± he mused. ¡°For an untrained eye, it would seem like a river, a source of life to quench one''s thirst, but¡­ but I know better.¡± The pull to investigate nagged at him, an alluring whisper that promised salvation from the heat. He tightened his grip on his cloak, resisting the ferns¡¯ illusory call. ¡°Best not stray from the path. Or I¡¯ll find myself lost again.¡± Further ahead, the greens of a plantation came into view. Towering WaterHole Palms rose high above the sands, their lush emerald fronds swaying gently in the scorching sun. Beneath their canopy, a group of ScorpionMen worked diligently. Each carried a pot fashioned from the shells of some unknown monster, its jagged edges glinting faintly. With practised ease, they ladled thick, amber-coloured liquid from the palms into their vessels. ¡°Palm Juice,¡± the Spider King murmured. He licked his lips but refrained from approaching. He didn¡¯t want to disturb the diligent workers during their harvest. At last, the dazzling walls of WyrmCity loomed before him. He averted his gaze instinctively, the reflective scales embedded in the stone scattering sunlight in blinding patterns. ¡°A clever tactic,¡± he noted, shielding his eyes. ¡°An attacker wouldn¡¯t see the archers above¡­ at least during the day.¡± His gaze drifted higher, past the walls, to a massive triangular structure rising behind them. ¡°Of course.¡± He sighed, a note of exasperation in his voice. ¡°The self-proclaimed Pharaoh is building himself a pyramid. How predictable.¡± Either way, he continues through the cobbled path. The majesty of the gates of WyrmCity greets him¡ªor rather, the enormous depiction of a coiling wyrm etched into the gates themselves. The wyrm¡¯s great serpentine body twists and loops around the towering structure, its glass-jewelled eyes watching all who approach. Before the gates lies a throng of desert folk, all trying to gain entry. Like a swarm of ants, the crowd snakes and spirals, forming a seemingly endless line that winds back toward the swirling chaos of the Endless SandStorm. From all directions, cobbled paths much like his own feed into the mass, carrying travellers from the far reaches of the Scorching Desert. But these are no ordinary travellers. The crowd teems with ScorpionMen, Armored Beetles, AntMen, Scarabs, and an array of other insectoid beings. Their shells glisten under the sun, mandibles clicking and claws clattering as they shift impatiently. ¡°So many¡­¡± The Spider King tilts his head, taking in the bustling scene. ¡°They must all be here for the wedding.¡± He moves closer, scanning for the end of the line so he can join in, though it stretches far beyond his sight. ¡°I can¡¯t see it¡­¡± he sighs, rubbing his temples. ¡°But I am a King, so¡­¡± His eyes flick upward, past the sea of insectile forms clogging the gates. His gaze locks onto the massive wyrmling statue that frames the entryway once more. Atop its crown perches a familiar figure¡ªa spider sentry, crouched with precision on the wyrmling¡¯s head. ¡°Hey!¡± The Spider King waves energetically, hoping to catch their attention. One of the spider legs shoots upward in alarm. ¡°Spider King?!¡± they exclaim, their chirp ringing clear over the chittering crowd below. ¡°What gives?¡± ¡°I¡¯m here for the wedding, but¡­¡± He gestures vaguely at the clogged gates.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°No entourage? Alone?¡± The spider¡¯s legs shuffle, clearly unsettled by the idea. ¡°This seemed like an emergency, so¡­¡± ¡°No need to explain! Come! Come!¡± The sentry thumps their legs on the statue¡¯s head, their movements sharp. ¡°Let the Spider King through!¡± The command catches the attention of the crowd below. A ripple of curiosity sweeps through the denizens as they pause to examine the one figure who doesn¡¯t quite belong. Their chatter rises in a wave of doubt and suspicion. ¡°Is this really a¡­ Spider King?¡± A ScorpionMan¡¯s claws click skeptically. ¡°No chitin? No claws? Not even mandibles or pincers?¡± An AntMan tilts their head, antennae twitching. ¡°A King perhaps¡­ But how is he a spider?¡± a Scarab clatters, the words buzzing with incredulity. The Spider King stands taller, sweeping over the crowd. With a regal air, he flourishes his cloak, its silky folds catching the light. ¡°Be not confused, denizens of the desert,¡± he proclaims, his voice ringing with authority. ¡°I am the Spider King. Observe!¡± With a dramatic proclamation, he chants, ¡°[Transform]!¡± In an instant, his form shifts. Obsidian chitin ripples across his body, gleaming black as volcanic glass beneath the desert sun. His legs elongate and multiply, ending in spindly, razor-sharp points. From his head sprout magnificent horns, curling like the crown of a spidery monarch. His now four eyes gleam like molten gold, their brilliance radiating an aura of mystery and power. ¡°Behold my true form!¡± he announces, puffing out his armoured chest and striking a pose worthy of his title. Gasps ripple through the crowd. ¡°Oh!¡±, ¡°Ah!¡±, ¡°I see!¡±, The insectoids clatter and chitter in amazement. But the Spider King is not done. With a subtle flick of his wrist, he unleashes his Aura of Authority¡ªa tangible wave of grandeur that sweeps through the onlookers, leaving them awestruck and reverent. ¡°Ohhh!!!¡±, ¡°Ahhh!!!¡±, ¡°UWU!!!¡±, The crowd¡¯s disbelief melts into adoration and even occasional uwu¡¯s. Their chittering rises into a vigorous chant, led by the overly enthusiastic sentry atop the wyrmling statue. ¡°Spider King! Spider King!¡± The chant grows louder, spreading like wildfire through the gathering. ¡°Spider King! Spider King! Spider King!¡± With a gracious wave of his many legs, the Spider King strides forward. The crowd parts for him now, their admiration carving a clear path to the gates. ¡°Thank you! Thank you, denizens of the desert!¡± he calls, his voice filled with regal charm. He offers them his best spider-wave before passing through the gates of WyrmCity. ¡­ He cleared the gate. But¡­ Another challenge awaited him. ¡°Oh my¡­¡± His hands trembled as he struggled to resist the urge to pet the oversized, overly fluffy ears that twitched enticingly at arm¡¯s reach. ¡°Spider King! Look at my wares! My baubles and my doodads!¡± ¡°I must resist!¡± he muttered, clenching his hands into fists to still the shaking. ¡°No! Spider King! Look at my wares! My gems and my jewels!¡± ¡°No-no! My wares! My rings and my necklaces!¡± The calls came from all sides. Surrounding him were Fennec Merchants, their diminutive forms darting like sand-coloured shadows, their ears bobbing with their movements. Each held out trays and satchels brimming with glittering trinkets. ¡°No¡­ I must¡­ resist¡­¡± He grabbed one hand with the other, wrestling against his instincts. But it was too late. The fluff was overwhelming. ¡°King? Why are you ruffling my ears? They¡¯re not for sale!¡± one merchant complained, shielding the prized bundles of cuteness with both hands. ¡°I-I¡¯ve failed,¡± the Spider King sighed. ¡°I¡¯ll buy something as an apology.¡± ¡°Yes-yes!¡± Reaching out blindly, he grabbed a bauble¡ªa polished marble¡ªbefore noticing the peculiar craftsmanship of the surrounding goods. The baubles and doodahs, the gems and jewels, rings and necklaces, all have glass in them or are made of glass entirely. And not any glass, a special enchanted glass. ¡°So, they can make more than just bottles¡­¡± he mused, nodding in approval at the artistry. As he admired the wares, a tiny hand tugged at his royal cloak. He turned to see a sly young fennec, her large ears twitching. ¡°King? Wanna pet my ears?¡± she offered, her wide eyes glinting with calculation. ¡°Ah¡­ but then I¡¯ll have to buy something,¡± he said weakly, already feeling the battle lost. ¡°Yes-yes!¡± Moments later, he held a small glass figurine of the wyrmling statue. Its intricate details sparkled in the sunlight, and he admired the artistry. ¡°It looks better when it''s not made out entirely of solid gold,¡± he muttered absently. At this, the merchants collectively gulped, their wide eyes darting nervously. ¡°What? Did I say something wrong?¡± ¡°No-no! Not at all! Now look at my wares¡ªmy chains and my spangles!¡± Now, a chain fashioned entirely out of glass was something to behold¡­ He ended up buying it too. ¡°Hey, how about me? Look-look!¡± One by one, the merchants drew his attention, and he found himself enchanted by their goods¡ªand their ears. Each purchase added to the growing collection in his Inventory, and each ruffle left him further distracted. But something felt¡­ off. Each time he tried to leave, the merchants called him back with dazzling wares and enticing offers. It was almost as if they were stalling him, their actions deliberate. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but¡­¡± He forced himself to stop mid-ruffle, withdrawing his hands from a particularly fluffy pair of ears. ¡°I must go and see this¡­ Pharaoh.¡± The fennec merchants froze. Then, in unison, they gulped. Something was fishy. Ignoring the small hands tugging at his cloak, the Spider King pushed past the encirclement of cute-eared merchants, his gaze fixed ahead. He strode purposefully toward the city¡¯s centre, where the grandiose construction of a pyramid took place. If this Pharaoh of a desert noodle was anywhere, he would be there. The streets were a patchwork of meticulously laid cobblestones, each brick no doubt laid by the resident kobolds. On both sides of the street, and all around, there were rectangular buildings, their walls forged from magically compacted sand¡ªstronger than stone and stacked in precarious, almost whimsical tiers that called to mind an otherworldly game of jenga. Intricate carvings adorned the walls, depicting lilies, ferns, and palms. It seems the residents loved their magical plants quite a bit. There were such carvings everywhere. A wave of pride washed over the Spider King as he gazed upon them. Those plants¡ªtheir beauty, their magic¡ªthey were his creation. As he admired the artistry, a shadow caught his eye. On the cobblestones before him was an empty space, its outline suggesting something grand had once stood there. ¡°???¡± He tilted his head, puzzled. Turning to the Fennec Merchants trailing behind him, he asked, ¡°A perfect spot for a statue. No?¡± They gulped, their silence betraying them. ¡°A solid gold statue. No?¡± he pressed, narrowing his eyes. The merchants avoided his gaze, their ears flattening against their heads. ¡°Hmm¡­ I seem to recall forbidding my familiar from building grandiose statues of himself and bullying the residents into submission. But he is a Pharaoh now, isn¡¯t he? How can I, a mere King, command a Great Pharaoh of the Desert?¡± he projected with sarcasm. One brave fennec stepped forward. ¡°He doesn¡¯t bully us!¡± Another chimed in. ¡°No-no! He¡¯s a good ruler!¡± ¡°Yes-yes,¡± a third agreed quickly. ¡°But¡­¡± A fourth hesitated, glancing nervously at the others. ¡°The golden statues might be¡­ too much. I admit!¡± The merchants nodded along in agreement. ¡°Aha! So there was a golden statue here after all! I knew it!¡± They gulped again, their ears twitching. ¡°And that massive pyramid,¡± he continued, gesturing toward the construction. ¡°I bet he¡¯s forcing the kobolds to build it. That bully!¡± A brave fennec stepped forward, his voice trembling but determined. ¡°The Spider King shouldn¡¯t be hasty to judge our Great Pharaoh. Perhaps¡­ see the rest of the city first?¡± ¡°Oh? So he¡¯s not forcing people to do things for him?¡± The merchants exchanged uneasy glances before one spoke. ¡°Well¡­ But! But we prosper under his rule!¡± ¡°Yes-yes!¡± the others echoed. ¡°Hmm¡­ You may have a point,¡± the Spider King conceded, stroking his chin. ¡°He might be a tyrant, but if the city prospers and everyone lives in peace¡­¡± ¡°It is very peaceful!¡± ¡°Yes-yes!¡± ¡°Much prosperity!¡± ¡°Come-come! See our Great Bazaar!¡± The tugging at his royal cloak resumed. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± 180 – The King who could "Riddle Me This 🤔" Somehow the Spider King ended up not just in the Great Bazaar but in its hidden part, a bonus part of sorts, a market within a market built right under the former. Here the fennec were peddling their extra secret wares to the most VIP of their customers. From the get-go, one particular stall caught Spider King¡¯s attention. The table was loaded with rods crafted entirely out of ScorpionGlass end etched in runes of Spider Chirp. The items were glowing ever so slightly, giving away their enchanted nature. The rods came in all sorts of shapes and sizes, the shortest at the size of his pinky and the biggest at the size of his hand, some had meticulous patterns carved into them, others had gems slotted at their base. Each was a piece of art. ¡°This is interesting¡­¡± He takes the shimmering glass rod in his hands, this one shaped to resemble the form of the Worm of Oberon. The fennec merchant perks his ears up, giving the King a brilliantly foxy smile. ¡°Spider King, you have a keen eye for treasures. Yes-Yes!¡± He flutters his ears excitedly. ¡°Treasures?¡± ¡°Yes-Yes. These items are extremely popular. The one in your hand is part of a collectable set. The Devourer Series!¡± The fennec merchant points at two other rods, one in the shape of a kingly forest snake and the other in the shape of a colossal flying whale. ¡°What a scary set! The rods are also brimming with¡­ magic?¡± ¡°True! Very true! Full of magic! Neither of the three is fit for a newbie collector. Too much power!¡± The merchant shakes his head. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± He looks at the smaller items, more mundane rods. They all are fancy glass cylinders, some are shaped in one abstractly artistic form or the other, twisting and coiling; others resemble unknown parts of some monsters, giving that ferocious vibe about them. But in the end, it¡¯s all enchanted glass ¨C a novelty of the WyrmCity. ¡°By the way, all these items are called Rods of Delight. They are extremely popular! Very much so!¡± ¡°Yes¡­ I can see their appeal. It would take a master to craft something like this. Not to mention all the enchanting. But what exactly do they do?¡± ¡°My-my¡­ you see¡­¡± the fennec leans closer to whisper. ¡°If you chant a forbidden keyword all will become clear.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Hehe~. That¡¯s right. That¡¯s right! Hehe~.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not getting it? What is the keyword?¡± ¡°Well¡­ If I said it¡­ it would trigger all the rods. The stall would be destroyed, no-no! I¡¯ll write it down for you.¡± The fennec scribbles something down. He takes the note to read it. ¡°Skidaddle-Ska¡­¡± ¡°What are you doing? Don¡¯t say it!¡± ¡°Sorry! I¡¯ve got carried away.¡± ¡°Spider King, no! King or no King, the forbidden word shouldn¡¯t be said in public. No-no!¡± The fennec scolds with a pointed finger. ¡°Got it!¡± ¡°But say, Spider King. Are you looking to delight yourself or someone special? As you can see, I have all types of rods. ¡°I¡¯m thinking of buying this glass souvenir for my wife, the Lamia Queen. But indeed there are so many, which one should I pick? ¡°The husband knows his wife best, so I can¡¯t give you recommendations. Just pick the one that seems like it. Or the one that feels right in your hand. Hehe~!¡± The merchant grins in a foxy smile. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± He looks at the various designs, one more brilliant than the other. He hesitantly hovers his hand above the rods, each emitting a different magical signature, some more powerful than others. ¡°I just can¡¯t decide. Should I go with the most powerful one?¡± ¡°I must warn you. The most powerful of delights are for experienced users only. But perhaps¡­ Since this is the Spider King¡¯s wife¡­ she craves for power, no? ¡°Right¡­ but she¡¯s not that good at handling power. I¡¯d rather not gift her something too dangerous.¡± ¡°Then how about this? This delight is rather popular.¡± The fennec points at the rod fashioned in the likeness of a certain wyrmling. ¡°Great Desert Wyrmling, The Only and True Pharaoh of the Scorching Desert!¡± ¡°Ergh¡­ I¡¯d rather not! Do you have anything more spidery?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a very popular request. Yes-Yes. But since the spiders are genderless¡­¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Oh! There is a rumour of this Lord G Bling, yes-yes? Maybe Your Majesty could send this spider to our workshop? It would boost our sales significantly!¡± ¡°Lord G Bling? Well, he is in charge of commerce, and I¡¯m sure that for a cut of your profits, the Rods of Delight could become the next big thing within the entire Monster Realm. I¡¯ll mention you to him.¡± ¡°Wonderful! As thanks, how about I show something truly special, a legendary delight, one of a kind?¡± The fennec reaches under the table, to retrieve a golden box. ¡°The raw power might be lacking but it has a plethora of features!¡± The Spider King looks inside the box. It¡¯s a glass rod alright, and rather plain at that, but unlike the others, it¡¯s jam-packed with the runes of the SpiderChirp. Moreover, Inside the crystalline glass, there¡¯s a bead of brimming vortex spinning in brilliant purple; and he feels something familiar dwelling deep inside that vortex. And despite the numerous enchantments, its power feels rather tame. Something not too powerful or nasty. ¡°You mentioned features?¡± ¡°Yes-Yes! Boost, Enlarge, Knot, DragonRidge¡­¡± The fennec lists the enchantments. ¡°That¡¯s plenty! I like the simplicity of its design, and the carved runes add a lot of charm to it.¡± He nods happily. ¡°Then it¡¯s a deal! May your wife be delighted to no end!¡± The payment is made in spirit stones. Just like before, much of the bazaar is run on a type of barter system. After purchasing some other exotic peculiarities, the Spider King finally leaves the Hidden Bazaar. True to the words of Fennec, he was forced to admit that the WyrmCity was a prosperous place. The stalls were filled with the foodstuffs of the Spider Kingdom and its vassals, anything from succulent Tomgrape to delicious CaveMushrooms. Other goods like DrowScrolls and KoboldPottery were also sold here, as well as a great degree of potions brewed by the Crimson Alchemist. The local produce was no exception. There was no lack of forbidden perfumes and creams, fiery brews of PalmJuice, shimmering trinkets of ScorpionGlass, and a wet market of desert monster bits, parts, and other materials. The ever opportunistic Fennec fleeced the Spider King of all he had, and feeling content at that feet, they finally permitted him to leave their Great Bazaar. ¡°Right¡­ The pyramid.¡± He steps towards the half-built wonder, only to be¡­ ¡°Not again!¡± He finds himself once more surrounded, this time by the ScorpionMen. They are tall fellows, their amour all sandy chitin, and their choice of arms is a glaive. They look at him in a gaze only a scorpion is capable of ¨C cold and calm but ferocious and intense at the same time. Just what do they want? ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m out of spirit stones!¡± ¡°Spider King, my pleasure!¡± the biggest of the scorpions salutes with his pincer. ¡°Your presence is desired at the WyrmPalace. This way, please.¡± The scorpion clacks its mandibles, a hint of nervousness is clear. ¡°A late reception, no? But okay, I¡¯ll come with you.¡±This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°Forgive us, Spider King!¡± The scorpion gives a low bow. ¡°We weren¡¯t expecting you so soon. Now come, the Sphinx Queen awaits.¡± ¡°Sphinx Queen?¡± He expected someone else, someone more noodly and elongated. ¡°The wife of the Great Pharaoh.¡± The scorpion clarifies. ¡°Ah¡­ Yes! I¡¯m curious about her too.¡± ¡°Come, this way.¡± The WyrmCity held many wonders and distractions, but he was shielded from it all by these pleasant soldiers. The scorpions escorted him to the palace, not once breaking their tight formation. There he is, in the great hall of WyrmPalace. The place didn¡¯t change much, except for a frightening number of dark spots left by something hastily moved and disappeared, so in retrospect, the hall looked rather empty. Past the numerous columns, at the end of the hall, there still was a gold-gilded throne however. Above the throne, on the wall, there was a set of shadowy spots, a discolouration left by hastily removing something that had been there for a long time. If one read the shadows they would make out a phrase of ¡°God Emperor Almighty¡±, alas the real letters making the text were no longer there. Right that instant, ever industrious Fennec unfurled a rolled parchment, completely hiding the pseudo lettering on the wall. The parchment was actually a flag, a flag of the Spider Kingdom. An improvement hastily made, but still an improvement. But enough of that. The real centrepiece of attention was the lady perched atop the throne. The Sphinx Queen. She was a sight to behold, part monster and part human. Her lower half was that of a ferocious lioness, her coat golden and her claws razor sharp. Her top half was a black-haired beauty of a woman, her skin tanned and her figure full of bursting charms. On her back she sported a mighty set of eagle wings. Her limbs, human and lion, were all decorated with golden jewellery and gems, sparkling in the desert sun and droving ever more attention. To keep herself away from boredom she was reading a book. Actually, there was a great stack of books by her side. It seems the Sphinxes liked to read. The scorpion men broke their formation, running to form a tunnelling reception of chitin and glaives leading all the way toward the throne. The Sphinx lifts her head away from her book. ¡°Spider King, I presume?¡± She coos in a melodic voice. ¡°Come closer so I can see you better.¡± Interested in this winged lioness just as much as she was interested in him, he does just so, but not before casting a sneaky Inspect.
Monster Race: Mythical Variant: Sphinx Queen Magic Affinity: None ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ????? ???
HP:2000 MP:500 STA:1000
Active Perks [DesertMirage], [SolarSmite], [SandstormVeil], [RiddleMeThis]
Passive Perks [RiddleCraft], [DecipherTruth], [LionViatlity], [EagleFlight], [GreaterWisdom], [PerfectMemory], [WyrmlingEmpress] [Beauty +1]
Resistances [Fire Resistance: Medium], [Earth Resistance: Medium], [Wind Resistance: Medium], [Ligh Resistance: Lesser] [Dark Weakness: Greater]
Yeah¡­ that adds up. ¡°[Inspect]¡­¡± The Sphinx Queen mumbles, hiding her lips behind the book. ¡°O_O,¡± her eyes go big, unable to hide her disbelief at the plethora of titles and perks she sees. ¡°Haha. I guess no further introductions are necessary.¡± ¡°¡­ ahem¡­ oh my.¡± She tugs at her golden collar, her cheeks blushing. ¡°If my dearest mewling of a husband is your familiar. Then what that makes me?¡± ¡°A wife of a familiar! Ha! Did I get the riddle right?¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t riddling¡­ never mind. My dearest mewling is preoccupied, so in his stead, I¡¯m here to entertain you.¡± ¡°With riddles, right?¡± ¡°Huh? No. Unless¡­ you want to?¡± Still blushing, she gives a mysterious smile. ¡°Why not? Riddle me this Sphinx: I¡¯m patient but deadly, I wait but don¡¯t sleep. When you see me, it''s too late ¡ª your fate is mine to keep. What am I?¡± He jumps to riddle the Sphinx. ¡°Aha! The tables are turned! I bet you didn¡¯t expect this! I am the Riddler now!¡± He pays back her mischievous smile with his own. ¡°Erm¡­ actually my dearest also did... never mind. I know the answer! It¡¯s the Spider King!¡± ¡°¡­ Arm, no. The answer is a hunting spider, but I guess you''re half right.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ only half right. That¡¯s no good. Riddle me another one then.¡± ¡°The more you fight me, the stronger I hold. The more you struggle, the tighter my fold. What am I?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the Spider King for sure!¡± ¡°No! And why? The correct answer is a web!¡± ¡°It could also be quicksand by the way.¡± She drops it with a slight giggle. ¡°Wait¡­ you¡¯re right. In that case, I¡¯ll give you another one. Just think carefully this time alright? I take life without breath, I ensnare without hands, I feed without chasing, and I kill without a sound. What am I?¡± ¡°Spider King! It¡¯s the Spider King! I¡¯ve finally got it!¡± ¡°It was either a spider or a web but either way¡­¡± He sighs. ¡°I give up¡­ Just what sort of a monster do you think I am? I don¡¯t do those things! Well, not like that!¡± ¡°Well, according to this book,¡± she casually whips out a leather-bound tome. ¡°You are¡­¡± She doesn¡¯t get to finish. ¡°[SpinWeb]!¡± The book lands in his hands. ¡°I was curious about them. Erm¡­ ¡®Tangled in His Web¡¯ by CrimsonBling. Huh? CrimsonBling? ¡°Oh! You know of them? What is your favourite title? Mine is ¡®Silk, Seduction, and Six-Legged Shenanigans¡¯. Wait, no! I¡¯m just halfway through it but it must be ¡®Royal Webbing: How to Trap a Kingdom (and Maybe a Lover)¡¯, it''s just so spicy!¡± ¡°¡­ the titles are highly sus. What are these books about exactly?¡± He casually opens a random page. ¡°O_O,¡± caught off guard his eyes go big; the book has spicy pictures. ¡°Why don¡¯t I tell you about my favourite scene? I have it memorized~!¡± Using her perfect memory she begins quoting the passage: ¡°She never saw the web until it was too late. One moment, she strode confidently through the moonlit forest, and the next¡ªsilken strands kissed her skin, tightening with a practiced, deliberate grace. A shadow loomed above. Four golden eyes drank in her struggle, his voice a husky purr. "Careful now," the Spider King murmured, descending slowly, silk gliding through his fingers like a lover¡¯s touch. "Struggle too much, and you¡¯ll only get yourself more... entangled." The threads tightened as she shivered. Caught. Claimed. At his mercy! Just¡­ Just as he planned. The Spider King slipped in his¡­¡± ¡°Stop! You can stop now! Just who writes this slander about me?!¡± ¡°CrimsonBling? Since their description of you is near-perfect I assumed you knew of them?¡± ¡°Near perfect?! And these pictures are just¡­ Argh! I better find who they are and have a proper talking to!¡± ¡°Well, either way¡­ this is fiction. .. .. .. Please don¡¯t bend the book. Hey! Stop trying to rip it in half!¡± ¡°You have it memorized, don¡¯t you? So what¡¯s the problem!?¡± ¡°No! Seriously! Don¡¯t rip it!¡± The Sphinx Queen wrangles the book back and carefully stores it in a safe place. Feeling that there is no point in pursuing the matter further, the Spider King changes the topic. ¡°I¡¯m curious. Just how did you and my wyrmling meet each other? And how come you¡¯re his wife all of a sudden?¡± ¡°I knew you would ask~.¡± She gives him a sunny smile. ¡°Let¡¯s go there and I tell you all about it.¡± ¡°There? Hey, where are you dragging me?¡± The sphinx smiles mischievously, activating her RiddleMeThis. ¡°I am something all seek but few ever find, A space of your own, where none can mind. I thrive in silence, away from prying eyes, A treasure of solitude, in which truth lies. What am I? Where am I?¡± Spelling out her riddle, the Sphinx drags the slightly perplexed King to who knows where. 181 – The Wyrm Who Spun Gold from Words The Sphinx Queen raises the crystal glass to bask it in the rays of the sun; it sparkles in brilliant light, colouring the liquid inside in all colours of the rainbow. She gazes at the dancing liquid, her eyes filled with wonder. But there was more in her deep eyes; there was a memory of something magical. ¡°As long as I live, I¡¯ll never forget our first meeting. [DesertMirage].¡± Like the rainbow in her glass, a brilliant mirage comes alive, filling the space with colourful images and vivid sounds. Through it, she tells a charming tale. ===[Mirage]=== The Sphinx had just the right riddle, one which stood the test of time. Neither wised kings nor battle-hardened warriors were able to answer it. Grinning down at her prey she purrs out her iconic riddle. "What has one voice, walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?" A wyrmling rumbles a deep chuckle. ¡°Meow, but why must it be you who asks? I have a riddle of my own, something I¡¯ve prepared just for you, meow-meow. ¡°¡­¡± The sphinx blinks. No one had ever dared to turn the game upon her. How¡­ daring. How¡­ audacious. ¡°Meow?! What¡¯s up with that look? Are you afraid of a challenge? Afraid to lose?¡± ¡°I am not! Make your riddle, wyrm.¡± The wyrm¡¯s golden eyes gleam in mischief. ¡°Then tell me, Riddle-Mistress.¡± His voice is like shifting sands, smooth and deep. "What burns without flame, yet sets the strongest of hearts ablaze? What cages the wildest beast, yet has no bars or chains? What makes a queen of any who bear it, yet cannot be stolen or gifted?" The Sphinx flicks her tail in excitement, her ears twitching at the question. She knew that answer before he had even finished, but the way he spoke it, the way his gaze roamed over her form as if she were the answer itself ¨C oh, the wyrm was clever. ¡°Beauty.¡± She purrs an answer, lips parting in a slow, pleased grin. ¡°A smooth tongue for a beast of scales, I liked your riddle.¡± The wyrm only chuckles again, pleased that she had caught his meaning. But he was not done. His coils shift, his scales sparkling in the desert sun as if poised to dazzle her. ¡°Another, meow. One more, for the Lady of Riddles,¡± he meowls enticingly. Without waiting for her agreement, the wyrm speaks his riddle. Each word is spoken with burning heat, hot like the desert sun, but instead of scalding, it¡¯s just pleasantly warm. Words full of fiery passion are spoken. ¡°Who are they, who are both ancient and eternally young? Who are they, who are adorned with the strength of a lion and the grace of a falcon? Who are they, whose gaze holds the secrets of ages, and whose voice echoes with the wisdom of time?¡± She arched a brow, then let out a soft, pleased purr. ¡°Now you seek to flatter me,¡± her cheeks flush. ¡°The answer is a Sphinx.¡± The wyrm meowls in approval, his voice rumbling. ¡°Meow! Indeed, and she is the most enchanting answer.¡± The Sphinx, for once, found herself a fitting match. She was used to playing with mortals, watching them squirm beneath her questions, revelling in their foolish demise. But here was one who knew how to play his riddles well, using her wisdom in his own favour. A dangerous Wyrm for sure¡­ ¡°You are bold, Wyrm, to so brazenly turn the riddles against me.¡± ¡°And you are radiant, my Sphinx, to answer them so well,¡± he meowled smoothly, whispering in the desert wind. The Wyrm coils closer to her, his eyes gleaming with something dangerous, his scales shimmering like a molten treasure under the scorching skin. He lifts his head, his posture poised to strike the final blow. "What jewel outshines the sun, yet is never set in gold? What treasure is sought by kings and dragons, yet cannot be hoarded? What has a beauty that ensnares, wisdom that enchants, and a voice that lulls even the fiercest desert beasts into submission? Tell me, Sphinx, what do I desire the most? " The Sphinx stills, her tail curls, her wings flicking as the weight of his words sank into her. She knew the answer. Oh, she knew it well. Slowly, a sunny grin stretched across her lips. Then, she stretched like a great cat, her wings flexing, her golden coat glistening. ¡°My, my¡­¡± She purrs. ¡°A Wyrm who knows how to spin words like silk.¡± The Wyrm chuckles, his smile mimicking hers. ¡°I have great teachers. So? What¡¯s the answer?¡± She met his gaze, amber to gold, her cheeks burning like the sun above. ¡°The answer¡­¡± She purrs a murmur, voice heated like a desert breeze. ¡°¡­ is me~.¡± The Wyrm nods, coiling ever closer. ¡°Precisely. Now, come and be my Queen, my Lady of the Riddles, my dearest Sphinx.¡± This was not how it worked. This was not how the riddles were meant to go. All three times, she got it right, and yet she felt defeated. No¡­ she felt something else. For once, the Sphinx had no retort; only the heat of the desert sun, and the heat of something far more dangerous coiling in her chest. ===[Mirage END]=== ¡°Of course, the riddling didn¡¯t end there. But let¡¯s not go into detail about what happened next.¡± She made a pleased purr, her cheeks blushing. ¡°My meowling, ahh, he knows how to riddle a lady.¡± She purrs again, hotter this time.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°I see¡­ So, he made you his Queen?¡± ¡°Yes. I am his scorching sun and he is my desert wind; we are destined to be together~. Ahh, Isn¡¯t my meowling just the best thing ever~?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I guess he¡¯s all right.¡± ¡°More than that, he is great~. He¡¯s the Great Desert Wyrm, the only and true Pharaoh of the Scorching Desert!¡± ¡°You¡¯re so devoted to him.¡± He nods with a happy smile, his eyes landing on a certain item left on the nightstand. ¡°Now I understand why you got a delight made in his image.¡± He looks at the rod in the shape of the wyrmling. ¡°Oh¡­ Ahh¡­ umm¡­¡± The Sphinx rushes to the nightstand, quickly showing the rod in the top drawer. ¡°Sorry about that. I forgot I¡¯ve left it there.¡± ¡°Huh? It¡¯s quite all right. Nothing to be embarrassed about. It¡¯s actually very cute of you to have a magical rod fashioned in the image of your beloved. By the way, I¡¯ve been told many of the rods are collectable. Is it the only one you have?¡± ¡°¡­¡± She pauses bashfully, her cheeks reddening. ¡°My meowling is enough. I don¡¯t need other delights, just one.¡± ¡°So not a collector then. I¡¯m asking because I¡¯ve got one for my wife.¡± He takes the delight out of his inventory. ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°Spider King¡­¡± The sphinx looks, her eyes growing wide. ¡°This is very impressive. A legendary delight¡­ Just how many functions does it have?¡± ¡°As you can see it¡¯s packed with enchantments, so loads. But I haven¡¯t been able to test it.¡± ¡°Oh my¡­ what are you trying to say¡­¡± She flutters her wings. ¡°Huh? I¡¯ve been told these rods are powerful, even dangerous, so you know¡­¡± ¡°I see¡­ I just thought you want to test it now¡­¡± she turns away, hiding her eyes. ¡°I¡¯m not even sure how to use them. But can I? Can you show me how?¡± ¡°Spider King, what are you saying¡­ I¡¯m a married woman you know¡­¡± She hides her face behind the wings. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I¡¯m flattered, I am, but this is something you should do with your wife, the Lamia Queen.¡± ¡°Oh, I get it. After all, it is her gift.¡± He puts the legendary delight back into his inventory. ¡°Phew¡­.¡± For some reason, the air in the room grows awkward. As if to clear that air the sphinx lets a deep sigh, her wings flapping to cool her heated body. ¡°Say, Spider King, was this a test?¡± ¡°Huh? What?¡± ¡°To test my loyalty. To my dearest mewling, and to you?¡± ¡°What a strange question¡­ I¡¯m not here to test anyone. I was just curious about you two, that¡¯s all.¡± ¡°My loyalty lies with my dearest mewling, so don¡¯t tempt me like that alright?¡± Her tail flicks out with determination. ¡°I still don¡¯t get it. But alright. Speaking of which, where is he? I really need to talk to him.¡± ¡°Right¡­ I think I¡¯ve delayed you enough. Come, I¡¯ll escort you to my dearest meowling.¡± She leads him through the WyrmPalace, taking him deeper, lower, to the inner reaches. They end up either in the basement or the palace dungeon, whatever you want to call it. But it wasn¡¯t quite that either. It was a huge space, much like storage would be, but it was filled to the brim with various items of gold. There were piles of chalices, candelabras, cutlery, plates, frames, sculptures, and all sorts of other gold items. This was even more gold than he had in the treasury of the Spider Kingdom. ¡°So much¡­¡± The Spider King looked with a slack jaw. ¡°Yes~,¡± the Sphinx purred. ¡°Our hoard of treasures. We pulled them together. Isn¡¯t it magnificent?¡± Yes, yes it was. But there was more to it. In the middle of the hoard, slotted in the flooring, there was a vat full of molten gold. Spiders and fennec alike were running towards the vat, dropping golden items inside. Even the magnificent statue of the wyrmling was painstakingly dragged through the floor and then hurriedly dropped into the molten gold pool. ¡°What¡¯s going on¡­¡± The Spider King was left confused. ¡°Meow!¡± Out of the pile of gold, a noodly fellow slithered towards him, his tail kicking the scattered gold around. He¡¯s bigger and longer than the Spider King remembered, but clearly still a juvenile wyrm. ¡°Greetings Master!¡± The wyrmling welcomed him with a stretched tail. ¡°What¡¯s happening here?¡± He asks. ¡°Meow? I¡¯m destroying the eviden¡­ I mean, I¡¯m melting all my gold.¡± ¡°Your statues too? You¡¯re melting them?! I can¡¯t believe it¡­¡± ¡°What statues? Meow? I¡¯m melting everything, yes. Making coins.¡± ¡°Coins?¡± ¡°Meow, have a look. [Inventory].¡± Seemingly out of thin air, a tiny portal opens. A coin flies out of the portal and right into the Spider King¡¯s hand. This coin wasn¡¯t just money, it was a piece of art. The rim of it was framed by a coiling wyrm, the Great Desert Wyrm himself. He ate his own tail completing the perfect circle. On one side there was an embossed image of three imposing spiders, nested close to each other like brothers in arms. The three were: Lord G Bling, Spider Archmage, and Spider Advisor. The three had a somewhat menacing look about them, almost as if they were ready to jump out of the coin and strike. The other side had an incredibly detailed image of the SpideryPalace, it was surrounded by endless fields of tomgrape vines. ¡°Amazing¡­ but why?¡± ¡°Because, meow, the barter system can do only so much.¡± He was right, the Monster Realm traded mostly by swapping one item for the other. Sometimes it was for now-fallen Holy Empire coins, but that was a rare exception. The wyrmling continues, his tail pointing at the massive coin press by the molten gold vat. ¡°By the edict of the Spider Council, meow, I¡¯ve been entrusted in overseeing the minting of the coins.¡± ¡°I get it. What a brilliant idea! But isn''t this your gold? You¡¯re even melting your statues¡­¡± ¡°What statues, meow? By the way, a good portion of the hoard belongs to my wife.¡± He looks at the wife in question, who was patiently standing all the time, her eyes solely locked on the wyrmling. ¡°But Sphinx Queen, are you alright with that?¡± ¡°Ah!? Sorry, I¡¯ve got distracted¡­ What is mine is his. My dear meowling can do whatever he likes with the hoard. *Smooch!¡± She leaps to kiss the wyrmling on the head. ¡°Meow! Not in front of my Meowster! ¡­ And what is mine is yours, Master. This is a gift from us to you.¡± ¡°A gift? I still can¡¯t believe that you¡¯re willing to part with your gold so easily¡­ There must be a trick.¡± He gives the wyrmling a piercing stare. The Sphinx leaps to reply. ¡°There is no trick. I¡¯m marrying into your family, so part of it is my dowry to you, Spider King. I¡¯ll be looking after your son from now on, please bless our marriage.¡± ¡°A son¡­¡± He wasn¡¯t sure the word quite fit. ¡°He¡¯s my familiar¡­ but it is true that I sort of hatched him.¡± He mumbles mostly to himself. ¡°A son then¡­ Fine, you have my blessing. I hope you live happy and in prosperity.¡± ¡°Yes! *Smooch!¡± ¡°Meow~!¡± [ChaosBlessed activated] A Wyrm and Sphinx both look at each other, then to the Spider King. ¡°ChaosBlessed, meow?¡± He tilts his head. ¡°ChaosBlessed? ¡­ Thank you?¡± She flicks her wings. ¡°Erm¡­ You¡¯re welcome?¡± Truthfully, he didn¡¯t know what it did exactly. But a blessing is a blessing, so no point in overthinking it. ¡°Meow. By the way, Master, you¡¯ve come earlier than expected. Neither the gold coins nor the pyramid is finished. Meow¡­¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The Sphinx adds with a nod. ¡°The wedding ceremony is still weeks away.¡± ¡°Meow-meow, do you intend to stay?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve rushed in because I was shocked by the news. But after seeing the Sphinx Queen and talking with her for a bit, I know you are in good hands. I can¡¯t stay, but I¡¯ll be back for the ceremony with the Lamia Queen, and perhaps¡­ Centauri Champion.¡± ¡°Meow? Centauri Champion, meow-meow~¡­¡± The wyrmling leans to whisper to his wife. ¡°Oh my¡­¡± the Sphinx gives the King a sultry look. ¡°¡­so the two of them¡­¡± ¡°Meow¡­ Meow-meow~, *Whisper-Whisper.¡± ¡°¡­ just like in that novel¡­ what was the title again?¡± ¡°Meow¡­ ¡®The perfect ride for the perfect Master¡¯, I think.¡± He whispers. ¡°Hah! You know whispering right in front of the King is quite rude! And who''s writing these novels? I really need to talk with them!¡± ¡­ From that day on, all the Monster Realm coins were minted in the WyrmCity. Not only minted there but stored as well. The hoard of gold only swelled with each passing day. As the Monster Realm grew so did the piles of the treasure. That was The Trick! While the coins belonged to the Spider King, the wyrmling was the custodian of them, hence getting to store them in his hoard; and that was what mattered. So many coins, so many. Moreover, they even carried the image of him on the rim, so in a sense he had thousands upon thousands of mini-statues of himself. So what if few left his hoard? ¨C Even better, because as they left they carried the glory of the Great Desert Wyrm, spreading it all around the Monster Realm. Meow~! ¨C Great Desert Wyrm; the Only and True Pharaoh of the Scorching Desert; minter of all the coins; owner of the Greatest Hoard in the world; dearest meowling of the most beautiful and the wisest Sphinx Queen; envy of all dragons, drakes, wyrms, kobolds, and men alike. 182 - Spider Lords Who Weave Across The Realm. Beneath the Spider Palace, in a place untouched by any but the most privileged few, lay a hidden chamber. Veiled in soul-piercing silence, It was a sanctum of shadow and scheming; a hidden place where the web of secrets was made. A brazier burned with DarkFlame, casting flickering waves of purple light upon the chamber¡¯s six-legged occupants. The flame breathed, its glow pulsing in rhythm with the hush of conspiracy, illuminating the sinister faces of three spiders there. The three sat at the heart of this web of deception. They were not merely lords of their domains, but architects of something far greater¡ªa design so grand, so insidious, that it sought to bind the world itself in silken chains. The first spider reclined in eerie stillness, clad in a suit of BlueCloth, its threads smooth like silk and vibrant blue like an ocean. Threads of gold wove intricate webs upon the fabric, each filament glowing with arcane energy, pulsing ever so faintly. In his spider-fingered grasp, he held a sceptre¡ªa masterpiece, an artefact of near absolute power: the Authority of Webs. Its twisted shaft bore ancient runes, carved in the language of Spider-Chirp, each whispering a forgotten incantation. At its peak, a magnificent, ever-changing web shimmered between the forked ends of the sceptre, woven of living purple light. At its centre, something trembled, something pulsed¡ªa mysterious soul, perhaps, caught forever in an unbreakable snare. This was the Spider Advisor, Lord of Domestic Affairs¡ªkeeper of order, overseer of tomgrape fields, the bestest advisor of the realm. The second spider was more shadow than spider, his form veiled in the abyssal weave of DarkAgave. A shroud of ethereal darkness coiled around him, shifting like an unquiet dream, making his very shape uncertain, unreal. Yet within that consuming void, four golden eyes smouldered, piercing through the blackness like the gaze of an ancient horror lurking somewhere in between reality and nightmare. Two long, spindly arms extended from the living night, each bearing an artefact of unspeakable power. In one clawed grasp, he held the Spider-Nom-Nomicon, a tome bound in golden thread, its leathery cover contorted in a grin of a smirking spider. Its pages flipped by themselves, rustling with unseen movement, its Spider-Chirp runes whispering dark secrets. In the other hand, he cradled the Sphere of Magic, an obsidian crystal crackling with purple bolts of sorcerous lightning, each one striking like the claws of a hunting spider, or crackling all over in a trapping web pattern. This was the Spider Archmage, Lord of Magical Research¡ªa master of the unknowable, an architect of dark spells and bindings of soul magic. And he would see the world entangled in the threads of chaos. The third spider did not bother with the subtle movements of the others. He did not have to. He gleamed. He shone. He SPARKLED. Heavy chains of gold draped across his body like a second exoskeleton, each link encrusted with gems that flickered in the dim glow of purple flame. His spidery legs bore bands of gold, his spindly fingers encased in rings, at least two to three upon each. Everything about him dripped with wealth, wealth that was power, and he carried himself as one who knew it. Yet it was not the gold that made him formidable. It was the way he stood, the way he folded his hands, the way his mandibles parted ever so slightly before curling into a confident grin. His every movement spoke of control¡ªnot through magic, nor sheer power, but through the invisible web of commerce that ensnared all things. This was Lord G. Bling, the Lord of Commerce¡ªthe most evolved of all spiders, the one who spun the world¡¯s desires into chains of monetary obligation. And he would see the world willingly sell itself into his trap. The three stood in their secret chamber, the silence stretching long between them, thick with unspoken secrets and plots. They did not need words to understand one another. Tonight, their plotting would begin in earnest. Tonight, the world¡¯s fate would be woven anew. And soon¡­ no creature¡ªman, beast, or monster¡ªwould ever be¡­ Free? No. Not that¡ªwithout oath, without guidance, without undying love of their Spider King! The Spider Advisor clacked his mandibles, finally breaking the silence. ¡°Greetings, Spider Lords. I wave you my sincerest spider wave.¡± He lifted his spindly arm and performed a masterful wave, his bestest spider wave. The other two waved back, their gestures equally precise. This was no mere formality¡ªit was a sacred ritual, a tradition woven deep into their oath-bound history. Their ancestors had waved, and so too would they. It took mastery to perfect such an ancient art. ¡°Greetings,¡± the Spider Archmage murmured from the shifting void of his cloak. He waved, his sceptre and sphere swirling through the air, his spindly arms carving intricate arcs like an all-consuming vortex. ¡°Greetings,¡± Lord G Bling waved, the weight of his golden chains rattling as they clashed against each other, a dazzling, almost hypnotic clamour. The gemstones upon his rings flared under the eerie purple glow, casting fragmented light across the chamber in a wave both blinding and charming. A moment of silence followed, a sacred appreciation for the artistry of their exquisite spider waves. At last, the Spider Advisor resumed. ¡°There is much webbing to untangle. Our silk spreads ever outward, catching more prey, ensnaring more lands. The Spidery Grand Plan nears completion. Lord G Bling, you shall be the first to spin your tale. Tell us of the strands you have woven.¡± Lord G Bling stretched his mandibles into a menacing, spidery grin. ¡°My threads are firmly in place,¡± he chirped. ¡°The Aurelian Duchy and its neighboring human kingdoms are knotted deep within my web snare. The humans remain blind, happily consuming our goods, blissfully serving our King¡¯s will. Everywhere you look, you will find our touch. The food they eat, the clothes they wear, the houses they live in¡ªeverything made by our claws. They grow lazier by the day, relying more and more on our spidery ¡®helpers¡¯. They do not yet realize it, but by now, they are cocooned too tightly to ever wriggle free.¡± The Spider Advisor twitched his mandibles in satisfaction. ¡°Exquisite, simply exquisite! The first arch of our web holds firm. But what of the second and third?¡± The gleam in Lord G Bling¡¯s golden eyes sharpened. ¡°The second arch of the web is as good as spun. The humans have given us their little ones. With such enthusiasm, they eagerly deliver their spawn to our spidery gardens, and then to our spidery workshops. There, we teach them the glories of the Spider King and the joy that is to Serve him. Soon¡­¡± Overeager, the Spider Archmage chirped from within the cloud of shadows. ¡°Glorious! May we Serve eternally in a soul-bound oath!¡± ¡°We shall Serve eternally!¡± ¡°We shall Serve eternally!¡± Bound by etiquette, the two had no choice but to echo the roaring chirp. However, the Spider Advisor flexed a stern claw, waving it disapprovingly. ¡°¡­Please, do not tangle the conversation, Spider Archmage. Lord G Bling had yet to finish spinning his report.¡± ¡°Right¡­ Where was I?¡± Lord G Bling adjusted his many golden bands, their shimmer settling. ¡°I wish to add that the young ones adore their spider mentors, though they still have much to learn of the oath, of what it means to Serve. It will take time, but in time, they will be fully entwined in our bindings. That leads us to the final arch¡ªthe union of spider and human. My beloved wife is the key¡­ or rather, our daughter. This strand of the web is delicate, but if woven carefully, it will bring the humans ever closer to us. To our oath. To eternity. What say you, Spider Archmage?¡± The Spider Archmage¡¯s eyes glowed within the midnight-bound hood. The crystal in his hand pulsed, purple lightning lashing like silk threads caught in a storm. ¡°Yes¡­ Yes!¡± he chirped, the energy within the sphere crackling in agreement. ¡°By mixing our blood with theirs, they too shall inherit our eternal oath. And thus, our nest shall grow ever larger!¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Lord G Bling nodded approvingly. The Spider Advisor turned, pointing his sceptre toward the Spider Archmage. ¡°And what of your own threads, Spider Archmage? What strands have you spun?¡± The Spider Archmage hesitated. The pages of his tome fluttered as if uncertain. ¡°Unlike Lord G Bling, I do not weave so¡­ meticulously. My webs are vast and tangled, spun in chaos. My threads do not follow a single path. They spiral, they shift, they ensnare in unpredictable ways.¡± The Spider Advisor clacked his mandibles knowingly. ¡°Now, now, Spider Archmage, we all know you are a master spinner. Surely, you too have made strides toward fulfilling the Spidery Grand Plan. That crystal in your grasp¡ªis it what I think it is?¡± The sphere pulsed, lightning coiling through its obsidian depths, splitting it in a web-like pattern. The Spider Archmage chirped excitedly. ¡°Yes! The Sphere of Magic is complete at last! Ah, but I must not take all the credit. The Crystal Spider, the Darkness Spider, even the Drow Assistant¡­ So many others wove their strands into this masterpiece.¡± ¡°Exemplary! The strongest webs are spun together!¡± The Spider Advisor chirped in delight. ¡°And does the sphere function as intended?¡± The lighting in the sphere flashed in glee. ¡°Oh, yes. It functions beautifully. It acts as a magical nexus. Those who wield a Spider SoulStone can interface with it, sending their mana into the crystal from afar. Its power level is¡­ wait, let me [Inspect]¡­ over 9 million MP.¡± ¡°Over 9 million?¡± ¡°Impossible!¡± The shadows around the Spider Archmage rippled with mirth. ¡°Hehehe¡­ And yet, it is true.¡± The veil of darkness twisted in sheer, uncontained joy. ¡°How are your other webs?¡± the Spider Advisor chirped, his mandibles clicking. The darkness within the shadow veil hummed in contemplation. ¡°Hmm¡­ Our research into SoulStones and soul magic is progressing well, all thanks to the Oni Shaman the King ensnared. By now, we can successfully Reincanate spiders, preserving their memories and experiences, no matter how far they stray from the Soul Well or how¡­ unfortunate¡­ their demise may be.¡± His tome fluttered, flipping its own pages as if whispering in agreement. ¡°Alas, it is only spiders we can weave back into existence. Something about our essence makes us uniquely compatible with this process. Humans, Drow, Centauri, and others however¡­ while we can ensnare their souls, reincarnation strips them of their memories. More research is required.¡± His spindly fingers tightened around the pulsing sphere. ¡°I wonder¡­ what would happen to the half-breeds Lord G Bling seeks to weave into this world? Would they inherit our eternal thread, our undying oath, or would they unravel, come half undone?¡± A prison¡¯s worth of chains clattered as Lord G Bling straightened. ¡°Spider Archmage! My daughter isn¡¯t even hatched yet, and already you cast your webs upon her? Denied!¡± The Spider Advisor¡¯s sceptre swayed, its enchanted web pulsing with a soothing glow. ¡°Now, now, Lord G Bling, I am certain the Spider Archmage means no harm. This is merely the curiosity of a researcher.¡± At once, the merchant spider relaxed. ¡°I understand. We all wonder what strand she will weave.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± The Spider Advisor nodded. ¡°Any other webs we should know of, Spider Archmage?¡± The Spider Archmage tapped his claw against his tome, sifting through countless entanglements. ¡°Hmm¡­ I have too many webs. But one you should know of¡ªour work with the Oni. We have successfully transformed them into Blue Oni. The latter are fully loyal to the Spider King.¡± A pause, his golden eyes narrowing. ¡°However¡­ a peculiar cult is forming among them. They have begun worshipping the Combain Spider.¡± ¡°As long as it is a spider, it should be fine,¡± Lord G Bling chirped, catering his jewellery in agreement. The Spider Advisor suddenly opened his mandibles in revelation. ¡°Actually, this works in our favour. If the Combain Spider becomes their deity, we can mould their faith. With a little weaving, we can turn the Oni Shogunate into a theocracy, further severing them from the Demon Realm.¡± The darkness of the Spider Archmage¡¯s shadow veil shimmered with newfound brilliance. ¡°Yes¡­ The Oni Shogunate teeters on its last legs. Famine¡­ Monsters¡­ Rebellion¡­ A precarious balance.¡± The darkness twitched in excitement. ¡°This will work. A masterful web you weave, Spider Advisor. My commendations!¡± ¡°No need.¡± The Spider Advisor bowed his head slightly. ¡°It is thanks to the webs you have spun.¡± He lifted his sceptre, its enchanted strands glowing with authority. ¡°Now, let us speak of the next web arch of the Spidery Grand Plan. As you know, the Spider King has mounted the Centauri Champion. Soon, yet another spider-hybrid will emerge, bringing the Centauri further into our fold. However¡­¡± He paused, tilting his head. ¡°Since the blood is that of our King, this hybrid will not be bound by the eternal soul oath.¡± He let the statement hang, awaiting the thoughts of his fellow weavers. Lord G Bling waved a bejewelled limb, his chains glistening. ¡°They will Serve regardless.¡± His voice was certain, full of conviction. ¡°Look at the Chaos Lamia Queen¡ªso young, yet her achievements are many. I¡¯m half surprised she is not a spider herself.¡± The shadows of the Spider Archmage stirred. ¡°Oh? Why is that?¡± The Spider Advisor spun his sceptre through the air. ¡°Lord G Bling is correct. She spins her webs like one of us. Ever since the Holy Empire shattered into many fractured kingdoms, her Chaos Lamia have infiltrated the human nobility. Through Illusion and Charm magic, they have woven themselves into the courts, some even binding themselves to kings and princes in marriage. And with the assistance of Elisabeth, the Radiant Angel, a new faith spreads¡ªlike a web spun overnight.¡± ¡°The DarkFlame¡­¡± The Spider Archmage whispered, his tone layered with intrigue. The three spiders turned their gaze toward the brazier in the center of the chamber. Within, a cold fire flickered¡ªnot merely a spell, but something more. Currenly, a deity had slumbered within its arcane fire. Now, the flame could not be conjured without invoking something¡­ divine. Its essence was tinted in chaos: dark and burning cold, yet illuminating and warm; the divine ember was friendly to all who cared to open their eyes and peer deep into its arcane abyss. Lord G Bling chirped a deep, rumbling sigh. ¡°I do not know what to make of it. It is a child of chaos, and our King kindled its first spark. Surely, that means it is something good¡­ and yet, I cannot help but feel it spins its own webs.¡± The Spider Archmage nodded. ¡°Yes¡­ Its affinity with spiders is high. But we, bound by our oath, would never truly worship it.¡± ¡°Indeed¡­ but we can use it to advance our master web.¡± The Spider Advisor raised his sceptre higher, the glowing strands within shifting like spun silk. ¡°Like sticky threads, we will cast it over others, ensnaring them within. Through it, we shall bring more into our fold. So they can Serve too.¡± The other two nodded in agreement as if it was the most obvious thing ever. A thoughtful hum sprung from the Spider Archmage. ¡°Hmm¡­ One more thing, Spider Advisor. A clarification, if you will. To bring the Spidery Grand Plan closer to a full web, we¡¯ll have Spider-Human hybrids through Lord G Bling, and Spider-Centauri hybrids through the Spider King. But how about the Drow? I¡¯m sure our drider, Drow Assistant, is ready and willing, and the compatibility should be high.¡± Lord G Bling twitched excitedly. ¡°If so¡­ What of Spider Navigator? If we mix our blood with our King¡¯s, we could create the ultimate spider!¡± The Sceptre of Authority pulsed in a brilliant glow. ¡°Calm yourselves. All in due time. If we spin too hastily, the web will come out wobbly.¡± ¡°Mmm¡­¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± The spiders pondered in contemplation. The Spider Advisor finally spoke, his voice firm. ¡°The Spidery Grand Plan requires careful spinning. We will weave quietly, subtly, unseen. And when our web stretches across the world, all will Serve the Spider King without ever realizing it.¡± Lord G Bling chirped wistfully. ¡°Yes¡­ People will become spiders, and the world will transform into a web.¡± The Spider Archmage¡¯s shadow veil nearly unravelled as he chirped out with passion. ¡°We all will be united under a single thread! Love to our King, his love to us, and our oath!¡± The Spider Advisor tapped his sceptre against the burning brazier, its radiant web shimmering, the DarkFlame burning brighter. ¡°Then, Spider Lords, thicken your threads, cast your webs, and bring others into our fold so they may learn the joy that is to Serve the Spider King.¡± ¡°We shall Serve eternally!¡± x3 The meeting was adjourned. But not before¡­ The Spider Archmage suddenly narrowed his eyes at the farthest corner of the chamber. ¡°I was meaning to ask¡­ why is there a squirrel?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Lord G Bling turned, surprised. ¡°I didn¡¯t even notice.¡± The Spider Advisor scratched just beneath his mandibles. ¡°A squirrel¡­ How odd.¡± He strode closer, claw outstretched. ¡°Ha! Perhaps a spy?¡± ¡°Meep, meep!¡± The squirrel squeaked both in protest and in fright. ¡°Relax, little fellow. I¡¯m only joking.¡± The Spider Advisor carefully plucked it up. ¡°It must have skittered in unnoticed. A lucky thing you spotted it, Spider Archmage.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ just look how scrawny and starved it is.¡± ¡°Indeed. Let us bring it to the surface.¡± And with that, the meeting¡ªat last¡ªwas adjourned. The master web will be spun further and the Spidery Grand Plan will see its completion. 182.5 – Mini Thread: The Fruit That Bound The Squirrel In Its Web The all-consuming darkness wanes, chased by the celestial orb that ascends, its golden threads dispelling the last vestiges of horrors of the night. The webbed heavens above, woven with the delicate craft of the Skittering Gods, tremble in joy as the great daybreak is revealed. Lo, as if banished, the tendrils of shadow coil and retreat whence they came, and the fell droplets of blackened rain ¨C whose accursed puddles stain the land in dark lament ¨C rise and vanish into nothing. It is time to feast. From the tangled roots of the holy vine, a great and swollen form stirs forth. It shudders, straining against the very earth that cradles it, for its blessed girth is such that motion is no small undertaking. Labourously. With great and ponderous effort. A noble figure emerges. Lo! Brother Acorn, most sanctified knight of the order of the Plump, he who is round and full, he who aspires ever toward perfection. A squirrel of such divine rotundity, of such blessed corpulence, that his form may rival the great celestial spheres that adorn the heavens. His fur is soft and full, stretched taut over his holy mass, a hue not of mere common brown but tinged ever so slightly with the blessed blue ¨C a sign of his faith, his devotion, his evolution. And yet¡­ he STRAINS. A great tremor courses through his mighty belly as he labours forth, hauling himself from the vine-wreathed hollow in which he had lain, dreaming of spherical perfection. The earth groans beneath him, indenting as his oh-so-blessed weight presses upon it. Once, long ago, he had been as the others¡ªsmall, lithe, weak of limb. But the sacred fruit had changed him, moulded him into that which the Skittering Gods most dote and cherish. Lo, at his feet, a fallen offering! A tomgrape. A most perfect sphere of blue, the divine fruit of the Skittering Gods. It glistens with the morning¡¯s dew, its juice a promise of fulfilment. With trembling paws, Brother Acorn claims his prize, raising it to his maw. His incisors pierce the delicate flesh ¨C oh, the sweetness! The rapture! The sacrament! It spills forth in rivulets, dribbling down his chin as his teeth work tirelessly to obliterate the sacred morsel. It is gone. Its spell ¨C undone. And yet¡­ like the coiling shadows that flee at dawn, his hunger shall return. Always, it shall return. Alas! The vines climb ever upward the web, their fruit hanging beyond reach. A cruel jest, a trial of faith! His stubby paws grasp, but they are too short. His blessed bulk strains, but he cannot climb. "Why? Why dost thou taunt me so?" He gazes longingly at the heavens, at the swaying orbs of blue that hang just beyond his reach. His very soul weeps for their embrace. From above, upon the divine web of sacred strands, a Skittering God descends. It is a six-legged being of cunning mind and patient purpose, one of the many architects of this hallowed paradise. It is they who have sown the vines, they who tend the fruit, they who weave the sacred webs, they who ensure that the faithful are fed, that they may grow ever rounder, ever riper, ever blue. With a reverent meep, Brother Acorn gazes upon the god, his voice quivering with devotion. "Oh, sacred one! Grant unto thy most faithful servant thine divine bounty, that I may partake and grow ever closer to the blessed form of the celestial sphere!" The Skittering God heeds his prayer. A single claw, sharp yet gentle, plucks forth a fruit from the vine and releases it. Down it falls. Straight into the waiting embrace of Brother Acorn. "Meep! Meep!" It is devoured. And yet¡­ it is not enough. He hungers. He hungers for more. Again he prays, again his call is answered, and again he feasts. He is glorious, a being of near-divine rotundity, the envy of all lesser, leaner creatures that scurry in the shadows. He shall be chosen, taken to the Spidery Palace, where the most sacred of the Skittering Gods shall receive him in glory. But lo! A voice doth shatter his revelry. "Brother! Oh Brother, do not partake further!" A thin, pitiful form emerges from the undergrowth. A squirrel, and yet not one of the Plump. A creature of hunger, of gaunt suffering, one who hath forsaken the sacred ways of round and blue. It is Brother Nutt, he who was thought lost, missing for weeks. The sight of him does offend, however. His limbs ¨C spindly and weak. His frame ¨C pitifully lacking in the sacred fat. He does not waddle, nor does the earth tremble beneath him. A famished wretch he is. "Brother?" Brother Acorn''s voice quivers. "Art thou ill? Hast thou strayed from the sacred feast? Thou art¡­ diminished greatly!" The shadow of what once was a fashionably round squirrel approach. His eyes, sunken and wild, dart to and fro. "I have seen the Spidery Palace, Brother!" He meeps. "I have been to the place where only the Chosen may go!" Brother Acorn gasps. "Lies! Thou art not round enough to be chosen!" Brother Nutt snarls, his thin tail lashing. "And yet¡­ Before¡­ I truly was! And here I am! Alive to tell the tale¡­ There, in the Spidery Palace, I saw what should not be seen. Brother!" He lunges, knocking the sacred fruit from Brother Acorn¡¯s paws. "Do not eat it, Brother! The FEAST is a lie!"This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. A hush falls upon the garden. A choking silence of disbelief. Brother Acorn twitches his whiskers, his face in a deep frown. "Thou hast gone mad. Has the dark rain hath poisoned thy mind?" Brother Nutt shakes, his voice pleading. "Nay, Brother. The Skittering Gods do not feed us out of love. They fatten us, that we may be harvested! We do not feast in the Spidery Palace. We are the FEAST." Silence again¡­ Then, laughter. A deep, mocking chuckle from Brother Acorn¡¯s belly. "Thou art truly lost, Brother. A heretic. A blasphemer. The Skittering Gods bless and protect us, shielding us from the coiling darkness and its howling beasts! They feed us, they nurture us! And when we are ready, they lift us to rest on the heavenly web, there in the Spidery Palace! How dare thee slander the holiest of truths?" Brother Nutt¡¯s beady eyes, sharp with hunger yet hollowed by knowledge, fix upon his brother.¡°I put this to thee, dear Brother¡ªwhy dost no squirrel ever return from the Spidery Palace?¡± Brother Acorn, round as the sacred fruit he so revered, licks the last vestiges of blue nectar from his whiskers and gives a contented sigh. ¡°For what cause should they return?¡± He leans back against the sacred vine, his belly stretching the limits of his fur. ¡°Dost thou not know? The Chosen rest upon the sacred webs, feasting eternally with the Skittering Gods. To depart such paradise would be an act most profane.¡± A shudder runs through Brother Nutt¡¯s frail frame. He edges closer, voice lowering to a whispering meep. ¡°Nay, thou art deceived, Brother. ¡®Tis no paradise, but a larder. No holy feast, but a HARVEST.¡± He grasps Brother Acorn¡¯s paw, his claws trembling against the plump flesh. ¡°Know this, brother. When thou art plump and ripe, when thou canst move no more, they shall pluck thee as a swollen fruit, thy skin peeled, thy flesh torn asunder by horrors beyond reckoning. They do not take thee to sup at their table¡­ they take thee for their table.¡± Brother Acorn scoffs, his round cheeks quivering with amusement. ¡°Madness, brother! Dark and bitter words spill from thy lips. The Skittering Gods protect us from the coiling shadows and the beasts that dwell therein. They gift us the fruits most divine, they weave for us a heaven suspended between sky and earth. ¡®Tis they who guard us from the devouring dark.¡± ¡°The devouring dark?¡± Brother Nutt¡¯s eyes widen. He glances to the shifting threads above, where the Scittering Gods like to rest. ¡°Nay, my dear fool of a Brother. The dark that devours doesn¡¯t come from the midnight shadows ¨C it bears scales, slithering and cold. The coiling ones, the devouring serpents¡ªthey are the hidden servants of the Spidery Palace, and we but mere offerings upon their table. There are many more monsters like that, Brother. All servants to our so-called Scittering Gods.¡± Recoiling in fright, he shudders. ¡°Hast thou not seen the ShadowWolves lurking in the boughs? They are not foes of the Skittering Gods, but their hounds. They watch us, keep us bound in threads of fright, ensuring we grow plump for their PLEASURE.¡± Brother Acorn¡¯s ears flatten, his nose twitching with unease. He cast a wary glance above, where a great Skittering God lingers upon its woven web, four golden eyes glistening with curiosity. ¡°Hush thy tongue, Brother. Speak not such blasphemies, lest the Skittering Gods grow wrathful. Even now, they take mercy upon thee.¡± His paws fumble for the fruit the Skittering God just dropped. ¡°Here. Eat, brother. Fill thy belly and ease thy troubled mind.¡± He presses the fruit forward, its skin taut, bursting with blue nectar. Brother Nutt recoils once more, shaking his head. ¡°Never again shall I eat their offerings. I will not grow plump and ripe for¡­ for their DARK FEAST.¡± His voice trembles, yet his resolve stands firm. ¡°I beg thee, Brother ¨C cease thy gluttony before it is too late.¡± Brother Acorn regards him with pity, then with scorn. ¡°Thou art a wretched thing, Brother Nutt. A squirrel of thinness and despair, shrivelled and shorn of faith. I shall not heed thee.¡± He raises the fruit high, his voice swelling with reverence. ¡°For I am SQUIRREL, and I shall be as big and as round as the celestial sphere above., the LightGiver! As all faithful squirrels should aspire to be!¡± Brother Nutt sighs, his heart heavy. ¡°So be it, Brother. Be this thy way. I lament thy stubbornness and I grieve thy foolishness.¡± The squirrel turns its back on its brother, ready to hop away. With a satisfied crunch, Brother Acorn devours the sacred fruit. ¡°Meep! Yum!¡± Finally, he¡¯s full. Finally, he¡¯s perfectly round. His stomach, stretched near to bursting, quivers as he slumps onto the fluffy soil. ¡°I¡­ I have done it.¡± His limbs refuse to move. As if in acknowledgement, the Skittering God atop the web, chirps a praising tune. They descend from the sacred web, their claws reaching for the perfectly round and enticingly ripe¡­ fruit(?). The Skittering God takes Borther Acorn. Gently¡­ With caress. ¡°Brother! Look, Brother! I have been CHOSEN!¡± Brother Acorn meepes in ecstasy. Brother Nutt glances at his brother, eyes moist and his posture wavering. ¡°I¡­ I celebrate thy accent, Brother. Feast well with the Skittering Gods.¡± He meeps in a pained voice. Brother Acorn wiggles in the skittering embrace, laughing with joy. ¡°Meep-Meep, I shall. And fear not, I shall save thee the finest fruits, for when thou too art ready to join us!¡± Brother Nutt¡¯s gaze turns distant. ¡°Ah, Brother! Shouldst thou find thyself in a great hall, where the Chosen Ones wait in silence, their eyes wide, their voices stilled¡­ shouldst thou still have the strength to move, look for the blue flag. Behind it, a hole in the wall. Squeeze through, no matter the pain. There is a drop. Take it. If fate is kind, thou shalt find the brazier. And the FLAME.¡± His meep wavers. ¡°Once there. Be patient. Wait long enough, and thou may come to see the salvation.¡± ¡°Brother, go easy on the dark water! Those puddles aren¡¯t for drinking¡­ Sorry, It seems I must go. My FEAST awaits me~!¡± And so, the sacred web quivers and the Skittering God carries Brother Acorn away. ¡°Brother¡­ You¡¯re ain¡¯t ready for the horrors.¡± Brother Nutt meeps in sudden solitude. 183 – The Web Unravels And The Truth Spills Forth A demonic-looking castle loomed above a jagged crag. Its walls, hewn from blackened stone, stood scared but unbroken, they¡¯d weathered countless Crusades and would weather many more. Cruel iron spikes jutted from its edges, menacing barbs thirsty for the flesh of trespassers. The air felt heavy with something beyond the physical, a suffocating aura that whispered of unseen things slithering just beyond the darkened castle walls. Above, the sky churned in restless torment. An endless shroud of grey clouds swallowed the heavens, their bloated forms dripping an unceasing drizzle onto the land below. No lightning to shatter the gloom, no thunder to break the silence ¨C only the slow, miserable patter of rain against the craggy earth. The sky pressed down like the lid of a coffin, sealing this forsaken place in a prison of mist and melancholy. Gargoyles crouched upon their perches, their grotesque faces frozen mid-snarl, their empty eyes drinking in the wretched realm below. And what a realm it was ¨C lifeless, barren, suffocated under an eternal pall of sorrow. No golden fields, no whispering meadows, only the cracked and starved earth, beaten down by a century of cold, clinging wetness. What little vegetation remained had grown twisted and spiteful ¨C thorned brambles that bore no fruit, wretched weeds that curled in upon themselves, sickly and stunted, as though recoiling from the very air. This was no ordinary phenomenon. The land wasn¡¯t ravaged by fire, or plague, or roaring tempest. No, this was something far more sinister. Far more darker. A slow, creeping misery that wormed its way into the bones, a dampness that never truly left, a chill that settled in the soul and made its home there. It was an affliction that drained hope, not with horror, but with the unrelenting certainty that tomorrow would be just as bleak as today. This was the Demon Lord¡¯s domain. And the spell that smothered it bore a name spoken with weary dread by those who had the misfortune to endure it ¨C the BritishWeather. But enough of that. If one looked carefully, very carefully, they would see a daredevil squirrel braving the gloom to climb the tallest tower of the castle. It¡¯s tiny claws sticking expertly to the jagged stone, the squirrel making amazing progress. With burning determination, it is scaling the tower. But why would a squirrel do something like that? The answer isn¡¯t clearly cut. It might be because this was what squirrels did ¨C climb random heights that is. Or perhaps it sought a safe place to hide its nuts, surely, no one would get them if they were that high. Or maybe, just maybe, it had a higher purpose in mind. Either way, the brave daredevil squirrel scaled up all the way to the highest window, hoping to rest on its stone ledge. ¡°Meep-Meep!¡± The daredevil squirrel greeted for it was not alone there. ¡°Caw-Caw!¡± A black craw, its eyes red and glowing like rubies, cawed a formal pleasantry. ¡°Chirp!¡± A tiny spider gave its bestest spider wave. The other two critters had made it here first. The squirrel couldn¡¯t help but feel a tinge of envy for the two, the spider was an even better climber, and the craw could fly. Wouldn¡¯t it be marvellous if the squirrels could fly too? ¨C Then, no nut or berry would be out of its reach. Wouldn¡¯t it be marvellous if the squirrels could spin webs too? ¨C Just think about it! The joys of it! If so, squirrels could fly and shoot their threads, aiming for plump berries or delicious acorns to real them back in. they could even make webs to trap delicious bugs ¨C not many knew it, but squirrels enjoyed them too. The mere idea of it was¡­ yummy! Regretfully, the squirrel had to stop its daydreaming. Their favourite show is about to start. ¡­ The highest window on the tallest tower let just enough light to illuminate the gloomy Demonic Hall. It was a place not unlike a throne room but for demons. The throne, a grotesque thing of skulls and bone, was vacant. Although there was a man present at the moment ¨C his appearance was predominantly demonic. A big set of thick horns on his temples indicated his high rank as a demon, and his attire, while fashioned out of human leather, was truly a sight to behold. The demonic man held a crystal vial in his clawed fingers, no, not just held, cradled it like the most precious treasure. Truthfully, the vial was very expensive and hard to get ¨C a rarity within rarities. The demonic man grinned in glee as he eyed the vial with savage hunger. ¡°How long has it been since I had a sip? ¡­ Long, too long.¡± He uncorked the stopper. His greedy lips pressed on the vial, he swung it high to down its contents in a single gulp. The sickly sweet liquid touched his tongue. The cloying, gelatinous mass slid down his throat. The taste was out of this world. It tasted like a garden full of sweet fruits, like a dream of his more youthful days, and it reminded him of his first love ¨C distant but not forgotten. It was full of flavours, a rainbow of joy. But there was more. So much more. His pupils dilated; his entire body shook. For the briefest of moments, he felt connected to a higher power, to a web of¡­ of something incomprehensible. He saw the vastness of the cosmos, its many stars and planes. But also he saw something else¡­ something darker lurking hidden beneath it all. There, deep in the void, was a swirling vortex of chaos, multiple souls trapped in its spinning arms. A tendril of darkness reached for him, it tugged at his very soul, trying to pull it inside the swirling vortex, join him in a swirling web of trapped souls. That was then¡­ ¡°I AM BURSTING!!!¡± The demonic man screamed an involuntary declaration. With those words, as if a binding spell was broken, his body stopped shaking. The grasping tendrils of darkness no longer pulled to steal his soul, but also, he no longer felt that sweet sensation of being in the garden of joy. The paradox of emotions ¨C good mixed with bad ¨C was gone, but the true effects of the potion just took hold. [Welcome to Monster System] ¨C a familiar message greeted him. Arcane strength coursed through his body, the veins on his muscles bulging. Powerful magic, mysterious and ancient, flooded his demonic blood. It granted him might, force and potential otherwise unreachable. It was different from the plain System, and not just simply more powerful ¨C it unlocked his full potential, granting him possibilities previously unattainable. His status updated with a plethora of exotic Skills and Perks. This was the very reason why he managed to climb the demon ranks so quickly. From a mere slave merchant to someone who advised the Demon Lord herself. He was a Demon Advisor, a feat achieved in less than a year. Despite the ear-splitting grin, the demonic man made a displeased click. ¡°Tch! Why did I have to yell something so embarrassing¡­¡± He couldn¡¯t understand it. ¡°She¡¯ll be here soon. It¡¯s best I compose myself.¡± Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. He stepped to the side of a vacant demon throne. Waiting there for its tyrannical ruler. Not long after, the doors swung open violently, slamming on the wall. Here she was, the Demon Lord herself, her mood beyond being sour. ¡°Urgh!¡± She grunted, her face tarnished in a frown. She was a demoness of mixed blood, half-fiend and half-succubus: She inherited the might from her father, her muscles taunt and hard like rocks. She wielded a supernatural strength, her punches strong enough to pulverise boulders. Her skin, shiny and grey, was strong as tempered metal; spears nor arrows couldn¡¯t pierce it. Her charms came from her mother, her body bursting with scandalous femininity. Despite her demonic strength, her frame was slim, chiselled in all the right proportions. Her athletic body was decorated with the most eye-catching set of weapons ¨C voluptuous mounds of tempting softness, both her upper and lower body. Her natural gifts allowed her to wear little armour and cloth, and she did just so. The barest of minimums was there to keep her modesty, not that you could call her modest at all. She wore a set best described as bikini armour. So yes, she had both Might and Charm and it was quite a combination. This was a mix which allowed her to become the Demon Lord ¨C a position she managed to keep for over a century. She was older than that of course, but it would be rude to point that out. Either way, the Demon Lord slumped on the skull and bones throne, her mouth grunting another annoyed grunt. ¡°Urgh! ¡­ Just tell me already. Tell me the bad news,¡± she resigned for it, waving her hand. Indeed, he had nothing but bad news. It was like this for quite a while. ¡°We were unable to penetrate the Sorcerous Forest. The scouts we sent didn¡¯t come back, and the armed party that followed were all wiped out. Well¡­ one of the Oni came back, but he was infected with something foul. His body tainted with Dark magic.¡± ¡°Necromancy?¡± ¡°Not quite. We found a parasitic plant. It was controlling the body like some sort of a puppet, keeping it suspended between death and life. Removing the plant killed the host.¡± ¡°Urgh! The Sorcerous Forest and its foul magic. What a blight it is¡­ Any clue where or how it came to be?¡± ¡°Since none of the scouts returned, it is very hard to tell.¡± He gave an apologetic bow. ¡°That territory. It belonged to the Centauri before they had fallen. Did they, in their bitter defeat, unleash some sort of a curse?¡± ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t think it¡¯s possible. Centauri aren¡¯t known for their magic, they¡¯re all about lances and duels. And If they had an artefact powerful to cast such magic, we would have known.¡± ¡°Urgh¡­ so what is it? This cancerous blight?¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard to tell, but I assume it¡¯s the work of a powerful sorcerer. Versed both in curses and dark rituals. Perhaps one of your enemies? Any clue of who they might be? That would help in my investigation tremendously. ¡°¡­ I have plenty of such enemies. But none who could conjure an entire forest. Urgh! This is so annoying!¡± ¡°I admit it. This is frustrating. But until we penetrate the Sorcerous Forest and get to the centre of it, we won¡¯t know what caused it. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll allow you to borrow one of my legions. If Oni couldn¡¯t do it, leave it to my Fiends.¡± ¡°I am most grateful. I will treat your power with care,¡± he bowed low. ¡°Yeah-yeah. Now¡­ spit it out. What else didn¡¯t work out for us.¡± ¡°¡­¡± He paused, recently all he had was bad news. But all those things were important to report. ¡°The Oni Shogunate is wavering. There were multiple reports of unknown Yokai spawning, terrorising their peasants and destroying their fields. With the loss of their Shogun¡¯s army, they are struggling to contain the budding rebellion. I fear if we don¡¯t intervene soon, the Oni Shogunate might fracture.¡± ¡°Well, fuck me!¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Why is this happening? What is this cursed spell of bad luck!?¡± The Demon Lord starts to vent in a somewhat childish tantrum. ¡°We fought off the Human Crusade and all was well¡­ I even expanded the Demon Realm. One by one, new races were joying the Demon Realm and my power growing.¡± She runs her palm over her face, displaying frustration. ¡°Then, everything started to fall apart!¡± She glared at him with blazing anger, but the Demonic Advisor knew it was not directed at him. ¡°The Oberon Worm I¡¯ve spurred into action suddenly was slayed, thwarting my plans to recruit the Lamia. The Myconids would have made perfect meat shields for my underground armies, but forget that now. The Mana Spring, I have infected with the dark spirit also was mysteriously cleansed. I would take the pathetic Kobolds as their replacement, but now I can¡¯t. The hordes of Centipedes we sought to tame are preventing us from doing this very thing, flooding our access tunnels as they flee who knows what. Urgh!¡± She grunted in frustration, clutching her own horns as if trying to rip them. After a breath time of grunting and puffing in an undignified manner, failing to rip her horns off, she continues. ¡°The reclamation of Centauri territory failed. We even lost access to the Deep Lakes, the Mer and FrogMen within the area. And the Harpies¡­ They are nowhere to be seen, as if they abandoned the Demon Realm altogether. And now¡­ And now the Oni Shogunate is on the brink of collapse. Not to mention this cancerous blight of the Sorcerous Forest! Fuck!¡± She yells as she tries to rip her horns off again. If he didn¡¯t stop her, she might as well succeed. By the way, this isn¡¯t something a demon should ever try to do, that was because their power was stored in the horns. It just proved how frustrated she was. ¡°Wait. Hold on¡­¡± He said, a spark of realisation budding in his words. ¡°What if¡­ What if all those things are connected?¡± ¡°Connected? How?¡° ¡°Just think about it¡­ When and where did your problems start? And once they started how did they spread?¡± The Demon Lord took her hands off her horns, tilting her head in thought. She was the mightiest and the most charming of all demons, but the intellect wasn¡¯t her forte, hence why the need for him, the Demonic Advisor. He was here to help her think, and he might just know the cause of all of this. ¡°Since I haven¡¯t been advising you for long, your problems started when I wasn¡¯t here. As you know, before this I was a merchant, visiting distant lands for mercantile opportunities¨C¡± ¡°Huh? What are you trying to say? How is this related?¡± Her face contorts at him. ¡°What I was trying to say¡­ Have you heard about this Monster King?¡± ¡°A Monster King?¡± Her face contorts even further. ¡°I thought the man was but a rumour, a joke intended to poke fun at the title of the Demon Lord, a sick play on words that is to say. But you see¡­¡± He grasps the crystal vial in his pocket. ¡°The man might be more than real. Actually, I¡¯ve been investigating a personal matter. A source of a certain potion I¡¯m very interested in.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t get what you¡¯re trying to say. Just spit it out!¡± She makes an angry fist with her right hand, her fiendish side showing. ¡°I talking about the Monster King. A sorcerer from the vast area once known as the¡­ the Dreaded Place.¡± ¡°The Dreaded Place?! I know of it... It¡¯s a cursed land. Nothing lives in it.¡± ¡°Apparently not true. It''s where this self-proclaimed Monster King hails from. Now think about it. What areas border that cursed land? And around where did your problems start?¡± The black orbs that are the Demon Lord¡¯s eyes grew bigger. ¡°That bastard! He killed my worm, cleansed my spring, and then did all these things!¡± She was yelling, but her face was stretched in a wide smile, a grin of relief. ¡°It was him! It was him all along! The source of my bad luck!¡± ¡°Yes! It all makes sense when you think about it. He is a sorcerer hailing from that tainted place, so no doubt he knows a thing or two about the curses. Also, he must be versed enough in Dark magic to undo the tainted spell cast on the Mana Spring. Then take into account his self-proclaimed title and it¡¯s clear what he is trying to do.¡± ¡°The bastard is trying to usurp my title!¡± ¡°Precisely. If you look at your troubles in chronological order, at the starting place of it all. The sorcerer, hidden in that lifeless jungle, he was witling at your power from the very beginning. Shaving it piece by piece. I have no doubt that it was he who brought the curse of the Sorcerous Forest into being as well.¡± ¡°How¡­ How outrageous! We must deal with him at once. Take two of my legions! No, three! And deal with that blighted forest he¡¯d spawned. We can¡¯t let his sick power spread any further!¡± ¡°Agreed!¡± He bows once more. ¡°Do it at once! Waste no time!¡± She waves him off. ¡°¡­the Monster King, bah!¡± she utters with disgust, however, her face is all in a twisted grin. The Demon Advisor leaves the Demonic Hall with urged steps. The entire thing about the Monster King was all but a conjecture. He had no solid proof ¨C there were only rumours and the empty vial in his pocket. However, even if by a bit, he brightened the Demon Lord¡¯s mood. Now she had someone to blame for her bad look. And truthfully, the Demon Advisor believed in the veracity of his words. He felt like he pinned the right man, or well, sorcerer. ¡°But this¡­¡± He takes the vial to look at it. ¡°An item he made. An item which propelled me through the demon ranks.¡± He looked at it with conflicted emotions. Not because he felt like he owed something to that ¡®King¡¯, but because¡­ ¡°He must be a very powerful sorcerer. More powerful than¡­¡± He didn¡¯t dare to finish. This Monster King, this dark sorcerer, he was challenging the Demon Lord¡¯s title. He wasn¡¯t the first, but frighteningly enough, it seemed that he had the needed might to actually do it. ¡°How frightening¡­¡± He shoved the vial back into his pocket. ¡°The Monster King, eh¡­¡± 184 – Children Of The Dark Cavern The world spun forward, and weeks passed by. The threads of fate weaved a new day ¨C a new adventure. Spider King stood in the depths of an expansive cavern. There was no warmth, no light ¨C only a calm dark expanse. However, the cave was not devoid of life, on the contrary, it was overgrown. Above, strands of blue moss clung to the ceiling, illuminating the ground below in a somewhat ethereal glow, its blue-toned light feeling cold. The cave floor was teeming with a special crop. It wasn¡¯t just any magical crop, this was the speciality of the Dark Caverns. The cave floor teemed with crops, a local speciality. These were no ordinary crops, but magical ones, the pride of the Dark Caverns. A dense thicket of long, midnight-dark leaves filled the space, pushing against each other, wrestling for space beneath the cold, blue light. If not for the ethereal glow of the moss above, the leaves would have been completely lost in the cavern''s shadows. ¡°Shadow Agave¡­¡± He recalled the plant well. A part of his cloak was woven from its strands, giving him the ability to blend with the shadows. Also, many of the Spider Mages chose to wear robes made with such strands. In other words, it was growing very popular. The plant grew well in the harshest conditions, so long as it was in a cold and dark place it seemed happy. However, harvesting it posed real challenges. Not only Shadow Agave leaves were barbed and serrated, but the plant was also surrounded by a minor aura of Terror. Harvesting it was a difficult task. Alas, he was surprised. Unaware of his presence, a merry band of Drow children approached the barbed thicket. They carried large woven boxes on their backs, like the ones you would see on the gatherer spiders. In their hands, they held long, serrated blades. Crude mixes of sacrificial dagger and machete. And for their appearance¡­ Well, this was their traditional attire. They wore nothing more than a sack over their body, with three holes cut for arms and a head. The sack was just like those used to store the Tomgrapes. There was something more to these children. Something unusual separated them from other Drow. For starters, their eyes were abyssal black orbs, with a narrow purple strike serving as their iris. The bottom edge of their long ears wasn¡¯t smooth like usual; it was serrated like a saw. Their teeth, too, were different. No pearly whites could be seen, only crimson needles jutting out of their soot-black gums. Their darker-than-usual skin contrasted well with the blue sacks that passed for their clothes. These children looked truly vicious. Monstrous even. The Spider King, however, saw them for what they were. Not some twisted creatures of the darkness, but, just children. Stepping out of the shadows, he appeared in front of them. ¡°Greetings, Children of the Dark Cavern.¡± He gave them a title on a whim. The children jumped a step back, their black orbs trembling in fright. The fright soon turned to interest, and that soon to childish wonder. ¡°No¡­ it can¡¯t be¡­ The Spider King?¡± Someone uttered in half disbelief. He simply nodded. The children kneeled as one, a gesture that must have been practised to near perfection. However, there were minor jitters ¨C all born from the novelty of meeting their King for the first time. So, their greeting wasn¡¯t perfect. ¡°Rise, you all. There is no need for that.¡± The children stood, their black eyes twinkling as they scanned him. The bravest of the few had cast a not-so-subtle Inspect, prompting their eyes to grow big and wide. Casting something like that, and so brazenly, might be seen as offensive. Yet, he knew they were just curious children. ¡°It¡¯s fine. You all can Inspect me. I¡¯ll take no offence.¡± The offer was met with wide smiles. Smiles filled with bloody-looking fangs. The children giddily checked his status table. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± One of them scratched his chin, mumbling something to himself. ¡°I expected our Majesty to¡­ to be more spidery.¡± It was but a whisper, yet, others heard it, nodding along as if they thought the same. Realising that his inner thoughts had escaped, the child bowed in apology. ¡°I¡¯m sorry! ¡­ I didn¡¯t mean it like that.¡± ¡°Ha-ha. More spidery you say?¡± He took it with good humour. ¡°I can show you just that. [Transform: Spider].¡± A sickening crack shattered the silence as his body began to twist and change. His spine arched unnaturally, his flesh rippling like something alive squirmed beneath it. Veins bulged, blackening, thick as webbing, arcane power coursing through them. His legs, once human, snapped and bent uncomfortably, joints reversing with a hideous pop. Bone splintered, then reformed. The muscle stretched, elongated, split. Two became four, four became six, and finally, he was agile like a spider. The spidery appendages gleamed like polished night, they skittered against the stone, testing its strength, their sharpened tips etching small grooves into the surface. His once-pale skin darkened, the soft frailty of human flesh hardening into a darkened obsidian carapace. What had been warm-blooded now bore the cold, unforgiving armour of a webbing hunter. His ribs pressed outward as his torso narrowed, his chest elongating, his very shape alien and monstrous. The horned crown upon his brow, the status symbol of the Monster King, grew with him, its spiked horns lengthening, stretching upward. Then came the eyes. Golden. Luminous. Imposing. The first pair widened, their pupils thinning into slits that glowed in a brilliant golden light. And then, another set tore their way into existence, splitting open upon his forehead. He saw the world in a new angle, in more colours and shades than a human could see. At last, his jaw cracked apart. Skin split, reshaping, reforming, until an iconic pair of serrated mandibles unfurled at the edges of his face. His mouth, once made for simple speech, was now able to chirp the ancient Spider Chirp. A low, guttural clicking rose from his throat, inhuman, a dreadful chittering capable to curdle the blood. ¡°Huzzah~! How is this?¡± A true monster stood in front of the children, his form imposing and even menacing. No, not just a monster. He was the king of monsters, the Monster King! The air around him filled with a thick aura of Dread and Terror. It wasn¡¯t done on purpose, it was just the natural effect of the System perceiving his presence. The children trembled at the sight, but not from fear. They felt none of the dread and terror. They trembled because they were overly excited. ¡°Amazing!¡±, ¡°Awesome!¡±, ¡°Wow!¡±, ¡°¡­ :3 ¡­¡±, ¡°^_^¡± ¡°?uwu?¡± ¨C they reacted, jumping in excitement. But¡­ The Spider King had to ask. ¡°U-woo?¡± He cast a glance at the one who spoke that strange sound. ¡°Yes! This is very ¨C ?uwu?!¡± She made that sound again. Half of the children nodded in agreement, that half being all girls. The other half shook their heads, clearly disagreeing with the notion. The boys voiced their opposition. ¡°The Spider King is a warrior! Don¡¯t uwu him!¡± ¡°Yeah. He¡¯s awesome. In a strong way. And not in a cutesy way!¡± ¡°The girls are being foolish again. Ignore them!¡± The girls, however, were firm about their opinion. Offended even that the other side didn¡¯t agree. ¡°You boys¡­ You don¡¯t understand. This is Romance, this is fiction becoming reality! A maiden¡¯s dream, ^_^!¡± ¡°Sarah, they¡¯re but foolish boys. They don¡¯t read those books. They don¡¯t read at all¡­ but our King, he¡¯s just so¡­ ehehe, :3.¡± ¡°Spider King, ignore the foolish boys. You are very ?uwu?!¡± The girls nod along again. The boys, however¡­ ¡°Children! Enough of that!¡± In a stern chirp, he breaks it up before it can tangle itself in a web. ¡°Don¡¯t we all have a job to do?¡± He points at the thicket of agave. ¡°Show me how you harvest it.¡± Yes, he was interested in that. It was odd to see Drow children and not spider harvesters doing this task. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Somewhat eagerly, perhaps intent on proving which side was right, the girls and boys formed two teams. Each team fought who could harvest the most. Regardless of their gender, they hacked and chopped at the serrated leaves with equal efficiency. No barbs, no sharp edges, nor the aura of Terror impeded their HARVEST. It was obvious that these children were immune to such debuffs. And the reason for that was in their status screen ¨C DarkAffinity. They had dark power coursing through their blood. He already had Drow capable of Earth or Fire magic, but it seemed that they had unlocked a new affinity. And it seemed oddly fitting. Whether this was a natural mutation or a great effort on their part, the Drow had found a way to harvest the agave without much need from spiders. This was commendable. The Spider King clacked his mandibles happily as he watched the children hard at work. ¡°Now then¡­¡± He turned his attention back to the real reason why he was here. Back to the plant itself. ¡°It had acclimated wonderfully to this climate. I didn¡¯t expect it to prosper so much.¡± His clawed hand caressed the shadowy surface of agave, ignoring its barbs and serrations. ¡°I bet it even keeps the centipedes at bay. But¡­¡± He knew that the agave hadn¡¯t reached its full potential. ¡°It can be so much more. This place can be so much more!¡± He used Extract: Seed on the Shadow Agave. A barbed bud of darkness was in his spidery palm. ¡°You did well to achieve so much. I praise you. Now, it¡¯s time for you to change again. [Mutate]!¡± He began changing the plant, pumping it full of chaotic energies. ¡°[Splice]!¡± He borrowed the strength of IronOak, pushing its best parts into the seed. ¡°[Enchant] > [ObsidianArmour]!¡± He pushed one of his innate spider transformation skills onto it. The barbed seed glowed in purple light, its form pulsing and twisting. He forced an obscene amount of mana in. The seed was struggling to contain it all. ¡°I know you can do this. Just a bit more¡­ Maybe something to help?¡± Despite his better judgment, he cast another skill. ¡°[Reinforce]!¡± The seed stabilised, mutating into something new entirely. Without wasting any time, ¡°Yeet!¡±, he cast the seed into the distance. ¡°Now. [Grow]! Show me what you have become!¡± Another blast of magic flashed, brilliant enough to shower the entire cavern in a purple light. The Drow children stopped their zealous harvesting, all turning to look. Something twisted and jagged spun out of the rocky ground, towering above the agave thicket. It was a tree unlike any other, no, actually it wasn¡¯t a tree at all ¨C it was a super giant herb. Instead of a trunk it had a giant stem, which branched at the top in a bundle of broad leaves, much like a banana ¡®tree¡¯ would. It didn¡¯t lose its agave heritage either, its leaves were thick, hard, and serrated. This giant herb came with its own fruits, or berries, or whatever that hanging bunch was. Curious, the Spider King walked to pluck the bunch hanging from above, his tall spidery frame barely able to reach it. The fruiting bunch resembled a giant blooming pinecone, where the whole was made out of many segments. He tugged at it, plucking a small peace off. ¡°What is this? Doesn¡¯t appear to be edible? [Inspect]¡± He turned what appeared to be an elongated scale in his hand. ¡°ObsidianShard?¡± He voiced what the message told him. ¡°Oh! It¡¯s hard as metal. Even with my spidery strength, I can¡¯t bend or break it. Clearly not food, then.¡± He looked again at the giant herb-tree. It was half crystalline in nature, part plant part obsidian rock. ¡°[Inspect],¡± he concentrated on the plant as a whole.
ObsidianVeinbloom ¨C A colossal shadow-fed herb that thrives on darkness and stone. Its massive, serrated leaves are as unyielding as hardened leather, while its fruit, the ObsidianShard, forms in layered, crystalline segments¡ªperfect for forging segmented armour. Its inner core brims with shadowed mana, the MidnightRod, a conduit of night and earth.
Just at a glance, there were many crafting possibilities. ¡°Not bad, not bad at all¡­ But I wanted something edible. Shadow Agave, shall we try again?¡± Immersed in his craft, the Spider King failed to notice that the Drow children had gathered to watch him. The purples of their eyes were swirling with excitement. They looked at the magical performance with bated breath. ¡°[Mutate], [Splice]!¡± This time, he spliced it with tomgrape. ¡°[Enchant] > [SpideryMagnificent]!¡± The seed pulsed in his hand with chaotic magic. ¡°You can do this. [Reinforce]! Yeet!¡± He threw the newly crafted seed. Instead of landing, the seed soared upwards, hitting the mossy ceiling with a magical pop! The impact singed the surrounding moss. Then, something amazing happened. Spindly vines, like spider arms, burst from the seed, spreading across the jagged rocks and stalagmites, weaving a web of barbs and serrated edges. More vines reached down from the ceiling like hunting claws. Dark buds bloomed at the tips of these claws, and within each bud, a plump, juicy fruit appeared. The ceiling was now covered in a web of vines, each dangling claw holding a ripe fruit. ¡°Now this is something! [SpinWeb],¡± he spun a thread to catch and pluck the fruit. ¡°It¡¯s like a tomato, but all leathery and black. But is it edible?¡± There was only one way to find out. Trusting his high resistance, he bit the fruit. ¡°Argh! Ahh!!!¡± He yelled, but not because of the flavour. It had no flavour at all. ¡°Shadows? It¡¯s full of condensed darkness¡­ it spills forth like some thick mist. No taste¡­ but it has this clotting, almost sticky texture. So, this is ShadowBulb, and the vine pant is, [Inspect].
UmbralWebvine ¨C A peculiar vine that thrives in darkness, feeding not on moss or stone, but on the very essence of ambient Dark mana. Its spindly, web-like tendrils weave intricate patterns across cavern ceilings, forming a vast, living lattice. It bears ShadowBulbs, plump fruits heavy with condensed Dark mana. Imbued with the essence of spiders, webs, and night, it does not ensnare prey but tempts those drawn to the power of the abyss. Consuming its fruit enhances shadow magic and deepens attunement to the dark.
¡°Attunement? This is promising, especially as an alchemical ingredient. What if I¡­¡± His monologuing was interrupted by a roaring symphony of objectively cutesy sounds. ¡°?uwu?!!!¡± The Drow girls uwu¡¯ed. ¡°Amazing! ~Huzzah~!!!¡± The Drow boys made a cheer of their own. And then, as a united front, the Drow children demanded: ¡°Another one! Make another one!¡± The Spider King, spitting the remainder of the clotting darkness out, smiled at the children. ¡°Ahem¡­ More? You want more?¡± ¡°YES!¡± The united front demanded. ===xxx=== Later on, the Spider King was surprised to learn that he had gained a new Achievement: [Achievement unlocked! ?uwu? ¨C The Chaos Blushes Back]
?uwu? ¨C The Chaos Blushes Back. Through sheer mastery of mutation, cultivation, and an unexpected surge of adoration from the chaos-touched children of the Dark Caverns, you have become something more than just a King. You are now a beloved hero, a myth in motion, a figure of awe and adoration ¨C both fearsome and, bewilderingly, cute. The Chaos rejoices in your craft, and the young of the underworld chant your name in reverence, their voices carrying the sacred melody: ?uwu?.
[Disclaimer! You will, unwillingly and randomly, emit an aura of chaotic charisma, equal parts awe-inspiring and utterly incomprehensible. Those affected may involuntarily utter ¡°?uwu?¡± upon witnessing your majesty.] [Perk unlocked! EldrichEndearment] [Perk unlocked! UnshakableMajesty] [Perk unlocked! ??? ¨C The Abyss Listens]
EldritchEndearment ¨C Inexplicably, creatures aligned with Darkness, Spiders, or the Chaos regard you with increased admiration. Even the most terrifying of horrors might hesitate before striking, momentarily swayed by the inexplicable vibe you emit.
UnshakableMajesty ¨C When interacting with children, young creatures, or those who view you as a guardian figure, all fear-based effects you naturally radiate are automatically suppressed ¨C unless you choose otherwise.
??? ¨C The Abyss Listens ¨C Something deep within the dark stirs in amusement. Its interest in you grows. Perhaps, one day, it will speak.
185 – Prelude To The Harvest The air pulsed with the steady rhythm of axes. Badunk-Badunk. Orc Cohort swung their mighty blades, their green skin slick with sweat and fury. Before them, the Sorcerous Forest writhed, birthing monsters in defence. Beasts lunged, roots lashed, blood spilt ¨C but the orcs were relentless. The forest bled, and the Legion pressed on. The First Legion, 5,000 strong, carved through the Sorcerous Forest with brute force. Orcs led the charge, their axes relentless, while Fiends and Demons ensured discipline through fear and might. Behind them, the Second Legion advanced ¨C 5,000 more, a force of magic and precision. Succubi, Kenku, and Tieflings wove destruction, their spells scorching what the axes couldn¡¯t fell. Lizardmen guards formed an unyielding shield, protecting the spellcasters as they rained fire upon the cursed woods. Monsters poured from the trees, but they met their match in WarFiends and Balrogs. The First Legion crushed, the Second burned, and the forest shrank before them. The Sorcerous Forest was thinning, the Legion close to what once was the Centauri Territory. The Demonic Advisor had surmised that the overgrowth acted as a type of wall surrounding the territory. Just a bit more, and they would breach it. They would deal with the source of it. The final tree fell, and the Brave Orc¡¯s axe bit into more than just wood¡ªit pierced something unseen, something wrong. A thick, unnatural darkness erupted like floodwaters from a shattered dam, devouring the afternoon light. Shadows churned and rolled, spilling forth with a dreadful weight. Orcs and Demons did not fear the dark, but this was different. The Brave Orc, Centurion of his Cohort, took a wary step back. The others followed, gripping their weapons tighter. The air felt heavier, thick with something unseen. Something wrong. Foul. ¡°¡­Sorcery.¡± His voice was a low growl. He turned sharply to a Kenku Scout. ¡°You. Go. Inform the Legion.¡± The Kenku Scout flapped her crow-like wings, vanishing into the darkened sky, a fleeting shadow against the encroaching abyss. Below, the Orcs fell into formation, gripping axes and jagged blades, their breath steaming in the unnatural chill. Then, one by one, they emerged. Figures stepped from the darkness as if born from it ¨C small, silent, clad in obsidian-scale armour. Cloaks of shifting shadow billowed behind them, their movements fluid, unnatural. Each held a weapon: short, curved, wickedly serrated. Gatherer¡¯s sickles, and yet, unlike tools for forest forage ¨C it was for reaping something far more precious. The Brave Orc''s grip tightened. Something about them felt... familiar. The way they moved, the way the darkness clung to them ¨C it gnawed at the edges of his mind. He had seen something like this before. No, not entirely like this. It was like a memory which was twisted. Corrupted. ¡°¡­ Almost like Elves.¡± He grunted. The figures had long ears, their faces unnervingly symmetrical, almost beautiful. But something was wrong. ¡°¡­ No, not Elves.¡± That resemblance was twisted, warped into something darker. And yet¡­ there was more. ¡°Aren¡¯t these creatures just children? Bah!¡± The Brave Orc abandoned caution, stepping forward, battle axe ready to draw blood. Whatever these corrupted whelps were, they would die all the same. The children were outnumbered twenty to one. A mere handful against his Orc Cohort. The enemy had no chance. ¡°This will be easy.¡± The obsidian-clad figures only grinned, their teeth coloured in bright crimson. They showed no fear, no hesitation. Was it bravery? Or madness? Then¡­ A flash of purple split the darkness. Lightning danced, tendrils of energy weaving the shadows into something¡­ something out of this world. The void twisted, threads of night coiling and folding into a shifting, ill-defined mass of sinister will. The crackling grew sharper. The shape solidified. A giant head emerged ¨C vast, menacing, and monstrous. A spider¡¯s visage, carved from living shadow, its eyes burning with insatiable hunger. It opened its mandibles and spoke. ¡°SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT!¡± The words struck like a shockwave, rattling bones, tearing loose debris from the ground. Then, just as suddenly, the entity unravelled, becoming one with the Darkness. The Brave Orc wasn¡¯t sure if it was a challenge for his orcs or a command for the twisted children to attack. Either way, he didn¡¯t care. ¡°[Rally], get them!!!¡± The Brave Orc bellowed, his voice thunderous, as the orcs behind him surged forward, their axes ready to carve through anything in their path. The obsidian-clad children didn¡¯t hesitate either. ¡°Children of the Dark Cavern, kill them all! [ShadowStep]!¡± The words came as a hiss from one of them ¨C a boy, though his youthful face was anything but innocent. The Brave Orc snarled, disgust crawling up his green skin. Corrupted Elves. He could feel the ill stickiness of the dark magic that surrounded the children. His blood boiled. He hated Elves, he hated mages, and these were both of those things. These were Elves, twisted with some foul and dark sorcery, not just Dark Elves but Drows. ¡°Bah! Pitiful Cowards!¡± He spat the words, furiously waving his axe. ¡°Orcs, to me, [Fortress]!¡± Before his command could settle, the shadowy children melted back into the darkness, vanishing like shadows. Then, with a blud curdling killing intent, they reappeared behind the orcs, striking with deadly precision. Dark blades tore into flesh, and the orcs howled in pain and rage. The orc warriors swung their massive axes, but their strikes hit only air, for the children vanished just as quickly as they appeared ¨C near impossible to hit. ¡°Cowards!¡± He roared again, boiling with frustration. ¡°Is this all you can do? Run and hide? Come at me! [Taunt]!¡± His keen eyes tracked a near-imperceptible flicker in the darkness. A shift. A subtle change in the black void around him. This was his moment. ¡°[MightyCleave]!¡± He swung his axe down with a power that could split a boulder. Just as the blade descended, the child appeared in its path. He predicted it well! He would get the welp! However¡­ The boy bent backward with an unnatural dexterity, like some nimble imp, his shadow-weaved cloak rippling as he evaded the orc''s deadly arc by mere inches. ¡°[DarkStrike]!¡± The boy hissed, his voice a chittering whisper. A quick, cursed incantation, and his sacrificial dagger gleamed with an oily, black sheen ¨C the weapon of a soul-harvester, forged in the Dark Caverns. The curve of the child¡¯s blade was too short to strike the Brave Orc. He knew this. The orc was already swinging his own axe for another blow, the boy¡¯s feeble attempt easily dodged. But then, something was wrong. A searing pain suddenly gripped his belly. The boy¡¯s sword hadn¡¯t connected, but something had. A ripple of black magic, an afterimage of the dark blade, seemed to slash across his body with a cold touch. He felt the corrosive magic eat at his flesh, penetrating deep. It felt so cold. The orc tensed, his instinctive reaction making him miss his swing, the child evading the killing blow by the thinnest of margins once again. However, the child¡¯s cheek was nicked, a thin trail of blood oozing from the wound. "Tch!" The child clicked his tongue, a hissing sound. ¡°You¡¯ll pay for this. [ShadowStep].¡± And just like that, he was gone. Disappeared, swallowed by the darkness once more. The Brave Orc cursed under his breath, his eyes searching the void. Everywhere was too dark. The boy had vanished ¨C but the others, the other twisted children, were still there. He could hear them, feel them, moving in and out of the shadows like ghosts. ¡°I am a Centurion of this Cohort! Do not mock me!¡± He gritted his teeth, a growl of fury building. ¡°[InduceRage]!¡± The command coursed through him, then spread to his men. Their rage intensified, their bloodlust a tide that could not be stopped. Stay focused. Stay strong! ¨C He barked to himself, his hands tightening around the axe¡¯s hilt. They were nothing. Fleeting nuisances. His orcs would bring them down, just as they always did. It was a simple strategy: ignore the strikes, take the hits, and strike back at the pesky things. Sooner or later, these cursed children would pay. But he had to move quickly ¨C before another cohort could claim his victory. The glory was his! A faint whisper reached the Brave Orc''s orcish ears, hissing from the shadows. ¡°Sarah, stop messing about. Do it already!¡± ¡°Alright¡­ alright. [Summon¡­],¡± a crackling sound, purple and electric, buzzed through the air, a warning of something darker about to come. ¡°Aww, :3. Aren¡¯t they cute?¡± Cute? What madness was this enemy conjuring? Treating the battle as some kind of game? He frowned in a disgusted grin, and with a raging roar, he charged forward into the abyss, muscles straining, the ground trembling beneath his massive feet. But then¡­ The darkness fought back. The shadows stirred beneath him, creeping and pooling in a whirl of black tendrils, wrapping around his ankles, pulling at his legs, slowing his Charge. ¡°What is this? More magic? Those cowardly mages! Accursed children!¡± He growled, frustration and anger flaring. ¡°Rah! [RAHH]¡± His roar was pure fury, a barrier to ill mental effects, but it did little to dispel the advancing dark mass. His instincts flared ¨C a warning. His charge faltered, and with an instinctual shift, he readied his axe for whatever cursed magic was about to spawn. And then he saw her. The summoner child. She wasn¡¯t like the others. Her appearance, twisted and strange, gnawed at his mind. A girl, younger than any warrior he''d ever fought, but corrupted beyond measure. She wore no proper armour. Instead, she was wrapped in a ragged, vividly blue sack, its hem frayed and stained with things that should never be named. Her neck and wrists were adorned with barbed collars, the woody spikes biting into her skin, but there was no pain in her expression ¨C only an eerie calm, a kind of madness flickering behind her wide eyes. Her face was a mockery of innocence. The crazed, pitch-black eyes seemed to pierce through the darkness with a look that could unsettle even the most seasoned warriors. There was no sanity in her gaze ¨C only the hollow, twisted remnants of a mind consumed by the very darkness she wielded. In her hand, she held a staff. But this wasn¡¯t any ordinary rod. It was midnight black, forged from the very essence of night itself ¨C MidnightRod. Intricate carvings snaked their way up the shaft, depicting webs and spiders ¨C symbols of power, symbols of the hunted and the hunter alike. The rod thrummed with a dark energy, radiating thick, choking mist that seemed to suck heat and light out of the air around it. She raised the rod as if to challenge him, a smile splitting on her face in two ¡ªone that was too wide, too unnatural. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. And then, with a cruel giggle, she slammed the rod into the ground. ¡°My summons, [Converge]!¡± The earth beneath his feet shuddered, and to his horror, it actually bubbled. Not with life, but with something else. Something corrupted, something born straight out of the void. Shadows surged from the very soil, seeping into the air like smoke from a dying fire. And then ¨C spiders. So many spiders! But these were no mere creatures of the forest. They were made of pure shadow, each one with a faint, pulsating purple core at their centre ¨C a throbbing heart of sinister will. They crawled over one another, a swarm of writhing, squirming bodies, and with them came a wave of suffocating Dark magic. The Brave Orc swung his axe, cutting through the nearest Shadow Spider with ease ¨C but it did no good. The blade passed right through them, the creatures dissolving into black mist. There was no true flesh to cleave. Only shadow. ¡°Rahh!¡± He roared, swinging again, but the spiders were everywhere now, crawling over his boots, his legs, sinking their fangs into him. The dark poison burned where they bit, a necrotic sting that crawled through his veins, draining his strength with every passing second. "[Whirlwind]!" He spun, a tornado of rage, sending spiders flying in all directions, but it was futile. The swarm didn¡¯t stop. They came back, more of them, always more. Their dark-imbued attacks were nothing like ordinary strikes. They passed through his armour, depleting his Stamina with each bite. Where were his reinforcements? ¨C He thought bitterly, shifting uncomfortably under the weight of the endless onslaught. This wasn¡¯t a battle ¨C It was an infestation, a nightmare that wouldn¡¯t end. This was pure chaos! The summoner child, that cursed thing, stood just out of reach, watching him struggle with an amused, twisted giggle. Then, without warning, she vanished back into the depths of the shadows, her eerie laugh, ¡°hehe, :3!¡±, echoing in his ears. The Brave Orc''s muscles burned from the effort, but he couldn¡¯t stop. He didn¡¯t want to stop. Soon enough, the small swarm had been dealt with, but the chaos of the battlefield was far from over. His orcs were scattered, disorganized, picked apart by those damnable assassins darting in and out of the dark. Their movements were unpredictable and highly vicious. And harder to hit than any foe he''d ever faced. But the Shadow Spiders were the worst. They crawled low to the ground, making them hard to target. Worse yet, they never stopped coming. More and more seemed to materialize as the battle raged on. They were endless, just like the darkness itself. And with every bite, the dark ailment worked its way deeper, sapping the strength and stamina. He clenched his fists around his axe, he couldn¡¯t let the chaos continue. ¡°This will end,¡± he muttered through gritted teeth. ¡°Orcs pull yourselves together. Help me! [Rally]! Fall back to me! Form ranks! [Rally]! The Brave Orc, the mighty Centurion of the Orc Cohort, fought in vain. His orcs ¨C his warriors ¨C were scattered, their wills shattered. Terror gripped them like a clawed hand, webbing their minds, darkening their thoughts. Something was shrouding their resolve, diminishing their will to fight. It was more than just magic ¨C it was a curse. The Dark spells were working their insidious magic, weaving their threads of Dread and Weakening his command over the Orc Cohort. Health-wise, his orcs were still going strong, but the mental effects were stacking up. They were faltering, mentally drained, stamina depleted, edging closer to collapse. If this continued, they would either fall from exhaustion or simply rout, lost to the relentless assault of Terror. ¡°What can be done¡­¡± His voice shook with frustration. His instincts screamed at him to hold the front. ¡°I must keep it together. [Rally]!¡± His command failed to take effect. The earlier use of InduceRage had been a mistake. His orcs¡¯ aggression had faltered, now there was only confusion in their eyes. "Is that it? Do I get only a few orcs at my side?!" He seethed, looking at the scattered remains of his Cohort. There weren¡¯t even enough to form a proper Century. ¡°Rahh! What madness is this?¡± He cursed into the void. His eyes flitted over the battlefield. The summoners ¨C they had to be dealt with. He found comfort in the cold steel in his hands, a plan started to form. ¡°[UnderTheBanner]! My orcs, come to me! Back to my band! Come!¡± This time, he didn¡¯t rely on his innate abilities. Instead, he invoked the command spell given by his equipment ¨C a trump card of sorts. It helped him to wretch the orcs back under his control, to fight against the Dread and Terror that ate at their minds. The buff wasn¡¯t permanent. It drained his stamina with every use, each passing minute tugging at the pool of his STA. But it had to last long enough. Just enough to buy some time. ¡°[Rally]!¡± His voice boomed, this time more forceful, a rallying cry to the broken warriors who still clung to the fading remnants of their discipline. One by one, a third of his orcs began to regroup, the others lost to the shadows. There was nothing he could do for them now. Under his renewed command, they began to push back against the summons, fighting with greater cohesion, driving some of the dark, writhing creatures back into the darkness. Then¡­ the battlefield changed again. From the enveloping blackness, bulbous projectiles rained down on the orc ranks, tumbling from the dark sky like an angry hail. The orcs barely had time to react before the impact. The tight formation that had been their strength turned against them. The projectiles struck with brutal force, splitting open on contact and birthing out barbed vines that curled and wrapped around the orcs, binding them in a living web. ¡°To the hell with this!¡± The Brave Orc swung his axe, desperate to cut one free. ¡°Argh!¡± A nearby orc yelled in panic. ¡°It¡¯s Draining me. My strength¡­ It¡¯s leaving me¡­¡± The words grew weaker with each passing moment. The Brave Orc hacked at the vines, but his swings weren¡¯t quick enough. The orc he tried to save slumped forward, drained of life. The webbing was feeding on him ¨C on them all. The web-vine swelled with the strange bulbs, they pulsed and ripened as they absorbed what little life force the bound orcs had left. ¡°Curses! What is this foul magic?!¡± The Brave Orc¡¯s voice trembled, the sound of it drowned out by the shrieks of his warriors. He stepped away from the living web just in time. The swollen bulbs burst with violent force, releasing oily mist in a small, suffocating explosion. It stank of arcane and foul magic. He wisely avoided the blast, but others weren¡¯t as fortunate. Orcs who tried to rescue their comrades fell victim to the Drain debuff themselves, their Stamina siphoned away by the vicious vines. ¡°Gah!¡± One orc cried out. ¡°Ahh! It¡¯s sapping me!¡± The cries echoed through the battlefield. The Brave Orc could do nothing but watch as the bodies of his men fell one by one. Nothing was working in his favour. ¡°This is not a fight for Orcs¡­¡± he muttered bitterly. The enemies continued to swarm, the Shadow Spiders dragging his fallen comrades into the dark abyss. The obsidian-clad children darted in and out of the darkness, relentless, always vicious. The summoners ¨C the source of all this ¨C were nowhere to be seen, but their laughter echoed through the darkness, cold and mocking. The battle had turned in favour of the Children of the Dark Caverns, or whatever those creatures were. As the weight of dread and terror threatened to break him, he caught a scent ¨C a sickly smell of sulphur. It burned his nostrils, and yet, it was a strange, unexpected relief. And then, a FireBall ¨C FINALLY! It soared overhead, a streak of fiery brilliance, crashing into the swarm of spiders with an explosive, hellish force, burning the webbing vines. The spiders were incinerated in an inferno that filled the air with the acrid smell of burning oil and spent mana. ¡°At last!¡± The Brave Orc roared, his voice full of the first genuine hope he had felt in what seemed like an eternity. The battle wasn¡¯t over ¨C but at least, for the first time, the tide was turning in his favour. A fresh scent of sulphur tickled his nostrils just before a light tap landed on his shoulder. He turned to face the source, expecting the fiery aid of his own Legion, but instead, it was a Succubus, clad in red robes that clung to her like molten lava. She was the Centurion of the Fire Cohort, a force from the Second Legion. Her smirk was suggestive, her presence a tempting danger, like a flame waiting to scorch. ¡°Well, well, Brave Orc, you¡¯ve done well to keep it strong and going for so long,¡± she purred, eyes hungering for action. ¡°Let my girls give you a helping hand. Everyone, with me, [Synchronise], [Barrage], [FireBall]!¡± She shouted, and her women followed, firebombing the entire line of spiders to ash in a single breath. The fire engulfed the darkness like the wrath of the underworld itself. The shadows chittered and recoiled, sizzling in defeat. The orcs, grinning from their shadows of torment, felt the light return, banishing the oppressive terror and dread from their souls. Even in the face of such madness, they found relief in that brief warmth. They had long since forgotten the sun. ¡°See? All done. Extinguished in one fiery kiss.¡± the Succubus purred in his ear, her breath thick with the scent of brimstone. ¡°Fight fire with fire, darling. Magic with magic.¡± The Brave Orc stiffened. His hate for her, her kind, and their magic had no end ¨C but in this moment, he almost felt a strange, ill-fitting gratitude, almost as if he could hug her. No¡­ He must have gone mad. He clenched his jaw, looking away from her intoxicating presence. There was no time for such thoughts. He couldn¡¯t lose himself in the heat of this battle, no matter how alluring. He raised his head away from the temptress, away to bask in the fleeting rays of the sun, even as a chill in his gut told him that the darkness would soon consume it again. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something strange. A massive flying ship loomed overhead, an illusion, perhaps, or something far worse. Before he could ponder it further, the darkness surged back, swallowing the light and suffocating everything in its wake. ¡°It starts again¡­¡± He muttered, eyeing the purple flashes deep in the dark abyss. ¡°They¡¯re summoning more spiders.¡± The Succubus giggled behind him, her voice lathered in syrupy honey. ¡°Just keep your weapon straight and pointed, big guy.¡± She pressed herself against his back, her heat a stark contrast to the cold dread around them. ¡°Us girls, we¡¯ll deal with them from the rear, hehe~.¡± The Brave Orc grit his teeth and shoved her away with a grunt. ¡°Cast your magic.¡± ¡°[Synchronise], [Barrage], [FireBall]!¡± The Succubus purred hotly, launching a pre-emptive strike into the heart of the dark. The flames pushed the darkness back, but it didn''t retreat as far this time. Then, as the black tide roared louder than before, it spat Fire back towards the orcs with a terrifying ferocity ¨C twice the might of the succubus spell. ¡°What¡­ How?¡± The Succubus Centurion was momentarily stunned, but not for long. ¡°[Boost: FireResistance]!!!¡± she cast just in time, targeting him and not herself. The fire rained down, but where it touched her, the heat was resisted, leaving the two of them unharmed. The Brave Orc barely had time to shield his face from the fiery assault. But the other orcs¡­ they weren''t so lucky. The stench of charred flesh filled the air. He ignored it all, focusing instead on the source of the flames. This wasn¡¯t a simple FireBall. No, something was far more sinister lurking behind the curtain of shadows. His mind raced, the possibilities dancing inside his tired mind. A dragon? No, dragons weren¡¯t easy to command or subjugate. Something far worse¡­ emerged from the dark. ¡°...¡± The Brave Orc was speechless, as the last shreds of darkness revealed a line of figures. A hundred or so men stood before them, their eyes burning with hatred, their weapons ¨C tubes ¨C flickering with ember-like light at their ends. "Not a dragon," the Succubus breathed, as if reading his mind. The vats on the emerging soldiers¡¯ backs could only mean one thing: they were wielding something far more dangerous than mere fire. The flame that came from the dragon''s breath. They had somehow bottled it! The Brave Orc braced himself. No, this didn¡¯t bode well. Succubi and Tieflings aside, Orcs weren¡¯t naturally resistant to fire. He looked back at the Succubus, her smirk never leaving her face as she relaxed a fraction for unknown reasons. ¡°[Overcharge], [Inferno]!¡± She cast, sending an infernal blast toward the enemy ranks. But the fire crackled harmlessly against their crimson armour, their bodies unharmed by the flames. The Orcs, too, could feel the heat, despite the distance. The fire didn¡¯t stop, and they were just barely hanging on. ¡°I hate this! [Rahh]!¡± the Brave Orc roared, his frustration rising. ¡°Relax.¡± She purred, her arms winding around his waist. ¡°I¡¯ll give it to your men too. [Multimagic], [Boost: FireResistance].¡± The enemy soldiers fired again, fire licking at the orcs. They were now resistant, but not immune. A sense of dread settled in his chest. What did the Succubus Centurion and her Tiefling Fire Mages plan to do? Fight fire with fire? ¨C What a stupid idea. It was utterly insane! ¡°No¡­ We can¡¯t win this. Not without the Fiends.¡± He muttered, rallying his orcs with a deep shout. ¡°[Rally]! Only one option remains. We Charge them.¡± The Succubus sighed, a long, drawn-out sound full of mock sympathy. ¡°Your stamina would expire before you¡¯d finish the job. Don¡¯t do that. Let¡¯s call for reinforcements,¡± she said with a lazy wave. Rather conveniently, a Kenku Scout descended beside them, her wings beating weakly to disperse the clinging shadows. The Brave Orc turned to issue a quick order, but his words faltered as he took in her condition. Her robe was charred and tattered, the banner she carried barely discernible amidst the burn marks. Her feathers were singed, clumped together in molten patches of blackened mass. It was a miracle she could even stay airborne. ¡°An urgent order,¡± the Kenku cawed, her voice strained. ¡°We were ambushed on all sides. The Legion master commands a retreat.¡± ¡°A retreat? Now?!¡± The Brave Orc was in disbelief. ¡°After all I¡¯ve sacrificed?¡± His blood boiled, rage flickering in his chest as he glanced at the wounded scout. ¡°Who gave this order?¡± If it was from the Legatus of the First Legion, he would have no choice but to obey. Otherwise¡­ ¡°Orcus the Bloody,¡± the Kenku wheezed. ¡°Now retreat and reform.¡± Orcus the Bloody. It was his Master. The command was irrefutable. Reluctantly, he nodded. But the weight of the order felt like chains wrapping tighter around his chest. Their hurried exchange was suddenly interrupted by a thunderous crack of lightning above them. The sky split open, a violent burst of purple light searing through the air. The very atmosphere trembled. And then, as though summoned by the void itself, a massive spider¡¯s head emerged from the crackling storm ¨C a now familiar abomination. Its eyes gleamed with malevolent intelligence, and its twisted mouth curled into a sneer. ¡°NOT SO FAST,¡± it chirped, its voice a fusion of whispers and screeches, as currents of air pressure slammed into the ground. ¡°I TOLD YOU¡­ SHOW ME WHAT YOU¡¯VE GOT!¡± The darkness surged, thickening, swallowing the last remaining light. The earth groaned beneath them, shuddering as though it, too, feared what was coming next. ¡°¡­¡± ¨C All three, Kenku, Succubus, and Brave Ork were left stunned. Was this just a game to some dark entity? Was it just toying with them? ¡°W_W.¡± Will this nightmare ever end? 186 – Masterworks and the Whispers of the Dark Rain Back in the Spider Kingdom. The Spider King stood inside the Spidery Workshop, not just a workshop but a supermassive complex of various manufacturing facilities. Spiders, their forms evolved to specialize in their assigned task, crafted goods in a conveyor-like fashion. A spider, an imposing figure with a playful smirk, shook its body. The action was remising of a wet dog shaking its fur, but instead of throwing water droplets, the spider shed its metallic scales. Metal Spider, [ShedMetal] > [Spider Scale]. The metallic spider wasn¡¯t alone, its offspring surrounded it, all doing the same slightly cheeky smirk and shedding all their scales. A little fellow, a basket on his back almost comically large, rushed to gather the scales all by himself. With surprising efficiency and multiple libs at work, he stuffed all the pieces in the basket. It was almost strange how it put more items than the basket was supposed to hold, or even how it wasn¡¯t bothered by its weight at all. Spider Gatherer > [Gather]. Spidery Backpack > [VoidSpace] A few spidery pitter-patters away, the backpack was opened, spiling the scales by a gathering of different spiders. The spiders were arranged in a neat line, grabbing a spidery scale each and putting them on their anvils. Chirping ¡®Hammer Time!¡¯ the mischievous spiders, their expressions full of glee, brought down their spidery hammers, flattening and shaping the scales. Spider Hammerer, [ShapeScale] > [Spider ArmourScale] Thus, the unamusing scales were transformed into armour pieces. Another spider, another little fellow, its backpack way too big, gathered the pieces and skittered to the next row of spiders. The spiders there were all bunched close together, their limbs long and spindly, their eyes unnaturally big. They attacked the freshly left pile of armour pieces like ravenous beasts. Their elongated limbs moved with frightening precision, painting strange and odd symbols on the pieces. The symbols glowed in purple upon completion. Spider Enchanter, [RandomSpideryEnchantmentGoesHere] > [Enchanted Spider ArmourScale] They enchanted armmourscales with an array of varying enchantments. The most popular were [Reinforced], [SpideryMagnificent], and [ShadowVeil]. But amongst the many, there were a few with [Reflect], [Devour], and [SpiderBlessed]. Yet another spider gatherer moved the now enchanted armourscales to their next destination. Unlike before, the scales didn¡¯t find themselves on a pile, they were put on a sticky web instead. Spider Crafter moved his spidery claws like a grand painter painting a masterwork. He slotted the pieces on the hanging web, sometimes deliberating where to put this or that scale. But despite the pauses, he worked surprisingly quickly. Bound together by magically glowing spider threads ¨C the pieces took shape. In a frighteningly short amount of time, a piece of art was hanging suspended by the spidery threads. Spider Crafter, [Craft:ArmourPlate] > [Spidery DarkPlate]. The spider crafter didn¡¯t work alone, there were other weavers just like him, creating the webs they specialized in: pauldrons, greaves, boots, and helmets. Once put together, the pieces would make [Spidery FullPlate] ¨C a masterpiece of magnificent spidery craftsmanship.
Spidery FullPlate ¨C Forged in the depths of the Spidery Workshop, this masterwork armour is crafted from the enchanted scales of the Metal Spiders. Each plate is reinforced with [Reinforced], enhancing durability beyond mortal craftsmanship, while [SpideryMagnificent] ensures a near-weightless feel, allowing unhindered movement.[ShadowVeil] grants the wearer an unnatural affinity for darkness, dulling their presence and making them harder to detect in dim light. Additionally, rare enchantments like [Reflect] provide a chance to deflect magical attacks, [Devour] allows the armour to mend itself by consuming fallen foes¡¯ essence, and [SpiderBlessed] heightens agility and perception, granting instinctual battle awareness. Bound together with ¡®Threads Of Chaos¡¯, the armour shifts and adjusts to its wearer¡¯s form, growing stronger with use.
That was the System¡¯s description, and for what the eye saw: The Spidery FullPlate glistened with a sinister aura. Its spidery scales tightly overlapped each other, their edges curled and tapered. The Spider Chirp ¨C inscribed into each scale ¨C pulsed in a faint purple glow, whispering of latent power. The segmented design was reminiscent of a spider¡¯s exoskeleton. All of the pieces fit in perfectly, allowing its wearer almost inhuman grace. Web-like engravings shimmered across the pauldrons and the face of the chest plate. The helmet ¨C mimicking the visage of a snarling spider ¨C had two rows of gold-glimmering gemstones reminiscent of the spider¡¯s eyes in the dark. The boots and the gauntlets were twisted and shaped to resemble spidery claws, but the alterations didn¡¯t take away from their utility. The Spider King, the inspector of the final product, gave the spider crafter a thumbs up ¨C 11/10 was the rating. The extra +1 to its rating was because of the extra cosmetic details the armour had. It was very spidery. Then he moved to the next spider-conveyor line. The process here wasn¡¯t too dissimilar, however, the spiders here were making Spidery ShadeWear. If the FullPlate was meant for knights the ShadeWear was meant for rogues and assassins.
Spidery ShadeWear ¨C Woven from the fabric of the DarkAgave, soaked in the ichor of ObsdianVeinbloom, and stitched together with threads of CalamityDrider, the shadewear is the ultimate attire for assassins, spies, and shadow-dwellers. [Arachnoweaved] allows the fabric to flex, stretch, and harden upon impact, reducing damage from non-magical slashes and piercing attacks. [ShadowWebbed] bends light around the wearer, shrouding them in semi-invisibility when motionless or in dim environments. [SpiderishAgility] grants an uncanny flexibility and heightened balance, allowing movement on vertical surfaces or even brief suspensions in midair, as if guided by unseen strands. Additionally, the [MidnightCloak] releases a constant dark-infused mist, disorienting attackers and dulling their reflexes. The wearer also gains [SilkenStep], an unnatural quietness that ensures even the slightest footfall vanishes into silence, and [Retaliation], where threads of condensed darkness lash out when the wearer is cornered. Held together with ¡®Threads Of Chaos¡¯, the weave shifts and adjusts to its wearer¡¯s form, growing stronger with use.
Very nice, 11/10! ¨C was the honest appraisal. These two sets aside, spiders made many other spidery and magnificent pieces of Equipment. The gear made en masse here in the Spidery Workshop was meant for the Corrupted Humans of the Aurelian Dutchy. In the name of serving the Monster Realm better, Duke Aurelius proposed dispatching his standing army of veterans to protect the re-established Centauri Territory. The veterans were in the Aurelian Order, an elite force. Before the fall of the Aurelian Kingdom, the order was mostly knights, but since then this has changed significantly. The order consisted of: Dark Knights, Shadow Rogues, Scroll Squires, and Lantern Bearers. It was a motley gathering of very odd people ¨C their abilities were even stranger. The Spider King struggled to put his finger on how best to describe them: oddballs, goobers, or just cringy edgelords¡­ Either way, the show of goodwill was appreciated, thus the current crafting of high-grade equipment to better arm the ¡®cringy-goober-edgelings¡¯ of the Aurelian Order. You¡¯re welcome! The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. All kinds of equipment were made here. Currently, the sets are grouped into four categories: Spidery FullPlate for Dark Knights, Spidery ShadeWear for Shadow Rogues, Spidery ArachoMantle for Scroll Squires, Spidery WebShroud for Lantern Bearers, All four sets were masterworks of spidery craftmanship. Pleased with spidery excellence, the Spider King left the spiders to their diligent work and stepped outside. The sky above was overcast with dark clouds. The clouds were a mass of swirling anger and soon there would be a downpour of Dark Rain. Spiders aside, the dark-infused rain wasn¡¯t kind to gentle creatures. He spotted squirrels running to take shelter from the rain. Calling it running was a bit of an exaggeration ¨C they sluggishly wobbled their fat laden bodies to seek refuge under the tomgrape vines. This was both quite a sight and quite an achievement for the fattened squirrels. The Lamia too, they were slithering with urgent coils of their tails, rushing to hide within the palace. For some reason, there were a lot of them outside, a whole gathering ¨C a full deceit of Lamia. Perhaps they were setting up a picnic or something like that, if so, it was a shame it was ruined. Just then, he noticed that they had a guest. He recognised the human ¨C Gareth, the resident of New Hope and Master Tamer of the Devourers ¨C what was he doing here? Gareth¡¯s presence was both unexpected and unannounced, but not unwelcome. For a moment their eyes met, Gareth looked at the Spider King with begging eyes. The eyes trembled as if expecting something out of him. ¡°Not that place! No! Ah¡­¡± He shouted before his mouth was forcefully shut close, not by a hand but by a lamia¡¯s kiss. The Spider King couldn''t quite figure out what this was about. Before he could ask Bareth about it, the man was dragged away by the deceit of Lamia. The coiling girls had ravenous eyes; their expressions full of hunger. Was it because their picnic was just ruined? If so they can have a feast inside the Spider Palace. No? Either way, the Spider King didn¡¯t follow them to the place. Just like spiders, he wasn¡¯t bothered by the rain. Actually, he quite enjoyed it. And there was that place he wanted to visit. As he ambled through the kobold brick paved path, the darkened sky split open. Dark and voluminous drops rained from above, dispersing into dark mist before they could touch the ground ¨C making absolutely no sound. It was strange for the rain to do that, but this was no ordinary rain anyway. Roofs, structures, and people, however, didn¡¯t evoke that phenomenon, rain splashed on such things with full sound and volume ¨C it was only the soil; the soil of the place once known as the Dreaded Place that changed the rain into obviously magical mist. It became a torrential downpour. Thick, dark mist shrouded the path, making the cobbles invisible. Raindrops swirled and tumbled in the air. The Spider King was hit with the full brunt of it, and yet, he wasn¡¯t bothered. The dark rain felt nice on his pale skin, he felt refreshed, reinvigorated even. However, with the path out of sight, it was hard to know where he was going. Few landmarks aside, everything here looked the same ¨C it was an endless maze of webs and tomgrape vines. The downpour progressed, shielding away the sight of the palace ¨C his only guiding compass. This wasn¡¯t great, but not to stray from the path, he could still use the feel of the hard cobbles by his feet. He wanted to reach that place exactly because it was raining. The rain was in full swing now, and aside from him and the spiders, no one remained outside. That was until now. One by one, shadowy creatures manifested out of the mist. These were monsters birthed by the rain and the darkness ¨C yet another magical phenomenon unique to the Spider Kingdom ¨C the Shadow Creatures. They looked odd, but¡­ they were mostly harmless. There was a great variety of them. Some looked like wolves but wrong ¨C no eyes, no ears, just a hungering maw; there was a wriggling mass of tentacles on their back. Others could fly but didn¡¯t look like birds at all ¨C they had a body resembling a flattened snake with leathery wings at their sides; a spiked tail wriggled behind as they raised into the darkened sky. There were many others: hedgehogs, runners, aardvarks, boars, and such ¨C all slightly wrong and odd, touched by the Darkness and the Chaos. They were scary, but¡­ they were mostly harmless. The Shadow Creatures greeted the strolling Spider King with a humming cry. It was a low-pitched sound that pierced the rain and the darkness all too well. it was possible to hear it from tens of miles away, especially when they hummed all at once and in unison. Yes ¨C quite unsettling. The Spider King nodded in acknowledgement at the nearest Shadow Wolf. It nodded back, bowing low, and then it disappeared into the dark mist, probably running to hunt for some squirrels. Even the Shadow Creatures needed sustenance to live. Some unfortunate squirrels aside¡­ they were mostly harmless. The odd and wonderful creatures left the Spider King to his business, and he proceeded to that place. The rain was pleasant, the mist felt great, and the sighting of an occasional shadowy-wonder was a welcome one. Perhaps it was odd, but right here, and right now he felt the most alive. Clip-Clop, Clip-Clop ¨C sharp sounds of heavy hooves pierced the darkness of the mist. Centauri? If so, he would be quite surprised, just like the Lamia they weren¡¯t the biggest fans of the rain. Indeed, a figure of a dashing mare emerged from the veil of shadows. But it wasn¡¯t the mare he recognised it was the rider. Bareth the Dark Rider was atop her slender back. He was a heavy armoured knight, the colour of his armour blending well with the dim scenery. But! Heavy was a keyword here. Even if she was capable, It seemed somewhat abusive to make a slender mare carry all that weight, and yet, there was an almost heavenly smile on her face. Just as their eyes met that smile turned into an embarrassment, deep blush covered her face. But why? Somewhat urgently, Bareth dismounted his mare, took his helmet off and bowed to the Spider King. The Centauri did a curtsy of her own. ¡°Spider King, a pleasure to meet you,¡± Bareth said while still bowing. ¡°But what are you doing so deep within the tomgrape webs? And during the Dark Rain?¡± He could ask Gareth the same, but it was likely that the man was simply patrolling the webs, after all this was his job. Thinking about it, perhaps it was too much for old Bareth. The webs stretched far and wide, miles upon miles. There was a lot of work to do. As embarrassing as it was, the Spider King had forgotten that he had given this assignment to Bareth ¨C patrolling the webs wasn¡¯t even necessary at this point! Deliberating such and so, the Spider King took too long to answer a simple question. Bareth mistook that silence for something else. He rose his head to meet the Spider King¡¯s eyes, his gaze uncertain as if he weighed his next words. ¡°Are you lost, my King?¡± Lost? No! He wasn¡¯t lost¡­ He was just going to that place. Not that he could tell the two such things. He would never admit to it. ¡°I¡¯m just on my daily stroll. Yes, that¡¯s it. Just stretching my legs. Just like the two of you, right?¡± ¡°Stretching... my legs¡­¡± The centauri parroted, embarrassed and unable to meet the King¡¯s eyes. ¡°Ahem¡­¡± Bareth too seemed flustered for no reason. ¡°Yes, us too¡­ just on a stroll.¡± Having places to be, ¡°Then, I¡¯ll leave it to you,¡± the Spider King left it at that. ¡°Wait!¡± Bareth stopped him. ¡°I¡¯ve heard a rumour. The Centauri Champion¡­¡± He looked at his mare. The mare looked back at Bareth, then, for the first time, she met the Spider King¡¯s gaze. ¡°A child¡­¡± The centauri uttered. ¡°Are the rumours true?¡± Ah yes, they were talking about those rumours. They were true. However, they weren¡¯t just asking to clarify one stray rumour or such thing, they were asking because¡­ ¡°The potion and the transformation did the trick.¡± He reached into his Inventory pre-emptively. ¡°I assume you want the same thing?¡± ¡°With your permission.¡± Gareth nodded. ¡°Nyah-YES!!!¡± She neighed. He passed the Forbidden Potion+ to Bareth. ¡°Be careful. It is forbidden for a reason¡­¡± He warned just in case. ¡°Thank you! ¡­ and congratulations!¡± Bareth bowed deeply. ¡°¡­Congratulations on the child,¡± She curtsied low. Now then, he gave the potion but would it work? Bareth was no longer simply human, yes. He was the Dark Rider, a unique variant of the Corrupted Humans. So it would work¡­ probably. But what would their offspring even look like? Would their child retain the Centauri features, or would they be born as human? Such thoughts were pointless. If anything, he should ponder on the spider-hybrid child cooking in the Centauri Champion¡¯s oven first. No¡­ first he had to go to that place, and while it was still raining. He bid farewell to the happy couple, the raider and his mare. Bareth jumped on her slender back, making the centauri buckle from all the weight. She neighed with power, straightening her back, and galloped into the mist rather vigorously. ¡°Nyah! Nyah! Ride me!¡± The centauri mare neighed as she disappeared into the veil of darkness. >_< ¨C He chose not to hear that line, or imagine what was about to come. He had better things to worry. ¡°Now then¡­ I better hurry.¡± With equally vigorous determination the Spider King stepped into the opposite reaches of the dark mist, straying further away from the Spidery Palace and deep into the webbing maze of chaos and darkness. Into that place. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ He was not lost! He was going to THAT place. 187 – The Indominable Unstoppable Charge At the outskirts of the Sorcerous Forest. The two Demon Legions were making splendid progress, cutting down the forest and delving deeper to its inner edge. It was all fine. Just fine. But then it wasn¡¯t. The see of darkness spilt from the forest as if a dam holding the shadows of midnight had been breached ¨C turning the afternoon hues to ebony blackness in an instant. The battle drums were signalling a retreat. Why a retreat, and why so sudden? ¨C few demons could tell the reason. Sure, the sudden darkness was unnatural, magical even, but it wasn¡¯t a thing that would bother a demon. So why a retreat? A Kenku Scout, her wings sooty and her feathers clumped together, descended to caw an urged message ¨C a cry of Retreat. Retreat... Retreat... RETREAT!!! And so the Legion retreated. Or at least they hoped to do that. Many dense trees bordered the narrow corridor they had carved within the forest, and strange mutated monsters would often spill from it, but now, the forest was eerily quiet. There was only choking tyrannical darkness. Darkness and silence. Soon enough a scream broke that silence. An ork dying somewhere in that sea of inky black. Ambush. The drums and a Kenku Scout heralded as much, but it wasn¡¯t a simple ambush ¨C it was a slaughter in darkness accompanied by a roaring fire. The flames would conveniently break the veil of the magical night, but the sight wasn¡¯t welcome at all. Each time the flames roared, they revealed a gruesome scene. Flash. Fire. A line of orcs bellowed as their flesh was seared, the air filled with the scent of a morbid feast. Roasted Ork Meat. Flash. Fire. The flames licked at the wings of the fleeing Kenku Scouts. Their feathers burned, clumping together and melting to their flesh. A few of them fell, consumed by the searing heat, but others flapped despite the inferno, intent to survive. The air filled with a scent of grilled poultry ¨C Grilled Kenku Wings. Flash. Fire. The angry tongues of flames licked at the Succubi and Tiefling mages. The women matched the raging attack with a fiery attack of their own. They were the only ones untouched by a sudden blaze. They were the ones to shield the Legion as it retreated. They were the real MVPs. Keen to avoid further ambush, the demons had finally ushered out of the treacherous forest. However, there was no respite for them. The darkness was waiting for them. It had expected their urged coming. The pastoral plains bordering the forest were cloaked by an oppressive shroud of the unnatural midnight. Not only was it dark and unpenetrable, but it was also thick and sticky like the ink from the bottomless abyss. It clung to the skin like an oily coating, cooling it in an unpleasant chill. Unpleasant enough to be Draining. This darkness here... It felt different from the darkness permeating the Sorcerous Forest. It was a beast of the same cloth but with entirely different abilities. This darkness here... IT FELT ALIVE! The Legion ignored the Dread and Terror. They pulled themselves together. They regrouped. The Orcs formed back their rank. They were intent on fighting the unnatural phenomenon, or profane sorcery, or whatever this was. At the helm of the orcish ranks, there was the Master of the First Legion, Orcus the Bloody ¨C a towering figure of an orc-turned-demon. His body was a mountain of fat and muscle, his head an ivory skull adorned with the curling horns of a demon. In the darkened eye sockets of the the skull, two red orbs glowed with unrestrained rage and anger. In his hand, he held the iconic artefact: The Wand of Orcus. Despite its name, it was actually a mace. Its shaft was a long, bony spine. It dripped with fresh blood as if freshly ripped out. The mace was topped with a skull ¨C a spitting image of the skull that passed for Orcus''s head ¨C its eye sockets were empty and lifeless. The artefact was a powerful tool of Necromancy and Death. Yes, Orcus the Bloody dabbled in foul magic himself. That¡¯s why he was one of the few who understood the true ¨C Chaotic ¨C nature of the darkness. That¡¯s why he called for the RETREAT. The darkness here, this living shadow, it... ''It feeds on the souls it slays, I know! On Orc and Demon souls alike. And those souls... They are mine, and only mine to claim. This is a brazen, shameless theft!!!'' ¡°[Rahh!!!]¡± Orcus the Bloody roared a mighty battle cry. ¡°Enough of your games, Dark Sorcerer. Show yourself!¡± He taunted the inky darkness. His taunt was met with silence, but he knew that twisted life lurked there, somewhere hidden in the darkness. His necromancy skills detected multiple souls, black and inky in colour. Even darker than the Demon Lord''s! Those souls were likely the Minions of the Dark Sorcerer, this Monster King or whatnot. Those corrupted pawns were silently observing Orcus and his Orc Legion, mocking them with their silence. ¡°Coward! Meet me in a straight battle! I challenge you, to a [Duel]!¡± He roared another taunt, a skill impossible to shrug. He latched it on the biggest soul he could see, assuming it belonged to the Dark Sorcerer. Then... A reply. Something shimmered within the oily darkness. Put of the void, a force of a hundred eyes blinked into existence. The eyes were purple and burned with cold almost indifferent anger. No, it wasn¡¯t just cold anger, the burning eyes hungered. They hungered for... Souls. Demons and Orcs alike. The eyes were actually just lanterns, an arcane spell burned inside them. As a dark sorcerer himself, Orcus was able to deduce that. However, his Legion was but simple orcs. To them, the lanterns looked like the eyes of a hungering beast, a monster made and born out of a ravenous void ¨C a malicious entity that somehow found its way out from the depths of the unforgiving abyss. ¡°[Bahh!!!], mere tricks and illusions!¡± He cast a buff on his orcs, countering the mental attack coming from the void. As the purple light of the lanterns neared the Legion, encroaching on them like a hungering beat, the Orcs tightened their formation, huddling ever close together as if afraid. At the shortened distance, the shapes of the bearers of the lanterns became clear. They were men shrouded in web-like garb. The spidery cloth hid their features well, only a gaunt, spindly arm poked out of the spidery cloth. Long, grey fingers with blackened nails were holding the lanterns where that hungering, oh-so-hungering, evil flame burned. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Orcus the Bloody turned to the Beholder ¨C a rare demon under his command. The demon was skilled enough to pierce the enemy¡¯s magical veil of unnatural midnight and cast [Inspect] from a great distance. ¡°Those are Lantern Bearers, a variant class of Corrupted Humans." Beholder undulated its eye stalks as it explained. They specialise in buffs and status effects.¡± The Observer helpfully notified, beaming it directly to the orcs'' minds. ''Humans? I know of humans. But Corrupted Humans... So those are the minions of this Monster King. A peculiar choice. A bad choice to pit against my orcs. He-he! Everyone knows the Orcs are superior!'' However, it was apparent that there was more to it. Other souls were shimmering with the inky darkness; although hidden from the light. ¡°And how about those lurking hidden in the shadows?¡± He asked the Beholder. ¡°Dark Knights, another variant. Their class is similar to the human Paladin. Behind them, Scroll Squires, something akin to the Mage, but I can only assume. Much of their Status remains a jumbled mess of ??? and Error.¡± ''So three kinds only. Their formation is: a tank, a damage dealer behind them, and a buffer/healer person at the rear. The odd classes aside, this is nothing out of the ordinary. And anyway, my Orcs are superior.'' ¡°Mere pawns. Nothing to be afraid of. [DemonicBlood]!¡± He further buffed his orcs, granting them minor resistance and minor health regeneration. Soon after, the lantern light encroached close enough for hostilities to start. Just before the Lantern Bearers could be struck by the javelins of orcs, the Dark Knights manifested out of their ShadowVeil. Their forms resembled the hunting spiders, their mandibled helmets glaring at the orcs with palpable hostility. The Dark Knights shielded the Lantern Bearers, javelins clanging off their Reinforced armour. ''The javelins are enchanted with Piercing and still... What a formidable armour!'' Moreover, his orcs weren¡¯t stupid, they were superior! Even a fool knew that the higher physical defence an armour had, the bigger its weakness was against the magic. The Orc Shamans flung their spells, aiming a volley of CorrosiveBolt at the knights. ¡°Ha!¡± Orcus the Bloody let out a cheery laugh, expecting the oh-so-sweet sight of melting flesh and armour. And yet... The impossible happened once again ¨C the spell volley was miraculously... Deflected. ¡°Bastards!¡± he glared at the Corrupted Humans, then at the Beholder under his command. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you warn me? You made me look like a fool!" The Beholder shrunk under his bellow, its tendrils flailing wildly. ¡°My apologies, Master. Their skills and perks were mostly obfuscated by those ??? And other weird symbols. An anti-scrying measure, I assume. But now they''re out of their shadows and I can [Inspect] them with clarity: Reflect, Devour, SpideryMagnificent...¡± Beholder listed an extensive list. ''Eh? What is this? Way too many perks and skills for a puny human... Is this because they are Corrupted? Or is this due to their equipment?'' Orcus the Bloody didn¡¯t get the luxury to ponder such pointless things ¨C either way, his Orcs were still superior! More importantly, the enemy was about to counterattack. Then, he felt arcane power surging out from what must be the Scroll Squires. Their forms suddenly became clear, well, clear enough to see their vague shapes. They were cloaked in oddly spiderish mantles, webbing made out of some inky strings. It was quite hard to tell their exact appearance because it shimmered within the lanternlight, blurring in and out of existence, constantly changing position. But one thing remained clear and tangible ¨C it was an array of scrolls floating behind them. The scrolls were suspended in the air, trembling like flies trapped in an invisible web. It was beyond unnatural; even Orcus the Bloody couldn¡¯t quite tell the source of such magics. He turned again to the Beholder. For answers. But... It was all too late. One by one, the scrolls burst into purple flames, shrieking like dying animals as they burned to a fine ash. In a mere second, an equivalent of a thousand scrolls were spent, each casting their inscribed spell. Luckily, the Orc Shamans were ready for a magical counterattack, which was within the natural expectations of the battle. He slammed the Wand of Orcus, erecting the BloodShield. The shamans did much the same, erecting various lesser barriers. ''This should suffice, well, normally it would... But I can¡¯t help but feel this bad premonition. My instincts are telling me to run. How infuriating! I''m Orcus the Bloody; I don''t flee!!!'' However, his instincts were on point... "..." Warding against a single element, no, even against two elements, was within his Legion''s capabilities. But... But what came out of the scrolls was entirely unexpected. A rainbow of magic rained on the orcs shields and wards. A great variety of magic slammed at their defences. It was only natural that they couldn¡¯t shield against ALL Elements, and ALL at ONCE. Magical bolts and arrows pierced through, dealing great damage to his orcs. ''This isn¡¯t good. This can¡¯t continue. Perhaps if it was the Second Legion, they would be better matched. But my Orcs are a physical force. So... I have no othe choise.'' Orcus the Bloody pointed his wand towards the ranks of the enemy, the vacant eyes within the mace¡¯s skull finally burst with life. Life and suicidal anger. ¡°[Rage of the Legion],¡± he invoked one of his master-skills. The Orc Legion roared as one; their eyes glowed red with Berseker¡¯s scorn; they charged at the enemy like a landslide of flesh and armour. ¡°Ha, ha, ha!!!¡± He laughed confident in the superiority of his orcs. Alas, this wasn¡¯t the only triumph card he had. There was another. ¡°Beholder, contact the Balrogs and tell them to come forth from their hiding.¡± The Beholder wriggled its eye stalks, contacting the Greater Demons through Telepathy. Demonic circles came alive throughout the pastoral pastures. Hellish fires disturbed the inky veil of darkness, forcing it to shrink back. Then, with a roaring inferno, creatures made out of flame and raging flesh stepped forth into existence. They manifested right behind the midnight-shrouded minions. Yes, the minions still had their strange scroll-empowered magic, and their buffing lanterns, but that wouldn¡¯t save them. The Orcs were superior! And now... The humans were between an anvil and a hammer ¨C mere pawns to be crushed into a pulpy paste. ¡°Ha, ha, ha! Cower against the might of the Legion!¡± He started running towards the coward who refused to come out despite the Duel. ¡° Monster King, this is the END for you!¡± Orcus the Bloody shrugged the annoying elemental attacks, throwing Dark Knights away with his IndominableCharge, scattering them all away like pathetic bowling pins they were. With a quick swing of his wand, he crushed a nearby Scroll Scribe, pasting her like a punny welp she was, dousing the Lantern Bearer and his evil flame in fresh blood. The eyes inside the skull of his mace glowed, intent to Reap the souls and Turn the freshly slain bodies to the cause of the Legion. ¡°[Reanimate]!¡± He invoked as he ran past the fresh slaughter. "???" And yet, for the first time ever, his special skill failed. His NecromancersEye saw the souls fly towards the blasted lantern. The purple flame ate the souls instead. As if fuelled by a sacrifice, the flame burned ever brighter. ¡°Bahh! To the hell with you!¡± He dismissed it as of no consequence, choosing to continue his indominable charge towards his main Target. ''Yes, if I end the Monster King, this annoying nonsense would end too. A solid plan. Ha-ha...'' Trusting in his own superiority he charged towards the fattest, most tarnished soul within the battlefield. ¡°Huh...¡± Momentarily he was surprised. It seems that the coward had finally made a move. The fool was charging right rowards him, him! Orcus the Bloody!!! What a moron! ''Hah, what an idiot! I am a sorcerer, yes, but also I am an orc-turned-demon. My physical might is greater than my magical skill. With my IndominableCharge I will simply crush him beneath my orcish feat. Rahh!!!'' As he neared towards his foolish Target, Orcus the Bloody was left surprised again ¡°Huh?¡± His Target, the overly obese man, the Monster King(?), roared a command, ¡°[UnstoppableCharge]!!!¡±, a challenge of his own. The boulder of a man charged towards the Orcus the Bloody, his body rolling like a raging hill. ¡°...¡± Now... Which one was superior: IndominableCharge or UnstoppableCharge??? 188 – The Spidery Temptations That Delight All Mortal Men The dock of Aurelian Capital was abuzz with spidery chirps. The spiders were moving crates full of freshly spun equipment. Sat upon a small stool was the Duke Aurelius. The poor chair creaked and strained under the might of a boulder-like physique. So heavy. So heavy! The Spider King couldn''t help but praise the spidery craftsmanship of the small stool. Any other chair would have broken to splinters and dust already. If anything, it was a small miracle the stool here held as well as it did. A legendary stool! The legs of the stool cried a battle cry as Aurelius leaned forward, cupping his hands in a conspiratory fashion. "Master Spider King, oh-how grateful I am for your generosity. How will I ever repay you." The Spider King couldn''t help but notice that Duke Aurelius had gained a pound or a... thousand. He was a mountain of fat, a full larder of a person. And yet, he wasn''t just an amorphous blob; no, Aurelius was rather shapely and well-rounded ¨C a sign of a great amount of muscle hidden beneath the tallow. A boulder of a man! ''... Dude needs to ease on that Spidery Delishious?'' ¨C He thought quietly to himself, opting for a different remark. "Duke Aurelius, think nothing of it. After all, the Equipment is there so you can serve the Spidery Cause better." "The Spidery Cause, yes ... But, Master, my Aurelian Order is slightly under-leveled for a task as great as this. Is it alright if we do some monster hunting while we''re at the Centauri Territory?" Creak, Strain, Wobble! The twice-reinforced stool spat a creaking string of profanities as Aurelius turned to gesture at the men behind him. Unlike the duke, the men behind were all lanky fellows, gaunt even. There was not a shred of fat present within their forms. Their muscles were taunt and wiry, bulging out of thin, pale grey skin. Lean muscles aside, their shape was rather bony and their limbs spindly snd elongatedand. There were black circles under their eyes, but the eyes were positively bursting with life. They twitched ever so slightly, scratching around or fidgeting with one thing or another, never able to stay still for so long. A strange kind of gaseous darkness clung to their lanky shapes. ''... They contrast so starkly with their Duke. Did they go too hard on Spider-Fizz?? Hey, guys, it has negative calories, so go easy on the stuff!'' ¨C he didn''t voice it either. Instead, he made a mental note to put a warning on the labels of the bottles. In small, near imperceptible print of course. Warning! Might cause extreme weight loss, jitters, tweaking, billowing dark smoke, and madness. "Sure, knock yourselves out at the Centauri Territory. But watch out for the forest monsters, I made them rather... vicious. Not that you have to worry about that with all the new¡ª" With those words, a special delivery was rolled out of the Galleon Whale. It was a parcel unable to be fit in any web. A colossal gift of unprecedented girth and weight. A super heavy, super round suit of armour! The MVP of this conversation breathed a creaking sigh of relief as Aurelius stood to inspect his glorious shell-shaped gift. He touched the cool metal upon which the armour popped open like a chestnut shell. He squeezed his generous proportions inside without a hitch. "Wow, it fits like a glove." Indeed it does. "But, does it make me look fat? I worry." Aurelius gave a prince-like twirl; he was like a gem twinkling in the afternoon sun. A very... Very well-rounded gem. "No, Aurelius," The Spider King began with a raised eyebrow, "If anything, you''re past that point. How do I put this... The armour just brings the best shape out of you! Just a mere sight of your glory would leave a common man feeling defeated. ... Yes, let''s just leave it at that." "Is that so? Either way, I''m grateful. I was struggling to find fitting armour, you know. Nothing would ever fit! Or it would just feel too light. Or too tight. But with this... I feel Unstoppable!" He was unstoppable in plomping his heavy posterior back on the poor oh-so-poor stool. The Duke was twice his weight now... But! The spidery stool persevered. It creaked and groaned, shouting strained curses, yet it held firm. Undefeated. The Spider King couldn''t help but feel impressed with spidery craftmanship once again ¨C both the chair and the armour. The quality here was hard to beat! All hail the spidery craftsmanship! "Now, Duke Aurelius, I must bid you farewell. I''ve got some old friends to catch up." "Yes, of course, Master. I wouldn''t dare to take any more of your time. And I assure you we will put the spidery equipment to good use." To hit a proper farewell Duke Aurelius shifted to stand from the stool. The hero of all stools made the roar of a dragon. It was shouting ''I will not be beaten! Not now not ever!''. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. The Spider King gestured for Aurelius to remain seated ¨C simple pleasantries weren''t needed since the two here were friends. The legendary hero of all stools gave a silent thanks. Thus, with a smile and a wave, the Spider King left Aurelius to sort the rest of the delivery. The next destination was the Crimson Alchemist''s mega workshop factory thing, or rather, her home. It has been a while since he last saw the red-haired woman. She was pregnant at the time, but now... Well, the child was born. Actually, it was a while ago. The report said the baby was healthy, and all was well. But he hadn''t yet seen the love child of a spider and a human. He was curious, to say the least. Also, feeling like it was forever since he''d visited the Aurelian Capital, he opted for a casual stroll. ShadowWalk didn''t seem appropriate. It was good to see how the city had developed. And it changed in so many ways. The streets were paved in meticulously carved kobold bricks. At every dozen paces or so, there was a FireAgave Juice lantern. After two dozen paces, there was a bench, somewhat spidery in its appearance. Its design resembled a web suspended by two branches. Thinking about it, there were a lot of benches around. All spidery magnificent in their appearance, and all Reinforced+ for some unknown reason. Clearly some distant cousins of the legendary stool. But... There are so many benches! "The citizens here must live relaxed lives," he remarked to himself. And it was true, most of the benches were full of portly fellows, lounging and snacking at their leisure. Judging from the high-quality waxed wrapper and its signature blue colour, it was clear where all those snacks came from. Thank you Spidery Delishious?! Ordering food for takeaway produced a degree of trash in the form of disposable packaging. And yet, the streets were sparkling clean; no burger wrappers or drink bottles littered the area around the benches. The spiders were to thank. Of course! A bundle of spindly appendages and cloth scuttered between the benches. Not only did the spider collect the used packaging for recycling, but he was also an entrepreneur of sorts. On his back, inside his spidery backpack, he had a wide variety of treats. More burgers, more drinks, and even some dessert. A somewhat tubby dude waved at the spider, a shiny coin in his hand. "Spider, One Mega-Mini order of MaxUber-Pettite Delight Combo please. I am on a diet you see." Mr Tubby Mc Obese flipped a coin in the air. The gold glinted in the afternoon sun. The design of the coin was familiar ¨C a spidery piece with a wyrm framing it. The coin was snatched by the spider. He chirped a jovial line of ''[MerchantPouch], making the coin disappear at the touch of his spidery claw. Then the spider reached into his backpack, retrieving the order for the ''dieting(?)'' man. The Order was: 12 Mega-Mini burgers all MaxUber-Petite. Plus an entire bucket of SlimFry Deminitive Fries. The EarthRoot Fries were tiny but the bucket was... Macro-Cosmo sized. It all came with a teeny-tiny drink, canned in a deceptively small potion bottle. A formidable vortex of darkness swirled within the diminutive potion bottle. It looked extra sus... "GalaxyGas FizzPop, our newest brew! The encompassing void of the entire cosmos in a single gulp! Drink, Feel, Be Free!" It chirped a promotional tune. Then the spider proceeded pushing the extra sus bottle into the tubby dude''s sweaty palm. "Huh, but I haven''t ordered it." The sweaty arm pushed it away, struggling not to topple the stack of burgers in his lap. "A gift for my bestest customer!" The spidery claw insisted. "Sorry, I can''t. I''m on a diet." He shook his head regretfully, his quadruple chin quivering like a stack of jelly. "Rest easy. It''s all gas, it has no calories." "No calories you say?" "Negative calories only! It''s made out of concentrated void gas. Very delicious too!" "Oh?!" Mr Tubby Mc Obese, his eyes sparkling with curiosity and his gourmand mouth already salivating, uncorked the tiny potion with great interest. The potion hissed at the air as if speaking an ancient and forbidden curse. GalaxyGas FizzPop: "F''ht-agn... ?Y''og-g... ?E''n-tr''o-p''y..." The potion clearly spoke, uttering something rather Eldrich. Although the tubby man paid no mind, simply taking the gasy potion in one gulp. Unbelievably everyone just ignored an obviously speaking potion! "Bu-uuu-urp, Beltch, " the tubby man roared like a void drake, belching inky shadows out. "It has quite a kick! And its taste is... Amazing!" "A diet drink for a dieting man!" The spider chirped in a giddy note. Mr Tubby might not have realised it, but the Spider King couldn''t help but notice. The number of chins hanging by his neck decreased to three! It just shrunk to non-existence. Indeed, amazing! And yet, as if to offset the miraculous effect, the tubby man bit into his MegaMini Burger, a task of a dozen chomps, and he had all twelve of them plus an entire bucket of SlimFries... He ate them with great gusto, much like a starved cosmic beast would. All into the void that was his belly! Similar scenes played out throughout the street: Aurelian people finding joy in spidery temptations and the spiders giddily serving their delights. Thinking nothing much of it, the Spider King continued down the brick-paved road. The nearby buildings had caught his attention. Something new was replacing the old. The ancient and crumbling Aurelian architecture was pushed out by something spidery. Rotten wood and crumbling stone gave way to webbish design of IronOak and spiderish weaves of iconic blue-and-purple. The new buildings weren''t in the shape of boring rectangles. They were rounded and elliptical like arachnid cocoons. Some were stacked, having multiple levels, and others were big, like large domes. The roofs of the cocoons were tiled with triangular tiles, all purple and made out of a type of magical plant. The windows were circular, framed by the finest IronOak frames. The skeleton frame of cocoons was woven out of hardened blue rope, a substitute for spider thread. And the circular walls were draped in BlueCloth. Despite it being thin, the cloth was super strong, reinforced, and water and dirt-repellant. The buildings looked positively spiderish, and their round design complimented the much-improved shape of the Aurelian people. But more importantly, no building was quite the same. They all were made slightly different: varied in shape or size, built in several levels, constructed in different weaves or patterns. It looked very chaotic, but there was a certain beauty to it. A spidery city full of corrupted humans. Ir was quite a sight! Feeling happy about the improvements, the Spider King continued down the brick-paved path. A large web-weaved structure came into his sight. Its size was monumental, rivalling even the Aurelian Palace. The structure had many darkened spires, all billowing dark-infused gas. Massive metal vats of mindboggling proportions jutted from its sides. Spidery cocoons were nested in a large clump, forming many levels. The gigantic building was an amalgamation of spidery cloth and drow metal, a mixture of blue and dark colours. This was the Crimson Alchemist''s HyperMega Factory Workshop ¨C the industrial marvel of the Aurelian Capital. This was the place where the Monster Realm brewed its potions and drinks alike. The factory workshop was crammed full of spiders; even at a distance, it was possible to hear their happy chirps. It was one of the tunes they chirped during work. A ballad born from their love of work. The inner workings of the structure were to his interest, but first, he wanted to see the owner ¨C the fiery-haired Lady Crimson, the GrandMaster of potions and alchemy alike. But the real interest was the child she bestowed upon this world ¨C the first-ever spider-human hybrid!