Tail Devourer (Monster Evolution, LitRPG, Cultivation)

Mythwalker · Jul 14, 2023

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
SPELLFORGING

Shai collected his loot one after another as the gore almost vanished out of the pit. She sighed, peering at the wreckage. It took her half a day of incessant labour to fix everything, yet it only took a little time to regress almost everything back to the old state.

[7 Red, 1 Green Copper Cosmic Coins; 36 Lesser Red, and 9 Lesser Green Cosmic Coins have been added to your Inventory.]
[Purified Chilopod Flesh has been added to your Inventory.]
[Copper grade Chilopod carapace has been added to your inventory.]
[Corrupted Copper Core has been added to your Inventory.]
...
[5 Red, 2 Green Copper Cosmic Coins; 27 Lesser Red, 3 Lesser Green Cosmic Coins have been added to your Inventory.]
[Purified Chilopod Flesh has been added to your Inventory.]
[Copper grade Chilopod carapace has been added to your inventory.]
[Corrupted Copper Core has been added to your Inventory.]
[Mutated core has been added to your inventory]
...
>>>

Fortunately for her, there were two other pits open to be used, though she still needed to put the work into it. After careful consideration, Shai decided that cultivating levels from one pit was too slow, so why not be a little too ambitious and use all three pits simultaneously?

The creatures would ruin them no matter how much effort she put into them, it was essentially futile to keep all three intact. She would rather work harder to get the result in the shortest time.

She even had those copper cores that could serve as an energy source for the formation in the pit. After witnessing the effectiveness of constructs against these mindless creatures, she understood the value of these resources. She absolutely had to be resourceful if she wanted to go somewhere far on the road of cultivation.

There was no benefit in hoarding the free secondary points she received from levelling up. Shai wisely invested these points into Strength and Speed, boasting her combat capabilities a little. But Shai wasn't done with just that. She expelled a good chunk of lesser cosmic coins of different attributes from her inventory and absorbed them until she couldn't anymore.

Then she got back to work. Firstly, the concealment formation seemed to be malfunctioning. Thankfully, there was no fault in its scripts, only in the line of the power source. The concealment formation was contracted with a very delicate set of scripts, assuming it uses illumination and shadow element to hide stuff from others' sight. If she could...

Isn't that what I'm missing to comprehend the insight of concealment?

[Stealth has reached Level 8.]

Shai stopped what she was doing, her eyes peered into the scripts carved on the wall, though she wasn't examining them. Her mind drifted off to somewhere else. Could she somehow comprehend concealment through these scripts?

Shai always wondered how some complicated runes arrayed in symmetrical form could produce different results. True, a cultivator could do all of the things a script formation could, provided with good training in that aspect. But how could an inanimate formation of runes do the same?

Shai didn't have to think long to find an answer.

It was in the intent--the will of the scriber that forced those scripts to act the way they did. Like how different techniques and abilities needed distinctive energy manipulations along with the Intent, the scripts were about the same. Along with the current form of runes, you needed a will behind it.

Could they be related somehow? That was the biggest question because if they were, Shai would be able to learn a lot of stuff--not limited to scripts--just by studying the script formation.

Zekis blessed that kind spider that didn't bother to obscure the scripts like everyone else did, Shai prayed inwardly. Shai had studied scripts for a couple of years, which was probably the longest time she stayed interested in a topic. Of course, it wasn't by choice.

Most time of that two years had been her working like a slave, sixteen hours a day to mass produce basic elementary scripts like one of those mindless corrupt creatures. During her time as an indentured worker, She had lost all her love for script formations. Constantly doing the same thing and learning nothing did that to people. And it wasn't that it was effortless. While drawing the scripts became easier and almost effortless, it was highly taxing to do it for hours.

She was only taught the basics, just about the stuff needed to be a good worker to draw the elementary array flag. A mortal couldn't wish for more, not to mention when she was indentured into that work as a free labourer.

Still, Shai could be called a novice in scribing, even though she could carve the elementary scripts with her eyes closed.

All knowledge and secrets of the cultivation world were hidden from her. However, it seemed the spiders weren't that secretive about their affairs. Then again, they have no fear of divulging their wisdom. Who would have even tried to learn them? Definitely not any of those corrupt creatures.

Shai made a mental note to put more thought into it after she was done with preparing the pits.

Midnight was more affable in the tactical meeting than her usual days. It could be because of all the uncertainty she didn't have the answers to.

Serenity didn't know what to think of that. Her sibling was certainly taking it all in stride, delighted that she was getting all the recognition she desired and deserved. Well, that was Elegy.

Previously, Midnight's decision was absolute, leaving no room for debate. Now, she seemed more open to considering their opinions. It could be attributed to their growth or the prolonged absence of their Mother, which had taken its toll on Midnight since Silence departed.

Serenity was unsure about many things, but she certainly didn't like this Midnight. It was like their pristine white elder sibling had lost her charm.

"Serenity? Serenity?" Midnight's voice rang in her mind, as she broke out of her stupor.

"Hmm, yes?"

"Do you have anything to contribute to the discussion?"

"No," transmitted Serenity with a mental pulse of dismissal.

Midnight turned her attention to Elegy. "What about you? Anything else you can think up?"

Eager to impress Midnight, Elegy stepped forward confidently. She always seized any opportunity to express her views, even if they contradicted their superior's plan. Midnight had always valued such dissenting opinions, even if she rarely expressed them.

"I believe initiating an attack would be a better approach," she suggested. "Intimidation has proven ineffective against humans, as history has shown. This is a tough time. We should strike hard first and resort to intimidation later."

Midnight considered Elegy's input, acknowledging the merits of her argument. "That's another approach," she conceded. "However, we must remember that humans do not easily forget. If we merely drive them away with force, they will return with greater numbers. Holding grudges is their thing as if it fuels their determination."

"But if these humans harbour ill intentions, mere intimidation may not deter them easily." Elegy was clearly sceptical of the effectiveness of intimidation against iron-ranked individuals, considering all of them were iron rankers themselves. "Ignoring all the advantages we had of our home ground, we might surrender one of the crucial factors in if we try to intimidate them through warning. If they break through our clever tricks, we'll lose the element of surprise."

Yes, the element of surprise was their crucial factor. The humans might have faced empathic spiders, the highly erratic male kind of their clan, but definitely not the three of them, the best of their clan, excluding Solace.

"It might even make them more cautious, complicating our task," Serenity chimed in, further reinforcing Elegy's point.

Midnight sent a wave of agreement, acknowledging the validity of their concerns. "That's why we will combine both approaches," she declared after a brief moment of contemplation. "Elegy, you will establish telepathic contact with them while Serenity and I prepare for the attack simultaneously. However, before that, we need to ensure the safety of the young ones. Serenity, bring me the latest report of the evacuation from Solace. As for you, Elegy, come with me. We will organise the ambush in the meantime."

With their roles assigned, they embarked on the tasks they were given, aware of the challenges that awaited them. The stakes were high, and the actions they took in the coming nights would determine the fate of their home.

It'd been over a day since Shai's mental lapse, and she managed to hunt three more copper creatures in the meantime, bringing her closer to the goal.

Three more to go.

Shai hadn't slept at all after the event. Her body was terribly fatigued, her mind was impaled with a stabbing headache. Setting up three pits and taking care of all the creatures that fell onto them had been more taxing than she realised at first, but her level was growing, she was improving. In the end, that was all that mattered.

The three pits had trapped over a couple of hundred corrupted creatures in the meantime, bringing Shai's path to Hatchling Level 19. The sheer number of kills it took her to a level was astronomical, but at this rate, she should be getting at least two levels every day.

Unfortunately, Shai wouldn't be able to keep it up any longer without a little rest. As much as cosmic energy manipulation was pleasant, it was taxing for both her body and mind. Perhaps spirit too, but all the abstract concepts about the soul eluded her. After a certain point of work, she couldn't go on for much longer without rest.

Moreover, her energy reserve had been depleting pretty easily in quick succession. She only managed to go so far with the help of [Essence Eater], but even the Spark of Hunger had its limit.

Eventually, Shai chose to take a break for a few hours, setting aside the baits off over the pits. These creatures couldn't get enough of the rancid flesh. Hopefully, they wouldn't jump into the pit like they did when there was nothing to drive their avarice.

Shai mediated for a couple of hours and recovered the depleted cosmic energy. The prickling sensation was gone by the time she was finished, leaving her almost empty-minded to try out the scripts.

Shai once heard an actual scriber--not a half-baked novice like her--could use their scripts in combat. Not just the combat array and defensive array formations, they could literally fight other cultivators, forming script formations in the air. Shai couldn't fathom the sheer amount of will and control it took to have such mastery over the scripts, to use them in battle.

It was literally impossible for foundation stage cultivators. Even most copper rankers had it hard, only a handful of them were able to utilise the elementary scripts on the go.

Shai had a terrible urge to try that out. True, she wasn't even a copper ranker, but most of her attributes reached the copper rank standard if she counted the bonuses. Well, it certainly doesn't hurt to try, Shai thought. Who knows, I might even get something out of it.

Shai started with one of her absolute favourite scripts, even though it wasn't the simplest. Anti-gravity script.

Shai knew the runes, and how to carve them together into a complete script. Obviously, she used to have a scriber pen and carve them on an array flag, definitely not whatever she was trying now. But the concept remained about the same, just the tool changed.

Shai was stronger than ever. She could easily manage those scripts when she didn't even have a speck of cosmic energy. How hard can it be now?

The answer was tremendously hard. Shai learned the moment she formed her very first rune in the air. It stayed in the air, translucent, kind of like an odd, ethereal character that was too hard to understand, but before she could even join the second rune, it dissolved into thin air, as if she triggered [Loot] on it.

However, Shai wasn't depressed, not when System Grandpa announced a new addition to her skill set.

[Congruations! You have learned Spellforging.]

It was a different name, something she never learned, but Shai liked the sound of it.

Mythwalker · Jul 17, 2023

Shai lost herself in the art of Spellforging, realising that it wasn't just a unique pathway within the realm of cosmic arts, but in cultivation as well. Hours slipped away as Shai got busy, attempting to master the Anti-gravity script. She had tried over a couple of hundred times, and tirelessly failed all the time, but her determination remained undeterred by all the failures.

Although she didn't find success, Shai was eager to make all the swift progress she was making in the process. A surge of exhilaration coursed through her whenever System Grandpa spoke into her mind. This had been her latest notifications of progress:

[Congratulations! Cosmic Energy Manipulation has reached Level 8.]
[Congratulations! Spellforging has reached Level 2.]
[Congratulations! Mental Corrosion Resistance has reached Level 8.]
[Congratulations! Meditation has reached Level 10. You have attained the foundational form of meditation.]

That wasn't even all the benefits. Unlike other cosmic arts, Spellforging required less cosmic energy and more mental fortitude—a quality Shai found herself lacking in recent times, not to mention Mind was her least favoured attribute.

Yet, as she delved deeper into Spellforging, Shai discovered a profound transformation taking place within her very being.

Apparently, practising Spellforging accelerated the growth of her Mind Attribute at an unprecedented pace, easily surpassing the rate at which she used to progress before. Since her hatching, Shai had managed to boost her Mind Attribute from 3 to 6.3 over the span of nearly two weeks.

She attributed this growth to the cosmic fruits and mushrooms she had ingested and assimilated over time. White Cosmic coins were exceptionally scarce. Although she likely would get some if she hunts those empathic spiders, she couldn't shake off her uneasiness about engaging with them. Their sheer numbers, intelligence, strength, and all other signs of power, Shai managed to unmask--it was almost impossible not to have a foreboding feeling about them.

Besides, they were sentient beings. Hunting them for mere resources with no particular grievance at all just felt wrong. Well, she did have some grievances, albeit with the male ones, and with the Spider mama who tried to capture her, but Shai wasn't foolish enough to justify those as her reasons to start hunting a race that held dominion over this weird dungeon.

Not to mention, she was tirelessly busy with studying. Who would want to go for life and death conflict when they can learn new interesting stuff? Not me.

Back to Spellforging she went.

Before Spellforging, Shai remained clueless about the method to cultivate her Mind Attribute aside from meditation. Although her search for inner peace had yielded passable results, it couldn't compare to the recent increase of 0.3 units in her Mind Attribute, just through Spellforging.

Adding to her astonishment, these 0.3 points in Mind seemed to be siphoned from her Recovery whose essence reserves had depleted over 1.5 units without any growth in that attribute.

It appeared that Shai was somehow converting the essence of Recovery into the essence of the Mind. [Essence Eater] or perhaps the [Spark of Hunger] was responsible for this, but she lacked concrete evidence to support her theory. Well, she wasn't complaining. Her Mind Attribute was the weakest among her attributes. It played a vital role in all cosmic arts.

Shai was willing to accept a slower progression in one attribute if it meant she could grow her mental prowess.

For that reason only, she would have persisted in the practice. But Shai was ready to give her absolute best, as the subject intrigued her most profoundly in recent times. Even when her mental fortitude and cosmic energy waned at an alarming rate, Shai persisted, returning to her Spellforging after another round of meditation and replenishing snacks.

The Bloodcudding Mushrooms had been an absolute delight to her otherwise bland existence. It was not only a delicacy to her potent taste buds but also acted as a potent remedy for her dwindling mental fortitude and energy. That was why the spiders cultivated these wondrous fungi.

The elementary Anti-gravity script demanded the precise arrangement of eight runes intricately formed inside a symmetrical octagon. Shai did it wrong initially, mistakenly attempting to create the runes in mid-air before establishing the proper octagonal structure.

Apparently, she didn't need to carve the octagonal form in the array flag, they were already carved by machines. After growing accustomed to only carving individual runes, Shai overlooked this crucial point. Fortunately, she was quick to solve her oversight, though it only led to another round of exasperated attempts at shaping the perfect octagon in mid-air. It proved to be equally challenging, if not more so.

After all, the script required flawless symmetry in its formation.

[Congratulations! Spellforging has reached Level 3.]

It took two arduous hours of focused forging for Shai to achieve her first perfect octagon. Initially, she succeeded only two or three times out of ten attempts, but her success rate reached a fifty-fifty chance as she practised forming the runes within the octagon. It took four rounds of meditation and forging sessions.

[Congratulations! Spellforging has reached Level 4.]

Now, the runes she painstakingly created no longer dissipated when she moved to inscribe the next one. The octagonal shape was simply magical. If formed perfectly, with precise energy synergy coursing through its symmetrical structure, it prevented the runes' energy from dissipating too easily.

Shai managed to inscribe the fourth rune within the octagon, completing half of the script on her first try before it disintegrated into thin air. Four again on her next try. Failure. Then four again. Always failing to incorporate the fifth rune. It was either a useless half-script or a complete failure, until after dozens of tries, she managed the fifth rune.

Progress was difficult but rewarding. Unfortunately, her cosmic energy ran out at that very moment to incorporate more, leaving her drained and frustrated.

[Congratulations! Spellforging has reached Level 5.]
[Congratulations! Mental Corrosion Resistance has reached Level 9.]

Annoyed, Shai retrieved a couple of Bloodcudding Mushrooms and gobbled them up. She brought a couple more and devoured them too, settling back into her secluded space. [Essence Eater] working fast to restore a tenth of her whole energy reserve, but that wasn't nearly enough.

Shai coiled her form and meditated, seeking to replenish her depleted energy reserves and mental fortitude. [Essence Eater] augmented this recovery process significantly, especially after consuming nourishment of high quality. After the initial boost of 10% energy, [Essence Eater] gradually slowed down the process of recovery. Nonetheless, the initial burst of 10% cosmic energy recovery within a few short seconds was no less than a lifesaver.

With meditation synergizing with the recovery process, her cosmic energy regeneration surpassed 110 points per hour—a considerable number compared to her normal cosmic energy regeneration speed, which averaged around 33 points.

Her meditation practice didn't progress at the same rapid rate as Spellforging after she reached the first state. Her previous understanding of scripts probably accounted for the fast growth of Spellforging. Hopefully, she would need a few more hours of diligent forging to successfully form her first complete script.

After a couple of hours of meditation, Shai was back at it again. She began by forming a perfect octagon, laying the foundation for runes to be filled within. Each runes she inscribed within introduced a new variable. Any imperfection in form or energy synergy could ruin the entire structure. There was no saving it once it broke, kind of like a glass.

Her attempt at forming the fifth rune ended in failure, underlining the increasing difficulty of each addition. It became evident that the first rune was the easiest to master, while the last presented the greatest challenge.

The addition of each rune brought forth a new level of complexity, making the task of adding more runes even more difficult.

Unbeknownst to Shai, a whole day had slipped away without her successfully forming the sixth rune. But Shai was undeterred, too focused on the art that she lost the passage of time or her current state.

Her daily routine had become a cycle: Eat, meditate, spellforge, and repeat. She remained completely true to the craft, pouring her everything into it. The result spoke for itself.

[Congratulations! Spellforging has reached level 6.]

When she was fluent in forming the sixth rune.

[Essence Eater: Proficiency: 10.1%]
[Congratulations! Meditation has reached level 11.]

At the seventh round of devouring and meditation the next day.

[Congratulations! Spellforging has reached level 7.]

After she mastered the forge of the perfect octagon.

[Congratulations! Spellforging has reached level 8.]

She stopped making mistakes completely in forging a half-script

[Congratulations! Spellforging has reached level 9.]

Finally, she succeeded in forming the seventh rune, after an unknown number of the cycle.

However, reaching the final milestone proved to be a gruesome task. Shai devoured hundreds of mushrooms, delved deeper into meditation, reaching Level 13. And at long last, she successfully forged her first complete spell script.

[Congratulations! Spellforging has reached Level 10.]
[Congratulations! Meditation has reached Level 13.]
[Congratulations! Mental Corrosion Resistance has reached Level 10.]
[Congratulations! You have learned the spell script of Gravity.]

Shai paid little attention to System Grandpa's voice, her gaze fixated on the mesmerising script, suspended in mid-air, emitting a soft, ethereal glow. Finally, I have succeeded.

Overwhelmed with joy, Shai leapt into the air, hissing madly in ecstatic celebration. As the moments passed, she redirected her focus to the script, still radiating a dim glow. A sudden memory surfaced within her mind, as her eyes grew distant even though she was staring at the script.

It was a fragment from her early childhood when Shai was around six or seven years old. A hazy memory. Shai wasn't even sure it had once belonged to her.

Her father had crafted something similar to this script, or was it a device with an array that dealt with Gravity scripts? All that didn't matter, because he did it for her, to stop her from crying. He would let her play in mid-air, supported by the script's magnetic presence.

Shai remembered running around in midair, laughing freely, gleefully, calling out to her father, who observed her from a distance, with a hint of sadness in his eyes. There was a faint recollection of a woman, her mother most likely, but her face remained hazy in Shai's fading memories.

Shai released a hissing sigh, deliberately pulling herself away from the grip of melancholic memories. With the script hovering before her, it became easier to redirect her focus to the present moment.

The script was a whole lot smaller, and she was unsure if it would let her move around in the air. Moreover, she hadn't tested it yet.

Shai inched closer to the spell script and leapt onto its surface. The octagonal script was fragile in appearance, but it exerted a repelling force the very moment she leapt onto it, letting her float above it. Shai bounced in triumph, even though the script wasn't having the exact effect with only a single one to account for everything.

It works. I succeeded.

Then, in an instant, the spell broke, breaking Shai's exhilaration as she tumbled to the ground with a slight thud. She still had a long way to go.

Shai forged another script, achieving success on her second attempt. Once again, she launched herself into the air, only to witness the script disintegrate, unable to bear her weight.

The path to mastering scripts involved stacking them both horizontally and vertically. The more scripts she could stack, the greater their collective power would become.

Satisfied, Shai retrieved her meal, though her thoughts dwelled on the intricacies of Spellforging. She realised that the correct name for the script she had created was not "Anti-gravity" but simply "Gravity." She had mistakenly adopted the widely used term without questioning its accuracy.

Recalling fragments of conversations with her father, Shai vaguely remembered him mentioning that it wasn't truly Anti-gravity. It made sense as she pondered over it. Whether the formula was reversed or not, the force of the script would still exert a gravitational pull or push. It felt more magnetism than gravity, though she was unsure.

Intrigued with curiosity, Shai remembered asking: if this wasn't Anti-Gravity, then what is?

Shai didn't receive a straight-up answer, but something complicated that fascinated her, though she couldn't recall the details.

A disconcerting thought crept into her mind. Would she eventually forget about her father, too? The man he was, the man he became. Would he become nothing more than an empty vessel in my memory, a figure I revered and looked up to? Like my mother?

As if to forget the frightening thought, Shai opened her system page, seeking to bask in the glorious improvements she made.

Mythwalker · Jul 18, 2023

CHAPTER TWENTY
MADNESS

__________

Shai
Rank: Foundation	Path: Hatchling Level 19
Concept Spark of Hunger - Early	Mark Fatemarked. Blessed by Kismet (Lesser). Predator
Attributes
Cosmic Energy (R): 400 (34)
Primary Attribute	Base [Limit: 25]	Benefit	Total
Physique	23.1 (25)	10	33.1
Mind	9.1	10	19.1
Soul	20 (22)	20	40
Recovery	18	10	28
Secondary Attribute	Base	Benefit	Total
Strength	35	10	45
Speed	35	10	45
Perception	24	10	34
Immunity	24	15	39
Free Secondary Points:	0
Special Attributes Insight: 5 Will: 11 Fortune: 8
[Abilities] Poison Affinity - Level 2 \| Pain Resistance - Level 9 \| Night Vision - Level 9 \| Mental Corrosion Resistance - Level 10 \| Corruption Resistance - Level 7 Golden Eyes (Latent) \| Copper Armament (0%) \| Essence Eater (11.3%)
[Skill / Spell / Technique] Meditation - Level 13 \| Cosmic Energy Manipulation - Level 9 \| Energy Dart - level 12 \| Poison Dart - level 7 \| Force Shield - Level 10 \| Empower - Level 24 \| Identification - Level 5 \| Stealth - Level 8 Spellforging - Level 10 \| Gravity - Elementary Level 1
[Boon] Danger Detection \| Inventory \| Lingual Comprehension \| Loot.
Remark I promise I won't eat you. [System Log]

_________________

Shai cringed when System Grandpa got to the part of the new Remark. She wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a joke about her hunger, but it sure wasn't funny. Come on, Grandpa, I'm not that bad.

Nonetheless, all things considered, Shai's attributes grew at a remarkable rate. Most notably, her Mind attribute had now reached 9 points, prompting her to think about how long she had been engrossed in Spellforging.

It had to be longer than two days. To confirm, she accessed her Active Quest, [Advancement - I], which revealed that the time limit had been reduced from 17 days to 14. More than half of the time had passed for the advancement quest. Well, I have made great progress. Only 6 levels left to go. As for the primary attributes, they are steadily improving.

Fortunately, the quest did not set any specific requirement to reach the limit of her primary attributes, although Shai was eager to reach that limit as soon as possible. However, accomplishing it within the remaining 14 days seemed unrealistic, especially when it came to her Mind attribute. Even if she Spellforged incessantly for the rest of the days, there was no guarantee she would reach the 25-point mark in Mind.

Once I reach level 25, I will wholeheartedly focus on cultivating my primary attributes.

The possibility of her advancement to the copper rank concurring with her evolution seemed inevitable, even though it might not be the case for everyone. But Shai was in a unique circumstance. Her path seemed somewhat peculiar. Well, special would be a more fitting term to describe it. She wasn't sure how broadly the other creatures had access to the System if they even have it all.

For example, the Black-scaled python, which had attained the copper rank and possessed a Physique attribute exceeding 30 points, but its other attributes were merely so-so. Its intelligence was a joke and cosmic art was non-existent. Despite not reaching the limit in any other attributes, it managed to break through.

Shai wasn't sure if it was the usual case with the levelling, and everything else this world offered. But she was determined to make the most of every opportunity for cultivation and evolution.

With that in mind, Shai prepared herself to return to the pits. Three more copper-ranked creatures to go.

Conveniently, Shai had been dwelling near the first pit she had operated. Upon reaching there, she discovered some creatures didn't require any bait to fall into the pit, as wounded centipedes, lizards, and a few savagely eaten corpses already piled up within its depths.

Those that survived the fall or managed to climb down eagerly feasted upon dead creatures. However, there were too few dead creatures to quench the hunger of those tainted creatures. The infested feast only fuelled a sense of dissatisfaction among them, leading them to fight amongst themselves to determine whose appetite was the strongest.

To her delight, there was one copper-ranked creature standing its ground against the rest.

[Centipede – Corrupt Chilopod Level 29.]

The Centipede seemed right up the alley for what Shai was looking for. But Shai let it struggle for a while, watching from a hole above in the wall.

The copper advancement had granted the Chilopod a tougher exoskeleton, carapace hard as a rock, and potent poison bite. The Chilopod's poison seemed slightly more potent than hers, even though her Poison affinity was stuck at Level 2 for a while.

Shai wondered what it would take to advance her poison affinity. Poison was extremely effective in battle. Levelling up or cultivating her attributes hadn't made progress in her poison affinity. Should I consume poisonous substances to trigger its advancement? No, that isn't how it is supposed to work.

Although it might help strengthen her poison resistance. As Shai mused, she noticed an opening in the centipede's defences she could exploit. A level 20 lizard had breached its tough carapace in the midsection, leaving it vulnerable.

Shai's predatory eyes gleamed with a cold glow, as she swiftly formed a [Poison Dart], infusing it with all the liquid poison she was capable of.

[Congratulations! Poison Dart has reached level 8.]

Empowered by this progression, Shai released the dart, as it whispered through the still air and struck precisely where she aimed—at the very crack of the centipede's wound. A piercing shriek erupted from the centipede. Caught off guard by the attack, it couldn't fend off its enemies in time, as the lizard's jaws gnashed against its thick carapace, nearly breaking through.

The other Chilopods collided into the wounded centipede, overturning it. The prolonged battle had taken its toll on the centipede's body, rendering it more exposed to the toxins coursing through its system.

Shai didn't leave it all to fate. As more wounds appeared in other parts of the centipede's body, she swiftly launched a couple more [Poison Darts]. The struggle would go on for an extended time. While it might emerge victorious against most of the odds, it would not win against the white serpent lurking in the shadows.

Exhausted and heavily injured, the copper-ranked creature struggled to deal with the remaining enemies. Its once agile movements were now sluggish. Dozens of its legs faltered, barely able to support its massive segmented body. Purple liquid seeped from multiple wounds when it finally dealt with the last one of its mad brethren.

The little white snake finally came into its view.

The insectoid screeched at her, finally understanding what went wrong with its approach to the fight. Well, perhaps it understood nothing, considering it lurched at Shai the very next moment.

Don't worry, I'll finish this quickly, Shai thought to herself, and set to work.

Unsurprisingly, the corrupt chilopod turned out to be the easiest opponent she had encountered at the copper rank. With her cosmic energy manipulation reaching new heights and [Empower] far surpassing creatures of this calibre, Shai tore through its wounds, almost dissecting it.

[You have defeated a Corrupt Chilopod Level 30.]

Grandpa came with a victorious message, but Shai didn't act like she achieved something great. She had done it eight times, counting this one. Evidently, she was getting a hang of it.

The creature actually managed to level up once during its fight, but its advancement proved insufficient against the little snake lady.

Shai looted the corpse, deriving no pleasure from the easy battle. She felt a hint of disappointment for not achieving a level-up, but it was what it was. She had complained enough. After her breakdown, she decided she would just work forward towards her goal and would let nothing faze her.

Two more copper rankers to go.

Initially, she considered restoring the formations and baits, but she thought better of it and slithered towards the next pit. If creatures fell into the pits without baits or traps, then they probably fell prey to the other pit as well.

Similarly to the other pit, this one laid bare without the concealment formation or baits. However, Shai wasn't hoping to see such an unsettling sight upon reaching. The entire pit lay in ruins, traces of shattered formations spread all around, even the jagged stone splinters had been reduced to grime. Surprisingly, there were no corpses, either.

Instead, only a grotesque, colossal creature remained. It had consumed so much in the meantime she was busy Spellforging that its original form was almost unrecognisable from its current shape. It seemed to resemble some features of reptiles, a lizard most probably, but the resemblance ended there. Now it was nothing more than a repulsive mass of flesh and bone, twisting and contorting dreadfully.

The creature weighed several tons, and could only roll around slowly, emitting squeaks that left Shai uncertain whether they were sounds of pain or twisted delight.

Will the same happen with that Chilopod if I left it alone? That seemed likely to be the case. Regardless, its deranged, rotund condition made her job easier.

All she had to do was approach the creature, create a few holes in its body to let it squirm, and wait. The task would be accomplished without much effort.

[Skink - Corrupt??? Level ??]

Shai paused, eyeing the creature, considering. Could this be a threat? Well, her [Danger Detection] said so, colouring it in a shade of dark red. A deeper red than even the basilisk that led her to discover the pit.

Dark, malevolent energy oozed from the creature, surpassing the intensity of any other creatures Shai had encountered so far. It even surpassed the colossal basilisk that she estimated to be over Level 100.

However, this didn't necessarily imply that the Skink was stronger than the massive basilisk. It was just that the Skink had bitten off more than it could chew and was suffering the consequences. The dark infectious energy leaking out was something it couldn't contain.

The corruption infesting this dungeon felt inherently wrong to Shai from the moment she entered, but gazing upon this repulsive being, she wondered if she could feel any more disgusted.

This hideous lizard had likely achieved a high level of copper rank, and had the potential to ascend to Iron rank had it not succumbed to its insatiable greed. Madness had taken hold of it.

Hissing in disgust, Shai descended down, channelling cosmic power through her weary body. Her head burned in an impaling sensation as the power surged through her channels, although it was nowhere near the intensity of the mental attack of the Empathic Spiders. A level-up would refresh her fatigued mind. With that, Shai charged towards the ugly creature.

[Empower] and [Copper Armament] augmented her raw power as well as Cosmic arts, as Shai lunged at the creature from a high position, crashing hard onto its back. With the creature's immobility, it was effortlessly easy to land a blow. Her teeth dug into its crusty flesh, as she injected deadly toxins into its system

Abruptly, Shai's danger sense screamed of impending danger, but before she could withdraw her mind whirled and her world tilted. The Corruption of Feast clutched her firm, trying to succumb her to its mercy, but Shai's resistance was strong.

True, she desired power. But corruption wasn't the way of it. Shai wanted to be herself at her best, not some deranged, filthy creature that only knew to feast upon disgusting corpses.

Shai was reaching a point of victory against the assault, but at that very moment, the lizard rolled itself and trapped her beneath. With her head buried within the monster's body, she couldn't see anything. Her strength dwindled under the weight, making it challenging to free herself.

Goddamn it, Shai cursed, her body flattened under the immense pressure of the massive rotund lizard. Summoning all her wit and strength, she bit down on the beast's flesh, activating [Essence Eater].

Eyes closed, Shai could feel the cold blood seeping into her mouth, rigid and hindering her breathing. However, she persevered, sensing the ugly lizard squirming in agony. It rolled across the ground faster than before, as if attempting to flatten the entire dungeon.

Mythwalker · Jul 19, 2023

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
UNMAKING

Blinded, Shai could feel the foul blood flooding into her mouth, putrid and suffocating. Despite the struggle to breathe, she persevered, sensing the repulsive lizard convulsing in agony. It thrashed on the ground, rolling faster than before as if trying to flatten the entire dungeon.

While the lizard's attempt to flatten the dungeon didn't work, it did cause enough havoc to feel tremors in the surrounding areas. Thankfully, that provided an opportunity for her to withdraw from the hole she had dug into its flesh.

Hissing in disgust, Shai slithered farther away from the lizard and threw up all the filthy blood she sucked. She wished she puked it all, but [Essence Eater] already started the digestion process. Shai was doubtful about what kind of side effect she would have digesting tainted blood, but she would have time to figure everything out after she dealt with this Skink.

The lizard screeched in frustration, unable to pursue Shai. Its rotund form undulated uncomfortably, contorting and twisting, trying to catch the white snake, but to no avail. At least not in its current bloated form.

Her initial impression of its capabilities was wrong. Although it was terribly sluggish, and didn't pose a threat if Shai wanted to disappear from it at this very instance, it still would be hard if she wanted to deal with it.

With her speed, intelligence, and cosmic arts, Shai held the advantage, just that she needed to be more persistent.

The lizard displayed far greater resilience than any other beast she had encountered thus far. Regardless of whether it had cheated its way to its current state, it lay like a boulder, an overwhelming amount of dark cosmic energy bleeding out of its body.

Right, I need to be careful of the corruption as well, Shai thought.

It would take at least half an hour for Shai to finish this gruelling battle. Hopefully, the rewards would be worthwhile.

Shai took some test assaults, shooting [Energy Darts] at the contorting creature, but all of them fell short, even though she targeted the same spot.

Shai launched another attack, this time aiming for the neck of the lizard. The creature, more aware this time around, growled in indignation but was unable to halt Shai's advance. She shot for its neck, ready to take a poisonous bite, but that hardly produced a result. Even though the creature was mostly motionless, it could reinforce its defence as its scales glowed with an innate defensive ability.

Shai kept at it for a time, attacking constantly at the same spot to break its defence. Eventually, she managed to inject all the leftovers of her toxins, though she didn't see any changes in its state. To be fair, the Skink already looked terribly ill with the sheer amount of corpses it devoured, there was no way for her to tell whether her poison taking effect or not.

Shai decided to wait, but seeing no changes in half an hour, she got back to doing it the hard way again.

She persisted in creating ruptures throughout its body, breaking through its defences. Her job was by no means easy, even though it wasn't life-threatening like most of the time. It was stressful doing her job while keeping track of the creature's rolling, or whether the corruption was having any effect on herself.

Her white form was drenched in lizard blood, her eyes weary and her body exhausted. Shai managed to penetrate the lizard's scales in a couple of places, but each time the beast rolled and hid the wounds, forcing her to start all over again.

Unfortunately for it, those cheap tricks wouldn't work on her again, as Shai struck where the lizard couldn't conceal all of its injuries simultaneously. From that point onward, her attacks were unrelenting. Her poison had minimal effect on this reptile, likely due to its venomous nature and corruption.

However, Death would inevitably come for the lizard. Sadly, it would be far from merciful. Slow deaths seldom were.

Shai couldn't help but feel a hint of pity, but she suppressed those emotions and meditated to replenish her energy. Some Bloodcudding Mushrooms would have helped too, but [Essence Eater] was already busy dealing with the foul blood.

The lizard writhed in agony, its body twisting, contorting and rolling on the fattened ground of the pit.

Shai kept her eye open as she mediated, regaining her lost energy as well as watching over her prey. In a matter of an hour, she would be ready to resume the battle. Let's hope nothing goes awry before then.

At that very moment System Grandpa's voice rang in her mind, disrupting her meditation with bad news.

[Emergency Quest: Restore the Balance]

The entire Skysea hovers on the delicate law of balance. No creatures must defile that law without paying a price. The Skink had unintentionally triggered its unmaking, led by the maddening force of Feast. Stop its unmaking.

Criteria of Clearance: Stop the Unmaking of an Abomination.

[Reward: Quest.]

I just couldn't help jinxing it, Shai cursed, barely comprehending what was at play here. The putrid stench permeated the air, and the excruciating screeches reverberated through the empty pit.

The huge lizard wasn't screeching at her anymore, but shrieked in its own madness, as an unnatural metamorphosis was transpiring within itself. Dark twisted cosmic energy surged and swirled around the bloated lizard, causing its flesh to undulate like waves in a turbulent sea.

Evidently, it wasn't a natural advancement, but that didn't matter at all if it succeeded in making it to Iron rank. The very first thing it would do after advancing was bite the little white snake alive.

No way in hell Shai would let that happen.

Drawing her fangs, Shai lunged forward, piercing through the grotesque undulations of the flesh. Shai bit into the repulsive creature, clenching her jaw with her everything. Foul blood sprayed into her mouth, its sheer wrongness churning her stomach and convulsing her insides as if she was consuming something rotten and unholy.

There was no question about the abhorrent nature of this transformation. Before Shai questioned if she had seen anything uglier than this skink, but it appeared this lizard was in a competition with itself on being repulsive.

Shai ignored everything around her, as if she had lost all her senses, and continued tearing through the flesh of the lizard. System Grandpa's voice came announcing something, probably a skill update, but Shai only heard an incoherent murmur.

The massive lizard's amorphous mass bent to its will, reconfiguring itself into something superior—something agile, powerful, and inherently predatory.

It had become a race against time. Who among the two would finish first? If Shai succeeded before the metamorphosis was complete, the skink would stay dead. However, if the lizard succeeded it would be reborn as an abomination. Shai would face a far greater threat, an iron-ranked creature with an inherited Concept of Feast.

The icy coldness of the lizard's blood numbed Shai's nerves, but she ignored the consequences and bit deeper into the monster's flesh, uncaring of the issues she would have to face later. After all, a stomach ache seemed far more preferable than encountering a higher-ranked abomination.

Her body was stained completely with purple and black putrid liquid, as she tore through the transforming lizard, causing it to writhe and squirm as if it had consumed shards of broken glass.

A mind-numbing, piercing pain seared through Shai's head, forcing her to pause her assault on the transforming lizard. Shai clenched her jaw and focused on fortifying her mind against the attack, creating a protective barrier in her mind.

Even after her rebirth, it seemed nothing was going according to plan. It felt as if an unseen force was toying with her from above, making each circumstance exponentially more troublesome and challenging to deal with.

My mind is an impregnable fortress, nothing can faze me, she continued on with this mantra until a realisation struck her like a lightning bolt.

The mental attack wasn't from the corruption. It was too focused and pure to be from the corrupting force of the feast, which meant the mental pressure could only be the work of the spider mama. For a moment, Shai was more delighted than worried, as she screamed into her mind, hoping the spider mama would be able to hear her.

Truce! Truce! I call a truce until we deal with this!

As she got engrossed in sending the message, she hadn't noticed the imminent threat next to her. The lizard smacked her forward with a pure force of cosmic energy, hurtling her through the air as she collided with the sidewall.

The contorting body of the lizard ceased its squirming. Completely motionless now, though the thick blanket of cosmic energy never ceased swirling around it.

Thoughts raced through Shai's mind as she stared at the lifeless lizard. However, her focus wasn't solely on the defeated creature. Twisting her head in desperation, she searched for the big spider mama. It didn't take long to find an eight-legged creature glued to the wall of the pit, eying the still body of the skink.

More importantly, it wasn't the big spider mama, but a smaller counterpart, though Shai recognised the figure. It was the spider fledgeling she met when Serenity captured her.

Shai moved out of the way, swiftly creeping to get the hell out of there. That seemed to alert the empathic spider as a mental assault poked her head again, threatening to breach Shai's exhausted mind. Gritting her teeth, she unleashed a barrage of curses at the spider, unsure if the fledgeling could hear her.

Most likely, she couldn't, or didn't, as Shai noticed the spider's attention returning to the morphing abomination. It wasn't dead, but seemed to be in some special form.

Fortunately, Shai wasn't the only one subjected to the mental torment of the spider fledgeling. Hopefully, the monster lacked any skills or abilities to protect itself.

Abruptly, the swirling cosmic power ceased, but the threat in her [Danger Detection] did not. Regardless, it wasn't her problem any more.

Hey Grandpa, I tried what I could, Shai thought, but now I lacked the strength to continue. Silently, she handed over the responsibility to the spider and made her way out, resisting the mental assault.

However, Marvel wasn't letting her go so easily.

Suddenly, Shai's world turned upside down as she found herself entangled in spider webs, suspended in mid-air.

Hissing in frustration, Shai directed her attention toward the spider. I know what you're thinking, she tried to convey, butt I swear, I didn't hunt any spiders intentionally. And this isn't my doing.

Marvel was small, barely three-foot, but she loomed over Shai, her intelligent eyes gleaming with a red hue as if contemplating between eating her now or sharing with the others.

"Stay down, don't struggle," Marvel prompted her, establishing a telepathic connection.

Shai glared at the young spider, staring at her in disbelief.

Hey kid, go call your mama, Shai expressed. This isn't something you can deal with.

Shut up, said the young empathic spider. She ignored her existence completely and put all her focus on the abomination.

Shai's expression turned to one of concern. In her mind, she mulled over the various scenarios that could arise from this unexpected encounter, contemplating both the positives and negatives of their interaction. You really don't what--

However, her pondering was cut short by a horrifying screech that reverberated throughout the pit and beyond.

Then came Grandpa's report with the foreboding news she feared.

[You have failed to stop in the unmaking of the Lizard. You have failed the emergency quest: Restore the Balance.]

[New Quest: Hunt the Abomination]

I really should have gotten out of this pit when I had the chance.

_______________

There are 137 who favourited the story, but only 91 among you rated/reviewed. If you liked the work, consider leaving a review or rating, it helps a lot. I'll really appreciate some constructive reviews.

Review/Rate

Mythwalker · Jul 21, 2023

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CURSEWALER

"Quest?" Marvel expressed through the link. "I haven't had one of these in months."

However, as she read the context of the quest her expression shifted similarly to Shai.

[New Quest: Hunt the Abomination]

You have failed to stop the abhorred creature's unmaking. It had turned into an abomination, abandoned by both life and death. Rest its soul to restore the balance.

Criteria of Clearance: Kill the Abomination

Reward: Quest.]

Their attention shifted back to the grotesque lizard, which transformed into something else after reaching Iron rank. It was no longer ugly, nor was it as rotund as before. The process had converted the excess fat into newfound strength, raising it to the status of an iron-ranked predator.

The lizard now stood upright, towering over Shai and the spider, its terrifying maw emitting spine-chilling screeches. Its scales had reshaped, albeit still bearing the holes Shai created, but no blood gushed out from them. The creature had not healed completely, as if it saw no purpose in doing so. Its eyes lost their vitality in the transformation, now blazed with menacing red. Although it couldn't go through the unmaking process without hindrance, it still turned into an abomination, no longer bound by the law of life or death.

[Wyrm - Cursewalker (Abomination) Level ??]

Shai exchanged a glance with the spider, who lost all her sassy-ness. "It may be a little late to say this," she said, "but it's just about time you should call your mama."

Marvel was about to reply to her, but their attention returned to the abomination as it staggered on its first step and fell completely on the second.

Marvel stepped forward cautiously, observing the monster with a perceptive gaze, expressing her lack of appreciation for the undead. Her lack of experience in dealing with this sort of circumstance was apparent to Shai.

"It reached Iron rank," Marvel expressed, "but it can never compare to Serenity or Elegy. Besides, its mind is already dull and fuzzy..."

With that, the young empathic spider assaulted the newly advanced abomination with her brain waves, all her eight eyes bore into it. The abomination screeched in a blood-chilling scream under the pressure of Marvel's mental attack.

Shai freed herself from the webs and looked around to search for a way out.

The young spider might be good, but she was only a copper ranker in the early stage. Shai's [Identification] showed Marvel was merely a Fledgeling Weaver Level 33. She might be good even by the Empathic Spider's standard, but Shai firmly believed that this abomination would squash her to death eventually if she kept on.

"You'll pay dearly if you underestimate it," Shai urged, already a few dozen paces away from her spot.

Marvel was already unsettled as most of her attention was needed on the Cursewalker. Although her mental assault tormented the creature, it agitated her as much, leaving no room to reply to Shai. Marvel simply turned a couple of her red eyes towards Shai, staring intently.

"You've got to stick something harder into its bloody head," Shai advised, "until there's nothing left. Got something like those?"

By the time Shai finished, her stand of escaping was evident to the spider. Marvel shot more of her glaring gazes at her, using four eyes this time.

"Don't stare at me like a dolt," Shai scoffed. "Kill it before it learns."

The empathic spider faced the abomination as it stood up once again. Waves of invisible mind attacks emanated from her, showering onto the creature's dull head. It screeched in agony as the prickling pain writhed within its head, or whatever remained of it. Not much, they assumed.

The Skink, or rather the evolved Wyrm, went berserk, unable to handle the relentless mental assault. It was a stark reminder of how low attributes in certain aspects could leave one vulnerable, especially against a skilled assailant like Marvel.

The Wyrm moved in sluggish, undulating steps towards the Fledgling Weaver, but with each step, it seemed to gain momentum. Its horrifying maw opened, with rows of jagged teeth that clearly unsettled the young spider. It was an utterly horrifying maw, with over four rows of dagger-like teeth.

Every fibre of Marvel's being screamed at her to flee, but she stood her ground, pushing all her might onto her empathic attack. She even shot bolts of webs, attempting to slow down the abomination. While the webs did manage to impede its path, the monster effortlessly broke free, almost crashing into Marvel.

Thankfully, the fledgeling spider's agility was superior to that of the newly transformed Cursewalker. Before disaster could strike, she shot webs on her back, spun and thrust herself forward, overtaking Shai in one swift motion. The Iron-ranked lizard gave chase.

"Hey, this isn't fair," Shai complained through the still-intact communication link as she slithered away from the approaching danger.

The Wyrm was clearly fixated on Marvel, but its gaze bore into Shai the moment it noticed the little white snake fleeing. It had not forgotten what Shai had done to it earlier.

For an instant, their eyes locked, and a bone-chilling dread crept onto Shai's being.

I'm dead! Her instinct told her as she quickly averted her gaze, shooting forward, whipping her tail onto the ground. There was something ominous about the Wyrm's stare. It filled her with a sense of impending doom, triggering her insecurities and dread, almost paralyzing her. Some kind of sinister aura attack.

The Cursewalker screeched, and dark cosmic energy rippled around it, amplifying its wrath. Black tar-like cosmic energy oozed out of its mouth, quickly coalescing into a spike that resembled Shai's [Energy Dart], but it exuded a far more menacing aura. It shot forth the projectile, too large to call it a dart.

The bolt of condensed darkness hurtled towards Shai, its deadly intent clear as day. Shai's danger senses were already on high alert, but it shot off the roof, noticing of the dark bolt.

Shai mustered the last of her cosmic energy, channelling it to her lower body and tail. She lashed out onto the ground again and burst forward in Marvel's direction. In one lashing, she closed the distance between herself and the spider by half, evading the bolt. And with a couple more lashing, she landed right on top of the Fledgling Weaver.

However, those lashing drained her energy reserves, as a throbbing headache riddled her mind, adding to her troubles. Shai had been pushing her limits for quite a while now. While gaining a level or two might soothe her for a short time, Shai would need a considerable amount of rest to recover.

"What are you doing, Snake!" Marvel's mental waves struck Shai's fragile mind like a piercing echo.

"You can't leave me to its mercy," Shai barely managed to express. Her focus was on remaining coiled around the spider.

"It's all your fault!" admonished Marvel, her overwhelming mental waves battering Shai's mind. Marvel reached the wall, deftly dodging the black bolts shot their way by the Cursewalker. She wasted no moment admonishing Shai further and started scaling the wall, gaining an advantage over the serpentine lizard in movement.

"No, it's not!" Shai was quick to refute, though she couldn't deny some part of the blame fell on her as well. Ignoring the pit, the torment she had put the monster through before its transformation might have pushed it over the edge. However, she had no other choice. If she had left it alone, it would have turned into an abomination sooner or later...

Fine, fine, I was a little greedy after Grandpa gave me the quest. Grandpa had been so nice to me, of course, I would like to complete the take he gave me personally. All her justifications felt wrong. She literally bit more than she could chew. Not that snake chew stuff.

In no time, Marvel climbed halfway up the pit, her eight wondrous appendages working marvellously. The Cursewalker gave chase, lunging up in a horrifying leap, reaching nearly half a dozen meters. Fortunately, its weight hindered its balance, causing it to crash down into the depths of the pit with a horrifying screech.

Unrest at its prey getting away, the reptile shot those bolts of condensed darkness again. Thankfully, Marvel's near 360-degree vision allowed her to evade them all.

Corruption might be a cheat to ascend to higher ranks, but it simply couldn't replace genuine training. The Cursewalker's bolts were barely skilful, about the same level as Shai when she first learned [Energy Bolt]. Of course, the Cursewalker's bolts were more lethal but lacked precision.

Interestingly enough, Shai discovered that the black bolts were not only capable of physical damage, but were likely to infect some dark afflictions on whomever they hit. Whatever the afflictions were, Shai didn't want to find out firsthand. Moreover, the physical damage those bolts caused was already formidable enough, evidenced by the deep holes left in the stone wherever the black bolts struck.

That was one nasty attack. Shai couldn't help but feel envious. After days of tireless training, all she had managed to acquire were some basic energy manipulation skills, while this fat Wyrm had gained such a terrifying skill simply by overeating. There was no balance in the world.

Well, it was an iron-ranked creature, even if it cheated its way into supremacy.

As they almost reached the safety of a higher spot, Shai felt weak. She wasn't sure if it was the relief washing over her or the sheer exhaustion from being overworked. It was probably a combination of both. With the addition of the eight-legged creature, of course.

Marvel let out a weird empathic wave through their telepathic link that almost felt wrong. Even though it seemed to have no connection with human behaviour, it felt like a moan of ecstasy.

Damn eight-legged monstrosity, it was eating her emotions...

Shai set her jaw, hissing exasperatedly, fortifying her mind. She decided she would forgive this fledgling once for giving her a lift.

Marvel looked away and moved closer to the edge to glance down into the depths of the pit first, ensuring that the menace wasn't still on their back. She then turned her attention back to Shai, who had just slipped off her back.

"Do not try to escape," Marvel expressed in a booming mind wave, rattling Shai's thoughts. "I have it on good authority this time. Even Serenity won't be able to save you now."

Shai barely had any power to reply. With the spider standing right next to her, she didn't dare to bring out any of the mushrooms. She would have to do with the cosmic coins now. So she brought out dozens of red, green, and yellow coins out of her inventory.

The spider's mandibles hung open, noticing the cosmic coins appearing out of a black hole that wasn't there a moment ago. Its eyes went back and forth between Shai and the coins at least three times, unable to fathom the incredulity of the situation.

"What!" Marvel stammered through the telepathic link. "You comprehended the Dao of Space? The Concept of Space? How?!"

"I'm special like that," Shai weakly replied, keeping her secrets hidden. "Now stop eating away my emotions. Eat a few of these coins instead." Shai passed a few coins, whipping them with her tail.

Marvel examined the coins for a good moment before literally putting them into her mandibles, one after another, expressing static delight through their link. "These are very good!" the young spider said dreamily. "Where did you get them? They have a rich spirituality. I think I can cultivate twice as fast with them."

"All of that I earned through spilling my lifeblood," Shai said, passing a few more coins after bringing them out of her inventory. She hoped some bribe would distract this young spider enough to get her a chance to escape. As far as she remembered, this one was way more gullible than the spider mama.

She needed to get away from both of them. The eight-legged spider, who was greedily devouring the cosmic coins, and the abomination whose horrifying screeches never stopped thundering from the pit.

epiccuttlefish · Jul 21, 2023

Mythwalker said:
"Quest?" Marven expressed through the link. "I haven't had one of these in months."

I'm assuming this is supposed to be Marvel?

Mythwalker · Jul 22, 2023

epiccuttlefish said:
I'm assuming this is supposed to be Marvel?

yup... fixed, thanks

Mythwalker · Jul 25, 2023

Marvel was a little overwhelmed with everything she had experienced in the last few minutes. After all, she was but two years old, and a fourth of that time had been spent in the nursery, with the rest under the safe protection of the Web School and their dwellings.

She did have occasional field practice where she faced other creatures, fought, and won over them, but nothing could compare to this abomination.

The sheer aura it possessed made her feel nauseated. Not even Serenity or Elegy's aura was that unsettling. Midnight's aura was more dangerous and thicker, but the Guardian was second best at controlling her aura, only surpassed by Solace. Elegy and Serenity had decades to catch up to her. While this creature's aura was more raw, primal.

Marvel knew most of the unsettling feeling came from the creature's uncontrolled nature and everything wrong about it, but that still didn't make her feel any better.

"Hey, kid, are you listening to me?" the greedy snake's voice interrupted her contemplation.

Marvel was about to reply but paused as they suddenly heard a horrifying screech reverberate out of the pits, echoing throughout the surroundings.

"About your mama," the snake said again, "I think it's about time you call her up."

They ceased whatever they were doing and approached the edge of the pit to look. Marvel's blood grew cold, discovering the abomination scaling the wall, digging its claw into the rugged stone. Its pace was a lot slower than hers, but it wouldn't need more than a couple of minutes to climb the couple of hundred metres.

Marvel exchange a look with the snake, the fear in their eyes was palpable. However, Marvel refused to be led by fear. She got a hold of herself, fortifying her mind of any unduly influences, and got moving, knowing they had to act quickly if they wanted to survive.

"Let's go," Marvel said, shooting a web to catch the snake. Wrapping the white snake to herself, Marvel didn't waste a single moment to flee.

The snake let out an exasperated hiss, but didn't complain as Marvel thought it to. It's not an it, but a Her, Marvel corrected herself inwardly, her eight legs working in synchronisation to move in the direction she came from.

As they hurried away, Marvel refrained from sucking any empathy from the snake, fearing it would affect her mindset.

"Are you taking me to your mama?" the snake asked, resigned.

Marvel remained silent. There was no time for explanations. She needed to keep moving and find safety as quickly as possible. Of course, the reasoning was sound in her head, however, the truth differed a little.

Honestly, Marvel was embarrassed to answer, that was why she didn't even try to clear the snake's misinterpretation of thinking Serenity as her Mother.

And no, she wasn't taking the snake to Serenity.

Marvel had sneaked out of her dwelling when everyone was busy doing their stuff. If she were to find Serenity at this time, she would get more than a mindful for her blunder. Serenity might even lock her up for weeks as punishment.

Marvel's mind raced with worry as she thought of options other than Serenity. Elegy was no go either, she would be even more harsh than Serenity, and might even try to revoke her chance of becoming a guardian. While Midnight was just scary.

That left a few of her teachers, and Solace. A couple of the teachers were at the Iron ranked, but they weren't well-versed in combat. They would have to pay a price to stop this creature from destroying their dwelling. Besides, Marvel couldn't take this creature to them, they were in the inner part, taking care of her younger siblings.

That only left Solace. Considering the blunder she made by leaving her dwelling without permission, Solace was the only option she had.

The horrifying screeches of the curse walker echoed from behind, reminding them of the impending danger they faced.

Then again, being locked up for weeks was still better than being devoured by the cursed creature. Marvel had no clue that such abhorred creatures dwelled in their home. Its twisted nature and aura were mind-consuming. She could understand why Serenity and others kept it from the children, though that didn't stop her from being pissed about it.

"It climbed off the pit already," the snake reminded her.

Marvel focused on the eyes on her back to discover the snake was telling the truth. Although she felt it was weird for the snake to discover it first with her head hanging to her abdomen, she didn't question it now.

Marvel turned a couple of times to come into a wider and more spacious tunnel, where she could use her webs for faster movement.

She swung her way for a long distance, for like five minutes, covering over a couple of miles, yet she couldn't flee from the Iron-raked Wyrm. For some twisted reasons, it didn't stop chasing even though it didn't have an easy time chasing.

Her sense of urgency amplified as the presence of the curse walker seemed to draw closer with each passing moment.

The snake hissed in distress, circling around her to latch its head on her back. "Looks like it will eat us twice over before we reach your mama," she said. "Got any other ideas?"

The snake's distress mirrored Marvel's own fear, even though she wasn't influenced by her.

"What are you talking about Serenity isn't my Mother," Marvel said indignantly. Although Serenity acted like one, in the absence of their mother.

"That matters very little now."

Marvel was busy dodging those black bolts that came her way to retort to the snake. Seriously, the reptile was becoming more skilful in shooting those over time. Although she managed to evade all of them so far, Marvel wasn't so sure about it now. Her body was growing wearier. she was reaching the point of exhaustion when she wouldn't be able to use her webs or cosmic power anymore. But before that, she needed to escape from the creature.

She considered, examining her surroundings. "There is a training pit ahead," she transferred to the snake, "if we delay it enough, it might not be able to chase after us."

The training ground offered a slim chance of escaping the creature, though she would have to be very swift in her work.

The white serpent hummed in uncertainty in her mind, clearly not satisfied with her plan, but that was the best she could offer at this moment.

"I guess we have no other option," the serpent said, her power seemed to have recovered a little over time, though Marvel could feel her mind was exhausted as hell. The snake was a little level 22 hatchling after all. "Attack its mind again when it was about to pounce onto us, I'll follow up with something."

"Something? What?" Marvel refrained from asking more as the creature was onto her. She swiftly shot a web and rode away, clinging to it, barely evading its pounce.

"Now!" the snake snarled in her mind.

There was no time for questions. Marvel pushed for her mental attack, fortifying her mind first. Easily she found the unprotected mind of the iron-ranked creature. Marvel jabbed with a sharp spike of empathic attack.

The creature's agonized screech filled the air. It was not alone in announcing its agony, Marvel let out a squeal as well, as the wyrm's twisted nature, hunger, and corrosion engulfed her mind, shambling her fortification.

[Congratulations! Mental Corrosion Resistance has reached Level 38.]

The wyrm hadn't retaliated on its own; the attack was borne from an instinctual mental construct. Even still, it was swift and brutal, nothing like before. Marvel found herself overwhelmed by the dark and corrupted aspects of its mind. Her own mental fortification crumbled under its influence, leaving her vulnerable to the corrupting power.

In her panic to fortify her mind, Marvel hadn't noticed the snake freeing itself from the web. However, it didn't escape on its own, instead brought out something from its spatial power and shot it in the direction of the momentarily frozen wyrm.

It was a small ball, which spread out when it crashed into the wyrm, turning into a confining web that arrested the serpentine creature completely.

"That's Solaces," Marvel couldn't help but ask, "Why do you have it?"

"It will break free soon," the snake said again, shooting another one of those web balls, lashing its tail against it. "Let's go."

The wyrm lay on the ground, confined by the webs arresting its form as they finally rounded another turn to come across another pit. Well, not a pit, but more like a chasm.

The sight of the vast chasm before them was daunting. It went deeper than their eyes could follow. Thankfully, it wasn't completely empty, as layers of intricate webs intertwined within the chasm to form some complex system. It was a puzzle. Even still, the intelligence and craftiness required to design this place were immense, but Marvel had no time to appreciate the intricate beauty.

If they could navigate through the chasm's intricate web system, they might find a way out. Thankfully, Marvel had solved the puzzle before.

Marvel leapt onto it without looking back, Shai clung to her body.

***
Serenity waited patiently in the darkness, hanging down high on the wall. Her senses picked up on the trespassers long ago, awaiting along with Midnight to make their move.

They had planned their ambush meticulously, leaving nothing to chance. They brainstormed all contingencies they would face. Even still, Serenity couldn't help but feel a bit nervous.

Their plan was simple, really. They had prepared an ambush. It wasn't every day she had to fight crafty iron rankers. Although she fought regularly with those twisted creatures, they were dull in the mind, even if their ferocity knew no bounds.

The humans were now in one of their mushroom fields, picking up their fare as if their grandfather had left it there for them. They were a greedy bunch. Even though they could see it was cultivated ground, they took whatever they wanted, scouring the place like one of those corrupted creatures.

Serenity's frustration grew as she observed the humans' greed and disrespect for the land. Their reckless behaviour angered her, and she couldn't stand idly by while they trampled upon the cultivated land.

Despite her anger, Serenity maintained her composure, waiting for Elegy to initiate contact first.

"I'm starting," Elegy's voice transferred to their mental link.

It seemed her sister couldn't bear to watch these trespassers do as they pleased, either. Serenity readied herself, moving closer discreetly, leaving her [Stealth] active. Midnight was somewhere in the surroundings, hidden line her.

The telepathic connection between them allowed Serenity and Midnight to follow Elegy's communication with the humans.

"Humans, you possess no regard for any other races," Elegy started, making the contact, her voice stern, commanding, and most importantly, intimidating. "You are not welcome here."

"Who said that?!" came a reply. Serenity could see it was from the Rat-faced man, who said it aloud instead of communicating through the link Elegy provided.

Good, their first impression of intimidation was complete as all three of the humans, who were busy collecting the iron-ranked mushrooms, were looking around in panic, ready, commanding their cosmic energy. Serenity could feel their uneasiness growing, developing a fear for the voice that spoke into their mind.

Serenity was sure Elegy sensed it too, as she exerted more force into her mental pulses, which were borderline to an attack.

"We will give you only one chance. Leave, resting all the benefits you received from grazing our land, and we will have this conflict written off."

The men were still looking for them, instead of heeding Elegy's warning. However, one of them answered, though the answer was something no one was ready for.

"Kill them! Kill them all!" It was the slave that spoke, and his voice was through the mental link. "For what they have done, they deserve death."

Mythwalker · Jul 28, 2023

"Kill them! Kill them all!" It was the slave that spoke, and his voice was through the mental link, though every one of them could hear it through the interlink Elegy created for them. "For what they have done they deserve death."

The rat-faced man didn't like what their slave said. He thrashed him with a kick on his back, causing him to splutter and fall to the ground.

"Should we?" Serenity communicated with Midnight.

"No," came a reply from her superior. "Wait for my signal."

The other fellow coughed. "Forgive us for not showing proper propriety," he said, aloud, as if trying to gauge Elegy's capability. Foolish human. "But whom are we talking to? If you come face to face, we can solve everything and more."

"No need," Elegy replied, her pulses growing monotonic and rigid. "You have five minutes to depart from our land. It is non-negotiable."

The man exchanged a look with the rat-faced man, who simply shrugged, leaving everything to him.

"As I said excuse our impropriety," the man continued politely, "but now it is you who's acting inappropriately. You cannot just ask us to leave without a proper explanation of what this place is and what are we facing."

"An explanation?" Elegy transferred, her mental pulses adopted a mocking tone. "No, you don't want that. You simply wanted to learn if you can face us and win. Isn't that correct?"

The man furrowed his brows and clutched his weapon, his eyes peeking into the surroundings, alert.

"You're searching in the wrong place. I'm not there in the darkness," Elegy told them eerily. "I'm inside your head."

Elegy surged forth with all her empathic power and stabbed them into their mind, crushing through their fragile mental barrier in a matter of moments. All three of the trespassers fell to the ground, momentarily caught off guard. The slave was in the worst state, then the rat-faced man, and lastly the guy who had been doing most of the conversation.

Now, Elegy could have attacked without any of the warnings, but then the results wouldn't have been this deep. When the humans were busy searching for her location, she had examined their mental barrier, all its crack and weakness, sufficient to shamble them in short time.

"Now!" Midnight announced as a complete blackness enveloped the surroundings. It was the complete absence of light, the true darkness that even [Night Vision] cannot penetrate. Midnight had begun.

Serenity got to work as well.

***

Marvel seemed to have tapped into a focused state of mind as she deftly manoeuvred herself through the complex system of countless intertwined webs. Shai latched herself to the spider, contemplating if she should go on her own way now. The wyrm wouldn't be confined for long.

Shai recovered a little of her power, but she was exhausted mostly. The contaminated blood restricted her ability, [Essence Eater]. It was probably busy gutting out all the foulness. There was no way she would be able to fend off the attacks of the Iron ranked abomination in her state. She didn't stand a chance alone.

Looks like I'll be biding my time and waiting for an opportunity to flee, she thought and discovered the red mark in her [Danger Detection] moving again.

"It freed itself," Shai reminded the fledgeling spider, who let out an exasperated squeak in response.

Marvel swung by a thick string of web to stop her movement, leaving them suspended upside down along the web with a clear view of the opening of the chasm. Of course, hundreds of intertwined webs and the darkness made it almost impossible to see freely, but they certainly were capable of sensing any disturbance coming their way.

"I thought we planned to flee," Shai asked. "Why aren't you running?"

The terrifying screech of the wyrm came as it came tumbling down the webs. Although the cobwebs seemed old, a few layers of the intertwined complex webs were enough to keep the monster at bay for a time.

Unlike Marvel who understood the chasm, the wyrm jumped into it in madness, in order to eat them alive, with no other rational thoughts in its mind. Sadly, it couldn't even reach down over a dozen metres, its colossus body confined within the webs. But the wyrm was unrelenting, it shot out those acidic black bolts, disintegrating the webs to set itself free, although it got tangled with the webs yet again, coming down another dozen metres.

The acidic element of the black bolts deteriorated the webs again, repeating the same process to set the wyrm free. It repeated the process for a good few whiles, as Marvel and Shai waited and watched it from further down.

The abomination seemed to finally notice their presence, as it announced its grievances, opening its horrifying maw full of jagged teeth in a paralysing screech.

Shai's uneasiness grew. She had to refocus her mind before it became a turbulent mess from the paralysing effect of the monster's screeches. "So what are we waiting for again?"

"This," Marvel answered curtly as she shot her web. No, it wasn't a continuous web that she used to swing around but seemed like a sharp projectile that crashed into one of the strings, cutting it off.

Another web loosened in response to that, and in the next instant, a sizable block of stone smashed into the creature.

Shai's eyes widened in surprise as she exchanged a glance with the spider, who let out a satisfying wave into their link.

Marvel cut another one of the strings, as another block of stone smashed into the creature, its screeches reverberating throughout the chasm. Definitely not happy with how they were treating a creature of its station.

A confining net of webs came on Marvel's next act, capturing the creature.

"The only drawback of these traps is that they weren't made to kill," Marvel told her. "It was a training system created to train the next generation Guardian, not to slaughter them."

"Makes sense," Shai agreed. She turned her head to look downwards into the depths of the chasm, the darkness and the intertwined webs making it harder to glimpse past a hundred metres. "How deep is this chasm again?"

"A couple of miles. Why?" Marvel hadn't stopped shooting her web bolts throughout the conversation, as blocks of stone rammed into the creature before it could break free.

"And it is full of traps like these all the way?"

"Yes," Marvel said, "though they vary in distance and danger. The farthest distance between traps is about three metres."

"Great," Shai chimed. "Hey, Little Marvel, don't you think it is a great loss to leave this abomination to do as it pleases?"

"Are you saying we should use the traps to kill it?" Marvel was quick to pick on the hints. "No, that's impossible. Even I, a Low Copper, can escape the pit without any critical injuries, but this one is an Iron rank."

"A misshapen Iron rank," Shai corrected her, unsure how much her understanding was correct. "And you're agile, trained to act under these circumstances, while eating is the only way this vile creature knows of victory. It can't even avoid the traps if we leave it be."

"The traps can't kill it." Marvel seemed absolutely sure of it. She began to move again after no more traps remained intact on that level.

"Sure, maybe," Shai said, "but it might as well weaken it enough for us to deal with it."

Marvel remained silent, her empathic pulses were a jumble of mess, almost bothering Shai.

"Oh crap, I'm going to get punished for destroying the training chasm," Marvel squeaked as realisation finally dawned on her. "Even though this vile creature did most of it."

"That is life," Shai told the young spider. "So what do you think about what I said? It is going to destroy the training system no matter what, why not make it pay for doing so?"

"But then we won't be able to flee and inform Solace."

She had a point there, Shai thought.

"Also, I'm getting exhausted, I don't think I can fight at this rate."

"The Training Chasm can buy us time to recover," Shai said, deliberating, "but if you're still not convinced, I have these to sway your mind."

Shai opened her Inventory, willing the black hole to appear just above Marvel to drop the coins so that the coins wouldn't fall easily.

Marvel was still sceptical. "I don't think a few coins can—"

"Look at what they are first," Shai hissed. "These are copper cosmic coins, not the lesser ones I gave you before."

Marvel's empathic pulses shifted to one of delight, though she reined in quickly. "Do you have any more Mind Enhancing coins?" she asked. "Mind is my most important attribute, I can do more with it than what most other creatures can."

Shai hissed in resignation. "Sadly, those are hard to come by."

For an extended amount of time, they hung in silence. Only the screech of the abomination broke the silence between them.

"Still not convinced?" Shai asked, sounding a little pissed. She had given this brat her hard-earned coins (Half of them were stolen from the corpses left behind by humans, but she still put in the work to get them), and yet the spider was deliberating. She was an empathic spider, isn't she? Can't she sense my heartfelt sacrifice?

"You're very greedy," the spider said. Before Shai could rage out, the eight-legged creature added, "I'm in with your plan, but first, you have to help me eat those coins."

"Umm, sure," Shai agreed easily. It appeared not everyone could absorb coins like she could, which made her ponder what else they couldn't do.

But it wasn't time for such contemplation, the growing screeches of the abomination reminded that. Shai slithered across the spider's body to move her head to the coins. She clutched one coin with her mouth and moved towards the spider's mandibles, coiling around her firm.

Shai held the coins into Marvel's mandibles as the spider ate. She repeated the process, shoving one after another coin into the mandibles.

Huh, with all the twisted stuff I had to deal with, this kind of looks like a kiss, Shai thought, not feeling all that repulsive. Considering how her stomach used to churn eating raw flesh in the beginning days, this was nothing. She wasn't sure what to think of it, not that it made her feel anything.

Thankfully, the spider seemed to be oblivious to human affairs. Good for both of them.

The feeding came to an end shortly, as Marvel got back to moving downwards again. After locating the next level where the traps were installed, she stopped again, sticking herself to the wall this time

"This is going to be fun," the spider said, looking at the creature dozens of times her weight.

"Yeah," agreed the snake, her predatory eyes locked onto the serpentine abomination, which was easily hundreds of times bigger than her.

Mythwalker · Jul 30, 2023

After they reached the halfway point of the training chasm, the hurdle to move forward became even more apparent with traps far harder to evade and deadlier in threat. Of course, Marvel had all the nook and corner of the chasm memorised, making their entry safer. But it wasn't safe.

The Training Chasm wasn't merely to train the body and reflexes it seemed, the empathic spider clan pay great importance to the Mind equally if not more. Along with exercising the mobility and cosmic arts of a candidate, this chasm challenged their mind as well.

There were hundreds upon hundreds of intricate contingencies. The complex combinations of traps were impossible to avoid even with a regular candidate as a companion. Shai would know as they had set off more than just a couple of traps so far.

Still better than the Wyrm. It moved like a wrecking ball, albeit at a slower pace, frequently stopping to free itself from the web entanglement. Regardless, their job became easier.

With the growing difficulty, they wouldn't have to make sure the wyrm fell into the traps, as it was almost impossible for a creature of that volume and mass to not fall into them. Marvel didn't have to trigger them anymore. The wyrm was paying for its stupidity, for following its instinct.

That left them mostly free to recover their energy. The wyrm was coming down slowly, in the slow cycle of getting itself tangled in the webs and breaking free. Of course, it was getting smashed with blocks of stones or jagged stone projectiles in between, screaming in all its indignation and grievances, much to their delight.

The repetitive cycles had gone for over an hour by this point. The abomination had no other option but to continue downwards, it found itself deep into the rabbit hole, and the only option remaining was to reach the bottom of it.

Hopefully, the young spider and the hatchling would claim its life by that point.

Bruises began to appear on its body already, though it was far from being battered, save for the holes Shai left in its body before it advanced. Its mental stability was non-existence, but Marvel was still hesitant about striking its mind, considering the torment she was put through the last time.

It wasn't merely the instinctual mechanism, but something darker, more sinister, that gnawed at Marvel's mind. As if a construct built only to resist her empathic power.

"We'll begin soon," Shai told the spider, bracing herself. She recovered 143 points of cosmic energy in the meantime, absorbing the coins and meditating. Shai would have liked to eat a few of the Bloodcudding Mushroom to recover more, as Marvel left her alone to meditate after their alliance was formed, unfortunately, her instinct screamed against it. It wasn't a viable option when [Essene Eater] was preoccupied with the awful stuff she swallowed up.

Moreover, she was supposed to continue on the same path to attack again, swallowing the sinister contaminated stuff. Of course, she planned on throwing those disgusting stuff up this time around.

"Fear won't confine my mind," Shai muttered inwardly, "I face my fear, head held high ... 'Into the void of all fear, let thy heart awake. . .' Let my heart awake. . ."

"What was that?" Marvel asked, hearing her even though Shai didn't intend her to.

"Nothing," Shai answered, focusing her mind.

"It didn't sound nothing."

"It's a poem," Shai said, "a part of it."

Marvel gave her a long look.

"You don't know what a poem is?"

"Oh, I know what a poem is," Marvel said, still giving her the odd look. With her glowing red eyes, it was hard to discern. "But I didn't think you'd know."

Shai turned her head slowly to meet the monster. It finally managed to break free from the web entanglement. Not for long though.

The wyrm came down another dozen metres, getting itself wrapped in the intricate layers of the web. More than a couple of hidden traps were triggered in its wake as blocks of stone rammed into its head and back simultaneously, until another web construct enveloped it completely, stilling its progress.

Marvel and Shai exchanged a look, communicating with their eyes. It was time.

They have discussed their plans, so Shai didn't panic when Marvel glued her web to her tail and spun her in the direction of the suspended wyrm.

Shai's eyes narrowed and focused completely on the serpentine enemy, as her narrow body whispered through the air, through the gaps of the web intricacies to plunge into the creature.

Shai hadn't made her attack yet when the wyrm squirmed, writhing inside the web confines, screeching. Marvel played her part, attacking its mind, even though the mental contamination irked her.

Shai shot a [Energy Dart] to make a hole into its confines and slid inside, the web still clung to her tail. She got to work, slithering across its huge wiggling body to find the hole she created and dug into it.

Making every unit of cosmic energy count, Shai dug her head a couple of feet into the writhing creature's body and began to suck out its blood. With complex control of [Essence Eater], Shai merely used its suction force, not the synthesising.

Gallons of dark disgusting blood poured into her mouth as she persisted until she couldn't take it anymore. Her narrow form bloated instantly, reaching the limit. She couldn't continue sucking the blood without compressing them through the synthesising process. Shai didn't want to tempt fate by doing so.

Opportunities to inflict damage on the wyrm were easy, no need to force her chances. It was merely the first attempt, countless more remaining until they reached the bottom of the chasm. The fight would be long, no need to be impatient.

"Pull me back!" Shai screamed into her mind, wiggling her body to come out of the wyrm's twisted flesh.

Marvel heard that with the link remaining intact. Without pausing her mental assault, she yanked the web still glued to Shai's tail, helping the serpent's way of escape.

Thankfully, the wyrm almost freed itself from the net, leaving no obstruction in Shai's path. It couldn't even sense Shai disappearing to attack. As her body yanked downwards, Shai left everything to the spider and contorted her form to force out all the disgusting blood from her system.

It was almost incomprehensible that she sucked so much blood with her narrow form, it fell downwards in a spray of rain, staining the cobweb, lost in the darkness.

"Are you alright?" Marvel asked, sticking Shai to herself.

Shai shrilled fiercely a few times as if to make sure she expelled all the disgusting blood.

[Congratulations! Corruption Resistance has reached level 9.]

"Almost fine," Shai answered finally, keeping her disgust out of her voice, though Marvel could feel it. "How about you?"

"Not prime, but I can continue for long like this till my mind collapses."

"How many times do you presume that is?"

Marvel sent a thoughtful wave. Shai was getting pretty confident in discerning them. "A couple dozen times at the very least."

"Let's make all of them count."

Hopefully, by then I'll be able to finish it, Shai thought, eyeing the Wyrm. The wound she inflicted was minuscule compared to its massive form, but in most cases, dozens of minuscule wounds were enough to take down even a titan, much less this misshapen abomination. It was never perfect, to begin with, and their assault left it even more incomplete.

The problem was its defence. Like Shai's [Copper Armament], this abomination had inherited some twisted form of the same passive defence. Of course, Shai managed to leave it vulnerable in some places, but none of them was in any critical spot like its head or heart.

"Give it some time," Marvel said. "After it runs out of energy, nothing can save it from us."

Shai agreed. Sadly, it seemed an Iron-ranked creature had a tremendous pool of cosmic energy. The way it wasted precious cosmic energy, Shai could have killed it twice over.

"An Iron-ranked creature can easily have three to four times more energy than a copper ranker," Marvel informed. "The difference grows even larger depending on the path and Dao comprehension. While I doubt this creature comprehends even the dullest concept, I can guess it has close to ten thousand points of cosmic energy reserves. The evil power that twisted it filled its empty husk full of contaminated cosmic energy."

Shai sucked in a deep breath. That was already over twenty times her energy reserves. The sheer disparity between their stat stunned her. Thankfully, the wyrm was a child at implementing the energy, or they would be in its stomach.

Unsurprisingly, the wyrm entangled itself into the webs, amazing them yet again.

"Are you ready?" Shai began.

"Anytime." The spider threw the snake yet again at the confined abomination.

***

The slave was the first to fall. The poor human couldn't even bear Elegy's assault on his mind when she was simultaneously handling two other humans far stronger than him in comparison.

Unfortunately, the other two turned out to be a little tricky. As Serenity thought, the two men didn't care about their slave all that much. When the younger man fell, they were busy getting the hell out of their sight. Of course, she couldn't blame them with their senses impaired, and a Herald of Death looming over them.

Nobody could tell from which direction Midnight would attack them. Even Serenity couldn't, she could hardly guess with their mental link intact. That was how elusive her superior was in a fight.

Serenity wrapped the fallen slave completely with her webs into a cocoon, reinforcing with the power of Adhesion. She didn't kill the human. Not yet. His corpse would have done well to work as a fertiliser for the Bloodcudding Mushrooms, but Serenity showed him mercy only thinking far off. She adhered the cocoon to the wall and joined the fray again.

Looking at the battle, her choice was right.

Using the element of surprise and her superior agility, Midnight had cut off an arm of the rat-faced man, almost crippling him. He writhed on the ground, rolling around, blood spraying everywhere. Unfortunately, the rat-faced man turned out to be a deadly Poison Cultivator. When his life was at stake, he didn't hold back assaulting with all his mind.

A poisonous miasma enveloped where Midnight operated.

"Seal your breathing!" Midnight's mental wave told her. "Clock yourself. There are more than two forms of poison in the miasma. Two are deadly, the third is more faint but more insidious. It's high restrictive type."

Serenity was about to ask how Midnight was able to discern the miasma's properties so quickly, but a realisation dawned over her shortly. Even if Midnight was a Poison master, she shouldn't be able to discern that all in mere seconds. "Midnight, are you?"

"Yes, I'm contaminated," Midnight said, her tone still resolute. "Don't worry. What is poison to the Midnight, if not nourishments?"

Serenity wanted to believe. Well, she almost believed her, but then she found Midnight locked in battle with the other man, who now hovered in the air, dark majestic wings spread across his back. Unaffected by the poison, he could flee on his own if he desired.

"Join Elegy in the mental assault," Midnight ordered. "We cannot let them escape."

Mythwalker · Aug 6, 2023

A huge block of stone smashed into the wyrm, suspended in the air, wrenching out its most indignant scream, as the white snake escaped under its watch, unable to do anything to it. Its state demoted enough to let it lose its iron rank aura.

"You said the traps are not life-threatening," Shai accused Marvel as the spider helped her latch onto a safe web to rest.

"They aren't," Marvel said, sounding a little less certain, "if you're careful."

Shai let out an exasperated hiss. She wasn't complaining as the blocks of stone did a number on the wyrm, battering its body, almost reverting to the state before its advancement. On top of that, Shai had ravaged its body with holes, dark blood oozing out of them even after she left.

Shai was feeling sick as well, even though she did her utmost best to vomit out all the filthy blood from her system. Well, considering she did it over a couple of dozen times now, excluding the time before the wyrm advanced, there were sufficient reasons for her to feel sick.

Sadly, it wasn't the time to rest yet. The wyrm was already showing signs of weakness, unable to form the black bolts to attacks, taking more time to free itself from the web entanglements.

Clearly, they were on the last stretch now.

"Only about a couple of hundred metres remain to reach the bottom," Marvel added. "Do not move around on your own. The last few traps were more than a little tricky, though I suppose you'll be fine with your narrow form. Luckily, I can't say the same about the other serpentine creature though."

Shai could feel the sense of relief oozing out of the spider when she said that. Well, Shai too was relieved, though she still would need to continue with her task a couple more times.

"Come on, I'll help you out from now on," Marvel said as she shot Shai to the wyrm again, before climbing there herself.

Marvel was incapable of sucking blood like the snake, however, she did manage to pin her sharp legs into the battered abomination, roaming around over its massive body to tear off its flesh. Meanwhile, Shai dug into another hole after vomiting out all the blood she soaked from the other one. Since the wyrm couldn't attack them anymore, there was no need for them to fear it.

The only thing they would need to worry about was the stones crashing into them. The blinding light construct couldn't hurt them badly, other than catching them off guard for a time. Then there was the web construct that could capture them with the wyrm—similarly possessed little trouble. Nothing they couldn't handle.

The wyrm could only scream, though its intensity waned by a lot since it had been going on about its grievances for almost two hours now. Together, they made a mockery of its station of iron rank.

"A jagged stone will come hurtling in two seconds," Marvel alerted in time as she jumped off the creature, yanking back the web attached to Shai.

Shai helped her way, plunging a [Energy Dart] on the monstrous beast as her body hurled downwards faster. A huge jagged stone projectile came as Marvel called, missing both of them by a safe distance to ram into the midsection of the wyrm, digging into its body. After their work on the abomination, it was unable to sustain its inherited defence of iron rank.

It screeched once again in a horrifying scream after a long time. But the scream had no paralysing effect, merely a manifestation of its agony.

"That got to hurt a lot," Shai said.

"You have no idea," Marvel transferred. "If I had my mental state straight, I could have let you feel a tiny part of it."

"No, thank you."

Shai was torn between delight and sorrow. Even if it was an abomination that only wanted to fill its stomach with their flesh, Shai couldn't help but feel what they were doing was wrong. No, she didn't find any qualms killing it. Killing a perverse misshapen creature like this was doing a charity to the Skysea. But Shai wasn't doing it right. She had to kill it faster. No point in making it suffer so much. It didn't deserve it.

But it was the only way for them to deal with it. Shai would pray for it to have a better next life after she was done killing it. She wasn't religious, but considering her rebirth, it didn't hurt to have some belief.

"A couple more of those jagged and our task would have been done already," Marvel said, peering downwards. "I guess the crash will do it."

"What crash?" Shai asked. But Marvel only answered by swinging from the wall to the other, clutching Shai with another web. The strings of webs thinned out rapidly as they came down. Shai was about to look downwards, but her danger senses screamed, causing her to turn and face a huge chunk of stone coming in their direction out of nowhere.

Instinctively, Shai closed her eyes, channelling energy to empower herself. However, she needed not to worry, as Marvel was prepared for it. The copper-ranked arachnid swung just above the stone that moved like a pendulum with thick webs stuck to it and manoeuvred her form to land on top of the stone. She didn't move away from there and waited for the wyrm to fall into the depth of the chasm.

The thinning webs couldn't carry the burden of the wyrm's immense body as it came crashing down. It missed their block of stone, which was still swinging like a pendulum, but it couldn't stop the rest of the traps at the bottommost level of the training chasm. Blinding light, jagged stones, web construct, and smaller projectiles containing numbing poison hurtled towards the free-falling wyrm. It was completely incapable of evading those traps, as well as the crash.

"It's as good as dead," Marvel said. Her empathic waves were one that of relieved delight.

Shai finally looked downwards as the creature fell, creating a tremor with its impact. They waited for a couple more seconds, but the congratulatory words from the System Grandpa never came.

"Looks like we still needed to play the last part," Shai said as the empathic spider let them down slowly with a single continuous web coming out of its spinneret. No traps or other constructs assaulted as the wyrm already cleared the way for them.

The wyrm was in the uneven depths of the chasm, its body mangled, bloodied with multiple jagged stones sticking out. It wailed in its death, a far cry from the horrifying screams it once let out. Even if they left it in the hands of fate, the wyrm wouldn't last long.

"So," Shai asked, "Who's going to do the honours?"

Marvel looked at her. "How about we do it together?"

That seemed like the best option, considering both of them worked hard to kill this abomination.

Marvel leapt up with Shai to reach the top of the wyrm. They moved over its battered head and exchanged a knowing glance. They readied one last move, taking their time, the wyrm incapable of stopping what was coming for it.

Unfortunately, both of them had to hold their attack, as they could feel something was wrong in the atmosphere. Something ominous was growing.

"Something's coming," Shai called, referencing her Danger Detection to find not one or two, but three dangerous creatures moving their way at a tremendous pace. Not just that, two of those three were in black marking—a completely unknown level of danger—while the last one was red. That was already above their payroll.

"What do we do?!" Marvel transferred, panicking again.

"Hide," Shai said, sliding off from the wyrm to hide in its shade, almost coiling under its form, enabling [Stealth] to decrease her heartbeat and presence. Marvel followed suit, similarly hiding in the huge shade of the wyrm, though her form was more conspicuous than the snake. With the little time, this was the best they could do.

Soon, they found a figure flying through the tunnel, coming from the one direction the chasm led. A pair of wide dark wings spread behind him, as he flew at a tremendous pace, carrying an armless figure. It was those men, Shai thought as the flying man didn't even bother to give the dying wyrm a second look, much less search for them.

He flew upwards of the training chasm. The blight chasing after him was dangerous enough for him to abandon all notion of anything else but fleeing.

But what can cause him to be so frightened? Shai didn't have to wait long for the answer, as a darkening aura enveloped them, impairing her sight in an instant. It came like a bale wind, darkness taking form in its wake, chasing after the men upwards.

Shai's blood ran cold, even though she couldn't see its form. If the wyrm was an abomination—an evil taken form—then the darkness went another grade higher in danger.

"What in Zekis's name was that?" Shai couldn't help but ask. Even though she wasn't looking for an answer, she got one.

"That's. . ." Marvel transferred, a little shaken, "That's Midnight!"

Both of them still had their eyes upward, even though those figures vanished from their sight a moment ago. Unfortunately, they weren't out of danger yet, as soon another figure came and stopped right in front of them.

It was an eight-legged creature—much like Marvel, though double her size—one that both of them recognised, causing them to exchange a glance, now in fear. It was none other than the spider mama, Serenity, who, unlike the others, stopped and found them in their hiding spot.

"Marvel, what are you doing here?!" Serenity called, her mental wave booming in their head. "Have you lost your mind? And you little greedy snake, what did I tell you last time?!"

They swallowed their fear together, and without waiting for even a breath, they started blaming each other, all the camaraderie they formed in the last couple of hours lost in the wake of the spider mama. She, too, was more frightening than the abomination in a way.

They spat blame at one another so fast and simultaneously that even Serenity had trouble understanding with the distress she was in.

"Both of you stop!" Somehow she managed to mute both of their mental communication as another spider similar to Serenity dropped next to her. It, or rather she, gave the dying creature a look, and then at Marvel to Shai, and finally to rest upon Serenity.

"I concur," she said, "you have every right to be worried for this little weaver."

Serenity let out an exasperated squeak. "Go after midnight. I will take care of them."

The other spider looked ominously in their direction once and swung up on the devastated training ground.

"Serenity, it's really not my fault," Marvel said, sliding past Serenity's restriction on communication.

The spider mama said nothing. She hunched her head and stared at the dying creature in the eye. An intangible empathic pressure flooded out of her and assaulted the wyrm.

"Serenity, don't," Marvel complained, but it was already too late, "my quest—"

Before she could be finished, Serenity finished the abomination.

[Congratulations! You have defeated a Wyrm - Abomination (Iron) Level 75.]

[Congratulations! You have reached Hatchling Level 20. +1 Strength, +1Speed, +1 Perception, +1 Immunity, +1 Free Secondary Attribute points]

[Congratulations! You have reached Hatchling Level 21. +1 Strength, +1Speed, +1 Perception, +1 Immunity, +1 Free Secondary Attribute points]

[Congratulations! You're eligible for the quest: Defier.]

[...]

"Oh, I still get the reward?" Marvel said, unable to contain her joy. "Woohoo! I levelled up. Serenity, I—"

"Not a single word out of your mouth." Serenity hushed her again and wrapped her with webs in a cocoon. Even Shai wasn't free of her assault.

She tried to escape with all the power remaining, but alas! The struggle with the wyrm had rendered her body exhausted, her mind incapable of forming even the easiest cosmic skill.

In the end, she fell into a deep sleep under the duress of something spiritual and descended right into the grasp of the spider mama.

Mythwalker · Aug 6, 2023

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
PUNISHMENT

Shai's inside whirled in an unsettling sensation as if she had eaten something wrong. The confinement of the web accompanied by the creepy chilliness made it even worse. She wiggled her narrow form the moment she regained consciousness, struggling to break free.

She was unsure of how long she was in the confinement, but the time left her cold and unsettled. Shai had to bite the webs for a few minutes, infusing cosmic energy and even channelling the [Spark of Hunger] to create a small hole. Once the little gap appeared, it wasn't hard to free herself.

Shai wrung her body out through the hole to find she was hanging from a high wall in some unknown chasm. There weren't nearly as many interwoven webs in this one like the Training Chasm, however, this one gave a deep foreboding feeling of unease as if her very being was in danger. It came from the depths of the pit, a cold chilly sensation that prickled at her very core.

Her eyes only led to deep murky darkness as she looked down into the depths. Instinctively, she curled her tail around the web and looked up.

The first thing she saw was a human—a familiar face—who was confined in another cocoon-like she was, though his head was free. It was the young captive she had seen in the jungle and later with the two men. His face was ashen cold, leaden. Although his eyes were open, Shai wasn't sure if he was seeing anything. Poor fellow, he barely freed himself from those men to land in the webs of the spiders.

Such a twisted fate. Shai's situation had been a lot better than his, yet here they were at the mercy of those spiders. Shai tried [Inspection] on the youth, only to find out he was a copper ranker, and nothing else in particular, his level and path hidden with question marks. He was alive, though shaken to the core.

I wonder why the spider didn't just finish us if they left us here to die, Shai wondered as her mind whirled back to remember the whole event. Hmm, Marvel.

It didn't take long for her to find another cocoon on the other side of the pit, wrapping the spider inside fully. Still, it couldn't restrict the young spider completely, as soon Shai had the unsettling feeling of a telepathic link knocking on her mind.

The rest barely recovered her mental faculty. Shai was far from handling any cosmic arts save for meditation, yet she answered the communication. It was little trouble, anyway.

"Good job, Shai," said the spider, "you got out. Now help me get out."

"Don't wanna."

"Why?" Marvel sounded hurtful.

"You said bad things about me," Shai said.

"What! When?!"

"Before the spider mama captured us."

"That's. . ." Marvel paused. "It's all the truth though."

"So it was all my fault? I'm just a greedy reptile, who wants cosmic essences, huh," Shai said, her eyes darting everywhere to find a way out. Unfortunately, there were no holes for her to crawl into and hide. "You hurt my fragile heart."

"Well, not all your fault," Marvel tried to pacify the situation. "I mean most of it was that dumb lizard's fault. You're not dumb though."

"Yup, that's not working," Shai sighed, curling along the webs to move forward. She tried to scale the wall, only to find it smooth as polished marble, with some odd currents running through them. Thankfully, it wasn't all smooth everywhere, as time and other creatures had left their marks on the smooth surface. The wall didn't dispel her movement, but within a moment of contact, Shai felt something eerie. Something odd and chaotic that disoriented her.

"Come on, Shai, you can't leave me here," Marvel expressed. "Serenity will eat me alive."

Shai stopped her inspection. "What, really?"

"Figuratively, we're not a fan of cannibalism."

"Then you're good."

"NOOO!" Marvel whined. "No, please! You cannot leave me!"

"I'm pretty sure I can," Shai laughed, moving to check another direction, which led further away from Marvel.

The fledgling spider seemed to sense her departure somehow, as she whined with more pressure in her empathic wave. Shai put her words no mind, manoeuvring her narrow form to climb upwards.

"Wait, you cannot leave," Marvel said. "I mean, you cannot leave safely from here. This place is ridden with deadly essences and traps."

That gave Shai a short pause. She couldn't discern any falsehood in the young Marvel's tone, only eagerness. Although she should be capable of hiding her emotion in the telepathic link, Shai hardly believed the young spider was astute enough to think of that. Shai didn't think long to entertain Marvel's conjecture.

"You think I'll believe your spider mama will leave you in a deadly pit?" Shai hissed in contempt. They were empathic spiders, not apathetic—that was something Shai noticed long ago.

"Of course. You don't know us. Rules are everything to my elder siblings, nobody escapes them." Marvel said, her empathic pulses waning. "It isn't the first time I have broken the rules. For repeated lapses, we are supposed to climb our way out of the Hell Chasm as punishment."

"Hell Chasm?"

"The place we are in right now," Marvel said. "You cannot imagine how dangerous this place is. Many of my predecessors died in this pit."

Shai said nothing for a while as an awkward silence settled between them, though she could feel the spider gnawing at the back of her mind. Marvel was more unsettled than she let on.

Since she woke up Shai felt an awfully unsettling presence coming from the depths of the pit. Was that the reason behind Marvel's demure behaviour? She was spontaneous like a child before, but now depending on her even though the spider was of higher cultivation.

"What is in the depth of the pit?" she asked.

"Hell!"

"And?" Shai pressed, as the word simply didn't describe enough.

"Nobody knows," Marvel said ominously. "Whoever sent to the Hell Chasm tries to climb up their way to forgiveness. Whoever went down doesn't come back, no matter their level and cultivation."

"Then how do you know it was hell down there?" Shai questioned. "If nobody comes back."

"You don't understand. Eight generations ago, dozens of our predecessors went on an expedition there, led by four Silver Rankers. None of them returned. It left our clan crippled. We still haven't managed to overcome."

"Still that didn't tell anything," Shai said with an exasperated sigh. "For all you know, it could be paradise compared to this place you call home. What if they just didn't bother to come back."

"What are you saying? That's outrageous! Impossible!" Marvel didn't even entertain her conjecture. "Can't you feel the wrongness oozing from there?"

Shai could. It was somewhat similar to the corruption, yet entirely of a different calibre. Not the deranged feast. Her instinct told her she wouldn't survive if she went there.

"Well, you got a point," Shai dropped the topic, "but that doesn't explain why I should trust you. You're a rat, Marvel. Why would I jeopardise my safety trusting you again?"

"I'm not a rat!" Marvel expressed strongly, not comprehending. "I'm an Empathic Spider, A Named one at that. Our bloodline is at the very top of the system."

"That's not what I mean," Shai snorted in the link. "You rat me out, Marvel, to your Mama."

"Rrrrrr!" Marvel croaked, finally understanding. "That's not a fair comparison, you know, Rats are stupid, how could they even betray you, when they don't even understand anything."

"Well, you're right," Shai agreed. "I guess humans are a good comparison."

While the figure of speech could be applied to snakes, Shai didn't voice it out.

"Humans?" Marvel wiggled inside her cocoon a little, still struggling. "I have never seen one before today, but I sensed unbearable contempt for them from my elders… But that's beside the point. Please free me, and we will climb out of this chasm like how we defeated the deformed wyrm together."

"And then you'll betray me to your mama?"

"I told you, Serenity isn't my mama," Marvel cried. "We are all born from the same origin, the Great Mother."

Shai thought for a second, finally getting a solution for her trouble. "Then take an oath on the name of your mother, that you won't betray me."

Marvel became silent. Shai reeled her head to look at her cocoon one last time, before creeping away.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! I'll take the oath," Marvel screamed, her distress evident through the empathic pulses. "Just don't leave me here."

Shai sighed in relief inwardly. The oath would have some security, but eventually, she would need to get her help to escape from the clutches of the spiders. Of course, Shai wouldn't scare Marvel off asking that now.

"So," Shai asked, "why are you silent?"

Marvel let out a croak. "I, Marvel of the—" Marvel screeched in agony as another voice rang into their mind.

"Little Marvel, I'm so very disappointed in you." It wasn't the voice of the spider mama, serenity, but a voice full of contempt.

"Elegy?" Marvel barely managed to utter under the mental pressure. "You were spying on us?!"

"How could you sully the Great Mother, for this little, lowly reptile."

"Your mama's lowly," retorted Shai, against her better judgement.

The mental pressure crashed down on her, impaling her mind at once. Shai hissed in agony, as the pressure racked her mind. She decided to assault the spider with more of her unbridled emotions as she did to Serenity to flee from her grasp before. However, before she could make up her mind, the pressure subsided.

"Stop it, Elegy!" Another voice joined. Shai recognised this one to be the Spider mama, Serenity. "At this rate, Marvel won't be able to climb up. Do you want her to die?!"

Only a weird noise came, though it sounded condescending to Shai. In her panic, Marvel clutched to the only straw thrown at her.

"Serenity, please," Marvel pleaded. "I didn't know. I only wanted to help."

"You have helped enough," said Serenity, breaking the young spider's heart, even though she didn't have one physically. "Your little fun-seeking almost led to your death and risk the safety of many of our clan. Perhaps we had been too soft on you, or perhaps it was the lapse in our teaching that you turned out this way. I hope this lesson will teach you to do better."

Then the two powerful pulses retreated from her mind. Shai wasn't relieved, the little exchange left her unnerved, intimidated. Shai wasn't sure if she understood all of it, but it appeared Marvel had done something unforgivable.

She even stopped struggling in her confinement, silent, wallowing in her guilt.

"Shai," Marvel's empathic pulses entered her mind after a few minutes. She sounded rattled, weak as if the assault sucked away all her mental faculty. "I didn't know. . . I didn't know they were listening to us."

Shai sighed. "I believe you."

An uneasy silence flowed between them, even though they could feel each other's presence through the link.

"So what do you think they will do to us?" Shai asked again.

"I. . ." Marvel didn't have an answer. "I don't know."

Mythwalker · Aug 12, 2023

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
RULES

Shai didn't try to escape on her own after the elder empathic spiders departed. For all she knew, they could still be lurking in the dark, listening in, keeping an eye on them. A moment of lapse in judgement, and she would be in the stomach of one of them.

Shai hardly received any information about their situation from Marvel, with her acting all depressed and rattled. So Shai did what was left there for her to do. She freed Marvel from the webs, even though the young spider stopped asking for freedom. The spider just didn't come out of the cocoon after Shai stretched the hole for her to get out.

"Hey, cheer up," Shai said. "Do you want them to see you beat yourself like this?"

Marvel simply looked at her with pairs of disinterested eyes.

I'm terrible at this, Shai thought, but she persisted.

"You know what, your Mama, I mean Serenity said before she left?" Shai tried again. "She said it was their fault for not teaching you better. So why beat yourself up for it? You're only a child, mistakes are inevitable."

Marvel's eyes flashed a little, but soon they returned to the leaden state.

"Also, you haven't sullied your Mother's name," Shai said firmly. "No, it's not because that spider stopped you from taking the oath. Even if you had taken the oath, it wouldn't have sullied her name."

Marvel's eyes widened.

"Only when you break the oath you made in her name, will you have disappointed her, sullied her." Shai thought for a moment to add, "And I'm not saying this because I wanted you to take the oath again. There's no need for it."

Marvel still wasn't completely out of her despair. Considering how her trusted elders left her here—a place filled with mortal dangers—it wasn't too hard to guess what was going on inside her head. She's probably thinking they left her here to die.

"Listen, Marvel," Shai said, coming face to face with the spider, who was many folds bigger than her. Yet she was so small and young. "Do you really think they really left you to die? As you said they follow the rules like it was their religion, but I don't think they are zealous enough to want your death. From what you told me about this Hell Chasm, it all sounded like a nightmare made real to scare children into abiding by the laws.

"Honestly, I feel that your elders want you to face your punishment head-on and climb your way up, no matter the trouble you face. Or do you like to show them how sorry you are that you can't even climb this little pit? No right?"

Marvel expressed empathetic pulses of denial. Well, that was what it felt like to Shai.

"Then pull your shit together, and be marvellous, we got a chasm to climb."

"You're wrong," Marvel finally said.

Shai tilted her head in curiosity.

"This place isn't just to scare children," Marvel said. "It's real. Over a couple of hundred individuals sent for penance here over the centuries. Do you know the survival rate?"

"Not high?" Shai said the obvious.

"One. Only one of the two hundred offenders survived the climb. And it was Midnight."

"That scary darkness?" Shai said. "Respected and feared by all. I don't know about you, but I won't mind climbing the Hell Chasm if I can become like her."

That seemed to stir Marvel's spirit, as the spark returned in her eyes. "If we were to climb this chasm," she began, "we need to form a game plan first."

"And to form a game plan, we need to understand what we are dealing with," Shai added, unsure when the "I" had turned to "We".

"I'm not particularly sure," Marvel said. "There's the essence of Darkness, and its nullifying effect, along with a mental corrosion that's been affecting my mind since the beginning."

"By the essence of Darkness, do you mean something like the Feast, Hunger, Adhesion?" Shai couldn't help but ask. "A concept?"

Marvel thought for a moment to answer. "It's more like the manifestation of the concept of darkness," she said. "Don't get the wrong idea. It is a treasure to a high-rank cultivator of Darkness path, but for someone like us, it's certain death. All pure essence of cosmic laws is highly toxic. Before iron rank, it is certain death."

"Hmm." Shai's interest didn't wane. "So that Midnight of your clan. . ."

"Shai, I know your interest, but you need to let it go now," Marvel said, understanding what was going through her head. "Midnight is a high Iron and had defeated Silver-ranked cultivators in a fair fight. On top of that, she was named Midnight, fated for the path of darkness. It is not a path suitable for any of us."

"Well, I'll have you know I'm named too," Shai said cockily. "And Shai means Shadow in the common tongue."

Marvel let out a humph. "Shai means Gift," she said. "I may be young, but I'm not illiterate."

Shai was momentarily lost for words. "You know Ancient Taisur?"

"Most of our kin know it, and it isn't ancient as you say."

Marvel's heart lurched hearing Marvel. There was no way it could be a coincidence, right? Maybe. . . perhaps. . .

"Shai?"

"Well, I'm just asking," Shai said. There were still other paths left for her to gain strength. "Oh, that reminds me, I got a quest to earn the Mark of Defiance for killing the wyrm, and it's utterly diabolical."

"What!?" Marvel elected.

"I need to kill a thousand corrupted creatures that were at least on the same level or higher than me to get the mark," Shai said, letting out an exasperated hiss. "Thankfully, Grandpa seems to count all the corrupted creatures I have killed so far."

Still, it was a huge number. Shai's progress was barely 78/1000.

"Grandpa?" Marvel asked, confused.

"You know the system voice who announces everything," Shai said. "He sounds like a good grandpa to me."

"You know that voice. . ." Marvel was at a loss for words for what she was supposed to say. "Never mind. Mark of Defiance—if this mark needs you to hunt down so many corrupted creatures, chances are you'll get attribute bonuses in percentages. You know what that means right? They will be less helpful when your numbers are low, but when your attributes are monstrous you'll get the real benefit of the bonus."

"Really?" Shai beamed. Another reason for her to start hunting those tainted creatures.

"That's not all," the spider said with some uncertainty. "Since this is a specialised mark, you might get some resistance power as well."

Marvel seemed to know a lot about the system stuff. Well, considering she had years to examine the system, and elders help her way, it was understandable.

"I also got a quest, but it's a different one than yours," Marvel said, and somehow managed to show her the details of the quest, shoving the system page of the quest into her head.

[Quest: Apex Predator

You have met the requirements to upgrade your mark, Greater Predator by defeating an Iron-rank creature at least 25 levels higher than you when you're a Copper ranker.

Requirements: Hunt 10 creatures of Iron rank before advancing to Iron. Progress: 1/10

Reward: Mark: Apex Predator.]

"Apex Predator gives a 10% boost to all the primary attributes," Marvel added promptly. "I know because all three of our guardians have it, though they didn't get a quest to earn the mark. Not this early."

"That's great!" Shai tried to encourage Marvel with her mental wave, but she failed miserably. Apparently, it wasn't so easy without the concept of Empathy. "You know, I have a quest for Mark of the Slayer, in which I had to slay ten copper rankers. I'm almost done with it."

"Slayer?" Marvel asked. "I don't have that one, how did you get it?"

"Well, I accidentally killed a couple of copper rankers, and Grandpa was kind enough to give me the quest. I just need to slay one more copper ranker to get the mark."

Marvel gave her that odd look again. "If it's only one copper ranker, perhaps." Marvel gestured towards the human with her eyes.

Shai followed and found the human boy, hanging on the other side. A deep seethed greed for power overflowed inside her, stirring her power of Hunger. If she wanted, it would be an easy kill, the boy seemed like he was half dead already. Her eyes grew colder, glued to the vulnerable figure that seemed to be asking her to kill him. He would die anyway without anyone's help, so why not get some benefit out of it?

That was what most people would do. But. . .

But Shai wasn't like most people. She had been a weak mortal girl, but her father always taught her to be kinder. She had lost her ways in the darkest time, in desperate times, but she wasn't that desperate now.

It's merely a copper ranker, Shai thought, I'll get a chance soon enough.

It was baffling how she saw him as merely a copper ranker now. The last time she checked, she had to bow down to them in reverence. Shai had come a long way in this couple of weeks, from bowing down to copper rankers to pitying them.

No need to kill someone who didn't deserve it. That was tricky logic, though. How could Shai tell he doesn't deserve it, just because he looked as miserable as she was in captivity? Because she felt pity for him?

"I'm glad you're thinking through this," Marvel added, sensing her chaotic state. "Solace says, it's easy to lose our way in the path. Establishing some hard rules for ourselves helps in not getting lost."

"I. . ." Shai didn't know what to say.

"I understand," Marvel said, expressing an empathic wave of reassurance. "Also, Shai, you might want to check your emotional state now, I can't help but suck them."

Shai glowered at her.

"I can't help it," Marvel complained. "The aura oozing from the depths is already making me deranged. I think that is the reason our kind calls it the Hell Chasm."

Shai breathed in and out, and with a prompt mental exercise, she fortified her mind.

"So what do we do about that human?"

"I don't want to kill someone innocent to gain power," Shai said.

"Great," Marvel said, already taking the first step. "Let's kill the humans."

"Wait, didn't you hear what I said?"

"You said you won't kill innocents, which this human clearly isn't."

Shai was baffled at her logic. "How do you know he isn't innocent?"

Marvel gave her a look as if it was obvious. "I can give you three reasons and I don't even know him," the spider said, lifting one of her appendages. "First, he's a human, who trespassed our territory. Second, he was sent to hell chasm by my elders, that was already enough of a reason. Lastly, I can feel guilt and misery oozing out of him. Such thick emotions cannot be borne without the guilt of doing something criminal."

Shai shook her head. Clearly, the empathic spider clan's metric to judge guilty was more than just a little hectic.

"I get your points," she said eventually, "but most of them aren't valid."

"Then how about we ask him if he's guilty or not," Marvel proposed and started forming a telepathic link with the human.

"Wait, Marvel, it doesn't work that way." Before she could finish, Shai could feel another presence in her head.

"Hey, human, are you guilty?" Marvel asked, as if everyone was honest and just.

"Mhhmmm," the human uttered, clearly not in his right mind with the voice speaking in his head.

"I asked, are you—"

"Marvel, stop it," Shai said. "You won't get him this way. Let me do the interrogation."

Marvel exchanged a look with the human, who finally seemed to open his eyes and Shai. She relented. "Fine."

Shai calmed her mind and concentrated on the human presence in her head. "So, you have awakened, human. Good," she said, adopting the cocky cultivator persona. "The council wants to speak with you."

"What?!"

Mythwalker · Aug 17, 2023

"What?!" It wasn't only the human who spoke, but Marvel joined in the confusion as well.

"What are you talking about?" Marvel transferred privately to Shai. "Council? Of what?"

"Anything," Shai replied. She didn't put much thought into it while speaking. "How does the Council of Truth sound?"

Marvel looked at her flatly.

"No? Then how about justice?" Shai thought for a second to dismiss it. "The Council of Justice has a certain ring to it, but it can burn us with self-righteous rage. Trust me, you would want to stay away from it."

She had seen people taking themselves too seriously, just because of a badge and uniform. Perhaps she should put more thought into it before speaking nonsense.

"Mhm, excuse me," said the human captive weakly. He peered into the darkness to find them, but to no avail. "You're saying something? Are you still there?"

"We are," Shai said, returning to the arrogant persona. "We are everywhere."

In this instance, they were below where the human was hanging. He had no way of noticing them, even if he had magical eyes.

"What do you want?!" The young cultivator was unable to keep fear from spilling out into his voice. "I. . ."

"What we want is. . . very simple," Shai said, racking her mind to come up with something imposing. "All we want is order. We serve the realm. The Council of Order's sworn duty is to maintain the balance and order of the realm."

"I don't know whether I should be outraged at your audacity or laugh at the human's gullibility," Marvel said, her tone was something between indignantly and baffled.

"He's buying that?" Shai was surprised. Perhaps she wasn't that bad of an actor at all.

"You know there will be some ramifications for falsely personifying the Council of Order, right?"

Shai's mind whirled. "Wait, something like that actually exists?"

Marvel gave her a look as if she was looking at a maniac.

"Well, it doesn't matter," Shai hissed. "Grandpa already gave us the opportunity to maintain balance, and we did bring order, killing that wyrm. Or is it just that specific group of individuals who have the privilege to bring order?"

"There's no point arguing with you," Marvel said, rolling her red eyes almost too humanly. "Hope, the human is guilty in your metric that we don't have to worry about you running your mouth wild."

"I. . . Please," the boy said, "I have done nothing unjust to deserve this. The council must see that I am—"

"It is not for you to dictate what the council must do to preserve order," Shai shouted, cutting the human short. "In the end, justice is merely the by-product of order."

"It is?" Marvel asked in mock interest.

Silencing Marvel with a glare, Shai returned to the boy who went completely still from her rebuttal.

"Boy, I'm going to ask you a few questions, and you're going to answer them all truthfully," Shai said. Her voice chilled the captive's spine, though it could just be the coldness. "No tricks and falsehood can hide the truth. We know how to wrench everything out from the heart."

"We do?" Marvel interrupted again. Shai was about to outright ignore her when she added, "I don't know about you, but I can merely detect falsehood, and it hardly takes any heart-wrenching effort."

Marvel seemed to regain her cockiness after Shai's brilliant counselling. She would let the spider be cocky for now. Better than her self-pitying self, she supposed. Marvel was far from being insufferable, and her abilities made her invaluable.

"First question, do you understand what I said?" Shai asked.

"Yes, Um. . . High Lady," the captive said.

"What is your name?" Shai asked with the pompousness of a high lady.

"Javi. Javi of House Ramone."

"Javi," Shai repeated, wittingly ignoring the house name even though it sounded important. Well, the boy thought it was important, that was all the reason she needed. "Are you aware of the chaos you created?"

"I. . ." the boy stuttered. "I didn't know. . . It wasn't my intention. I merely. . ."

"Wanted to help," completed Shai. She wished she could be playful all the way as she went deeper into the matter. In a way, she was acting as the judge for his life. If she deemed him guilty, or an evil person, his life would be forfeit. That was a lot of pressure on a small hatchling.

As those thoughts swirled inside her head, the first thing Shai perceived was that she didn't like judging other people. But it is what it is.

It didn't take long for Shai to get the gist of the story from Javi. The boy wasn't evil as far as she was concerned, just stupid and eager to prove himself in front of others. That eagerness led him to his current circumstances. Not just him, his stupidity involved a few more bystanders to their death and even led his half-sister to fall within the grasp of those mercenaries.

Shai assumed he was talking about the people those men were looking for.

Apparently, it was Javi who hired them at the beginning, to him help his way through his half-sister. How could the young scion know that mercenaries' only loyalty lies in wealth and cosmic coins? Although he had given them sufficient cosmic coins and promised more, it didn't take long for the mercenaries to act on their interest. Even the name of House Ramone couldn't budge them once they decided to turn on him.

Foolishly, Javi led them to his sister, unaware of the conspiracy brewing within their ranks. They had poisoned his half-sister almost to her demise. The only reason they left him was because they believed him to be harmless.

The trust between the siblings was already thin before they came to this expedition. His sister became completely distrustful of him after the incident. In the end, Javi used himself to give them a chance to escape. Or at least that's what he told himself, a larger part of the escape attributed to the elf companion his sister had befriended, whom he didn't like as much.

The rest was pretty clear to Shai. Javi was captured by those men—she discovered that first-hand—but when the elder spiders attacked those two loose cultivators had no choice but to leave him to the spiders' mercy.

"Still, something doesn't add up," Shai said. "It wasn't unheard of for loose cultivators to act in their interest, but there should be a motive behind what they did."

"House Ramone has many enemies within and outside the empire," Javi said, somehow sounding a little relieved after spilling out his misdeeds. "There are many people who wouldn't mind the fall of our house."

"Just great," interjected Marvel. "If you have known that, shouldn't you have thought twice before hiring suspicious people behind everyone's back, dumb human?"

Javi was about to burst into an apology, but Shai stopped him, asking another important question. "Why do you feel the death of two members of a house will lead to the fall of your house?" she asked, adding unmasked scorn in her tone. "Boy, you're only copper ranked, and so was your sister, isn't it a little presumptuous for your station to assume so highly of yourself?"

"You don't understand. . ." Javi's voice trailed off as a couple of grumping "humph" entered his mind. "Excuse me, Highlady. I. . . It was presumptuous of me to believe you aren't aware of the chaos brewing in our state. Men die every day, as the scourge breaks through our border. Somehow they have taken control of a beast tide and pillaged the state, and feasted upon honest men. If they aren't stopped, I fear the whole empire will suffer, not just our state."

Shai exchanged a look with Marvel, who was just as oblivious as her. Well, considering how unaware Marvel was of the corruption growing in the place she called home, Shai wasn't surprised. It appeared only the upper echelon of the spider clan knew about these things, and dutifully decided to leave the rest in the dark.

Regardless, Shai's question was unanswered. "And you feel you're the solution to this chaos?"

"I'm not." Javi ignored her scorn, wallowing in guilt. The scorn of some high lady was last of his concern. "But Isla, she's different. She might, no, she must be the one."

"This human has gone nuts," Marvel said. "He mentioned his sister is merely a high copper, and as we know it, she might have already fallen to those loose cultivators."

Javi gritted his teeth, but Marvel's words sunk in soon enough. There was a time when Shai was as big a sis-con as this boy, but she learned her sister was but a single person, powerless against the multitude will of the system. Yes, her cries were heard a little louder than a mortal girl, but that was it. It is what it is.

There were two possibilities here. Either Javi was a fool as Marvel mentioned, or they were missing something. While the chances of it being the latter were low, she couldn't discard it.

"So what do you think?" Marvel transferred privately.

"Still doesn't add up," Shai said, racking her small brain to connect the strings. "If their state is under chaos, what are they doing here? Javi believed he was working towards saving his home. Is there something here that will lead them to believe that?"

Marvel thought for a moment to dismiss her conjecture. "Who cares? Isn't your interrogation to find out whether he's guilty or not?"

Shai cringed at the realisation. They wasted enough time already. It was about time she came to a decision.

"It might sound a little wrong to you," Shai said, "but I don't think he's evil, or guilty. He might feel guilt for his foolishness that led to devastation, but his intention wasn't bad. He merely wanted to help, like you. . . like me."

Marvel was prepared to interject, but she cowered after Shai finished.

Is it enough if our intentions are right? Shai wondered. Even when the results are devastating?

"Perhaps not," Shai said, "but I can't decide now."

"Hmm, then what should we do about him?"

"I don't know," Shai said. "But if what you said is right about this chasm, we cannot have baggage slowing us down either."

"So we are just going to leave him to die?"

Shai nodded in agreement. Yeah, I know it is a stupid thing to do, but I help it. Not when I haven't failed yet.

Shai was grateful that Marvel didn't say anything about her stupid decision. Sometimes even an eight-legged monster can be more understanding than a human.

"Umm, Honoured High Lady?" Javi's voice echoed in her mind as she was just about to depart. He sounded terribly nervous again. "So what did you decide? Will you help me? Our state, our people, need it more than anything. The council must know this. . . ."

A sense of guilt washed over Shai as she realised what she did. She had given the young human false hope—hope she couldn't fulfil. She had no clue how it became like this. She only personified to intimidate the human, not to give him false hope.

And why are these emotions? Shai complained inwardly. I'm a savage creature, what is the need for such emotions?

In her loss, Shai turned to the spider, but Marvel was way younger than her, impossible for her to come up with something Shai couldn't in this regard. Shai decided not to burden young Marvel with such matters, as it was her shit to deal with.

"The council has decided," Shai said. "We have deemed you do not offset the balance."

"Then?" Javi asked. Even though Shai didn't have [Spark of Empathy], she could feel hope brewing inside him.

Shai felt her silence would be enough for an answer, but Javi kept on asking, latching onto the straw thrown at him.

Shai was torn between creeping away without replying and crushing the boy's spirit, spilling the last bit. Either way, it was inevitable.

Abruptly, another presence brushed against her mind, as Marvel screamed out, a spark of spirituality radiating from her being.

"Solace!" A barrage of delightful empathic pulses.

Shai's first thought was to hide, but there was no place to conceal herself. Not that she was given any time. Oddly, she didn't discover any red or black mark in her [Danger Detection], only a harmless white mark approaching them. That hardly reassured her, as Shai had suffered enough to believe the boon completely.

"Solace! You're here!" Marvel's spirit lifted with the presence.

"Oh dear, you look awful," a caring voice answered her call. "Come on, I came here to take you away."

With that a long string of web shot towards Marvel and latched onto her, pulling her upwards.

"But the punishment?" Marvel didn't resist the web lifting her up.

"Your discipline will continue," the elderly voice continued. "But this isn't the way of it. The younglings are too impatient in their disciplining. But don't blame them, after what happened to Midnight."

Marvel's silhouette disappeared into the darkness as the string pulled her up out of the hell chasm, leaving Shai alone to contemplate her options.

Shai wasn't sure if she should celebrate getting rid of the spider, or be sad. But before she knew it, another string of web latched onto her and pulled her upwards.

Mythwalker · Aug 17, 2023

Shai fought against her instinct to not struggle with the lift. She let the web pull her up, her distress growing with each passing moment.

They weren't that deep in the chasm, as it barely took a minute for her to reach the top even with the web lifting her slowly. But that wasn't important anymore, as a figure of a colossus spider came into her view, dwarfing Marvel, who stood next to her.

"Thank the Great Mother that the corruption hadn't affected you extensively," the Elder spider said as she checked on Marvel, though Shai could feel a pair of her eyes focused on her, examining her.

Shai felt a deep chill in her spine, even though [Danger Detection] discovered no threat from the elder spider, Solace. Shai refrained from making a spectacle of herself. The thought of fleeing returned, unfortunately, she would need a better opportunity to try.

"Come on, let's get to the dwellings," Solace urged the spider as she turned. "There's hardly a point staying here in your state."

"Solace! What about—"

"Dear, you can bring your friend as well," Solace said, continuing on her path. "I'm sure we can find accommodation for her as well."

"Friend?" Marvel repeated, a spark of ambiguous pulse radiated through the link. "She's not my. . . Come on Shai."

Shai exchanged a look between Marvel and the elder spider, and understood it wasn't a request. She considered for a second. Going with them would very likely entangle her more with the spiders, which wasn't something she would like to be involved in, considering her strength was minuscule compared to these elder spiders.

Shai calculated her chance of escaping without being fatally injured. The chances were. . .not that great. Hmm, why am I thinking of escaping? This elder spider didn't seem bad. . .

Unwittingly, Shai crept closer to the two spiders, unsure how her mind eased up readily. Let's not take chances for now, Shai thought, her tension waning somewhat as she came to a decision. I'm sure they won't kill me outright. They had opportunities of doing that before. . . I will have all the time to make plans and escape.

"Both of you need an abundance of sleep to recover your mental faculty," the elder spider transferred to them. "I'll keep the explanation to myself until you can think clearly."

Yeah, she seems like a nice granny. I'm sure she won't eat me.

The spiders took her to their dwellings, and for the first time inside the dungeon, she saw lights. It was a pit similar to most others in size, though the inside was vastly different with dozens of light constructs brimming with gentle light, giving a civilised feel.

It has been days since she last saw light, so even if the lights weren't natural, Shai was delighted under their luminance. Furthermore, it wasn't just light, the air was fresh, the spirituality in balance, with the minimal aura of any particular elements. Shai already felt her exhaustion waning just being there.

The elder spider didn't speak to them after reaching their dwelling, she began tinkering with a lot of cosmic constructs, leaving them to observe. Marvel became bored within a minute, while Shai's reaction was exactly the opposite. Her eyes blazed with amazement as she barely understood what the elder spider was doing.

Obviously, Shai had seen people tinkering with constructs, but the way the elder spider was doing was nothing she had seen. Solace spellforged dozens of complicated scripts in thin air effortlessly and started to lay them together with array flags to make a formation.

Shai's interest was piqued instantly. Although she recognised the runes as simple alterations of the 64 common runes, she didn't recognise the script at all, nor could she tell what they were meant to use for.

Marvel couldn't endure the silence anymore and asked the granny spider. "Solace, what's that for?"

The elder spider answered when she was done with the formation. "A tool to help you sleep," she said and surged out with a peculiar power of s concept, infusing the unique aura into the formation.

Shai's eyes narrowed on the arrow flags floating in the air, swirling in a circle. They blazed in a dreamy white light, as they moved to surround them.

"Alright, it's time to sleep," Solace said as the formation completely surrounded them into a ball of white forcefield.

"Solace, what is this?" The spider's effort to keep her lucidity became nigh impossible.

"Hmm, I don't. . ." Shai let out a hiss of exhaustion and fell flat on the ground in deep slumber within moments.

"Don't resist. Have a nice dream. You need it."

***

Shai had a pleasant dream, one of the nicest dreams she had in the last couple of years. The details were lost in her mind when she roused, but the indications were evident. She was refreshed, and felt stronger than she ever had been.

It wasn't simply because of the sleep. Although she needed rest, it didn't explain how invigorating she felt. It felt like some kind of therapy, similar to the kinds cultivators went through before martial art competitions. Her body felt light as a feather, energy manipulation easier than ever, and most of all, there were no troubling thoughts weighing on her mind.

Then came the barrage of notifications, as Grandpa explained the improvements she made sleeping. Shai couldn't believe it.

[Congratulations! Cosmic Energy Manipulation has reached Level 10. You have touched the Intermediate stage of Cosmic Energy Manipulation.]
[Congratulations! Meditation has reached Level 17.]
[Congratulations! Empower has reached Level 27.]
[Essence Eater (Hunger): Progress - 20.7%]
[Congratulations! Mental Corrosion Resistance has reached Level 15.]
[Congratulations! Corruption Resistance has reached Level 15.]

[Congratulations! You have reached Hatchling Level 22. +1 Strength, +1 Speed, +1 Perception, +1 Immunity, +1 Free Secondary Attribute points]

She even levelled up once, which should have been impossible without slaying other creatures.

The improvement just didn't end there, even her primary attributes reached a higher degree of improvement, with Physique reaching the boundary of Foundation rank, and the Mind benefitting the most. Shai spent the free secondary attribute points and examined the improvement.

__________

Shai
Rank: Foundation	Path: Hatchling Level 22
Concept Spark of Hunger - Early	Mark Fatemarked. Blessed by Kismet (Lesser). Predator.
Attributes
Cosmic Energy (R): 434 (37.7)
Primary Attribute	Base [Limit: 25]	Benefit	Total
Physique	25	10	35
Mind	14.1	10	24.1
Soul	23.4	20	43.4
Recovery	22	10	32
Secondary Attribute	Base	Benefit	Total
Strength	40	10	50
Speed	39	10	49
Perception	27	10	37
Immunity	27	15	42
Free Secondary Points:	0
Special Attributes Insight: 5 Will: 11 Fortune: 8
[Abilities] Poison Affinity - Level 2 \| Pain Resistance - Level 9 \| Night Vision - Level 10 \| Mental Corrosion Resistance - Level 15 \| Corruption Resistance - Level 15 Golden Eyes (Latent) \| Copper Armament (0%) \| Essence Eater (20.7%)
[Skill / Spell / Technique] Meditation - Level 17 \| Cosmic Energy Manipulation - Level 10 \| Energy Dart - level 12 \| Poison Dart - level 7 \| Force Shield - Level 10 \| Empower - Level 27 \| Identification - Level 5 \| Stealth - Level 9 Spellforging - Level 10 \| Gravity - Elementary Level 1
[Boon] Danger Detection \| Inventory \| Lingual Comprehension \| Loot.
Remark I promise I won't eat you. [System Log]

_________________

How long have I slept to receive so many benefits? Shai couldn't help but wonder.

Marvel was already awoken before her, now in meditation waiting for Solace to return. The array flags that let them have the rejuvenated rest laid in one corner, next to them were a small heap of cosmic coins and mushrooms.

Shai's stomach lurched with a reminder that she hadn't eaten anything for a long time. Even though her hunger was immense, the grumble her stomach created was only a little, yet that was enough to alert the young spider.

"Come on, eat them," Marvel told her. "Solace left them for us."

The spider probably discerned her hunger through the empathic waves she was radiating in her unguarded state. Figuring that out, Shai guarded her mind and slithered to the food. She helped herself, gobbling them without showing any qualms. By the time she was finished, the heap of mushrooms was half as high.

"Can't believe you can eat so much," Marvel said, her eyes still closed, "even with that narrow body of yours."

"I'm special like that," Shai replied offhandedly, her eyes returning to those array flags.

They seemed to have lost most of their spirituality and some other components. They weren't damaged anyhow, merely drained of their essence. Recharging them with the required essence would bring them back to their prior state, though she wasn't aware of the cost.

"What are these arrays?" Shai couldn't help but ask.

"Some kind of formation with the Dao of Dream," Marvel said, turning her head to look at her, resting her meditation. "Solace said it is a smaller copy of the Grand Dream Formation. It helps with enlightenment as well as sustaining mental faculties. You have noticed that already, no? Half of my skills and abilities improved by one or two levels, even the digestion of cosmic essence reached a new height."

Shai agreed, eyeing greedily at the array of flags. Obviously, she didn't act on her greed. With her mind working perfectly, Shai wasn't one to make foolish mistakes.

"This formation was way better than any of the formations that helped with cultivation," Marvel kept on singing praise of the formation, and Solace, the creator of it. She seemed to respect the elder spider a great deal.

"You haven't used the Grand Dream Formation before today?"

"No," Marvel transferred an empathic wave of denial. "Before today, I never knew something like this existed. I wondered why they never let me use it."

Before Shai could say anything, the familiar voice of the elder spider rang in their mind.

"Because we cannot afford to use them unless it was a dire need."

The tone wasn't angry or anything, but Shai felt her body tense upon sensing the presence of the elder spider. Her mind reeled, producing the highest form of mental defence she was capable of. It was all instinctual. Even though [Danger Detection] depicted this elder spider in a white mark, Shai felt a deep-rooted dread from her.

Solace easily noticed the change in her state and mental defence, but instead of being angry, she chuckled, dropping behind them. "Marvel, your friend seemed more suited for the path of Empathy than you," she said. "Do I have to tell you every time to guard your mind from empathic manipulations?"

"But my mind is guarded," Marvel whined, creeping closer to the greater spider.

"With only the basic form of defence."

"But it is still better than Shai's," Marvel retorted.

"But not the best you're capable of."

Marvel grumbled as she guarded her mind correctly. She wasn't annoyed or angry anyhow. "What's the point anyway, if you want you can easily invade my mind."

"That should have made you more wary, eager to improve, not disregard the defences and prone to manipulation. Serenity was right to be worried for you."

"But," Marvel said, "you would never manipulate my mind."

Shai's inside twisted and she finally understood why she was guarded against the elder spider even though she showed no form of hostility.

"You. . ." Shai said, her tone shaking, "You compelled me into coming with you here."

Mythwalker · Aug 27, 2023

"Compel is a big word," the elder Arachnid said, not even a little offended at Shai's accusation. "I merely soothed your mind lest you try something rash."

Shai's indignation only rose learning that she was manipulated into coming with them. Even if it wasn't compulsion, her free will was violated. She had every reason to be angry.

But then again, the elder spider didn't seem to have any bad intentions. She was merely doing it for her clan, and. . .

"You're doing it again," Shai screamed, fortifying her mental defence even though she saw no particular weakness in it.

"Am I?" Solace seemed amused. "I guess your time at the Hell chasm made you sharper to detect mental manipulations, just needed the rest to cash into the benefits."

There was some helpful implication in her phrase, but Shai was too furious to notice. Shai stared at her accusingly, as Marvel crept between them to amend the conflict. It did not mend anything. Shai would never forgive anyone manipulating her mind.

But Marvel was quick to notice the implication. "Hell Chasm benefited us?"

Solace gave her a look as if it was obvious. "Haven't you noticed the benefit?"

"But I thought they were from the Grand Dream formation."

"True, but not completely," Solace said, "you'll probably need a week to process it all, the formation simply progressed the process by seven times."

Suddenly everything clicked in Shai's mind. The guardian spiders didn't just leave them there as punishments, but as contingencies to build up a defence against mental corrosion. At least that's what the Elder Spider implied.

"We slept for a whole day?"

"Eighteen hours," Solace said. "The point is Hell Chasm is rewarding if you have the Will to endure it. Or did you think the guardian left you there to die?"

Marvel's empathic pulses stirred. "Then. . . they—"

"Still, their decision was rash. Directly sending to the chasm in the state you were in, there was a good chance of you not making it if they didn't help you out. Now, I just hope you learned your lesson, and won't try anything rash after learning about corruption."

Physically, spiders can't cry, however, Marvel's empathic pulses reacted to the turmoil she was feeling, even affecting Shai through the link.

They aren't monsters, Shai couldn't help but imagine, at least, not Little Marvel.

She wasn't so sure about that Black Death, or this Elder Spider.

"Solace, what is this corruption about? Why have I never heard about it before?" Marvel asked, controlling her emotions. For creatures with inherited empathic power, emotions come as easy as hunger, but she would only be labelled as a kid if she was led by her emotions all the time.

Solace didn't answer immediately. "What level did your mental resistance abilities reach?"

"27," Marvel replied. "It was four levels higher than when I sneak out."

"Hmm, and the Corruption Resistance?"

"Level 10," Marvel said.

Eventually, she quenched Marvel's thirst for information."You never know about corruption because we have done everything to protect you from it. It is the greatest threat to our livelihood, a threat you cannot fight just by being powerful. That's why we decided to keep the majority of you in the dark until you're ready to face it."

Marvel wasn't easily convinced even though her respect for Solace had no bounds. "But wouldn't it be easier if you taught me how to defend against it?" she questioned. "I merely got in contact with it and I have already reached Level 10 resistance on it. Wouldn't it be better if I knew more about it?"

"It would have," Solace agreed. "And I would have taught you about it soon, but you decided to sneak out on your own when I was busy with other matters."

"That. . ." At least Marvel was embarrassed about her daring acts. "I mean, why aren't we taught about Corruption in school? It seemed like something big that we should all be aware of."

"Trust me," —for some reason, the elder spider seemed immensely old. Beaten. Lost— "knowing it doesn't make it any bit easier."

"But—"

Solace cut her short. "You haven't seen anything," she transferred. "Come on, I'll let you see what we are dealing with. You can bring along your friend as well, though she must maintain her mental defence all the time."

"Don't worry," Shai snapped with venom in her tongue, "I won't even think of disabling my mental barrier."

Like before, Solace was amused instead of offended, however, the image of the good granny was already destroyed in Shai's mind.

"Good, let's go then."

The path was longer than Shai imagined, thankfully she didn't have to slither away like she always did. Marvel carried her as they swung away using her webs, or scaling the wall downwards.

The elder spider was silent most of the time, as she was leading them, though it appeared Marvel knew the way. She said something about a Nursery, where newly born spiders and the eggs were tended.

It was only when they reached the vicinity of the destination the elder spider spoke to them. "You have experienced corruption first-hand, what do you make of it?"

"It's madness," Marvel said immediately. "That lizard is not qualified to advance to Iron rank at all. It was so dull-headed, yet its empathic pulses were somehow so corrupting. Without the [Concept of Empathy] I would have never resisted it."

"You're not wrong, but Empathy makes you more vulnerable to it unless you grasp its full power," Solace said and turned a few of her eyes at Shai, who latched onto Marvel. "And what about you?"

Shai thought of hissing indignantly, but with her mind clear, she decided against antagonising the elder spider, who might even be scarier than the Black Death.

"It is an incomprehensible level of insanity," Shai said, swallowing a breath. "It is deranged, raving, and highly contagious that comes in with the promise of power. The greed for power is almost impossible to resist unless you know what you're signing yourself into. There is no sense in it, only mindless devouring and scraping whatever comes your way. . . ."

Shai paused after a while, noticing she was repeating herself, just demeaning it more with each sentence.

"Hmm, looks like you had a deeper interaction with it than Little Marvel. Count yourself lucky that you came out sane."

I did not, Shai thought, not entirely at least. However, she doubted how much of it was related to the corrupted Essence of the Feast.

"So you two already know how grave of a danger corruption is to you," Solace continued, nearing the chasm, which was apparently the Nursery. "Now imagine what it can do to underdeveloped minds."

Solace jumped into the chasm, shooting web into the high wall. Marvel followed suit in a similar fashion. Shai felt an ethereal push against her being as they entered the nursery. She dismissed it thinking it was some protective measure.

Shai's [Danger Detection] blared immediately, as hundreds of white, orange, red, and black marks appeared in her mind's eye. A chilling sensation washed through her spine, discovering she was in the midst of thousands of spiders.

"Be careful not to have any spike in emotion," Solace reminded them, eyeing them as both of their minds surged in turmoil. Of course, the emotions were of two different kinds.

Soon lights came into their sights as they came across many carved crevices, decorated with intricate layers of spider webs. Dozens with hundreds of spider eggs stuck to them, others with baby spiders playing under the purview of older spiders.

"Solace," Marvel said, her voice low and concerning. "I didn't think there would be so many babies in the nursery."

"Most of the fledglings aren't informed about the well-being of the babies," Solace said as she led them to a specific location. "Only those that reached a point of controlling their empathic power are allowed here."

Marvel didn't have to ask why all this secrecy, because the reasons were evident in front of their eyes. The specific crevice Solace led had twenty baby spiders, no bigger than a few inches long, sleeping in a formation that vastly resembled the Grand Dream formation. A formation whose main function was rewiring the mind.

And why do newborn baby spiders need rewiring when their minds were mostly empty? Shai wouldn't bet on their inherited power of empathy. At least not completely.

"An unprotected mind with undeveloped empathic power is the biggest danger our clan used to face," Solace explained, turning to Marvel. "As you can imagine how easy it is to be affected by another person's emotion. Even another individual's uncontrolled emotions—take Shai's negative emotions for example--would twist the minds of the babies within a few days of interaction. However, it was mere minutes, moments with the corruption.

"Even the Great Mother isn't powerful enough to block all influence of the Lord of the Feast."

"Solace, they will be alright, right?"

"They are in a better state," Solace said and she sounded so sorrowful. "A couple of weeks of nourishing sleep, and they could have to be sent to the next phase."

"I went through this too?" Marvel couldn't help but ask. As any other sapient being, her younger days were mostly forgotten. She might be able to recall them eventually when she had a higher grasp over her mental power, but clearly not now.

"Yes," Solace said. "Not just you. Midnight, Elegy, Serenity, every one of you after Silence's generation.

"It used to be a lot easier, you know. But all hell broke loose since your generation. We had plans. We thought we could resist for another decade, but it's all crumbling in two years."

"Solace, there must be a way. . . You know, the Great Mother won't just leave us like this."

"She did not." The Elder spider only expressed an empathic pulse of sympathy. "The only way is to evacuate, and that was what we decided."

Marvel practically shook on her spot as this was news for her. "Evacuate? Where do we go? This is our home?"

"The Mother has commanded us to evacuate into the gate when they open."

"But—"

"It is decided," Solace said. "Evacuation in three days, and you are going to help me prepare for it. It is how I decided to discipline. If you have complaints you can always try the Hell Chasm, who knows you might become the next Midnight, or rather Serenity."

"Serenity?" Marvel cocked her head up. "She was sent to Hell Chasm as well?"

"No, she just had a twisted idea of what is fun."

"Hell Chasm is fun?"

"It depends on perspective I guess," the elder spider explained. "Midnight was convicted to repent in the Hell Chasm for two weeks. At that time, Serenity followed around Midnight when she wasn't making any other mischief."

"She even followed Midnight into the Hell Chasm?" Marvel couldn't believe it.

I expect nothing less from the spider mama, Shai thought inwardly. However, she had a hard time imagining anything fun about the Hell Chasm. All her instinct told her it was a place she should avoid at all costs. . . But then there was that promise of power.

"It's not really that bad of a training ground for the guardians, considering they had to deal with corrupted creatures on a daily basis," Solace said.

Mythwalker · Aug 27, 2023

Solace led them to where Marvel was supposed to be helping. It was the second phase of treatment where she was to check on their behaviour and spot any signs of depravity in the babies.

Obviously, Marvel was unqualified for the job yet, I would assign her to someone qualified and shadow them to learn better. Sadly, her presence didn't seem to be welcome there.

"What is she doing here?" Elegy asked. Her response was curt, not radiating any empathic spark at all. And yet somehow she managed to sound condescending.

Marvel's eyes wavered, as she couldn't look up at her.

"Apologise now," Shai conveyed privately, though she was uncertain if it was private with two elder spiders in proximity. The stare the other spider gave her was the very evidence of that.

"Elegy. . ." Marvel's telepathic pulses wavered as she transferred. "I'm sorry. It was very selfish of me to sneak out without permission. I'll never do it again."

Elegy gave her a long look and turned to Solace. A tacit understanding was exchanged between the two spiders.

"Fine, consider yourself drafted," Elegy said. "But be aware this is not a place where you make a mistake. Lives are lost when you make a mistake."

"I'll do my best."

"Of course you will, or I'll send you back to the chasm again." Elegy turned her attention back to the spider babies playing inside the safe layers of webs. "Now come in and learn. Your part won't be difficult. You just need to observe their empathic pulses."

Marvel jumped to join Elegy, leaving Shai at the mercy of the elder arachnid.

"Now that's got out of the way," Solace said, latching Shai to herself. "What I am to do about you?"

"Sent me away out of the dungeon?" Shai said, sounding more hopeful than she imagined herself to be.

Solace expressed an expression of amusement. "That ship has sailed long ago, don't you think, Little Serpent?"

"What do you know about the ship?" Shai hissed as the elder spider brought her along with herself, not trusting her at all to follow up.

"Ship?" Solace stared at her, contemplating as understanding dawned on her. "A translating power. It even translates metaphor to your understanding. Fascinating."

Shai's spine chilled at hearing her. Perhaps she should stick to non-verbal terms if even a single comment from her gave the elder spider more idea about her special circumstances. Although spiders weren't the scholarly type, this one seemed to be in charge of all the inventions of their clan. Shai didn't want to be experimented on.

"Am I that scary?" Solace asked.

Shai didn't answer. "Where are you taking me?"

"Definitely not somewhere to experiment on you," the elder spider said with a crackled laugh. "Don't worry about that."

"I told you to stop reading my mind!" Shai exclaimed indignantly.

"My bad old habit doesn't go away easily." She didn't seem apologetic about it. "Moreover, you mentioned not to manipulate your mind, nothing about reading."

Shai hissed exasperatedly. Non-verbal terms were the only way for her to be not aggravated with this monster. She doesn't have Marvel's innocence at all.

"Goodbye, Shai," Marvel's voice echoed in her mind abruptly. "I'll see you later. Do not try anything funny with Solace. She's very understanding, but she is the Guardian of our Clan first."

With that, Marvel cut off the telepathic link between them, somehow making her feel alone and exposed. The presence of the elder spider was making her queasier.

"So, Shai," Solace continued as she carried her away, climbing down. "What do you think of this place?"

Shai wasn't so sure if she should reply, as spilling her beans always made it disadvantageous for her. In the end, she answered curtly, choosing every word carefully:

"Oddly improvised and advanced."

Shai had noticed four kinds of formations laid in the nursery and only the elder spider knew how many more were there. Shai barely understood the function of the three of the four she located. Apart from the Grand Dream, there were Gravity and weird force-field formations that seemed to block trespassers from entering the nursery. The fourth one seemed to have some aura-negating effect, but she wasn't sure.

"Why is it odd?" the spider asked.

"You don't see formations like those everywhere."

"True," Solace agreed. "For a hatchling of only a few weeks, you seem to know quite a lot about scripts."

"Barely anything," Shai answered truthfully. She was pretty sure the spider could judge if she was speaking the truth or not. Better to play it safe than accidentally spilling out about her special circumstances. It might be nothing special to her, but there was no need to take chances.

"Which is still surprising," Solace didn't let go of the topic. Even though her tone was elderly like a good grandma, Shai couldn't help but feel she was being interrogated. "Inherited knowledge, I suppose?"

"I barely know anything." If Shai wasn't a reptile, she would be sweating cold.

"Better than our babies," Solace said. "I swear none of them want to learn anything related to scripts. All they want is to play and hunt. But I suppose they have no other choice. Spellforging takes years to master, even for a genius."

Shai said nothing for a while, as the spider brought her out of the nursery. It wasn't the way they came, but deeper into the chasm somewhere.

"Where are you taking me?" Shai asked again, unable to stop the dread from wailing up.

Solace didn't answer and faltered on the path, her eyes darting everywhere. Giving her no answer, she changed direction and swung away, shooting a web for support. It didn't take long for Shai to figure out something was wrong. Some powerful creature was messing around nearby, enough to create ripples even hundreds of metres away.

Shai barely picked up the unrest in energy flow from a couple of hundred metres away, but Solace changed her direction two whole minutes ago. That was a couple of miles away easily.

It wasn't just one creature that was making the mess, but an entire pack of them, radiating high auras of copper and iron ranks, wrecking against a force-field that blocked their way into the founding. But more importantly, it was all spiders, gigantic arachnids over two metres tall with jagged appendages, their mandibles opening in high-pitched screeches.

Solace dropped behind them, her figure towering over even the tallest spider. Solace's body language changed completely. No more amusement could be seen in her aura, losing all pretence of the good grandma. A chilly coldness oozed out of her and assaulted them all.

"STOP!" She commanded.

They all stopped as if Solace's voice charmed them into compulsion.

"GO BACK," She commanded again. "This isn't your place."

One by one, the spiders crept away from there, scaling the wall. Their pace was rigid, but all of them heeded Solace's command. Shai finally came out of her transfixion to recognise these were the erratic male kinds of the spider clan.

After the departure of the male counterparts, Solace didn't just leave. Instead, she moved near the formation and started mending the damage they caused to the defensive formation.

"What would happen to those spiders?" Shai heard herself ask.

"What do you think?" Solace didn't stop her Spellforging as she answered. "They will slowly—"

"LOOK OUT!" Shai screamed, her [Danger Detection] blaring, picking up a dark mark approaching them out of nowhere.

Solace spun, her eyes finding another spider of a similar size immediately. It launched itself from above, prepared to go all the way. A burst of cosmic force surged through the elder spider as she sent the assailant hurtling through the air to crash into the other side of the wall.

It all happened so fast that Shai couldn't catch anything. However, the confrontation was merely beginning. A simple crash wouldn't kill the tenacious arachnid.

A familiar dark power oozed out from where the assailant's spider crashed. It rose again and came hurtling to them, malicious and corrupted cosmic energy permeating the air. Sadly, the corrupted spider was dealing with one of the scariest beings of the spider clan.

The assailant froze ten paces away, its appendages shooting rigidly, yet unable to move even a single inch.

Shai finally had a full view of their assailant. It was a spider alright, but nothing like the one she saw before. Other than eight long appendages sharp enough to dig a hole in a wall, it had a humanoid upper body. A face with multiple pairs of eyes, ashen skin, monstrous with sharp, jagged teeth. Its disjointed jaw opened in a bone-chilling growl, cold eyes staring venomously.

Solace's demeanour softened as she stared at the spider suspended in the air.

"BE CALM!" She commanded.

The spider with a humanoid upper body growled a few times but eventually calmed down.

"Mother," it spoke, its voice still growling. "Mother! Forgive! Forgive me! Mother!"

Solace stared at it with all her eight eyes, her demeanour solemn, sorrowful. The very air of her shifted to something greater, something powerful, irreproachable.

"I'm sorry, Child."

An invisible spike of annihilating mind wave shot off her and plunged into the cursed humanoid spider's mind, stirring it all around, yet it was unable to struggle, frozen in place.

"MOTHEEERR!"

It dropped dead, no visible signs of wounds could be seen on its body or soul. And as for his mind, it existed no more. Well, that was what happened when one died, however, its mind was ripped out of existence before it died.

The silence extended, even though it felt like no moment passed. The air shifted back to normal. Well, normal was pretty screwed in this dungeon.

"Every time I do it, it feels like I'm ripping a part of myself," Solace said, her demeanour returning, though not her usual self.

"What happens to the other spiders you let live?" Shai asked, sucking in a frigid breath. An experience like this wasn't something you come across every day. Whom she was kidding, she never came across something like this.

"They will go to their designated area outside our dwelling," Solace said monotonously. "Hopefully, they will hunt down a number of cursed creatures, making it easier for the guardians. And will eventually fall into the same fate as Grim here."

Solace crept near Grim, the dead half-humanoid spider. Cosmic energy surged out of her body and pulled the corpse into herself as it vanished in the naked eye.

This felt different from her [Loot], as if the elder spider stored the creature away somewhere. Inventory? Did she have access to them?

"Come on," Solace said, "the guardians are busy tending to others. I have to play their role for today."

With that, Solace flew away, taking Shai with her to hunt

Tail Devourer (Monster Evolution, LitRPG, Cultivation)

Recent threadmarks

Recent threadmarks

Mythwalker

Mythwalker

Mythwalker

Mythwalker

Mythwalker

epiccuttlefish

Epic Cuttlefish

Mythwalker

Mythwalker

Mythwalker

Mythwalker

Mythwalker

Mythwalker

Mythwalker

Mythwalker

Mythwalker

Mythwalker

Mythwalker

Recent threadmarks

Recent threadmarks