So I’M A Spider, So What — Part 3 of 8

Part 3 of 8

Yeah, that’s just how I lived.

Playing games was fun and all, but looking back on it, I don’t know why I went to all that trouble when I was under no obligation to do so. Between my pride in being among the top free-to-players and caving to the expectations of my peers, I think I was starting to push myself past my limits.

Me, worrying about other people’s expectations? What a joke!

I’m totally self-sufficient. Who cares what other people think?

At least, that’s what I’ve been telling myself… But since starting this new life, I’ve realized that I might have been giving in to that human impulse at least a little. So now that I’m living a life truly without responsibilities, I feel liberated at leaving everything else behind.

In the beginning, I was concerned that I might be unbearably bored with so little to do, but clearly I worried for nothing. I certainly have a lot of free time without the Internet or games, but it isn’t so bad.

Perhaps my standards for happiness are just lower than the norm. To be honest, as long as I get to live, that’s good enough for me. This present life, with guaranteed food and shelter, is enough to make me content.

So much so that I figure I could probably just spend the rest of my life right here like this.

Although I don’t know how long spider monsters live.

And while that sounds nice in theory, I know a time will probably come someday when I’ll have to leave this home.

Some unforeseen situation, a change in the environment, the arrival of enemies able to bust through my webs…

More people like the egg thief, or a really strong monster, or—something.

I don’t know when, but I’m certain the time will come eventually.

Everything changes, sooner or later.

So, I figure it’s probably best to prepare for whenever that time might come.

Yeah, I said all that, but this is way too soon! I’m not ready!

The reason for my panic? One of the entrances to my home is going up in smoke before my very eyes.

I had been just starting to doze off when the fire suddenly broke out.

Slowly, inevitably, the home that I made for myself is sinking into a sea of flames.

And this is how I discovered that my spider thread, which I had assumed to be near invincible, is extremely weak to fire.

But where did this fire even come from?

It doesn’t take long to find the answer—a human. There’s a man standing among the flames. Not the egg thief, of course. He’s holding a torch in one hand.

He must have used that to set my home ablaze.

Damn.

I can’t see too well through the flames, but I can spot several more people behind the man.

This fire is no accident. Obviously, they’re on a mission to destroy my webs.

Which would mean that they’re also aware of the spider monster inside—in other words, me.

If I stay here, I’ll either burn to death or get caught by the humans.

Fortunately, the fire hasn’t reached me yet, and if I flee through the emergency exit on the other side, I should be able to escape the people, too.

I take one last look around inside my dwelling.

Since my reincarnation, I’d spent most of my time here.

I worked so hard to make this home.

I’d made many discoveries here, too, and the results had brought joy, sorrow, and everything in between.

This place had kept me safe all this time.

In fact, I might’ve even become more attached to it than I was to my room in my previous life.

That’s how powerful the time I spent here has been.

I start running away from the fire.

The complicated nest of spider thread falls away as I easily cut through it.

The last web.

Once I pass through, I’ll never be able to come back here again.

Once I pass through, I won’t be safe anywhere.

Nonetheless, I push through without hesitation.

I feel an overwhelming urge to look back as I leave, but I resist.

All I can think about now is running away as far as I can.

And so, I’ve been driven out of my home for good.

As an aside, I should note that the adventurers who set fire to my home apparently discovered a large amount of my balls of thread and that egg that I’d left behind.

Luckily, the fire hadn’t reached that far, so they took all of it with them.

I’ve heard that clothing made with that thread fetches an insanely high price.

They say the king of some country or other bought some, and it became a topic of much discussion for a while.

As for the egg, apparently it stubbornly survived the whole ordeal and successfully hatched sometime later.

I didn’t learn any of this until much, much later.

And when I did, my first thought was: I’m so glad I didn’t break that thing open.

THE HATCHLING

Sue and I stared at the thing in shock.

In front of our eyes was one enormous egg.

It was about three feet tall.

I was pretty sure the biggest kind of egg in my former world was an ostrich’s, but this was clearly far larger than that.

That was because the thing inside was a monster.

Unlike in games, the monsters in this world don’t just randomly pop into existence out of thin air.

They reproduce like any other living creature. This egg had come from monster parents.

We were told it had been found in a place called the Great Elroe Labyrinth, and it was a gift to us in commemoration of our Appraisal Ceremony.

A monster egg seemed like a dangerous gift to me, but evidently, if humans raised it from the moment it hatched, a monster could become attached to and serve its human owners.

And this particular creature was about to hatch at any moment.

“You can do it!” Sue murmured encouragingly.

Ever since a few light cracks had appeared in the egg’s surface, the creature inside had been battering it desperately.

The first cracks showed up two days before, so it was proving to be a fairly drawn-out battle.

By now, the cracks had extended all over the surface of the egg.

It looked ready to burst open any moment now.

Sue and I held our breath as we watched the situation unfold.

I was tempted to help the poor thing out, but Anna advised us not to. The baby needed to break through on its own, or it wouldn’t grow up strong and healthy.

“Ah!”

One part of the shell cracked open, and something like a hand burst through.

The limb flailed about, tearing at the rest of the shell impatiently.

And then, from inside emerged a monster resembling a black lizard.

Its eyes met mine. Somehow, they appeared to be almost glittering with happiness.

“It’s so…not cute.”

Hearing Sue’s disappointed comment, the lizard’s mouth dropped open as if in shock.

Did it understand what she said? Of course not, right?

“You think so? I think it’s pretty charming in its own way.”

Back on Earth, there was a sizable gap between reptile fans and haters, but I definitely leaned toward the former.

I would’ve been all about this lizard when I was a young boy.

“Congratulations. So it is indeed a baby earth dragon,” Anna said as she examined the lizard.

As a half elf, she was older and more knowledgeable than her appearance suggested.

And according to her, this lizard was a baby earth dragon.

A dragon! Just the sound of its name was enough to get me excited.

Even adult earth dragons can’t fly, I’ve heard, but still… A dragon is a dragon.

This little guy was definitely gonna be super-strong someday.

I imagined myself riding on the back of a fully grown dragon. Now that’d be nice…

Apparently, a dragon that lived long enough and reached a high enough level would evolve into a naga. Could I raise this one to do that? Probably not.

“If you don’t want it, then I’d be happy to raise it myself. Do you mind?”

“Anything you desire is yours to have, dear brother.”

Man, what was I gonna do about this? I had the feeling that my sister was starting to head down a very weird path.

But it worked out to my advantage this time, so I decided to let it slide for now.

I held the lizard in my arms. It was very docile.

When I patted its head, it responded by nuzzling against me happily.

“I’ll have to give it a name, huh?”

“May I?”

Anna took the lizard from my arms for a moment.

Then she felt around its lower half. The little guy wriggled in protest, but Anna held it too tightly for it to escape.

“It’s female.”

With this confirmed, Anna handed the lizard back to me.

The creature had something of an inconsolable expression as I held it.

“A girl, huh? What kind of name should I give her?”

If it had been a boy, I obviously would’ve given it a really badass name, but a girl should probably have a pretty one.

A cute name probably wouldn’t suit a dragon.

“All right, I’ve got it.”

I ran through a few possibilities in my mind, then settled on the last one.

“I’m going to call you Feirune. Fei for short.”

This was the name of a big area in an online game I used to play in my previous life.

It was a desert area that seemed to go on forever. In the center was a dragon that served as the area boss, and if you beat it, you could get to an oasis.

That oasis was probably the most beautiful location in the whole game, the most sought-after site for screenshots. At night, especially, it looked like a paradise hidden in the middle of the wilderness.

Her black exterior reminded me of that nighttime scene, so it seemed like the perfect name for an earth dragon.

“Nice to meet you, Fei.”

When I called her by name, Fei responded with a happy little coo.

MY FIRST MONSTER BATTLE

Tromp, tromp. My legs are getting heavy.

Part of it is exhaustion from sprinting at full speed for so long, but my shock is the biggest factor.

I lost my beloved home.

Turning into a spider and having to eat nasty food hadn’t perturbed my steely heart one bit, but now there’s a little hole right in the center.

Ah… I knew a time might come when I would be forced to leave my house, but now that it’s a reality, I’m totally in shock.

I had assumed I still had more time, which only made things worse.

At the very least, I’d hoped to stay in that home until I became at least level 10.

Waaah…waaaah…waaaaaah!

All right, that’s enough whining. Time to move on.

First, I have to decide what to do next. There are several options:

1. Construct my next home in a different location.

2. Keep wandering aimlessly around this dungeon.

3. Try to find the dungeon exit.

That’s all that comes to mind.

From a safety perspective, option 1 is my favorite. However, I feel it may be wise to resist.

Having a home is wonderful.

On top of satisfying my needs for food and shelter, it gives me a life where I barely have to move at all. I would go so far as to say it’s an ideal paradise.

However, if I keep resting on my laurels, I’ll probably end up a totally hopeless basket case.

Both mentally and physically.

If the only hunting I do is from the safety of my own home, I’ll turn into a deadbeat with no ability to deal with any emergencies that might arise.

The current situation is proof enough of that.

At this rate, if I encounter any opponents who can break through my webbing, my only option is to run away.

That’s no good. Not if I’m going to get this depressed every time I have to leave my home behind.

More than anything, I feel the ashes of my demolished home smoldering inside me.

No way. I’m not going to let myself keep running away like this. That’s right: I’m frustrated.

I’m all broken up that my previous house was destroyed and I couldn’t do anything about it. It’s maddening that a part of me accepted fleeing as the natural course of action.

At the time, my only thought was to drop everything and run.

But what do I get now that I’ve actually done so?

Nothing but this horrible shame and regret!

How could I run away again?

There’s no way I’ll be able to live with myself.

I’m not just upset because my home was convenient. It was such an important place to me.

This might be clichéd, but it was a place where I belonged.

I didn’t have anywhere like that in my past life. My “family” was a joke, and I didn’t fit in at school. I liked playing games, but in the end, that was a world of fiction. I didn’t belong anywhere in reality. I existed anyway out of sheer defiance, or at least that’s what I told myself.

I created my spiderweb home by myself, for myself.

It was a place just for me, where I didn’t have to worry what anyone else thought. And now it’s been taken from me. It’s like my very self has been stolen away. If I surrender now, I’ll never recover my pride and dignity.

“Happy just being alive”?

Ha! That was just my idiotic, peace-loving Japanese self talking.

If I have to live without pride, I may as well be dead.

I realize that all too clearly now.

My home is gone. My pride has been injured.

I have to get stronger so that I’ll never disgrace myself like this again.

And if I want to do that, I can’t just hide away in a new home where I can hunt safely.

I have to build more experience through actual combat.

Which means I should either wander around the dungeon randomly or aim for the exit.

Although, to be honest, there isn’t a huge difference either way.

I have no idea where the exit might be. So really, aimless meandering is my only option.

I don’t know much about this dungeon to begin with. Even though I was born and raised here, I don’t even know its name.

I have no idea how big it is or how difficult. I don’t even know the general makeup of the terrain.

Basically, I’m clueless.

Hmm? I feel like this isn’t the first time I’ve worried about all the stuff I don’t know…

Ah! That’s right, this happened when I got the Appraisal skill, too! I totally forgot I had that.

I wasn’t able to level it up anymore in my home, but now that I’m out and about, I should be able to.

Since it might be a bit more useful if I raise its skill level, I decide to go on Appraising things.

Well, here goes nothing.

Useless as ever, I see.

Ah, but with each step I take, I get more Appraisal results, so my proficiency must be accumulating.

Oof, all that information flowing into my brain at once is kind of discomfiting.

I’ll have to suffer with it for a while until I get used to it, I guess…

And right away, my skill levels up.

It hasn’t even been that long since I started Appraising.

So it’s this easy to raise skill levels when you’re not holing up at home? I’m not sure how to feel about that.

Well, all’s well that ends with a rank-up.

Now, what new information will skill level 3 bring? I waste no time in analyzing myself.

Hey, it shows my level now. Yippee. Sigh… Well, gotta take what I can get, I suppose.

Seriously, though, how high does the level even have to be for this skill to actually be useful? Ugh.

Still, I have to wonder… How strong is my race, “small lesser taratect,” compared to the other monsters in this dungeon?

This idle thought leads to an unexpected response.

Wh…what?

Wait, did I just Appraise the species name in my results? Double Appraisal?

Ooh. Seems like I discovered a pretty important trick!

Well then, in the spirit of investigation, I decide to try Appraising one more time.

<Taratect: A spider-type monster species>

It works! Is this crazy or what?!

So when you Appraise something and get a word you don’t know in the result, you can Appraise that further.

Wow!

The explanations are still pretty short and scarce on information, but once I raise the skill level some more, this could be insanely useful!

I might be able to get a whole chain of info just from Appraising one thing.

Hot damn! Sorry for calling you useless, Mr. Appraisal!

I’ll definitely work hard to raise your skill level from now on!

I wander about the labyrinth, looking for monsters that could make suitable opponents.

Found one.

Farther down the passageway I’m hiding in, I see the outline of my sworn enemy: the frog.

Since I have the chance, I decide to Appraise more-detailed information about it.

Hmm? Wait just a second. There was a very important-sounding key phrase in that description.

This isn’t how I expected to find out my location.

So the dungeon I’m in is called the Great Elroe Labyrinth.

I’ve been wondering what “Elroe” could be, since it’s attached to monsters’ names so often, but I didn’t realize it was the name of the dungeon.

Wait, so this is the world’s largest labyrinth? It must be huge, then. And hold on, how could it connect two continents underground? Does that mean right above this dungeon is the ocean?

Yikes! For real? It must be freaking gigantic.

While I’m at it, I Appraise the names of the two continents.

<Daztrudia: A continent populated by many human nations>

<Kasanagara: The world’s largest continent>

Huh. If I’m going to escape, then, it sounds like I should avoid Daztrudia with its high human population, but I don’t exactly see myself having much of a choice there.

In any case, I’ve gotten so wrapped up in Appraising that I almost forgot about the frog.

Its back is turned toward me. So it hasn’t noticed me yet.

Maybe I should launch a surprise attack? …Too late, now it’s spotted me. Dammit!

Hissss!

Maybe I can intimidate it.

Splut!

Huh?!

Hey, what’s the big idea?! You’re not supposed to just spit at me right off the bat!

I mean, that almost hit me!

Splut! Splut! Splut!

Don’t spit a bunch of times in a rowww!

Hey, wait, huh?! I thought I dodged all of ’em! Owww!

Thanks to Poison Resistance, it isn’t nearly as bad as that first time, but it still hurts! Knock it off!

I didn’t expect these things to be so damn bouncy when they’re not wrapped up in my web!

Splut! Splut! Splut!

Cut it out already! Blech! It got me again!

Crap, at this rate I’m gonna get my ass handed to me!

All right! I have no choice but to bust out my special attack!

Splut! Splut! Splut!

I’m not gonna keep falling for the same attack over and over, buddy! It’s obvious by now that you can only fire three of those at a time! Don’t underestimate the observation and evasive abilities of the gamer they once called Skanda! I’m gonna evade your spit attacks!

I lunge at the frog with my claws at the ready!

Crap, it dodged like I figured it would—wait, it just jumped! It’s trying to hit me with its tongue!

Smack! Owww!

There must’ve been acid on that tongue, too—the spot where it touched me is burning!

Ohhh, geez. This is a serious injury.

If I have an HP gauge, I’m probably getting into the red by now.

One more hit, and I’ll be in serious trouble.

Luckily, that isn’t going to happen. The winner has already been decided.

Because my thread was waiting where the frog was about to land.

The trick is simple.

I just laid my silk along the dungeon floor as I dodged the spit attacks.

I seem to have a habit of unconsciously leaving it on the ground as I move anyway.

So this time, I used that to my advantage.

All I did was add some stickiness to the thread trail behind me.

Then, I just had to lure the frog over to that area.

I did so by carefully controlling the speed and angle of my claw attack to send it leaping in the right direction.

I wasn’t expecting it to counterattack in midair, but…

…as soon as it lands, the frog gets caught in my thread.

Doggedly, I jump in to wind more threads around it.

Then I finish it off with my poison bite!

Within moments of receiving my venom, the frog draws its last breath.

Another skill level went up.

That should make my next frog battle a little easier.

Honestly, if I didn’t already have the Acid Resistance skill, the damage I took might’ve been too much for me to survive.

Yeesh, that was close. My body is in a sorry state now.

Two spit attacks and one smack from that tongue were enough to put me on the verge of death.

The tongue attack was especially bad. The area where it touched me is concave now, and the impact busted several of my legs.

I wasn’t even underprepared this time.

I had kind of figured that if a spider fought another monster head-on without a web, the chances of the spider winning would probably be pretty low.

Still, I think somewhere in the back of my mind was the naive confidence that it would work out somehow or other.

To be honest, it was a lot harder than I thought.

My first real battle was a decidedly narrow victory.

Anyway, with this major injury, I can’t move very well anymore.

I have to make a simple home here and focus on nursing my wounds for now.

The “simple home” is really just a basic little nest.

I leave the dead frog alone for later and start spinning a web.

Ugh. Every time I move, a wave of severe pain streaks through my body.

Oh? A new skill? Sure enough, the pain has subsided a little.

It still really freaking hurts, though.

But either way, this is definitely a good skill to have.

As long as I keep surviving, the skill level will probably go up naturally, so that will be a big help.

Whew. Finally, my temporary home is finished. Now I can catch my breath.

If another monster attacks me right now, I’ll be toast.

Oh well. Since I worked so hard to bring this prey down, I might as well eat it.

Yep. Experiencing my first real battle made me realize it all over again.

I’m soooooo weak!

I don’t think it’s just me; I get the feeling that small lesser taratects aren’t that powerful as a species overall.

Well, I guess it is a “lesser” species, after all. It stands to reason that I’d have low attack power and brittle defense. My speed seems decent, at least, but it still wasn’t enough to dodge that spit attack barrage the first few times.

So stats-wise, I can’t even outpace a frog.

The only reason I’ve been able to beat monsters without a problem so far is that I had the advantage of my spiderweb traps. Obviously, fighting head-on is not my forte. Now I really understand how much I’ve been depending on my home.

Anyway, this has made one thing clear: I’m not cut out for direct confrontations.

In a face-to-face fight, I’d go so far as to say that everything comes down to whether I can restrain my opponent with my threads or not. In theory, I could just give them a poison bite, but with my lousy stats, I’d probably get smacked down before I could even reach them.

So I’ll have to use my speed to confuse my opponent and then create an opening or set a trap like I did this time to catch it in my silk threads.

Seems like this is gonna be my go-to strategy. Unless I build a trap in advance and lead them to it?

In that case, frogs might be a troublesome opponent for me.

After all, they seemed to favor a “fixed turret” strategy where they stay in one place and attack from a distance.

They don’t move without a reason, so they won’t be likely to jump into my trap on their own.

Sigh.

So many challenges. Now I know my weak points—or rather, I’ve realized that I have nothing but weak points.

But I can’t just give up.

If all I want to do is keep surviving, I could just make a new home.

But that isn’t good enough.

Since I’ve decided I want to live with pride, I can’t depend on that cop-out strategy.

For now, though, I need to rest.

How long is this injury going to take to heal? In fact, will it even heal on its own at all?

Well, whatever. Today has been exhausting. I’m well overdue for some sleep to hopefully recover a bit.

So, on that note, good night.

Zzz. Hmm? Oh man, it feels like I fainted.

In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what happened.

Ugh, my body still hurts. I guess a wound that bad isn’t gonna heal in one night.

Yawn… Ow, ow! When I try going through my usual stretching routine, sharp pain runs through my broken legs.

Oof, my two middle right legs are in particularly bad shape. It feels like they might tear right off if I’m not careful.

I’m getting really worried about whether this is going to heal after all.

Boing, boing. Hmm?

One of the threads of my web is vibrating. There’s a monster caught in my little nest!

Usually I would wake up the instant I felt something catch, but it seems like it’s been going on for a while. I must have been sleeping more heavily than I thought.

That’s probably due to all the damage I’ve taken, too.

Aw, man. Those petrifying lizards are tough. Guess I caught another pain in the butt.

What should I do now?

Since basilisks have that petrifying gaze, my web trap won’t save me from turning to stone with a little eye contact. In my current injured state, taking a hit from a petrification attack seems ill-advised.

But I don’t want to pass up on captured prey, either…

Zwoop.

Oh crap, our eyes met.

Nngah! The ends of my feet got petrified! Ugh, fine then! Clearly I have no choice.

Chomp!

Thanks to my Petrification Resistance, I’m turning to stone very slowly.

However, losing mobility in my front legs is gonna be a big problem. It could get really hard to walk if I’m not careful.

Please let this thing die before my leggy bits get frozen!

Apparently somebody heard my plea, because the basilisk runs out of energy when my legs are about halfway petrified.

Mm-hmm, looks like I can still walk, albeit clumsily.

Oh? Whoa! What godly timing!

Okay, okay. The fact that two of my skills leveled up is pretty sweet.

But that isn’t even the best part!

My carapace falls away from my body. I’m molting.

Yes, it’s one of the benefits of leveling up: full recovery via molting!

I wasn’t sure whether the giant dent in my body would heal, but it’s been restored perfectly.

Yahoo! Thanks a lot, basilisk! Also, I’m gonna eat you now!

So, without even trying, I’ve succeeded in fully healing my wounds.

Now I’m ready for another go at exploring the labyrinth!

SKILLS

My eyes were glued to the book in front of me.

“What do you think? Impressive, is it not?”

Katia, the duke’s daughter who used to be Kanata, grinned at me smugly.

Since the day of the Appraisal Ceremony, she had started coming to visit me often.

At first I called her Kanata, but that felt unnatural for both of us, so she told me to use her current name instead. Karnatia, or Katia for short.

But Katia still called me Shun.

Since my current name was Schlain, Shun didn’t sound too unusual as a nickname, so Katia insisted on doing it.

Personally, I didn’t mind, but it was annoying that other people assumed things about our relationship, since we called each other by nicknames.

We really were close, of course, but Katia was a girl now.

Because of that, some people got the wrong idea.

Leading the way on that front was my sister, Sue.

Whenever Katia came over to hang out, Sue would seethe and glower at us for a while, then stubbornly take up a position between us.

Every time this happened, Katia could barely suppress her snickering.

I know I aimed to be an ideal brother and all, but how did it end up like this…?

Recently, I had the feeling that she was even envious of Fei.

Getting jealous over your own brother is bad enough, but even over a pet? Really?

At that moment, Fei was sitting in my lap, gazing with great interest at the book I was holding.

She was so clever that I sometimes found myself wondering if she understood the language here.

But of course, I had no way of knowing whether that was the case, and even if it was, I seriously doubted she’d be able to read on top of that.

“It’s a skill encyclopedia belonging to the house of the duke, you see. This one has much more information than the ones you’d find on the streets.”

The book contained detailed explanations of currently known skills.

It covered their effects, of course, but it also included the conditions required to learn and improve each one.

It was like a strategy guide.

Incidentally, Katia’s manner of speaking in the native language here was very different from her Japanese.

Compared to her manly inflection in Japanese, she’d been brought up to speak the country’s language in a register befitting an aristocratic young lady.

Since I knew who she’d been in her former life, the contrast threw me off at first, but I was used to it by now.

We only spoke in Japanese when we were alone, after all, and Sue was usually around whenever we hung out, so I encountered the ladylike side more often, anyway.

“Yeah, this is amazing. Couldn’t you get as many skills as you want with this?”

“I’m afraid not. Your time is limited, after all. I believe it would be more prudent to choose which skills are of the highest priority and spend time on them accordingly.”

I flipped through the pages eagerly.

Some skills I already knew, while others I didn’t.

When I saw unfamiliar abilities with impressive-sounding effects, I couldn’t help but stop and read more about them.

“You and Sue already have all the basic status skills, do you not? In that case, you ought to improve those as soon as possible.”

Basic status skills were just the ones that increased your stats, like life, magic, strength, and so on.

“Those evolve at skill level ten, you know. The effect becomes much larger, and each time you level up from then on, your stats will increase by a significantly higher amount. We won’t be fighting any monsters for a while yet, so we’re still level one. If we acquire those skills now, it’ll pay off in incredible stat bonuses when we level up.”

We were all still level 1.

You could only level up by killing living things, monsters or otherwise.

We didn’t even have permission to go outside, never mind fight monsters, so we had yet to level up at all.

Still, our stats gradually increased as we grew and trained.

However, the changes weren’t nearly as dramatic as they probably would be with a level-up.

“Ideally, I’d prefer to evolve the skills twice before leveling up, but that’s almost certainly too much to hope for.”

There were various benefits to a skill reaching level 10: The skill might evolve, or you might gain other subskills. But the higher the skill level, the more proficiency was required to raise it further, so getting a skill to level 10 was pretty tough.

“If you evolve the skills as far as Fortitude, Stronghold, Skanda, and such, the way your stats go up will alter as well. Reaching that point is ideal. But at the very least, we ought to reach the preliminary stages of those skills.”

“Makes sense. I’m surprised there aren’t any skills that improve your ability to earn EXP or proficiency, though.”

In RPGs, you could sometimes find super-rare items and such that did that, but I guess not so much with skills.

“Indeed. But did you notice anything else unusual?”

“Yeah.”

Having looked through all the skills in the encyclopedia, I knew what Katia was getting at.

Sue had been peering over my shoulder at the book, too, but she didn’t seem to have noticed.

She appeared perplexed, not to mention irritated that Katia and I understood each other.

“There aren’t any item-production skills.”

“Yeah, if anything, they all seem to be specifically for combat.”

Yes, while there were enough skills to fill an entire book, not a single one of them was for production or any other noncombat usage.

There were a handful that seemed potentially useful for production, but all of these were only secondary effects of combat skills.

With such a huge number of skills, it was bizarre that they were all so heavily biased toward one purpose.

Katia and I probably only noticed this because we used to play games back in Japan.

The people of this world probably just assumed that was what skills were for.

“It’s like this whole world is based around combat.” My own muttered observation scared me a little.

A world where you can’t level up without killing things.

Skills that all revolve around battle.

Really, it was as if this world was encouraging its inhabitants to fight.

“Not many people know about this yet, but I’ve heard the Demon Lord’s army is rapidly expanding its ranks and armaments.”

“Then that means…”

“We may be called upon to battle someday. So until then, we should try to become as strong as we can.”

The only response I could muster to Katia’s grave words was a silent nod.

Fei was shifting uneasily in my lap, so I patted her head to reassure her.

BONUS STAGE?

My wounds from that frog healed up nicely when I leveled up, so my exploration has resumed.

Before long, I find my first prey of the day. Now, this is a monster I’ve never seen before.

It has tons of legs, like a centipede.

Well, might as well Appraise it first.

Hmm? Failed? Aw, man, it doesn’t show the level.

So Appraisal can fail, then. I didn’t know that.

Not like it makes much of a difference at the moment, anyway.

The frog I fought earlier noticed me, but this centipede hasn’t.

This is my chance for a real surprise attack!

Speedily yet stealthily, I sneak up behind my opponent.

Swish, swish, swish… Hello there, time to die!

My ambush is perfectly successful.

In fact, my victory is so complete that it’s almost anticlimactic.

I completely bind the creature with my thread. Then, I drive my venomous fangs into it to finish the job.

The centipede looks unappetizing, and sure enough, eating it is totally gross.

On top of that, it must have a weird poison or something, because I feel kinda sick after eating it.

My body has gone weirdly stiff.

Man, since being reincarnated as a spider, I haven’t eaten a single meal that could be considered tasty by any stretch of the imagination.

I know it’s a luxury, but I really want to eat delicious food again.

Ahh… I wonder if there’s any cup ramen lying around somewhere…

Probably not, huh. Giving up on that, I continue my exploration.

Oh, my Appraisal skill finally leveled up.

Recently, I’ve stopped feeling quite so sick from Appraising a bunch of things at once, so that’s nice.

Now, what new info will I get this time?

Huh? It didn’t change at all?

Wait, no. Underneath my species name are a few colored lines.

From the top, they’re green, blue, yellow, and red, with the latter two stuck to each other like a single thick line.

What’s this?

When I Appraise the bars, I discover that the first two lines are the hit points that represent my life force and the points representing my magical power, respectively.

I still don’t really understand what the “SP” bar is, though.

Appraising it again, I learn that it’s Stamina Points.

Maybe it’s a physical analogue to magical power that decreases as I move or something?

Hmm? But why are there two gauges?

The yellow bar on top is full, while the bottom red gauge is reduced by about a third.

What’s the difference between these two? I don’t get it.

But it’ll be good to keep an eye on my HP, so if possible, I want to Appraise myself continuously.

I try to do so. Hmm, maybe it’s kind of like this?

Okay. I think it’s actually working.

Now, as long as I don’t deliberately cancel the Appraisal, I’ll be able to check my HP at any time. That’s pretty damn convenient.

Then again, seeing your own health is handy and all, but wouldn’t being able to know an opponent’s HP, MP, and stuff be even better?

If I know how much HP an opponent has left, I can guess how much longer it’ll take to beat them, and if I know when they’re about to run out of MP, victory would be as good as mine.

Having even a part of the enemy’s information would be a huge advantage in a fight.

Does this mean this skill has finally become cheat-code-level useful?

Heh-heh-heh. I knew it! This is why I acquired the seemingly useless Appraisal skill!

It’s certainly not like I had no clue any of this would happen!

Yeah, let’s go with that!

Okay, anyway, back to exploring. Oh, hey, another monster.

I take it all back. This stupid skill is useless. Why fail me when it matters most…?

Sigh. I’m an idiot for getting my hopes up.

At any rate, I should probably do something about the centipede monster I found.

Hmm. But this time, I don’t seem to be in a good position for a surprise attack…

It seems like it hasn’t spotted me yet, but it’s facing this way.

Oh, I just had a great idea!

Sneakily, I start climbing on the wall. Having a spider body is super-convenient at times like this. I keep moving until I reach the top.

Oof, clinging to the ceiling upside down is a little rough. But as long as I brace my legs, it isn’t too bad.

Just like that, I continue scuttling along the roof. Hang in there, legs!

Hmm? My stamina gauge is decreasing?

Well, I have to focus on my strategy at the moment, since I’ve just arrived over the centipede.

Nice, nice. It hasn’t noticed that I’m right above it.

I attach a thread to the ceiling, then descend straight down toward my prey.

Then I leap on top of it.

The centipede monster flies into a panic, but it’s too late.

Hope you like getting wrapped up in thread! And, chomp! Bwa-ha-ha!

Operation “Whoa! Look out above!” was a huge success!

All right, time for another hard-earned meal.

Hmm.

As I eat, I think back to the stamina gauge situation from a second ago.

While I was holding on to the ceiling, it was the yellow upper gauge that decreased.

It had gone down very slowly as I braced my legs.

But now it’s fully recovered. Hmm?

Whoa! So the centipede could cause paralysis?

If I hadn’t defeated this guy with a surprise attack, that could’ve turned out way worse!

I better be more careful with them from now on.

Hmm? Hmmm?

The red lower stamina gauge seems to be recovering little by little…

It was about a third empty before, but now it’s going back up.

Why? Did I do something that would make my stamina recover?

…Oh yeah: I’m eating. Aha! So that’s it! Now I get it.

In other words, the red gauge displays my total stored physical energy.

So maybe the yellow upper gauge is stamina that I use moment to moment, then?

To test it out, I try dashing around at full speed for a bit.

The yellow gauge empties in the blink of an eye. As soon as it runs out, my strength is exhausted.

Huff…huff…

Geez, how stupid was that, running around right after eating? My stomach hurts. Oof.

But that proved it.

The yellow bar displays immediately available power. When that drops to zero, I get short of breath.

But since that stamina is consumed instantaneously, it recovers quickly, too.

By the time I catch my breath in reality, the stamina gauge has steadily recovered.

The red gauge below that represents my total physical strength. This one also went down a bit when I ran a moment ago.

If the red bar runs out, I’m probably in trouble.

Like, I might not be able to move anymore or something. I’d rather avoid that scenario, thank you very much.

Food and nourishment seem to restore it, so I just have to be mindful of how much I have left.

Swish, swish, swish… Fwump! Spin, spin, spin. Chomp!

Thanks for the meal.

Hey, I leveled up again.

Too bad none of my skills went up this time, but that’s all right.

Oh, more prey.

Swish, swish, swish…

Fwump! Spin, spin, spin. Chomp!

Thanks for the meal.

Hmm? Wait, was there something new in the latest announcement? I think the Divine Voice (temp.) said something just now.

Huh? Skill? Stealth? Does that make it harder for enemies to notice me?

Oh hey, more food.

Swish, swish, swish… Fwump! Spin, spin, spin. Chomp!

Thanks for the meal.

Hmm? I heard something again. A title? Come to think of it, this was the first time I’ve gotten any titles since Kin Eater and Foul Feeder.

Assassin, huh? It feels like I’m becoming more ninja-like by the minute.

Whoopsie, dinnertime.

Swish, swish, swish… Fwump! Spin, spin, spin. Chomp!

Thanks for the meal.

Ooh? I heard something again.

Monster Slayer? Well, yeah, I’ve been doing nothing but laying monsters low the whole time I’ve been in this dungeon. A little late for a title like that, no?

Maybe it’s that sort of system? The type where you get a title for killing a certain number of monsters?

Hmm.

Wha—?! Yet another victim!

Swish, swish, swish… Fwump! Spin, spin, spin. Chomp!

Thanks for the meal.

Again? This sure is a busy day.

Wait, what do you mean, overeating? What kind of a skill name is that?

Does it have a negative effect or something?

……Okay, wait just a minute.

I’ve been ignoring it all up until now, but doesn’t it seem like that voice has been doing its thing a lot today?

Yeah, that thing always does its thing ’cause it does the thing to the thing.

Okay. I should probably calm down for a second.

I’ve leveled up.

Cool. It was bound to happen sooner or later, with all the hunting I’ve been doing.

I got a Stealth skill.

That’s fine, too. I’m not sure how useful it’ll be, but it sure beats nothing, and I’ll take whatever I can get.

I received a title.

Isn’t that strange? No, getting a title is a good thing, right? Decent, at least?

But two came in a row, right? What were they?

Uh, let’s see…

Assassin and Monster Slayer. They both sound awfully violent. Well, that isn’t any different from any of the titles I already have, huh? A little late to gripe about that now.

So, Assassin sounds like a ninja, right?

Same for the skills that come with it, Stealth and Shadow Magic.

Shadow Magic… Does that mean I can go in and out of shadows and stuff?

There ought to be some spells to help me hide in the shadows and assassinate things, at least.

But either way, I don’t know how to use it. I told you, I don’t know how this magic system works!

Ugh, can I get a manual already?

I don’t know what Monster Slayer is supposed to be about, either.

What now? Strength and Solidity? Those are such vague skill names that I have no idea what they do, either.

Hmm? Thinking about it logically, maybe they enhance my stats like attack and defense power or something?

Either that, or they’re supplementary skills that temporarily raise stats for a fixed period of time.

The former would be fine, but if it’s the latter, I have no idea how to use it. I try just thinking the skill names like I do with Appraisal, but nothing seems to happen. I guess my only option is to leave well enough alone, then.

So what was that last part? Overeating?

Seriously, is that a negative skill?

Who says something like that to a girl, anyway? You wanna pick a fight with me, Divine Voice (temp.)?

Are you calling me fat?! I’m not! Absolutely not! I just get a little chubby right after eating sometimes, that’s all! It goes right back to normal after a good night’s sleep! Feast your eyes on these legs, would ya?! They’re so slender, they might break at any moment! Human beings only wish they could have stick legs like these! And yet you dare to call me fat?! Aside from right after a meal, I’m super-skinny, thank you very much!

Huff…huff…

…Well, that was pointless.

Nobody really called me fat in my previous life, anyway, so I might’ve overreacted a bit.

If anything, they made fun of me for being skin and bones…

But anyway, today is actually a big day for breakthroughs, huh?

I haven’t gotten this many skills and bonuses at once before. Maybe I could keep on raking them in like this.

What, is that too optimistic? Yeaaaah, probably.

My labyrinth exploration is going smoothly.

In fact, I’m on the verge of bursting into laughter.

This seems to be centipede territory, considering they’re everywhere.

These guys are great for grinding EXP. Their senses must be awfully dull or something, because they never pick up on my surprise attacks. As long as I come at them from behind or above, my victory is practically guaranteed. Thanks to that, I’m beating them effortlessly.

Since I’ve been eating so many centipedes, my Paralysis Resistance skill is already level 3.

I also improved the efficiency of my hunting with various experiments and developed something I call a mobile web. All that means is that I carry around a small spiderweb. But if I prepare one before getting into a fight, I can wrap up my prey without having to make thread in the middle of battle, so it’s pretty handy.

I tried other things, too, like making clothes or detecting enemies with my silk, but those all ended in failure.

I can’t wear clothes to begin with, and while it isn’t impossible to use thread to sense enemies, it takes so much concentration that I wind up getting distracted and missing what’s happening right in front of me, so I ended up scrapping the idea.

Since I have such a large food supply in the form of centipedes, I could afford to do my fruitless experiments.

Today, as usual, I’m hard at work hunting. Hoo, boy. Is this centipede heaven or what?

I hum a nasally little tune as I explore. Well, really I’m just imagining music in my head; I can’t actually hum. In fact, do I even have a nose? Well, no use worrying about that.

Oh? The path is broken? Doesn’t look impassable, though.

This labyrinth isn’t just huge; it also doesn’t have any dead ends as far as I can tell.

The path I’ve been following for a while now just keeps on going, without any blockage.

This is good, since it means I probably can’t get cornered if something is chasing me, but when I consider that all the passages in this maze might go on this long, I feel like heaving a hopeless sigh.

The break in the path ahead of me is due to some kind of cliff.

In the middle of the interrupted road, I can see a wide, empty space.

Part 3 of 8

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