“[Host, current biomass level are dropping below recommended settings. Energy banks below stable settings. Please seek escape.]”

Main core of course was as helpful as always, Alexa of course knew her situation was dire, she wasn’t able to regenerate her wounds as well as she had done at the start. The problem was that the [Rats] kept coming as she killed them, and worst of all. They started dragging the bodies away as she dealt with them.

“I can’t….eat….if…they….run….away!” Alexa answered between chitters. Her mouth was having some trouble vocalizing what she wanted since she needed to bite down on the meat she had in her mouth, or they would take that away from her, too!

She was hungry!

Couldn’t they take that into consideration?!? She only wanted a mango-flavored rat! Was that much to ask?!?

“RAWR!” And what the hell was the deal with those chitters?!?!? They weren’t like hers at all! Why?!?!?

Either way, she was in a conundrum, she could of course funnel some biomass from her [Banked Biomass], but that one was purely biomass, it didn’t have energy or sugar. She hadn’t seen any reason to stockpile that. And that was biting her back.

“[Warning: Detected new threat.]” Main Core suddenly blared the alarm into her mind.

“What….where…Threat?” Alexa asked as she peeled her eyes open and looked around, she didn’t notice anything. The [Giant Mutant Rats] didn’t seem to change and instead jumped at her like always, so Alexa prepared to claw at it.

Only for the rat and her attack to be stopped midway, “What….is….this…?” Alexa said as she tried to pull at her arm and yet it didn’t move at all, she tried to pull her arm back using her other arm. And yet…that also didn’t move.

“[Detected thin threads, material seems to be silk. Detected Mana coated in the threads. Currently, the threads are increasing in diameter, threads' durability increasing in real time. Advised to retreat.]”

WELL, WHAT GOOD PLAN THAT IS. BUT HOW TO ESCAPE IF WE CAN’T MOVEEEEEEE

“What do we have here….One…two…three….and a new pile of meat at the back huh…” And a voice started sounding in the sewers as the other rats suddenly tried to run away only for their movements to be stopped, the threads started enveloping them too, turning into cocoons.

Would that happen to Alexa too?

“And then we have you…what are you? You don’t look like a rat…well, you do. But you seem closer to a Human?” The voice spoke to her and soon she saw the first evidence of this new entity.

A….leg, or to be more precise what looked like the leg of an insect. Almost as tall as her [Child Stage] form but it was closer to what her legs in her [CRAB] form looked like, only instead of covered in metal, this one was covered in obsidian black chitin with some feelers on them.

Soon enough she saw the rest of the body, it was almost as tall as her [Teenager stage] form, only the body had eight insect legs that connected to a bulbous body almost as big as her [Child Stage] form, only instead of a single body. The body was connected to another segment that was almost as twice as big as the first one.

At the front she could see a face with eight eyes and a pair of fangs that seemed to drop a green liquid, its mouth seemed to hide some teeth within. But that wasn’t the end of it, no. Not by a long shot.

Atop the small bulbous body was…A [Human], a man sprouted from the back of this entity.

“What has walked into this spider’s net? Are you even still Human there? What kind of Core could have made you end up like that?” The [Man] spoke, Alexa was too busy taking all into her mind.

The [Human Male] sprouted from the back of the [Entity], of the [Spider] as he claimed to be. He was missing the lower half of his body, his [Human] body started from the waist up. He was not wearing a [Shirt] and instead was wearing a [Lab Coat] like the ones the people used at her previous [Den].

He seemed to have sewn some pockets on the interior of the dirty lab coat, she could see some gadgets here and there from there, and he seemed to have ripped the [Sleeves], so really. This [Lab Coat] was closer to a way to transport things than clothing.

Not like this [Human] needed to cover himself…

“Gorgeous….” It was….quite the look if Alexa was, to be honest, she half wanted to cover her eyes since it seemed like something she shouldn’t look at, and wanted to look.

“Well thank you. Wish I could say the same…but since you aren’t reversing into a Human from my threads…I assume there isn’t anything human there besides some words…Well, I can at least give you peace…not that you will survive long down here if you had trouble with the rats…” The [Human] spoke in a sad tone. Why was he sad?

No wait, peace? Alexa felt the threads start increasing their weight, they seemed to want to grow and encase her?

Why?

No, more importantly…hadn’t he asked if she was even human? And then that his threads could turn off transformations?

“[Threads seems to be injecting foreign mana trying to equalize and normalize Mana across the body. Foreign mana was siphoned away and used to refill part of energy reserves.]”

Oh…He wanted for her to look normal? That was easy!

“Tei!” So Alexa declared!

And in turn, her body shifted, turning smaller and allowing her to escape from the constriction of the threads!

“Alexa has come!” Alexa said as she always did when returning to her base form, while covering her eyes of course (And allowing her fingers to give way so she could still see the Man).

“....Well…that is new…How did you manage to do that little girl?” The [Handsome Human] smiled at her!

She needed to answer!

How does one answer a [Handsome Human]? She needed an adult!

“[Main Core]! Help!” Alexa said aloud while flapping her arms around.

Sure enough, she felt herself shift as her body changed and she had enough understanding to push some buttons on her belt to allow her clothing to shift with her in size.

“....” Her [Teenager Stage] form manifested turning to look at the [Male], she looked at the man’s chest and abs. Then up and down.

Alexa blushed quite furiously and with a mental prompt she started the shift again.

“....what?” The [Spider] asked as he saw the little girl turn into a teenager and then into a young woman.

“Sorry about that….My other forms weren’t quite sure how to deal with…your appearance.” Alexa [Young Woman Stage] said as she extended the transformation of her shorts into gray pants. They were made from the biomass she had managed to stockpile. She…wasn’t quite in the mood to show much of her skin.

Not at the moment while she stank of sewers and rat meat.

“Oh…yeah…that wasn’t quite the image a child should see….” The [Spider] spoke in a light tone, then turned to look at her again. “...What age are you?”

“It’s rude to ask a woman her age. My powers affect my mental state, but right now I’m 19.” Alexa answered back with a huff. She was having some problems keeping her eyes on the [Man], since he was showcasing the goods… “Can you cover yourself? I don’t mind the show but…it’s distracting.”

“Oh right, sorry…” The [Spider] answered summoning some of his silk and making himself a white shirt. So that was how he kept the [Lab Coat] somewhat clean huh? “Quite the interesting power, usually most shifters can’t keep their form under my Threads.”

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Right, he had said that hadn’t he?

“Well. I’m not like other people, care to point me in the right direction? I was going for…”Alexa said as she checked the logs from [Main Core]. “ West side park entry? The manhole entry anyway.”

The [Spider] turned to look at her again, Alexa couldn’t help but fidget as his red eyes seemed to evaluate everything about her. It was quite interesting how this man had red eyes on his human side but black ones on his spider side. Alexa had noted how his spider eyes seemed to look from side to side while his human ones focused on her. Did he have more range of vision?

Also if he could make clothes why was he showing his perfect abs for everyone to see? Did he need to showcase those muscle arms? And why was his hair so silky?

Did he need such a sharp chin? Was Alexa overthinking his appearance?

“I hadn’t noticed before with all the gore and all, but did you get involved in a fight between Core Users?” The [Spider]’s voice turned somewhat cold at that, Alexa noticed how his lower fangs seemed to start dropping once more the green liquid.

“Yeah…My lower half got crushed while running away from a fight between some [Heroes], I got better but my power needs [Biomass] and [Energy] had the first, not so much the second. All I got from my effort was this but I haven’t gotten around to checking what it is…And I dropped my cell phone on the way…” Alexa said as she pulled one of the packets of silver foil that she had gotten from the speedster.

“...That is MRE…Speedster MRE, that should give you enough kilocalories to do pretty much anything you need. If your power works like mine when restoring body parts then you could probably fuel it only with a couple of those…not that you need it…Since you have legs…again.” The [Spider] said as Alexa pulled the foil apart and smelled the package.

It…didn’t smell good, but if it was loaded with [Calories] then it could serve as a supplement for her dwindling energy stockpile so might as well.

*nom*

“It tastes awful,” Alexa said as the taste settled on her tongue. It was truly one of the worst things she had eaten so far, and she would probably kill her taste sense while eating it in the future.

“[Detected high intake of calories….stockpiling….new energy work limit extended to a week.]”

……….ONE EXTRA WEEK? FROM A SINGLE BAR??!?!?!?!?!?

“They taste awful, but they get the job don-” The [Spider] was saying while Alexa was reading the information.

But she didn’t pay any extra attention to that and ripped open all the packages she had and shoved them down her throat. A week per package? She could have at least….two months at this form! And this was the energy-intensive one! If she transformed this to her [Child Stage] she could probably survive on this alone for the rest of the year!

“....And you ate them all…Girl, I hope you need that much energy because if not you are getting diabetes.” The [Spider] spoke with some mirth in his tone. “Anyway…The West Park exit…it would be about 400 meters in that direction, then you turn to your right walk another 200 meters, turn left….”

The instructions went on for a few minutes as she was told minutia and some things to beware of, the [Spider] seemed to be getting her on some weird route that the map she had been given seemed to ignore. Both routes would ultimately end at the same point. But this one seemed to not go on the bigger tunnels, it also seemed to skip some big circular rooms.

“Why all the loops and turns?” Alexa asked as she recounted the whole route back at [The Spider].

“Well, can’t have a pretty face like you wrestle with the sewer problems. Whoever sent you to that park exit probably hasn’t traveled around here in some time. But the fauna here has changed in recent months. I am trying to keep it secure by killing the biggest and most annoying threats. But…there is only so much a single spider can do.” The [Spider] shrugged with his overly [Manly] shoulders, it made Alexa wonder if she could even touch those big guns of his….

No! Focus Alexa!

“Right, well…I…will be on my way…?” Alexa said as she started walking in the direction she had been told to go.

Occasionally turning to look back, lest the [Predator] turns on her and try to [Assault] her…with his manly arms….overly perfect abs…perfectly designed fangs…Overly shining chitin….

Such a perfect match between legs, form, poison, and ambush technique…

“....”

“...?”

“....Do you fear the darkness or something?” [The Spider] asked as she stood at the threshold between this [Chamber] and the next tunnel.

“....I mean…Don’t you usually….you know….accompany a lady in need to her home?” Alexa wasn’t sure what the hell she was speaking about.

“[Host? This is behavior extremely irrational. Better to leave the dangerous predator alone.]”

“Shut it! I don’t know either! Let me…I don’t know, take a sample or something!”

Alexa wasn’t quite sure what the hell was going on either, her [Body] seemed to have reacted to something on this [Spider], and she wasn’t quite sure what. But she didn’t want to leave just yet. But her stupid [Mask] kept beeping at her and she didn’t have a way to link to it with her [Cellphone].

Right! The thing!

“A cellphone! I need one!” Alexa suddenly said in an inspiration of what to do. “I need one to call for my friends, or they will not know I’m safe!”

“....*Sigh* wait a second here…” [The Spider] said as he walked backward from where he had come. Weird….

Did he have some trouble with his design? Or was it because he felt that Alexa was also a [Predator] and didn’t want to show his back to her?

Good, he knew that Alexa was a [Peer] and not a [Prey]. She knew that she had good taste in [Men]!

…What?

“Here.” [The Spider] spoke once more falling from the ceiling after a minute or so of wait while Alexa had bluescreened herself with the last statement. What fell into her hands was a [Cellphone], of the same design as of what [Billy] had given her. “That one is Villain Tinker Tech, so you may not want to take it to a regular provider, but it should work here. Just…don’t tell them I gave it to you. If someone asks you found it on the floor.”

Weird…had [Billy] tried to recruit [The Spider].

Actually….

“Right, thank you…I’m Alexa by the way, sorry for the late introduction after you saved me and all of that…” Not that she really needed saving, she could probably deal with the rats easily enough.

“Oh right, names…I’m Sam. Nice to meet you…Hope you don’t mind the missing handshake, but lowering myself is kind of awkward.” The [Spider] waved at her.

Should she make herself taller?

“[Warning: Waste of resources.]”

Or perhaps if she got a sample she could emulate the form? it wouldn’t be that different from her [CRAB] form, if anything she wouldn’t mind having the extra legs…Besides having her half-human atop could help with extra brain power.

“[WARNING: WASTE OF RESOURCES! NO EVIDENCE TO SHOW THAT SUCH A FORM WOULD BE WELCOMED TO THE HUMAN SOCIETY AT LARGE.]”

Yeah, she could see it, Alexa the Spider. It had a nice ring to it.

“So….will you call them?” Sam (SUCH A GREAT NAME!) asked her.

“Oh…right…calling them…I…will need some time to remember their number,” Alexa said downcast as she looked at the stupid thing, she had hoped to…Don’t know, get Sam to escort her or something? She wasn’t sure why.

“Well, I don’t want to keep you here. You must be having a hard time already…Don’t worry, I will not follow you, and the route I gave you is the one I just cleaned. So you will not find any Rogue Core Dwellers.” Sam smiled at her, his smile was even perfect, the perfect mix of fangs and normal teeth. He would probably be able to rip meat without problems, unlike her.

“...Thank you, Sam. I appreciate it…I…will be seeing you around.” Alexa said as she turned to walk into the darkness.

“Sure! See you later!” Sam spoke behind her as he waved at her. “Thank you for not screaming!”

He laughed as she walked away, weird. It was the second [Human] that had thanked her for that. First [Frank The Beetle], now Sam. What was with [Humans] with extensive modifications and people saying thanks for not screaming? Did the [Humans] have a problem with that?

Granted, she had found him [Handsome] enough that she wanted to screech weirdly while sticking her face into his [Abs], but that wasn’t something she felt was [Correct] of doing. It was…weird.

Her [Child Stage] wanted to scream and climb on his back but wasn’t sure how to ask. So she summoned her [Teenager Form].

Her [Teenager Stage] wanted to stare at his abs all day long but was too ashamed to do so, so she in turn also gave way to the next one.

Then…her current form, her [Young Woman] stage form. She…wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do with Sam, but she was sure that her clothes would get in the way. She felt some kind of electricity course in her body but wasn’t sure how to act on it.

“[Notice: Host is currently experiencing a high dose of multiple hormonal reactions that affect thinking process and decision-making. Suggestion to remove them from the equation by the use of emergency purge. Y/N?]”

“Will it affect how I think of Sam?” Alexa asked aloud, unsure of why she was doing it. Why would it matter?

“[Yes]”

“Then no, be content with checking this instead,” Alexa said as she focused her [Nanites] into the [Cellphone]she just got. Sam had said that this one was similar to the one [Haephestus’s Forge] gave.

So it shouldn’t have any safeguards.

“[...Accepted. Initiating saturation of device and analysis.]” Main Core played along and started decomposing the device. It was about time she tested this aspect of her [Core Powers].

She needed to know if her [Powers] only worked on [Biological] samples or if they could work with [Technology].

Notice:

New Blueprint acquired - Cellphone, Tinker Make.

New Blueprint acquired - Cellphone, Normal model.

Alexa could feel the smile on her face manifest as she materialized a new cellphone in her hand. One made with her normal nanites. It was exactly like the one she had decomposed a few seconds ago.

Then on her other hand. “Print Blueprint, Cellphone, normal model.” She intoned as she focused on the blue screen.

“[Initiate construction of new cellphone?]” Main Core asked, but she ignored it.

Instead, she felt…some kind of energy leave her body, she felt as her [Nanites] worked pulling something from thin air…No…from her [Stockpiled Biomass], they seemed to be pulling the fundamental materials from her [Biomass]and were constructing a new [Cellphone].

It was a new phone entirely made from scratch. She saw a few fewer grams on her [Stockpiled] biomass….

But this…This could be a game-changer…She may need to start eating more things. If she could make things using her [Banked Biomass]...Then could she make an entire new body only from that? She wouldn’t need to worry about how many resources remained in her body!

This was…

“[Game changer]”.

Now she only needed to leave the sewers…And find an excuse to visit Sam later, perhaps bring some food?

What does a [Spider] eat?

Or a [Handsome Man] for that matter?

Would she need to bring two dishes?