“The System is subject to much scrutiny, but very few answers have been found. The clergy would call it a gift from the divines, yet it is also given to the very monsters that hunt the noble races. The numerical representation of its values are the subject of great scrutiny by mathematicians who can only scratch the surface of their meanings, yet unintelligent beasts utilize it to its maximum efficiency. Do those very numbers reflect our own natural abilities, or simply what the System adds onto it? Where does the System end and biology begin, if at all?
Understanding it has sadly been written off as a fool’s errand, with many choosing to simply accept it with no complaint. Those very people may cite that looking a gift horse in the mouth would definitely be crass, but learning how to ride that very horse? That is a compliment to whoever provided this gift.”
-Speech by Horatio Sutherland, System Scholar of the Shostran Royal Academy, one year before his early retirement
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Click’s hunt was semi-successful. Sure, their belly wasn’t exactly filled after eating only one tiny insect, but something had happened after their fifth kill. They had grown bigger, stronger. They had evolved.
And with that increased size, came an increased appetite.
Click’s stomach wasn’t designed to growl, but its nerves were hooked up well enough to tell them that they were hungry. They didn’t have any accompanying mannerisms either, no grabbing their abdomen and bending over, or giving off pitiful glances to their parent. Besides, their progenitor had already done everything to feed Click. They were quite grateful for that.
The spider strutted past their home in search of another meal, the protective white pillars feeling slightly smaller as they passed it by. Only a small handful of other spiders were inside. They looked tired, as if they’d just barely managed to escape some predator or another and were taking respite within the safety of their home.
The other spiders must have been smart enough to avoid predators entirely, and were most likely still hunting themselves. Five kills wouldn’t take long to achieve, especially against such unaware prey, so the others had most likely evolved as well and were looking for something to fill their stomachs.
Click ventured back into the deeper parts of the cave.
It didn’t take them long to find another meal and capture it, thanks to their much longer legs. But the worm they found looked… smaller. No, it was the same size. Click was just bigger. The worm went limp within the spider’s fangs, a faint blue liquid flowing into its body.
[Skill level up! Venom Gland (2)]
Venom, that was what it was. Click didn’t know the words, but they understood the meaning behind the notification. They could do something new that they couldn’t before, something very different. The worm went flying into their mouth and down without needing to chew. It didn’t even begin to fill them up. Click was bigger.
[Experience +1 | Next Level: 1/50]
Too big.
Or maybe the prey was too small?
Click settled down next to a rock and began to survey the cave. The bugs the spider was going for earlier were plentiful, but the time it would take to chase so many down was unappealing. But something caught their attention; bigger bugs.
Click charged at one, jaws open wide and ready to bite. It nimbly hopped away. Strong legs carried it several times above the spider’s height and far away from danger. They clicked their jaws together once, knowing that they weren’t the only ones to benefit from an increased size.
The spider turned to another larger, yet edible bug. This one’s legs were much smaller, with most of its mass located in its abdomen. It would be much too heavy to get away!
Click charged at it with even greater speed, but as their fangs were about to envelop the insect, its chitinous shell parted to reveal a pair of wings that quickly carried it away.
Click
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Another spider of similar size to Click, one of their brethren, jumped at the bug and made contact. Its fangs covered the insect and pulled it right into its maw. By the time it landed, the flying creature was no more. Instead, eight legs thick with hydraulic fluid supporting a sturdy torso stood tall.
Click couldn’t help but feel self-conscious in the presence of such a physically capable specimen of their species. That was a new emotion.
Click
The other spider gracefully scurried away, leaving Click with a sudden distaste. Their instincts pushed them to jump at every potential meal with venom-bared fangs, but it was obvious that it wasn’t working out for them. Maybe it was time to try something different?
Click headed back home, hoping for a safe place to think, and passed by several of their brethren along the way. They were suspended in mid-air, perfectly stock still. No, that wasn’t right. Click focused their eyes and saw a thin filament holding them up. Webbing!
Click instinctively understood how to produce webbing, and that it was difficult for non-spiders to escape it, yet felt the strong urge to use venom instead. It was a stupid urge if it wasn’t going to get them anything to eat.
After the mental equivalent of a dark-alley mugging, the spider forced the dormant part of their instinct to cough up the knowledge behind optimal web placement, and got to work. They ignored their headache and began to spin a sticky net between a chipped stalagmite and the ground.
[Skill level up! Silk Spinning (2)]
[Skill level up! Silk Spinning (3)]
[Skill level up! Silk Spinning (4)]
The end result was quite nice, if a little oblong. Click climbed to the top of it and settled in, eyes still vigilant for any predators. Click waited in place for several seconds, followed by minutes, and then hours.
Click
This was ridiculous. The spider turned to look at their brethren and saw that they were having similar luck, but none of them were moving with the frantic energy Click was. The others were stock still, utterly serene and tranquil, as if waiting for prey to fall into their net was all that they expected out of life.
What kind of life was that?
Click jumped down from the net and their head began to twitch as they looked for some prey. The spider didn’t think anything was wrong with them, but began to feel like them and the other web-bound brethren were from completely different species. Click couldn’t ignore that instinct however, and when they found a jumping bug some distance away, they felt the urge to chase after it. The spider took one step before clamping down on that very instinct, and instead, walked around it.
They’d made it a full semi-circle around before letting loose and chasing after the insect with their fangs bared. The bug inevitably jumped, but it never hit the ground. Sure, another one of Click’s jumping brethren tried to grab it, but they missed. Instead, the bug landed in Click’s web.
The other spider stared at the stuck bug, as if trying to comprehend how the creature could be suspended in mid-air like that. That gave Click ample time to shove it aside and reach their net, quickly sinking their fangs into the insect and draining it. Click actually began to feel a little satisfied. Just a little.
[Experience +5 | Next Level: 6/50]
And dessert was nice too.
Juvenile Dungeon Spider (Level 1 | Exp: 6/50)
Name: Click
Soul Link: Rockfort Hamlet Dungeon Core Ṁ̶̡̄̒͜o̷͚͍̊͒̃̓̿ǰ̵̧̢̭̫̪a̷͇̋̿̿̽͘ ̵̨̛̥͎͉́̋̈͘D̵̝̭͇̓̎̅ȋ̷̯͔̤̑͋̑t̴̛͉͈̟̽̑͑h̸̪̲̩̗̀̉̃͝͠ä̵͕̼̠́̊̓̕b̴̗͕̏͊̂̓̚ä̷̡̰̱͕̒̌̋
Classes: N/A
Statistic
Amount
Health Points
3
Body
2
Intellect
150
Soul
3
Skill Name
Level
Description
Venom Gland
2
Secrete a toxic substance from your mandibles that can harm lesser creatures.
Silk Spinning
4
Secrete a sticky string that can ensnare weaker creatures.