“Wars tend to be bloody. Anyone who hears me speak these words would think of me as some kind of dimwit for announcing what even a village idiot would know by heart. Wars lead to plenty of death.
But it is not merely the nature of conflict alone that leads to such a truth; it is the nature of the System itself. Martial classes come with a curse, a terrible price that anyone who wields them quickly learns. Experience is only granted upon killing.
Such a revelation leads to the current stratagems the Shostran Kingdom employs in forming and managing their army. There are only so many living beings available to kill that truly deserve it, very few of them gathered together in large enough numbers for a large army to fight at once, which makes battle the only viable way for soldiers to level up. And many people live for levels. Many will fight tooth and nail, continue to fight for longer, or even strike at fleeing enemies, just for more experience.
That is why the bulk of most armies are meant to be just that; bulk. The true elites come from long-lived veterans who have fought in many battles, and adventurers, who travel in small groups to seek out monsters to slay. The monsters themselves who have Systems hold a similar curse, in that they are forced to slay others to level up, even though the Noble Races do have classes that can gain experience peacefully.
Trade Classes don’t deal with combat, and are thus known to level up by performing the relevant task associated with them. A [Baker] or [Farmer] will level up from baking bread or farming wheat respectively, for example. No killing there. Just practicing a trade that sustains life instead.
The nature of these trade classes is what motivated the creation of a workaround for the bloody nature of martial classes; the hybrid-class. I don’t mean something like [Spellsword] or [Man-At-Arms], which combine multiple ways of combat, but [Shostran Soldier], a Class that takes the martial [Soldier] and adds an aspect of a trade to it.
The [Shostran Soldier] is one of these hybrid classes; its owners gain experience by performing soldierly duties, such as practicing drills, marching with comrades, or winning battles. Of course, most of the experience is still obtained by killing, so the battlefields continue to be painted crimson. Just… not as much as before.
But as long as war exists, so too will the bloodshed continue.”
-Excerpt from the “Memoirs of Magnus Silvershell,” written by the retired general of the Shostran Army
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Why do we only get experience when we kill something? Click thought to themself while seated on top of Bored the Alpha. We were faced with impending death, but we chased them away. We turned the tides on an impossible scenario and managed to scrounge out a victory. We’re alive. We won. So why don’t we get any experience from that?
Even if none of the other spiders were able to comprehend what they all missed out on, their leader was more than offended enough to make up for them. And Click was about to make it up to them.
Many dozens of newborn spiders, already twice evolved, marched alongside their elder brethren. Closer to the main group were Bored the Alpha and Click riding on top of the gargantuan spider. Beyond those two, [Shadow Spiders] snuck around the edge of the crowd while [Webslinger Spiders] rappelled between stalactites. Their silk spinning and web launching had gotten much higher over the last few weeks while they, albeit halfheartedly, constructed the traps, allowing them even greater mobility around the cavern, much to everyone’s amusement.
[Command Subordinates]! Find where these tracks go, [Shadow Spiders]!
It was something that felt like it should make sense to Click. If the small and sneaky spiders were so good at avoiding detection, they should be able to stop others from doing the same. But…
A pair of [Shadow Spiders] began to follow the scattered footprints that went both left and right. Their paths curved heavily, going in a near full circle, and the arachnids followed until they bumped into each other.
Some of these tracks could be from days, or even weeks ago! Click let out an internal sigh. There hasn’t been anything around to cover them up, after all. Not since the invaders killed everyone else.
The sensation was bittersweet. Many of the invaders’ victims were spiders that Click knew, albeit for only a short amount of time, so it wasn’t like they had that strong of a connection. Not that Click was interested in forging bonds with brethren who were incapable of reciprocating the feeling. But that quick span happened to be Click’s entire life.
A series of howls echoed out from the distance, grabbing the spiders’ attention. Without missing a beat, they all ran over to the sound, baring their fangs in preparation for the battle. It had only been about half an hour since most had run after the discarded egg sacs, and it was unlikely the predators would be able to reinforce themselves, while the spiders had only grown stronger in that time.
As the tribe made it past a small rock formation, they came face to face with a trio of [Juvenile Dungeon Hounds]. The three of them, who looked to be in an adolescent state of growth, were standing over the predator corpse much larger than them. The body was covered in slash and burn marks, and looked to be in an extremely advanced state of decomposition. The trio was looking at it intently.
Is that their parent? Looks like it was killed by the invaders but they forgot Click thought to themself. I know their parents have a strong instinct to care for their young like us spiders, but does it work the other way around?
One of the hounds poked the corpse with their muzzle before opening their mouth and reaching out for its limb, teeth first.
Or maybe not?
The [Juvenile Dungeon Hounds]’s ears flicked and they turned to meet the spiders. Saliva dripped from their mouths around scraps of spider egg casings hanging from their teeth. The muscles in their legs began to tense, ready to pounce.
So they figured out the trick, it seems. They’re just hungry and want to try for round two with us? Oh, I’ll gladly oblige.
The predators leapt into the air with open mouths in an impressive, yet predictable arc. Click ordered the spiders standing around their landing spot to move to the side, while positioning the [Shadow Spiders] to flank them.
The creatures opened their eyes wide as the ocean of potential food opened up and left them tasting dirt upon their landing. The poison that followed as the second course was even less appetizing. They howled and began to snap their jaws at any and everything around them.
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The newborn spiders tried to enclose the [Juvenile Dungeon Hounds] and get a bite in before retreating, like the waves of the ocean ebbing and flowing. The strategy was sound, however there was one major problem.
Despite the newborn spiders each having a decently advanced evolution with plenty of Skills and abilities, they didn’t get the chance to properly level up those Skills. Easy fights gave them the experience points to raise their attributes, but those weren’t what made the spiders so strong. At least not at this stage. It was the Skills that gave them venom, that gave them mobility, and other attacking options. These [Juvenile Dungeon Hunter Spiders] and [Juvenile Dungeon Web Spiders] had a pittance of levels in what they needed for a proper fight!
There was a second problem on the periphery, that the [Shadow Spiders] who could make up for the lack of firepower couldn’t really get into range. The hounds might have been too hungry to consider a retreat, but they still had the senses to keep the real threat in their view.
But thankfully, Click had a solution. The lead spider sent out a command to the [Shadow Spiders] to step back. At first they were confused, angry even, that they were being told to retreat from a fight they knew they could win, a fight they wanted to win! But the next part of the command had them happily comply.
Step back into the ranks of spiders.
You’re smaller than them, hide amongst them, hide in their shadows.
Go in with the next wave of them and score a bite on your quarry.
They followed through, and within a few seconds, a new series of yelps echoed out throughout the cavern. The [Juvenile Dungeon Hounds] took another hit, and Click was ecstatic! The battle would definitely be over now and the tribe would have its first taste of proper revenge. They would be the ones to control the caverns!
But, as Click was starting to learn, to taunt the universe was to invite disaster. Even in the most nonsensical of ways.
The swarm of spiders surrounding the second hound quickly spread out, thrown back and then forced to give the predator more distance.
The creature began to morph, its legs and torso elongated as its mouth grew bigger. Its eyes lost their previous hungry and fearful innocence and took on an older look, one that held true hunger. The predator howled deeply and ran at the next wave of spiders, only to scoop up several into its mouth.
What?! [Observation]!
Dungeon Hound (Level 1)
Name: N/A
Soul Link: Rockfort Hamlet Dungeon Core Ṁ̶̡̄̒͜o̷͚͍̊͒̃̓̿ǰ̵̧̢̭̫̪a̷͇̋̿̿̽͘ ̵̨̛̥͎͉́̋̈͘D̵̝̭͇̓̎̅ȋ̷̯͔̤̑͋̑t̴̛͉͈̟̽̑͑h̸̪̲̩̗̀̉̃͝͠ä̵͕̼̠́̊̓̕b̴̗͕̏͊̂̓̚ä̷̡̰̱͕̒̌̋
Classes: N/A
Type
Prerequisite
Species
Juvenile Dungeon Hound
Statistic
Amount
Health Points
75
Body
55
Intellect
15
Soul
25
Skill Name
Level
Description
Iron Fangs
2
Teeth are reinforced to be harder and sharper
Pack Tactics
2
Instinctively understand the desires of the rest of the pack
Prey Detection
1
Instinctually sense the location of prey, and its movements.
What was going on?! Click screamed to themself. Where did it get the experience to evolve like that?! It killed maybe five of the newborn spiders, and it was a newborn itself! There were Juveniles who killed way more spiders than that and still didn’t get an evolution!
The [Spider Army Commander] shook off their fear and utter bewilderment at the enemy’s sudden growth spurt, and focused their attention on the ensuing battle. Their troops needed their full attention, after all.
Can’t let it keep eating everyone, they don’t stand a chance! The lead spider vowed to do something incredibly foolish.
Bored, charge that thing!
The [Adult Alpha Dungeon Spider] shook itself in glee as it began to rush over to meet the much larger creature.
You, [Webslinger Spider], grab me and bring me atop that stalagmite!
A hanging spider shot a stream of webbing and grabbed Click, pulling them to a safe spot above. It gave Click a better view of the battle below, while allowing their “mount” to focus entirely on the battle.
The other spiders needed it.
Bored slammed into the adult predator and temporarily knocked it off balance. The hound, which was about to bite down on another half a dozen arachnids, turned its attention away from the easy meal and focused itself more on the new challenge.
Click still knew that Bored wouldn’t win. At least, not by itself. While being pulled up to safety, Click was worried that they’d be dropped and fall onto the predator, or into its jaws, but that gave the lead spider a brilliant idea.
[Command Subordinates]! [Webslinger Spiders], grab the [Shadow Spiders] and whatever newborns after them, pull them up, and drop them on top of that adult predator!
It seemed that they understood the order and immediately followed. With the prolonged damage that they’d dealt to the [Juvenile Dungeon Hounds], the [Shadow Spiders] weren’t needed to complete the fight against them. So instead, they bared their venom-stained fangs and brought them down on the [Dungeon Hound] from above.
The creature snarled in pain, and tried its best to fling the spiders off. At one point, it even tried rolling over to crush them, but that just gave the other newborns an opportunity to climb on and begin biting themselves. It didn’t help that Bored interfered with the roll and kept the hound pinned for several seconds.
After several more bites, and a little bit of time for the newly introduced poison to truly take effect, the [Dungeon Hounds] succumbed to their injuries and collapsed onto the Dungeon floor, dead.
The spiders cheered for their victory, and the swath of experience points being doled out to each of them. As massive as the haul of points was, it wasn’t enough to grant anyone an additional evolution. It took Click about a week of constantly feeding on smaller insects to get theirs, and that was all about consistency over a long period of time, rather than riding a single moderate windfall.
Still, this was only the first experience point windfall of many.
As Click began to lead the other spiders back to their home, revenge finally taken, they passed by a rock.
None of the other spiders happened to be looking at it, as it was quite far away and not where they were headed, but Click was looking right at it. At first, there was nothing behind it. Yet, as they rounded a corner, a [Juvenile Dungeon Hound] walked out from behind it. From out of nowhere.
Click quickly called on the troops to take care of it. It thankfully didn’t evolve mid-fight, but two things worried the lead spider. First, after a thorough investigation of the rock, its surrounding area, and the space underneath it, they found that there were no predator mothers, eggs, or hiding spaces. And second, that [Juvenile Dungeon Hound] was level one. Newborn.