A question of all times: was it worth it? I needed to know.

‘Pest, what is this thing and what was it doing in the shit bucket?’

‘That’s a sh-… Damn, how can I reply when I can’t even say the word? A poop jelly, that’s a poop jelly. Humans put them in buckets to eat their poop.’

‘Huh.’ I gave another long look at the wet blob of slimy and disgusting flesh on the end of my web. ‘Is this some sort of monster?’

‘Yeah, it is.’

‘What else do you know about it? What abilities does it have?’

‘Abilities? It eats shi-, I mean, dung, that’s its abilities! I only know that these are hella expensive around, because they are brought only from swamps, and don’t breed anywhere else. And they die outside in a while, too.’

I pinched my lips. I still wasn’t any surer that it was a good idea, but… Habits were hard to fight, and so was my curiosity. It’s not like I didn’t eat more disgusting stuff in the past… Nor would Teren have time to miss his poop jelly.

I held my breath, brought the jelly to my mouth, and bit down before I had time to think better about this idea. The slimy texture of it spread over my tongue, making me force down my gag reflex, but then the taste of it reached me, and I froze in surprise. My eyes widened.

It didn’t taste like shit. It tasted fresh, somewhat herbal… Like cucumbers in Rosha’s stew. Despite this, though, I didn’t risk breathing just yet. I finished the rest of the jelly in a few bites and watched the notification that appeared in front of me.

[Creature devoured. Gained 108 EXP. Gained new evolution options.]

I opened my evolution tab to see what options exactly these were. By now, I had to scroll through a long list of forms and abilities before I reached the newest additions.

[Swamp Sifter Jelly (1412 EXP), Malleability (2 EXP), Eating Adaptability (1 EXP)]

Interesting. Malleability sounded like a good defensive ability that won’t restrict me and diminish my sensitivity like carapaces and scales did, while ‘Eating Adaptability’… I already could eat anything. What would happen if I tried to go beyond that? Nothing, or something?

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And these abilities had low base cost, too. I could try them out and if they turn out to be useless, I would just order Pest to suck them out of me and see what useful he can do with his magic.

I disposed of the excess webbing the only way I always did (by eating them) and returned to my waiting spot at the ceiling. Nothing moved in the darkness anymore. It was time for me to wait, and I had a long time to wait. Preferably without dozing off.

⠀⠀

The sun was up in the sky and the streets were noisy with voices and footsteps again for a while by the time Teren bothered to wake up. I hoped he was hungover—then he would want to drink water. I didn’t know how lethal my venom would be when ingested like that, but at least Teren would get some stomachache.

Humans’ guts churned for so many reasons. Even just stress. Such a funny reaction from their bodies.

I listened to the sounds of Teren moving around the room, then walking outside. He was muttering something under his breath as he went down. I kept waiting. Eventually, he would return. This was one of the reasons why I chose that place for my ambush.

It’s been half an hour more or so by the time Teren went back up. His footsteps stomped in my direction and I bated my breath in anticipation. My stinger was already out and ready, and I loosened the webs that held me up in preparation for this moment. A couple of movements and I would fall down like a stone, but I didn’t even blink. My breathing was noiseless, so slow that my chest barely moved.

Teren didn’t even glance up when he entered his tiny restroom. And why would he? There was nothing interesting out here before I came. From above, I saw how his skin was pale and a little green and smiled at the sight of a hand Teren clutched to his stomach.

“Damn it…” he muttered, unfastening the belt of his pants with another hand. “What a way to start the day…”

I waited for Teren to drop the pants to his knees, and then snapped the last web threads that held me to the ceiling. My body fell, and I turned in the air to aim with my feet on his head. The man fell under me with a constrained oof and a sharp crunch of something breaking. He didn’t even know what hit him, and I already stuck my stinger in his throat. That ‘off’ was the last sound that left his lips.

I stood up over the body sprawled on the wooden floor. So undignified, with his pants half down, the shit he fought so hard to keep to the bucket leaving his bowels already and filling this room with the stench which, truthfully, belonged here.

With some effort, I picked Teren’s body up from the puddle of his diarrhoea. That I could eat him dirty didn’t mean that I wanted to. I had an opportunity now. I was in a better place. No, I would wash him first, then eat him, because I could and he would be tastier this way.

I wondered if next time I should cook my prey, too. Raw meat was delicious, but would cooked meat be tastier? The important part was to eat the entire body, after all, it didn’t matter if it was a little burned…