“Ha-ha-ha! How did I trick them all?” - Being laughed as soon as the spatial rift closed behind us. – “It's good that I decided to check on you a couple of days before the game started. This plan with the thermonuclear bombs was a surprise even for me. So, I hustled and bet that you would destroy all the competitors before the game even began. Anyway, according to the rules, the use of nuclear weapons is prohibited. And I made a good profit off of you. Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Why are you silent?”
“I need a reward for completing the task ahead of schedule.” - I presented my demands.
“Don't hold your breath. You're not on salary with me; you're in slavery. Besides, you ruined the game the local Shinigami had been preparing for two thousand years. So, the only reward will be that you will spend your next life in the body of an insect, as I promised. There, you definitely won't be able to make things worse, as the situation is already at rock bottom.”
Our conversation ended there, and I again sank into unconsciousness.
I awoke, confined in a tight, enclosed space. On all sides, I was surrounded by a sturdy, elastic shell, filled with me and a viscous liquid. I could barely feel my body, so I focused on my consciousness first.
Going through my memories, I concentrated on the bijuu tail. It steadily supplied me with chakra, which had already begun to fill my new body. But besides the tail, I discovered another source of energy. As soon as I tried to understand what it was, mental images of an entire lecture on 'What is magic, and who consumes it' appeared in my mind.
Strangely enough, this wasn't a gift from the Being, but the genetic memory of my new body. In this memory, there was also a description of my anatomical structure, the organization of society, techniques for performing typical duties, and so on. Essentially, by absorbing this data package, I was supposed to become a well-prepared cog in the community of intelligent... spiders.
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Of course, they weren't actually spiders, but anatomically, the closest creatures to me on Earth were indeed spiders. Cephalothorax, abdomen, ten jointed limbs, six 'legs' and four 'arms,' a mouth capable of consuming only liquid food, and twelve compound eyes - this is a brief list of the distinguishing features of this body. Oh, and an organ that allows web creation, of course.
Having absorbed all the necessary knowledge, I more closely examined my body and determined that its structure corresponded to that of a worker spider. Yes, these creatures were part of a large hive, where division of labor and specialization thrived. This arrangement did not suit me at all, so I began to saturate the body with chakra and drops of available magical energy. This, in turn, activated hidden developmental mechanisms, turning me into some kind of hybrid warrior and mage.
In general, spider society (I'll call them that) was divided into three castes: workers, warriors, and mages. Within each caste, there were additional specializations, adapted to perform specific tasks. Each sub-caste occupied a specific rigid position in the hierarchy of society, at the top of which stood the Queen, and at the bottom were the 'regular-workers' one of whom I was supposed to become.
A spider's future caste was determined by the conditions in which the eggs were during the development of the embryo. To become a mage, the egg had to be heavily nourished with specially modulated magical energy. And to produce warriors, special spells were cast on the eggs to activate physical growth.
I, however, filled my body with bijuu chakra, which began to transform it according to a very strange program, activating all possible abilities in this body. Thus, I clearly fell out of the local caste system. But it's better this way than to be born a miserable worker spider, capable of nothing but cleaning manure and spinning webs.
The process of my transformation and 'maturation' dragged on. The liquid filling the egg was absorbed into my body and used as building material. The body increased in size, taking on a more pronounced 'centaur' form with four arms. Finally, I felt ready to hatch. By this time, I had long heard some sounds coming from outside. It seemed my brothers and sisters from the clutch had left the eggs. But then, the quiet rustling was interrupted by the sound of footsteps on a stone surface, followed by words entering my consciousness through thought-speech. Spiders mainly communicated telepathically, although they also had verbal methods of communication.
“This clutch is already mature. We just need to wait for the most underdeveloped ones and dispose of the dead and defective eggs.”
I began to actively move my limbs, trying to break the shell of the egg. It would be funny if they 'disposed' me before I could get out.