"I gave the order to the caretakers. It will take a couple of weeks for this batch to start taking care of the scarabs."
"And what about the hunter clutch?"
"Maturation is expected in three days. The food supplies are already ninety percent ready. So, in two weeks, we can send them up, assigning workers who handle the scarabs as escorts."
"What's with this strange egg?"
Two sources of thoughts paused near me. At that moment, the shell finally yielded to my efforts, and I managed to break out.
"I've never seen such a body shape." - I cleared my eyes and stared at two giant spiders, compared to whom I was like a mouse before an elephant.
"Defective specimen."
"It's strange that it exhibits mage traits. The background here does not exceed normal."
"It doesn't matter. We need workers, not mages. I see no point in wasting food on it."
"Hey, I can be useful." - I protested.
"Our colony is experiencing food shortages. We can't afford to feed an extra mouth. Are you willing to perform the duties of a worker?" - Replied the spider, who, judging by its appearance, belonged to the upper caste of workers.
"No, but I can solve your food problems in another way."
"And what way is that?" - Asked the second spider, whom my instincts identified as a mage-scholar.
"The specific method will depend on the exact circumstances we are in. I have enough knowledge to solve this problem, whatever it may be."
"Ancient genome?" - The mage was surprised.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
"The Queen didn't mention anything like that." - The worker objected.
"Sometimes it manifests itself if the colony is in a critical situation. And it's hard to call our situation not critical."
"In any case, I have no food for him. I doubt he can perform the duties of a worker."
"I'll take him with me. If he proves useful, the food will be organized at the expense of the mage caste."
The spiders exchanged glances, and the worker stepped aside, starting to clean the room from the egg remnants scattered around. At the same time, he herded small spiderlings to the center of the hall, where there was something like a circus arena. I quickly examined the room and then looked at my 'savior.'
"Climb onto my head." - He responded to my unspoken question.
I had to climb up his leg to his back, and then to his head. My transport then moved through long corridors, branching at all possible angles in all directions. After about fifteen minutes, we reached a large hall, where I was unloaded onto a table surface filled with all sorts of strange things. It mostly resembled a laboratory.
"So, you claim to have knowledge on how to solve our food crisis?" - The mage got straight to the point.
"I think so. To find a solution, I need to know what you eat and how the food procurement process is organized."
"What we eat? Doesn't your memory contain an answer to such a simple question?"
The standard hereditary memory at my disposal contained very little information about the history of spider civilization. But there were mentions that this history spans tens of thousands of years and that spiders arrived in this world from another about six thousand years ago.
"At different times in different worlds, our species ate different food." - I delivered a profound phrase.
"That's true." - The mage agreed. - "Well, I'll tell you about our situation, but first, you need to eat something. Otherwise, you risk dying of hunger before I finish explaining."
I listened to myself and indeed felt a ravenous hunger. Strangely, this feeling did not cause as much discomfort as it would for a human. Meanwhile, the mage stepped aside and returned, dragging a beetle about four times my size. Looking at this creature, I began to doubt who would eat whom if left alone. The hungry screech of the beetle's chelicerae confirmed my fears.
The mage quickly tore off the beetle's leg and placed it in front of me. Then he wrapped the helpless victim in webbing within seconds and injected his saliva into the cocoon. The beetle squeaked indignantly and began to decompose into slime, its chitin crackling.
I looked at the leg, which was longer than my body, and with a mental sigh, focused on the instincts that suggested how to eat THIS. First, I sucked out the lymph flowing from the open wound. Then I slowly formed an air blade technique from chakra and cut off a small piece of flesh, which I wrapped in webbing and injected saliva into the bundle. Now, I had to wait a bit before I could start eating. Yes, this is not like chewing hamburgers; it's a whole technology of food consumption. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, a culture of food consumption?