Within a week or so he had cleared the area of the plants and trees. Everything except for the IronOak, a champion of the jungle. It refused to be chopped down, so he allowed the white trees to grow in his garden; a reward for their resolve. And just so, they were exactly perfect to hang the ropes from for the TomGrape vines to grow on.

Only by clearing the area well did he realise of what it looked like. The trees, ropes, and wines made web-like curtains. On this ‘web’ frolicked the spider-like hatchlings pruning the branches and plucking the fruits. Some even took it upon themselves to further clear the jungle of bushes, trees and other plants.

The jungle was beginning to morph and change. For something else entirely. On the one hand, no longer was it quiet, it was bustling with activity. On the other, deforestation was taking place. Plants which had no use were plucked, pulped and turned into fertiliser.

There was another grand realisation, one full of a fleeting regret.

“What have I done?”

In a doomsday scenario: What would happen if he dies? - The hatchlings would proceed to multiply and take over the jungle of course!

Can this even be stopped? The hatchlings had already learned of the ways of destruction. And should it be stopped?

Why even stop this? Why turn back? This was progress and progress demanded sacrifice. And most importantly he was in charge. He was in control. He was the King here. The Spider King. Right?

“Right?” He wondered philosophically about what he had unleashed into this world. Such musings were a sickness of an idle mind. “I better find some work.”

…

The hatchlings were a busy lot: A group was diligently tending to the TomGrape, another group was meticulously processing the gathered StemLeaf into fibres for cloth, and a much smaller group was mercilessly clearing the jungle for more fields. Everyone had their jobs. And yet there was an even smaller group, the guys there were stumbling and fumbling trying to do other things, trying to find their role in this harsh society. And even further yet, there was this one guy who kept following the sole human here; always watching, always judging.

He was the king of this little village and this little hatchling was his jester. The scary reality was that the hatchlings were doing most of the hard work and he had often found himself idly sitting in his ‘throne’ room. The throne was only a poor quality chair and the room still just a shed, but better things will come with time.

“Tell me a joke, jester. I am bored.”

Of course, there was no reply, but he felt that the spider creature would blink and roll its eyes if it had the appropriate anatomy to do that.

“Maybe, you are not a jester then? What is your job? Are you lost like me?”

The hatchling simply observed.

“You are here to judge me on my rule, no? And then I don’t have you close you’ll go and tell all kinds of stories about me to your friends. I know!”

He had finally decided there was enough of idling.

“I better go out and reconnect with my people. Let’s see what all this gossip is about.”

So, he went out. And his people were toiling restlessly, so busy were they that they didn’t even notice his royal presence.

“Ignored…”

So he observed further. While his people were hard workers they were still a poor lot – no property or possessions. While yes, they all have been fed well and there was no crime in this little kingdom. But then ever did that keep the people content for long?

“Maybe I should think of some sort of reward?”

But nothing came to his idle mind.

“What would these creatures even like?” He looked meaningfully to his jester.

The ‘jester’ stared at him with all of his four yellow eyes; content with its simple life of ever watching.

“Hmm… Hmm? What you say, jester? Don’t just be like that! No, I shouldn’t… But maybe…”

It was decided. The idle king shall no longer be known as The Idle King!

He went to the storage and gathered a bunch of crafting materials, namely the soft StemLeaf cloth, the sturdy BanditAgave ropes and the soft ImpostorTree wood. And then he began crafting.

[You have crafted cloth basket of poor quality. Crafting +1exp.]

“I can do better than that!”

There was plenty of cloth to practice and eventually.

[You have crafted cloth basket of common quality. Crafting +2exp.]

Baskets were littering the floor, he had crafted a hundred or so. Happily, he inspected his latest creation.

[Cloth Basket: +5% gathering speed.]

“Huh?”

It was a mystery why a basket gave a speed bonus instead of carrying capacity, but a bonus was still a bonus. His workers working faster was a good thing, right?

“Right?” He looked at the ever-jesting Jester.

Incidentally, the poor quality ones didn’t provide a bonus. So he rolled his non existent sleeves and began recycling the failures to make more of the common quality products.

In the end, a basket was just that – a simple implement to store some items. It will be a useful tool on his farm if only the hatchlings had the arms to carry them.

“Anyhow, they will figure it out somehow.”

So he went to educate the farmers in the use of this marvellous tool he had just invented. Illuminating the masses was a hard task!

‘My mandibles work just fine why do I need this?’ He imagined one of the farmers retorting.

None of the hatchlings spoke, yet still, he could see their disapproval.

‘It doesn’t even have a proper handle.’

‘Ehhh? It’s only of common quality!’

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“No, you don’t understand.” For the umpteenth time, he showed how to store TomGrape into the basket. “This goes here until it’s full and then you bring it to the storage and empty it.”

Maybe the task was just too advanced for the simple minds of these farmers. They had to fill the basket, carry it, empty it in the warehouse and then reuse it. Maybe there were too many steps, or maybe he had expected way too much from an actual animal and not a real sapient and independent farmer. But these creatures were his subjects and he persevered in his teachings, after all, they were able to learn so many things already.

And in the end, his labours were met with success. He rubbed his hands in glee observing the hatchlings using the Cloth Baskets he had crafted, and indeed the work was that much faster. So he visited other groups of his labourers, the jungle clearers, the fibre makers and the cloth weavers. All to spread the glorious ways of the use of the ever-so-useful Cloth Basket™. They were just as stubborn as the farmers.

There was a reason for the stubbornness. While teaching he had close contact with the hatchlings. That was when he noticed small differences in the groups. The jungle clearers had stronger and bigger mandibles, the weavers more dexterous appendages, and so on. There were minute adaptations in the groups making their tasks easier.

“So they specialise, grow and adapt…” A simple but mind-spinning conclusion.

They didn’t need tools, with time they would grow and evolve, develop appropriate limbs and appendages to fit in their roles. It was wonderful! And it was scary. He knew of no animal who could evolve so fast, at leats, not in his previous world.

Even so, the basket was just too useful not to use, and no, he didn’t force them to use the baskets because he spent hours making them. There was a speed bonus!

“But then… What is your future evolution, Jester?” he looked at his sole companion.

---

[Farming +1260exp].

Once again the young has replaced the old. Oddly, the number this time didn’t shoot up. He inspected the eggs in the hatchery, over a hundred of them. Compared to the last time the eggs were much bigger, they were the size of a ball.

“Bigger eggs – bigger spiders.” The thought scared him slightly. Bigger spiders equal better workers. He reasoned in that way to push his anxieties away.

He rolled a heavy obsidian-coloured egg in his hands. Its shiny shell was hard as a rock and in the shape of a polyhedron just like a football ball would be.

“It’s quite sturdy. If I dropped it, it probably wouldn’t even break.”

Unwilling to test the theory he put the egg back with its friends.

“But how will they even hatch if this is so sturdy.” He shrugged. “Nature has its ways….”

The days without the workers felt dreadful. The otherwise busy farm was devoid of rowdy workers and worst of all the work still had to be completed. It was strange how all of the spiders decided to perish and lay eggs in the same time, almost like some sort of morbid ritual. While having his hands occupied with work helped to distract him from his loneliness and invasive thoughts a simple fact was that the farm grew too much to be handled by a single man.

*Boop – something nudged him on his shin.

A familiar creature the size of a small cat was inspecting the hem of his trousers. A big fat smile appeared on his face.

“Look who’s back!” He rolled the sleeves of his shirt ready for more hard work.

The new clutch of hatchlings will need to be shown how things work around here. Teaching was never easy but he welcomed the distraction.

Slowly more hatchlings trickled into the TomGrape farm like a steady stream. He waited for everyone to find their way so he can instruct them as a group. The little students were giddy and full of energy, unwilling to sit idle. Some were already tending to the vines with their small mandibles.

By the looks of it they already knew the basics. Exactly like the ones before.

“Born with knowledge. I am envious of you!”

Still, they can’t know everything and some skills will have to be learned the hard way

Once he was done with the little farmers, he went back to find the rest of the younglings. After all, a good number of hatchlings were missing. They weren’t at the hatchery, they went to the fibre weaving stores and the nearby farms of StemLeaf and BanditAgave. By the look of it, and by what probably was instinct they had begun the tasks their ‘parents’ did.

The little workers were stumbling and fumbling, no good at their complex jobs. But they are only a day old! They will learn.

With that knowledge, he went back to his humble shack. Which by now needed repairs. The dry leaves and flimsy sticks were not the best building materials. And there, low and behold were six little hatchlings sniffing at his bedding and inspecting his things.

“What are you doing here? Why aren’t you at work?” He complained to the youths like a real slave driver.

Of course, the little spiders couldn't understand him. He tried to shoo them away so he can sleep, but even then they refused to leave him alone.

“Are you here to learn new skills? Like your forefathers did?”

The hatchlings just stared at him with their beady round eyes.

“I’m way too tired. I will show you something tomorrow. Goodnight.”

He crashed into his bed and passed out that instant.

…

Little workers were picking up their duties fast. With the workforce replaced the farm will flourish once again.

The only problem here was this set of six troublemakers. He showed them how to farm TomGrape, how to cut BanditAgave, how to extract and process StemLeaf, and how to weave the plant fibres into treads for cloth. However, they simply refused to pick up the skills.

“You want to learn something new, don’t you?”

It kind of made sense, but the farm was in balance and there were no new tasks to be done. Except for the difficult tasks which required a sharp mind and a set of opposable thumbs.

“Are you crafters or builders?” he asked unsure himself.

While he did the maintenance work on various sheds and storage buildings the young students watched diligently. By the morning he expected them to pick a skill or two, after all, they were quick learners.

Unfortunately, that did not happen. He showed the six various other jobs they could try doing, but even then they refused to take action content by simply watching him. By that time he finally realised what he had on his hands.

“Six jesters! What did I do to deserve this?”

They were just like that fellow. The only thing it did was follow him around and judge him all day.

“Are you here to keep an eye on me? To make sure I don’t misbehave?”

He used the opportunity to voice his thoughts. The grim reality was that the lack of human contact was doing things to his mind. The company, however, even if troublesome was welcome. So he will talk with them about various things on his mind as he did with Jester.

…

These new workers ate a lot. He began to worry that the farm was too small, the good thing was that the storage was full so there was no need to worry just now. This, and they grew a lot. By now they were the size of a large dog.

Big scary-looking things, after all, they were insect-type creatures. If he didn’t know how all of this started and let’s say was just a casual passer-by on this farm, he would be running for his dear life. Or if he was an adventurer he would be trying to clear this monster infestation before it spreads. He was neither of these things.

“Good thing there is no one here in this Dreaded Place! Just me and my spiders…”

By now he was sure of it. The surrounding was devoid of any animals, but then again he didn’t stray all too far from the farm.

“Thinking about this, isn’t it the right time?” He asked the trouble six. He was sure they had their own opinions, if only they could speak them he would like to hear it. He raised his hand into the air and announced. “By a unanimous voice of the majority, it is decided!”

“And I am so disappointed in you.” He pointed at one particular troublemaker. “Always voting against me. Want it or not, you are coming!”

An expedition! They will go to explore this land further where maybe, just maybe, he will find something else besides an endless jungle.

The quest was ambitious and there was much preparation to be done. The trip will be long so he had to prepare appropriate gear.

It took him longer than he liked to admit, days even but it was done. The set consisted of:

[Bark Chest Piece], [Bark Greaves] and [Bark Vambrase], all for protection. It counted as a set and gave him magic resistance +15, which was an odd bonus for wooden armour, but whatever.

[Stone Spear] was his choice of weapon. Which was just the same boring item he once crafted, only of better quality now. He did make a bow, but after a few attempts, he realised that he wasn’t becoming a competent archer anytime soon; who knew it takes so much skill to use. The ranged weapon was discarded as a failure and then promptly forgotten.

[Cloth Backpack] was there to store his food and other comfort items.

All in all, he wasn’t much of a fighting force, but he wasn’t going alone. Six companions will be tagging along, which should not be underestimated. After all, they were spider-like monsters at the size of dogs! With sharp mandibles and all that.

And for his six he crafted some splendid gear too.

He strapped a [Cloth Pouch] to their backs for future storage if they find something, and also he dressed them in a specially designed [Cloth Robes]. The robes were probably an overkill but he wanted to try dressing the spider in clothes. He liked the challenge and he was happy with the end result. If one may say so, the otherwise scary-looking spiders now were all dressed up and cute.

“Ready? No?” He looked in disappointment at the one particular companion. “It’s always you! Regardless, we shall go and explore this jungle. Forwards we march!”

He spurred his men on an expedition.