The Spider King was enjoying the hospitality of the wyrmling. The self-proclaimed Desert Emperor was entertaining guests in his throne room leaving the Spider King to enjoy some much-needed time off, and to top up his drained mana reserves. He was lounging on the local equivalent of a beach chair while taking the warm sunlight in. The desert sun had a penchant of being too hot for comfort so two Fennec fanned him with a very large leaf. Another fennec was holding a tray filled with various fruits and other delicacies purchased from the Scorpion Klan Cities. And another one was attempting to hand-feed a peeled fruit to him. Being pampered like this was good and all, but he had to cross a line somewhere.
The tray was within hand’s reach, so he grabbed a random fruit and fed himself, no need to rely on cute fennec. The poor thing had even had to use a stool so that she could reach his head better. For some reason the fennec looked extremely disappointed about not being able to hand-feed him, her big fluffy ears dropped right down. Aww, so cute. He changed his mind that instant, opening his mouth wide with an ‘ahh’.
Hurriedly she deposited a piece of dried fruit in his mouth. He chewed it with great gusto. He had that type of fruit before, but somehow, this time it tasted unusually good.
He remembered something rather important. “Put some Slug Jelly on it, please, I need to ‘call’ my friend.” Even if on holiday the routine had to be upheld.
With a smile, fennec picked up a small but highly decorated flask and shook a single blue drop on one of the fruits. And right into his mouth it went.
“Delicious!”
[You have obtained Eldrich Telepathy], two minds were connected right that instant.
Like always his mind was threatened of being pulled right into the Johny’s body, she always did that – tug on him a bit too hard. He tugged back at the connection striking for that balance, but even then, his mind was flooded with emotions which weren’t exactly his. His chest felt compressed and uncomfortable, almost as if it was about to…
‘I’m Bursting, BURSTING, BURSTING!’, she exclaimed into his mind. “You Need To Come Back Home Already!” A symphony of eldritch voices demanded.
Indeed, he had neglected his farmer duties. Leaving your animals enough water and food wasn’t always enough, that was because certain animals had to be milked too. Not to mention the need for love and attention.
‘I’m sorry…’ He apologised. ‘But I’m sure the spiders would be glad to give you a hand.’
‘No, We’ve Been Through This. A Spider Isn’t Touching Me, No Way!’
He felt a tinge of disgust leaking through the connection. But why? – the spiders were cute and gentle; he couldn’t quite understand. But the cuteness was in the eye of the beholder. He looked at the Fennec who were still so keen to tend to him.
Johny tugged at the connection again. ‘I Can See Through Your Eyes, And I Know What You’re Thinking… No! I Don’t Want Them.’ The idea was shot down before it could even be brought in.
‘Hey, that’s a bit intrusive.’ He filed a mental complaint.
‘That’s Just How This Thing Works. You’re Welcome To Come Inside Me Anytime You Want.’ She invited him in with another mental tug.
Yeah… Being in a slug-like body wasn’t the best experience he had to say the least. All those extra senses were so disorienting.
‘Hey, I Can Hear That! You’ll Make Me Self-Conscious.’
‘Oh no, it seems my mind is too relaxed. I guess I’ll have to cut this vacation short.’
‘YES, Please. I Am Bursting!’ She sent over that uncomfortable tight sensation once again, just to hammer the point in.
‘Yes-yes. I’m coming. See you soon.’ He cut the connection off.
“Sorry, guys, I have to go.” He stood up from his chair and looked towards the not-so-distant mountain. “[Shadow Walk].”
The Fennec looked at the disappearing trail of shadow.
“What do we do now?” One of them asked.
His colleagues just shrugged. And then they sat down on the beach chair, the chair was big enough to fit all four of them. The fennec tasked with holding the tray looked greedily at the nearby treats.
“No need to let the food go to waste.” She helped herself to a few bites.
“I wonder what this is?” The feeder fennec investigated the expensive-looking bottle. “Looks like Nectar.”
“It’s too decorative to be just that.” She pointed at the bottle. “And he had just a single drop.”
“What if it’s some sort of a recreational medicine… After he took it, his facial expressions went through some rapid and funny changes.”
The four fennec looked at the decorated bottle with increased interest.
“Royalty has expensive tastes…”
“Whatever it is, it must be really good.” She licked her lips.
“Let’s try it!”
All four nodded each taking a small drop of the Slug Jelly.
[You have obtained Treasure Sense]
The Fennec sniffed at the air furiously; the perk piggybacked on their sense of smell. They sniffed at each other.
“I smell it! Do you smell it?”
“I smell it too!”
“Do I need a sand bath?”
“It is us who smell!”
Their noses weren’t lying, the treasure was right Infront of them. The treasure they found was nothing else but the treasure of friendship.
…
The Oberon Tunnel was super convenient, the otherwise long and windy trip through the Undermountain was now straight and short. The Spider King emerged at the other side; he was at the outpost beside the entrance to the mountain. The outpost served as a type of logistics base, storing food intended for Drow, Kobold, and Human consumption, primarily TomGrape. But also, it was the place to store and sort the goods coming from the mountain.
Aside from the massive warehouse, there was another landmark of note. It was the Living Wood tree, it grew to a rather giant size, no doubt all thanks to the water of the Mana Spring its roots had tapped into. The tree provided an extremely valuable material, at least to the Scorpion Klans, the Living Wood. Understandably, the tree had to be strategically harvested for that. It was a limited resource, so cutting it down entirely was never an option. Instead, parts of bark and branches were harvested and then the White Sprigans would use Grow to repair the damage over time.
Of course, the tree was unique and bore no fruits or seeds. But was that a hard rule written in stone? – Of course not. Some time ago, the Spider King used Mutate on the tree trying to fix that. At that time, it looked like a failure since the name of the Living Wood tree didn’t change, but later it became obvious that the perk did work. The tree had grown fruit, but it was very slow at that task, not even Grow could speed the process.
Hence why the Spider King was standing below the tree giant and looking at the branches high above. He was looking for fruit, last time he checked they weren't quite ready.
“I wonder, if they’re ripe already.” He strained to see. “But it looks like there are fewer than before, did someone already take a few?” It was always an option. “Well, I guess they’re ready.”
He would shake the tree to see if any dropped, but the trunk was too broad for that.
“I’ll have to climb and shake the branch. [Transformation: Spider].” He invoked a severely underused perk.
His body morphed into a spider form allowing him to scale the tree no problem. There on the thick branch, he had a better look at the yellow orbs.
“They look like apples.” He made that connection. “But golden. And they’re plump and ripe.”
He shook the branch he was on, and finally one of the fruits decided to drop. He jumped down using a freshly woven spider rope and picked the fruit.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“[Inspect].”
Fruit Of Knowledge: A golden fruit born from magic. Consume it to obtain 1000exp.
The description was simple, but the message it told was powerful. Farming exp was no easy task, but with this it was made convenient.
“And from now on, I’ll have to tell the spiders to keep an eye on it.”
Something like this is bound to be very desirable. But without further ado, he clamped his mandibles to consume the fruit.
[+1000exp], and then it asked him to put the exp into either of his Jobs. The most underdeveloped was Alchemy, so he channelled the exp there.
Apparently, this was enough to trigger another message.
[Congratulations! You have reached Alchemy lvl 2]
[Requirements have been met (Comprehend, Spidery Magnificent). Hidden perk unlocked]
[Perk Flawless Concoction obtained]
“Oh, sounds useful.” But he couldn’t rely only on the name, so he investigated the perk.
Flawless Concoction: The brews you make are flawless and perfect in any way granting them superior quality as the lowest starting point. Now you can eliminate unvented side effects and introduce the effects which shouldn’t be normally possible. As a bonus, you can’t fail at making a known potion.
All good and well, it’s just that he wasn’t practising potion-making that much anymore. All those duties were delegated to the Crimson Alchemist, but still, it felt nice to receive a new perk. However, the Monster System wasn’t quite done.
[You have consumed the Fruit Of Knowledge], [You can upgrade your Skill Tree].
“Why did that one have a bit of a lag?” He had to wonder.
Regardless, three upgrades were available to him.
🕸️Enhancement: Obsidian Armour
🕸️Enchantment: Dark Sacrifice
🕸️Modification: Monster Core
Those were the same old options he had before. He was leaning towards the Modification option.
Monster Core: A crystalline core forms within your body. It grows and evolves with you granting increased MP pool and new abilities.
But that sounded like another physical change, and he would feel better going through it while observed by someone, like a doctor. But since there were no spider doctors, not yet, his wife will have to do.
“Huh, so the fruits keep giving. I wonder…”
He shook another fruit from the tree and consumed it.
[+1000exp] – no changes there. He waited, but the system didn’t grant him another skill. Maybe it was just one per person, or maybe he needed to pick that Modification option and try again. Either way, more experimentation was needed. He shook the branches managing to get a few more fruits for future tests and then shadow walked the rest of the way towards the MegaFarm.
…
The Spider King broke the Shadow Walk only then he was right at the steps of Johny’s gazebo. Their eyes met for a brief moment. The humanoid slug had a rather delirious look on her face.
“Spider! I’m Bursting! [Jelly Jet].”
It hit his face dead in the centre skewing his balance and knocking him right of his feat, all six of them. It was obvious that with the existence of Jelly Jet, he didn’t need to be personally involved in jelly extraction. But life was never that easy, there were always clauses and circumstances.
He wiped the sticky substance off his face and only then did he return to his human form. A thing he should have done at the very beginning; an honest mistake. In his defence, the Spider form was just as comfortable as his human form.
“Oh it’s You, Now, Milk Me!” Johny demanded looking no less delirious.
The minute details of what happened next are best left unspoken. The cow, that is the slug, was tended to, resulting in an unusually large load of jelly. It just shows the importance of milking your animals regularly. In a somewhat jovial mood, the Spider King proceeded to walk to the vault to store the most precious extract in the entire Monster Kingdom.
It was then he noticed a somewhat peculiar sight, it was a guest he didn’t expect to see.
“Lord G Bling, what are you doing here?”
The spider in question, just like the King, also had a bucket in his hand.
“We just finished collecting the rainwater, Dark Water.” The spider chirped.
“We?” That was when the Spider King noticed a somewhat petite figure right behind the imposing spider. “Crimson Alchemist, you’re here too?”
The lady in question stepped forward to give a curtsy bow. “Yes, my King, I think we’re close in reaching a breakthrough.”
“Huh?”
The Crimson Alchemist explained to him that she has been trying to replicate the Spider-FizzPop™ without using the limited water of the Mana Spring. She just had a hunch that the Dark magic infused rain might be the key in solving this. But didn’t she have better stuff to do? – like managing the workshop to produce the potions for the upcoming war with the Holy Empire. Apparently not, she had produced detailed recipes and instructions for her workers to follow. And also, she thought that a change of scenery might help her and her husband to conceive a baby. In other words, she was on vacation, and the whole Spider-FizzPop™ business was only a hobby to kill time.
All of that was conveyed during their short stroll to the vault. Currently, the Spider King and his guests were inside and seated around the nearby table.
“I’m glad you picked MegaFarm for your vacation. We don’t get many tourists here since the place is rather rustic.” Rustic meaning that aside from farming and crafting there wasn’t any other stuff to do.
“That’s precisely why we came here. Even if the farm is huge, it has none of that jam-packed and busy city vibes. It’s rather relaxing.”
As the Spider King was listening he poured the two guests a drink each. He did so to show his humble hospitality and also because he intended to surprise them with the drink itself.
The Crimson Alchemist just kept talking embellishing the charm of the MegaFarm; likely somewhat artificially just to sound polite.
“… And it leaves us with plenty of free time to try for a baby.” She finished dropping that bomb.
“Oh, then perhaps I shouldn’t be offering you this.” He pulled the glasses away.
“What is it?” She asked now more curious than before.
“Palm Juice.” He replied.
As if misled by benign name the Crimson Alchemist downed the glass in one big gulp.
“Ah!” The Spider King didn’t even have time to warn her.
Her face developed an extremely funny expression, clearly, she was trying not to react to strong alcohol; she was ever the lady – so proper. But that face was just too funny not to laugh at.
“Ha-ha! Don’t look at me like that, I did try to pull the drink away.”
She took some time to recover and then spoke. “It’s rather good, no, I can see it being extremely popular. Palm Juice was it? Fiery but enjoyable, it just took me by surprise. Dear, would you like to try?” She offered the second glass to her husband.
The spider drank the glass, swirled the liquid in his mouth and then spat it back into the glass.
“Of course.” The Spider King replied in realisation.
The spiders were strict tomgrepetarians, even liquids such as juices were off their menu and that included alcohol.
“It’s good.” The Spider chirped simply betraying no emotion.
Understandably, after seeing their reactions, he had his doubts. “Really? Is it so?”
The Crimson Alchemist pushed her glass forward gesturing for more. “Yes, really.” A faint blush had already developed on her cheeks. “It’s strong and potent, there is nothing not to like.” She downed another glass. “Uff! However, it needs a chaser.”
He was genuinely surprised, even impressed, by her quaffing hard drinks like that. “Lady Crimson, I didn’t take you for someone who likes strong spirits. You look like a fancy cocktail lady.”
“Cocktail? I don’t know what that means, but I take it’s a compliment since you put it between fancy and a lady.” She smiled. “Those two always go well together.”
Apparently, cocktails might not have been invented yet. Was this an opportunity? – perhaps.
“A cocktail is a mixture of alcohol and other ingredients like syrup or fruits.” He explained.
“Isn’t that just a tincture then? We alchemists often use alcohol to make those. By the way, Palm Juice would be perfect for that too since the alcohol needs to be strong to dissolve the ingredients properly.” She explained it from an alchemist’s perspective.
“No, what I meant is something a bit different. Let me show you.”
He had to improvise on the spot, and so he used the ingredients close at hand. He filled the crystal glass half full of Palm Juice, next he dropped a mix of desert fruits topping it off with a generous amount of Nectar, then he decorated the top of the glass with a slice of TomGrape, and to finish it all off he dropped a single drop of Slug Jelly. He wasn’t making a potion but regardless of such reality the Flawless Concoction activated anyway.
“Ta-da! My first cocktail ever.” He marvelled at his own creation.
“This is a curious thing you made.” Lady Crimson grabbed the glass without hesitation.
“Wait I haven’t made a straw.” He remembered somewhat too late.
The Crimson Alchemist took a bold but small sip of the cocktail.
“It’s nice! And, unsurprisingly, it gave me that Error[System_Override]! buff, so how is this not a tincture?”
“Tincture is medicine, cocktail is something you enjoy?” He expressed his view on the matter.
“Ah, I understand it now, *hic*! I do enjoy this drink.” She continued sipping.
“Sorry, Lord G Bling. I might have gotten her hammered.”
“It’s okay, we still are only trying to figure out the baby-making.” He chirped bringing the important subject back.
“And how is it going?”
“[Inspect],” the spider invoked looking at his wife, “We speculate that her being under the Monster System might help with that.”
“That… that makes sense.” He admitted.
The Crimson Alchemist was now not a Human but a Corrupted Human.
The King Continued. “If she ever gets Evolve? tag, I can make that change permanent.”
*Hic*, “We’re working on that too. But the evolution avoids me, something must be missing.”
“Indeed, we still don’t know what causes the tag to appear. After all, Aurelius II and Elisabeth were unique cases.”
The two gave him a curious look.
“Oh!” The spider chirped after a pause. “You mean the Radiant Angel?”
“Ah, *hic*, so that’s who! And here I was thinking this Elisabeth was his *hic* secret lover.”
“Me too.” The spider admitted.
The two were clearly reading too many strange books, but for some reason he felt compelled to defend himself. “I’m a faithful husband!” He shouted out mock offended pushing the nearby jelly bucket deeper under the table.
“Anyway…” He changed the topic. “I have stumbled onto something very special.” He took the Fruit Of Knowledge out of his inventory. “I wonder if this will be of any help.” But also, he was curious if it would also grant them a free skill like it did to him.