The Fruit Of Knowledge was sliced in half, the two guests looked at the slice with wonder. Lord G Bling straight up devoured his half while Lady Crimson spent her time savouring and enjoying the magical flavour of the fruit. The Spider King looked at the two expectantly, but of course nothing happened.

“I guess we can’t game the system.” He voiced despite the curious looks he was getting. “Here have another half. That should do the trick.”

He sliced the second fruit, and only then did it work. Both of the guests had that undeniable feeling of bewilderment painted all over their faces.

“So?” The Spider King asked intrigued.

“1000exp and a new skill.” The spider chirped simply. “Transform: Araneus.”

“Nice! That must be something similar to mine Transform: Spider.”

Lady Crimson gave the two a questioning look. “Guys, what are you talking about?”

Oh right, she might have gotten something different entirely. “What skill did you get, Lady Crimson?”

The two men stared at Lady Crimson with child-like giddy in their eyes. “Hmm…” She began somewhat uncomfortably, “I’ve got no new skills or perks.” She said clearly feeling left out, but then she smiled. “But I did get that Evolve? tag!” She clapped her hands in joy.

“Finally!” The spider hugged his wife.

“That’s an important discovery!” The Spider King exclaimed. “The fruit can unlock the evolutions. This will be extremely important in the future.”

The two guests nodded in complete agreement.

“So, shall I do the honours?”

“No better time than now.” Lady Crimson flashed another smile. “I am so excited!”

“Me too!” Her husband chirped.

“Then, without further ado, [Evolve].”

And there it was, a third human he had ever evolved. It might sound wrong, but he was even more excited than the Crimson Alchemist herself. It was like opening a mystery box, but not just any box, this would be that gold and shiny ultra-rare legendary box no doubt. He couldn’t wait for the results.

The shine wasn’t legendary golden but magic purple instead, and right after the light dimmed there she was… At the first glace there were no physical differences, or it seemed to be so. The Lady Crimson was still in that petite and youthful body of hers but there were nuanced minute differences. Her red hair now had that fiery glow about them much like the cloth of enchanted robe. She was young so wrinkles weren’t apparent, but even the beginnings of those were completely gone leaving her skin baby-smooth and without a single blemish. Also, the last signs of the nasty burn scar were now entirely gone from her face. Moreover, eyes turned purple radiating the ever-burning fire of intelligence. And overall, she became the very definition of the youthful beauty. Everything about her just seemed … perfect.

“Truly, a stunning example of a noble lady.” The Spider King voiced out without realising. “Or is this just the Charm which is talking?” He checked his status, there were no such negative effects. However, the strange allure he felt towards her was undeniable. How inappropriate! Realising he was staring he averted his gaze only to look back at her again. “[Inspect].”

Lady Crimson just giggled at the antics of the Spider King, evidently, she enjoyed in making him to fluster. Regardless there was a system table to inspect.

“[Status].”, “[Inspect].” The two did just so.

Monster Race:

Corrupted Human

Variant: Alchemical Vessel

Magic Affinity: None

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🕸️🤱🕸️

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HP:100

MP:100

STA:100

Active Perks

[Synthesise: NutriMilk], [DeToxify]

Passive Perks

[Alchemical Womb], [Elixir Infusion], [Metabolise Toxicity]

Resistances

[Light Weakness: Lesser], [Elemental Resistance: Lesser]

Needless to say, she retained her Alchemy level and all the perks, but the new racial perks she just got were no doubt peculiar. To give short summary she could now empower herself with powerful elixirs, which would last longer and would be more potent on her then they normally would. She could also could drink no less than a figurative barrel of potions without needing to worry about the Toxicity; plus she had an active perk where she could detoxify her target taking their toxicity for herself. Synthesise: NutriMilk allowed her body to produce a unique type of food, the food was extremely nutritious boosting the growth of the individual, plus it could be safely consumed by anyone.

The last perk was somewhat disturbing. Alchemical Womb allowed her to receive the seed from any creature, including animals and even monsters, and grow a hybrid-human baby from it. For example, something like spider-human. Wonderful really, this was exactly what she wanted, but also scary. She was now able to birth monster races by her own, no need for the Monster King to evolve poor critters. Obviously, the hybrid baby would form and grow in her body, that’s why it sounded somewhat scary.

“This… this is…” Lady Crimson was overwhelmed by that realisation. “I’m so happy.” Tears of joy formed at the corners of her eye. “We’re very close to our goal. It’s at the hands reach already. We just…”

“Yes, my Dear.” The spider managed to land an affectionate peck on her lips.

Jee! Get a room already! Maybe he should leave the pair to it, but he was too interested in one of her skills; call it farmers intuition if you want. “Synthesise: NutriMilk, that sounds awfully like Produce Jelly. Could I see it?” He asked in the spirit of discovery.

The cheeks of Lady Crimson turned bright red. “You want to see it?” She asked sounding awfully shy.

“I too, am interested.” Lord G Bling also looked at her with a sense of wonder.

“Men be men… I guess since we’re all friends here,” she grabbed the nearby glass and turned around.

The Spider king couldn’t understand where that shyness was stemming from. Surely, she could just stick her finger in the glass to invoke the perk and conjure the NutriMilk with magic. That was how the perk worked, no?

Just after she was done turning around a corner of her dress slipped off, following that, there was a distinct sound of squirting.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Oh!” Instantaneously, he was ashamed of his own obliviousness and cluelessness. “I should have realised; the hint was in the name.” He muttered mostly to himself.

Lady crimson turned around, the top of her dress was back on, but her face was no less red.

“Here you go, my King.” She offered the glass filled with oddly purple liquid. “Enjoy?” She didn’t sound too sure about this.

He was too far in to refuse, and something else deep inside just kept encouraging him with ‘Just Do It!’. “Thank you, I will.” He took the glass and downed the strange liquid in one gulp.

It was pleasantly warm and thick and creamy in texture, but also it lacked any strong flavours or smell. He smacked his lips, unsure what to think of the entire experience.

[Buff Healthy Baby activated]

Right, so the cause of that was NutriMilk, it was obvious when you thought about it – the liquid was intended for babies. And for what it did:

Healthy Baby: your body is full of nutrients and the love of the mother. Your body will grow two times faster and your rate of skill learning is doubled.

He was a full-grown man, so no benefits there, tut the skill leaning thing was appreciated. A combo of the Fruit Of Knowledge and NutriMilk just became a total game changer here.

“My Dear Husband, would you like a glass,” she began with a cheeky smile, ”or a sip straight from the jug?”

Jee! Get a room already!

To his shock the spider went for the glass and not the other more enticing option. Much like the Spider King, Lord G Bling downed it in one gulp smacking his mandibles.

“I see.” The spider chirped simply. “I don’t mind consuming this.”

“Yay! We have spider’s approval.” He pumped his fist into the air in celebration. This was important milestone since the spiders were strict tomgrepetarians. But there was a thing to add. “Just leave some for future babies, alright?” He asked jokingly.

The joke flew over the spider’s head. “Of course.” He chirped.

Lady crimson shifted in her seat uncomfortably. “I’m glad you boys liked my milk…” Her shy expression shifted to somewhat unsightly one. “Oh my, this was rather obscene, he-he, let’s keep this between ourselves!” She squirmed some more. “Well… *ahem* you got to see my perks in action, so what about that Transform thing the two of you have? I’d like to see that very much.” She looked at the Spider King intently.

He wondered why her attention was directed at him and not her husband. “I’m also curious, should we go with the Lord G Bling first?” He offered.

She shook her head. “No, if you don’t mind, my King, I would like to see your’s first.” She fluttered her eyelashes.

“My transformation, that is?” He asked to confirm.

“Yes, I’m convinced it will help in my…” She paused looking for the word. “Research.”

There was no reason to deny her request. “I hope you don’t mind, since we’re all friends here…” He took off the more delicate parts of his attire so not to rip them, namely trousers. “[Transform: Spider].” His body shifted to a form closely resembling Lord G Bling.

“How cute! You even have a horn crown!” She made an unladylike but gleeful scream. “I see, I see…” She walked around him inspecting his body. “Do you mind if I… You don’t mind, do you?” She bent down shamelessly to check under his abdomen.

“Huh?” She went in and checked without even waiting for reply.

“Aha! So, you have it, but I wonder why…” She looked at Lord G Bling. “No, more like how can we… achieve the same level of anatomical correctness?” Her face tightened in deep contemplation.

There was no need to beat around the bush, Lord G Bling, being an egg laying spider, simply didn’t possess that kind of tools. But surely, the spider was working on it, right? No doubt, by next evolution he will have the complete set.

Or maybe… “Lady Crimson,” The Spider King addressed. “Perhaps we should let our dear friend here to transform as well. I just have a hunch.”

“Oh right. Sorry I’ve got distracted. Go on, Dear.” She encouraged.

“Transform: Araneus.”

The Lord G Bling’s body began to meld and shift to a more compact form. Six legs morphed to two, the otherwise bulbous and imposing spider abdomen shrunk to form a more compact rear, his broad thorax also underwent some changes making his chitinous chest less monster-like and more man-like. The head retained his spider features having mandibles and four yellow spider eyes. And there he was, this time more human than a spider.

“How marvellous!” She went closer to inspect her husband, then she peeked under the robes which didn’t fit him anymore. “Oh… oh-oh-oh…” She reached for a grab. “And what is this?!” She was clearly blushing. “A big, BIG boy!” She grinned.

*Ahem*, “Should I leave it to you then?” The Spider King asked uncomfortable.

Lady Crimson clapped her reddened cheeks. “Sorry! I’m so sorry, so unladylike of me. I apologise. “She gave a curtsy bow for an apology. ”Please stay, we have other matters to discuss.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Positive.” She said that despite unable to look away from her husband. ”No doubt, this is a joyous occasion, but we’ll commemorate that later in the evening… with plenty of Fertility Potion+. There is no need to rush, is there?”

Not really, no. Just like this, Lady Crimson obtained her permanent evolution, and the spider developed the power tools he needed to complete the job.

“So what else is there else to discuss?” He asked with interest.

Even if her eyes were still glued to somewhere else, she tried to continue the conversation. “Yes, the Spider-FizzPop™.”

…

Two spider and a lady went all over the farm gathering the ingredients.

Lady Crimson sighted letting out a deep breath, a sigh was a happy one indicating the end of their labours. “I think we have everything we need.”

The Spider King checked his Magical Inventory affirming that she was correct. “Let’s go to my alchemical workshop.”

He guided them to an entirely separate building. It had huge Corundum vats already brewing various simple potions, but also foodstuffs like TomGrape syrup. Incidentally, this was also the place where the Centauri Cheese and Drow IceCream was made.

Lady Crimson took the sight in with keen interest. “That is an impressive setup you have here.” She praised. “But, I can see the mistakes of an amateur. If you don’t mind, I can help you to set the devices better.”

Indeed, the eye of the master alchemist saw things than an eye of a novice couldn’t. She pointed out a lot of improvements and the nearby crafter spider wrote it all down on its notepad. With that done they moved to the task at hand.

Lady Crimson set all the ingredients on the nearby table. “Right, I shall lead this experiment, and you will assist me. It might be impudent of me, your servant, but I hope you understand why.” Despite sounding confident she looked at him conflicted.

“Of course, you’re the master alchemist here, I’m just level two. Lead the way, teacher.” He bowed with respect.

Lord G Bling simply silently observed the two to begin the work; Alchemy wasn’t his sphere of expertise. He was there mostly out of curiosity and as a moral support. But also, because his wife tended to explode her experiments.

First, they infused the Dark Water with TomGrape syrup. The process was harder than just mixing the two together, it required mana and specialised alchemical implements not to mention perks Lady Crimson possessed. Then it was mixed with special fungal powder produced by no other but the Myconid Queen. And then with just a tiny speck of Dark Spirit Stone the concoction was brought to twirling and bubbling motion.

“[Perfect Potion], now you.” Lady Crimson urged.

“[Flawless Concoction]!”

The two alchemical perks didn’t override one another, instead they worked in tandem to enchant the potion.

“Yes, it is working! With this we will have a base for future potions.”

He looked at the dark mass swirling inside the large alchemical flask. There was no fire under it, but the liquid bubbled violently. The flask was trembling struggling to contain both the liquid and all the pressure. The glass it was made was the superior Scorpion Glass and it was even enchanted with Reinforce; an overkill really. But even then, the glassware shook and began to crack.

“It will explode!” Lord G Bling stepped between the dangerous experiment and his wife.

“No, it won’t. Not this time, [Contain Reaction].” She pressed her hand on the violent flask.

As if calmed by loving and warm touch the beastly reaction was subdued, the violent bubbling subsided, and the flask was no longer trembling.

*Phew*, Lady Crimson released a breath of relief. “It is done! The potion is complete.”

“Well done, teacher!” He praised.

“And now for the test…” She looked for volunteers. “No, forget it. I have that Metabolise Toxicity, so its probably safest if I do this.”

There was no arguing with that.

Lady Crimson opened the small valve on the large flask poring the liquid into much smaller container. “Here it goes.” She ingested it.

Her eyes went wide, her hand covered her lips. She looked at the two with panic in her eyes.

*Bu-uuu-rp* – she belched for good five seconds sounding like a monster.

This didn’t sound good at all.

“Is it Toxic, or even Poisonous. No, don’t tell me, it is Draining?” The Spider King asked with worry.

Lord G Bling also looked at her with obvious concern.

“Oh my, excuse me!” She exclaimed. “No, it is… Delicious! We’ve have succeeded!” She poured a second helping. “Here, have a go.”

The Spider King took the flask, indeed, visually the fizzy drink looked just like the ever-popular Spider-FizzPop™, but it was the taste that mattered. He drunk it feeling that funny bubbly sensation on his tongue and then in his stomach. However, it did taste slightly different, not completely but the taste was nuanced.

“It’s just as good!” He concluded. “However, I think it’s not right to call it Spider-FizzPop™.” After all, the recipe was different. “How about we call this Spider-FizzPop Dark and the other one Spider-FizzPop Original?”

It was Lord G Bling who spoke up first. “King, the name is already too wordy.”

“I have to agree.” The wife jumped on to support that notion.

“Yeah, you might be right. So, what should we call it?”

“Just FizzPop is fine, or even Fizzy.” She offered.

“But then we lose the spidery part. My dear wife, I cannot accept that.” And it was the husband who rebuked her.

The Spider King couldn’t agree more.

“Then it’s a conundrum.” She developed an expression worthy of a deep contemplating philosopher.

Everyone was thinking.

Lady Crimson broke her contemplation to suggest. “How about Spizzy?”

“Ah, a compromise!” A combination of spidery and fizzy. “We can do that!”

“Yes, we can do that.” Lord g Bling chirped in agreement.

And hence so the slightly improved drink was christened as Spizzy. The only thing what was left was to set a mass production facility to manufacture it. Soon, thousands upon thousands of bottles will invade the Aurelian Duchy.

“Spizzy – new looks, improved taste. Simply perfect and just Spidery Magnificent.” The spider chirped.

“Yeah, we’ll print that on the bottle.” The Spider King nodded happy with the cheesy slogan.

With that done he left the Lady Crimson and the crafter spiders to work on expanding the workshop to manufacture the drink.

As he was heading back to his palace, he noticed a familiar contraption flying in the sky.

“Galleon Whale, they’re back.” He changed his course running towards the landing pad. “My fish must have finally arrived! This day just keeps giving.” He was positively salivating at the idea of fresh fish meat.