He and lamia had a small conversation, and only then did he realise how suspicious he must have came across. Leaving aside a tiny detail that he's commanding a small army of spiders, the claim that he wanted to go to the surface was unbelievable to the lamias. That was because going to the surface was the same as suicide; Lamia knew of the The Dreaded Place, it was a place unable to sustain life.

Another thing that didn’t add up was him travelling through Lamia territory. There were quicker and safer paths. But if he and the spiders were sent here by a third party, a party wealthy enough to provide supplies to traverse through The Dreaded Place, and if they were here to negotiate a deal with the subterranean factions – his story would add up; at least to the Lamia.

As convoluted and far-fetched all of this was, this wasn’t the end of it.

“What do you mean you aren’t the emis-sss-ary of The Demon Lord.” The lamia gave him a confused look.

“I know nothing about the guy!” He tried to untangle the misunderstanding. “As I said I live in the jungle, and farm my own supplies.”

“But nothing even remotely edible grows-sss there. The place is cursed-sss.”

“That’s just not true. You all have eaten a TomGrape, haven't you?”

“Is-sss there any other food?”

“Amm… Not really.”

“Okay, I believe you.”

“Really? Why now?”

Lamia didn’t elaborate on that, but, “We can sss-speak about the alliance if you take me to those farms of yours-sss.”

This just took an unexpected turn. “Well, I guess you can.”

“You sound sss-surprised.” Lamia judged his expression.

“I didn’t expect you to be willing to form an alliance, we didn’t have a good start after all.”

“We didn’t?”

It seemed that she thought otherwise.

“No. Well, yes… What I mean is you are escorting me out of the cave system.”

“Isn’t this-sss what you asked for, sss?”

“Yes… But If I can I would like to visit your place.”

“No!” Lamia said firmly. “First I sss-see those fruit trees of yours-sss.”

“Technically, they grow on vines.”

“Whatever.”

“But it's far, and I’m not sure I have food for all of you.”

“No problem, it’s-sss just me going.”

They have reached the exit of the caves. He thanked his luck for it being the same one he entered, otherwise, he would be quite lost.

Lamia winced at the stray sun rays hitting her face. “Let’s hurry to the trees.” She urged shielding her face.

He looked at the lamia again, it was obvious she was out of her element. Her posture was hunched and she kept turning her head as if she expected to be ambushed at any moment.

“You are quite brave to trust me like that.”

“I ruled you not to be a liar, sss, and I’m a good judge of that.”

“Yet still, you are surrounded by spiders and going who knows where. Does it not bother you?”

She frowned at the comment in displeasure. “So were you. You were lost in deep caves, were you afraid at that moment?”

“No, but I had my…”

She cut him off, “So neither am I. I can defend my-sss-elf. I am a warrior for a reason!”

He had a hunch she was more than just a warrior, regardless of that he wasn’t trying to agitate her, quite the opposite. “What I wanted to say is that I admire you.” That didn’t come out right. “I mean, I admire your strength and resolve. Your ability to trust others is refreshing.”

“Are you trying to flatter me?” she hisses with a tinge of embarrassment on her face “Why?”

“No, I’m just being honest. And apparently often misunderstood.”

“The barrier between races is not easy to overcome.”

He didn’t expect that nugget of wisdom from her. “I guess you are right.”

…

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

The trip back home was one filled with trials and tribulations, but not the usual kind. To cut a long story short he had made another friend.

“This is it.” He pointed at the blue webs in the distance.

Hundreds upon hundreds of webs on which the vines of TomGrape grew.

“Unbelievable!” Lamia slithered in a hurry to inspect the webs.

“Ah, hey…” He didn’t think that was a good idea. “Wait!”

Lamia ignored him leaving only a trail of crushed leaves behind her. He didn’t know Lamia could be such fast runners. And despite his worries, the farm workers chose to ignore the intruder.

“So. Yeah, this is where I grow the fruits.” He said proudly after catching up to her.

“But there are sss-so many!”

“I know, that’s why I was thinking of trading them.”

“I am sss-sure that can be arranged.”

“Really?”

“Yes, but I would need to sss-speak with my mot… The Queen first-sss.”

“Of course. There is more I would like to show you.”

Finally, he had a chance to gloat about his hard work to someone else, after all, he was very proud of his farm. So he gave a small tour.

“The cloth you use is also interesting. Does it have magical properties?”

“It doesn’t get dirty, but I don’t think this is magic.”

He displayed what he meant by pouring some muddy water on the fabric, the muck just slid off.

“It looks-sss like magic, but I wouldn’t know. I don’t have the identification sss-skill.”

“Me neither. Is it something the Queen would like?”

“I would need to bring the sample.”

“Yeah, sure.”

They went through other bits and bobs on the farm, the only thing he didn’t show was slug jelly; he didn’t have enough of it even for his personal use anyway.

After the tour was done, for one reason or the other, lamia didn’t wish to stay over for the night.

“I must go back-sss to my people.”

“It was a pleasure meeting you.” He smiled yet was slightly sad to part with his newly made friend. “See you soon?”

“Sss-soon, yes.”

“Well then, if you must go, please let my guys escort you.”

“No, need.”

“I mean, they’re going that way anyway. Making a delivery you see.”

“A delivery.” Lamia looked with one eyebrow raised. “To whom-sss?”

He had forgotten a small detail he had found from this lamia during their travel chat and almost made a critical mistake. To put it mildly, Lamia didn’t like Kobolds.

“Erm… To my other allies.”

There was a pout on the lamia’s face but it disappeared in seconds and was replaced by an expressionless stone-like poker face.

“I didn’t know you had allies-sss already.”

He shrugged. “My goods are just that popular.”

“It makes sss-sense. Then I must hurry and report back.”

She didn’t even wait for his spiders to escort her, which perhaps, was for the better.

…

He was sitting on his ‘throne’ and was doing a lot of thinking. If he wanted to grow his kingdom he needed to make allies, but there were a lot of issues with that. Obvious issues:

He understood that most people would dislike him just for ruling over spiders; King of spiders just sounded menacing. Which was so unfair, spiders were the best workers he could ask for.

He understood that others would judge him just for the fact that he lived in The Dreaded Place; The name alone sounded like trouble. He also understood that he had next to none of the experience needed in being a King and engaging in complex matters such as diplomacy. Just look at what happened with the Elves.

“How can I make this work?” He pondered out loud. “I want others to see that I am not a threat. I want to be able to form strong alliances. I want to be seen as equal, as a man to man and as a King to King. I want to be liked. I need that natural charm.”

“Au-Ra. Perk.” A chirpy voice suggested.

He had almost forgotten that his most trusted advisor (ex-Jester) was there in the throne room.

“An Aura Perk?” He asked unsure if such a thing even existed.

“Kings. Au-Ra. You. Have. It.”

That was wonderful praise, but it was clear he had no such perks.

[Perk Chaos Blessed activated.]

[Perk Aura Projection obtained.]

“Eh!” He screamed out in shock. The Chaos perk was broken, what sort of perk just randomly assigned him more perks? “I’ve just gotten the perk.”

“You. Had. It. All. Along.” The spider reaffirmed confidently.

He activated the perk receiving a proper message and all, but he didn’t feel any different.

“Can you feel anything?” He asked his best advisor.

The spider moved from side to side and then shook its head.

“Hmm… I want to be seen as good and trustworthy.” He tried to project such concepts as an aura.

“Yes. I. Feel. Aura of Frie-Nd.”

“Realy? But did it work? I will try something else.”

He did a 180 and wanted to appear as a monster, something threatening; it was quite vague this time.

“Sss-Sca-Ry.”

“It worked! I can be as complex or as vague as I want, but it still works. He can project all sorts of Auras. Isn’t it OP?”

“Is. Go-Ne.”

“Oh? So I need to be actively thinking about it to project the aura properly. Meh, a small drawback.”

He used the willing subject for further experimentation. By no means this was mind control or something like that, it was merely a suggestion. The large spider was scared but not terrified, and even then with some effort, it was able to disperse the aura completely. If he told the spider about the effects he tried to project the spider was able to fight it easily, but if he remained quiet or lied, the spider found it much harder to dispel the aura. Also, it was quite versatile, it could be used to unbalance his opponent (Scary Aura, Anger Aura), or it could be used to enhance the mood of others (Happiness Aura). Furthermore, it could even be used to communicate emotions or induce them into others. If he wanted others to know that he for example is anxious he could project an anxious aura. And the more anxious he truthfully was the stronger the skill would be.

The communication of emotions was where the strength of the perk was in. He could be fake or truthful about the emotion, however, if he was truthful it was so much stronger. To tell ‘I love you’ without telling you in words – was the real strength of this skill. He did just that to the spider, in a platonic way of course; he loved all of his spiders.

The result was interesting.

The spider made a buzzing sound like a bee and began to dance in an odd but adorable way.

“Tha-Nk, Y-ou!”

“No, you say ‘I love you too’.” He corrected.

“This. Is. Lo-ve?”

“Yeah, sort of.” He became kind of embarrassed about the whole thing. “You are like… kind of… like my child. So yeah.”

“You. Must. Show. Others!”

He was able to understand the spider's words better than before. He wondered if his language comprehension perk levelled up or something.

“I don’t know. I feel uncomfortable about this.”

“You. Must.”

It was clear the spider wasn’t asking, so he went outside and began projecting the aura of ‘I love you’. The spiders began flocking to him in hordes and chirped in unison.

He felt like a pop star on a stage, like the Pope in a mass, like the King in front of his subjects. The spiders were were totally charmed charmed by his presence. It felt good to have such a positive welcome, he felt adored by his people ­– a dream come true.

It wouldn’t have worked so well if he expressed himself only with words. Aura projection, even if it was just a suggestion in another’s mind, was still a powerful perk, and maybe, quite dangerous.