The evolution came with an increase in power, well he couldn't fly or shoot lasers out of his eyes, but he was stronger, less easily tired and had more mana; a lot of mana.

“Are you ready?” He asked the spider.

The spider nodded with resolve.

“[Evolve], [Imbue].” He activated both of the skills at the same time. He felt his mana take a significant dip, and most importantly, he didn’t pass out or anything.

As for the spider, it was showered in purple sparkles which sunk into its body. The spider absorbed them all and then began glowing by itself in equally purple light.

“Evolving!” It chirped.

The light disappeared, and the spider didn’t look physically transformed.

“So? Anything different?” He asked the spider with anticipation.

“Magic. Obtained.” The spider chirped happily. “Dark Magic.” This was the affinity he’d imbued the spider with. “And Spells.” The spider’s body grew wisps of darkness fluttering all around its body.

“A cloaking spell?”

“Better.” The spider disappeared and appeared behind him. “Fast. Travel.”

It was able to hop between the shadows, it looked like teleportation, but was slightly different. At longer distances, he could see a small blob of cloudy darkness zooming through the air, it was fast and very hard to see.

After a few more tries, “Out of. Mana.” The spider chirped in disappointment.

He patted the tired spider on its head. “This is amazing, I have a spider mage now!” And why should he stop at one? “Go ask your friends if they want to be mages too.” He took a Mana Potion and drank it all.

[Debuff: Toxicity +1], a message informed him. He shrugged it off, it was a small price to pay and he felt that this body can take it.

He evolved the spiders one by one gaining Toxicity +10. He felt sick and there were even physical signs of the potion abuse, his skin took a sickly colour and even the blood in his veins carried a shade of toxic green, not only that, he could barely walk.

“Enough, for today I guess.”

The rest of the spiders chirped in disappointment. He underestimated the number of friends the spider volunteer had.

“Tomorrow.” He promised and wobbled back towards his palace bedroom.

Only time and good rest were effective in getting rid of Toxicity so he took a much needed nap.

His sleep was interrupted by a disturbance carrying itself out just outside his doors. His spiders never were this loud, so he went to investigate. There in the hall, he saw little Lamia hatchlings riding his spiders and carrying some sort of a mock battle. It was good that spiders were willing to play with the kids, but this wasn’t the time or the place. He shooed the troublemakers outside, telling them not to play in the corridors.

“Why aren’t they supervised by their mothers.” He spoke out loud to himself. But maybe it was for the better because he thought that the spiders were good role models after all. “Maybe I should let them teach Lamia children…” That way the kids would have to do something better than run and break things all around. “Maybe I will.” It was surprising how fast the hatchlings were growing; they were already past the size of an average human toddler. But was it really up to him to tell Lamia how to grow their kids? “Well, I’m the king so.” He nodded and went to find the Lamia Queen.

But there was another motive, it was related to magic.

He had the scrolls the Drow produced, perks obtained using enchanted materials and the means to make alchemical potions. With Fire Spirit Stones and Ancestral Tree Amber he was in control of three affinities. However, there was one more he was interested in, It was Lamia’s Charming Gaze.

He found the Lamia Queen busy in her room, doing exactly nothing; she had a pouty look on her face. This was likely because he had assigned a spider peacekeeper to be with her; He had a bunch of those guys patrolling the farm, keeping the order around. The spider had a stick and it was not afraid to use it to restore order. Was it okay to do something like that to a guest Queen? Well, he had the authority, and it was the friendly lamia who suggested this. Since then Queen Lamia’s behaviour improved by leaps and bounds.

She was pouty but she obviously tried to hide it. “Hello, sss. How can I help?” She asked politely, but refused to look him in the eyes.

He explained the Lamia hatchling situation, and the Queen just told him to do 'whatever'. She was oddly uninterested in it so he moved to the next thing.

“I want to know more about your Charming Gaze.”

This time she met his eyes, there was a hint of surprise and confusion in them. “Why?”

“I’m curious that’s it.” He told a half lie. While he was conflicted about the ethics of such magic, it was still a weapon; if used right It could become useful one day.

“Hmm…” The Queen tried to read his intentions.

Apparently, a half-lie will not do. “I want to learn about it, so I can resist it.”

She sighed. “I’m sss-sorry I’ve tried to use it on you, I truly am. Sss, I know it was wrong.”

He wasn’t here for another apology. “So is it some sort of a secret weapon the Lamia have?” He tried to urge her to disclose the information.

“No, not at all…” The Lamia Queen began explaining.

The Charming Gaze was a unique racial perk, the strength of it varied between the Lamia but all had it. It wasn’t something you could learn or inscribe into a scroll, you were born with this ability. Actually, it wasn’t that powerful, because charm wasn’t mind control exactly, and this particular perk had a lot of drawbacks. First, the lamia had to be very close to the prey and eye contact had to be maintained for a while for the Charm to take effect. Secondly, it didn’t last for too long, minutes at best. Lastly, the subject of the perk would remember everything that happened. Creatures with high willpower would be able to resist the charm completely. Typically it was used to hunt animals and other small prey and to make them harmless while lamia consumed them.

“Naturally, not everyone has the talent to use it on people. Sss, but I am sss-special!” She raised her chin up all proud of herself.

“So that's how it is…” So it was unlikely he would be able to weaponise Lamia as his charming platoon of trade envoys.

“…And, it’s possible to develop resistance. SSS.” She hissed meaningfully. “Es-sss-specialy if it’s you.”

“Like Charm Resistance?” That sounded awfully useful.

“Yes-sss, if you expose yourself to it many times-sss you will gain a resistance.” She told him sagely as a wizened old man would. The wizened tone didn't fit the otherwise childish appearance.

“I’m interested in getting it.” He gave the spider peacekeeper a meaningful look. “If you’re willing to help me.”

“But of course.” She hissed giving him her best smile. It looked predatory for some reason. “Shall we start now?”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Yes, I have all day.” And he knew she wasn’t busy either.

“Then, just look in my eyes-sss. And try to resist it for as long as-sss you can. [Charming Gaze]” Her eyes glowed.

He felt being absorbed by the gaze, his mind clouding. He fought it as long as he could. And then he found his arms wrapped around the Lamia Queen.

*Bonk – the spider peacekeeper broke the charm.

“Sss!” The Lamia hissed rubbing the top of her head.

“I think you should break the charm yourself. It would save you from the stick.”

“Sss.” She nodded in understanding. “[Charming Gaze]”

They were at it for a long wile, sometimes a spider would need to interfere. He wondered, maybe the Queen didn’t have as good a control of the charm as she claimed to have. But also he began to wonder about something else…

*Bonk – The Queen was hit again.

“SSS!” She swiped at the spider with her hand trying to deflect the stick.

Well, the spider bonked too late because he had just kissed The Queen.

“Does this have to be so intimate?” He asked because every time she charmed him he was implanted with urges that weren’t his own. Not that she wasn’t pretty, but still…

“No, it doesn’t.” She hissed glaring at the spider.

“Then why?”

She looked him directly in the eye. “Because I like you.”

At first, he thought that she was just toying with him, but she did sound serious and in that tense moment of silence, he could see that she developed a blush. He was trying to process the weight of the situation. The Lamia Queen broke the eye contact and instead began to fidget with her fingers.

*Bonk – a spider bonked. But this time it wasn’t the lamia who received a punishment.

“Ah!” He yelped rubbing his head. “The confession was so sudden it surprised me. So you like me?”

She looked at him again. “Very much so. Sss, I love you.” There was no charm magic at play, but at this moment her face was very charming.

As women came she was pretty and all but the feeling wasn’t exactly mutual at this point and saying ‘no’ could spell a disaster; she was a Queen after all, but also she was young and inexperienced. Also, the alliance might just get ruined by the rejection; that was because it was unlikely she had the maturity to deal with it. But was he against it, against the more close relationship, not particularly, no. Well, in life he tried to remain honest so, “I don’t have the same feelings. But…” maybe something can bloom, “we can get together and see where it goes. If that’s what you want.”

Her eyes sparkled with happiness. “There’s no way you'll be able to resist my charms-sss.” She realised that it didn’t sound quite right. “I mean, sss, my natural beauty and flawless personality.” She hugged him and leaned closer puffing her lips out for another kiss.

It was moving a tad bit fast, but he didn’t deny her something as simple as a kiss. Actually, the one where he wasn’t charmed felt much better. And it was likely that Queen Lamia thought the same because her cheeks were a deep shade of red.

“We marry tomorrow. Sss. I’ll go and get everything ready.” She practically sprinted out of her room.

“Marry?” He didn’t remember mentioning that, ‘dating’ was on his mind, if even that.

While, yes, that would give his Spider Kingdom strength, permanently allying the Lamia and the Spiders. There were serious issues with the whole thing. The Lamia might have unique customs of their own, but to put it plainly Queen Lamia was still immature, mentally at least.

“Marriage, huh…” He repeated it again and then he realized that he didn’t feel an overwhelming urge to run and fix this misunderstanding. It was to his benefit to strengthen the bonds between the two people, and he will be able to guide his Queen on a better path from the one she was leading now, plus he will have full command of the Lamia Warriors. All he had to do was remain moral and wait for Queen Lamia to 'grow up'.

“I need to prepare too.” He decided to go with the flow and craft something nice for a ceremony or whatever Lamia had in mind. He felt that a nice tuxedo should do.

…

It was impossible to fit everyone in the throne room so the ceremony was held in a field. The spiders did well to decorate the surroundings with pretty flags and patterned webs. None needed seats to sit, the spiders watched from atop the webs stretched between the trees and Lamia were curled below them in neat rows. There wasn’t a chance for him to see all of his people at once, and now this was it. With spiders and Lamia, there were over ten thousand spectators, the latter being the minority as of yet, but still, it was a spectacular sight.

He wore the tuxedo he managed to make just in time, the colour was the now iconic blue and he encrusted it with numerous precious gems making it quite extravagant and sparkly. He was standing on a stage, next to him was his trusty advisor and spider warrior leader. The spider warrior leader was a huge guy and at the moment he was quietly crying, tears of joy obviously, until now he didn’t even know the spiders could cry.

There in the distance, he finally saw her, the Lamia Queen, she was accompanied by her servants carrying tall huge umbrellas. She too wore something special, but it wasn’t a dress he would expect or a dress at all. Her chest was adorned with numerous necklaces, mostly made out of animal teeth and bones, but there were emeralds too. Actually, she was covered head to toe in various primitive jewellery, and there was no actual cloth but there was enough trinkets to cover that which was important; a stark reminder that Lamia weren’t exactly civilised. The jewellery chimed loudly, no, it was made to sing. She slithered in a special way dancing and all the sounds came together to form a harmonic music. He had never heard anything quite like it, it was very unique.

The Lamia Queen slithered closer with more vigour, the tones of the sounds changed sounding almost intimidating. The other lamias joined in the sound slamming their chests with a fist and ground with the butt of the spear; the spiders soon joined in. She slithered on the pedestal and began circling around him, the radius was getting smaller with each lap she made and the ‘music’ more intense. Needless to say, he was a bit clueless about what was happening, no one informed him of this. He stood there waiting for Lamia to finish her dance. She got close and then spun her tail around his feet leaning her body next to him. Everyone stopped making noise. Their eyes met, he detected a hint of nervousness in her look, but she was smiling, her face was getting close and he puckered his lips ever so slightly ready to seal the deal… but then the Queen Lamia bit his neck drawing blood. He pushed the pain away, being able to tell that this was a part of the ritual.

Everyone was watching intently. He had a feeling he was supposed to do something, but saying “I do.” didn’t seem to be it.

“Bite me.” The Queen whispered.

He nibbled at the pale skin of her narrow neck.

“No. Sss. Harder.”

He bit to draw blood.

“In blood, sss, we are joined together.” She hissed loudly to everyone.

“In blood, we are joined together.” He repeated hoping that the hiss was not a necessary part.

The Lamia Queen nodded giving him a bloody smile and then she kissed him, with tongue and all. It was longer than he expected and way too vigorous. Serpentine tongues were scary! He held his breath for as long as he could, responding to the bloody kiss. Everyone clapped and cheered them on. He had to pull out before he fainted from oxygen deprivation, or bled out to death from his neck. Yeah, definitely not a normal human wedding.

He looked at that oddly ecstatic face, she was smiling at him and blinking happily. “You are mine, sss.” She hissed wiping her mouth and then pressing herself closer. All of that jewellery was a tad bit pointy, but he couldn’t complain, this was oddly exhilarating. He reached for the two holes in his neck, they were already closed and he felt strangely invigorated.

“May Lamia and Spiders rule forever!” He announced.

The crowd hissed and chirped in united agreement making the ground and air tremble at the strength of it.

“Let’s feast, sss!”

Everyone moved to devour a literal mountain of food pilled further away from the stage. There were mostly fruits, but also there were other things like forest bounty, cave mushrooms, juice and even roasted boar. He was happy to see everyone eat together and enjoy this celebration. Despite the differences, the Lamia and spiders now seemed to be inseparable like the bestest friends.

Queen Lamia cuddled up to him, “I have sss-something for you…” She sounded shy all of a sudden.

And then he remembered, he had made her something special. He didn’t think the Lamia would wear wedding bands, and he didn’t want to enforce that human tradition, but he did prepare a wedding gift.

“So do I.” He pulled a set of items from his inventory. “Here, for you.”

The first one was Fire Elemental Armour – an item crafted using Fire Essence, a chest piece. He used Red Cloth, Enchanted Leather and Enchanted Metal to make it. He made it as feminine as possible, with flowery decorations and patterns, but the main purpose was protection. The equipment was of masterwork quality and had numerous perks bestowed upon it: [Bastion], [Negate Fire] and [Fire Proficiency]. The latter was still a mystery but it had something to do with fire-related magic.

The second one was a Nature Tiara crafted using Ancestral Tree Amber, Iron Oak, Emeralds and Enchanted Leather. He used the gems because the amber dissolved during crafting to enhance the tiara. It also was only of superior quality but the perks in his opinion were good: [Regeneration], [Spell Deflection], [Growth: Minor]. The last perk was passive, and for what it did, as far as he could tell it increased the experience gain.

Judging her passive expression she wasn’t impressed with the first item, and mildly interested in the second. Well, maybe he should have put more thought into his item choice. But these were very practical items!

“Thanks-sss.” She thanked him regardless. “But my gift is much, much better, sss.” She boasted confidently. “Come.”

She was dragging him by the hand towards the palace.

“What is it?” He was awfully curious.

“Sss, it’s a surprise.” She urged him to follow.