The Centauri Champion was holding the Cream Cheese recipe in her hand, the paper was slightly crumpled from her tight grip and her face was flushed red from embarrassment. This was wild, how is it even possible to confuse Cream Cheese with making babies? The recipe is for cheese and not for that type of activity!

“I don’t know how this happened. I was talking about making food items from milk. About dairy products.” Albeit, admittedly, they would be using her milk for that, so maybe this was the root of the misunderstanding. “I’m sorry for the confusion.” He bowed in apology.

She looked at him dejectedly, after all, she had come here after doing extensive preparations. Because of that she still had to ask. “Does this mean you don’t want my child?”

“I’m sorry, I have a wife.” He said so but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t humbled by her honest feelings.

The centauri snorted in anxious disappointment. “Can I still make the Cream Cheese? The item, not the foal. Please allow me at least that.”

“Ahh, I thought that…” That after the rejection she might not be up for the task anymore. “Sure, I would be honoured.” He nodded happily.

She shook her head with a neigh. “No, the honour is all mine.”

“I already look forward to it.” He imagined all the delicious cheese deserts.

“But if you ever want a child to serve you, my King, I’m all yours.”

Here we go, she’s blushing again. The Centauri Champion was a woman who jumped from one emotion to another in a matter of seconds.

He didn’t want to give a strong reply so that he wouldn’t hurt her pride again. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

He didn’t expect a strong response from that cheap line, but the Centauri Champion gave him a broad grin and nickered happily at his words. Maybe, he shouldn’t have given her any false hope, but it was too late to take those words back. They looked at each other without saying a word, the silence was intense but not unpleasant. Misunderstanding or not he now knew how she felt about him.

He bowed again to express his gratitude. “Thank you again.” He voiced it.

“For what? I’m just doing my duty.”

“For everything…” He straightened his back. “Now, if you don’t mind…” He implied it was time for them to part, after all, the situation was becoming risky.

The Centauri Champion was still looking at him with passion, her long eyelashes were fluttering wildly with each blink, her body emitted a pleasant fragrance, she was dressed provocatively, and he already knew how her delectable milk tasted. This centauri knew where to strike for a critical hit. He was taking lethal damage.

“I understand.” She bowed deeply exposing her weapons. And then she left the office with a giddy frolic.

“Phew, this was dangerous” He slumped back to his chair. “I blame you, Fertility Potion. I might need to regulate the substance; it makes the women go crazy.” He considered it but only offhandedly.

Anyways, it was time for him to reunite with his loyal wife, and maybe release that pent-up frustration. Just as he walking through the Fire Lantern lit corridor a familiar message popped into his vision.

[Chaos Blessed activated], it was a long while he saw this one. Ever since he unlocked the Monster System, the perk remained docile.

[Farming +25000Exp], [Farming +40000Exp], the lumps of generous experience meant that the eggs in the Egg Hatchery had hatched.

“But the spiders hadn’t laid any, it’s not their time…” these weren’t spider eggs. “The Lamia Eggs are hatching.” He began rushing to the Egg Hatchery. “No, I need to get Lamia Queen first.” He turned around and sprinted to his bedroom.

He opened the doors dramatically, his lamia was sprayed all over the bed. There was only a nightgown on her body. She looked so invitingly defenceless, but…

“The eggs! The eggs are hatching!”

She blinked sleepily. “Sss?”

“Come!” He urged. “No, you’ll catch up. See you there.” He remembered he didn’t need to walk like an average person. “[Shadow Walk].” He disappeared.

“What’s the excitement about? It’s just eggs, sss, it’s not like he gave me any to lay.” Regardless, she slithered out of the bed lazily.

The Egg Hatchery was underground and away from the harmful sun rays, there were no less than five hundred eggs stored. A cloud of darkness entered through the thin wall from above and condensed in the middle of the dark room. “[Dark Flame]” He spoke as soon as he was out of the Shadow Walk. The magical flame allowed him to see the hatchery and wasn’t harmful to the eggs.

He saw thin snake-like forms slithering between the broken eggshells, some were still in the process of breaking through. All was fine, of course, it was, he was here because that perk had triggered. It often brought some strange and unforeseen changes in his life. And also, there were two bouts of Exp messages which meant…

“[Inspect].”, he targeted the lama hatchling with bluish-grey skin.

Monster Race: Serpentine

Variant: Cave Lamia

Magic Affinity: none

💪🐍

HP:10

MP:5

STA:15

Active Perks

[Camouflage]

Passive Perks

[Minor Regeneration]

Resistances

[Cold Weakness: Medium]

And then he targeted another, the one which was almost pitch black. “[Inspect].”

Monster Race: Serpentine

Variant: Chaos Lamia

Magic Affinity: Dark

🕸️🐍

HP:8

MP:12

STA:10

Active Perks

[Illusion]

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Passive Perks

[Reflective Scales]

Resistances

[Cold Weakness: Medium], [Dark Resistance: Lesser]

So, yeah, there were two variants. Just at a glance, it was clear that there were less of chaos variants around, maybe at the ratio 1 to 5. If so, hatching a single Chaos Lamia gave him +250exp and Cave Lamia +100exp; the reason that one number was higher than the other was obvious, Chaos Lamia was a superior variant. Well, the stats were way too low, and the perks were lacking, but they were still in their baby forms still, surely those will grow with time.

“Sss”, “Sss”, “Sss”. The lamias pooled to his feat and hissed. Was this the equivalent of the human baby crying and demanding food? He didn’t know, that’s why he had called for his wife.

Speaking of which. “Sss-so they had finally hatched, sss, [Identify], [Identify]”

For some reason she used the archaic remnant Identify instead of proper Monster System’s Inspect. And here he thought Identify was for items only.

“SSS!” The Lamia Queen hissed sharply. “We must kill the black ones.”

These words startled him so much that he almost jumped. “What do you mean? They’re just babies!”

“This sss-should not have been possible... The babies somehow changed in their eggs and turned into an unknown variant. It’s good you called me here. SSS!” She bent her back to grab a black hatchling, but it promptly slithered away from her claws.

“Yeah, but why kill them…” He was still startled by her crazy words.

As if aware of the threat all Chaos Lamia shimmered their otherwise black scales in all colours of the rainbow, and just like that their appearance changed to their more pale siblings. It was now impossible to tell them apart.

“Illusion magic, sss! You will not escape, [Identify].”

“[Inspect]…” He tried again and again but couldn’t tell the two apart. Everyone now was just identified as Cave Lamia.

However, Queen Lamia’s Identify must have been able to pierce the illusion. She managed to grab one of the hatchlings. “Got you! You won’t be able to hide!” She squeezed.

“SSS!” The hatchling hissed in pain.

He wasn’t going to stand and watch something like that. “No!” He grabbed his wife’s hands and pried the baby away.

“Why are you being so cruel? Explain to me!”

“They are not my blood. SSS! They have changed.” She hissed.

“So what?”

“I’m not their Queen. They won’t recognise my authority, sss!”

“So what?” He repeated.

“What do you mean sss-so what?” She reached to grab the hatchling back.

“They’re just babies! I don’t think they’re evil just because they have a chaos tag next to their variant. Johny is a Lesser Eldrich and she’s just fine!”

“It’s-sss not about the tag!”

“So why? I don’t understand.”

“…” She was clearly agitated but chose to say nothing.

“Please explain to me.” He begged setting the startled baby down.

“They won’t recognise my authority, sss, ever! They’ll grow and then a Chaos Lamia Queen will form…”

He was listening, but still he was struggling to understand her anger. Saying another ‘So what?’ might just provoke her anger again. “Why is it bad?” – so he asked it slightly differently.

“SSS! You’ll have to marry her then, won’t you!”

Wait… Was this just because of jealousy? If so, she had some serious issues. But even then, she was his wife and he still loved her even if she was a baby-killing monster. Honestly, normally she was a good wife so maybe all he had to do was reassure her.

“Even if it comes to that I won’t marry the hypothetical Chaos Lamia Queen. I have you and it is enough.” He reasoned.

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Then I guess they can stay.” The anger disappeared if it never was there.

He felt it was appropriate to say it now. “My dear wife, sometimes you are just too scary. You can’t go on a rampage and kill babies. That’s just evil.”

“I can’t say I’m sss-sorry, but I’ll let the chaos hatchlings be. But dear husband, you should know that Lamia aren’t too friendly with other Lamia of different blood. If it’s not us, it will be the Chaos Lamia who cause trouble.”

As far as he saw it, the blood was the same, it was only their variant which changed. But hey, apparently the Lamia were rather prejudiced even against their own. But maybe this was just how monster races were. Competition was necessary for survival especially when the resources were strained. However, there was no shortage of food in Spider Kingdom, he knew there was no cause for hostilities.

“If there will be problems, then I will deal with it. Bad comes to worse, I’ll just place them further away from MegaFarm. Even if you can’t be their Queen, I am still their ruler. I won’t marry their hypothetical Queen, but they will still have to listen to me and to you as my wife.”

“Okay, that might work, sss, but I can’t help but worry.”

There was no need. “How can I help you not to worry?” He offered because having her worried was evidently dangerous.

“Put an egg in my belly already. SSS!” She demanded.

Yeah… He could do that. But he was always hesitant. He too was flawed and had a lot of worries, especially when it came to children. He couldn’t help but fear that the child born would be some kind of a freak, after all, he was still part human, and she was a serpentine monster. What if the born baby would come out to be some pitiful mutant?

His worried face was an obvious one so the Lamia Queen asked, “How can I, sss, help you not to worry?”

“What if we make some sort of a monster? After all, I am a Monster King.”

“Sss-so what? We’ll raise it well.”

“And if it’s some Eldritch Abomination?”

“Even better, sss, it will be feared by everyone just like Johny is.”

That statement wasn’t true! Johny was the beloved hero of the Spider Kingdom.

“And if… if we just can’t make a baby?”

“Nonsense. I’m the Lamia Queen, sss, my body is fertile and sss-strong. And so is yours!”

It seems she didn’t have any concerns about that. And she was right, even if it came out to be some sort of monstrosity, he was positive that with the right parenting all would be well.

“I guess, there is no reason to neglect my duties. Yeah, let’s get a baby.”

“Yes-sss!” She launched herself for an embrace squeezing the King tight. “Let’s do it now.”

“Eh? Not here!” They were still in the hatchery surrounded by confused or otherwise scared hatchlings.

The lamia pouted. “Are you trying to go back on your word?”

“No, no… we can start trying as soon as today. Let's just get back to the bedroom.”

“Go on then.” She jumped to his arms expecting him to carry her.

“Okay.”

He silently apologised to all the hatchlings. They were obviously perturbed and hungry. While on his way to his royal bedroom, he’ll make sure to tell a spider to feed them. He might seem naïve and oblivious most of the time, but he did some research here and there. As long as the babies stayed out of light and were fed a daily ration of meat, they will be fine. Actually, they didn’t need that much of attention to begin with. In the natural environment, the Lamia would let them out into the caves to hunt for bugs and insects, and once they grew just a bit he would do much the same. They could even hunt the local squirrels; the fattened squirrels could do with a bit of running exercises.

Anyways, he rushed back to the bedroom.

…

*Pop – a loud popping sound reverberated through the air.

“It’s back.” A spider chirped with concern.

This wasn’t anything like the Shadow Plague, but one thing was obvious. Even if an extremely rare sight, the shadow creatures were back.

“This matter requires. The attention of the King.” The spider scuttered through the lantern-lit path towards the abode of the revered Spider King.

The spider walked through many corridors, all decorated and spruced up by skilled spider crafters. It was hard not to get distracted by a magnificently woven wall, woven yes, or the expertly carved IronOak door frame.

“Here it is.”

The spider finally arrived at the royal bed chamber, however, there were two lamia warriors standing beside the closed doors guarding it. The guards had funny expressions on their faces and were way too squirmy with their tails and even their spear-wielding hands were fidgeting with the spear shaft. It didn’t look too professional, or maybe the guards were complete newbies. The spider didn’t judge them too much, the spider knew that the Lamia, unlike spiders, weren’t born with knowledge and so they had to learn how to do things properly; it was understandable. They will get better with time.

The spider gazed upon the tightly shut door. Even if they were well closed the dulled sounds pierced the IronOak door. The spider couldn’t tell exactly what it was but It sounded like there was a party going on inside.

“I have a report. For the Spider King.”

The two lamias stepped closer to block the door.

“SSS-Spider,” one of the lamia addressed, “Spider Reports will have to wait, sss, the King is busy.”

The spider was aware of that, but it still had to give a report.

“I’ll wait.” It chirped simply.

The two lamias didn’t raise any objections. The spider waited and waited, but by the sound of it, the party only got more intense. No problem, if it had to wait the spider could do that even until the morning, but it was rather boring to remain still and in silence.

“I heard. There is more. Lamia now.” The spider mentioned the newest rumour.

As guards, the lamia shouldn’t be engaging in the idle chatter, but they too were bored. No, they were more than bored, they were bothered so a distraction was welcome.

“Yes, hatchlings hatched, our numbers go sss-stronger.”

“Yes-sss, most will become warriors.”

The two sounded very pleased about that.

“Warriors? But last time. It was mostly Lamia Servants.” Yes, the spider was sure of that.

The lamia came in three kinds, servants, warriors, and nobles. Much like spiders, the servants were smaller than their warrior brethren.

“Sss-Spider, you don’t know?”

The spider shook its head.

“We had a human to help us this time, sss, so it’s natural the warriors will be born.”

Oh yes, the spider heard that rumour. Much like spiders, the Lamia could lay eggs on their own, but unlike spiders, they needed a partner to seed the egg so it would hatch with the potential to become a warrior or even a noble lamia, otherwise, it would hatch only as a servant.

“I see. Perhaps, the stronger the partner. The stronger the egg?” It reasoned.

The lamia gave the spider an approving look. “Sss-so you understand. It is exactly as you sss-say.”

“Human Gareth. Is a strong human. Did well in the Darkness War.”

“Precisely, the warriors should be exceptionally vigorous, s-s-s.” The lamia guard hiss-giggled as if remembering something.

Another lamia butted in to add. “S-s-s, it’s a shame he left for the Dark Fortress.”

The spider heard about that rumour. Human Gareth didn’t just leave, he escaped to be away from Lamia. But the spider didn’t feel the need to correct them.

“How about. Human Bareth? He is strong too.”

“Sss, him? He has a bad taste.”

“Doesn’t even give us a chance to charm him with our gaze.”

“Yes-sss his eyes are only for Centauri.”

Ah, this was the only human who stayed. But apparently, Human Bareth wasn’t interested in seeding Lamia eggs. The spider learned a new rumour it didn’t know already. This was good!

“Does Human Bareth. Seeds only Centauri Eggs?”

The two lamia looked at each other.

“Sss… I’m not too sure. The Centauri hadn’t built their hatchery. Or anything like that.”

True, they didn’t have a building like that.

“And who cares about them, sss.”

“Well…” The spider heard another rumour, at first the spider didn’t quite understand it but after talking with lamia it did. “Just today. The Centaury Champion. Was here to seed her eggs with…” The spider paused for dramatic effect. “With the Spider King!”

“SSS!”, “No way!”

“Lamia, worry not. The King refused.”

They hissed in relief.

“But why worry?” The spider asked. “The King would make. An exceptional egg.”

“Not with Centauri, no, sss.”

The spider disagreed, it didn’t matter with whom, the King could definitely make an exceptional egg.

“Ah…” The spider sighed wishfully. “It would be good. If the King could seed. The spider eggs.”

The two lamia looked at the spider with unabridged terror in their eyes.

“SSS! The spiders are already too powerful!”

“Yes-sss, it would upset the balance.”

“And the King has the Lamia Queen. She can give him all the eggs he needs.”

“Yes-sss!”

The two spoke one after the other with a tinge of panic in their hissy voices.

“That’s just. A thought.” The spider shook its head. “In reality. It is impossible.” It chirped matter-of-factly.

“Sss…” the lamias hissed in relief.

Impossible, for now…

The spider ended up waiting for the party to finish all the way to the late morning. But it was okay, it picked up a few interesting rumours, and some ideas to share with the spider friends.