Moving through the trees, Vallynor surveyed the area and, realizing that there were no beasts around, he sat down on the ground and began repeating the information he had heard about the Butterfly.

After considering the situation, he summoned his book and began studying all the level-one spells. However, as he read the names of each spell, he realized that he wouldn't be able to learn them all in just a few days. So he decided to skip some of them and move on to the next pages.

Suddenly, he stumbled upon a spell called "Hand of Drainage". Reading the description, he understood that the spell drained the life energy of the victim and could even absorb mana, energy, and even nutrients, so there was no need to eat after killing an enemy.

"If only I had found this spell earlier, I wouldn't have had to eat this disgusting meat from these beasts," thought Vallynor.

After reading the entire page, he realized that the spell was not that difficult. To successfully use it, he needed to cover his hand with a cloth made of mana and necro-energy and give commands on what it should do.

"For example, I can use this spell to extract mana from an enemy. For this, I must cover my hand, as if it were an energy glove, and create runes. Which will be responsible for draining everyone I touch, except myself, to collect mana," he explained to himself.

It's a difficult process if you don't have experience working with runes. But I already have some experience, so I'm familiar with the difficulties. The ability to drain an enemy is very tempting, and the cost is not that scary. Of course, creating the spell takes a lot of energy, but to maintain it in an inactive state, almost no energy is needed. And when the spell drains an enemy, 30% of the stolen energy goes to sustain it, while the remaining 70% goes to the owner.

After considering all possible battle scenarios, he realized that he was lucky to have the book in his possession. If not for it, he would have already been killed by Arhana. Most of his ideas remained just thoughts.

As Vallynor meditated and restored his completely cracked and exhausted pool, he replayed the past battle in his mind. From his perspective, he realized he had made a lot of mistakes both in managing the undead and in the battle itself. When he found an error, he would contemplate and create different scenarios, but quickly moved on to another mistake. He was too weak and inexperienced in battles, except for battles in video games.

To his surprise, remembering how he played those games and used their tactics, he realized he could use them in the battle with the Butterfly. For example, in Dark Souls I, he knew that to win quickly, he needed to use magic and summon helpers.

Help. Remembering he had a quest to create strong undead, he immediately recalled the Spider Queen's sexy body. And when he thought she was destroyed in the explosion, his heart, which was no longer beating, filled with blood. Black, sticky, and bitter from the realization of what he could have obtained. Such bodies don't just lie around in this forest.

When he realized he had reached his limit, he opened his eyes and began training his "Hand of Exhaustion." After an hour of training, he stopped and headed towards the Butterfly's castle, which, according to the old lady and Farfalla's description, was supposed to be in the form of a four-sided pyramid temple. Instead of an island on top of the pyramid, there should be a flat platform with a sealed entrance.

Slowly moving deeper into the forest, Vallynor noticed that the trees gradually became covered in spider webs, and the further he went, the more webs covered the stone trees.

When he remembered how the spider army attacked him, Vallynor shuddered. He realized that if he had an undead army, he could defend himself. However, he was alone now and did not know what to do if the same spider army attacked him.

He stopped at a tree, sat down, and closed his eyes, meditating and restoring his mana pool. Then he continued training his "Hand of Exhaustion." After almost another hour, he stood up again and continued on his way.

This time he noticed some progress in his training, although very small.

He couldn't understand what the runes were supposed to do or how to make them connect with each other. But the spell could already be used, even if it would work like crap.

"Ah, if it were like the previous spells, I could have already added this spell to my arsenal," he thought.

As he walked further, more and more trees were covered in cobwebs. At some point, it seemed to him that everything around him was made of them.

Moving cautiously, he heard a strange sound. Slowly approaching and hiding behind a tree completely covered in cobwebs, he saw several small creatures caught in the webs. Their skin was black, so even the light that fell at an angle was reflected off it. Their long, sharp-eared heads were full of holes and bite marks. They looked very scruffy - weak, ugly, and their skin was wrinkled like that of old people.

These were goblins, now caught in the webs. They tried to free themselves, but did so very weakly, as if they had been trying to escape for days. But everything was clear.

Several spiders were slowly approaching the goblins. The goblins, upon seeing the spiders, were frightened and tried to fight, but the spiders bit them, injecting their fangs into their flesh. The goblins stopped moving due to the bites, and paralysis filled their bodies. Moaning in pain, the goblins could do nothing but silently suffer as they watched the spiders suck out their nutrients and energy again and again.

After the goblins became weaker, their emaciated bodies grew even thinner. Vallynor thought about his "Hand of Exhaustion" spell. Ideally, it should work like a bite from those spiders that have become weaker due to the spell.

But how to finish this spell? Watching, he pondered how to make it effective for exhausting its targets. At some point, he had a few ideas, and quickly sitting down on the sand, he began to recite the spell, creating runes both mentally and with the help of mana and necro-energy.

When he finished, he was disappointed, realizing that he had failed again. He felt that the spell was not fully formulated, as there was no surge of memory on how to use it.

"What am I doing wrong?" he asked himself.

Thinking about where he had gone wrong, Vallynor heard a weak, almost imperceptible sound with his right ear. Turning his head, he saw a spider slowly descending from a tree towards its prey. Looking at each other in the eye, Vallynor quickly touched the spider with his hands and made the spell suck all the energy from the spider, including mana, life force, and even nutrients. Fifty invisible hands came out of him, catching the spider and holding it in a death grip.

It was not a hasty decision. When Vallynor saw the spider in Vallynor, he knew he would have to fight them. Therefore, he had long prepared different plans for various possible scenarios.

When he found the "Hand of Exhaustion," he immediately created an action plan if he saw a spider. Seeing one spider, he caught it without hesitation. He stuck more than seven hands into its mouth to prevent it from calling for help. Every part of its body was tightly grasped, not allowing it to move a millimeter.

The spider looked distractedly at Vallynor, and its six eyes were full of shock as it looked at the enemy. It approached slowly, aiming to attack and kill him with one strike. But within a few seconds, it was caught.

Regaining his composure, the spider began to wriggle, trying to free himself from the enemy. Where Vallynor's hands were, the spider felt acute weakness.

Vallynor caught the spider entirely and wanted to use it as a test subject. He wanted to find a mistake and correct it. The best way to do so was to use it in practice. Just sitting and thinking, he couldn't find the answer. He needed practice. And when he directed the spell to "Exhaustion," he needed a specimen, and one offered itself.

The spider didn't even understand what it was going through. The next two hours were excruciating for it. Every five to ten minutes, the man touched its body, after which the spider felt weakness and pain. This slowly filled it with horror. And the most painful thing for the spider was that there were other spiders nearby.

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It felt very weak and couldn't even call for help. It could only watch as the spell was tested on it.

After over an hour, the spider's body fell to the sand, losing its soul, and then revived as undead - an eternal slave that had to obey.

Seeing the spider become undead, Vallynor nodded. His experiments paid off, even if he couldn't use the "Hand of Exhaustion" to its full potential. He could only use 80% of its power. He knew he missed something, but he didn't know what exactly. He was sure that the spell was not complete for one reason: the memories of other people did not appear when he used it.

He had long thought about who they were. And somehow, the answer always pointed to those necromancers. He still remembered the handsome man who said he had to take care of them.

"Wait, but how do we feed them and what will happen if we don't?" Vallynor spoke to himself but heard nothing in response. Previously there had been some noise from goblins, but now he noticed that everything was quiet.

Looking towards the spiders and goblins, he only saw a few cocoons left, and the spiders had disappeared without a trace.

"Where did the spiders go?" Feeling someone's gaze, he looked up, thinking that another spider was about to attack him unnoticed.

When he looked up, his dead heart skipped a beat. More than a hundred spiders were looking at him, ready to attack at any moment. Quickly calming his thoughts, Vallynor smiled. He had already expected something like this, but had prayed that it was just a thought. Apparently, it was not meant to be.

Quickly grabbing his swords, he prepared to attack. In the battle with the Butterfly, his scythe and weapons were destroyed by the undead's devastating attacks. And there was not much weaponry left in the ring. Holding the sword firmly in his hand, he summoned 50 soul hands.

In the next moment, the spiders swarmed him like locusts. Using soul hands, he either caught or attacked the spiders. Fortunately, they were weaker than the ones that had attacked his house. Their souls had a weak connection with their bodies, which proved that they died frequently. And that made it easier to attempt to take the enemy's soul during the battle.

If he was not fighting right now and sitting safely in that little house, he could easily take the souls of these spiders. But in battle, it was very difficult. But perhaps if the enemy's connection with their body was weak...

Spiders attacking from all sides of the stranger were sliced or fell to the ground, losing their soul. They quickly got up as undead. Using his experience with directing spells through soul hands, he quickly created undead.

Slowly, the spiders lost their advantage. But the problem was that no matter how many he killed or how many souls he took, the spiders kept coming. Even if they were weaker, they managed to quickly take the bodies of dead brethren to prevent the enemy from gaining a unit of strength in their army.

Feeling that the advantage was again shifting towards the spiders, Vallynor made the wisest choice. He turned and ran towards where the temple should have been.

In his mind, he cursed his misfortune and the spiders' cunning, as well as the old woman who said that she would not be able to talk to him for a while. Apparently, when he would be fighting the Butterfly, she would leave him.

Vallynor turned to look at the spiders as he ran deeper into the spider-infested forest. The number of spiders was only increasing, and many different kinds of spiders were joining the army of pursuers. They all wanted to tear apart the audacious human who dared to enter their domain.

When he saw thousands of spiders, like a carpet of leaves in autumn, his legs unconsciously began to run faster. Remembering how the spiders had tried to attack goblins, he did not want to be in their place.

"Where is this cursed temple? That whore of a goddess of luck doesn't even want to help a little..." But he quickly fell silent when he saw something black in the distance. Looking closer, he realized it was the temple he was looking for. "Did the goddess not abandon me after all?"

Running as fast as he could, Vallynor looked back at the spiders every few seconds and dodged flying web bullets. Cursing their accuracy in his heart, he tried to reach the majestic temple, which only seemed to grow larger before his eyes. He prayed to the goddess of luck that the entrance would be open.

However, when he reached the temple, his heart sank - the entrance was closed. Did that bitch of luck show him the finger? But he did not give up and turned to look or rather run. There were two more entrances around the temple, and when he turned the corner, he noticed one of them but could not tell if it was open or closed. Approaching it, he yelled:

"That ungrateful bitch," and in his heart, he began to pray not to the goddess of luck, but to find the other two entrances.

Continuing to run from the spiders, when he reached the edge of the temple, he noticed a third entrance. Approaching it, he yelled, "What the hell?" cursing the gods in his heart. Only one thing pleased him - the spiders did not crawl on the temple and did not try to surround him.

This time he began to pray for death and out of anger started throwing fire and necrotic spheres at the spiders.

When he reached the fourth entrance, he was overjoyed and began to cry. If he were alive, the entrance he had passed through would not have been destroyed, but would have remained open.

As he ran a little further, he turned his head and saw the spiders stop. The spiders, looking at Vallynor, hissed threateningly but dared not enter the temple and attack the enemy, after which he fell to the ground.

Even if he didn't feel physically tired, he couldn't say the same about his mental and intellectual state, running and dodging spider attacks. He also prayed for the mercy of death.

He realized that he had made a huge circle in vain because he had turned right. He had to run and risk more than if he had chosen to go left, cursing his misfortune.

Getting up from the stone floor, he began to look around. Seeing walls filled with drawings and words, he approached and began to examine them. On the walls were images of how people and other creatures cast various types of spells on a monkey... No, it was perhaps a gorilla... Was this the same gorilla that attacked him and then disappeared without a corpse after making a deal with the book?

Continuing on his way, he began to read the text written on the wall. Fortunately, the language was the same as that in which he read books and spoke to the old woman. "Great Lord of the Earth Element. Father of earth, stone and the embodiment of power. His name is Gar, father..."

The longer I read, the more I noticed that the text was written to exalt Gar - the gorilla that attacked the author. But despite this, I was able to learn many interesting facts from this text. For example, Gar had a huge harem consisting of both gorillas and women of different races, including humans.

Among all the useless information, I also learned that Gar was the first priest of the beast and learned to control the earth element, becoming a master of this style and receiving the title "Father of Earth and Stone."

Vallynor realized that this temple belonged to Gar, but for unknown reasons, it ended up in the hands of spiders and butterflies. Cobwebs and spiders had taken over the forest around the temple, and perhaps Gar's heirs still lived here.

As I read on, I discovered numerous stories written by different people, which I could tell from the handwriting and narrative style. The further I progressed, the more facts and stories there were.

Vallynor approached the first door and noticed small drops of dark-colored blood on the door, which he wouldn't have seen if he hadn't looked closer. The door had neither a handle nor a lock. After a few meaningless attempts to open it, he began to examine not only the door but also the frame and the wall. Next to the door on the wall, he noticed a magic circle with incomprehensible runes and several familiar ones, such as "hold," "seal," and a few more. Thinking, he touched the circle with his finger and directed mana into it. The circle lit up slightly, and then the door slowly opened. However, the smell of mold, which quickly entered his nostrils, made him grimace upon entering.

Inside, he discovered that all the furniture had been destroyed, there were many battle scars on the walls, and in the center was the corpse of a creature turned into minced meat. Rotten flesh fell off the bone fragments. Finding nothing, Vallynor went to another door and also opened it through a magic circle. Inside, he saw that all the furniture was intact, which puzzled him because he expected to see the same scene as in the other room or the big hall.

Entering and looking around, he noticed a bed, but unfortunately, it was too small for him. By the patterns on it, he realized that it was intended for a girl. Next to it was a chest, which he opened and saw many girl's toys. Closing the chest, he approached the table, which was covered in claw marks, as if beasts had sharpened their claws on it so hard that they even left traces of blood. The table was so blackened that it was clear that this had happened no less than several centuries ago.

He continued to observe, preparing to leave when he heard a knock. He turned to the source of the sound and saw the bed. Preparing his hands, souls, and swords, he approached it. But nothing happened as he approached.

Preparing for battle, he looked under the bed and saw a head but couldn't find the rest of the body. Instinctively, he looked up and saw the decaying body of the girl, which seemed to be held up by something.

Touching the body of the girl with his sword, he fell to the floor. Looking at the decaying remains of the girl, Vallynor felt a strange emotion. Pity and pain made him wonder why the girl had hidden under the bed until her death and what had led to such a terrible end.

After burning everything that remained of the girl with a fireball, he left the room, sadly contemplating her fate. He had new questions: if the soul doesn't reincarnate into another body after death, then what happens to the dead? Do they become fallen? What happened to this girl?

Inspecting the remaining rooms, Vallynor noticed that, like in the first rooms, all the furniture had been destroyed, and in the center of the decaying mess lay the minced body of some creature. Only in two rooms was the furniture intact, and there were no corpses. Vallynor even searched every corner, but found nothing but a few books on the cultures, morals, and magic of the land.

After inspecting everything he could, Vallynor couldn't understand what had happened in this temple. From what he found, it was clear that almost everyone had been killed by someone. The victims were human children and children of various creatures.

After calming down and clearing his mind and spirit of the invasion of dark feelings, Vallynor continued moving through the enormous corridor.

The corridor wasn't straight but at an angle, descending into the ground. This was confirmed by the staircase, which seemed endless but eventually ended.

Before him was a small straight corridor. On the walls, which were previously clean, were written bloody words. One word caught Vallynor's attention - "Chosen."

Was Butterfly not responsible for all of this? Perhaps someone else, who called themselves the Chosen One, attacked and killed. But why? Remembering the girl who had hidden under the bed, Vallynor asked himself this question.