It was a rainy morning. I had opted to leave early since the clouds looked like they would only turn darker. One of the farmers confirmed it with his Skill. The day would see a storm and it would not get better before noon of tomorrow.

With my metallum, ordo, and vitreus form it was no problem to fly through the rain. The only problems would be visibility and winds pushing me off course, especially if the storm picked up. I half thought it was Stormbringer passing by but he was not due for another two months, potentially even three. No, this was a mundane storm. Unless some thaumaturge had figured out how to manipulate the weather. And I was on my way to meet the most likely candidate for that.

I took it slow and almost got lost in the winds so it was almost six hours later that I found Selene’s nest again. The node was a beacon to my senses at least. There seemed to be some magic going on but nothing that would create a storm like this. I would have expected the majority of the aspects used to manipulate weather to be tempestas and maybe aer. Some aqua, potentia, and praecantatio on top of that, maybe?

I cleared my head as I landed. The entrance had been expanded slightly, leaving more room in between the webs to move things inside. Or outside. I found a dry nook underneath an overhanging rock and reached out with [Telepathy]. A few minds were immediately obvious. Combine with my [Owl Senses] it was clear there were souls sitting still just in the shadows behind the opening.

Deeper in it was more difficult to figure out where the spiders were. But I managed. And then I found Selene. Her soul was so much larger, it practically blinded me. How I was unable to immediately spot it from where I was, I could not tell. Then it hit me. I was not seeing the size of the soul. I was seeing the energy of it. The vis it could use or was using and maybe even some part of the system.

~ding~ Congratulations! For advancing the Skill [Telepathy] past the first Breakpoint you have gained bonus experience.

~ding~ You have reached level 103. Attribute Point allocated. 1 Attribute Point awarded.

… oh. That was… easy? Granted, I had been using the Skill for about a year, now. The new perspective of using it to find other people was apparently enough to Breakthrough. And it even gave me a race level.

I quickly invested my free Attribute Point into Wisdom. The automated one went into Perception. That… made sense with how I gained the level. More interestingly, the Breakthrough also altered my Skill. It was now called [Sensory Telepathy]. I quickly pulled up the description.

[Sensory Telepathy]: You trained your soul like a muscle. You know how to stretch it and find others to connect to. You can use it to communicate on a much more intimate level than simple words. Or just have a perfectly private conversation.

1st Breakthrough: You no longer need to connect to find another soul. You will always be able to see them, as long as you focus. Increases range based on Wisdom.

The first part had not changed at all. That was a good sign. I had almost expected I would automatically share senses with my target. It seemed like it was just an extension of my [Owl Senses] in that it let me see souls based on their vis. And a range extension. That latter part was very interesting. Instead of the previous ten metres to connect and 100 metres to stay connected, I noticed I could easily talk to Selene right now. And she was at least fifty metres away. I would have to experiment a little.

I noticed some movement inside the spider nest. Sadly, I could not detect the bodies themselves but only where the souls were located. It took some extra concentration to realize the huge number of very weak souls all over the place. Those had to be the non-sapient spiders. If that was the case the Skill might not be very reliable for the wilderness. Then again, a place without any sapient control might have a ton of animals in control of nodes.

The non-sapient spiders were the ones moving the most. They were crawling around, a few of them snuffing out when they walked near one of the sapients. Were they… eating each other?

Before I could freak out, I activated my [Sensory Telepathy] and connected to Selene while fading out the sense for detail.

Suddenly, there was a screaming hiss and the whole nest froze.

“I’m sorry, Selene”, I sent, “I did not mean to scare you.”

“Arrrgh. You very much did. Thank you. Where are you, even?”

“In front of the main entrance.”

“I… see. Are you dry?”

“Yes.”

“Then give me some time to finish this project.”

“Of course. I don’t think I’ll leave in this rain so don’t rush.”

I kept the connection up as she showed no intention of keeping me out of her mind. The nest resumed moving a few moments later and I saw Selene taking a few steps as well. There were a few shifts in her vis over the next hour or so but nothing major. I simply rested in my nook and enjoyed the noise of the rain pattering on stone and grass.

A few minutes after her vis had stilled, Selene spoke up again.

“This is meaningless. I can not figure it out.”

“If I may suggest taking a break? I have a few things to talk about. Maybe getting your mind off your work will help you find a new approach.”

“Mhm. Might as well. I will be right with you.”

The spider moved through the nest, taking a winding path. She was likely following underground tunnels to reach the entrance. A minute later, she emerged. I hooted a greeting at the eight eyes peering out from the darkness. Two pedipalps waved an answer.

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“You are well hidden there, Owl.”

“My name is Fio if you don’t remember.”

“Apologies. I do not much care for names.”

“That’s fine, then. I have travelled the human plains.”

“… is that so? Have you met those cretins from the church?”

“Yes. They ended up asking me to help them.”

“Oh? Out of ideas, are they?”

“Yes and no. There are some options but the most feasible one is still very destructive.”

“So they showed you. The Devourer.”

I nodded.

“What do you think?”

“Something will be done. I heard you had a disagreement about the action necessary.”

“Yes. Sadly, I no longer have the resources to realize it by myself.”

“Taint?”

“… indeed.”

“That is the last resort. If there is no better option feasible in a decade, they will take that path.”

“Oh? Have the idiots passed away?”

“Pretty much. The Cleric I talked to was rather old and only ever heard of you from his master and some books.”

“Then what do you want from me?”

“For one, I wanted to make sure you don’t take action by yourself. We have some more time to do research.”

She scoffed.

“Research what? How to have a tea party with the Devourer?”

“… that’s not all wrong. Only, the Devourer will be the tea.”

I saw one of her pedipalps twitch.

“Oh, that… I want to see that.”

“The plan is to somehow drain it. We’ll need to deal with the flux and vis as well as get in range but… it would be better than tainting the whole world.”

“Blegh.”

“More importantly, we have a specimen to research on. A hungry node popped up on the dwarven border to these mountains. It’s much smaller. The Church wants to send a squad to research it. We’re getting the dwarves on board as well, hopefully, and the goblin village that lived there with their local thaumaturge.”

“… what does that have to do with me?”

“How much experience do you have with taint?”

“I know more than anyone else.”

“Then it would be good to have you there in case our methods fail. We could figure out how to taint a smaller node and how to fix it afterwards.”

“That will not be possible.”

I tilted my head.

“Because we have no silverwood?”

“No living silverwood trees. Or shimmerleaf. Those are your only options.”

“Have you fought taint?”

“No. It can not be fought. It can only be contained.”

“How?”

“Surround I with living silverwood trees. Or plant ethereal bloom.”

“Which is what exactly?”

“A plant made from shimmerleaf, sano, auram, and vitium.”

“So… you need taint to get rid of taint?”

“Correct.”

I shuddered.

“Silverwood only helps when it grows. And ethereal bloom will welt within a month.”

“And yet, you want to taint the Devourer.”

“There is no other way. You can not get close enough to drain or destroy it.”

“I understand that. From a mundane perspective, at least. Are you interested in helping with the research?”

“… I am considering it.”

“It will likely take a year before the post is ready to be used so no need to rush.”

A pedipalp twitched.

“Now, can I help you with your work?”, I asked, “Or should I just sit out the rain?”

The spider retreated into her nest.

“Come in”, she sent.