The spider charges towards me, heedless of its surroundings. Luckily for it, and not so luckily for me, the surroundings are a large clearing and a mountain wall. I throw out a [Slash], to make the spider think twice about its reckless charge, but the spider easily dodges. My [Danger Sense] flares, and I jump to the left, the spider’s now outstretched leg just a hair’s breadth away from touching my scales. I throw out another [Slash]. It hits, probably because the spider is so close. However, to my dismay, the Slash barely even puts a notch onto the spider’s earthen carapace.

I quickly start putting distance between me and the spider. To give myself room to breathe. The spider doesn’t follow me with anything except its eyes. I wonder if it can only run in short bursts? No, I shouldn’t make such an assumption. I run for a couple more seconds, before stopping and instantly using [Flora Camouflage]. I have to know if it can see me like this. If it can’t, then I have an advantage. The spider’s eyes start looking around frantically. Maybe I can actually win. It doesn’t seem to be able to see me.

However, just a few seconds later, something changes. The green flames in the spider’s eyes change into an ocean blue. Wait, that ocean blue reminds me of something. But what? My thoughts are interrupted by the spider’s now-blue eyes locking onto my position. Oh shit, it knows where I am. I dash to the right, my [Danger Sense] suddenly telling me to move. I also cancel the Flora Camouflage, feeling that now that it can see me, it’s useless. I jump to the side, but not fast enough. The spider nicks me with the edge of its leg. I can feel a couple of my scales crack and break as I’m thrown back.

OW! That hurts! I don’t think I should let myself get hit again. If it hits a more important part of me, like my brain or chest, I may die. But to ensure that I don’t get hit, I need to kill the spider. And I don’t have anything to hit the spider with, do I? I don’t think my [Plant Control] is strong enough to make the grass crush the legs of the spider, or anything, is it? Maybe I should try before discounting it as an option.

I stand back up. The spider is standing still, watching me. It’ll probably need a couple more seconds to reorient itself. Twice it has moved, and twice, it stops right after. I should have the time to try my idea, and to test my theory.

I move to the side slightly, and then use [Plant Control], just to see if there is any larger greenery for me to control. My skill locks onto a large root that’s right beneath the spider. Perfect! I can use this root to pierce and destroy the spider’s body! I maneuver the root through the soil. Once it feels like it’s just a couple of claw lengths until it reaches the surface, I stop, and start winding up the root. The spider begins shifting its weight, when I feel like I’ve finally built up enough strength to punch right through its carapace. I launch the root through the soil. However, something unexpected happens. The root goes right through the spider’s thorax, carapace and all. It screeches in pain, stumbling and unable to perform the jump it was gearing up for. Its thorax is leaking sand and dust.

Wow, that was much easier than I thought it’d be. It felt like there was barely any resistance! I think I still have enough energy to do that one more time. Maybe it’ll die if it’s hit in the head? By the time I’ve finished my internal monologue, the spider has recovered. It’s still stumbling around, but it’s quickly regaining its balance. I use my [Plant Control] again, searching for sufficiently thick roots under the spider. There aren’t any. I quickly check under myself.

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There is one that barely looks thick enough. It should be good enough. I check on the spider again, and see it almost fully tensed and ready to jump. I dash to the right, just as the spider launches from its position. It’s at where I was standing in an instant, but I’m already gone. The moment I feel the brush of wind from the spider’s movement, I stop running and turn around. Sure enough, I see the spider standing still, with its leg outstretched. I quickly take control of the root beneath the spider, build up some force, and launch it towards the spider’s head.

The root blasts out of the ground, and straight towards the spider’s head. The spider doesn’t do anything in response, only standing there and seemingly waiting for its death. The root goes clean through the spider’s head, and blasts it to pieces. The body of the spider collapses, while the head turns to dust and flies in a bunch of different directions. Wow, that was a really difficult figh- My thoughts are interrupted by the spider’s corpse moving slightly. Why is it still moving?! I blasted its head off! If it can survive without a head, how am I supposed to kill it? Well, it does look a lot weaker. Maybe a couple of [Slash]es will kill it? Well, it can’t hurt to try.

I quickly calm down and come up with another idea to kill the spider. I ready my [Slash] skill, and use it twice, sending one from each of my claws. I feel significantly more exhausted than a second ago, but my adrenaline is keeping me on my feet and ready to fight. I’m momentarily surprised when, a second later, the slashes cut right through the spider’s abdomen and thorax, and the carapace that seemed so difficult to break before shatters like glass.

The spider starts bleeding more sand, and stops twitching. This time, unlike before, I can tell that it has really died. The ancient aura that had been weighing down on me the entire battle disappeared. The spider’s corpse dissipates, the sand being blown away by a light breeze. All that’s left is a small, glowing green crystal right in front of me.

Well, I guess I can test flying now. Although, what should I do about this crystal? As I think that, I feel an instinct to jam it underneath one of my scales. Wait, I recognize this feeling. Is this the thing that told me to run in the beginning of my chase with the vulture? The thing that inspired my Danger Sense? Also, I think I felt it in the beginning of the battle. Was this what it was reacting to? Well, it hasn’t led me wrong so far. I pick up the small crystal, and jam it underneath a scale on my abdomen. I immediately get some system messages.

Defeated [Younger Minor Earth Elemental - lvl. 12]. Experience is awarded for defeating an enemy.

Equipped [Younger Minor Earth Elemental Core]. Stats increased:

STR: + 4

END: +4

VIT: +4

[Younger Minor Earth Elemental Core] has fundamentally changed your being. Stat growth increased!

Congratulations! You have received your first Stat boost!

Congratulations! You have received your first body-altering item!

2 skill levels gained. Advanced [Passive - Danger Sense] to level 4.

1 skill level gained. Advanced [Plant Control - Minor] to level 5.

1 skill level gained. Advanced [Flora Camouflage] to level 2.

2 levels gained. Level advanced from 10 —> 12.

Endurance raised by 1.

Woah! I just got a ton of notifications. So that creature was an Earth Elemental? It was pretty strong for being a younger and minor creature. Also, I didn’t know that there were ways to increase stats besides levels and skills. Although, I guess it makes sense that there are multiple ways to increase stats. Well, besides increasing them naturally, I guess.

I wonder, though, what would happen if the stat-boosting item got taken away? Then again, the core isn’t just a stat boosting item. It’s also a ‘body-altering item’. Maybe that means it can’t be taken away? I should probably check. It would be bad if it just fell out, and then all my stat boosts suddenly disappeared.

I crane my neck around to check the scale I tucked the crystal under, and am surprised by its new color. It softly glows the same hue as the crystal. The glow on the scale is uniform, so it’s not like the crystal is just glowing underneath it. I guess that’s what the notifications meant when they said body-altering. That it would merge with me in some way, shape or form.