Waiting for nightfall was tedious, there wasn’t much to do besides hiding in the leaves and waiting. Still James used the time to explore himself a bit more. His body was so alien to him but he hoped with time he could adjust to the changes. Using multiple legs while moving felt wrong to him but he couldn’t deny the dexterity it offered, it didn’t matter if he moved forward, backwards, left and right or even upside down. His range of motion was phenomenal. This only got better because he could spin webs, using them as makeshift ropes or tie stuff together with it. Like the leaves that surround him now like a sphere, webbing used to form himself a hiding place.
Soon the light of day vanished behind the horizon and he made his way down the trunk, his sense for vibrations was excellent and locating the boars that slept against the tree. While he waited in the branches he made a plan. He was level 4, the system told him this was a territory for creatures above level 50 so he needed to be careful with his actions but there was a way to ensure victory.
His legs gently set down on one of the boars, its body pressed against the trunk to avoid the birds of prey, he moved over its back and slowly approached the face, his thin sharp legs making no sound on the way. He settled on the boar’s cheek, his legs feeling for its eye. He still hesitated but only for a moment. His legs touched the eyelid of the creature and he mentally nodded to himself.
Legs instantly pierced the boar’s eye, digging into it while he pressed his body into the forming cavity, the eye popped, fluid staining the fur of the beast as he crawled into its body. Of course the boar woke up, his eye socket only a flaming pain. But before it could warn its kin James penetrated its brain with legs and fangs. Pumping his venom into the poor beast while his legs rake at the soft tissue before digging into it. He felt the beast struggle to stand up, James damaging multiple important parts at once with his whole body, in hindsight it was a good thing he took the expanded medic course back in his world.
Soon all movement stopped and he pushed himself out of the boar’s body. His carapace was covered in blood and flesh but he didn’t have time to wait. He quickly moved over to the next boar, jumping easily on its body only to continue his gruesome work. It soon turned from careful thinking to a more mechanical approach, jumping at a boar, penetrating its eye, destroying the brain from inside and repeating it again and again. There was nothing heroic to his actions, something he felt as a soldier. But this time he killed for himself, to grow stronger.
Soon six dead boars lay around the tree, their corpses still warm and each of them missing an eye. Blood was flowing from those eye sockets while James cleaned his body while waiting for the system to respond.
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It seems you…found yourself some prey and killed it…efficiently? Good job?
You reached Level 10 in a gruesome way, your foes trembling before you, the one without hesitation. Stat points allocated automatically, Pending experience will be granted after your class selection.
Skill Upgrade: [ Venom II ] Venom is your preferred weapon, you strike your foe with one attack and let the toxins do the rest. +10% efficiently for your venom
Skill Upgrade: [ Vibration Sensitivity II ] Without your other senses being okay but far from good you rely on the vibrations of your prey to guide you. +10% range on vibration sensing
Class Selection: Locked | A place of power calls you, young one. Seek its master and destroy it. May you grow in power if you accept its call. Will you seek out this foe? Y/N
Companion unlocked: Advisor → You have been granted a companion to help you on your journey to the top. May his words be filled with wisdom.
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James looked at his notifications, it seems even the system was a bit worried about him after his killing spree. Still he reached his goal, felt the changes in his body. His carapace harder, his legs more agile when he moved. But having his class selection locked felt wrong, very wrong. Should he take the risk or decline it? He wanted power but was it worth it? He could die after all.
“I wouldn’t be worried about that master, I bet you can manage this foe easily.” A voice spoke in his mind, it was clearly male but he didn’t know where it came from. Looking around he spotted a small spider walking towards him, he was tiny, maybe as big as his abdomen. It’s body black with red eyes. It reminded James of a black widow.
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“So you’re my advisor? No flash of light, no rift opening in front of me or something, you just pop into existence and walk over?” he asked in his mind, looking at the small arachnid in front of him.
“Yeah basically, the system is not really flashy you know? My name is Joker. It's nice to meet you. It seems you took the challenge right? Well then let’s go!”
The small spider, Joker, jumped on his back and pointed to his left. “The dungeon is that way, a cave between two boulders.”
James felt lost, he thought he could kill beasts, level up and get stronger but it seems something was calling for him and the tiny spider knew the way. Like a good soldier he made his way towards that direction, climbing the tree and moving from branch to branch, around trunks and even using his web to shoot makeshift bridges when the gap was too big.
It seems Joker was a bit of a blessing, he told James about stats and how they affect you. How you level your abilities and also what possible evolution's could be acquired with specific conditions, such as killing a strong foe in a dungeon. He knew a lot about dungeons, there are two kinds of dungeons, one they form naturally around a dungeon core, an intelligent gem with magical powers that creates structures and monsters.
The other kind are natural dungeons, those form when a strong creature controls an area for a long time, stealing mana from them to create a space of control. It was easy to miss these because they can be hidden anywhere but the downside was that the beasts can’t leave again, bound to the dungeon.
Joker told him it would take at least a day to reach the dungeon so they continued on their way while talking.
“So Joker, tell me, do you know what class I could unlock when we kill the boss? I mean the system told me that it would grant me power if I seek it out.”
The small spider was laying on his abdomen, hitching a ride from his master. “Well, there are many possible classes, it depends on the boss, you know? Like maybe it throws fire at us or ice, it could also raise the dead or stuff like that. So you will likely get a class related to the type of boss.”
James wasn’t really which classes he wanted, everything was still new to him even if his training as a soldier helped him. Still he needed a plan of action for the future. First he will observe the dungeon, if nothing bad happens he could approach the boss and look for weaknesses. Maybe it was injured or weak to something. After that he could plan a strategy for the attack. With a checklist in mind he picked up the pace, there was still a lot of ground to cover and if he wanted to reach the boss in a day. Jumping to the next branch he felt something, maybe an animal roaming around? No, something else…
He approached the vibrations, quickly he noticed that it was two things moving, something making their way through the forest. He ignored the small spider tapping on his carapace to get attention because he left the path. Swinging to another tree he heard sounds, but not an animal, there was someone talking. It seems even with all the monsters around, somebody was brave or dumb enough to come here. Maybe he could learn something about the humans, it was worth a shot.
“Joker, change of plans we’re following those humans first. I wanna find out what they’re doing here. I need to learn about them anyway, after all I’m a monster now right?” he chuckled in thought.
“Alright master, but let me tell you that’s a bad idea if you ask me. Humans only mean trouble and death. No wonder they build such huge kingdoms and control most of the world. But if you want to follow them.” He grumbled and went silent, not interested in dying to some humans.
“Oh don’t worry, I’m sure they will be useful, after all I still need more EXP right?” He jumped to the next trunk and spotted the humans. Two men, wearing leather armor. One with a bow, the other with sword and shield. He finally picked up on their conversation.
“Tell me again Marcus, why do we need to check out the dungeon? You know what kind of stories they tell about the spider king!”
James would grin if he could. “Spider King? Oh tell me more~” and with that thought he started to stalk the humans. There was so much to do.