Several weeks after the evolution…
James woke up again, surrounded by darkness for a second time in his young life. He was confused, the conversation with the elder escaping his thoughts when he tried to focus on it. After a few times he just gave up and decided to open his status, a lot has changed for sure.
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Status
Name: James Wright
Race : Harbinger of the Endless Swarm (Stage One)
Level: 15
Biomass: 0/1000
Summon Limit: 0/150 | Lieutenants: 0/2
Class: [ Living Fortress ]
Titles: [ Killer of Kin ]
Deity: [ The Elder ]
Racial Skills: [ Venom II][ Web Construction I][ Vibration Sensitivity II ][ Swarm Consciousness I ][ Tactical Knowledge I ][ Eternal Offspring I ][ Eternal Lieutenant I ]
Class Skills: [ Diamond Skin I ][ Call for War I ]
You reached Level 15! Stat points allocated automatically! A new resource was added due to your race change!
Biomass → Consume flesh to gain biomass, biomass is used for summoning and activating skills!
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Alright it changed a lot. Race, Class, even his deity was decided now. He didn’t know what benefit the elder would bring him besides the race and class change but he would find out in the future, still first he needed to get moving. There was no time to waste and a lot to try.
He knew where he was after moving his legs a bit, just like his birth into this new world he was once again inside an egg. Piercing it with his legs he soon found himself back in the gloom of the dungeon. When he started his evolution he didn’t know what would happen to the spider king but looking around and seeing the walls of the cave painted in dried blue blood and chunks of flesh he could imagine what happened. He even saw some of the small spiders milling around, eating the flesh of their former king.
James stood up on his legs, noticing the change in perspective, his body has grown a lot during the evolution, he guessed his body would reach up to the knee of a normal human. His color also changed, gone was the dull black of his carapace, instead his shell took a blue hue. He thought this must be because of the [ Living Fortress ] Class.
He moved around the cave a bit, testing his new body a bit but it mostly felt the same except his speed. His body moved a lot slower but that was expected due to his increase in size and weight. James reached for a large piece of flesh with his leg, piercing it with the limb and pulling it towards him. It was time for testing and it seems without biomass that wasn’t possible. He digs in, eating the flesh of the former king. He was glad his sense of taste was so bad, it just felt like eating a moldy sponge if he was honest with himself. Still, he ate the whole damn thing and saw his biomass counter tick up.
What followed was multiple rounds around the cave, eating the spider king's remains or spiders that decided it was wise to get in his way. After picking the floor and walls clean he felt full. But before he could cast any spells something landed on his head.
“Master! You’re finally back! I thought I lost you to the spider king but after he exploded and that large egg appeared I knew you made it!” the voice of Joker filled his head but after the elder it was only a nuisance, one he could easily blend out if he wanted.
“Yeah I’m back Joker, glad you’re here too. We have much to do and many enemies coming our way.” James thought to his advisor while he concentrated on the [ Eternal Offspring ] skill.
“No shit, everybody got that notification, everything that has at least a bit of intelligence got it! You’re a harbinger now right? Well call yourself dead within a week if you ask me for my humble opinion. Even I didn’t know what would be offered to you and you..you just accepted this death sentence! Harbingers are killed as soon as they appear. I would say we’re fucked big time.”
Joker complained and only stopped when a small egg rolled from one of the many holes that now decorated James abdomen. It twitched a few times before a small black spider destroys the shell and looks around for a moment only to bow his entire body to James. “Your orders master?” it voice sounded cold and harsh. Like it hated everything.
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More eggs dropped from his carapace, multiple spiders erupting from those eggs and formed a loose ring around James and Joker. The former soldier would smile if he could, spawning his kin was easier than expected and the cost was minimal, maybe because they’re just basic spiders? He addressed them telepathically.
“Guard the entrance and if something comes towards this cave alert me.”
“Understood.” the spiders echoed in his head and moved towards the entrance. James spawned two more groups, one to venture outside and keep overwatch over their surroundings, the other one he sent into the many tunnels in the walls, hunting the spiders that populate them.
“Alright Joker, let’s go kill some monsters to earn levels and biomass. Should be easy with such a large force.”
“Sure master but you can’t, remember you’re a harbinger now. The bringer of ends and so on. You can’t earn experience from monsters.”
“Wait…what? Why shouldn’t that be possible anymore?”
“Well, a human harbinger can kill monsters to earn levels but because you’re a non-human harbinger, a monster you can only gain experience by killing enlightened races. Such as humans, elfs, dwarfs and so on.” Joker said, sounding a bit annoyed by his master.
“Shit, I think I need to find some humans then, those two idiots talked about a frontier town. Well, we can find it-”
“Master! Humans moving towards the cave! Roughly half a click away for now! We count five of them!”
James didn’t hesitate, his body moving instantly towards the entrance, he was still small enough to fit through the tunnel. He also didn’t have time to think about the fact his scouts used clicks to give him their distance. It seems some of his knowledge carried over to his soldiers. Moving out the cave he ordered the spiders still in the cave and entrance to follow him, there was now a mission and that was to not get killed. He felt his kin move over his body and vanish into his carapace, the class name living fortress now making a lot more sense to him. He approached the nearest tree and climbed up its trunk, it felt surprisingly easy to do so despite his size and weight.
Sitting there between the branches, high up on the trunk he looked down to the ground. The group of humans was approaching fast, their steps firm and with purpose not like the scouts from before. He could see that those people are trained properly, moving around with a sense of knowledge and experience.
When they entered the dungeon it was in an orderly fashion, two swordsmen at the front, someone that looked like a mage in the middle and two archers at the back. Vanished from sight James moved down the trunk, resting on a large branch and his spiders got to work forming a cocoon out of branches and webs, hiding them from sight. After they finished he sent them out into the surrounding trees, their small bodies easily traversing the forest like they lived here their entire life.
James decided this was a good time to try out his [ Swarm Consciousness I ] He felt the skill activate and his vision blurred before vanishing completely, but what he gained was a hundred times better than eyes. It was hard to describe but it felt like a real time satellite view. All the spiders feeding him information about vibrations they feel, what they see with their eyes, what they think and instead of being a mess of information it felt like a complete picture, a flow of information that gave him a 3D Model of his surroundings. He could even guide his soldiers through the connection, moving one or many spiders like he was controlling them directly or using thoughts to have them make their own decision on how to reach the goal. It was an incredible tool, one he would spend a lot of time with experimenting but for now he focused on the cave,
Sending two spiders inside they sped towards the cave and vanished, the image he got was blurry, two spiders aren't enough to map the cave completely, but at least he could see what was going on. The humans outlined in red, clearly his spiders thought they were enemies and his skill marked them like that. He couldn’t hear them but by their body language and gestures it seems they’re talking. One of the swordsmen threw his hands in the air, pointing at the corpse of Marcus and Sam. The others followed his fingers and shook their heads, turning to leave the cave.
They didn’t even notice his kin when leaving, their bodies now in better focus after entering his circle of spiders. James followed them with his small army, the group setting up camp on a small clearing near the dungeon. It seems they’re staying for the night. James giggled in his thoughts, confusing his spiders with it but he couldn’t stop himself.
It seems an old strategy could be used here, first with the boars and then with the king. They say eyes are the windows to the soul but James would use them in a different way. It was time to kill his first prey as a harbinger.