At some point Jake had stopped crying. He had been sitting there in silence for an unknown amount of time when his stomach growled, shaking him from his stupor. Jake opened his eyes and looked up at the large spider still pinned to the ceiling. His eyes hardened as he stared at the now dead, grotesque creature. The shock of almost dying, the pain from having to cut through his own leg, and the fear of the giant fucking spider had passed and been replaced with anger. Not at the almost dying, the spider or the pain, but at himself for being so weak.
“I’m pathetic…” Jake ground out quietly as the past scenes played through his head over and over again. He came to a realization: he had to become stronger. And he could in this new world.
“I will survive.. I will find Mare… I will find my mother… I will become stronger…” His voice came out as a whisper at first before slowly rising in volume coming out stronger and stronger. After he finished the last word a small bell sound went off in his mind. At this point he noticed the blinking notification bell in the corner of his vision. He now vaguely remembered the similar ding sound and the level up notification that he had closed after he killed the spider. Though, the term ‘killed’ was used loosely.
Yes, he had done the final deed, but without the trap, he would be the one dead instead. Though this was the case, he wasn’t ashamed by it. Jake came to the conclusion that he would use any means to survive and find his family, and he would get strong enough that he wouldn’t need to always rely on such methods.
It was time for him to continue on, to get stronger, he had sulked long enough. He opened his notifications bringing up the log screen first as he needed to go through them first.
You have received 3,337 XP (2,225 + 1,112) for slaying a level five Bladed Spider.
It had 8 eyes and still didn’t see that coming.
Congratulations you have leveled! Live Strong and Survive!
Congratulations you have leveled! Live Strong and Survive!
Congratulations you have learned the common skill Daggers!
You have a strong will! +1 to willpower!
“Bladed spider? Huh… Fits” Jake mumbled as he looked at the spider again. A sparkle had appeared in his eye as he noticed the level up. Even through all the hell he’d just endured, the excitement of leveling was still there. He was a gamer after all. He had even gained a new skill and an extra point to willpower. The willpower was probably from him developing a strong resolve to get stronger and find his family. He was excited to see what the dagger skill was.
Daggers
You like to poke things with pointy objects. Good for you!
Current Level: Initiate 1
Effects:
* Able to utilize a dagger slightly easier.
* Less likely to lower the durability of your daggers.
That seemed pretty helpful, though the notifications just weren’t funny. The knife he used on the spider now lay next to him with his blood mixed with green ichor now staining its blade. Jake reached out and grabbed it. The feel of the knife in his hand seemed more comfortable. He had a better feeling of how to hold it properly and found that he would be able to stab harder and faster holding it this way.
“This is pretty convenient. So it seems like skills help the user figure out how to properly do things.” Jake contemplated out loud.
He wiped the blade off on a piece of his shredded pants before sliding it back into the small leather sheath on his hip. With a slight grunt Jake stood up slowly, and tenderly placed weight on his leg checking if it was actually healed. He was happily surprised that it was back to normal with no residual injury or pain. Though, he looked at the now empty bottle a little conflicted. It was too bad that he’d had to use it already. He looked around the area quickly before moving all the items out from underneath the spider.
He then stepped on the pressure plate again before walking casually out from underneath the bladed spider. He’d learned from another spear trap earlier in the cave that if the trigger were pressed again the spears would slowly retract, without reactivating the trap. He had no way of knowing that the reason for this was because he had split the core. Once the core was split, taken, or destroyed, the traps wouldn’t be reset, treasure wouldn’t renew, and mobs would stop spawning, leaving only natural births.
The spider was slowly lowered to the floor as the spears retracted. Jake took a moment to examine the spider.
Bladed Spider (Deceased)
As this was the first time he’d used examine on a creature he was unsure if this was all the info he would get or if it was just because the creature wasn’t alive anymore. Anger flared up again at himself for being so weak and scared that he failed to use it on the spider when it was alive. The anger left quickly though, he understood that he couldn’t let his emotions get to him, that he needed to stay calm and focused. That is, if he wanted to stay alive. He would learn from his mistakes.
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Jake walked toward the now lowered spider. He really wanted to continue on but he needed food and even though the spider was the farthest thing from appetising it was also his best option at the moment. Not to mention he would have to climb over it to get past it. Even without the spider standing on its legs it was still a head or two taller than him. With some issues he was able to make his way onto its back. On it’s back the carapace was severely damaged, holes covered it in a grid like design from the spears, there were also several chunks broken and cracked apart with green ichor seeping out.
Jake’s face paled a little at the thought of what he was about to do. He bent down and pulled out his knife before using it to pry up some chunks of the carapace exposing the slimy meat below. He took a gulp of air and was surprised to find that it didn’t seem to have too much of a smell.
“Well that’s a plus.”
He spent several moments centering himself before he started to cut out chunks of the slimy meat. By the time he finished he had a small mountain of the stuff next to him.
“Okay, now the worst part.” Jake spoke as he looked at the pile. He really wasn’t looking forward to this part but the constant feeling of weakness was getting worse, reminding him of the necessity. He grabbed a piece from the pile and brought it closer to his face. The meat was a light pink and covered in the slimy green ichor. The green icor was bad enough, but the meat felt like a hard gelatin. This wouldn’t be a pleasant experience.
He didn’t hesitate this time knowing that he needed the strength to continue on. He ripped off a large chunk with his teeth before swallowing it whole.
The sensation wasn’t actually all that bad. When he was younger he had tried oysters and it was very similar to that experience. He hated oysters but the fact that it at least reminded him of something that was supposed to be edible was reassuring. It didn’t taste like that though, and it didn’t taste like chicken. It had an almost rancid spice to it. Not overwhelming, but still there.
He kept forcing himself to take bite after bite. It took going through a quarter of the pile for the malnutrition debuff to finally disappear; he felt much stronger. He’d been thirsty too, but the water source he’d found was hours back in the cave. It would probably be more likely to find another out in the cavern. He placed a skillet-sized carapace piece in his pack with the thought that it might work well as a cooking pan later as well as cover his items and hopefully protect them from the meat that he then placed on top. He was about to climb down the back end of the spider to leave when he stopped.
“Bladed spider…” He mumbled before looking back at the front.
He had just remembered the blades he had spotted on the front legs. They could be very useful, at least a better weapon then the short knife he had. Jake made his way back down the front and looked at the blades. They looked like the blade of a tachi sword he had once seen at a museum. The blade protruded along the underside of the legs. It didn’t look like it was solid with the carapace but like the carapace was pinching it, holding it in place, so it looked possible to remove.
The blade had a black sheen to it and looked sharp. The weird thing about the blade, though, was that it had small grooves running down its length. They were so tiny that he wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t been so close to see if it could come off. The grooves were the thickness of a hair and were spaced evenly across the whole blade, as if etched.
“I wonder what the point of these are..”
He put that to the side for now as he grabbed his knife again and started working it into the carapace, being careful to not touch the sharp part of the blade. Several long minutes went by as he worked the knife up and down the sides of the carapace. With some work he was finally able to pull the blade out. Fortunately, he’d figured out what the grooves were for. At the end of the blade that would have been closer to the body was a protrusion that hadn’t been visible when it was attached. On this protrusion had been a small slot where a sac was attached. Unfortunately, when he pulled the blade out it had broken causing a small drop to land on his finger which had caused his entire hand to tingle, nearly going numb.
When following the groves up they all met together at the point of the slot. It seemed that the sac had a paralyzing venom that the spider could use to coat the blade. The venom would then follow the grooves down the blade evenly coating it. This thought made him shiver slightly. The fact that it was a paralyzing poison pointed to the fact that the spider liked to keep its prey alive.
Another exciting discovery happened. The sudden tingling had caused him to drop the blade, which had been so sharp that it stabbed several inches into the stone flooring. The fact that the blade was very light but still stabbed so deep emphasized its sharpness.
He was excited to have such a sharp blade. The protrusion on the blade would make a perfect handle as well which allayed his earlier fear. Not only did he have one good blade but he would now have two. His eyes sparkled as he looked at the second blade still attached.
“This time I’ll try to keep the sac intact.” Jake happily spoke as he waited for his hand to return to normal. Having a paralyzing poison could come in hand. It didn’t take too long, maybe a few minutes, for his hand to return to working order. He went to work on the second blade, paying special attention when working the poison sac. After some careful work he was successful in removing both without too many issues. He also had an unexpected gain this time as well.
Ding!
Congratulations you have learned the Harvester skill!
Harvester
You have learned that you can find useful items in all kinds of places and you know how to harvest them! Someone else’s death is your treasure!
Current Level: Initiate 1
Effects:
* Able to notice useful items from corpses easier.
* Less likely to damage things as you remove them.
The large grin on his face showed just how much he loved getting new skills. After going through the new skill he examined the items laid out in front of him.
Blade x2
A blade harvested from the corpse of a level 5 Bladed Spider.
You require a higher Examine level to see it’s uses.
Poison Sac
A poison sac removed from a Bladed Spider’s fore leg. It has strong paralytic properties.
You require a higher Examine level to see it’s uses.
Jake took off his shirt which he then used to wrap one blade up tightly, but carefully so as to not cut his only shirt. He then tied it to his pack and softly packed the sac inside his pack along with the empty potion vial. He had originally planned to place the venom in the vial along with going over the spider again now that he had gotten the harvester skill, but some of the roars from the forest seemed to have gotten a little closer. He was worried that the smell of the corpse was attracting other creatures and he wasn’t in a position or ready to deal with them.
Once loaded up with a blade in one hand, he climbed over the spider and headed out again, being much more careful this time. At least that was his initial plan. A very faint glow came from the butt of the spider. He looked away towards the entrance and, not seeing anything, he went towards the butt real quick. He didn’t spend any time looking it over and just cut it out before loading it in his pack. He would look at it once he was in a safer location. As for where he planned to go, he hoped to find the spider’s lair. He figured that such a large creature had its own territory and lair. Which would mean most things would avoid it and would make it a safer location to make a base camp.
“Let's hope…” Jake mumbled as he headed out.