It took me several hours to be able to walk without tripping over my own limbs. The best I figured out was to move each limb one by one, alternating sides. Everything else felt unnecessarily clumsy. I managed to explore the ritual room at the same time.
The room itself was built in the same style as the rest of the ruins. The high ceiling arch reminded me of some old cathedrals I had visited. The spider iconography was much more pronounced than outside, most of the finishing touches were engraved with webs and the like.
At the center was the ritual circle. When I examined it, the magic seemed to be gone for good. Parts of the carvings had even burned out. I resolved to destroy it completely before we left. I didn't want some adventurer stumbling upon it and turning themselves inside-out with an incomplete ritual.
A dozen or so meters from the circle, there was a stone altar. Nothing particular about it, except for the enchantments. It looked like the altar would work with the key enchantment in my ritual bracer. With my perception sphere, I had a good idea of where the opening was. The ritual room was a dozen meters shorter than it appeared from the outside.
----------------------------------------
Vel had prepared another meal for us while I stumbled around. Finding a way to sit down was harder than I thought, my legs took an absurd amount of space on the floor no matter how I tried. In the end, I curled them inwards.
Vel leaned against me again. I took the bowl she offered and pulled her closer with my arms.
"Do we have enough provisions to stay here a while?" I asked.
"With what's in your amulet, we have more than enough."
"I feel we'll get sick of lizard meat before we run out."
"Probably."
----------------------------------------
After the meal, I pulled out all of my enchanted items out of the amulet and put them back on. It felt a bit naked without them on. Then I did something else I had been putting off for a while. There were a lot of system notifications pending in the back of my mind which I had ignored until now.
A lot had happened.
> Your group has defeated [Mature Taratect Warrior (Level 95-120, Rank 4)] x 8
> Your group has defeated [Mature Taratect Warrior (Level 120-145, Rank 5)] x 4
> Experience gain reduced by 20% for fighting with a group
> Experience gain increased by 50% for fighting a group
> Experience gain increased by 100% for defeating a monster above your rank
> Experience gain increased by 150% for dangerous encounter
> Essence Absorption collected 104 ES
>
> Reached Level 106 (Rank 4, +12 level)
> Gained: 100 ES
>
> Received Perk [Blessing of Lolth] from Lolth
> Received Secondary Class [Mystic Priestess] from Lolth
> Gained Divine Patron [Gaia]
> Gained Divine Patron [Lolth]
>
> Error: Multiple Patrons!
> (Overridden by Administrator)
>
> Arachne Ascension Ritual Activated
>
> Added Special Ancestry [Arachne]
> Added Special Class [Arachne]
>
> Skill Poison Resistance already present, awarding levels …
> Skill Poison Resistance raised to rank 3, level 30 (+25 levels)
>
> Physical transformation for [Arachne] started
>
> Your group has defeated [Alpha Taratect Warrior (Level 186, Rank 6)]
> Experience gain reduced by 20% for fighting with a group
> Experience gain increased by 200% for defeating a monster above your rank
> Experience gain increased by 100% for fighting an alpha
> Experience gain increased by 200% for dangerous encounter
> Essence Absorption collected 12 ES
>
> Reached Level 122 (Rank 5, +16 level)
> Gained: 146 ES
>
> Physical transformation for [Arachne] complete
It was a lot to take in.
"You forgot to mention you killed the alpha," I said.
"I … didn't really think about it," she mumbled, "I was more worried about you."
"I just checked, I got twenty-eight levels from all the kills, sixteen from the alpha."
"I ignored the box. I was too worried about you."
I pulled her closer against me and kissed her cheek.
"Maybe you should check," I said, "Gaia interfered and I got a new perk from her. She also gave me a class."
"Another class?"
"I haven't looked at my status yet. I got the Mystic Priestess secondary class from Gaia, and the Arachne class from … well … being turned into a half-spider."
"How does this keep happening to you?" She laughed.
"Maybe it happened to you too this time," I poked her in the ribs.
"Fine, I'll check," she closed her eyes.
I did the same and brought up my status screen.
Name
Liscura Van-Niu
Ancestry
Dark Elf, Arachne
Status
Level 122 (Rank 5) | 866 Essence
Health: 1825/1825 (+240%/h)
Stamina: 1270/1270 (+186%/h)
Mana: 3925/3925 (+337%/h)
Focus: 145/229
Bound Items
Ravri Ritual Gauntlet (30 FP; 0/5 spells, 0/1000 MP)
Ravri Ritual Bracer (20 FP)
Ravri Ritual Focus (20 FP; Divine, Nature)
Ravri Ritual Circlet (20 FP)
Amulet of Inazesa (25 FP; 136/250)
Primary Class 1
Mystic Knight
Skills (8/10)
Magic Combat - Rank 2, Level 5
Magic Strike - Rank 2, Level 5
Mystic Enhancement - Rank 3, Level 6
Mystic Aura - Rank 3, Level 1
Mystic Perception - Rank 2, Level 36
Mystic Body - Rank 2, Level 34
Multishot - Rank 2, Level 4
Spatial Movement - Rank 2, Level 28
Mystic Arrow - Rank 2, Level 4
Primary Class 2
Mystic Witch
Skills (7/10)
Nature Magic - Rank 3, Level 20
Arcane Magic - Rank 3, Level 20
Psychic Magic - Rank 3, Level 20
Metamagic - Rank 3, Level 15
Multicast - Rank 3, Level 28
Swiftcast - Rank 3, Level 8
Mystic Mind - Rank 2, Level 38
Spells
Nature: 4/4 major, 7/7 minor
Arcane: 4/4 major, 4/7 minor
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Psychic: 4/4 major, 3/7 minor
Specialization 1
Runic Witch
Skills
Runic Magic - Rank 3, Level 1
Runic Casting - Rank 3, Level 1
Runic Inscription - Rank 3, Level 1
Specialization 2
Crystal Witch
Skills
Crystal Magic - Rank 3, Level 1
Crystal Growth - Rank 1, Level 1
Specialization 3
Spirit Witch
Skills
Spirit Magic - Rank 3, Level 1
Spirit Familiar - Rank 3, Level 1
Spirit Summon - Rank 3, Level 1
Spirit Contract - Rank 3, Level 1
Familiar
Skills (4/6): Share Senses, Shadow Step, Skill Conduit, Spell Conduit
Templates (1/6): Spirit Raven
Secondary Class
Mystic Priestess
Skills (2/10)
Divine Magic - Rank 1, Level 1
Divine Domains - Rank 1, Level 1
Patrons
Gaia, Lolth
Spells
Domains (0/2): N/A
Special Class
Arachne
Skills (4/10)
Arachne Body - Rank 1, Level 1
Spider Thread - Rank 1, Level 1
Spider Climb - Rank 1, Level 1
Poison Synthesis - Rank 1, Level 1
Perks
Blessing of Gaia
Blessing of Lolth
Essence Mastery (Rank 2)
Skill Synthesis
Skill Deck
Essence Absorption (Rank 2)
Essence Well (Rank 2)
Perception Domain
Danger Sense
Magic Perception
Magic Projection
Major Grimoire (Rank 1)
Minor Grimoire (Rank 1)
Improved Senses (Rank 3)
Night Vision (Rank 5)
General Skills
Combat Skills
Spear Mastery - Rank 1, Level 9
Dagger Mastery - Rank 1, Level 15
Light Bow Mastery - Rank 2, Level 6
Knowledge Skills
Medicine - Rank 2, Level 24
Herbalism - Rank 2, Level 22
Alchemy - Rank 3, Level 25
Survival - Rank 2, Level 12
Investigation - Rank 1, Level 5
Utility Skills
Tracking - Rank 2, Level 6
Stealth - Rank 2, Level 11
Identify - Rank 3, Level 3
Meditation - Rank 2, Level 6
Mental Skills
Mental Mastery - Rank 3, Level 12 (5 FP)
Mental Library - Rank 3, Level 3 (5 FP)
Mental Acceleration - Rank 3, Level 2 (10 FP)
Mental Partition - Rank 3, Level 2 (10 FP)
Languages
Elven Language - Rank 4, Level 12
Human Language - Rank 2, Level 6
English Language - Rank 5, Level 6
Resistances
Poison Resistance - Rank 3, Level 30
Disease Resistance - Rank 2, Level 3
Attributes
Strength: 115, Agility: 118, Vitality: 125, Endurance: 68
Intelligence: 130, Wisdom: 121, Spirit: 105, Clarity: 108
I was surprised to see that Arachne had been added to my list of races, next to Dark Elf, instead of replacing it outright. I wondered what would happen if a human went through the ritual, and it worked, would they be a human-spider hybrid?
I brought up the descriptions for both of my new classes.
Arachne
Description
Created through a dark ritual, the Arachne is the hybrid of a humanoid and a spider. Originally created by an ancient civilization of Dark Elves, the ritual, whose knowledge has been lost to time, was said to be extremely painful and was reserved for a chosen few to be elevated in the image of their goddess.
Requirements
Automatically awarded with the Arachne ancestry
Bonuses
+15 Strength, +15 Agility, +5 Endurance, +5 Vitality
Starting Skills
Arachne Body - Rank 1
Spider Thread - Rank 1
Spider Climb - Rank 1
Poison Synthesis - Rank 1
Poison Resistance - Rank 1
Mystic Priestess
Requirements
[overridden]
Bonuses
+10 Intelligence, +20 Wisdom, +5 Spirit, +5 Clarity
Starting Skills
Divine Magic - Rank 1
Divine Domains - Rank 1
I had a feeling that a priestess class was a requirement to undergo the ritual and it was why Gaia had given it to me, she had wanted me to survive for some reason. She had said that Lolth was one of her previous identities, one that likely hadn't been worshiped for a long time if the state of this temple was any indication.
Maybe it was simply for her entertainment but she didn't really give that impression when she appeared before me. She had seemed more like a mother who wanted her child to succeed. She had given me a second chance at life after all.
I shook my head. It was best not to dwell on it. What happened, happened. I wouldn't rely on a convenient deus ex machina saving my ass at every turn.
Next, I took a look at what the Blessing of Lolth and the other new perks did.
Blessing of Lolth
Opens the path of the Mystic and strengthens skills
Grants access to the Mystic classes and specializations.
Grants the Skill Synthesis and Skill Deck perks.
Skill Synthesis
Allows the creation of unique skills from a combination of abilities at the cost of 128 ES for a class skill or 194 ES for a general skill. A unique skill will only work if the user possesses all the component abilities.
Skill Deck
Allows the user to store 5 skills per level rank inside of a deck instead of discarding them. The user can meditate for one hour to move skills to and from the deck. Skills stored inside the deck cannot be used and do not provide any effect.
"I take back everything I said," I mumbled, "Gaia is the best goddess."
"I agree," Vel said right next to me, "she gave me the same blessing as you, including the Essence Mastery perk. My Druid class changed to Mystic Druid, Plant Shaman changed to Mystic Shaman and became a primary class, and she gave me the Mystic Priestess as a secondary class for some reason."
That was a lot of upgrades.
"Don't try to think too hard about it," I shrugged, "she probably has her own reasons. I don't think she has a master plan for us, she just took the opportunity to tip the scale in our favor."
"Well, I won't complain. "
"Me neither," I grinned. "Now, let's see how I can spend the mountain of essence I am sitting on …" I continued. "And now that you have access to the essence perks, buy Essence Absorption at least. It's incredibly powerful, I got the majority of mine from there."
"How much do you have right now?"
"Eight hundred or so," I said.
"Holy … that's a lot! Can't you spare some for me?"
"Maybe? There's probably a perk for that even if I haven't found it yet."