Aurora
After about twelve hours of watching the spider people, I decided that it would be worth the trip down. I had considered using my human body outside the aura like before, but I only saw a trace number during my time watching. To add to my consideration, I found that they were treated like slaves in most cases.
Thus, after about five hours of work, I now had a spider body as well. I went with a mature woman that had the spider legs and some carapace here and there. From what I had seen, they were the highest ranked in the city. I was sure that it wouldn’t go perfectly smooth, but hopefully, I could find some interesting things without too much trouble.
The tricky part came to getting down into the city, but with some well placed web, with my new body could almost control like another limb, I found myself in a less populated part of the city. It had only been about ten or so minutes since I entered the city, and I could say without a doubt that I could spend all day here without issue.
The people here appeared to have a deep connect with art. While the buildings were made from obsidian and were rather squarish in design, just about everything was covered in webbing. If it was plain white web, then I wouldn’t be so enthralled by it. Pictures and works of art were dyed beautifully into the web. I spent five minutes alone on a singe ten-meter section of web. Taking a single step caused the entire picture to change completely. It was almost like watching a movie.
“Simply amazing,” I whispered. From the artwork, it looked like a scene from a battle was being depicted. Heroes, mages, and priests were shown fighting valiantly against a dragon. I sighed, unable to believe that this was created by AI. I heard some footsteps coming my way and straightened up. While I was here to sight see, I wanted to check if there were some actual players here. If only to verify that asshat Maxwell’s story.
Turning back to the street, I started walking toward where I thought a market was. I had mostly memorized the layout of the city from above. Maps were just pictures and I had always been good a remembering them all my life. A pair of women turned the corner and stop their chatting as soon as their eyes landed on me.
The staring match lasted for a few seconds before one of the women finally spoke. Thankfully, I understood it. “Haven’t seen you before. Are you newly ascended?”
“Y… Yes! I’m Aru!” I said deciding not to say my actual name. Having played with clairvoyance and Death’s Sight, I wouldn’t be surprised with names had power. The last thing I wanted was for them to lead any army to my dungeon.
“You’re rather cute for a newly ascended,” she remarked as they drew closer. She reached out and stroked my chin. “Makes me want to eat you up.”
“Mira!” her companion exclaimed. Judging from her expression she was upset about her comment.
“What Opal?” Mira asked as she turned away from me. She got in Opal’s face and licked the woman’s lips. “Last night wasn’t enough for you?”
Opal smacked Mira in the face. “No! We’re going to be late!”
“Good point.” Mira looked back to me. A rad handprint almost glowing on her cheek. “Aru. You should come with us. I’m sure left, and right is confusing being newly ascended.”
“No—” I started to say, only to have my hands grabbed by the two. They dragged me to a huge building that made up most of this district. From the symbols and statues, I could only assume that it was a temple. The issue was that there shouldn’t be any gods other than that Void goddess that was recently revived.
I found I was quite wrong after we made our way inside. Rows of seats surrounded a large arena. The place could have easily fit ten thousand people, but from my glance around the seats, I counted maybe two or three hundred max. The two pushed me down then sat on either side of me. It looked like they had no intention of letting me go.
“Good evening, ladies! I’m your announcer, Lark” A floating chair flew by with a man sitting on it. The first I had seen in this section. “It is that time of the month! She’s ready for any and all challengers!”
“What’s going on?” I whispered. I didn’t like not knowing what was going on.
“Just watch!” Mira whispered back.
A woman in the stands opposite us climbed to her feet. “OH! There it is! Our first challenger!” She jumped down from the stands while drawing two twin sabers. She made some fancy moves with her weapons that I really couldn’t follow then nodded to the man. “Now that she’s ready. Let’s welcome our lord and master. Lady Shoa!”
A cheer went up around the Colosseum. The ground opened before a platform rose from underground. It was easy to see this was the main contestant of the spider people. Of all the individuals that I had seen since finding the city, she was the most regal of the women that I had seen thus far. She held herself with a pose that almost seemed to say just try me.
The woman with twin sabers might be there to challenge her, but she still showed Lady Shoa respect by bowing almost religiously to her. Lady Shoa gestured for her to come at her. With an elegant battle cry, the challenger charged at Lady Shoa. I didn’t see any weapons on the lady, but she could have been a magic caster.
Turns out it was the complete opposite, Lady Shoa met the charge with an raised hand that easily redirected the swipes and stabs away from her body. Other than her hands, I doubted that the blades got within ten centimeters of Shoa’s body.
“That challenger is on fire! Too bad nothing seems to be landing—so embarrassing!” The announcer was out of place in my opinion. Almost like a mark from the real world on this fantasy-based world. The challenger could obviously hear the announcer as she picked up her pace even more. Lady Shoa on the other hand, looked like she wanted to yawn.
The flurry of stabs and slices continued for a good two or three minutes, before the challenger tired. Lady Shoa must have also had enough as she went from defensive to offense. Something happened to her fists just before the ends of the two sabers went flying, having been snapped. Lady Shoa’s hand finally came to a stop. Buried into the throat of the challenger.
“That’s its ladies! The first challenger has failed! A pity. I know we’re all waiting for Lady Shoa to meet her end! The tyrant!” I really couldn’t tell if Lark was telling a joke or was being completely serious. Lady Shoa didn’t appear to care about anything.
“Damn! Another one failed,” Mira complained as she dropped back into her seat.
“Hey. I get that this is a deathmatch, but what’s it for?”
“Really?” Opal asked with a raised eyebrow which was strange since she had four eyes. “You must have been under a rock this whole time.”
“Well—more or less,” I replied, hoping I wouldn’t have to elaborate.
“This is competition is held every month. Anyone is allowed to challenge the current leader or other positions throughout the city,” Mira explained waving to the arena where another person was already fighting the Lady.
“Every month?!” I exclaimed. “How do you—we get anything done?”
“There are exceptions, like when we’re at war, but generally everyone does their best in their position until the next month. If you’re strong, you can last a long time before someone starts gunning for your position.”
“I guess.” I shook my head turning back to the arena. A woman that used a polearm was receiving the same treatment as the last challenger. I could already see that she wasn’t going to be able to defeat the powerful Lady Shoa. Sure enough, only a minute passed before her throat exploded as Lady Shoa’s hand passed through it. There was enough force that the challenger’s head came off.
“Ouch! Try again next month!” Lark raised his hands wide. “Alright! The position of Matriarch is up for one more match! After that we are moving on to First General! Any takers!?” Lark made a show of examining the stands. I thought no one else was going to challenge her when Lark looked in my direction. “What’s this!? A fresh blood wants to take a crack at it?”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
With wide eyes I looked around only to see Mira looking away after releasing one of my spider legs. I wasn’t used to them yet and hadn’t processed the feeling of it being gently raised. I glared at the woman only for her to push me out of the seat. “There are no take backs,” Opal whispered on my other side.
I growled and stood up before jumping over the ledge into the arena. The last two times, there had been a commotion each time. The people being famous at least a little among the spiders. For me, there was complete silence. “Welcome to the Arena of Placement! It has been a long time since a newly ascended challenged the Matriarch right off the bat.” Lark flew close to me giving me the once over.
“I ascended just this morning,” I whispered to the man. “I don’t really know the rules.”
Lark just grimaced then said. “Fight. Win, live. Lose, die.”
I palmed the handle of the short sword on my waist. I had brought it just for show since I planned on using a Magic-gun with all my bodies. The show I had just witnessed twice went through my head. There was no way that I was going to be able to get close to that woman with my paltry skills. If I was going to die, then I might as well try out my equipment for York.
Nodding to Lark, I strode forward. Lady Shoa waited in the center of the arena. She must have some sort of Monk class or martial artist. I never got a chance to learn in depth about the spider people before being tossed into this mess. “Ladies, it looks like the new blood is ready! Will we witness history, or will the Lady add another notch to her significant belt?!”
A cheer went up through the stands. I copied the first challenger’s bow since I didn’t want to be disrespectful. She gave me a nod before she took a stance. I guess being new had some advantages. She had no idea what to expect out of me. Lark signaled the start of the fight and then nothing happened. I wasn’t about to charge into that death zone.
Reaching under my skirt, I drew my pistol. The gems had started to glow black from the death magic that I had been pumping into it. Lady Shoa gave me a curious look before she decided to attack me. Either she knew what I had, or she didn’t want to risk whatever it was. I cocked the hammer back before pointing it at the charging woman. With a grin, I pulled the trigger not really sure what to expect.
Unlike a real pistol, there was no bang, no smell of propellant, no discharge of cartridges, nothing. It was almost silent to the point that I worried it hadn’t fired. That was until the sound of something thudding against the ground reached my ears. Lady Shoa laid flat on the ground only five meters in front of me with a massive hole in her chest. The edges were rotting before my eyes.
The gem towards the back of the pistol cracked. A glance told me that it was completely spent. I returned it to the holster than turned back to Lark. “What now?”
The dazed announcer was staring at Lady Shoa’s body with surprise. He coughed before he raised his arms. “That’s it, ladies! In what has to be the fastest match of all time, our great Tyrant, the Matriarch of Twisted Webs, Lady Shoa has been defeated in less than ten seconds.” He lowered the platform down. “What’s your name?”
“Aru—” I replied. I wish I had thought more about it earlier.
“Lady Aru!”
A bunch of notifications popped into my vision at that moment, but I pushed them to the side. I wanted to enjoy the feeling of victory for a few minutes. In the back of my head, I decided that I was going to make sure Mira and Opal didn’t live this down.
~~~
My short trip was turning into a full-on thing. After I defeated Lady Shoa, I was forced to sit through the rest of the matches. I was talking about hundreds of matches. The only one that last less than a few minutes was Lady Shoa’s. Thankfully, the city was well inside the distance of my control of the homunculi. I could close my eyes and quickly check on the dungeon.
One of the perks for becoming the Matriarch was that I got a nice box seat to enjoy the matches. It gave me both a good view and privacy. I tapped on my wrist and checked out what was going on.
Congratulations! Alliance Unlocked! The Level One City of Twisted Webs has come under your ownership. All administrative powers have been transferred to you. Achievement unlocked: Espionage – Regime Change – Choose one National power to unlock.
Note: As you conquered this city via Espionage, Aru, not Aurora is in control. Should anything happen to Aru (Homunculus body) the proper consequences will result. To prevent this, please follow proper procedures within the selected city’s government to allocate the correct body.
Twisted Webs
Level One City
Population: 12,475
Combatants: 1,500
Economic Strength: A+
Combat Strength: C-
Cultural Strength: SS+
Magical Strength: F+
Current Administrative Wealth: 7,411,514 (Assets & Gold)
From there the menus went from simple to confusing in about five seconds flat. There was just so much that it made my head spin. One menu did list several advisors, one of which was Mira, so I planned to grill her later about everything this city had to offer. One thing that I greatly appreciated was that all the information they had on the surrounding areas was mine for the taking. I quickly had a complete map of the surrounding five hundred kilometers. Everything past that grew spotty.
I did find that I was able to conquer the city without conquering the city interesting. It gave me some interesting ideas for the future. It might make my stomach curl, but I might have my other body become a member of Maxwell’s community. That seemed right up the alley for a vampire. To take control of a place from the shadows. Idly playing with my hair, I opened the National Power menu. Like always a handy list opened for me to choose from.
Treasures of Nineth Heaven – Generates a resource of Random (Level 4- Level 7) value inside your territory.
Ships of the Night – Create a portal of Trade with a random city in the world. (City will be accepting of your race, ideology, and theology).
The Great Path – All creatures move with a bonus inside your territory.
The Unspoken Truth – Reveals a hidden mystery of the world within fifty kilometers of the center of power.
I immediately decided that it was a pity that I could only choose one. The only one that didn’t call out to me was the Great Path option, but that was due to most of my creatures already moving around like they owned the place. Ships of the Night was calling out to me as well, but I had a sinking feeling that I wouldn’t be able to easily place these options inside my dungeon. I’d rather not place something that might be taken from me in a month.
I decided on the Treasures of Nineth Heaven. Even if the city was lost to me in a month, since I could place the resources, I could put it near my dungeon aura on the ceiling. Clicking on it, a pair of glowing dice appeared in the air. I took them before tossing them randomly. The world vanished around me, replaced by a bowl that looked like it covered the world. The dice rolled over and over again until they finally landed on a six and a five.
Waiting with weighted breaths, the scene of the bowl vanished and then the map of my territory appeared in my mind. As I suspected, it had to be in the territory of the city. Thankfully, there was a good deal of overlap on the ceiling. I placed the resource inside the room I had hollowed out yesterday.
I flew over. If this body had eaten anything I might have hurled it all over the floor while I was at it. It was a good thing no one was in the box seat with me. I quickly leaned back and disconnected from the body. Back in the dungeon, I felt wetness running down my face. Reaching up, I found that I was bleeding from just about every hole on my face. What the hell had been created by the system that would cause me so much damage. At least there wasn’t any pain this time, though there was a throbbing that felt like it wanted to be pain.
After the surge of mana, I finally was able to sit up. I wiped my face with a cloth and stood up. I had to find out just what had been created in my dungeon and I’d rather do it in person. Walking quickly through the dungeon after grabbing York, he was the most qualified in the dungeon right now to actually tell me what the resource was, we arrived at the small skylight that overlooked the city of Twisted Webs.
An outcrop of stone that had a gently glowing gold vein running through it stood over ten meters. Veins of the mineral stretched out from the base. Checking through the hole, I found that it was growing on the ceiling as well, in clear view of the city. I quickly moved a large amount of stone to keep it from view. It had been less than three or four minutes, and the tournament was still taking place. I should be good.
“Do you have any idea, York?” I asked, moving over to join the demon next to the outcrop.
“No. This is far above my skill level, my queen.” He took out a small pick that was made from steel. He swung with all his worth and the pick’s point flattened to the point that it might as well be a hammer. “Whatever it is, the material is at least over level five maybe even six.”
“That’s both good and bad. Such a high level means it will be hard for us to do anything with it.” I sighed as I reached out to run my hand against the outcrop. The golden metal was smooth and almost felt like velvet to the touch. It even gave off a bit of heat.
I attempted to absorb the material with my dungeon skill. At first, I thought nothing was happening, but after a few seconds, I sensed something like a progress bar. Deciding to wait it out and see, I spent the next two hours standing next to the outcrop. York would have waited for me, but I sent him back to the blacksmith to see if he could fix the issue my other body had with her gun.
Finally, the ability took affect and a piece of the gold barely larger than my pinky tip vanished. A flood of mana rushed through me, it totally made up for standing here for the last two and half hours. I looked through the menu and found what I had just absorbed. Primal Gold – Magic Metal Level 8: Gold that has been in the presence of a god. Few have seen this metal before and lived to tell the tale.
I whistled. That was nothing to sneeze at. There was no way in hell that I was going to be creating this material from mana anytime soon, but with this outcrop, I might be able to make some weapons in the future. Not to mention, since this was a game, the resource would naturally respawn in the future. It was almost a pity that I couldn’t work the material right this moment.
Returning to my seat in the central room of the dungeon, I returned my mind back to my homunculus down in the city. Day had been a good day.