I woke up to a yawn, followed by tugging on my legs.

“Morning, Kealyna.”

I removed my legs from the elf’s frame as Cellestra smiled when I looked her way.

“I see you found your way in my bed again. I suppose I should have gotten you something other than that one pillow. I’m sorry about that.”

Strange. She was apologizing to me.

“Thank you for tonight, by the way,” She continued with a soft voice. “It’s been getting worse the past few days hasn’t it?”

I didn’t know how to reply to that. I simply nodded in agreement.

Cellestra sighed. “As I said, I get these periods with more nightmares than usual. I’m sorry if it worries you.”

Well, it did, but if I could help her, it didn’t bother me so much.

Cellestra got dressed and we made our way to the living room. As we walked through the small hallway, I came to realize something…

My size had increased a lot since my last evolution, which I had expected. What I had forgotten to calculate, however, was that the door to the outside was narrower than the doors inside the building. While I could barely fit through the doors to the living room and her bedroom, I started to get anxious about going outside. From the looks of it, I wouldn’t fit.

I cursed myself for not realizing this sooner.

The elf made herself a quick breakfast consisting of stale bread and cheese. I climbed the table and made sure she had room for her plate. While she was eating, I spelled out words.

“Checked achievements last night. Need to kill bear for next evolution.”

“A bear?” Cellestra asked with a frown. “Just what does the goddess expect of you? How strong have you gotten?”

“Do not know. Can show fireball that used to kill wolves.”

“Yeah, you wanted to show me that cyclone spell of yours too. If you want to show the fireball, too, I’d be most interested.”

I nodded with my pedipalps.

Cellestra seemed to be eager to learn more. I was curious how she would react to seeing my new fireball spell. It was far stronger than my old one. She quickly finished her breakfast and left her plate behind on the table, not even bothering to put it away.

I followed her, and by the time I reached the door leading to the outside, my worry had become reality.

I did not fit through the door…

Cellestra turned around and saw me struggling to get through the doorframe. She quickly walked up to me and lent a hand… or rather, two.

Without a word she lifted my abdomen and turned it sideways, which allowed me to leave the house, albeit narrowly. I heaved a mental sigh of relief after I’d made it through.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to go through your next evolution indoors...” Cellestra said quietly.

I had already figured that out myself, but her words still managed to cause a certain sadness to emerge within me. If I couldn’t enter the house anymore, I’d be forced to stay outside. What was worse was that I couldn’t help her anymore at night…

I’m sorry, Cellestra…

That also meant I should work on some kind of shelter outside. I wasn’t looking forward to sleeping under the stars, but it would seem there was no way around it. I already knew my growth would not stop with this evolution. I had already noticed that my next evolution was labeled as “Large”.

How would I even go about it?

Should I create some kind of shelter from my webs? Should I fell trees and use them?

Whatever I would do, would be labor-intensive, which meant that it would severely slow my further growth down.

I sighed mentally and figured there was no way around it. I knew that staying here would only be temporary, but still…

This place had started to feel like a new home to me. I would probably leave it with pain in my heart.

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Was it weird that I didn’t want to leave? I mean, I wanted to find my parents, I just did not want to leave Cellestra. Just thinking about it… it hurt…

When would be a good time to mention my suggestion? I could put it off for longer but I would have to ask eventually…

The elf in question was currently full of glee as she smiled when she asked me to show her my fireball skill. I quickly put away my thoughts, for now, skittered to the middle of the grassy clearing, and charged my fireball spell before casting it at the grass a few feet in front of me.

The fireball impacted the grass, shattered into smaller pieces, and burned the grass for a good thirty seconds or so before the flames extinguished.

“By the goddess, Kealyna. I see how you managed to kill those wolves now. That’s some amazing power behind that spell. Mind if I try to track its mana flows?”

I shook my pedipalps in a no gesture. I did not mind that at all. In fact, I was looking forward to it.

The worries I had from before were dispelled when she placed her hand on my abdomen and I felt her comforting magic flow through my body. I started my fireball cast and redirected her mana into the spell before firing it again.

After I’d fired the spell I realized I was being reckless with my mana. Even though I had the best available mana regeneration at the moment, I couldn’t afford to start a fight without it being at maximum capacity. For now, I assumed it would be okay. It should be replenished by the time I intended to fight.

“Such power...” Cellestra said softly. “This is amazing. Thanks to your new skill, I can see everything so much clearer. Would you object to me trying to learn this spell, too? I can imagine if you don’t want me to know.”

I moved my limbs from left to right again. If anything, I was looking forward to her learning. I enjoyed spending time with the elf, and this seemed to be one of the easiest ways to justify spending time with her.

Moreover, if at some point I asked the question and she did decide to tag along with me, it would help for her to know more powerful spells.

Thinking about it felt odd though. Would she truly be willing to help me in my search? A cursed elf helping a monstrous spider searching for people gave me a weird mental image. I couldn’t help but hope she would be willing to. I hoped that at some point I could get a spell, or even make one, that could rid her of her curse. Maybe she would be willing to strike a deal?

“Wanna try that other spell you mentioned?” Cellestra asked, breaking my train of thought.

I nodded with my pedipalps and soon found her hand on my abdomen again as she knelt next to me a second time. Once again, I forced her mana into my spell that I had to force out of me.

I did not have a target that I was casting the spell on, but after a lot of effort and strain on my mind, I managed to target an area about six feet in front of me. I noticed that the spell definitely wasn’t made to do that, hence the pain.

Maybe that was mana manipulation at work again?

At the target location, a small tornado about three feet across and seven feet in height appeared. The tornado swirled violently but remained in place. The spell did not appear to consume any further mana, which was interesting.

Cellestra and I observed the small tornado, which did not seem to wane in strength until the spell’s duration ran out. When it did, it disappeared within seconds as the winds dispersed.

What an interesting spell.

“That… was quite the spell, Kealyna. I imagine you can keep a small wolf, or even an adult, in place with that. That’s what the spell’s intention was, right? To keep something in place?”

I nodded once more.

This spell was purely intended to give me time to finish another opponent with other spells while keeping its victim incapacitated. I would still have to increase the spell to its maximum level. Hopefully, that would allow me to immobilize something bigger than just a wolf. I was going to need larger and more dangerous prey with each evolution, after all.

It was the safe option.

“Thank you for your insight in these spells, Kealyna. I assume you’re heading out now?”

I nodded.

“Alright. Please be safe out there. I’ll try to practice these spells again while you’re out.”

I waved at her and took in her smile and engraved it in my mind as I left. I was looking forward to one day being able to return a smile, whatever it may look like.