NOVEL WEB Chapter 4: Progress
“It’s not bad actually since I can’t taste it the conventional way but if given the choice I would still take a ‘normal’ stew and bread over it anyday. At this point I’m not picky about what I’d get as long as it’s not insect stew.”
His newly built web has already caught him a number of prey, in fact one of them crashed into the web as he was repairing the damage caused to it from the previous catch.
“Mostly flies though, not that I’m complaining of course, I saw bees and wasps that I would rather not catch… Oh another tug… … Speak of the devil, a wasp. He hit it real hard too huh, he’s basically wrapped in it. How did he manage that? Hm… what now then…? I could just snap the webbings around it from a safe distance to set it free so I don’t have to deal with it. Another option is trying to subjugate it. Or I could just ignore it and leave it there…”
After thinking through his options the first and the last seemed to be the safest choice but…
“I’m gonna have to learn to deal with potentially dangerous creatures sooner or later, might as well start early and get some first hand experience. I’m not a natural spider so I don’t know what to do, however I can just think of it as working at a hazardous work environment, It can’t be any worse than some of the construction zones I’ve been at… Well maybe it’s because of those construction zones that I’m dead and turned into a spider.”
“First risk assessment, stinger and those mandibles aren’t looking up to the health and safety standards of this web, I can get stung or bitten. What can I do about them is…Inject venom, problem is not that the venom isn’t instantaneous so until it sets in, I’m at a risk. Well come in from an angle which he can’t sting or bite me… so his back...”
Approaching slowly so as not to alert the wasp of his presence he inched closer. For the wasp it was a surprise to be caught in the web as it didn’t see it at all. It couldn’t be helped, after all the web was practically invisible, moreover it was attractive to the denizens of the forest. As they were lured to it only to be caught and fall prey to spider who built it. And more was to come…
“Phew… I think that went rather well. Its squirming made me a bit nervous but turned out well… I might have to change my web structure to make my movement on it easier but it might also make it too visible. Ah… I wish I had a scaffolding… Still what do I do with all these bugs? There’s no refrigerator to store them and I can’t just leave them hanging around… hanging around? Maybe?”
The idea of wrapping all his catch in a single ball of silk and dragging it to some place safe then simply hanging it from somewhere came to him. So he crawls back to the oak tree with a clump of insects in tow. Slipping under the notice of many that would prey upon him - especially with him carrying extra food along - his return trip back was uneventful. Exploring the tree to find a suitable place to keep his ‘food’, one area of the tree well shaded and not very visible was the best place for him.
“Alright that should be fine for a while. Though moving them here took quite a bit of time, I don’t have much daylight left. Well I don’t have to sleep but limited vision in the dark is definitely a risk. One that I don’t have to take so for now I’ll avoid it if I can. I know presence detection II and Pallesthesia II helps but to what extent I don't. Plus they’re not high leveled. Speaking of which did something change with me...”
“When did I even get to rank 10 anyway? 9 points for use though, I’ll take it. So Last I checked it was rank 1 which means 1 point per rank up, how rank up happens I don’t exactly know. So what did I do between that time and now… I made a net caught and killed about 7 flies and a wasp. That’s about all the notable things I did though… Hm… That can’t be all there is to it… But I don’t have any other leads on how it works. There could be some interaction with my traits but nothing really stands out as such. Ah well, there’ll be more opportunities no need to rush.”
What he failed to factor in was him - unintentionally - sneaking by multiple predators extremely dangerous for a spider. Which was a large factor for his fast growth.
“New skills available too, they probably became available to me after I got Presence detection, agile and stealth. Instinct seems like a very good one to invest into. Sense can be deceiving, gut instincts don’t fail that often. Concealed action seems to be the next skill in the family of Stealth. Reflexive reaction huh, Is it like when doctors use a hammer like thing on your knees? Before starting on a new skill I should probably finish up the current one so… Level 10 stealth first. I probably didn’t notice how many times it has saved my skin. Something like that, I want it to be at its best shape.”
“Okay next up… hm?”
“That’s a new one… Exspiravit. I don’t know what that means. Did it get unlocked after level 10 Stealth? Then it’s safe to assume it’s something that’s related to stealth would like to know exactly how but I can’t, sometimes it feels like this soul scrying or self scrying thing is incomplete… Maybe I’m just using it wrong. Anyways 6 points left.
Instinct it is… oh?
Instinct seems to be some sort of sub skill of presence detection and can’t have a higher level than it’s parent skill presence detection. Well that complicates things a bit… Does that change my plans? Um not really, I’ll just split the remaining 4 points equally into instinct and presence detection. After that if I get more I’d like turn more points into venom fang. Thanks to that little encounter with the wasp now I know that I’m most vulnerable when I’m in the striking range of my opponent and that’s where I have to be in order to bite them to inject my venom. Thus if my venom is strong enough to instantly paralyze them I minimize the danger I face.”
“I don’t think I can catch insects during the night so I’ll have to wait for tomorrow. What can I do during the night… Maybe I should explore? No no no no that’s a bad idea, it’s too early to start relying on instinct and presence detection.”
An another day passes as a spider...