Chapter 4: 4 – Horrors and Systems

It is now the 16th of Oakfel Moon, 7821AC.

We finally arrived, after weeks of delays and sea traffic, the Golden Maelstrom!

A titanic whirlpool coloured gold and surrounded by unmovable mountains of ice, rumoured to have treasures capable of destroying even Danzaars economy and artefacts that can give the holder the [SYSTEM]. Of course, rumours are rumours, built upon centuries of wonder and amazement. And even if that was true, we have no way of getting to the bottom… Well, we do, it just involves dying and our bodies becoming pieces of mush from the pressure.

It’s gorgeous though. I have never seen such a beautiful sparkle.

But Captain… I think it’s spelt K’Laesfa? He insists that it's the same gleam as the throne from Eizenn, the first kingdom in Horizon apparently when the Wyrnest once ruled (according to historical records left by the Admins). Maybe the throne was made of something from here? I did try and ask, but the captain stayed silent on it, scratching his mossy beard all the while.

Does his skin feel weird from the seawater? It must be if you have tree bark for skin...

Regardless of that, our college assignment right now is to observe the waves and notice how it moves compared to normal whirlpools, determining if it's formed by magic or just an oddity of nature, all that stuff which will likely not help me in the future. Oh well, if all isn’t to plan, I can find an ocean monster's core to analyse and use the information to do some proper examination of this oversized whirlpool.

PS: I was just informed that Captain K’Laesfa is a woman. Apparently, gender dimorphism with the Elv race is almost nonexistent. I told her she has an amazing beard, and she gave me a gold star. Now proud :)

-Diary entry of Matthew Marks, a student researching data cores and the and the theories of the [SYSTEM] at the College of Maxim in Danzaar.

---

Almost done!

The last of the damaged web devoured and energy restored, I suddenly had the urge to run and bounce about in excitement. I didn’t of course, as much as I wanted to, I didn’t want to break anything else in this temporary home of mine. Instead, I excitedly pat the sides of my face and hop on the tips of my claws.

A lot of work is going to be done, but damn, I’m still happy over the fact it sorta worked. Baby steps after all and knowledge about prey are always important. The Basilisks petrification had worn off and now my hand, while stiff, was free. Thank god that it wasn’t permanent. And with my meal digested and my stomach and tastebuds screaming at me, it was time to rest up and think.

So. With that in mind, what should I do now? I still haven’t gotten any further notifications yet and I’m not comfortable about moving any further than I should until it happens. All this was enough already.

I look outside. The sky was dark, and the sun still hadn’t begun to peak over the horizon nor had the clouds above changed into a red hue. There are some pomeranian-sized bugs fighting on the tree, quickly cut short when a small bird swiftly snatches one and disappears over the canopy. The last bug seems to raise its claws in victory… Until the freaking bark above it lifts itself and devours the bug in a gory fashion.

Oh lovely, even the trees want to eat you.

Oh, never mind. A much larger insect resembling a mantis was hiding under the bark, kicking the bark off its back and onto the floor before jumping away.

Hm. Most of these things were smaller than I was, but considerably quicker too. Considering that I was being controlled by a lizard they probably have a lot up their sleeves that appearance doesn’t show. My size was important, I could probably crush a lot of these guys with a well-aimed stomp to the head.

At the same time, on their own, they probably couldn’t do much to me. The most threatening thing I’ve seen from any of these guys was the lizards and nothing bigger than that ever came by, and if they did, they seemed to scurry away shortly after. Maybe they could recognise my base was dangerous to be near, maybe they could sense my presence.

This just meant if I wanted to build somewhere, building out in the open where it's easy to spot you isn’t a good idea. There’s only so much these flimsy traps of mine can do.

Figures.

Well, life is a learning experience. And when you're a spider with too much weird stuff going on about you, it's going to be a deep learning experience-

< Beep! >

Whuzzat?!

< Thank you for waiting patiently, Arachxei Progenitor. Pseudo-System has registered the monster Arachxei, Arachxei Skills, Arachxei Evolutions, Arachxei Body Parts and Arachxei Mutations within the Grimoire of Monsters. >

Omigod! Could it be?! Can I finally use my full power now?!

< Please keep in mind editing is still being done and may take several hours to load depending on the frequency and available staff. This can mean categories may not make sense and layouts and UI may be unrefined, and not everything has been added, including the shop. However, they will all be added within 24 Hours… For this tutorial, access the Pseudo-System and activate UI-Mode. >

T-Tutorial? Uh, wasn’t expecting that? UI? So user-interface? Strange thing to have like this though, right? Do I just think about activating UI-Mode or-

< Beep! ERROR. UI-Mode is temporarily disabled. Try again another time. >

Uhhhh-

< Due to error, the tutorial will be deactivated until issues have been fixed. Would you like to view your status? >

S-Sure! Gimme the details, the more I know the more I can prepare!

< Loading… Showing status. >

[Name: Ma’Kaol.

Race: (Progenitor) Highbreed Arachxei.

Race Evolution: Newborn Queen.

Level: 1/20

Data Core: 100%

Evolution: Unavailable.

Perk Points: 5.

EVO Points: 0

Unique Skills: [Arachxei Progenitor], [Crest of the Reincarnator], [CotR: Poisonous Heart], [&%”$!*].

Racial Skills: [Psionic Shift], [Spider’s Thread], [Grip], [Corrosive Bite], [Corrosion Immunity], [Tunnelling], [Dusk Bioluminescence], [Bio-Light], [Sun’s Folly], [Strong Digestion].

Body Parts: [Biomass Converter], [Legs], [Arms], [Pheromone Gland], [Exoskeleton], [Mandibles], [Eyes], [Ethereal Eye], [Hypno Tongue], [Stomach], [Social Stomach], [Pollen Baskets], [Wax Generation Gland], [Spinneret Glands], [Corrosive Venom Gland], [Egg Production Gland].

Mutations: Null.

General Skills: Null.

Magic Skills: Null.

Physical Skills: Null.

Immediately, the overload of information causes me to recoil backwards. There’s a pang of pain in my head and my eyes itch at the sensation. Damn, I wasn’t expecting all that at once! It’s a massive wall of text with no regard for personal space or potential information overload. Can I shrink this at all? There’s a gear option besides the text… Settings?

I click on it.

Hm. I can change the font and colour of the text? HUD layout… That seems to be it though. Bah, oh well. Let’s just go over this. Slowly. And break it down.

Hmm…

…

…I see…? What the hell is that buggy one about?

This is a lot to go over, but… This seems to be a weird status screen. I have a level and experience for said level to rise, but no HP or MP or anything like that? That’s a tad strange.

There’s race, evolution- Wait, evolution?! Like, ‘becoming a stronger version of my self’ evolution?

Oh no, don’t give me choices! I’m horrible at making decisions! By the time I decide, humanity would have probably been wiped out by an apocalypse while I was twiddling my thumbs crying in a pit out in the wild! How many times have I struggled to decide on food and by the time I decide, way too much time has passed?

Ugh. That ain’t gonna be fun.

And a Data Core? The only ‘core’ I seem to have is the sphere on my chest. Probably referring to that then. Is that some sort of super important item? Must be considering it's listed here.

I’ve got perk points and whatever EVO points are. Quite a few nulls….

There’s also the skills! Perfection! Just what I need so I can survive. Unique. Racial… Body parts? Hmm, self-explanatory. Can I upgrade body parts then? Upgrade my legs to run faster or something along those lines?

Mutations… General skills… Dammit, can I get more information or-

< If a skill is in brackets, [EXAMPLE], then the information of the skill can be viewed. This may apply to other subjects. >

Oh? Thank you system for that. Let me clickity-click on the bugged one…

[&%”$!*]: &5% E eeEE eE*!”$

…This seems bugged. Can systems have bugs? Apparently so! Well, I can’t do anything about this, can I? In that case, can I have a full list of my skills and what they do?

< [Arachxei Progenitor]: As the first of your race, your soul is automatically connected to all of your children. No descendent will ever go out to actively harm you and you are able to issue them any command. If a progeny somehow loses their race and distances themselves from the Arachxei either from a unique evolution or an outside force, you will be notified immediately. Grants a power and morale boost to all of your nearby progeny. >

< [Crest of the Reincarnator]: A crest that marks its owner as one who has reincarnated and gives them unique properties. Grants access to [Observer’s Game]. >

< [CotR: Poisonous Heart]: Skills with the Poison Attribute have increased potency and require fewer resources to use, increasing overall effectiveness. Grants correction to poison proficiency and cost. Unlocks new skill paths. Unlocks additional evolutionary path. >

< [Psionic Shift]: Activates the Ethereal Eye while deactivating all other eyes. Grant's ability to see psionic signatures as well as a weak form of telekinesis. Increases the potency of all psionic skills while active.>

< [Spider’s Thread]: Can generate spider threads, as well as customise certain attributes to suit your needs. >

< [Grip]: Grants a bonus to grip, allowing better scaling of surfaces without letting go. >

< [Corrosive Bite]: A powerful, wide-ranged bite filled with toxins secreted by a special gland that can erode metal such as iron. Derived from the Scylla Arachnid. >

< [Corrosion Immunity]: Become immune to the effects of corrosion. >

< [Hypnotic Embrace]: Pull your target into a calm and relaxed state with your pulsating tongues. Target must have eyes to see the appendages and eye contact must be made for five seconds before the effect takes hold.] >

< [Tunnelling LVL 1]: Provides the instinct to dig and increases efficiency and effectiveness greatly. Bonus efficiency applied. >

< [Strong Digestion]: Allows you to safely eat things that most others cannot eat, such as caffeine, cocoa beans and capsaicin.] >

< [Sun’s Folly]: Due to your heritage, you grow weak in sunlight and are unable to fight at your full capabilities. >

< [Queen Arachxei: Spawn Egg]: Can convert biomass into eggs and lay with a specialised ovipositor. Can currently lay Hatchlings and Seekers. >

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< [Dusk Bioluminescence]: As a monster born in Dawnwood, parts of your body glow in response to the darkness and nearby critters that emit Bio-Light. Monsters of Duskwood despise the light and no energy is consumed producing this light. >

< [Bio-Light]: Your horns glow bright Bio-Light to light up the darkness. Monsters of Duskwood despise the light and no energy is consumed producing this light. >

HMMM.

What grabs my attention instantly were the first three skills, progenitor, crest and heart. Progenitor sounds kinda wack, any of my nearby progeny gets a couple of buffs and none will willingly harm me. Well, it's nice, although I don’t have plans for kids anytime soon, especially not now.

And the idea of laying eggs is…

…

Anyway, ignoring that baggage that I accidentally unleashed on my mind, Crest of the Reincarnator? There’s actually something for that? I didn’t think I would be labelled as one. That… Has some implications. I’m not gonna think about that too much. Instead, I’m gonna think about this CotR: Poisonous Heart skill. Why do you have the initials for my crest skill? What are you hiding, mister? And why do you appeal to my poison-loving senses? You give me a skill that unlocks poison abilities, increases the efficiency of said poison, reduces its cost AND adds an evolution path? The perfect skill for me. Simply beautiful. Mix it in with some sneaking ability and I’m golden, huehuehuehue~

Now, before I go on a poison-loving spree, what else?

Oh thank goodness, I can eat spicy food. Hey, system, can I ask what EVO Points are?

…

O-okay. Thanks, I guess…

…

Okay, that’s another interesting bit. Out of all of these, the only thing that has levels is my digging. Hypnosis sounds like fun and a bit odd for a spider (then again, what spider has psychic abilities and glows in the dark?) And hey, wait a sec, weakness to sunlight?! The hell?! An Ethereal Eye? Telekinesis?! Spicy!

At least it's still nighttime. I don’t have to worry about sunlight right now, but maybe I should see about getting to a more secure location. The location I’m in probably won’t provide much shade.

(As I think that, something itches in my head.)

I’m just gonna spend some time processing this. Slowly. Maybe while I’m sorting my nest out. I’m starting to get ideas and I wanna test them.

Huehuehue~

I shall clack my claws together like an evil villain in excitement.

---

There’s a strange wolf of sorts nearby, I noticed.

Hmm, is that how I would describe the creature? Covering in a mass of writhing vines and thorns that assume the shape of a canine, not completely solid as it moves through the bushes. It had no visible mouth or eyes and its ‘tail’ were vines wrapping around each other and ending in a sprouting tip. No flesh to be seen.

In fact, it was entirely made of vines, something I had noticed when a nearby rustling in the plants had caught both our attention. The wolf comes apart in an instant, its body splitting apart to blend in with the forest just as a similarly sized creature comes out…

It’s something?

A creature with four limbs that walked on its knuckles and claws, with a lower half of scaly flesh but with an upper half that was covered in a black material that looked a lot like latex. In fact, judging by how the latex blends with the scaly flesh, I’d bet that it was also its skin. Spinal, metallic spikes descended from its neck down to its nub of a tail, some of those same spikes had jutted out of the creature’s collar bone area and sprouted downward right back into the creature’s flesh which acted seemingly unbothered. And its head was….

Very unsettling.

Still covered in the same material with the same colour. It too had no features. No eyes, ears, not even a visible beak or maw. Perfectly smooth except for its long neck which the flesh sagged and wrinkled. Where its maw should have been was more latex, shaping into a cylinder-shaped muzzle with a metallic cap at the end. Almost like some sort of alien gas mask.

I was not quite sure what I was looking at. Something that made my entire being itch, that was for sure, something that made my jaws click and ache.

The creature doesn’t notice me, my nest or the pile of vines it began to walk over. This was where I noticed the faint, black smog coming out of the metallic cap where its mouth should be as it looked around.

How are you looking around with no eyes, dude? Do you have some special senses? Oh, speaking of, maybe I should test some things while you’re here.

Then, it lets out a horrific noise as its knuckles brush against a vine-

And I have to physically muzzle my own mouth so as to not gag in horror as the vines immediately strike, coiling around the strange creature as it struggles, unaware of its impending doom as its limbs are completely immobilised and at the beast's mercy. The horrific cries of the creature, akin to scratching glass with a nail, mixing it with metal being crushed and turning that into a siren’s blare, only increase in volume as the vines begin to tighten.

I had assumed that it worked like a constrictor snake. Coiling around its prey and suffocating it before digging in. But, as the vines inflate and tighten further, almost covering the creature as vines snap its arm at awkward angles, completely breaking its legs in half as the thorns dig into its flesh as it coils, I begin to realise that this hound was not that simple.

Seconds later, the vine monster has completely covered the creature, now roughly the same shape as its hapless victim.

Was it over? I naively think.

No.

Because it crushes the poor thing, the cries become static electricity as the beast squeezes down. Every drop of blood was absorbed into its vines. If one droplet somehow escaped, a stray vine would eagerly lap up the fluid until nothing remained. Even as the mass where the alien-like creature became smaller and more audible bone snaps echoed out as it was crushed and shredded into a pulp.

Minutes pass.

I was too scared and terrified to dare move.

Eventually, though, the vine hound seems to be done with its tea and unravels itself to let go of the desiccated husk that was once its prey. The corpse flops to the ground and is devoid of life, covered in tears and pieces of bone and god knows what else. Yet even now the hound was not done. Its vines reach out and coil around the corpse, skewer it with the particularly sharp thorns on its back and wear it like some goddamn coat. The creature is pleased, however, letting out a chirp and kicking its back legs out in excitement before trotting out of view with the corpse in tow.

…

I want to leave this goddamn forest already.

Oh, now there’s an innocent-looking critter skittering out of the bushes. Hey, rat-creature with the silly face! Are you gonna become an abomination from hell or something? Can’t do anything more traumatising than what that vine hound did to that thing I promise you that! Although… That’s not a challenge, please don’t actually become an abomination, I will cry.

Actually, stay right there! Lemme try something~

Let me just activate the Psionic Shift and- Woah!

Instantly the world goes dark but doesn’t stay that way for long as light flickers in my vision. I am greeted by a sight that I was not familiar with, however. Traces of blue and grey tickle my mind yet I couldn’t quite make out what it was, even as brief pulses of red come and go and outlines of grey barely come into existence.

Seconds pass. There are flickers of movement, ever so dull yes, but there. I move my hand in front of my vision, a red blur moving back and forth greets me and I begin to piece it all together.

I think the red is me. The critter over there the faint blue while the grey outlines were the… Well, outlines of the objects around me! There are the trees, the rocks and so on. But it's very hard to see, this was clearly used for detecting creatures.

Not only that, I just realised what my Ethereal Eye is! It’s the ball of ‘flame’ that’s hovering above my head! No wonder it hurt like I had poked my eye when I touched it earlier, it literally is my eye! Not quite sure how that works considering it's not solid but whatever! That’s one mystery solveeeedd woaaahh! Hold on? This is new!

I can move my eye around my body?!

With some force, I allow my magical eye to move about and gasp in amazement as the eye travels to the opposite end of my body, lingering near the spinnerets before trailing up my belly and perching between my horns once again. An idea hits me, this time I make my eye move further away from my body-

Owowowowo- OW! Okay, come back! Turn off the skill, please!

Phew! Okay, my eye can go about three feet away from me before it starts to sting, good to know. Hello, again rat!

That was an experience! I’m still not entirely sure what psionic means or how this eye works just yet, but I feel like I have a much better understanding now! Some more experimentation here and there should clear up this mystery! Telekinesis, even if weak, sounded extremely useful. I wasn’t fond of the fact I was going to have to give up most of my vision, but surely I can adapt over time with practice.

For now though? Now that I am aware of a potentially crippling weakness let’s make a proper shelter before the sun comes up. I’m starting to make out little specks of red on the horizon, and I’m in no mood to be in a weakened state with that viney monstrosity strolling about. No siree!

Webs? Check!

Digging? Check!

Brain power? …I’ll get back to you on that. We just need a simple underground home right now, no fancy-schmancy shenanigans here! A simple burrow!

Take two of (temporary) house building, and maybe a nap, let’s go-

…Crack!

A branch snaps and my body and train of thought almost completely halts. For a brief moment, I think, I wonder if I was merely overreacting.

Crack! Crack!

Thump…. Thump…

…But, I don’t think I am this time. Activating Psionic Shift again.

Once again my vision becomes ethereal and instantly I see something. Lurking from the trees, speckles of blue begin to form. At first, it's faint, but it's quick to become the shape of a blob.

A blob that becomes unreasonably large. Developing muscular legs, causing the ground to vibrate and quake with each step. A tail sprouts, thick and heavy enough to cause the grey of the trees to crack. Its presence alone becomes overwhelming.

My breath lowers.

The aura of the rat hops away and immediately I turn off my skill, just in time to hear a deep, guttural bellow that rattles my exoskeleton.

Our new guest was difficult to see and was a decent distance away. And to be quite frank, I’m perfectly fine with it staying as far away as possible. But if it comes any closer, I’ll have to leave.

…Dammit, I think it’s coming closer. Okay, gonna start heading-

“Kuta!”

Suddenly, a scream and the rapid flapping of wings from the direction of the beast snaps me from my thoughts. And I can’t help but watch in shock and horror as the monster suddenly recoils backwards loses its balance, struggling to get upright as it begins to tumble… Right towards my nest!

Uh-oh!

Time to leave!

I immediately skitter out of my nest, passing an apologetic glance to the corpse still inside just before the creature tumbles on top of it. And despite the strength of my silk, it just about flattens most of my precious nest. The supporting silk snaps under the weight and slowly, it all becomes crushed under the weight of the monster.

To say that there was rage building up was an understatement.

Give me a break, you oversized… Lizard?

Wait. It’s hard to tell and it's certainly been a bit since I saw stuff like this, but I can feel old childhood memories popping up. Books of prehistoric creatures, specifically, dinosaurs. If I look closer…

That just looks like an Allosaurus! From my childhood books!

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