Chapter 26: 22: Fly Trap

Experimenting with how she created silk resulted in many interesting results. First thing is anything created has a certain limit when it comes to how much information and mana it can have. Higher mana quantities, the more effective it is at whatever it’s supposed to do, what it is supposed to do is determined by the information it holds. Information is something like spells and skills which is then empowered by the mana. Limit on information seemed to be correlated to the size or mass of the object. Larger it is, the greater the information limit. Through various testing Alicia found that the simplest of her webs can hold upto 3 skills or spells worth of information, with larger constructs obviously being able to hold more. Maximum level she can give to an object was determined by her own skill rank. As for what her skills did to the webs…

At first she thought < Strength III > and < Presence detection VI > didn’t do anything on the silk, as she was expecting the durability of it to increase and added Presence detection just for the heck of it instead of stealth just to see what happens. Until some huge lupine wolf-like creature came close to it, and the free hanging web with a diameter of about 25 cm seemed to jump to latch onto its head covering its eyes when it was near. It appeared to her that the presence detection caused the web to somehow be able to determine what was near it and then do something, in this case fall on top of a wolf’s head.

The large creature with lost sight panicked, trying to use it’s paws to wipe away the web, this made the web’s second attribute to show itself,  Strength. The wolf-like beast was about 150cms tall with enough strength to easily rip through any regular spider’s web, a monster of such size was easily incapcitated by a web with the diameter of a basketball due to one of its paws now being stuck to its face. Strength of the web was clearly superior, particularly it’s adhesive power.

Unable to hold balance on three of it’s remaining legs its figure was pitiful. Alicia felt just a little guilty, stifling a laughter when it crashed into a nearby tree during its confusion. Though the web had strong stickiness it’s integrity wasn’t the same. Eventually the wolven creature had freed itself from it but not before the web pulling off tufts of hair with it. It fled immediately after regaining sight, yelping and whining along the way. It was later found that ‘constitution’ increased the durability of the web.

Secondly, just as the spirit suggested she tried applying spells, various aspects created webs with strange properties. Fire aspect made the web glow orange like the filaments of incandescent light bulbs, generating heat however one problem with it is that the silk could take so much heat before bursting into flames itself, disintegrating in the process. ‘I can’t supply too much mana or it’ll burn up, but too little and it’ll be ineffective…’, the newly acquired Earth aspect caused the web to become stiff and rigid almost as if frozen. ‘This is less like a web and more like a chain link fence made by someone who was drinking on their job… Still I could use this, I don’t think animals care about aesthetic values of a fence.’ Water aspect didn’t do anything visible, but further research conducted showed that the web didn’t degrade in water… ‘Not very exciting however it’s practical applications are limitless, I could finally make a fishing net.’ As a footnote she could make the silk neutral, hydrophobic or hydrophilic.

‘Air aspect much the same, no physical changes to the web, except when I dropped it refused to touch the earth and flew off somewhere… Why do I feel like it’s going to find that wolf’s face again?

It was resilient to strong winds. Maybe I could make sails out of this.’

Lastly conflicting information didn’t work simultaneously, only one of them could be expressed. While air was lifting the webs up, earth caused it to immediately plummet downwards, with added weight that came from who knows where. Furthermore switching out the skill or the spell was a simple affair as long as it was in direct contact to her.

Lastly when the webs were isolated from her for an extended amount of time it lost its special properties. Another idea she had was to use her silk to swing around like a certain comic superhero… It didn’t go well… ‘Who knew there aren’t any conveniently placed skyscrapers, street lights and whatever else you’d find  in a metropolitan city doesn’t exist in a forest… couldn’t be me…’

Her experiments took a good amount of time, evidenced by the dark silhouettes of the trees in the distance and the fading orange lights in the sky. Though this didn’t mean much to both of them, who needed no sleep. The days were darkest at this time of twilight when the sun had set but one of the moons yet to fully rise.

Alicia was working to refine her web trap with the newfound knowledge she gained. Although the basic principle behind her idea hasn’t changed, the execution of it would now be much easier. The structure of her web would be different based on their roles they fulfill. Frame, draglines and anchor points that bear the most load were spun with extra threads of silk - And aside from < Stealth > - added in < Constitution > and < Earth Aspect > to reinforce it just for an extra measure. Same was done for the auxiliary threads as well. As for the capture threads it was given a slightly different treatment of added < Strength > instead of earth aspect which increased its stickiness since its role was to hold onto the wasps not to endure the thrashing assault, that was other the strands’ job. And thus the plan for the primary web that would be suspended a few inches above the surface of the water was formed.

That was good enough… if she was trying to just catch them, eliminating all that she caught was another deal altogether. For this part she had another idea. Second web suspended above the first. This one would have < Earth Aspect > and < Fire Aspect >. < Earth aspect > in this case is not used to increase the hardness and durability but quite on the contrary, to make it fail.

Alicia would accomplish this by increasing the overall weight of the web with earth aspect while intentionally creating structural weak points made to snap, specifically the anchor points. She would take the anchors’ < Constitution > that supports the web when the time was right. Lack of Stealth was something she decided by herself to give the incoming insects a false sense of security. Taking away constitution from the anchor strands will make it fall unable to hold up the added weight of the Earth aspect. Blanketing the unsuspecting wasps stuck the primary net. And finally as a Coup de grâce Fire aspect would roast them. But if this isn’t enough, just having them clumped up and stuck was a perfect opportunity to blow any leftovers with Pyroblast.

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Engrossed in work while listening to the miscellaneous stories told by the water spirit, days quickly and uneventfully went by. Though she was a bit uncertain if this plan would work, thus she committed many points to her magic, especially to Earth Aspect and Fire Aspect. A day before the start of the egg laying season, she was done, lock, stock and barrel. At first it was a few early birds that came trickling in, eventually the loud incessant buzzing would drown out one’s thoughts. Soon a cloud of wasps and mosquitoes emerged.

Alicia’s web was holding up well but… 

A while after the web was completely covered by stuck insects, the free flying wasps oblivious to the web could only see the others blocking their path to food and the ideal environment for their larvae. At first they were neutral, crawling on top of the others, probing around for any space to enter. More and more piling, stuck in a claustrophobic space, beating wings all around generating heat, they soon became agitated and eventually attempted to force their way in.

Haphazardly stinging, injecting both venom and their eggs to whatever’s close to them, little did they know they were now part of the blanket covering the path of others above it. Now they became the obstacle that was bothersome, now they were stung and envenomed. A cruel cycle death ensued, the aggressor becoming the victim, fresh corpses to the pile forming repulsive hill insects. Few lucky ones late to arrive, were those who survived.

Alicia was atop the secondary web, ready to snap the anchors to the treetops. ‘The capture net can’t hold anymore, this is as good as it’ll get!’ 

Web conspicuously placed high that none of them suspected to get caught in plunged down with great velocity, igniting from the Fire aspect, to an onlooker it seemed as if fire was raining down. On contact sizzling and burning the insects, by its nature as a web it was sticky. And thanks to added durability from constitution it could burn much longer before being destroyed. Wasps burnt to crisps and shrank, lastly turning into a black ball that couldn’t even be identified as a former living being. This made their volume shrink letting the web descend further into the struggling insects. Almost like exacting revenge from her previous life, Alicia replaced the primary net’s Stealth with Fire Aspect. ‘I’ve just created the most disgusting sandwich haven’t I? Eh nobody will cry for these wasps, they don’t even pollinate plants like bees.’

Embers that fell on the water surface danced for a short time before dying off. Not long after, every single one of the insects perished either to each other or to the infernal flames. Those who barely escaped with their lives were the winners in life, as ashes of their kin flowed along the river draining the lake. The elves would notice the ash in their waters and investigation would occur, a luckless captain would be chosen for this mission…

Hey you wanna learn how people milk spiders?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx6dcGoHIds 

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