Chapter 22: Chapter 22: Bugs

It didn't take Sara long to find another cave on her way up. With little else of interest around besides the grazing goats, and little wings sticking up from the grass, she decided to investigate this one too. Barely more than a metre in she suddenly felt a tingle she hadn't felt before, and she froze. It was like something was telling her to not take another step. She pulled her leg back, and tried to figure out what was causing this sensation. There was a hint of heat from Danger Sense, but also something else that was more like a tingling. Straining her eyes to the utmost she eventually noticed what looked like a string.

[ Spider Net Trap: Medium Quality ]

Spider!

Peering further in she couldn't actually spot the spider. Perhaps it was hiding too far in. Though spiders were known for... her gaze drifted upwards... and still saw nothing. No wait, there was a mana signature on the ceiling. Thankfully not directly above her, but a little further in behind the trap. Focusing on that signature let her Sense Presence catch on to it as well, forming an uncomfortable image that she was able to Identify.

[ Brown Cave Spider (Rogue Lvl 24) HP: 88/88 ]

Spider!!!

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Chomp Lvl 4 | Death From Above Lvl 6 | Poison Strike Lvl 8 | Inject Venom Lvl 8 | Poison Bolt Lvl 8 | Web Shot Lvl 8 | Spider Net Trap Lvl 6 | Stealth Lvl Max ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Keen Eyes Lvl 16 | Spider Silk Lvl Max | Thread Manipulation Lvl 4 | Venom Sac (Small) Lvl 8 | Paralysis Venom Lvl 8 | Chameleon Lvl 4 | Spider Climb Lvl Max | Firm Grip Lvl 6 | Agility Up (Small) Lvl 6 | Dexterity Up (Small) Lvl 6 | Poison Resistance Lvl 6 ]

While she could make guesses based on the names, she decided to check out these skills before doing anything else. It wasn't moving, so maybe it couldn't see through her cloaking, or it was waiting for her to get trapped before doing anything. Booby-trapping the entrance to the cave was both clever, and dirty.

[ Inject Venom (Active): Able to continuously inject venom into a target via an inserted fang, stinger, or something equivalent. Channelled effect. Poison(?) potency increases the more venom is inserted. Effect increases, and MP drain decreases with skill level. Activation cost: 5 MP. Rapidly drains MP while active. Venom Sac is drained first if present. Deactivation cost: 0. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]

[ Web Shot (Active): Fire a ball of sticky webbing that explodes upon impact, and traps any nearby target for 10 seconds, or until webbing is destroyed. Weak to Fire element. Splash radius: 1 metre. Web strength increases with skill level. Improved by Spider Silk skill. Cost: 5 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 8 seconds. ]

[ Spider Net Trap (Active): Allows user to set a spider net trap that traps targets in a spider web. Can be sticky, or non-sticky. Does no damage. Trap duration: Until triggered, broken, or disarmed. Net duration: Until broken, or released. Weak to Fire element. Requires Spider Silk. Setup time: 3 minutes. Setup time decreases with skill level. (Ai-note: Traps cannot be set without hands, or something equally dexterous, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Spider Silk (Passive): Able to produce spider silk. Can be sticky, or non-sticky. Drains SP for production. Strength, quality, and durability increases, while SP drain decreases with skill level. (Ai-note: Do not think too hard about where the silk is coming from.) ]

[ Thread Manipulation (Passive): Able to manipulate the movement, and shape of thread, rope, and similar materials. Your imagination, and skill are the limits. Complicated manoeuvres or constructions may drain SP. Drain decreases, and ease of use increases with skill level. ]

[ Venom Sac (Small) (Passive): Lets the holder store up to 10+(1*skill level) millilitres of venom. Can be used with any poison or venom related skill to increase its potency, and/or reduce cost. ]

[ Paralysis Venom (Passive): Able to use Paralysis(?) venom instead of regular poison/venom for all poison or venom related skills. ]

[ Paralysis (Status Condition): Ability to move is impaired. Effect gets stronger, and duration longer the more times the effect is applied. If Complete Paralysis is achieved, the afflicted cannot move or use skills for up to 30 seconds unless cured. ]

[ Spider Climb (Passive): Improves climbing prowess, and speed. Lets user stick to almost any surface, and climb along it. Effect increases with skill level. Scales with Dexterity. ]

Those sure seemed like spider things.

Aina? Is Spider Climb an evolution of Climb?

"Not exactly. Certain skills have race or species specific variants. For instance a lot of insects, and some lizards have their own Climb variants that let them go up walls, and along ceilings, so they would never have the regular Climb skill. Though Spider Climb is probably the strongest."

I also notice that most of these are not listed as disabled...

"Correct. Similar to how you do not need a venom sac to use Poison Strike, you do not need spinnerets to produce silk. The system can work around that. And the Venom Sac skill would function like a special inventory rather than a physical organ. Thread Manipulation is a helpful skill for tailors, and others. While it is made easier with fingers, needles, or spider legs, you can make do without them. Most of these skills can be gained in various ways. It is simply that other mobs, Wanderers, or Residents cannot acquire the Spider Silk or Spider Climb skills. Except you."

Sara wasn't sure if she was happy about that or not. Being able to stick to the ceiling sounded cool, but it also made her think of some sort of spider-wolf hybrid creature. Running into that in a dark alley would be horrifying.

The spider didn't have a lot of HP compared to the drakes, and especially not the bears, so even without the ability to Ambush it, she should be able to take it down with her spells. Especially now that she also had Fireball. But did she actually want these skills? A couple of them would be neat, but she was really rolling the dice on whether it would be one of those, or one of the... less desirable ones.

She let out a sigh.

Norax help me.

Since it kept hinting at fire, she would give it fire. Level 1 Fireball, go!

The blazing orb flew through the webbing along its path, setting it all aflame, before it impacted the ceiling where her senses were telling her the hidden spider was. With an ungodly shriek it fell from the ceiling engulfed in flame.

It really hates that, huh?

Thorn Bind would probably instantly disintegrate when the target was on fire, so she instead used a Frost Bolt to slow it down before she charged another Fireball. Because of all the burning she wasn't able to notice the blob of green that flew right at her. Even Danger Sense was very busy telling her she should not under any circumstances go stand in the fire, and didn't sufficiently warn her. She was struck at the same moment she launched her Fireball, but the damage was negligible. She would try to not take any more of them, though. She'd had enough hubris for one day. Then the flaming spider launched itself at her, and she was very quick to dodge to the side of that. Except she didn't have much room, so she unleashed an Arcane Blast to further divert its direction while she pressed as close to the wall as possible.

Even if it hadn't been on fire she wouldn't have gone anywhere near it, so she finished it off with another Frost Bolt + Fireball combo.

[ Brown Cave Spider (Rogue Lvl 24) Defeated. ]

[ Level Up: Level 22 Reached! ]

Thanks to the fire she hadn't been able to get a good look at it, but the fire went away once it was dead, and she got to see. It was slightly charred, but she got to see. The only reason she went over and looted it was because it would make the body disappear quicker. Even then she only tapped it with her paw from as far away as possible.

[ Skill Gained: Spider Silk. ]

I knew it. I just knew it. I just couldn't stop thinking about it, so of course that's what I would get.

[ Trap Sense Skill Level Up! ] [ Danger Sense Skill Level Up! ] [ Sense Mana Skill Level Up! ][ Erase Presence Skill Level Up! ] [ Chameleon Skill Level Up! ] [ Fireball Skill Level Up! ] [ Fire Element Up Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Resistance Skill Level Up! ]

Trap Sense? Is that what that weird tingling feeling was?

A sudden bout of dizziness assailed Sara, and she stumbled to the ground.

[ Spider Silk skill detected. Error. Character possesses Snare Net Trap skill. Error. Incompatible skills. Error solution: Snare Net Trap skill will be converted into Spider Net Trap skill. Processing. Success. ]

W-what was that?

"My apologies. I did not predict the system would react in such a way."

Aren't you the system?

"No. I merely monitor the system. We are linked, but the system itself is automatic. You could say the system is the world, and its rules. I was afraid errors might start happening at some point, but I was not able to predict when. I am very sorry, Sara."

It's okay, I feel fine again now. But... um... is that going to happen again?

"I am afraid it is quite likely. The more you interact with the world, the more likely you are to encounter anomalies. I can guarantee they will not harm you, but they will likely feel unpleasant in some way."

It sounded like basically there was no way to 100% prevent it except to stop doing anything. Which wasn't a good option at all. She'd have to brace herself.

While she was in there, she might as well have a look at the back of the cave. Aina had mentioned treasures, and even if she couldn't use what was inside, she was curious to see a treasure chest.

However there was no treasure chest. There was instead another spider, sitting in a middle of the giant spider web. Was that how they slept? Or was it awake? They didn't have eyelids, so she had no way of telling. There were also two thin threads across the entrance to the back of the cave, probably to alert the spider of anyone entering, and trap them as well. She didn't need to get closer though. One Fireball burned through the threads on its way to the spider, which went up in flames along with the web it was sitting in. Then Sara simply kited the shrieking creature around the room while alternating Fire and Frost, and it died like the first one.

[ Brown Cave Spider (Rogue Lvl 22) Defeated. ]

[ Skill Gained: Paralysis Venom. ]

[ Fireball Skill Level Up! ] [ Frost Bolt Skill Level Up! ] [ Mana Manipulation Skill Level Up! ]

They were easy enough to deal with on their own, so long as she made sure to keep them away. They seemed really weak to fire as well. If she ran into more than one... she would probably still win, but it would not be fun.

She wasn't sure how useful Paralysis Venom would be for her, but she had been curious about it. A non-lethal poison was interesting, but at current she didn't have a non-lethal way of delivering it. Poison Strike, and Poison Bolt both did damage as well as applying Poison, and even if she got Inject Venom, she'd still have to pierce the target first.

No treasures, and two spiders. She might as well leave before they respawned. It was a little unsettling how they smelled kinda good when fried.

* * *

The next cave she found was empty, or at least it seemed that way until she got to the very back, and there was a treasure chest! She was about to open it, when she stopped herself. This wasn't a dungeon, but what if the chest was trapped anyway? She attempted to focus her entire scope of senses, even Thermal Vision on the chest to see if anything was strange about it, but all results were negative.

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Inside the chest was... a couple of gold coins, a pair of boots, and a scroll. The money and boots would be nice for when she was able to use them. They looked like comfy boots. They gave bonuses to agility and dexterity, so they were probably meant for Rangers, Rogues, and Scouts.

And the scroll was a skill scroll! For the skill... Disarm Trap. Automatic or not, she had to wonder if the system had a sense of humour. Well, at least it wasn't for Trap Sense, so she could actually use it. Or could she?

How do I actually use a skill scroll, Aina?

"You open it, and... oh, I see the problem. Pour a little mana into it, that should achieve the same result."

Sara was able to do that much, at which point the scroll sprung into the air, unrolled itself, and glowed for a couple of seconds before disintegrating into golden sparkles.

[ Skill Gained: Disarm Trap. ]

Oooo, pretty!

So she stood something to gain from the treasure chests if she was lucky. And Luck was her strongest stat! Even if it still seemed somewhat unreliable.

The next cave turned out to be another couple of spiders who went down in flames, and nothing else. As she was about to check the popups after clearing the place out, she suddenly lost all feeling in her legs, and dropped to the floor. A message forced itself into view.

[ Spider Climb skill detected. Error. Character already possesses Climb skill. Error. Overlapping skills. Error solution: Climb skill will be absorbed into the superior Spider Climb skill. Experience will be carried over. Calculating. Experience threshold higher for superior skill. Max level bonus lost. Reinitialising. Success. ]

An itching sensation ran down her legs as feeling returned, and she could thankfully move again.

"Are you okay, Sara?"

I think I am now, yes. You weren't kidding about it being unpleasant. Suddenly going completely numb like that had caused some panic.

"I am sorry. Keeping you from taking damage is all I am able to do."

That's more than enough. Thank you, Aina.

She decided to head outside before looking at the little boxes, since she wasn't completely sure how long the respawn timers were, and the error had cost her time.

[ Brown Cave Spider (Rogue Level 23) Defeated. ] [ Brown Cave Spider (Rogue Level 24) Defeated. ]

[ Skill Gained: Spider Climb. ]

Yes, I kinda figured that one out already, thanks.

[ Trap Sense Skill Level Up! ] [ Erase Presence Skill Level Up! ] [ Fireball Skill Level Up! ] [ Chameleon Skill Level Up! ] [ Fire Element Up Skill Level Up! ] [ Arcane Blast Skill Level Up! ]

The fights against the spiders were not very advanced, so she didn't level a lot of skills through them. Getting some use out of her Trap Sense was neat, but otherwise it was just keeping her distance while using Fireball and Frostbolt, and using Arcane Blast to divert their lunges away. Even though they were about the same size as her, they didn't seem to be as heavy, so Arcane Blast was able to push them fairly well, especially if they were in the air.

But honestly she felt fine not fighting any more spiders unless she was forced to. They weren't hard fights, but they were unsettling, especially with all the shrieking, and she had suffered two unpleasant errors because of it. The rest of what she had seen on the skill list should be safe to acquire without any errors, but why take the chance?

Spider Climb had been put down to level 8, so it wasn't that big of a difference. She could experiment with sticking to the ceiling later. For now she wanted to keep going.

* * *

All these little detours had slowed down her climb, but finally she could see the landscape change not too far ahead of her. There was a curve that suggested the slope was becoming less steep, but it was hard to see any details when the ground was mostly out of sight until she got up there.

However there was one more cave close to her path. There might actually be more caves up top as well, but this was the last one she could see, so she figured she'd take a look.

[ Chameleon Skill Level Up! Level 5 Reached: Bonus Unlocked! ]

A couple of steps into the cave she suddenly got that popup.

Huh? A bonus? But not max level?

"Some skills have more than one tier of bonuses, where the max level one is just the strongest. Though they are not common."

[ Chameleon (Passive): Makes the holder harder to notice as they blend into their surroundings. While standing still the holder's appearance will gradually change pattern and colour to match their background. This effect can be disabled for Friends, Allies, and/or Neutrals. Effect increases with skill level. Stacks with Stealth.
Level 5 Bonus: Background matching still works while moving slowly, albeit at a reduced rate. Minor effect. ]

That sounded more confusing than helpful, but maybe it worked better in practice.

In the back of the cave she found another bear. Sleeping close to a treasure chest.

[ Brown Grizzly Bear (Fighter Lvl 24) HP: 169/169 ]

What a choice to be faced with. This bear was one level weaker, meanwhile she had gotten two levels stronger, not to mention several skill levels. She even had Fireball now. Even if the grizzly had a resistance skill, fur would still burn. Probably. It would certainly work for pissing it off if her own experience was anything to go by.

Of course the safe choice was to leave it. There was likely nothing of worth in the chest, and she might get killed, sending her all the way back down the hill when she was almost at the top. But it felt like the game... the world was telling her 'go on, here's another chance at that Solid Coat'. It might be the last bear she'd see for a while, depending on what was on top of the hill.

Ah well. One more for the road, I suppose. And you *will* give me what I want.

There was no wind in the cave, which was both good and bad. On the one hand it was not blowing her scent towards the bear, but it was also not blowing it out of the cave, so it might be slowly filling up the area. Erase Presence was supposed to mask her scent, but it was still only level 5, so it was probably not perfect. So the sooner she acted, the better. She would try the Life Magic wind manipulation thing again to attempt to blow some of her scent out of the cave as she approached, which would hopefully buy her a little more time. Even a few seconds could make a big difference.

The bear didn't stir until she was almost on top of it, so she was able to set off her rotation.

She used Ambush, Strong Poison Strike, Thorn Bind, Sprint, then legged it towards the exit, Howled, stopped, spun around, launched a Fireball that both destroyed the vines, and set the bear on fire. This made it absolutely furious, and then she bolted further out of the cave as she heard it roar behind her. Whether it was Roar, or just normal roaring was currently irrelevant.

Once out of the cave, she got into position. The bear was not far behind, but also no longer on fire, so it was vulnerable to another Thorn Bind, followed by a Frost Bolt, Poison Bolt, and another Fireball. The bear's eyes were now quite red.

Pushing herself as hard as she could, she used Leap to get as much vertical height as possible, activated Growth, and then aimed for the bear's back with Death From Above. It was not as dramatic of an impact as when leaping from the top of a tree, but it was enough to cause the bear to let out an audible 'oof'. Then she dug her claws in like last time, and spammed as many attacks as she could on the singed bear hide.

The bear dropped onto its side, and Sara managed to roll off before she got trapped again.

[ Brown Grizzly Bear (Fighter Lvl 24) Defeated. ]

She just stood there huffing, and puffing. She was shaking. During the fight she had been in complete concentration mode as adrenaline pumped through her, but now it was wearing off, and she felt far more exhausted than such a relatively short fight should warrant. She had been 'in the zone' as some would put it, but it had taken a lot out of her. The extreme focus on 'I don't want to die here' was exhausting.

A couple of shaky steps took her over to the bear corpse, and she looted it before sitting her ass down, and looking at what she'd gotten.

[ Skill Gained: Solid Coat. ]

Haha... ha... thank you.

She wasn't sure if she was saying that to the bear, the world in general, or Norax.

[ Level Up: Level 23 Reached! ]

[ Life Magic Skill Level Up! ] [ Thorn Bind Skill Level Up! ] [ Strong Poison Strike Skill Level Up! ] [ Fireball Skill Level Up! ] [ Frost Bolt Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Bolt Skill Level Up! ] [ Leap Skill Level Up! ] [ Death From Above Skill Level Up! ] [ Growth Skill Level Up! ] [ Chomp Skill Level Up! ] [ Nature Element Up Skill Level Up! ] [ Mana Manipulation Skill Level Up! ]

I'd call that a nice going away present. I should probably try to make a little more haste across the top of the hills. I'd like to get to the forest before the patch happens, and I've already spent over a day just getting to this point.

It didn't seem to be quite sunrise yet, the sky was still dark, but she might have only a couple of hours left. It was hard to keep track of time in this world.

The shaking was probably gone now, but she cast a Regrowth on herself anyway just in case that would help. It wasn't an HP issue, so it might not have any effects on such things, but it still felt nice.

She got up, changed into Cat Form, and went to check the chest before she left. It contained one gold coin, a stack of silver coins, a sword with an attack bonus, and a ring that increased healing by 8%. Not exactly vast riches, but she could toss them into the inventory for later. It was time to get moving further up.

She didn't really know what she was going to do with all the crap in her inventory once she was able to make use of it. Some of it she'd like to wear, if only for nostalgia's sake, like the rabbit's foot. She didn't need more Luck really, but it was the first equipment drop she'd gotten.

For the rest it was probably best to sell it. She hadn't looked through her inventory in a while, but she had gotten the impression there weren't many trash items in this world. Pretty much everything that dropped could be used as some sort of material or ingredient. It might be nice cooking some of the meat she'd gotten, since it seemed like it stayed fresh so long as it was in the inventory.

There would come a time where she would actually have to organise her inventory, but that time was not yet.

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