Chapter 3: The Venomous Spider Taranturouge
Chapter 3:
The Venomous Spider Taranturouge
PART 1
I AWOKE IN A damp, earthen space.
Yesterday, I returned to the forest after fleeing the village and took refuge in the trunk of a hollow tree, curling up to recover. The sunlight shone bright through the hole. I sat up, smacking my shoulder.
Oof, it’s really cramped in here.
I made the attempt more slowly, trying to avoid knocking my head. I pushed my way out through the hollow, pulling myself along the ground. I stretched out my limbs, my foggy mind gradually becoming clearer.
After a good yawn, I checked my status, which had become something of a daily ritual in the morning. Taking care of one’s health was very important. Best to check first thing for anything strange.
Species: Baby Dragon
Status: Normal
Lv: 23/25
HP: 41/78
MP: 40/72
Hmm, so I wasn’t fully healed yet. Only about halfway there. I still felt sluggish, but if I wanted to eat, I had to hunt.
My HP was more important than my MP at the moment. I didn’t need battle skills to fill my belly; if I spotted anything too dangerous, I’d just run. But I should raise my HP a bit in case of emergencies.
Rest!
I mentally shouted the spell name that hadn’t even showed up on my status screen yet. A faint light surrounded me and my MP dropped 8 points. I only regained 2 HP. Pathetic, but better than nothing. Maybe it would finally get recognized as a skill if I kept practicing. I repeated the Rest spell five more times.
Species: Baby Dragon
Status: Normal
Lv: 23/25
HP: 53/78
MP: 0/72
I gained 3 HP two out of the five times I cast the spell. That wasn’t terrible, and if I practiced I’d surely get better. If I started when my MP was full, I could recover about 20 HP before my MP was totally drained. It wasn’t efficient, but it wasn’t entirely useless. My body no longer felt so sluggish.
Next order of business: find lunch.
I was so close to another evolution—I really wanted to max out my level today. I’d keep evolving until I got strong enough to snap that Little Rock Dragon’s neck. After that, I’d be golden. It was the strongest monster I’d seen so far. Once I didn’t have to worry about survival, I could go back to that village.
What if I only terrified them again? If I kept helping stray humans who came to the forest, maybe word would spread. And then maybe…
I walked along, completely lost in thought until I spotted a darkwyrm trundling by. It spotted me, too. Took one glance, and ran like hell. Ah, the memories. Back in the day, I was the one running for my life.
Still, this was slightly weird. This was the first darkwyrm I’d seen since the day I fought that big group. I figured I’d killed them all, so I didn’t expect to see one again. I must have covered more ground when I was searching for the village than I realized.
I leapt into the air, cutting off the darkwyrm’s escape. Then I punched it right in the face.
“Ssshhk!”
Gained 12 Experience Points.
Title Skill “Walking Egg” Lv — activated: gained 12 Experience Points.
The video game message window popped up in my head to let me know the monster was dead. I put my hands together in silent thanks and then got down to it. I tore into its spine, scarfing down the meat.
Crruunch, crruunch.
I chuckled wryly to myself as I listened to the disgusting chewing sounds, thinking that I’d gotten pretty used to this life. Now that I was full, it was time to concentrate on leveling up. I needed to max out my level quickly so that I could evolve. I remembered the Divine Voice saying Baby Dragons had lots of evolution paths to choose from.
PART 2
SHORTLY AFTER MY MEAL, I came across another darkwyrm. So there were more of them around here. Now I had an easy way to level up.
The darkwyrm ran from me, so I followed it slowly down a narrow path, letting it corner itself between large rocks.
It realized it was trapped and opened its mouth wide, lunging towards me in desperation. I dodged its Bite attack and delivered a light punch to the side of its head. It recoiled and I grabbed hold of its tail and lifted it up, swinging it through the air.
“Ssshhk! Ssshhk!”
Now the only thing the darkwyrm could do was scream. It frantically shook its head, trying to bite me, but there was no way it could reach.
Ow! I guess it did bite me a little…
Title Skill “Klutz” Lv 3 has become Lv 4.
Oh, yeah. I forgot I had that skill. Not really sure of the criteria for leveling that one up. Well, whatever. Who cares about a stupid skill?
I wasn’t keeping the darkwyrm alive to torture it. I wanted to make it use its Call Allies skill. I felt bad distressing it like this, but if the darkwyrm truly felt it had no other option, it would eventually bring the other darkwyrms to me. That was much more efficient than traipsing around the forest all day looking for monsters. After all, it was a swarm of darkwyrms that had helped me get from Lv 1 to Lv 15 all at once.
“Gggchhkkkk! Gggchhkkkk!”
After swinging the darkwyrm around in midair for about five minutes, I realized I was being watched from all sides. I turned to greet the horde of darkwyrms, enraged at seeing their comrade tossed around in midair. Every last one of them had the Fury status condition.
Just as I planned. Sorry, but you guys are a necessary sacrifice. I cut through the mountain of charging darkwyrms, tearing them apart. Take that!
Gained 12 Experience Points.
Title Skill “Walking Egg” Lv — activated: gained 12 Experience Points.
And that!
Gained 12 Experience Points.
Title Skill “Walking Egg” Lv — activated: gained 12 Experience Points.
Oof!
Gained 12 Experience Points.
Title Skill “Walking Egg” Lv — activated: gained 12 Experience Points.
Title Skill “Pest Killer” Lv 1 has become Lv 2.
I wasn’t sure of my kill count, but before I knew it, there wasn’t a single darkwyrm left standing. Their lifeless bodies lay strewn about, blood oozing sluggishly. So many laid out in a row was a rather grotesque sight, and I felt a little guilty.
Listen, darkwyrms. You guys were heroes, trying to rescue your friend who was in trouble. I’ll never forget your bravery, okay?
Baby Dragon Lv 24 has become Lv 25.
Baby Dragon has achieved MAX Lv.
Evolution Requirements have been fulfilled.
I was glad I’d maxed out my level, but…hell, there was just a bad taste in my mouth. My plan had been efficient, but I didn’t want to use this tactic ever again.
Gained Title Skill “Wrongdoer” Lv 1.
Now you’re just being mean. Whatever. Putting aside your terrible sense of humor, it’s time to talk evolution.
If I evolved, I could take on enemies more easily, and it would lower the risk of a human killing me by mistake. It would give me time to convince them I wasn’t a threat. Plus…I felt the most intense urge to get more powerful. Was it some kind of dragon instinct? Or was it because of the Divine Voice? It urged me to get stronger over and over again.
Divine Voice, show me my evolution options!
Display Evolution Patterns?
Yes, that’s literally what I just asked you.
Future:Mini Angel Dragon Rank CMini Dragon Rank C-Young Plague Dragon Rank D+Kid Marble Dragon Rank D+Kid Dragon Rank D
Present:Baby Dragon Rank D-
History:Dragon Egg Rank F
Wow. Looks like I’ve got a lot more options this time! Five instead of just two.
What was that weird one in the middle, Young Plague Dragon? I was a little overwhelmed with choice; I needed to listen to the explanations and weigh my options.
So there’s “little,” “kid,” “baby,” and “mini,” but what’s the difference between all of those? And “young,” too. Do I just go off their rank? So it would be Baby > Kid > Young > Mini?
The adjectives refer to certain monsters’ evolution patterns.
Is that really your answer? You’re being vague again.
“Little” does not refer to evolution rank, but indicates maximum size of growth. Little types can raise their stats quickly; however, their number of possible evolutions and abilities are inferior to “Baby” types.
Okay. So let’s leave the Little ones out of consideration. Although being able to advance quickly was probably a good advantage to have out here in the wild. Maybe that was actually what I wanted? I’d only made it this far thanks to the View Status skill and Myria’s help. So far I’d been able to escape from strong enemies, making up for how slowly I’d progressed.
“Kid” types are superior to “Baby” types.
“Mini” types do not have many evolution options. However, the options they do have are guaranteed to be reliable.
Hmm, okay.
Divine Voice went quiet before explaining the Young type. Well, it was probably a lot like the Kid type, anyway. I wasn’t sure how much the Divine Voice could actually tell me. Maybe if I kept aggressively asking questions, it would level up.
Sometimes it went off the rails and started spamming text in my head. The sensation of something messing around in my brain was creepy, though it had been helpful in the past.
Regardless, I wanted to hear more about the Mini Angel Dragon, the Kid Marble Dragon, and the Young Plague Dragon.
Mini Angel Dragon: Rank C. Awakened by the skill Protective Spirit. A dragon which has sworn to dedicate its life to others. Can use a variety of White Magic, but its attack power is not very high.
Wait, so the Title Skills actually influenced my evolution options? Mini meant it was small, and I didn’t love the idea of low attack power. But the White Magic…that meant recovery magic, right? Maybe that would help me make friends with the humans.
Kid Marble Dragon: Rank D+. A mutated dragon with a marbled pattern on its skin. Has higher MP than the average dragon.
Maybe that would be good in the long term? A mutated form made it sound like it was rare or valuable. That sweet, irresistible pull of a limited-edition item.
Young Plague Dragon. The first step towards becoming a wicked dragon that brings disaster wherever it goes. However, at this low level it has only strayed slightly from a virtuous path and can still turn back. Very intelligent. Can use its skill “Human Transformation” to visit human villages, but generally cannot do anything right.
Huh? Human Transformation?!
If I had that, I could turn myself into a human and visit the village. The whole thing sounded sinister, but the Divine Voice did say I could always turn back to the virtuous path. I could just learn that “Human Transformation” skill and then get back on the straight and narrow. I was sure that was the best option.
I did have reservations, though. For starters, the name freaked me out. I honestly had a bad feeling about the whole situation. But the promise of human transformation was just too tempting. I wanted it. I really wanted it. I needed to find out what happened to Myria after I left her.
This was the only way I’d be able to go to the village again. That settled it. I was going to evolve into the Young Plague Dragon.
The instant I made the decision, heat spread all through me. My small, chubby body began to elongate and thin out. The wings on my back grew larger.
My skin started to darken. I was hot, and my eyes were really hot. God, did I make a mistake? I suddenly saw the world from much higher up. Before, my body was around 120 centimeters long, but now I had to be two meters tall.
“Baby Dragon” has evolved into “Young Plague Dragon.”
Gained Special Skill “Fly” Lv 1.
Gained Special Skill “Dragon Scale Powder” Lv 1.
Gained Special Skill “Dark Type” Lv 1.
Special Skill “Dragon Scale” Lv 1 has become Lv 2.
Special Skill “Divine Voice” Lv 2 has become Lv 3.
Gained Resistance Skill “Dark Resistance” Lv 1.
Due to Title Skill “Dragon King’s Son” Lv —, all Resistance Skills less than Lv 5 have increased.
Okay, what was Dragon Scale Powder? I didn’t love that. It made it sound like I was just going to spread poison around everywhere.
Gained Normal Skill “Disease Breath” Lv 1.
Normal Skill “Lovebite” Lv 1 has become “Venom Fangs” Lv 1.
Gained Normal Skill “Paralyzing Venom Claws” Lv 1.
No, no! I don’t want that! I definitely don’t need a skill like that! This isn’t just straying off the virtuous path, it’s diving off head first!!
Normal Skill “View Status” Lv 2 has become Lv 3.
Skills can now be researched in detail.
Okay, well, that one sounds pretty handy. Especially since I just gained a bunch of weird skills all at once.
Title Skill “Wrongdoer” Lv 1 has become Lv 2.
Gained Title Skill “Calamity” Lv 1.
Could I really come back from this? I needed to learn Human Transformation, but I had a feeling I was headed way down a terrible path. Well, whatever. I’d cross that bridge when I came to it.
………
………………
What, that’s all? I’m not going to learn “Human Transformation”? Um, Divine Voice, did you trick me…
Species: Young Plague Dragon
Status: Normal
Lv: 1/40
HP: 37/50
MP: 0/55
Attack: 47
Defense: 37
Magic: 44
Agility: 40
Rank: D+
Special Skills:
Dragon Scale: Lv 2
Divine Voice: Lv 3
Grecian Language: Lv 1
Fly: Lv 1
Dragon Scale Powder: Lv 1
Dark Type: Lv —
Resistance Skills:
Physical Resistance: Lv 3
Fall Resistance: Lv 4
Hunger Resistance: Lv 3
Poison Resistance: Lv 3
Loneliness Resistance: Lv 4
Magic Resistance: Lv 2
Dark Resistance: Lv 2
Normal Skills:
Roll: Lv 2
View Status: Lv 3
Baby’s Breath: Lv 2
Whistle: Lv 1
Dragon Punch: Lv 2
Disease Breath: Lv 1
Venom Fangs: Lv 1
Paralyzing Venom Claws: Lv 1
Title Skills:
Dragon King’s Son: Lv —
Walking Egg: Lv —
Klutz: Lv 4
Just an Idiot: Lv 1
Infighter: Lv 3
Pest Killer: Lv 2
Safety First: Lv 1
Liar: Lv 1
King of Evasion: Lv 1
Protective Spirit: Lv 4
Itty-bitty Hero: Lv 1
Wrongdoer: Lv 2
Calamity: Lv1
It’s not there! I’ve checked over and over again but it’s not there! You told me I could use “Human Transformation” but the skill isn’t there! Hey, what’s going on? Why the heck else would I evolve into a flying disaster unless I could use that skill? Are you listening to me?
Maybe I could only learn the skill if I leveled up more. That had to be it. Right? Can I really trust you, Divine Voice? Answer me! You’re making me nervous. You know, trust is a really crucial foundation to a relationship. You haven’t been lying to me, have you?
Special Skill “Divine Voice” Lv 3 is unable to provide that explanation.
Agh! You’re avoiding the question! I’ll be able to learn “Human Transformation” really soon, right? I just have to meet some kind of requirements…right?
PART 3
AT ANY RATE, I just needed to calm down. According to Divine Voice, I could now research my skills in more detail. I should start with the suspicious ones I gained when I evolved.
Special Skills:
Dragon Scale: Lv 2
Divine Voice: Lv 3
Grecian Language: Lv 1
Fly: Lv 1
Dragon Scale Powder: Lv 1
Dark Type: Lv —
Resistance Skills:
Physical Resistance: Lv 3
Fall Resistance: Lv 4
Hunger Resistance: Lv 3
Poison Resistance: Lv 3
Loneliness Resistance: Lv 4
Magic Resistance: Lv 2
Dark Resistance: Lv 2
Normal Skills:
Roll: Lv 2
View Status: Lv 3
Baby’s Breath: Lv 2
Whistle: Lv 1
Dragon Punch: Lv 2
Disease Breath: Lv 1
Venom Fangs: Lv 1
Paralyzing Venom Claws: Lv 1
Title Skills:
Dragon King’s Son: Lv —
Walking Egg: Lv —
Klutz: Lv 4
Just an Idiot: Lv 1
Infighter: Lv 3
Pest Killer: Lv 2
Safety First: Lv 1
Liar: Lv 1
King of Evasion: Lv 1
Protective Spirit: Lv 4
Itty-bitty Hero: Lv 1
Wrongdoer: Lv 2
Calamity: Lv1
Hm. Nope, Human Transformation still wasn’t there. Surely once I leveled up it would appear. Probably. Hopefully. I decided to ask about Dragon Scale first.
Special Skill “Dragon Scale.” Repels attack using tough dragon scales. Reduces all forms of damage.
Okay, so I’ll use that when I want extra defense. Next is the Dragon Scale Powder.
Special Skill “Dragon Scale Powder.” Flapping wings spreads a noxious cloud which weakens all creatures besides Dragons. At Max Lv, powerful enough to travel through the atmosphere and wipe out entire countries.
Oh my god! Hang on a second, isn’t this too overpowered? Why didn’t you tell me about this before I evolved? I’m basically a biological weapon! How can I make friends with humans if I’m like this? If I were a human, I’d avoid me like the plague!
Well, if I didn’t use it, it wouldn’t level up. Would the noxious cloud be triggered automatically if I spread my wings? That meant I couldn’t fly at all. Anyway—next. I was most curious about Divine Voice. Everything about it was suspicious. How was it forcing its way into my head?
Special Skill “Divine Voice” Lv 3 is unable to provide that explanation.
Unsurprising. Divine Voice was useful, but sketchy. I didn’t even want to level it up anymore, honestly.
The Resistance Skills seemed self-explanatory. Lv 1 was barely noticeable, but Lv MAX seemed close to immunity. And my Resistance Skills were leveling up across the board. Once they all got to MAX, I’d be close to invincible, no?
I could guess what the Normal Skills did, too…but there was one I was curious about. I doubted I’d ever use it, but I might as well ask for details.
Normal Skill “Disease Breath.” Breath attack that emits a noxious cloud of disease, infecting victims with severe abnormal status effects. The Evil Dragon Jabberwock used this skill 2,000 years ago to destroy Carroll, the happiest country in all recorded history.
Divine Voice, is this fun for you?! I’m on track to becoming the enemy of humanity, here! And you claimed this wasn’t too far off the path of good! How am I supposed to turn back now? It’s absolutely impossible!
If I were a human, there was no way I’d let a dangerous monster like me just roam about freely! This was a “band the whole world together to take down a threat” situation!
I absolutely made the wrong choice here. I take it back! Let me have a do-over!
I had a feeling I should’ve gone with the Mini Angel Dragon, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it now. My actions seemed to influence how I grew, so I could just start racking up good deeds and everything should work out fine. I should check out the Title Skills, too. They were all pretty mysterious.
Title Skill “Dragon King’s Son.” Proof of belonging to the Dragon King’s bloodline. Reduces number of Experience Points needed to advance. Certain basic Resistance Skills are easier to obtain. Increases levels of Resistance Skills below Lv 5 upon Evolution. Greatly influences Evolution options.
Okay, that totally sounded like cheating. Also, if I was the son of the Dragon King, why the heck was I just abandoned in the middle of the woods?! Where was my deadbeat dad? Why didn’t he raise me in a castle like all the other Dragon King’s sons? I’d never seen a Dragon King in the forest, that was for sure. This was child neglect!
Title Skill “Walking Egg.” Proof of conscious thought prior to hatching. Wise, with a sharp memory. Receives bonus Experience Points after a battle.
So this egg skill wasn’t going anywhere. My rapid advance made sense now, though. The Walking Egg/Dragon King Title Skill combo gave me a big experience boost. And here I’d been complaining about not leveling up fast enough. I’m sure people without those skills would be pretty annoyed to hear that! I was still annoyed myself, actually. I decided to check the Just an Idiot skill.
Title Skill “Just an Idiot.” Not very clever. More susceptible to mental status effects. Affects evolution options.
Wait, I thought you said I’m wise and have a sharp memory?! Hey! Are you sure you’re not enjoying jerking me around? Just come right out and call me stupid! Why even bother with these title skills! They’re just pissing me off!
And Just an Idiot also affected my evolution options? I didn’t love that. I wondered if I’d get an option to turn into a Useless Dragon, or something. I bet kids would throw rocks at me.
Title Skill: “Itty-bitty Hero.” Modest bravery. The kindness of a hero. Slightly increases damage dealt depending on the weapon used.
I couldn’t remember exactly when I got this skill. I just…had it at some point. Did I even do anything heroic? Maybe if I leveled up this skill I could avoid becoming an Evil Dragon.
All right, next one. I already don’t feel great about it.
Title Skill: “Wrongdoer.” An inhumane outlaw who laughs at the piles of corpses at his feet. Deals more damage with Dark Type attacks, but reduced resistance to Light Type attacks.
I wasn’t expecting much, but wow—this was an absolutely worthless skill. I tried so hard to learn Rest, but now there didn’t seem much chance of getting that skill recognized.
You tricked me into signing up for this! First I’m a hero, then you give me this nonsense?! Give me back my pure self! Jeez, this…well, fine. There’s nothing I can do about it now. I’ll just level up and change course next time. I’m gonna become the King of Heroes! Then no one will be able to call me an outlaw. Stop giving me this garbage. I don’t want it to affect my evolution options!
PART 4
I DECIDED TO REST for the day and then walk the forest to level up. I didn’t want to stray far. My first goal was to learn the Human Transformation skill and return to the village. It was back to hunting low-level graywolves, I guess. I could probably get up to at least Lv 40 doing that.
I wondered if there were any other weak monsters that gave lots of experience points. I knew that I had to pick opponents around the same level and rank as me if I didn’t want progressing to take forever, but I couldn’t keep risking my life fighting to the point of death like I had been or I’d end up dead for good.
If I only had about a fifty percent chance of victory against monsters of the same rank as me, then the odds that I would keep winning long enough to grow into a magnificent dragon were pretty slim.
In most games like these, you’d have high defense and still get crazy amounts of EXP, even with low attack power. Plus, there’d be bonus monsters that would shoot out money everywhere. That sounded great!
Since I just evolved I was back at Lv 1, so it would be safest to start out hunting small fry. I could start worrying about maximizing my efficiency after I leveled up a bit more.
Okay…all of a sudden I can’t move.
I wasn’t paralyzed; I could move my limbs, but it felt like something invisible was pinning me down. I checked, but there was nothing listed on my status conditions to explain it.
Suddenly a rustling sound came from above me, and a gigantic spider descended from a tree. It was the same size as me, its entire body a bright, vivid red. Baring its sharp crimson fangs, it stuck out a long, purplish-red tongue at me. This was unlike any spider I’d ever seen before. I realized the reason I couldn’t move—I was stuck in its web. If I squinted hard I could just barely see thin white threads. I quickly checked the spider’s status.
Species: Taranturouge
Status: Normal
Lv: 17/30
HP: 78/78
MP: 59/65
Attack: 88
Defense: 54
Magic: 74
Agility: 75
Rank: D
Special Skills:
Stealth: Lv 4
Poison Belt: Lv 2
Automatic HP Recovery: Lv 1
Conceal: Lv 2
Resistance Skills:
Poison Resistance: Lv 3
Normal Skills:
Bite: Lv 3
Spidersilk: Lv 4
Paralyzing Tongue: Lv 2
Double Poison: Lv 2
Title Skills:
Forest Assassin: Lv 4
Tenacious: Lv 3
Crap. It’s way stronger than I am.
It was fine that my level reset after I evolved, I guess, but all my stats got weaker along with it. I’d planned to hunt a bunch of weak monsters and raise everything higher than it was before. Getting cornered by a D Rank monster was the last thing I wanted.
I may have underestimated this forest. I wasn’t even close to strong enough to take on a huge spider like this. Its attack power alone put mine to shame. It was much faster than me, too. I’d made a huge tactical error. I’d figured I could always run away if a monster’s stats were too good, but that didn’t work if I was ambushed and stuck.
Next time I evolved I’d crucify the first darkwyrm I saw to make it call its allies right away. Surely that was the best way to level up when all my stats were low. I’d feel a little guilty about it, but my life was at stake. Even if wholesale slaughter would gain me another sketchy title.
The taranturouge licked its chops. It was so confident it was going to eat me. It was pretty irritating, actually. Sticky, dark purple liquid dripped out of its mouth.
If something this strong pounces on me, I’m done. I gotta do something about this web, or else I won’t even be able to fight back and it’ll eat me up. Don’t I have any skills at all to get me outta this mess?!
But how was I supposed to use any of my skills since I couldn’t move my arms or legs?
Oh, wait. What about…Baby’s Breath.
If I could blow a gust of hot wind, I might be able to set the web on fire. If I got a little burnt, I’d just have to deal with it. Yeah, I could burn the web, but then what? Should I run or fight? I needed to be realistic. With the huge difference in our stats, it would be a super tough fight.
So maybe I should use something else. Baby’s Breath would just be a temporary measure. If I couldn’t beat the spider, I probably couldn’t run away from it, either—its agility was much higher than mine. I needed to stop and actually make a plan. If I made a rash decision, it would eat me in seconds. But the taranturouge was taking its time, seeming confident that it had already beaten me. There was no reason for me to rush.
I gave the taranturouge an arrogant, assessing glance. I wanted to make it clear that I still had some fight left in me.
“Raaaaaaaar!”
I roared and flapped my arms. I kicked up my legs, slicing through the air with my claws. If my strategy failed, the spider would kill me. I’d maybe be able to land one good punch and then bam! taranturouge chow.
But I figured if the spider saw me flailing and decided to take a safer approach, I might be able to escape. I couldn’t read its expression at all, but I could’ve sworn that for a split second I saw it smiling, like it was enjoying watching me struggle for my life.
It’s not working? Maybe I should just bust out Baby’s Breath right now. But just as I started to draw air into my lungs, the taranturouge turned its back to me. I’d never been so relieved to see a spider butt in my life. My plan had worked.
Then the taranturouge shot out its thread. A regular-sized bug I could have handled, but a giant spider spraying web at me was, well…something else. And realizing that stuff was now stuck to my body… Oh my god, this is disgusting!
But my plan worked—all that struggling just made it want to immobilize me, not attack. Perfect. Not only was this joker mooning a guy fighting for his life, it was also spraying out highly flammable material? It was practically begging to be burned alive.
I opened my mouth wide and blew a gust of air onto the thread. There, take my Baby’s Breath! It was so hot the air shimmered, the white spider thread turning red as it caught fire.
The flames traveled up the web, right up to the taranturouge’s vulnerable behind. A beat later, my fiery breath engulfed its crimson body.
“Eegghh!”
The taranturouge let out an indescribable shriek, reduced to a ball of flames with its rear still facing me before it collapsed on the spot.
Wow, hot! I mean, of course fire breath was hot, and it was necessary to destroy the spider web, but man! I needed to be careful or I’d die, too! The thread was still wrapped around me, and I was starting to burn up—flames licked me all over. Stupid! I should’ve tried something else—oww!
Gained Resistance Skill: “Fire Resistance” Lv 1.
Okay, I think it’s a little better now.
The fire worked better against the spider than I was expecting. Its entire body was covered in flames, after all.
Species: Taranturouge
Status: Burned
Lv: 17/30
HP: 62/78
MP: 56/65
Are you kidding? 16 measly HP? I’d caught it off guard and landed a direct hit—I was expecting way more damage than that! I guess my stats were just too low to make more of a dent.
Well, no use whining. I knew from the beginning that I didn’t have a chance of actually beating it. I figured I’d land one punch while it was down and then get the heck out of here. I pounced onto the taranturouge’s back. It was still curled up stiff. I used my new Paralyzing Venom Claws skill, digging them into its flesh.
Don’t you dare underestimate a dragon!!
Slice! Slash!
“Eeugh!”
Fluid spilled from the taranturouge’s charred body. I dove in headfirst, tearing into the worst of the burns with my fangs.
“Hssst!”
All right, time for another status check.
Species: Taranturouge
Status: Burned / Paralyzed (Slight) / Fury
Lv: 17/30
HP: 42/78
MP: 56/65
Jeez, how many status conditions could one spider have? I was glad it was slightly paralyzed, but Fury worried me. So did the fact that I’d given it all I had, but hadn’t even whittled away half of its HP. This wasn’t good. So much for thinking I had a chance at killing this thing.
It had Automatic HP Recovery, so I needed to run. There was no sense dragging this out any longer than I had to. The difference in our stats meant I had no hope of victory. Once it recovered its health, the situation would be even worse. That Automatic HP Recovery skill was way too handy. I really wanted it, especially now that I was covered in terrible self-inflicted burns.
The spider could recover just by lying there for a little while, but if I took a big hit, my only recourse was to sleep away the entire day. How was that fair, huh?
I prayed for the paralysis to hold out just a bit longer as I stepped over the taranturouge and ran away.
Don’t you dare come after me! Just lie there in pain for a while, okay?
PART 5
I RAN AND I RAN, spurred by the terrible sound of eight scuttling feet echoing behind me.
Dang it, the paralysis didn’t last long at all! At least give me a head start!
I should’ve torn off one of its legs or something instead of just biting it on the back. I had the Fly skill from when I evolved into the Young Plague Dragon, but it was so low level that I could barely even float. I kept trying over and over again, wasting time and letting the spider get closer and closer. Agh! No skills at all would be better than these worthless ones!
I was always running away. But what else could I do against enemies this strong? The taranturouge was coming closer. I was running all out, but it was going to catch up to me at any moment. This was really, really bad—I had to think of something. If only some other monster would show up to take care of the spider instead.
I flipped into the air, curling into a ball to use my Roll skill. This was faster than running, if less controlled. I couldn’t make any small, precise movements. The taranturouge’s footsteps kept coming, but they didn’t seem to be closing the distance for now. I could still shake it, maybe. Roll was a handy skill! The spider was already pretty worn down stamina-wise; it was probably running on fumes, and it would have to run out of gas soon. I had a feeling that if it used Automatic HP Recovery, all its status effects would disappear, including Fury. The pain from the burns had caused it in the first place, after all. So once it healed, its anger would disappear with the wounds.
But once I’d been rolling through the forest for about ten minutes, the taranturouge still showed no signs of slowing down. Actually, it seemed to be moving even faster than before. Or was I the one getting slower? What was this monster’s deal, anyway? Where’d it get all that energy?
Normal Skill “Roll” Lv 2 has become Lv 3.
There we go!
Roll got a little faster, although not by much. I’d been rolling so much, no wonder it leveled up. Okay, good timing! I’ve still got a chance of escaping this thing!
Gained Title Skill “Chicken Runner’” Lv 1.
Hey, I never said I was scared! If I had more of a chance of winning, I would’ve stayed and fought! This was strategic!
Still…that was an escape skill of some kind, right? Maybe it made me faster when I tried to run away. I could deal with the insulting name if it helped me now. After all, my life was on the line here. Even with an advantage, this was going to be tricky. I couldn’t use Roll forever, after all. It was already getting rough. Just give up on me already, Spider!
Oh, no. That’s a cliff!
I had Fall Resistance, but that was just for short distances. This was a legit drop. I bet there was a river with a super-fast current at the bottom of this cliff, like the kind that showed up in the final scene of an action movie. If I fell from here, I’d die for sure.
My only choice was to stop myself before I got to the edge. But even if I made it away from the cliff, I still had a giant spider on my case, and I was getting sick of this death race with the tarantula. It would get me eventually. Maybe I should just try to clear the cliff? It had to be ten meters to the other side, though. How could I make that work? If I had something to launch myself off, that would be different, but there wasn’t anything around here that I could use. There obviously weren’t any ramps just sitting around in nature—it’d be kinda scary in and of itself if there were.
I had Fly, but the sad hover I’d managed at my current level wouldn’t get me far. And as soon as I stopped using my Roll skill, the spider would catch up to me. Huh…maybe I didn’t have to turn it off, though?
I didn’t stop. Instead, I kept racing right towards the cliff head-on. As I approached the edge, I leapt as high as I could and spread my wings, my body still curled into a little ball as I shot into the air.
Heck yeah, I caught the wind without losing any momentum! Man, that breeze feels great. So great I should try this again sometime soon. Heh, ten meters is nothing! Now I finally get to say goodbye to that stupid spider. Maybe once I level up more I’ll come back and pay it a visit.
As I reached the other side, I glided down and folded up my wings. Once I hit the ground, I slowed and stopped the Roll skill.
All right, I escaped! But I got your name and your stats, Spider! Once I level up enough to kick your butt, I’ll be back! Don’t you dare forget me!
I was exhausted. I’d planned to spend the day leveling up, but I gave up on that idea. It could wait until tomorrow.
Today I’d just hunt, eat a nice meal, and find a safe place to sleep. I must have pulled every muscle in my body, and all that rolling made me dizzy.
I turned back around towards the cliff for no particular reason. Maybe I heard a weird noise, or sensed something was off, but there wasn’t anything there. Just the heat as the sunlight shone through the trees and onto my head.
I looked up at the sun hanging high in the sky, then slowly lowered my gaze.
And there it was. A giant spider spinning its web into a thin, makeshift bridge and coming straight towards me.
PART 6
IT WAS COMPLETELY unexpected. I mean, ten meters was so far. No one would think a spider’s thread could reach that far, right? Guess this was what I got for underestimating spiders. I should have laid in wait and used Baby’s Breath to burn the spidersilk bridge. But I totally thought I’d gotten away, so I’d let down my guard. Now it was too close. I was an idiot. A colossal idiot!
The taranturouge stuck out its long, slithery tongue, its eight legs deftly undulating as it crawled across the earth straight towards me. It was still chasing me? How was I even worth all this? What in the world did I do to make it hate me so much?! All I did was set its butt on fire a little! Talk about stubborn!
I turned, curling up to use Roll to escape again. What else was I supposed to do, if I couldn’t run away from it? I jumped across a cliff and it was still coming after me. I wasn’t exactly hopeful.
Wasn’t there some way I could use Fly to, you know…actually fly? If fleeing wasn’t realistic, I would need to figure out a way to kill it, or make it lose interest somehow. But no matter what my plan was, I needed to put some distance between us first. I picked up speed and rolled between the trees as fast as I could.
Okay, well. For some reason it felt like the spider was even faster than before. Had it just been going easy on me? Maybe when it saw me flying over the cliff it knew I was serious. If I let my guard down for even one instant, it would catch up.
Normal Skill “Roll” Lv 3 has become Lv 4.
Well, seemed like Roll had kept gaining experience. I completely understood why, but it was also kind of frustrating. I was going to smash into something if I kept rolling around at breakneck speed like this. All the precise control needed for Roll was starting to test my concentration.
Tree, tree, rocks, tree, tree, rocks…
Right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left…
I kept spinning along at a furious speed, just managing to glance behind me. The taranturouge was swinging its long tongue back and forth like a pendulum, spattering its spit in all directions. Its legs moved so swiftly that I could hear them rustling. How was it still chasing me? Maybe it was starting to like me or something.
Sorry, Mr. Spider, but you’re just not my type! It’s not you, it’s me. This is so awkward, so please just go away now, seriously!
I turned my gaze forward—only to see a graywolf right up ahead. Oh, great. Now I’d really done it. It was so close I was afraid it would start chasing me, too.
Listen, I’m right at the limit of what I can handle right now.
Instead of slowing down to avoid it, maybe I should just accelerate and barrel right through? I was veering right, but I corrected back toward it. I hit it straight on and plowed it right into a tree.
Gained 20 Experience Points.
Title Skill “Walking Egg” Lv — activated: gained 20 Experience points.
“Young Plague Dragon” Lv 1 has become Lv 3.
Hitting the graywolf knocked me off course, and I compensated by veering back and decelerating as much as I could.
Phew, that was a close one! I’d only taken my eye off the path for a moment, but this area seemed like it was full of monsters. It was all I could do to avoid the trees and rocks; I really didn’t want anything else blocking the road.
I mean, when you saw a dragon barreling towards you at full speed, wouldn’t you let them have the right of way? Well, maybe dragons didn’t usually roll around at full speed. It was just a skill left over from my days as an egg. But still!
As I continued my roll, I ran into a huge praying mantis (forestcutter), a big reddish monkey with vacant, beady little eyes (orangurang), a walking mushroom (wargmush), and a huge black-and-white-striped butterfly (zebrutterfly).
I was exhausted to the point of near collapse, but they just kept coming, one after the other. Besides the reddish monkey, most of them were pretty low level, so I kept knocking them out. Status updates popped up one after another and showed my experience points rising. It was a legit hit and run situation.
“Young Plague Dragon” Lv 3 has become Lv 8.
Huh? Is it just me or was that a huge level-jump all of a sudden? I guess it is normal to level up faster at lower levels, but I got all the way to level 8 just by running around.
Species: Young Plague Dragon
Status: Normal
Lv: 8/40
HP: 28/71
MP: 12/75
Attack: 68
Defense: 57
Magic: 65
Agility: 62
Rank: D+
Special Skills:
Dragon Scale: Lv 2
Divine Voice: Lv 3
Grecian Language: Lv 1
Fly: Lv 1
Dragon Scale Powder: Lv 1
Dark Type: Lv —
Resistance Skills:
Physical Resistance: Lv 3
Fall Resistance: Lv 4
Hunger Resistance: Lv 3
Poison Resistance: Lv 3
Loneliness Resistance: Lv 4
Magic Resistance: Lv 2
Dark Resistance: Lv 2
Light Resistance: Lv 1
Normal Skills:
Roll: Lv 4
View Status: Lv 3
Baby’s Breath: Lv 2
Whistle: Lv 1
Dragon Punch: Lv 2
Disease Breath: Lv 1
Venom Fangs: Lv 1
Paralyzing Venom Claws: Lv 1
Title Skills:
Dragon King’s Son: Lv —
Walking Egg: Lv —
Klutz: Lv 4
Just an Idiot: Lv 1
Infighter: Lv 3
Pest Killer: Lv 2
Safety First: Lv 1
Liar: Lv 1
King of Evasion: Lv 1
Protective Spirit: Lv 4
Itty-bitty Hero: Lv 1
Wrongdoer: Lv 2
Calamity: Lv1
Chicken Runner: Lv 1
Hm? I was still pretty far below the giant spider’s level, but my stats were coming along. Then there was my species and rank. The spider was a D Rank monster, but I was a D+. I wondered if that affected how high my stats got.
The spider’s overall stats were still a bit higher than mine, and it had recovered nearly all of its HP, probably from the Automatic HP Recovery. I was still at a disadvantage, but I had the upper hand in terms of skills.
Two of the taranturouge’s skills, Spidersilk and Double Poison, had no effect on me. I could burn the silk with my Baby’s Breath, and I had level 3 protection against poison-based attacks. So it couldn’t hit me at close range. And now that my stats were higher, maybe I had a chance at victory? Since my agility had increased, I might be able to outrun it using Roll at full speed, but I was already feeling drained and woozy, my concentration slipping…if I tried to go any faster I was pretty sure I’d just crash.
I could either keep up my dangerous exhausted driving, or just put an end to this stalker once and for all.
I chose the latter, of course. I was gonna pound that spider for making me run around all crazy like this.
PART 7
I ABRUPTLY DROPPED my speed and kicked off the ground, pivoting in midair. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I hit the brakes, skidding to a halt for several meters that left the bottoms of my feet scraped up.
I wanted to stop slowly, but I didn’t have time for that. I needed enough momentum to knock my enemy hard. Suddenly, there it was—the dark red giant spider, the taranturouge, with its tongue dangling obscenely out of its mouth. I checked its skills one more time so I could plan my first move.
Normal Skills:
Bite: Lv 3
Spidersilk: Lv 4
Paralyzing Tongue: Lv 2
Double Poison: Lv 2
Its Bite skill was pretty high. Between its high attack level and my dwindling HP, it might knock me out in one hit. And a high skill level meant it used that skill a lot. Luckily, that was also its closest-range attack, which was good for me. Would its first move be the paralyzing attack, since that one had more reach? Nah, it didn’t know that I had Poison Resistance. It had, however, experienced my fire breath firsthand. The Double Poison attack was a good bet.
But now the tough part was trying to figure out exactly what Double Poison would be like. I had Venom Fangs and Paralyzing Venom Claws, but since the spider’s skill didn’t name a body part, it could be a mid-range attack that launched venom at me through…some freaky method. I had to be ready for whatever it threw at me.
Divine Voice Lv 3 only told me specifics about my own skills. Maybe I should’ve been more aggressive about communicating with it so I could level it up more. But it still kind of creeped me out. I asked it for help when I needed it, so it felt a little churlish to mention it now, but I definitely got the feeling it was manipulating me.
Anyway, no matter what the spider came at me with, I should respond with Baby’s Breath, since it had the greatest reach. Now that my stats were higher, I could follow up with a chain of physical attacks as soon as it landed, and hopefully knock that spider out in one go. I hadn’t even tried Disease Breath yet—honestly, I was afraid of getting another scary title if I tried it, so there was no way I’d use it here. That left me back at Baby’s Breath.
I drew a bunch of air into my lungs, keeping my eye on the taranturouge as it scuttled toward me and running the battle simulation in my head. There were some small rocks on the ground right in front of me. As soon as the spider reached them, I’d blast it with Baby’s Breath. I’d prepare myself to take damage and cut through the hot wind. I’d land an uppercut on the spider’s chin to close its mouth. Then I’d beat it senseless with Dragon Punch. If it still wasn’t dead, I’d keep spamming my close-range attacks. Yeah, that was a good plan. The spider’s recovery skill meant I couldn’t mess around; I had to go big or go home. Drawing the fight out too long would put me at a disadvantage. I needed to get it over with fast.
The taranturouge stuck out its tongue and opened its big mouth wide. That freaked me out. It would make sense to open its mouth if it was going to use Bite, but why was its tongue hanging out? Surely it wouldn’t bite like that. What was it going to do?
It still hadn’t reached the rocks, but I decided to accelerate my plan and use Baby’s Breath. But the next instant some kind of purple smoke obscured my vision. I felt it entering my throat.
“Auughh!”
All right, apparently Double Poison was a cloud of poisonous smoke. And since it was gaseous, it covered a lot of ground. Its scope was even wider than Baby’s Breath.
I’m in trouble. This is bad. I can’t use Baby’s Breath if I can’t breathe!
I immediately fell back, but the taranturouge charged me through the smoke. It used its Bite attack right where I’d been seconds before—a swing and a miss. It was so close that I took a chance and kicked off it, using the momentum to jump backwards. I spread my wings and gained a bit of distance.
Time to start from square one. The taranturouge kept the distance between us and stared me down. It wasn’t moving; I figured it had taken a hit when I jumped off of it. We’d both taken a hit, then. But on my side, the poison smoke hadn’t done much to me—no negative status effects, just an unpleasant sensation deep in my throat, and a swollen feeling wherever it had touched me directly.
Should I use Baby’s Breath next? Considering my abused throat, I doubted it would be very powerful. But it didn’t need to be—it just had to scare my opponent. Although if I missed, the spider would bite me and it would be all over.
If I attacked straight on, Breath’s range was too small to get a good hit. It wouldn’t make or break the fight, but it was definitely a bad bet.
But I still wasn’t sure how to lure my enemy in close enough to give me a good opening. Going purely by stats, it still had me beat in agility. The gap wasn’t huge, but I still didn’t want the spider slipping behind me.
Maybe I could use Roll to get the speed advantage and bash myself against its side. No, even that wouldn’t work. If I got that stupidly close to it, I’d be giving it an opportunity to use Bite again.
Roll might be a good method of transportation, but in the future I should only use it against weak enemies. Back when I was an egg I could use it to defeat darkwyrms, but that was because the shape of the wyrms’ bodies made it easy to quickly grab them.
The taranturouge’s ranged skill beat Baby’s Breath’s reach, so that was out. I couldn’t tackle it using Roll, and if I used any other kind of physical attacks, it would use Double Poison on me again. My only choices were to eat the cloud of poison and beat it in hand-to-hand combat while suffering the effects, run away using Roll, or try to use Disease Breath to inflict negative status effects on the spider so I could flee. Only I’d never used Disease Breath before, so I wasn’t entirely sure what would happen. I didn’t know its range, or what it actually did to the enemy, either.
Wasn’t there anything else I could do? A sure bet, something that would definitely defeat this huge spider?
PART 8
THE TARANTUROUGE and I stared each other down, motionless. I needed to defeat it, but I was completely out of ideas. I could see all its ability scores; I didn’t want to throw myself into a losing hand-to-hand battle. Even its Breath attack was better than mine.
But if it was so much stronger than me, why was it still just standing there doing nothing? It still had the Fury condition, so it had to be eager to eat me alive. The knock on the back of its head that I gave it was to get some distance between us, not to deal damage, and it shouldn’t have hurt it enough to stop it.
Maybe it wasn’t glaring at all. Maybe it was just observing me. But why would it do that now, after all this time? The only thing that I could think of was that it was confused why its cloud of poison didn’t have me writhing on the ground in agony. Or was it waiting for the effects of the poison to kick in? I did inhale a lot of it. I didn’t expect my resistance skill to protect me from that much damage.
That made sense. It was waiting for the poison to finish me off, so this impasse didn’t matter. If it was convinced its plan would work, maybe I could use that to my advantage.
I squinted, trying to get a better look at the taranturouge’s face. Now I was sure of it. It was definitely waiting for the poison to weaken me. It was under the effects of Fury, but it must have realized our strength was pretty well-matched after I nearly kicked off its head. This was a safer, more reliable method of finishing me off.
That gave me a plan. It wasn’t a great plan, but it was worth a try.
“Raaaaaaar!”
I fell to my knees and coughed for effect, clawing frantically at my throat. If this didn’t work, I’d be the biggest clown in the world. Maybe the spider would just casually walk up and shoot me with Double Poison again to finish me off. My Just an Idiot skill level would skyrocket as I took my dying breaths.
I glanced anxiously over at the taranturouge. Its tongue was dangling out of its mouth again, aimed at me.
Yes, it’s falling for it!
Title Skill: “Liar” Lv 1 has become Lv 2.
I leveled up another sketchy skill, but I only had one life. I had to do this right or I’d die. The taranturouge closed the distance between us and drew its tongue back in, before leaping into the air. Hold up. It retracted its tongue, which meant it wasn’t going to use Paralyzing Tongue. And it wouldn’t retract to use Double Poison, either. It only had one other skill. It must have figured I was weak enough from the poison that one good Bite would finish me off once and for all.
I could do it. If I’d read its strategy well, I could predict how it would respond. My throat still hurt a little, but it didn’t matter. I leapt to my feet, drew in a deep breath, and blasted Baby’s Breath at the airborne taranturouge.
Just try to evade that, buddy!
My sudden attack startled it. It shot out Spidersilk towards the ground to try to change course, but it was too late. The instant my fiery breath touched the web, it erupted into flames. Not only had the taranturouge completely wasted a skill attack, now it was off balance. The hot blast consumed it, knocking it to the ground in an unsightly sprawl of flailing legs. I pounced, smacking it upside the head with my Dragon Punch.
First round goes to me. Victory will be mine. Now I can kill it.
The taranturouge hit the ground, the impact reverberating through its body, its eight spindly legs twitching with agony. I ripped into its back with my claws and followed up with Roll to shred its back to pieces. Still rolling, I sprang lightly off the taranturouge’s back and used the force of the revolutions and the weight of my tail to smash its head in. That was the finishing blow. Its legs stilled and it sprawled limply across the earth.
Gained 104 Experience Points.
Title Skill “Walking Egg” Lv — activated: gained 104 experience points.
Yes! I got him in one fell swoop! Getting that notification was enormously reassuring. That was the most experience I’d ever gotten at one time. Before this my record was the 60 I received from that Lv 14 graywolf when I was bringing Myria to her village. It made sense, though; I had been purposely targeting enemies much weaker than me.
“Young Plague Dragon” Lv 8 has become Lv 14.
Whoa! Yeah, just as I thought–defeating an enemy with a much higher level than you levels you up super fast. Now I just had to hope it came with that special skill I was after…
Normal Skill “Baby’s Breath” Lv 2 has become Lv 3.
Uh-huh, uh-huh. That one really helped me out this time. It might contain the word “Baby,” but I was glad I had an attack with such a big reach. It really worked against the Spidersilk, too.
Gained Special Skill “Dragon Tail” Lv 1.
Dragon Tail? Like the tail on my body?
Oh, that’s right. I used my tail for the finishing blow, so a skill like that made sense. That was all fine and good, but I thought I’d get, you know…more. For instance—and this is just an example—Human Transformation.
Title Skill “Pest Killer” Lv 2 has become Lv 3.
The spider was a bug, so that made sense. Maybe the taranturouge was really scared when I punched it out because of that title skill. It’s possible that without Pest Killer, it would have beaten me. That was a close fight, after all.
So, getting back to the point. The thing where I can turn into a human…
Silence.
Huh…? That’s it? You’d better not tell me that the whole speech you gave me about the Plague Dragon was a lie.
The Divine Voice seemed like a jerk, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it’d lied to me. But this was just too cruel. Was Human Transformation even still an option? Did I have to do something before I could get it?
Species: Young Plague Dragon
Status: Normal
Lv: 14/40
HP: 20/92
MP: 4/95
Attack: 89
Defense: 75
Magic: 85
Agility: 77
Rank: D+
Special Skills:
Dragon Scale: Lv 2
Divine Voice: Lv 3
Grecian Language: Lv 1
Fly: Lv 1
Dragon Scale Powder: Lv 1
Dark Type: Lv —
Resistance Skills:
Physical Resistance: Lv 3
Fall Resistance: Lv 4
Hunger Resistance: Lv 3
Poison Resistance: Lv 3
Loneliness Resistance: Lv 4
Magic Resistance: Lv 2
Dark Resistance: Lv 2
Light Resistance: Lv 1
Normal Skills:
Roll: Lv 4
View Status: Lv 3
Baby’s Breath: Lv 3
Whistle: Lv 1
Dragon Punch: Lv 2
Disease Breath: Lv 1
Venom Fangs: Lv 1
Paralyzing Venom Claws: Lv 1
Dragon Tail: Lv 1
Title Skills:
Dragon King’s Son: Lv —
Walking Egg: Lv —
Klutz: Lv 4
Just an Idiot: Lv 1
Infighter: Lv 3
Pest Killer: Lv 3
Safety First: Lv 1
Liar: Lv 2
King of Evasion: Lv 1
Protective Spirit: Lv 4
Itty-bitty Hero: Lv 1
Wrongdoer: Lv 2
Calamity: Lv1
Chicken Run: Lv 1
I’d already surpassed the stats I had back when I maxed out my levels as a Baby Dragon. But I still wasn’t anywhere close to the Little Rock Dragon. Its attack power was more than 150. I wanted to be stronger than that someday. That dragon was a C Rank monster. Far, far above me. Maybe I’d be able to beat it if I evolved again.
PART 9
AFTER CLAIMING VICTORY against the taran- turouge, I holed up inside a nearby cave to rest. I’d caught a Lv 4 graywolf on the way there and tore into it with my claws, then lit a fire with Baby’s Breath and some branches I’d gathered. The cave grew smoky, but since I was close to the entrance I didn’t mind too much.
I cooked the graywolf meat over the flame, then crushed up some kind of wild seeds and glazed the meat with the paste to try to cover up the gamey taste.
I wasn’t sure what the seeds were; they resembled little red beans that grew in clusters, kind of like peppercorns. They didn’t have much flavor, but their aroma stirred up my appetite. Honestly, the flavor of the meat didn’t bother me that much, this was just an excuse to try out these sort-of-peppercorns. I didn’t have anything better to do than hunting and culinary experimentation, anyway.
Yeah, it was pretty good. Not only did the peppercorns improve the taste of the meat, they added a little spice that made my stomach growl. Not bad at all. Maybe I could make this cave my base and start stockpiling these little seeds. They were kind of wet and squishy when I crushed them up, but—oh, I could dry them in the sun to preserve them. This was actually starting to be fun.
Gained Title Skill “Mr. Chef.”
Well, now it just feels like you’re spying on me during my personal time, which I don’t love. Don’t you have any respect?
I swallowed the last bite, tearing the remaining flesh from the bone. Whew, I’m stuffed. I was pretty desensitized to nastiness after dining on caterpillars and spiders, but man, there was nothing like a home-cooked meal. Making something yourself is satisfying and good for mental health, too. Even if all you do is add a little spice and throw it on the fire!
Mr. Chef, huh? Maybe I could raise that skill and win over the villagers with a delicious meal. Nah, probably not. Even with incredible cooking abilities, they’d probably just think I was fattening them up to eat them later. After all, look at me! They’d be totally justified if they tried to kill me before I killed them first. Anyway, I wouldn’t be able to cook as well as a human could. Claws got in the way too much.
I gathered the leftover pelt, skull, and entrails from the wolf and shoved them into a corner of the cave, then lay down on the floor. The earth was cool and rather soothing nice, but I suspected it would be much more comfy if I laid down that pelt like a blanket. Lying on the bumpy ground wasn’t too bad, though—maybe because of the Dragon Scale skill.
I didn’t have much HP or MP left, so I figured I should just take it easy and rest for the day. I’d leveled up a bunch, but it was too dangerous to go out before recovering. Now that my max HP had gotten so high, being this low made me anxious.
For example, I wouldn’t bat an eyelash if my HP was 12/15 or something, but if I leveled up and it was 12/100, I’d feel like I was on the verge of death. I knew realistically it shouldn’t, but it made me really uneasy. Every time I had to start back down at Lv 1, my HP shot up dramatically, so this just kept happening.
I’d feel a lot better if I had some recovery magic like Rest, but I hadn’t been able to use it at all since I evolved into a Young Plague Dragon. I wondered if it was because I leveled up the Wrongdoer skill. That really sucked, since I’d gone to so much effort practicing Rest to learn it. Hitting a dead end with it was a nasty blow.
I had this thought that maybe if I used recovery magic on a hurt villager I could gain their trust. You know, say they came into the forest to forage for mushrooms and got attacked by a monster or something, suddenly I’d show up and use Rest on them. Something like that.
But let’s get real—none of the villagers were going to venture where monsters roamed. Or at least I hadn’t seen any so far. I had this fantasy that if things went smoothly, maybe I could get them to think I was the god who protected their village, or some kind of traveler’s deity, and they’d worship me. Fat chance of that now. I still wanted to believe I had another shot at white magic after evolution, though.
But all I could do in this form was spread disease. One wrong move and the entire village could turn against me. Then I’d have no choice but to leave this forest.
I looked completely different now, too. Back when I was a Baby Dragon I was pretty darn cute, but now I was a predator, big and deadly with jet-black scales. I looked, honestly, scary. Every time I caught my reflection in the water, it took my breath away. I looked almost demonic.
My fangs and claws were sharper than before, too. Myria probably wouldn’t even recognize me. She probably only intervened when the swordsman attacked me because I was a cute Baby Dragon. If I’d had these black diamond scales all over me and razor sharp claws back then, she probably would’ve let him kill me.
I was lured down this path because of the promise of Human Transformation, but I was beginning to really think I’d made a mistake. I was becoming an enemy of mankind. Not only that, I didn’t even have the Human Transformation skill yet!
My appearance was horrifying, and I just kept gaining weirder and more frightening skills. I bet things would be totally different if only I had chosen to become a Mini Angel Dragon. I’m sure I’d look much softer and less terrifying.
The very least they could do was give me the Human Transformation skill already. This was a total con. Who could I sue about this?