1.7

Harold and Amber exchanged a look. Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea to follow a rock born this morning, into the lair of a giant, potentially man eating giant brood mother of a spider. Yet, they had little choice, and steeled themselves for what they had to do next.

Harold bent down, picking up Rocky, who was still fervently trying to waddle its way to the cavern entrance. He gently placed the rock on Amber’s shoulder, where he would be along for the ride.

The pair set off, following the spiderling as it slowly scuttled its way back to the intersection. Making a left, it rejoined its brethren as the procession slowly made its way back to what Harold assumed to be their nest.

#####

It was an large expanse that greeted them, rather than the crowded festering ground that Harold had been dreading. The ground and walls had all been kept relatively clean and free of debris and old cobwebs. The only sign that this was a spider brood’s den were the spiders themselves, which clung and held to almost every surface.

He felt Amber press into him just a bit more. She was terrified of these beasts, he knew. Though to be frank, anyone not terrified of these enormous arachnids had a screw loose, or were exceptionally powerful.

They progressed past several chambers, filled with spiderlings and their more advanced kin, being led straight into another large room, this one ‘decorated’ with the presence of several thousand small eggs. No doubt to give birth to more spiders.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Amber gag, she looked like she wanted to throw up. Couldn’t say he blamed her.

The cavern was huge, but it needed to be to hold the rather large brood mother and her offspring. What Harold was confused about, however, was the notable lack of green crystals anywhere within these spider infested tunnels. Every other large cavern thus far had had an abundance, so for this room to lack such things was surprising, to say the least.

“WE WELCOME YOU, NOBILIS. AND YOU AS WELL, GUARDIANS.” The spider seemed to disregard both his and Amber’s presence as little more than annoyances, an afterthought when compared to Rocky.

“It is an honor to be here,” he replied. “Your brood looks powerful.” Nothing wrong with some good old flattery when talking to a being that held your life and death in the palm of its hand.

“THANK YOU, BUT THE REASON WHY WE SOUGHT NOT TO OVERWHELM YOU IS BECAUSE WE ARE NOT STRONG ENOUGH.” The voice seemed more regal than angry now, like it spoke with the force of all the spiders here, rather than just voicing its own opinion.

“Um, what do you mean, not strong enough? Excuse my saying so, but Amber and I found ourselves teleported to a strange cavern. The only existences we have encountered are Rocky and your brood. That, and some tree roots. Of all of them, you seem to be the most powerful by far.

“TO YOU PERHAPS THIS IS TRUE. BUT ON THE OUTSIDE, NAY, EVEN IN THESE TUNNELS WE DO NOT REIGN AS ABSOLUTES. OTHER RACES POPULATE OUR EARTHEN HOME.” The voice sounded a little resigned, like a parent having to explain math to an uninterested child.

Changing the subject, Harold decided to broach just what it was they needed to do to get free. “Regardless though, I’m sure your brood would be much more powerful than anything we could muster, so what do you need our help for?” Despite his words, the sinking feeling in his chest told him that this might be the entire truth.

“HOW LITTLE YOU KNOW, HUMAN. ARE YOU PERHAPS UNAWARE OF WHERE YOU ARE?”

This time, Harold definitely detected a trace of haughtiness in the spider mother’s voice, but chose to stay silent.

“YOU ARE IN SOMETHING YOUR KIND CALLS, A TUTORIAL. YOU ARE WEAK NOW, BUT YOU HAVE POTENTIAL THAT OUTSTRIPS ALMOST ANY OF MY BROOD.”

Interesting, both the information, as well as the brood mother's apparent reluctance drew his attention. The queen was reluctant to tell them this, to admit that she and her might be inferior. That was something Harold could exploit. “Forgive my lack of understanding. But what allows us to outstrip the growth of your children?”

…

It was the first time Harold had ever heard the spider queen pause before. She did not want to tell them this, but if his intuition was right…

“SKILLS.”

Well, that was cryptic. “I’m sorry, skills?”

“YES. OUR KIND DOES NOT HOLD THESE SKILLS, EVERYTHING WE USE TO FIGHT MUST BE GROWN, TAUGHT, OR HONED. THE BEINGS THAT COME TO THIS PLACE FOR THE TUTORIAL HAVE NO SUCH LIMITATIONS.”

Harold nodded slowly, unsure why the acquisition of a few skills might offset hundreds of spiders’ deadly fangs.

“Oh!” Ultimately, it was Amber who responded first. “Are you saying that because we have these skills, that we can help you if we level more?”

“INDEED. THOUGH I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION I HAD MADE THAT CLEAR ALREADY.” Yup, annoyance. Annoyance was taking over.

“Then please,” Harold said. What’s our role in all of this?”

“AM I NOT CLEAR, OR ARE YOU JUST DENSE BOY? YOU WILL HELP ME BATTLE THE ENEMIES OF MY BROOD, AND IN RETURN, I WILL SHOW YOU THE PATH TO THE SURFACE.”

Welp, there goes the possibility they would just be moving stuff around. Harold nodded. “We don’t have much of a choice, do we?.”

With a tone of finality, the brood mother continued. “YOU DO NOT. THE ENEMIES OF MY BROOD INCLUDE OTHER ARACHNAE BROOD MOTHERS, WHO SEEK TO DESTROY WHAT I AND MY BROOD HAVE ACCOMPLISHED HERE. YOU WILL SEEK THEM OUT. YOU WILL KILL THEM.”

“That’s all well and good,” he answered, “but how are we to kill them if we don’t stand even an ounce of a chance even attempting to face you?”

“YOU HAVE A NOBILIS AMONG YOU, SUCCEED OR PERISH. MY CHILDREN WILL LEAD YOU TO THE FRONT LINES. THE BROOD ENDURES.” With that, she cut the mental link, thus ending any possible chance at negotiation.

#####

They had been walking for several minutes when the spiderling abruptly stopped. Gesturing with one leg, it pointed them to a small cave, filled to the brim with… things.

It was not an unfair description at any rate. The room was well and truly full of stuff, gear of all kinds. Foodstuffs, canteens, and clothes. An assortment of weapons had been arrayed on the walls, God knows how they had gotten there, given the spider’s lack of opposable thumbs and inability to move a weapons rack.

“You want us to…” Amber trailed off, gesturing to the supplies. Harold knew where she was going. Would this be considered theft if they geared up with stuff from this room?

The spiderling pointed again, moving its spindly leg back, and then moving it forward again, using its momentum to gesture to the room even more forcefully than before. Harold took a step towards the room and the spider bobbed its torso up and down, gesturing again.

“Alright, thank you then.”

As they stepped into the cave filled with supplies, the thought occurred to him. “How’d they get so much gear? You think they took it off some adventurers who tried to get in?”

Amber shook her head. “I doubt it, or at least I hope my guess isn’t far off from the truth. If everyone was teleported at the same time, then it’s likely that the system is just spawning treasure in dangerous places.”

Harold nodded. Everything about this place seemed to scream ‘Dungeon’, so why would the loot system be any different?

He still had his [Gem Manifestation] war hammer, and so he did not lack for a weapon. Instead, he picked up a nearby heater shield first. “It looks new.” And it did, at least as far as his untrained eyes could tell. “The metal on the edges is newly polished, and the leather front doesn’t look tarnished at all.”

Bringing the shield as far away from his body as his arms could manage, he took a good look at the emblem on the front. A mountain. ‘Well at least it’s thematically consistent.’

Amber was to his left, picking up a gold circlet and robes. The circlet itself was gold, with intricate patterns carved throughout. On its front lay a large oval gemstone of a bluish, azure hue, if he was any judge. The cloak was white, and impossibly so. ‘I mean, how could you not get ANY dirt on that in a cramped cave system like this?’ Casting his [Analyze Mineral] on the gem, he found the results rather surprising.

[The Deep Sea: Boosts the water affinity of a wearer when incorporated into equipment - Highest Mineral Concentration: Sapphire]

It was curious that he couldn’t analyze the item itself, though he supposed that only made sense. His class wasn’t specialized to analyze items, but at least he could see what the gems and metals were meant to do.

“Holy shit!” Amber broke him out of his silent musings. “The mana in this thing is amazing! My mana sense is going off like crazy!”

“I wouldn’t take that one if I were you,” he warned. Faced with a frown, he quickly tried to explain. “I used [Analyze Mineral] on it, it’s meant to amplify water affinity, so it’s no wonder your mana sense really likes it.

Her frown lessened slightly. “Yeah, I guess.” Sighing, she put the circlet back in its place. “My first element is fire after all.”

“Speaking of,” Harold began, “have you tried to see what the ability does?”

Amber looked thoughtful, staying locked in place for the better part of a minute before shaking her head. “It said that it’s a passive, kinda like your Call of Stone thing that makes earth monsters like you. My best guess is that it’ll let me use mana to manipulate fire, but I have no idea how I should start.”

Harold nodded. Another reason to get back to civilization, trying to figure out how to optimally use their skills was difficult with just the two of them.

Shaking his head to stave off the fear that they may be stuck down here for the rest of their likely short lives, Harold turned his attention to a nearby set of armor. It looked sturdy. Likely crafted of fine steel, it looked worthy of any knight. Emblazoned on the front was the same mountain he saw on the heater shield.

He tried to lift the cuirass of the armor set, and almost dropped it on his foot. ‘That thing is heavy as hell.’ To be fair, he should have expected it, but the TV shows and books never mentioned how heavy a full set of chainmail or steel armor was. Shaking his head, he kept looking

Looking to the right, he saw another set of armor, this one was padded leather, and looked durable enough to sustain him in a fight. All it lacked was a helmet.

“Hey, do you see a helmet I can use? I’m kinda partial to keeping my head on my shoulders, and not have it be cut open.”

“Nope, but try this on.” Amber lobbed a balled up cloth to him, which upon further inspection, unfurled into a black cloak. “Maybe it’ll keep you from being spotted if you ever have to sneak anywhere.”

“Mmm.” Harold wasn’t convinced, but put it on anyway, along with the form fitting leather armor which seemed to fit him just perfectly.

Amber had ditched the white robe which would have given everything even remotely in visible range warning bells, in favor of a snug set of leather as well. Clearly meant for a female, it fit her form perfectly as well. ‘Strange, but not as strange as everything else.’

“Okay, what’s next?” Amber asked. “Ooh, weapons, right?” She made a beeline for a nearby staff. An orb that Harold couldn’t use his [Analyze Mineral] on sat at the top of the gnarling, twisted roots that comprised the staff. It looked like wood, but at this point it could’ve been made of cheese and he wouldn’t have batted an eye.

However cynical he might have been, Amber looked enraptured by the staff. “I can see the mana! I mean, I can see the tunnels where mana should be going. It feeds into the handle of the staff, and gets emitted through the orb!”

“Oh sick! So it’s probably a way for you to focus your energy, right? How many mana bolts can you shoot if you use it?” Harold was totally on board with having a beautiful girlfriend, who also had the ability to rapid fire mana at whatever came at them first.

“I don’t know, but if the Aracha-somethings decide to throw us into a fight as soon as we’re geared up, I don’t think I want to burn all my stuff here.”

Harold nodded absentmindedly. Glancing at the door, he hefted his shield, reformed his war hammer with [Gem Manifestation]. He grabbed a nearby rucksack, filled it with food and a canteen. “Let’s go.”

“One second.” Amber called him away from the door. She found a small mitten. Cutting one finger off of it with a nearby dagger, she placed the small, cut off mitten finger on Rocky’s head. “There we go, now he has a hat!”

The rock bobbed his head with happiness, and Harold couldn’t help but crack a smile. “Come on, let’s go kill some spiders.”