At least there was one upside to all of this. I’d been out for hours during the day, which left me wide awake, despite darkness falling in, but using a load of thread would drain me more than enough for me to sleep soundly at night.

At the moment, I was working on one of the sides of the shelter that I’d started on earlier. I would close up the right side relative to the house, and the side parallel to the house’s wall, so that the left side would remain open. If I needed to expand this so-called “nest” of mine, Cellestra could add more logs and I’d extend the one wall, and redo the wall on the outside.

I still had room to spare, but I imagined I might need to do some extra work on this after my next evolution. I would look at it then. For now, this should work.

Cellestra was watching me work, and smiled the entire time. It made me see this as less of a chore and more of a fun activity. It truly wasn’t so bad when she was with me.

Despite me being able to work quite fast, darkness eventually fell before I was finished. Cellestra had seen it coming, and while the darkness wouldn’t affect me so much, she’d made a campfire nearby so she would be able to keep watching me.

“I never imagined I’d have a spider remodel my house. Or well, an elven… spider? I guess?” Cellestra commented as I was working on the last wall.

I saw why she corrected herself. I had made it clear early on that I wasn’t an actual spider, but I saw now that I’d been in denial still. I mean, I was a spider now and there was nothing I could do about it. If anything, I would have to live with it, and to hear it coming from Cellestra in such a supportive manner… I guess it was the best way for me to learn.

I created thousands of threads. I found out I could adjust their size at will, and I managed to manipulate them so that I could span multiple at the same time. It truly helped speed things up as I wanted these walls to be water- and wind-proof.

It wasn’t cold at night at all, but I would have to think about what I was going to do when winter eventually hit. If I was traveling, I couldn’t simply make something like this within a day. I wouldn’t have the energy to do so. This task drained me almost as much as when I’d run out of mana.

How resistant would I be to the cold?

Would my final evolution help with that? Could I obtain some kind of skill that would offer me resistance against the cold?

That seemed like a possibility. I would have to check if it was the case. I guess the way I would have to do that was by devouring creatures that were built to resist the cold or something? That was how that ability worked, right?

There was no use in worrying over it now. I wanted to focus on the human situation going on in the south first. I would have plenty of time to find out exactly what I could or could not do.

Cellestra gathered the pieces of paper, cutting off my line of communication with the elf, before sitting down next to the campfire again. I was in the process of finishing the last wall, and was left completely drained. I had used far more silk than I had for the roof. I had hoped my larger body would allow me to create exponentially more and, while it was true to some degree, I was still left exhausted after all that.

I skittered over to the elf when I was finished, looking at her eyes expectantly. She’d not said much besides that one line. I was curious what she would say.

“I would say, that for a first try, it’s… acceptable.”

Even as it was completely dark, I could see the sly smile that was on her face.

This elf…

I didn’t know how I would have reacted if I had an actual face. I imagined the look on it would have been hilarious, before it would change into one of laughter at Cellestra’s joke.

“No, really, it’s looking great. I’m praying for your sake that you won’t have to redo all of it with your next evolution. Wait, I believe you mentioned the next one would be your last, right?”

I nodded with my pedipalps.

“Heh,” Cellestra chucked. “To think you tower over practically anything in this forest, including me. And you’re still going to get bigger. Honestly, those humans are going to run with their tails between their legs as soon as they see you.”

She may have a point there.

“Anyway,” She continued. “I’ll go to bed. I assume you’re going to knock yourself out for the night as well, so I guess I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

I nodded once more.

“Good night, Kealyna. Let’s see how things go tomorrow.”

I waved at her as she stood up and extinguished the campfire by blasting a gust of wind over it. She then waved at me as she walked inside the dark building.

Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough. Thankfully, I didn’t think it would take long for me to fall asleep. I skittered into the new hideout that I’d created with my rear toward the opening. I then laid myself down and found out exactly how exhausted I was as I drifted off within seconds.

____________________________________________________________________________

I woke up thirsty and slightly hungry. I could barely turn myself around without hitting the walls and destroying them. I left my hideout and went to the stream to get some water. When I left my shelter, I noticed Cellestra sitting in the doorway and waving at me.

I stopped and waved back.

“Morning, Kealyna. Had some good rest?”

It was interesting how she was asking me, seeing that she was the one who usually had trouble sleeping. I nodded with my pedipalps before I pointed them in the direction of the stream beyond the trees outside the clearing.

“Water, huh?” She asked.

I nodded again.

“Go ahead. I have everything sorted already. I imagine you want to head out as soon as possible. If I’ve gotten to know anything about you, it’s that part.”

I smiled in my mind at her comment. She’d gotten to know me very well, indeed.

I left her behind as I quickly went to get some water. I considered catching a couple of the larger reaperfish that swam past me, but it was as Cellestra had said: I wanted to head out as soon as possible. I would probably find something to eat on the way.

I wonder how the elf would react if she saw me eating right now. Would she be appalled?

Why was I overthinking simple things like these?

I drank until my thirst was quenched. Then, I made my way back to Cellestra, casting my multi-barrier in preparation. Cellestra wasn’t quite able to cast the spell yet, but we weren’t going to get our hands dirty today. Rather, we were trying to avoid getting our hands dirty. It was information we were after.

I returned to the elf who was standing in the doorway, ready to go. She had several accessories with her to get through the day such as a canteen and I saw some extra potions around her belt.

“Are you sure you can carry me?” She asked.

How was I going to answer that if she wasn’t going to lay down the paper? I simply pointed to the elf with one of my legs, and then to my back.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” She replied softly. “Thanks again...”

Cellestra walked up to me and I lowered myself to the ground so that she had an easier time getting on top of my back. I never would have imagined doing something like this.

The elf got on and placed her legs behind my last set of legs, right behind my eyes that could see behind me. Her back partially rested against my abdomen and I could see she had trouble holding on. She ended up grabbing the long hairs on my back.

Her hands in my soft hairs felt… nice, as I’d predicted.

“By the goddess. You really are as soft as you look. I hope you don’t mind this...”

I shook my pedipalps to let her know I was fine with it. I was more than fine with it. After enjoying the feeling of Cellestra’s hands in my newly-acquired hair, and skittering about for a bit in order to get the elf used to my movements, we set out for the south, hoping to get some information about what the hell was going on in this forest.