When I next woke up, I already felt much more energized. My mind had seemingly found peace with the fact that I just couldn’t know things and that it was thus useless to worry about it. I removed the sleep crust from my eyes and walked out of my nest backward.

I would use this day to see if I could maybe pick up some more useful enhancements from the dungeon while Cellestra finished whatever she had to do here.

I raised my elven torso and noted that my hair was all messy again. It came as no surprise as I’d slept on it. That, and it was long. It would need quite some maintenance. I simply shrugged it off. I could fix that later. For now, I focused on the dungeon. This would be the last time I visited it. I wondered if there was indeed a third area.

I skittered over to the window and gently tapped it with my fingers. Before I left, I wanted to make sure that the elf knew I was going out.

Cellestra soon opened the door.

“Morning, Kealyna. Feeling any better?”

I nodded. “Much better. Thank you. If you don’t mind, I’ll be heading off for the dungeon. Do you want me to keep an eye out for anything for dinner?”

“If you could, yes please. I’ll try to see if I can find some food I can take with us as well.”

“Alright. I’ll see you later then. Take care.” I waved at Cellestra as I turned around. The elf smiled and waved back while I skittered off to the edge of the clearing, making sure to cast my barrier spell as I went.

I started my trip towards the dungeon and noted that the silk that I’d spun around my chest to cover things up had gotten dirty. I made a mental note to make a new bra when I was finished in the dungeon.

I wasn’t sure how late it was currently, but judging from the sun’s position, it was either late in the morning, or early afternoon. Adjusting to the time, I skittered towards the dungeon as fast as I could.

My thoughts were no longer dancing around in my head. I hoped things would stay that way... for a while at least.

Despite running as fast as I could, I still took well over an hour to reach the dungeon, perhaps two, I couldn’t be sure. I hoped I could speed things up a bit compared to yesterday now that I had a better idea of how much exactly I would have to consume of a creature before the effect could trigger.

Now, here was hoping that I wouldn’t be too full to eat… I was not hungry in the slightest at the moment so it was a possibility.

That would be… less than ideal.

I made my way down the corridor until I’d almost reached the swamp area. I was surprised there were none of those giant snakes. That was, until I ran into a green one at the very end of the tunnel. I quickly dispatched it with my lightning arc after putting up an ice wall to block its venom spit attack.

After it died, I ignored the blue square with the message and went straight to eating.

To my disappointment, I didn’t receive a notification after eating well over the amount of meat I had needed to last time. I had hoped to get some kind of enhancement related to venom. I didn’t know if it was possible, but since this creature seemed to rely on that, I imagined the skill that could be offered would have something to do with it.

I ate a bit more to be on the safe side before tossing the body aside and making my way into the swamp. Almost immediately, I was met by one of the crocolisks who charged at me. Two earthen spikes were more than enough to take care of that threat.

You have killed a Large Mire Crocolisk: No experience was awarded.

I decided it would be a good idea to do the same thing I did yesterday, and created several lines of silk to bait the crocolisks into attacking me. Only three more appeared from the dark waters. As they converged on me, I easily killed them off with more earthen spikes.

You have killed a Large Mire Crocolisk: No experience was awarded.

You have killed a Large Mire Crocolisk: No experience was awarded.

You have killed a Large Mire Crocolisk: No experience was awarded.

I felt like there were too few, so I fished for a bit more but came up dry. The area was clear, so I decided to start eating while I hypothesized about what these crocolisks could even offer me. I knew from tales that crocodiles had extremely strong jaws, at least when it came to shutting them, so maybe these crocolisks had some kind of ability along those lines?

Alternatively, their hides seemed extremely tough. They managed to deflect some of my spells. Maybe they could give me some kind of resistance enhancement?

You never know until you eat.

The next half hour was spent ripping open crocolisks and eating them. When I arrived at the last one, there was still no message that had shown up, so I was filled with disappointment when I started the last one. I knew the chance for it to activate wasn’t too high, so technically I shouldn’t be disappointed, but I couldn’t help it.

It was with the very last crocolisk that I finally had a message show up.

Devour (Evolving) effect activated.

Enhancement: Superior Jaws and Teeth is available.

Superior?

I hadn’t seen that prefix yet. I decided to check my enhancement list.

Enhancement

Cost in EP

Spawn Spiderlings

200

Spiderling Upgrade - Basic Exoskeleton

100

Spiderling Upgrade - Basic Resistance

100

Spiderling Upgrade - Basic Venom

100

Amphibian Tongue

50

Tongue Slingshot (Level 1)

10

Superior Jaws and Teeth

75

It appeared it was an upgrade over ‘Very Strong’. That was good to know. If I could upgrade existing skills further, I imagined I could get my strength back to where it was before this final evolution. Maybe I could even go beyond that.

Slight excitement filled me at the prospect of that.

Since I had plenty of points to spend, I decided to upgrade the enhancement. A secondary reason for me to do it was that this skill in particular would make eating easier. Some of the meat I’d run into was tough, especially that ape creature from the day before.

I allowed the blessing to upgrade my jaws and teeth. After the effects had taken hold, I continued along the path through the swamp. There were no more creatures on this floor it seemed. The only thing that I could see was a gigantic mosquito buzzing over the water.

For a moment I considered killing it, but it was too far away. I also concluded that it was probably a bad idea to use water walking here as I had no idea if there was anything other than crocolisks in the water.

And so I found myself in the sandpit room once again. The slime, as usual, started taking form and I cast my imbue elements spell and started hacking away.

A short battle followed in which I easily dispatched this floor’s boss for the third time. I ignored the kill message and fixed my gaze on the wall to the left, hoping a new area would come into view.

When the grinding of stone on stone finally came, instead of the wall to my left opening up, the one in front opened, leading into the forlorn city.

I calculated what the merits of going that way would be. I couldn’t possibly eat bones, so the only reason for me to go that way would be treasure. I decided against it. I had no incentive to go to the one place that sent shivers down my spine. I’d rather go home to Cellestra and experience her warmth. It was much preferable to the cold, dead dungeon floor.

I made my way back through the swamp and up the corridor, feeling happy that I at least picked up one useful upgrade. That alone had made this trip worth it. I hoped that whenever I went into a dungeon again, Cellestra would be able to join me. I more than enjoyed her presence the other day.

When I looked up at the sky, I noticed that the sun had already started its descent a while ago. If I went back home at the same speed as before, I’d arrive just before evening. However, I planned on finding something for Cellestra to have for dinner. Something small like a wild rabbit would be ideal.

I kept my spider eyes fixated on the surrounding area while I tore away the silk that covered my breasts to make a new makeshift bra. It didn’t take long to make it as it was a simple matter of summoning threads around my chest area. I realized by the end of it that my hair would need work as well and that it was perhaps a better idea to take a bath to get everything done at the same time.

I wondered how that would work with my current body…