''Velariah, if you don't mind me asking, was there a specific reason you had us drag those animals to the guild?''

I asked the question as we were walking home. I was currently using the spear to try to get rid of the itch. I didn't seem to be working as well as I'd hoped. I had even drawn a bit of blood...

''Aren't you happy with your new rank?'' she asked as she eyed my spear.

Oh, so I was right.

''You basically wanted to show off what I could do?''

She nodded.

''Figured I'd help you get the rank you deserve.'' She was being awfully friendly with me.

I didn't trust her for one bit when she was like that.

''Besides, now you can literally go and join our gold club with one more quest like the Bunbear one.''

She had a point. I’d find myself in gold rank very soon. Wait, did she just say gold club? She wasn't looking down on me, was she? I'll show her...

We reached her home and the elf knocked.

Elly welcomed us and helped Velariah out of her armor. It seriously seemed like such a hassle when I looked at the event play out every time. I hoped the commissioned piece at Dworag would be easier to put on. I think it was going to be, as far as I knew it had a bunch of leather straps at the side that would hold the front and back together. It was just a simple matter of putting it on and then closing those.

Velariah had to deal with many times the amount of straps when it came to her leg guards and bracers.

If that was commonplace to defend yourself, maybe I should be happy that I didn't have human legs anymore, it looked like such a nuisance.

No more stubbing my pinky toe on furniture anymore either, yay for spider legs.

Slowly I started to become aware that there were quite a few advantages to being half monster.

This itch however...

It just didn’t seem to go away. My entire behind was now feeling as if something crawled under my skin. Fortunately, it didn't appear to be worms or any other parasites. The thought of either of those disgusted me.

Elly noticed the small bleeding wound I had created and asked me if I was okay. I had told her that I seemed to be fine except that I was getting tired, hungry and frustrated because I wasn't able to relieve myself of this bothersome itch.

She looked at me with pity and said she would prepare something to eat.

''Thanks Elly.''

If only I could drink some coffee. I sorely needed me something to stay awake...

I bit through the exhaustion that was slowly penetrating my being and walked a few circles around the large table to keep my mind occupied.

''You want an energy potion?'' Velariah asked as she put down her pack on the table.

''If you have one, please. I'm having trouble focusing and I’d like to not fall asleep...''

She entered the door leading to the upstairs area. I wish I could see what the upstairs looked like. More specifically, I was more than a bit curious how Velariah's room looked like.

I shouldn't be thinking about that... What was wrong with me?

Panic had started to build up as my situation became worse and worse. What would happen if I fell asleep right now? Did spiders hibernate or something like that? I would probably need to eat quite a bit if that was the case. I didn’t want to imagine what would happen if I started hibernating while I was ravenous.

It was either summer or spring right now, I didn't know exactly, but winter was still far away. That had made hibernation seem like an impossibility. It made no sense in my mind whatsoever. I should be prepared for the worst-case scenario, though.

If it was hibernation, would I at least be safe here?

I'd hate to wake up to being chained in some mad scientist's basement...

I shook my head rapidly trying to stay awake and to shake off those thoughts. Velariah soon came back with a small red vial. I hoped that potion would stave off the drowsiness until I had at least eaten enough.

The white-haired elf handed me the potion which I quickly chugged down. I felt my strength returning and with it, my sense of smell. A wonderful scent came from the kitchen where Elly was cooking up something delicious. Whatever it was, I needed it! And I needed it yesterday!

''You still holding up well?'' Velariah asked again.

''I'm scared.'' I replied honestly. ''You know I wasn't like this before; I have no idea what's happening to me and it scares me.''

''You'll be fine. If Pylanor says you're perfectly healthy it can’t be that bad. Maybe it's just a muscle ache?''

I shook my head. As much as she tried downplaying it, this was not a muscle ache. I knew that much for certain. Maybe it had been a matter of not drinking enough? I haven't had that much to drink in the past days. Maybe I'd have to pay better attention to that. I couldn't really drink too much anyway, right?

The door to the kitchen opened and Elly appeared with a bowl of soup on a plate with some slices of bread at the side.

Speak of the devil.

This could be exactly what I needed.

She put down the plate on the table and pulled away two of the chairs. She even created space for me to stand at the table, such a sweet girl.

''Would you like some soup as well, miss Velariah?'' Elly asked the knight.

''I'm not really hungry at the moment. You should take some yourself if you want to.''

''I would suggest for the both of you to take some.'' I told them. ''I have a feeling I'm going to need to eat a lot and I'd hate to eat everything without you guys getting anything...'' It felt weird to say that but it was the truth.

I was starving right now and I knew how much this body could take in in one sitting.

''Alright, Elly, let's eat something before Elania devours it all.'' She smirked.

Harsh.

True, but harsh.

Hmm. Fresh vegetable soup. Elly, you're a kitchen goddess. There were plenty of meatballs mixed in the soup as well which I eagerly nommed down. My spider part seemed to have a certain fondness for meat, after all.

Chicken soup would still be my favorite but this was a close second place for sure. Maybe I could get her to make that one day? Hmmmm.

By the time Elly returned with bowls and plates with bread for Velariah and herself I had already finished my first and had her running back to the kitchen for more. I was sure it made me look like a feral beast more than a dignified lady.

Dignified lady, hah! As if...

I was going to make sure to get enough to eat before this potion's effects expired.

Velariah and Elly had just finished their bowl as I started on my third. The bread was made this morning and still quite fresh, though, not as fresh as when you added preservants. On the very rare occasions I had made some bread myself, I had added a vitamin C capsule to the mix. It seemed to do wonders as a healthy and easy preservant. I should look into something like that with Elly sometime.

Would lemon juice do the trick? It sounded plausible...

Experimenting was fun! Remember kids: the difference between science and screwing around is writing it down!

After my fourth bowl it seemed Elly had had enough. She had severely underestimated the glutton that was this body. She walked back into the kitchen and walked back with a large pan which she put on her empty plate for lack of a coaster.

Elly was a smart elf.

I had finished the whole thing after making sure she and Velariah had had enough.

Just in time too, it appeared lethargy had set in again.

At least I wouldn't have to bother with this insanely annoying itch if I was asleep. That was at least something to look forward to.

I thanked Elly for her culinary masterpiece and set off to the bathroom. Velariah followed me to make sure I was okay.

I threw off my shirt and tag again. Once more, I couldn't be bothered to properly put it away, I shouldn’t get used to that, this wasn't my apartment, after all...

''Will you be alright?'' Velariah looked at least a bit worried.

This elf...

''I don’t know, you're the one who said I was perfectly healthy, remember?'' I remarked with a frown.

''But other than this itch and the sluggishness, I feel fine so even though I am scared, I doubt it's anything serious. I hope it's not at least...''

''I trust Master Pylanor. You'll be fine, go get some rest.''

Thank you very much, that was exactly what I was going to do.

I rolled my eyes at the stupid remark.

''What?'' Velariah asked.

''Nothing.'' I replied with a feigned smile.

''All right, then. Keep your secrets.''

Odd, where have I heard that before?

I wondered if I should lock the door but decided against it. If something actually happened while I was in here and I needed help, it would be convenient if Velariah didn't have to smash the door in. I doubted she'd actually be able to; the door looked quite sturdy.

I just hoped she wouldn't let strangers in the house.

I doubted it.

Velariah walked out of the room after wishing me good night which I had sheepishly thanked her for. It felt so awkward to have somebody say that in the middle of the day.

Anyways, time for sleep!

I dropped myself in the pile of pillows and hugged a larger one tightly as I got comfortable. Too comfortable...

I had fallen asleep, eventually, but it was a fitful sleep. I kept waking up in cold sweat and had trouble falling asleep again even though I was exhausted. A headache grew as time went by.

This was hell.

I was dead tired but I just couldn't get any peaceful sleep. What had I done to deserve this?

I had hoped that this itch could be suppressed by sleep but if I couldn’t get any I would be screwed!

I tried laying in different positions but found that none of my attempts made any difference. Hours went by and eventually I found myself in a half-asleep, half-awake state.

Velariah had even come into the room once to check up on me, even though she had been so confident that I would be fine.

Knowing she at least cared about me had put a smile on my face. Of course, I wouldn't let her see that, so I buried by face in a pillow.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Her presence may have put me at ease enough to actually fall asleep, because the next moment I found myself in an unfamiliar landscape.

Scrap that, this wasn't a landscape. I found myself in some kind of cave tunnel.

Hold on a second.

I know what to do! I felt proud of myself as I actually had a sense of awareness.

I looked down and looked right at my pedipalps. Wait, why was I naked? Damn you brain!

Oops, I almost got distracted, time to take control back.

I moved two hands in front of my face and made a finger go through one of my hands.

Yes, through.

This was a lucid dream, neat. I had finally succeeded!

But where was I? I was in some kind of tunnel underground; I could make out that much. Glowing moss on the walls lighted the cave in an unearthly blue hue. Stalagmites and stalactites stretched out before me. I was fortunate that the tunnel was wide enough for me to move around the stalagmites.

Wait, I could just fly over them, what was I thinking?

I willed my body to fly.

Nothing happened.

Well, fuck.

'Unlucky', I guessed. I wasn't going to strain my brain and attempt too hard; I would just wake up instead. I'd rather not wake up right now, the itch was finally gone!

I walked down the wide corridor, wondering where I'd found myself. I had never been here before, yet everything looked too clear to me. It was as if I was looking at reality, no distorted colors or weird things that couldn't be, well besides me.

I had no idea dreams could be this clear. I was amazed at the fact until I seemed to have reached the end of the corridor.

There, an exact copy of the Hellspider Queen was waiting in front of a doorway. Through the doorway I could see a faint blue glow, I wondered what was behind it.

Wait a second. I should be worried about the massive spider in front of me instead. What the hell was that doing in my dream?

Shoo, shoo.

Get out.

This is my world, get out, I don't like spiders.

I had even gestured for it to shoo away, at which the spider tilted its head and looked at me with eight blue eyes in a confused manner.

How did I know it was confused?

How did it even tilt its head?

Creepy.

Wait, it wasn't staring at my breasts, was it? Pervert spider, yuck.

''Are you alright?''

Wait who was that?

The huge spider in front of me retracted its pedipalps inward as if it was pointing at itself.

''It was I, you seem confused, are you alright?'' It asked again.

''Uh, I guess so?'' I said, confused as to what was going on.

''Who are you?'' I asked. ''And why are you not attacking me?''

I knew this was a dream, but these interactions made no sense whatsoever. I had expected this lucid dream to turn into a lucid nightmare when I hadn't managed to rid this dream of the big ass spider in front of me. Instead, it was asking me questions. Even more strange, it was asking if I was okay.

''I am but a minion. I speak for my master, it appears our bond has strengthened after your... evolution.''

Evolution? Did it mean my increase in rank at the guild?

''What do you mean?'' I inquired.

''It doesn't matter, our time here is short. My master wishes to speak to you.'' The spider ''spoke'' in my mind.

''Who is your master, and what does he want?''

''My master is an Ancient One, he simply wishes to know more about your presence, it's... an anomaly.''

No shit.

Before I could ask another question, I found my body heat up and I panicked. I felt as if I was burning from the inside as my surroundings started to stretch and distort as if one was mixing different colors of paint in a bucket.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself clutching a pillow tightly. I was panting and sweating profusely. The room was completely dark, but I at least knew where I was.

I clapped my hands to turn on the lights. I then tried to move a finger through my hand again but failed as I found my palm resisting. Even through my groggy eyes I could see that I was no longer in a dream.

I was still exhausted so I decided to try to go back to sleep after turning off the lights.

The words the Hellspider Queen spoke haunted my dreams. More than once the word ''Evolution'' popped up, which made me question whether it had anything to do with the guild rank.

The rest of my dreams were peaceful. There was even a dream where I had a human body and was cuddling a dog the size of me. That was one of the better dreams I'd had in a while. I loved dogs!

I woke up at last. I felt completely energized and the itch was gone!

This day was off to a good start.

Even though I was energized these pillows were too damn comfortable to simply jump up from. I decided to relax for a for another moment before I would get up.

Eventually I had had enough, I needed to move. I tried to stand up but found that I couldn't. It was as if there were greasy socks around my legs that would just make me slip whenever I tried to stand.

Did Velariah pull a prank on me when I was asleep?

I swear this elf...

I rubbed the sleep crust out of my eyes and turned on the lights to get a better look at what kind of prank the elf had pulled on me this time.

''WHAT THE FUCK?'' I screamed.

There was a shove of a chair on stone floor coming from the dining room and seconds later Velariah jumped into my room.

I tossed a quick glance to Velariah but her eyes seemed fixated on the same thing that mine had been on before I screamed. I honestly doubted this was her doing.

A layer of something covered all my spidery bits. What the hell was that stuff?

I touched it.

I ran my fingers over it.

I facepalmed.

I was an idiot. I should have known this would happen someday.

My grandmother's spider should have had me prepared for this.

I had molted.

I awkwardly took my old skin between two fingers.

Velariah noticed that I wasn't at all worried and seemed to relax as she walked up to me.

''Are you okay? What's this?'' She stammered.

''How long was I out for?" I counter questioned.

''Two days. Are you alright?'' She didn't seem worried, rather, she seemed curious as to what this was.

Creep.

''This, my dear Velariah, is my old ''skin''.''

''What?''

It would seem she had no idea.

''Spiders have an exoskeleton, in order to grow, they need to shed their old skin. it's called molting.''

''That's... odd.'' She said as she touched the molted skin on one of my pedipalps.

I quickly retracted it.

That tickled!

''S-sorry.'' She spoke. ''I was just... Never mind.''

Curious little one, aren’t you?

''It's fine, it's just extremely sensitive.''

A thought entered my mind.

''Has Draco never mentioned this process?''

''No, why?'' She looked at me with curiosity sparking in her eyes.

''Well, he is a reptilian, I am almost certain he goes through the same process, more or less''

I knew a thing or two about reptilians. I was fairly confident in making the assumption Draco would have to molt as well from time to time.

My grandmother actually had an almost complete molting of her tarantula saved somewhere in a plastic container. She had been far too happy to show that to people who visited. A weird thing to take pride in, but to each their own.

I tried standing up again but slipped and landed in the soft pile of pillows again. It would seem I had to get out of this old skin first before I could make a move. I was impatient seeing as I'd already lost two days to this process but I'd have to deal with it.

''How do I get this off?''

I tried pulling off the molt from my pedipalps but found them to be incredibly sensitive. I shuddered as I peeled gently.

This was going to be bad.

''Do you want me to help?'' Velariah seemed sickened but curious.

She was kidding, right?

Before I had even answered she had already started peeling the old skin off of my abdomen. She wasn't doing this carefully at all and it tickled!

''Hey, be gentle! it's extremely sensitive.'' I felt myself get embarrassed as I repeated that I said before.

Why did I even allow her to do this?

Whatever, best to get this done as quickly as possible. I was done wasting time.

Minutes later I regretted ever giving Velariah permission to help me with this. Sure, it was going at a much faster pace than if I were to do it alone but I felt more awkward by the minute. The white-haired elf had actually listened and started peeling gently. Her dexterous hands moving over my sensitive new skin actually had me blushing from the sensations.

I hated to admit it but this actually felt somewhat pleasant.

I was not going to let her have a look at my face while doing this. This was far too embarrassing.

I might just die of embarrassment.

The transparent layer of old skin slowly made way for new smooth carapace beneath it around my waist. I had worked on the parts I could actually reach such as my pedipalps, fangs and directly behind my human body while Velariah worked on the parts I couldn't reach.

I hoped I wouldn't need assistance with this every time, that would be so cringey!

I could swear the new carapace that was hiding under the molt was a darker shade of black than before, but I couldn't be sure. I had nothing to compare it to and I doubted cameras were invented yet.

After finishing the parts I could reach I started pulling up my legs in front of my body.

Seriously, the agility of this body kept surprising me. I had a feeling that if I wanted to, I could put all eight legs in front of my human body. For now, I settled on four and I started peeling.

Even my legs which were otherwise fairly insensitive to sensational input were suffering from hypersensitivity. Why?

At least I didn't have to lay eggs or something freakish like that.

Oh no.

Oh God, please no.

I prayed that whoever had put me in this position didn't hear that comment. I'd hate to give them further inspiration to mess around with me. 'Please don't', I begged in my mind.

Even in my mind I sounded weak.

A soft moan escaped my lips.

I hoped Velariah didn't hear that.

I turned around and saw her working on my most sensitive part. I'd completely forgotten about that!

She was peeling away the old skin around my spinnerets and I was trying very hard to keep my mouth shut. I gritted my teeth. It was as if she was tickling me with a feather under my soles. I couldn't deal with this!

The wave of relief I felt when she was finished with that part was unprecedented. I could finally continue with freeing my legs of their ''socks'' without fear of sounding like a pervert.

When I was finally focused enough to almost forget the sensations I was feeling in my lower body, it just so happened that Elly walked into the room.

Damn you woman! Learn to knock!

I gawked at her as she looked at all the molting that was spread out over the floor, then at Velariah and finally, me.

She walked out without saying a word.

Thanks, Elly.

Velariah didn’t even seem to have noticed. She was too preoccupied with stripping me.

She was enjoying this way too much.

Next time, I should ask money to have people do this for me.

Actually, never mind, there would probably be a few people too eager to ''help'' me.

Oh well, I was almost through this hell. My four hind legs were up last. I let Velariah deal with those as I removed the last of the molting from under my body. Once I was finished, I stood up, four non-slippery legs were more than enough to stand on.

I watched in amusement as the elf was removing the last old skin from my legs. I had even kicked her multiple times as my legs spasmed in reaction to the touches. Maybe some of those had been on purpose.

I apologize for nothing.

I think she caught onto me. When she reached the last of my legs, she took a firm hold of the molt and ripped it down all the way to the tip as if she ripped off a band-aid.

''Ouch!'' I let out as I started running in circles, trying to cool down the heat that was emanating from my poor leg.

''Serves you right!''

''What did I do?'' I feigned ignorance.

''You kicked me!''

''No, I didn't! I couldn't help it!''

''Suuuuuure.'' She let out in a teasing tone.

Damn, she knew.

I came to a halt and took a few moments to admire my new self. I could swear I was at least a tint blacker than before...

Was this whole molting process what the spider in the cave had meant with ''Evolution''?

Sounded like a crappy evolution to me. I got the notion that they simply didn't know the word for molting and called it that instead. Kind of lame though, but for a spider I guessed molting would mean growing. And I guessed growing would be equal to evolution in their simple minds.

Then again, this color had me thinking something may have actually changed about me. It was hard to put a finger on, it felt like something instinctive; I couldn't explain it.

Maybe I could find out if I found this so called ''Ancient One'' that it had mentioned, whoever that was.

It was awkward how the dream had felt so real. It made me think it was not simply a dream, rather something that transcended above that. It had me convinced there had to be something more to it.

I would have to find out what.

''You wanna head out?'' Velariah asked after we'd finished our work. She was sweeping the parts of mold with her foot into one heap.

I thought about it for a few moments. I wasn't sure if I wanted to head out while my skin was feeling this sensitive. On the other hand, going outside and basking in the sun seemed to do reptilians well after molting. We could just take a day off adventuring and relax in the fields outside the village.

''Sure, but let's take a break from quests for the day.'' I made my wishes clear.

''No, problem.''

Velariah called for Elly as she opened the door.

I looked at the floor, at the mess that had come from my body.

Evolution, huh? Didn't expect it to look like this.

Or feel like this.