Frankly, Rae was not a patient person. Though, he was not an impatient person either. But spending months in a womb had really tempered it.

He had lain there, pretending to be asleep by regulating his breath with the「Breathing Technique」for hours on end – until now.

‘Patience truly is a virtue.’

Rae could hear the webs being spun as the spider he had been waiting for, made its way down.

As the spider came closer, Rae’s「Crisis Perception」began to warn him of immediate danger.

He activated「Thought Acceleration」and opened his eyes. What greeted him was a set of eight deep red eyes in two rows of four, staring at him no more than ten feet away.

Rae quickly shouted in his mind. ‘Appraise!’

『Status』

『Titles』: 「Human Slaughterer」「Thread User」「Hunter」「Assassin」「Kin Eater」「Kin Slaughterer」「Insect Slaughterer」

『General Information』

Name: 「N/A」 Gender: Female Age: 4 Years Race: Arachni Huntress Level: 27 Class/Level: 「N/A」

『Resistances』:「Lightning: 0%」「Fire: -40%」「Wind: 0%」「Water: 0%」「Earth: 0%」「Light/Holy: 0%」「Darkness: 0% 」「Poison: 20% 」

『Status』

Health Points: 1132 / 1132 (+11.32/s)

Mana Points: 540 / 540 (+6.76/s)

Stamina Points: 849 / 849 (+8.49/s)

『Attributes』

Strength: 301

Endurance: 265

Intelligence: 164

Dexterity/Agility: 365

Perception: 303

Wisdom: 106

Charisma: 0

Luck: 0

『Skill List』

「Thread Control LV6」「Spider Thread LV6」「Leap LV5」「Thread Sense LV6」「Presence Perception LV6」「Night Vision」「Poison LV10」「Acidic Poison LV1」「Poison Strike LV7」「Poison Magic LV6」「Mana Perception LV6」「Mana Control LV5」「Enhanced Hearing LV5」「Enhanced Flexibility LV5」「Iron Limbs」

The spider lifted one of its claws and slashed toward Rae’s neck. He got up immediately and dashed under the spider.

With its underbelly exposed, Rae took the opportunity and thrust his sword. The sword managed to pierce 4-5 inches deep.

An air shattering screech came from the spider. It slid one of its hind legs below itself, aiming at Rae’s head. Rae retracted his sword and used the side of it to block the leg with his left forearm against it as resistance.

A spark flashed as the leg hit the sword, but there was too much force in the blow and the leg slid past the sword and into Rae’s arm.

Poison much stronger than the one Rae had felt before began working its way into his arm.

Rae screamed in pain as the poison attempted to ravage his arm. “Ahhhh!”

The spider, still in a fit of rage, dragged Rae by his arm from out under it and flung him against a pillar.

Rae hit the pillar and the air was knocked out of him as blood spurt from his mouth. The sword he was holding now clanging on the ground.

‘I may have underestimated the enemy. That acid and poison combination is killer to my health regen,’ he thought wryly. He had killed all the spiders before with ease, so he thought he could do the same with this one despite not knowing its attributes or skills. ‘Hope I don’t have to take drastic measures.’

He got up with much pain and picked up the sword next to him. He looked at Yva who was watching everything with Selena, who had a worried look on her face and was reminded of the last look Mary gave him before she ran.

‘I didn’t think she cared that much. Well, let’s try not to die for the second time.’

Rae placed his focus back on the spider and gripped his sword.

Much less angry than it had been before – or appearing to be, the spider also placed all eight of its eyes on Rae. Eying each other, the spider made its first move by conjuring up three balls of poison and shot them at Rae.

Rae ran behind the pillar he had been tossed into earlier, for shelter.

He heard a splash a second later. Then he heard the sound of stone sizzling and cracking.

The spider, seeing the effect of its magic on the pillar, continued shooting「Poison Magic」at the area.

‘Oh shit.’ Hearing the cracking intensify, Rae knew what was going to happen and dashed behind another pillar.

The pillar he was hiding behind then tipped over and the loud crashing and crumbling of stone could be heard.

The spider screeched at its escaped prey and shot webs with a faint blue glow over on them around the pillar Rae was behind.

Rae dashed way but the webs followed him and wrapped around his legs and pulled him down. He tried cutting the webs with his sword, but the spider created them too fast for him to keep cutting.

The spider dragged Rae as it maneuvered the webs around him. He eventually ended up completely wrapped up in front the hungry predator.

As Rae was being dragged toward the spider’s mouth a few feet from him, he could feel his life ebbing away from the strike he took earlier. Rae decided his immediate survival was better than keeping a secret in death. ‘Looks like its drastic measures…’

He looked off to the side and saw Selena attempting to help him. Funnily enough, Landis was still snoring like nothing was happening.

“Yva, stop her! I need the full experience from this thing!”

“Are you sure you can handle it?”

“Yes!”

"How?" she inquired.

"...You'll find out," not bothering to explain as he was inching closer to death every second.

“Fine, you owe me another one then,” Yva said.

‘I’m gonna owe you two, for what I’m about to do,’ he said inwardly.

********

Yva grabbed onto Selena’s arm to halt her.

Selena gave Yva an intense glare. “What are you doing?!”

“Just trust him.”

Selena tried yanking her arm away from Yva, but Yva’s strength proved too much.

She continued scowling at Yva and felt the rage building up inside her for being so helpless. “Are you going to take responsibilities if he dies?!”

“Relax, he won’t die. He’s…,” Yva paused because she felt something familiar coming from the direction Rae was in. She saw what was happening and her eyes widened in surprise. “…more than... what you... think.”

Selena was surprised at Yva’s reaction and turned her eyes toward the ensuing battle.

********

With Yva’s confirmation that there wouldn’t be interference, he pictured the way Yva moved the black particles back at the auction. He focused and concentrated with full effort to move and condense particles into his hand.

After a few moments of struggle, he could feel the Mana and immense strength, coursing through his hands.

『Akashic System』Gained 「Darkness Infusion LV1」

Rae wiped the notification and swung his hands upwards, cutting through the webs.

Completely free, Rae saw his hands, and they were now layered with a black glow.

Being face to face with the spider, Rae reacted instantly after being free and jabbed both of his hands into the spider’s eyes. One hand on the top set of eyes and the other on the bottom, and swiped both hands across each other, taking out six of its eyes.

The spider let out an ear piercing cry and thrashed about and eventually crashed itself into a pillar. The pillar wasn’t able to take the brunt of the spider while swinging its poison and acid infused legs, and it collapsed on top of it.

Unfortunately, one of its legs found its way into Rae’s thigh in its crazed state.

Rae grit his teeth and dashed to the spider while it was still weakened. He found the spider crushed beneath a pile of rubble, with only its head sticking out.

His life still slipping way, he kneeled down next to the spider, took his right hand, and thrust it as far as he could into one of the spiders damaged eye sockets.

The rubble on top of the spider began moving as the spider struggled.

‘Fucking die already!’ he screamed inside, and with his hand still buried in the spider, he controlled the Darkness surrounding his hand to expand into spikes. Skewering the spider from the inside.

『Akashic System』「Mana Control LV3」Leveled up!

『Akashic System』Host has leveled up!

『Akashic System』Host has leveled up!

『Akashic System』Host has leveled up!

『Akashic System』Host has leveled up!

『Akashic System』Host has leveled up!

『Akashic System』Host has leveled up!

Breathing heavily from the wounds he received, he barely spoke in relief. “Ha… ha… sweet…”

A smile formed on Rae’s face. “I… suppose its… lights out now…”

He heard one last notification before losing consciousness.

『Akashic System』Host has qualified for evolution! Will now begin the evolutionary process.