Chapter 3. Evolving

The interior of the inner cave felt save. Well, as safe as it could be.

Another group of worms made it inside after mine arrived, but all other parties after got slaughtered to the last on their way here. Thankfully, the entrance was narrow enough, so the monsters lurking outside weren’t able to enter it. Otherwise, all that crawling would have been for naught.

After catching my breath and struggling like a clumsy turtle to get my belly face the ground, I continued following the bugs. My best, and only plan so far, was trusting these things had a resemblance to animal instincts like the animals on Earth had and just copy what they did.

And it paid off.

Following the bugs led me deeper into the cave through a series of tunnels that appeared branching out further into the ground. At first, I thought we were crawling without course, but then I was pleasantly proved wrong when we arrived at a large chamber, humid and warm.

There was another pool, but this one was filled with a gray fluid and much denser than the last, almost matching the texture of jelly. The substance was grossly leaking from the bodies of several animal parts hanging from chamber’s ceiling, and before I averted my eye in the impulse, I managed to catch a glimpse of a plucked bird and several rat’s heads entangled in cobwebs, steadily dripping the goo down the pool. There, my sibling bugs were eating the gray stuff desperately, filling their bellies at voracious speed.

I shifted looking between the liquid and the ceiling in short intervals, remembering something I’d read a long time ago about spiders. They can’t chew their victims, so instead, they inject a venom into the victim’s bloodstream so the insides would liquefy, making them perfect for suction later on. There was no way in hell that I could forget something like that considering it gave nightmares for weeks.

And now I was here, sucking this strange goo by myself.

In my defense, I would say that at this point, the hunger was too overwhelming to care for the taste, but actually, I still found it somewhat delicious once I forced myself to ignore liquid’s origin.

Hell, at least it is edible right? That’s all that matters for now.

I quickly got full of the sludge as another message appeared.

[ Biomass ] absorbed. You reached level 2!

Eating earned me a level-up, but not any skill as [ Assimilation ] implied it would. I re-read the skill’s description, thinking I had missed something important the first time around. I tried grumbling and was surprised when the resulting sound was slightly accurate for my mood. I hadn’t noticed it before, but there were too many unknowns about the [ Assimilation ] skill. For instance, it didn’t specify if I had to eat from a specific body part, nor even how much I needed to eat to gain a new skill.

I would have to experiment more with it later, because for now, raising levels and keeping the hunger at bay were my only two concerns.

Surveying the cave, some of the larvae had given up feeding and were resting nearby the pool, but since most of them were still at it, I joined them too, pushing myself to eat more than what my body could hold. As a result, another screen pop-up.

[ Biomass ] absorbed. You reached level 3! Trait [ Faster Metabolism ] obtained!

Just as the saying goes ‘be careful with what you wish for, as you might get it,’ a new surge of hunger hit me, causing me to eat at least twice the amount before I finally felt satiated. Still, since I was determined to reach level 5 as soon as possible, I didn’t stop swallowing. It was bad enough having the body of a worm so in no way was I going to accept remaining in this body longer than necessary.

However, eventually, my insides would start hurting to a point where not even my newly gained trait could help me keep going. I would need to rest as the other larva at least until the pain stopped, and I could continue feasting.

[ Biomass ] absorbed. You reached level 4! Trait [ Quick Reflexes ] obtained!

Trait [ Night Vision ] obtained!

The lasts messages caught me out of guard. From where these skills were coming?

Despite the fact that I’d promise to ignore it, after looking up at the cave ceiling for the second time, I got my answer.

There was a severed animal’s head, seemingly from a feline, balancing like a pendulum. That turned [ Quick Reflexes ] into the first skill obtained through assimilation. Such development confirmed that the trait worked as promised, but it also created some new questions. I had been eating and resting for several hours, but it was only until now that I was obtaining skills.

In any case, I told myself that it didn’t matter for the time being. Figuring out how «Assimilation» worked was a priority, but not the most important right now. Evolving took precedence, now more than ever when all I needed was just one more level.

That was easier said than done, though.

With every level I gained, the next one took harder to reach. I continued with my eating and resting cycles for several more hours, until I realized something ominous was going on.

The dead animals entangled in the ceiling stopped leaking the sludge. Now there just wasn’t enough food to feed us all, and I did not doubt in my mind that my supposed siblings would turn to eat me if the situation required it.

This day definitely couldn’t get any worse.

Just my luck that my new parents had to be cruel monsters. They were probably the ones who placed all this food in here. But just as they make us crawl through predators a while ago to reach safety, this has to be another of their sick tests.

Soon, there was only one spot with the gray substance, and it was cramped with bugs eating it away, myself included. The first stages of any animal are crucial. At best, maybe those who didn’t develop now would remain like worms for the rest of their lives. At worse, become the new food source for the ones who did.

I wasn’t going to be the first one to grow, but at the very least, I wouldn’t be the last.

[ Quick Reflexes ] has reached level 2!

[ Night Vision ] has reached level 2!

[ Biomass ] absorbed. You reached level 5! First evolution unlocked. Do you wish to review your evolutionary paths now? Y/N.

Yes!

Another screen popped-up.

Tier 1. Evolutions available — Base template selection.

[ Araneidae ]

Orb-weaver arachnid. Small sized. Most common of the arachnid variation. Creates webs and lays expectant for prey to fall inside. Possess poor eyesight, but compensate it by enhancing the other senses. Hereditary origin. [ Lycaranna ]

Hunter arachnid. Common variation. Lighter exoskeleton allows for higher maneuverability and speed at the expense of protection. Possess great concentrations of neurotoxins within its venom, allowing paralyzing or even killing the victim with a single bite. Unable to make webs. [ Arachnaut ]

Long-lived arachnid, a common variation of bigger size. Redundant metabolic systems increase this variation lifespan twofold when compared to other evolutions. Lacks the speed and web-making ability of its peers, but instead possess a sturdy chitinous exoskeleton capable of diverting bites.

It took me a couple of minutes sorting through all the information, and to be honest, it was a letdown. I don’t know what I was expecting from a larva, but these evolutions were a disappointment. Nonetheless, anything was better than staying the same.

While deciding what evolution to pick, I immediately discarded the first option: [ Araneidae ]. If my guesses were right, this chamber would soon become a bloodbath amongst ourselves with survival of the fittest as the general rule. There was also the matter of the origin. I guessed ‘hereditary’ meant this was the default evolution of this body’s species, but I needed something that would give me an edge against the others, and the first option seem too average for my taste.

On the contrary, the other two variations were a perfect pitch in their way.

The [ Lycaranna ] path offered some offensive capabilities while the [ Arachnaut ] specialized in defense. Both were well-sounded deals. The ability to kill or paralyze my opponent with a single bite sounded great until I began considering how hard landing that bite would be. On the other hand, the enhanced exoskeleton took away other abilities at the expense of being tough. Alas, in the end, I decided to go with the [ Arachnaut ] path. Regardless of the longer lifespan, safety before aggression was a motto I could get behind, and in any case, I trusted to obtain the skills I was missing through [ Assimilation ].

You have selected the [ Arachnaut ] variation. Do you wish to evolve now? Y/N.

Immediately after confirming my selection, I was trapped by another shell, rapidly growing all around me, but since I had already seen other larva undergoing the process a while ago, I wasn’t surprised. I embraced the tiring sensation overflowing me, and willingly I drifted into sleep, barely managing to see the other screen popping-up.

Evolution in progress, creating chrysalis. Time until completion: 2 hours, 46 minutes, 23 seconds. Time until completion: 5 seconds.

I regained consciousness just moments before the countdown finished.

Evolution complete.

Putting pressure into the cocoon until it started shattering, I remembered being in the same situation several hours ago when I first hatched. At that moment, I didn’t know what to expect when the last piece of the shell would fall apart; now I think I do.

My body was different, and it should considering all the changes I was feeling in it. I would need something like a mirror to know for sure, but from pure observation, I was taller, bigger, and walking with eight legs. Eight fucking legs. That was weird, but ‘weird’ at this point was just another word for the new normal.

As soon as I was outside the chrysalis, I was tottering on my own. Coordinating eight legs wasn’t as simple as repeating ‘left-right-left-right’ like a mantra, but it wasn’t impossible either. It just took me a couple of minutes until my body got the hang of it. I’d seen the human brain doing some crazy shit in my previous life, so I wondered if this was one of those occasions, but with a spidery-like brain instead. Because now it seems I’d fully become one. A spider I mean, and recognizing this fact was way less reassuring than what I hoped it would.

The one thing scarier than losing my human body was losing my humanity as well. But then again that begged the question, doesn’t it? How much morality I had in the first place? There were countless times in my past life where my entire virtues based on a single question: ‘How can I do that without getting caught?’

Anyway, I sidetracked there. Right now, it doesn’t matter. But once I’m safe, I’ll begin worrying about that.

I surveyed the chamber one more time before deciding what to do next. The first thing I noticed was the light, more especially, the abundance of it. Everything was brighter than before, and overall, it improved how far my eyesight could reach and how vivid the image was.

The animal parts at the chamber’s ceiling were nothing more than bleached bones, and the rest of the room was brimming with dozens of white cocoons just like mine.

It appeared most of them were still undergoing the evolution. The cocoons’ size varied from each other. Some were massive, taking the volume of a child, while others took the shape of soccer balls. One thing for sure was the absence of larvae at this point and since some of the chrysalides have already hatched before mine; well, it wasn’t hard guessing why.

Safe travel to the Afterlife, my horrible siblings. I won’t miss you.

Despite being in the middle of about to soon hatching monsters, I decided to check my status and skills before proceeding to do anything. During all this time since I woke up, there had been a nagging sound beeping inside my mind.

What is it now?

My intentions were understood, as a new set of screens appeared before my now many eyes.

Archival integration was reattempted during evolution but halted at 66.7% due to insufficient resources. Further growth is still required.

Again with that thing? I would like to know if this is a good or bad—

My train of thought was interrupted after reading through the other messages that had appeared.

Attributes updated! [ Evolution ] — Trait [ Faster Metabolism ] evolved to [ Redundant System ]!

[ Evolution ] — Trait [ Quick Reflexes ] regressed to level 1!

[ Evolution ] — Trait [ Robust Exoskeleton ] obtained!

[ Evolution ] — Trait [ Arthropod Adhesion ] obtained!

[ Evolution ] — Ability [ Lesser Venomous Bite ] obtained!

Wow, wow, a little slow next time, please? Also, why I am losing levels? A friendly warning would’ve been welcome.

Despite my reservations about the crying capabilities of spiders, I didn’t spill any tears over the loss of [ Faster Metabolism ]. Being able to digest faster was great because I could eat a lot more during a short amount of time, but the hunger that came with it was just too much it just wasn’t worth it. I decided to eat just enough to satiate my needs, or if the situations required it, but not more.

On my previous life, after playing through an MMORPG phase, I learned there wasn’t such a thing as having too many skills, especially if they didn’t require any effort from my end to work. As a result, I was quite happy reading through the plethora of new skills as the last message stole my attention.

An ability?

I made the slight mistake of focusing too much on that skill, and as a result, I ended up dashing forward, landing a deadly attack against the unprepared block of stale air in front of me. It all happened so fast that by the time all the action sequence concluded all I could notice was the letters changing.

[ Lesser Venomous Bite ] — Cost: 3 Stamina. Cooldown: 5 seconds.

An active skill with cooldown time and its stamina usage.

This shit is really like a game.

Just when I was about to check the new skills in full detail, every tiny hair in my body perked up with an uncomfortable shiver.

It was «Prey Instinct» telling me to get the fuck out of there, and I complied. I couldn’t stress this enough but being a spider sucks. Most of my complaints were from being stuck in a body that I barely knew how to control, but right now, what sucked most was not being able to see my back with a simple neck movement. Just a tiny thing, but incredibly disturbing.

Looking around, I noticed the chamber had remained the same. Even if that would soon change, for now, it was still deserted.

I started considering my options.

Should I leave or stay? These shells are quite sturdy from the outside, no way I can do some damage to them for now so if I wait that means fighting against multiple opponents when they get out. I still don’t trust myself enough with this body to mount a proper defense, even less an attack. But on the other hand, if I leave, where would I go? I can’t just walk my way to the entrance, hoping to befriend that flying monsters from before.

I guess I can retrace some of my steps, and continue exploring this cave from there.

All right, let’s do that.

With a plan in motion, I left the other cocoons behind.