Chapter 5. Home, Sweet Home

In the usual grogginess that comes after waking up, I expected to be in a soft bed, under the comfort of an elegant linen sheet. With the sound of cracking waves and singing seagulls reaching my ears. But instead, I was in a cave. The same one from yesterday, recognized once my memory settled.

There goes the hope this was just a dream.

My mood was somber. Part of me accepted this as my new life while the other still struggled to face it. I didn’t deny reality this time, nor whine about my poor luck. Just a long mental sigh of resignation was all I did.

Looking around, I realized that without the presence of the snake or other threats, this clearing was a perfect place to make a home. It was an ample chamber, but contrary to my first impression, it had only one entry and one exit. Or two of each, if the hole in the ceiling was to be counted in. The important thing to remark was that it was easy to defend, and it had access to water. Two items of my mental checklist could be scratched out just by staying here. The only issue left was finding food. It was a little unnerving, honestly, being turn into a barbarian and needing to hunt my meals to survive, but it wasn’t as if I had a choice.

From my meeting with God, I knew there were humans in this world as well, and with any luck even a civilization of the sort. However, because I didn’t know where they were, my odds of finding them were slim, and even if I did find them, what would I do?

First, I couldn’t talk. Only gurgling some creaking noises that even made me uncomfortable, so I could already imagine how other people would react. And secondly, there was this problem with my appearance that even if I could pronounce proper sentences, it would still be a serious one, or even worse.

A giant spider was terrible enough, right? But a talking giant spider?

That conversation wasn’t going to turn out well for me.

‘Hello, glad to meet you. Please ignore the eight legs or all my body for that matter.’

‘Ahh! A monster! Hide the children!’

‘We should kill it before it eats us!’

Surely not the welcome party that I was hoping.

But in any case, finding other people still seems to be in the far away future. I would have to exit this cave to know for sure, but my wild imagination just kept preventing me from doing so. After all, who knew what other horrors creep outside the cave?

I need to get stronger before any crazy adventure.

Strenght meant evolving, and evolving took food.

Turning my many eyes back at the snake’s corpse, I noticed the aftereffects of my bites. During the time I was asleep the digestive acids running through her bloodstream melted down the insides and made her perfect for my consumption.

Seeing how my food was prepared for the second time was gross, but it tasted delicious nonetheless. Granted, I was slightly hungry when I woke up, so that may have influenced my judgment, but in truth, I was a lot more curious in the skills I would gain after having my meal.

A couple of minutes passed, and I got full with half of it and stopped to behold the results appearing in the shape of messages.

Trait [ Swimmer ] obtained!

Trait [ Infrared Detection ] obtained!

The more I ate from beasts, the more I become one. Makes me wonder that if I want to become more human, I would have to—

I immediately regretted starting that train of thought and plugged myself out of it. Instead of thinking about ‘what ifs,’ I drew all my efforts and focused on the other things that had changed.

It all seemed to point out that [Assimilation] not only gave me new skills, but it also nurtured those I already had. That’s why both [Quick Reflexes] and [Blood Rage] got a level up after I ate half the snake. But perhaps the best part was that I got two levels as well. After my evolution, my overall level was resettled and returned to level 1, but now I was at level 3 of my current form.

Status.

I called upon the screen, and the display appeared at command.

General Information. Name: Morgan. Sex: Female. Species: Hivemind. Age: 1 day, 10 hours, 23 minutes. Subspecies: Arachnaut. Biomass level: 3/10. Physical and mental attributes. Strength: 32. Intelligence: 128. Constitution: 41. Agility: 27. Status. Vitals Saturation Regen-rate Health: 183/183. 0.005/second. Mana: Unavailable. — Stamina: 180/180 (170). 0.04/second. Status Effects.

[ Well Rested ] +10 max stamina. 4 hours, 11 minutes remaining.

[ Manaless ] No access to mana-based skills.

+

Almost all my attributes had a substantial growth compared to when I was just a squishy worm except my intelligence, which didn’t increase much. I guessed it made sense considering my diet as of late.

I was so absorbed checking the stats that I almost miss the new ‘+’ symbol at the end of the screen.

From sheer curiosity, I activated it, prompting another display to appear.

Hivemind skill selection. You can choose one after every evolution. [ Spawning ]

Spend biomass to spawn a creature obedient to you. Generated beings inherit a fifth of all attributes and skill level as starting values. [ Regeneration Boost ]

Spend biomass to speed up health regeneration. The regeneration rate is directly proportional to the amount of biomass invested.

Interesting.

If this screen had appeared several hours ago, I would probably have been more excited about it.

So, I get to pick one skill after every evolution, and very good ones at that. But still, only two skills to choose from doesn’t leave with too many options, doesn’t it? Will this list expand later? And what happens with the skill that I don’t pick? Do I lose it forever or it returns next time? Ugh. Again with the unknowns.

Despite my efforts, I couldn’t pout.

One thing was certain. This decision was crucial, like every other so far. But this one was peculiar considering the effort evolving would take from now on.

The requirement for my second evolution was now at level 10, making me wonder if it was an increase of 5 levels or it had instead doubled. There could be other reasons of course, but those two were the first occurring to me. The bottom line was that continuous evolution wouldn’t be as easy as the first time, and it could take a long time until I saw any of those skills again —if ever.

I sighed or at least tried. I needed time to think about this. Clear my mind and all that.

I was afraid that closing the screen without selecting anything would be a terrible mistake, but after a moment of either great bravery or stupidity, my worries proved to be misplaced. I could close and reopen the screen as many times as I pleased so I could make a choice whenever I was ready.

Without stopping to ponder what ability to take, I put my attention on other matters of equal importance.

For instance, the cave.

As depressing as it may be, it was my new home. And it was in pressing need of work. Sleeping in my makeshift nest at twenty meters high was an option I rather not take on every night or day, but sleeping at ground level wasn’t a better alternative either.

For a moment, I wished I had the skill to make webs, so I could just slap it at both of the entrances. Or maybe even create an alarm system using the vibrations on the threat. That’s how spiders did it. Learn from the best I said.

One tentative plan to make that possible would be going inside the tunnels again, find one of my siblings of the [Araneidae] variation, kill it, eat it, and hopefully gain the skill.

If it sounds too easy, it probably isn’t.

And although I wouldn’t admit it publicly, I was afraid of going back in. Wasn’t it funny? I had recovered from anything I’d seen so far, but I was still getting frightened over something I couldn’t yet see.

My new options were between exploring the underground, the surface, and staying in this cozy chamber. The last option was more a delusion than an actual plan. I would eventually need to explore somewhere for resources, so there was no point in delaying the inevitable.

Going to the surface, however, filled me with even more dread than going to the tunnels. Somehow, the stale air, humid walls, and crunching darkness felt more appealing than sunshine and the brisling of fresh air.

So I chose the tunnels.

I didn’t step inside the tunnels. Instead, I rolled another rock to the entrance and left it there, forming a pile. I had been doing that for the last couple of hours.

The countless years of erosion had shaped those stones under the waterfall with curved edges, so it was easy to move them around without the necessity of carrying them. The last rock, however, took more effort than the rest, as I had to roll it uphill, using my whole body in the attempt, but once I reached the top, the stone fell in place sealing off the entrance completely.

Exhausted, I stumbled backward, admiring my work of the last six hours. The pyramid of mismatched boulders was blocking the entrance to the tunnels down below. Now nothing coming from there could get inside this room.

Some moments later after I had decided to go inside, I had the feeling that I would never return to the surface for a very long time. Or at least, fail to find a reason for doing so.

After all, who in their sane state of mind, would prefer going underground instead of the exterior, knowing what rested down there? Both places were equally dangerous as far as I knew, so why living in a dark and closed environment felt more homely than the alternative?

I had assumed that retaining my personality had suppressed all of my animal instincts, but now I knew that wasn’t the case. So, how could I be sure that remaining inside this cave was my decision instead of my instincts taking control?

Simple answer, I couldn’t.

Because I’m no longer human, aren’t I?

That idea alone was enough to make me shiver, but I steeled myself and embraced it. No jokes or funny remarks this time. Just a couple hours of silent introspection spend doing a chore, and before I realized it, the tunnel was closed.

Ironically, I had accomplished my initial goal of clearing my mind. Now I was convinced what my problems were, and how I was going to try to fix them.

I pictured the status page, and the screen opened. Skipping to the end, I reached the skill selection and picked the one I wanted.

Confirm acquisition. Y/N.

Yes.

Ability [Spawning] obtained!

I didn’t wait to try it out.

Although it was a clunky way of using skills, from my earlier experience with [Lesser Venomous Bite], I learned abilities could be used just by focusing on them, even if I didn’t know how they worked. It was as if some primal instinct awoke every time I call upon the skill, and my body just knew what to do.

I’m not human anymore. I know that, and I made my peace with it, but I’ll be damned if I let these instincts take control of me mindlessly. From now on, every time it happens, it would be because I chose to.

I activated the newly gained skill and immediately felt dizzy. The chamber spun around me, and time appeared to move faster as another screen popped up.

[ Biomass ] spent. You lost 2 levels!

Tired and weak, I dismissed the screen. My attention was solely fixed on the soft greenish object lying beneath me.

My first egg.