It didn’t take long for Shan to find the dwellers of this cavern. As a matter of fact, they found him first, and as he assumed, they attacked him outright, without delay. That made Shan question why all the creatures he met after waking up were savages.

Well, he did attack the beetle and python first, but apart from that, all the others were not his fault.

Yes, most beasts and creatures could be savages, however, they should have a limit to that. Most savage beasts hunt only on account of filling their stomach, and it’s the same for most other normal creatures. These creatures seemed to lack that mindset reasonably.

The dwellers of this cavern were another insect kind, Giant Spiders to be exact.

Shan’s body crashed against the sidewall as he coiled his tail behind him to lurch at the eight-legged adversary. It shot a cobweb right in his direction, which Shan neutralised, shooting a couple of projectiles, twisting his body to avoid the remains of the cobweb. Shan feinted his position midway, drilling through one of its legs, head-butting. The giant spider screeched, but it was still standing. Well, it had just too many legs.

Shan already injured two of its legs, however, he didn’t manage to deal any critical blows yet. His snake body twisted and turned, shuffling around its legs, proficiently dodging its attack, to shoot condensed spirit projectiles. His opponent was an Iron ranker like the black python. Of course, it won’t be easy.

Fortunately, it's only one this time around.

Shan dodged every one of its attacks, eyes beaming with golden light. Without the assistance the Golden eyes provided, it would be utterly impossible to keep up with this foe, but he was doing fine. Well, if you claim dodging sharp legs that could penetrate through his scales by just a little margin, fine, that was.

The spider’s leg struck into the rocky ground as another one of its legs came from behind, tossing him out into the air. Shan cursed. Could he finish this spider without investing any points? Narrowing his eyes, he coated his body with the Qi again, swirling what remained of his spirit energy.

The spider shot a cobweb at him again, trying to capture him, however, Shan didn’t mobilise it, shooting another projectile, but opened his mouth as wide as he could, hissing. Even, he was surprised by this. He had no clue why he did that, but the result satisfied him enough.

A sudden suction force drew in from his mouth, pulling the cobweb towards it. Shan swallowed the cobweb whole, as it dissolved swiftly. Weirdly, he felt no disgust towards it, though that sickened him a little. This was probably the psychological effect of being a snake. He really didn’t want to think about from where the cobweb came from, nor did he have time to indulge in those thoughts.

The Spark of Hunger was one of the craziest sparks. It could make one top of the food chain, or render one incapable of any cognitive abilities other than a mind filled with a bottomless hunger. If Shan had his way, he would never have taken such an incredulous Spark, but he was not given the chance.

He only had the Spark of Hunger, and he got to use it properly to get out of this mess. Even though Hunger was not an ideal spark to have, the abilities it gave were no joke. Seriously, as much as it was questionable, it compensates with its abilities. The cobweb wouldn’t cause much problem, as far as he could tell, even though it came from an Iron Ranked spider.

Shan coiled his tails with a jerk of his body, and charged again at the spider, head-butting against its head. He almost managed to overturn the huge spider, however, with its legs, it managed to balance itself in time. Hissing, Shan shot a spirit projectile in its eyes before withdrawing.

The spider squeaked, getting one of its eyes blind, even though it had plenty of the working ones left. The struggle continued as Shan mostly dodged its attack, trying to drain it out. He swallowed down the cobweb, and it sent his way with the Hunger Spark. He dodged or neutralised other attacks with the spirit projectiles, while also keeping himself open for chances to deal blows.

Shan did manage to hit its head again, however, his attack was not aggressive enough. While his stomach was getting bloated, swallowing the cobweb. Well, it was made out of proteins and acids. He won’t have any problem digesting it, though he can’t say if he liked it.

In time, Shan drilled through another one of its legs, making its balance unsteady, and finally it slowed down, enough for Shan to connect his blows where he wanted. He condensed the projectile again, and this time, he didn’t need to get that close. He shot from ten yards away, right at its eyes, blinding it thoroughly.

The spider hurled around in madness, colliding against the sidewall. It toppled, but didn’t stop struggling, lurching its legs all around. At last, Shan took pity on it as he climbed on top of it slowly to end it.

He infused spiritual energy on his body to drill through its head, finally giving it the rest it deserved.

A couple of seconds later, notifications after notifications flooded the corner of his vision.

[You have killed a Giant Empathic Spider (Iron - 1.1).]

[Congratulations. You have advanced to copper (0.2)]

[1 attribute points each has been added to your four attributes. You have gained 1 free attribute point.]

[Congratulations! Spirit Manipulation has reached Copper 0.2.]

[Congratulations! Spirit Manipulation has reached Copper 0.3.]

[Congratulations! You have awakened Spirit Devour, Copper 0.1.]

[Spirit Devour:

Rank: Copper - 0.1

This ability comes straight from Hunger Spark. Spirit Devour will let you directly devour foreign spirit energy, creating a suction force to swallow whatever you want.

P.S: The usage of the ability is limited by the rank.]

Shan hissed in relief. This was the fifth of his spider prey, though this was the only one Iron ranked. Unlike Iron ranked Spiders, where he had to invest his everything, copper ones were easy as a pie. Still, Shan had no intention of venturing deeper currently, since the numbers of these empathic spiders would grow further as he went deeper. It would only be suicide if he went without planning.

Furthermore, he didn't have the slightest clue what this Empathic Spider is about. This is a different realm than the one he was familiar with. Its flora and fauna were also moderately different—so far what he had seen. He was fortunate enough to know something about these few giant insects and creatures he met so far.

The name Empathic should have some connections with emotions; however, so far, these spiders have shown no other emotion than their hunger finding him, making him think twice before coming to a judgement. Well, whatever, they did give him enough Evolution points to keep going, albeit rather carefully. Even the Copper ones got him more points than the other copper creatures he had hunted so far.

Shaking his head, Shan got to collect his prize. Touching the corpse of the huge spider, he triggered the ability, Loot.

[Monster core (Iron) has been added to your inventory]

[Empathic Spider Silk has been added to your inventory.]

[You have gained 637 evolution points.]

Shan let out a breath, and yet again another quest window came, watering his plans.

[Quest: Mental Growth - I

You found yourself in a strange cavern full of mutated spiders. Follow their trail and search for the cause of their mutation, as well as hunt mutated empathic spiders to gain the rewards.

Progress: 1/10 Empathic Spider core (Iron)

Time Limit: Until you reach Iron Rank.

Reward: +10% Mental Resistance.]

So, the quest suggested: he kills ten iron ranked spiders before he reaches Iron himself. Well, it would be possible if he picked the fight, but that's hardly possible in a cavern like this. Yes, he just killed this Iron ranked spider, but it's barely at the early stage of Iron rank. Yet, Shan had to pull out everything to kill it. If there were even a couple of copper rank spiders with it, Shan would be screwed.

Before, Shan wasn't sure before, but with this quest, he was sure this system was screwing with him.

Just as Shan was collecting himself, he heard the disturbance again, approaching him. ‘Looks like I’ve jinxed it yet again,' he thought, and this time didn’t try to engage in a fight, but withdrew as fast as he could.