Growth and the hunted

As I was watching the humanoid species mingle about and converse with each other I got intrigued and decided to stay longer than I had planned, while I was observing them I attempted to learn as much as possible before I had to call it a night and head back to eat my dinner. Slowly I was starting to understand some words but of course they aren’t teachers so they won’t pick up an apple for ex and teach me the word they use for it.

Even though they didn’t I still picked up a few things for ex. What they call a tent, friends, lovers, food, cooking, and ranks. (now I am not going to delve into creating a while new language it would just be pointless and confusing so for now everything is still in English J)

As I was doing this something started to tickle the back of my metaphorical neck and it kept getting stronger before I realized it my sensor’s went off and I jerked my head to look at what the cause of my concern, and far away from everyone else was a man laying down on a rock seemingly enjoying the sun nothing to strange all but the fact he was staring right at me.

Luckily he didn’t burst out screaming monster in the trees grab the pitch forks and torches(lol) and start a whole burn the fucker scenario. Not being one to test my better judgment I bolt it back through the trees heading for home an attempt to get as far as possible in case they decide to give chase after all they could most likely also use identify and figure out I am a walking platinum mine.

With nothing holding me back I pick up my pace faster I say faster I move, running from an untold event, only after draining myself of my reserves and reaching my home do I relax and let out a sigh of relief, thinking there is no way in hell they could follow me this far. Moving towards the area I should have dinner strung up I start to salivate thinking of the juicy fats and blood and curious of how my first mammal will taste. After all even if I wanted to I couldn’t eat the tortoise it was by far to big even for my insane mouth opening skills and the goblins don’t count they were damn near just like me goo by the time I got to eat it.

Then again it was mostly my fault for freaking out and shredding his innards to dust but hey I was like a day old what do you expect. Getting side tracked in my own thought I came to the area my dinner should be and just as I hoped its still there dangling from the tree tops just waiting to get eaten by me before anything else shows up. Not waiting to find out if I would receive dinner guests I wrap it up and haul it back to my burrow/nest not sure he he.

As I get home dinner in tow I lay down and start eating it lazily due to exhaustion from all the excitement from today, it took me about a good hour and a half to finish eating it and mostly filling me up for now. Before I call it a night I decide to clean up the mess I made and get rid of all the bones, great news is due to my webs being so fine and steel like all I need to do it stomp on them to shake the blood and guts loose watching them fall to the forest floor.

The bones on the other hand il keep and set aside for now tell I can make myself sometime of storage area so I can use them later to make something I guess always agreed to the saying rather have and not need then to need and not have. After gathering all the bones and setting them off to the second of the three trees that make up my triangular shaped platform I head back to my burrow/nest and let my body fall into a deep sleep.

While I was asleep I had my first dream not really sure what to make of it for it was really blurry and fragmented the few things that stuck out was a woman screaming at me not in the bad way more of like concern. But I couldn’t make out the words no matter how hard I tried to focus on it. Another part of the dream was me being surrounded by flames not normal ones either but gold and black so I think they had a deeper meaning then a normal fire.

While I was trying to get as much out of those to dream frags I was snapped awake by my warning system(Instincts) going haywire not really sure why, I mean I am over 800 fucking ft into the air as well as being surrounded by wires that could cut through most things with ease.

So instead of panicking like I normally would due I decide to peek out and find out what is causing my body to react with such concern, crawling out of my humble abode I notice the first sign of morning are about to peak through the canopy so at least I was able to get some good sleep. Either way after walking along my platform looking all around me the whole time there was nothing there at all. Not a bird in sight, or bugs to speak of just an overly quite atmosphere and that’s when it hit me, the forest is never this quite.

Realizing my stupidity and hoping it wasn’t to late I let my instinct out full bloom forcing my body to create adrenalin in case I need to bail, crouching as low as I can to my platform watching overhead for a dragon or even a bird that may be targeting me for a snack, but nothing nada no whooshing and wishing sounds at all. Getting more concerned that there is something around me I can sense it but I can’t smell, taste, hear or see it was really nagging me.

Not finding the source and the feeling refused to go away instead it just got worse so I decide rather be safe than sorry I bolt it heading north deeper into the woods, adrenaline pumping goo flowing and trees passing me by getting increasingly faster, I wasn’t playing around and it kept increasing my speed because no matter how fast I got I could feel it in every fiber of my being something was on my ass but no matter how many eyes I had and not matter how good I could see it wasn’t showing up.

There is one thing about running from something I could see and know is chasing me but being chased by something I can’t see but can feel the danger it possesses if I stop scares me 100x more, so I forced myself to go faster and faster attempting to get as far away from it as possible I started to add sharp turns, sudden dives then wiping myself somewhere else with my webs like a good old heroes’ movie I remember. But nothing was working and the fear I felt just got worse to where I could feel my goo freezing over and my breath’s becoming shallow.

Before I knew it I ran into something I couldn’t see shocked and afraid I tried to get away but every direction had the same wall surrounding me from all sides, up, down and around.

As I kept thrashing and jumping I could feel the space around me kept getting smaller forcing me into a more compact cage and I couldn’t do anything but hiss and bash myself against it.

By the time there was no space left for me to even move an inch I had already exhausted myself from the running and struggle, with nothing left I waited for my impending capture or death not sure what my captures had in store for me or who they were.

Breathing heavily, battered and exhausted I continued to keep my awareness at max hoping to catch I glimpse of my captures before I lose consciousness, and the last thing I remember before it went dark was I giant suit with glowing eyes saying something and bam lights out.

Berkel’s Pov:

After the captain decided that we were to hunt the spider down and capture it everything around camp started moving like clockwork (get it lol), everyone got geared up and started planning on how we were to capture the being that had a name and was sentient. After all it’s not every day you meet a new race that can think for itself or even understand simple things.

Now the hard part is when we should implement the plan after all if its nocturnal we would need to set up during the day or vice versa, along with us not knowing any of its capabilities were playing it very safe and by the book.

For now, what we do know it that it was out during daylight so it must sleep during the nights hopefully if not I may be ones of those special cases that can stay up for months on end then hibernate for a couple of years never being seen again tell they show up out of the blue.

So with that figured out we start gathering the needed equipment after all we want it alive not dead or injured, so first things is the shock batons, shock grenades, sleeping gas, mithril net, and of course the S.C.C which stands for Spatial collapsible cage. Now the S.C.C will be used as a last resort because it will only activate once the target has escaped past a certain margin which will activate the collapsing function brining in the walls forcing the subject into a compressed space. Yes it sounds great but problem once its active it can’t be stopped, the area inside can’t be altered so no sleeping gas to force it to sleep so the subject will be left rampaging inside and in most cases will cause severe injuries and death.

As all the gear has been gathered and everyone is ready we start heading west where I last saw it heading hopefully leading back to its home, For hours we kept moving west with no signs of it at first we almost gave up and backtracked trying to find any traces of it changing direction, but right before we did one of the blasters had spotted a slight shimmer in the tree line. Catching everyone’s attention hoping he wasn’t seeing shit so we can finally get some progress we all look up and just as he said there were fine strand of web going every direction in the trees.

That was one thing we had overlooked at first we decide it was in the trees only to observe not that it resided within them so we kept to the ground looking for tracks coming up empty handed. With a ray of hope we kept heading west keeping track of the webs but soon we didn’t have to as they got more and more dense the further we moved inwards.

After about another hour or so we came upon the densest portion of webbing and decided it must be up there sleeping and that this was its home. And as we thought this thing is very intelligent not only traveling by the tree tops but creating thousands upon thousands of webs from the top to the ground where we almost could have alerted it if we didn’t pay attention by tripping one sending vibration to its nest.

Another surprising thing it all of the trees within a 600 ft radius are wrapped in them and at first we didn’t think much of it but after dropping a leaf on one strand it cut it in half cleanly letting us know that they are not to be trifled with.

With no way to scale the 800+ ft to reach its platform to throw sleeping gas or net it we were left with no choice but to use the S.C.C., After setting it right beneath the spiders home we all activate our stealth devices and retreat out of the 2,000 ft enclosure, upon reaching the safe distance we all activate the last part of the S.C.C which is the H.F.S.D standing for high frequency sonar disturber causing the target to sense extreme danger causing it to go into a panic mode until it decides to escape.

After about 30 mins we get our first signs of movement and now everyone is able to view the being and they all gasp, the creature truly is beautiful if you set aside your child hood fear of the creepy crawlers that were on your walls.

After another 15 min it starts to panic and bolts north and when I mean bolt if we didn’t have the S.C.C there was no way in hell you could catch this thing, but because of one of the features of it we are able to view what happens inside through a streaming video. Of course it shocked us at how fast the thing could move but it took it one step more out of nowhere the green marking lit up and the creature rocketed all over the place pulling of ridiculous acrobatics and maneuvers that even our best pilots would cry over.

But because of its immense speed it was closing in on the border at dangerous speeds and at first we thought it was going to splatter on it and die while we watched unable to help it.

However, through either a miracle or some unknown trait it collided with the wall and came out unscathed each time it kept trying to escape until there was no more room for it to move locking it in place.

As we approached the creature it became even more breath taking, smooth and glossy limbs with no imperfections, a glowing trail going over its entirety, matched with the ever changing eyes and no noticeable mouth markings or fangs.

Before were even able to get within 15 ft it’s eyes close and it passes out from either exhaustion or concussive reasons, as soon as it does we have the priest start healing it.

When we started to move to finish collecting all of our gear to head back to the kingdom

With our new guest the priest starts yelling and speaking gibberish in his native tongue.

Wondering what the hell he’s going on about I approach him and he quickly explains that none of his healing spells are working and what is thought to be its hp is decreasing slowly overtime.

Panic started to set into everyone after all they didn’t plan to kill it only capture and bring it back to their great city, but with the new development what could they do when even the priest is unable to heal it.

With time being of the essence everyone starts throwing out opinion, ideas, and family remedies non sounding like they would work after all they are targeted to hp which the creature seems to not live with. With more and more thoughts thrown out I decided to bring up something that kinds fits: What about repairing it I asked and everyone shut up.

When no one said anything I begin to explain that it could work just like the clockworks and automatons that reside in the cities where they use durability instead of hp I mean look at it doesn’t it seem metallic in some way. Not knowing what to think they all start to converse looking at me periodically when all of a sudden the captain comes to me and asked if I could repair it.

I Mean maybe after all I had helped at the smithy in my younger years and now I am in charge of maintain the power suit, but still those and it are two completely separate situations.

On the verge of ripping out my hair I decide to try it anyways and approach the creature and cast [Repair] on it, as soon as the words left my moth a bright light washed over the creature and its information was updated in my identity log: Race still unknown but you have discovered it uses durability instead of hp to determine its survival. With those words repeating themselves I begin to cast it over and over again tell it is fully repaired.

Critical moment out of the way everyone breathed a sigh of relief and resumed packing up, with over 8 months left to travel everyone decided that the creature should be put into a hibernated state tell our arrival for it’s safety.

Noting down everything that happened in my logs gave me a new found goal in the world and that is to help the creature to the best of my ability for I have the responsibility of releasing the knowledge to others and putting it into this situation I only prey that the city will be as generous and understanding then many who wont be.

Pov MC:

So tired and heavy like the world is crushing me, with the last amount of strength I have I force myself awake and am able to pick up a little bit of information it seems I have been captured and am currently being taken to a kingdoms capitol, with my last thought being never again will I be caught I fall into a deep slumber.

As I enter into my inner world something beings to approach me quickly, before suddenly stopping a mere feet away, as I read the panel I am shocked and after understanding what it is I feel a grin grow across my face:

[Evolution Available]

Please choose one of the three options will take effect after gaining control of your body.

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[ Royal Anarak]

Being of royalty one will gain untold powers at the cost of current form.

[N.G.B Anarak]

Through your knowledge of science and the [Eye of fallen]

Your granted this one-time option to become Next-Gen Bio Anarak

(Unknown Benefits)

[Crysoul Anarak]

Granted due to slaying the giant crystalline tortoise

Grants Further crystalized and diamond enhanced body (Unknown benefits)

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