Chapter 7:

The room was dark. Cinder smouldered inside a stone hearth, and smoke billowed as it slowly travelled up the begrimed chimney. The dying flames crackled soothingly inside the fireplace. From time to time, occasional amber sparks would jump from coal to coal, dimly illuminating the surroundings.

The room was small and mostly empty; only at its centre, opposite the hearth, stood a rough wooden table, large enough to barely fit around four people. On either side of the room were two hollow openings, supposedly doorways which led to other parts of the house. Alastair was standing on on the edge of the window sill. With his keen senses, he could faintly discern rhythmic sounds of breathing and rare snores that came from the opening to his left; that must have been the bedroom where the family rested at night, he concluded.

The spider’s interest, however, was piqued by the other entrance, the one to his right. An irresistibly sweet and inviting aroma that wafted in the air around that door eagerly tempted his sensitive nostrils. He gulped as tiny droplets of saliva began to trickle down from his mouth. Alastair licked his lips in anticipation. It was time for supper.

Carefully, he descended onto the floor. To his surprise, when his feet came in contact with the surface, what he felt was not wood but instead something else, something noticeably more ductile, soft. The floor was actually made out of dirt and clay. With long, limber strides, the spider began to move forward in the direction of the smell.

With his every step, the fragrance that permeated the air only grew denser and more enticing. Alastair sped up. As he crossed the border between the two spaces, a sudden wave of darkness rushed over him like a curtain, rendering his vision almost useless. The spider felt uncomfortable. Even with his whetted sight, he could only make out an arm’s reach in from of him; the rest was submerged in utter blackness. He stopped for a moment, but, shaking his head, soon continued forward, his steps now slow and chary; he did not expect danger, but he was nonetheless prepared.

Guided by the palpable aroma, Alastair, at last, reached his destination. On a miniature wooden table, located in the far left edge of the room, lay all sorts of ingredients and foods; there were towering stacks of dried and salted meat that has been thinly cut and carefully positioned on top of each other layer by layer, varieties of vegetables and fruits that were stored in a basket and even some ripe berries that were scattered among the rest of the fresh vegetation.

Alastair’s eyes lit up at this sight; though for a regular person from his former world this could barely be considered food, if edible at all, for a spider such as himself this was a genuine feast. Despite his unyielding desire to begin the meal right away, though, the spider was resolute on maintaining his presence hidden, if he was not careful, then the owners would be able to notice missing or damaged ingredients which, though would not directly reveal his identity, would certainly cause them to take additional measures in protecting the food next time.

Luckily, the solution to this dilemma was rather simple. Alastair grabbed a thin slice of dry meat from the very top of the stack and transported it to another side of the table, now he could eat without leaving any obvious traces behind. Alastair’s sharp fangs avidly pierced the rough meat. A pleasant wave of satisfaction rushed over him. Due to the extreme thinness of the piece, the meat was in a way skewered onto his teeth, but the spider was not at all bothered, he continued to fervently chew on the treat.

[Beep!] A characteristic beep acknowledged the systems’s presence.

[The host has successfully consumed the flesh of a common rabbit.]

[A new DNA sequence has been successfully registered.]

[The host is now able to undergo new partial evolutions. Displaying the list of all possible evolutions:

— Superior auditory senses: It was found that the consumed species of rabbits possesses a superior hearing. Upon evolution, the host will be able to develop a more advanced hearing organ; the host’s sense of hearing will be advanced. Requires 20 points of vitality, time of evolution: 10 hours.

— Rabbit transformation: Upon successful analysis, the host is able to transform his body into that of a rabbit and obtain all respective features. All previous evolutions will be lost. For additional points of vitality, the following evolutions may be maintained or added: enhanced muscle density, feather wings, neurotoxic venom, corrosive venom, chemosense, protective shell. Requires 100 points of vitality, time of evolution: 35 hours.]

‘Hmmm?’ Alastair stopped masticating as he skimmed though the text before him, ‘I almost forgot this thing even existed.’ He remarked inwardly.

‘As expected, nothing overly impressive again,’ he though nonchalantly as he finally finished reading, ‘Shall I check the statistics?’

[Beep!]

[Statistics:

The following statistics are based on the average human adult, this standard can be altered in system settings.

Species: Unidentified arachnid

Status: adulthood stage, healthy

Strength: 0.11

Agility: 0.87

Intellect: 0.03 (+1.6)

Vitality: 46/52 (-24 per day)

Mana: 0

Mass: 51 grams

Skills: Neurotoxic Poison, Corrosive Venom, Cobweb, Regeneration, Hibernation, Dash, Chemosense, Wallcrawling, Flight (Cuticle wings, consumes additional vitality due to biological parameters of host’s body)]

‘I’ve gotten fatter,’ he noted flippantly as his eyes landed on the text “Mass”. An elongated sigh escaped his lips, “Whatever shall I do?”

Alastair’s sight slowly shifted back onto the stack, a mischievous glint sparked in his eyes, ‘My vitality bar still hasn’t reached fulfilment, I wonder what will happen if I try eating the vegetables, after all, they too were in a way alive.’

Tap tap tap

A sudden sound of quick light steps, unceremoniously interjected the spider’s train of thoughts. Alastair’s eyes instantly darted downward. Nothing. The sound seemed to disappear somewhere under the table, away from his line of vision. Intense silence filled the room.

Step by step, trying to avoid making even the slightest of sound that could give away his current position, he slowly approached the edge of the table. In the swathing gloom, other than himself, the only thing that seemed to exist was silence. It lingered tensely in the air sending shivers down his back, his hairs stood up like needles; somehow, the spider knew that adversity was imminent.

Tap tap tap

Another cascade of rapid steps once again broke the silence. This time a shadow could be seen circling the perimeter of the table. Alastair squinted his eyes.

Crack!

All of a sudden, a strong gust of wind whistled sharply as it violently collided with the straw curtain, ripping the latter from its place. The hanging spun meekly a few times in the air before gawkily descending onto the floor. The abrupt sound ripped though the room like hot knife through butter, shattering the stagnant quietude into millions of pieces. Dull moonlight poured in through the opening.

Under the newfound glare that slowly filled up the room, Alastair was finally able to identify the intruder. His eyes sparked with understanding as he helplessly released a deep sigh, beginning to contemplate his next step. In front of him was a rat. The creature unhurriedly moved around in uncanny circles, it’s beady dark eyes seemed to shine with malice under the dim moonlight. Inchmeal, little cascades of gooey saliva dripped down from its slightly open mouth, it’s sharp uneven teeth flashed dangerously in the white gleam.

Suddenly the rat stopped. It seemed to have sensed something. It’s nose twitched a little as the creature rose on its back feet, closer to the surface of the table. The rat spun its head. No avail. Nothing seemed to catch its vigilant eyes, only its nose continued to quiver as it fruitlessly spun around. Despite the lack of obvious clues, the rat remained on guard, it was not one to put its full trust into any one sense.

‘Ehhhh,’ Alastair sighed in disappointment as he eyed the rat from above. The spider clicked its tongue, ‘This one sure is a veteran, attacking it recklessly can possibly spell my doom, but…’ he smiled mysteriously, ‘I’m no longer someone who can’t even trifle with ants.’

Snap!

The translucent string of sticky web that held the spider in place splintered sending him into a circular arc in the air.

Sqweeee!

The rat shrieked angrily as Alastair’s body collided in full force with its unprotected back.

Squweee!

It screamed again in desperation when the spider’s razor-sharp fangs entered its soft flesh. A small fountain of blood exploded from the wound, painting the surroundings red. The injured creature squealed in pain and agony as it began to shake violently, desperately trying to free itself from the attacker’s tight grasp.

Click! Click! Click!

The poor rat loudly snapped its twitching jaws as its head vigorously spun from side to side, trying hard to land even a small bite on the spider. Too bad it was all in vain; with every motion, with every scream, the rat’s movement only grew slower and clumsier. An unassailable feeling of languor began to take over its body. It spread from its wound, towards its legs, then even deeper, in the direction of its palpitating heart. In just a few seconds, its jerks lost all their former power and momentum, now they resembled the last desperate convulsions of a dying being. Dark fog began to cloud the creature’s dark eyes. Forthwith, the rat lost its will to fight back and its body slowly relaxed. The creature has died.

Alastair weakened his grip a little and carefully probed the body with his pedipalps to ensure that rat was indeed dead. After confirming the fatality, the spider nodded in satisfaction and got off the rat; at the moment he was not hungry, he was planning to save this dish for later. The spider looked around. Everything was a mess. Puddles and long streaks of bright crimson blood were scattered all over the visible vicinity and them going unnoticed was out of question.

Alastair shook his head as he watched his initial plan crumble to dust. Keeping his existence secret was no longer an option, luckily, he was not too bothered as long as the family could not find obvious traces that would lead them directly to him; as long as he could hide, he didn’t mind causing a little commotion. Again, Alastair looked at the rat, by now he had already realised that saving it for later was not a great idea given the circumstances - it was now or never.

“Alright,” Alastair though helplessly, “here we go.” His teeth once again sunk into the flesh.

[Beep!]

[The host has successfully consumed the flesh of a common rat.]

[A new DNA sequence has been successfully registered.]

[The host is now able to undergo new partial evolutions. Displaying the list of all possible evolutions:

— Superior sense of smell: It was found that the consumed species of rat possesses a superior sense of smell. Upon evolution, the host will be able to develop more neural connection in his smelling organs resulting in a sharper sense of smell; Requires 20 points of vitality, time of evolution: 10 hours.

— Upgraded nervous system: It was found that the consumed species of rat possesses a slightly more developed nervous system than the host. Upon evolution, the host will be able increase the total count of neutrons by a factor of 1.3 and all synapse interactions will be carried out at a faster speed. Intelligence increases by 0.07, agility increases by a factor of 1.1, vitality consumption increases by a factor or 1.2, learning may be performed at greater speeds. Requires 34 points of vitality, time of evolution: 15 hours.

— Rat transformation: Upon successful analysis, the host is able to transform his body into that of a rat and obtain all respective features. All previous evolutions will be lost. For additional points of vitality, the following evolutions may be maintained or added: enhanced muscle density, feather wings, neurotoxic venom, corrosive venom, chemosense, protective shell. Requires 97 points of vitality, time of evolution: 34 hours.]

‘Hmm?’ Alastair blinked as he read through the last point, ‘Unexpectedly, I can actually gain something worthwhile from this.’ The spider’s eyes shifted from the text back onto the corpse, ‘This little thing sure will make a scene in the morning. I should probably use that time to evolve; I fell that soon enough even capturing a human will no longer be a problem…’ Alastair rubbed his pedipalps in anticipation, ‘Too bad I have other things to take care of now.’

With these thoughts the spider turned back, his small figure began to recede before completely fading to black. Only the dead body remained.