Paf!

Gerald suddenly slapped his forehead and laughed, "Haha, I'm so stupid! Of course, there was something! My mind expanded after killing hundreds of spiders! That must be it!"

"And to think I thought it would be useless now that my ability to cast spells exceeds my Mana stores! Ridiculous!"

Gerald laughed at his own foolishness.

Looking at his watch once more and observing the position of the sun, he quickly confirmed his position and decided on the next course of action.

He squatted down, and removing gravity around himself, he jumped up again. Making use of Wind magic to boost his speed, he was soon flying across the sky once more.

After gliding for a few minutes, he landed and rested, before repeating the process again.

In the evening he executed his last flight and landed near Freka. During the last few hours, he traveled nearly 100km north and arrived at the familiar town.

He planned to once again visit the Spider Cave, as he called it, and see if killing truly increases his Mana regeneration. Since he didn't plan on visiting the cave at night and he was already tired, he decided to take a rest in Freka.

He went to the big building that had a sign with 'Warrior's Guild' written on it and requested a room. To confirm his identity, he was given a small piece of Pure Ether the size of a marble to inject his Mana into.

The receptionist then requested for his ring and compared both Mana signatures before comparing it with the sample they had under his name.

As such the authenticity of the ring and his identity were confirmed and he got a cheap room for the night.

Early in the morning the next day, he went to a restaurant and ordered a warm meaty broth to get him going for the day. As such, the day started quite well and he soon left the town in high spirits.

Another 'jump' or two later, he arrived at the spider-infested part of the forest. It seemed like the ugly beasts expanded, as the webs were seen covering a much larger area than last time.

Gerald wasn't too concerned with the small critters and simply burned the webs that were in the way.

Some angry spiders tried to attack him but they amounted to little more than a nuisance as they were charred like a piece of charcoal before they even came close.

Before arriving at the cave entrance, Gerald already disposed of more than twenty of those little things, but he didn't feel much different.

Drinking a Greater Mana Potion, his confidence increased and he entered the cave with big strides.

Not wanting to waste Mana, he used his Magic Eyes to see in the dark and accurately aimed at every spider that came close to him, with his sword.

Soon he arrived at the big open space underground where the spider nest was. The place was swarming with life, and every single spot on the ceiling was occupied.

"Wow! Didn't those guys come to clean this place up? Why are there even more spiders than before?!" Gerald was surprised, but the occasion didn't allow him to think much about it, as the spiders descended on him like a flood.

"Well then… I better get started."

Woosh!

A ten-meter fiery column rose from his hand, scorching every living being around him and setting them aflame. With dozens of small spiders dying every second, Gerald, at last, started to feel something!

It was a small tingling in his chest that then spread to his head, but if he wasn't focusing on it, he would easily miss it.

Soon he was nearing exhaustion and the Broodmother got also ticked off and slowly approached, so he decided to do a tactical retreat.

Using Wind Body he ran like the wind and left the cavern and the webbed-out forest in a few short minutes.

Since he had nothing better to do, he climbed on a tree and meditated to recover.

After refilling his reserves, he drank another potion and went back into the cave, spewing fire on all sides.

He repeated the whole process a few times and every consecutive time he entered, the Broodmother was more enraged.

On his last expedition, she even rose on her long legs and shot a sticky web out of her behind. Those sticky white treads were strong as if made of steel and he couldn't tear them apart.

Luckily they burned like cotton soaked in gasoline so he had no problem getting rid of them.

That's also when he decided to leave the place as he already killed most of the small spiders, their lives easily numbering a thousand.

Of course, he tried to kill the Broodmother too, but none of his spells did anything and he didn't want to risk getting close to attempt his Destruction Palm. One slap couldn't kill it anyway.

Wind Blade was able to damage the exoskeleton, but he would need a few dozen, if not a hundred, clean hits to kill it.

As such, he left the cave and returned to Freka to rest.

In the Guild in Freka, he casually looked through the missions that were available in the surrounding area, and would you know it, there it was: The extermination of the Spider Cave.

The reward was clearly increased recently and it was now an amazing twenty-five gold coins!

It was apparent that many have already tried, but no matter how many small spiders were killed, the Broodmother would replenish them in a week. Unfortunately, in the process, many forest animals would die to feed her massive energy needs.

The Lord that was the owner of that forest was already losing his mind, and from talking to people in the Guild, Gerald found out that nobody dared to take on the task anymore, in fear of getting on a bad side with the Lord, should they fail.

Every failed attempt made the situation worse after all.

When Gerald heard the news, he gave a wry smile. It seemed like the Broodmother will go on a hunting spree sooner rather than later.

"Ah shit, I really made a mess this time… I just wanted to hunt some small spiders, not destroy the entire ecosystem!" He pinched his glabella in frustration.

There wasn't a high chance of him getting blamed for what was to come, but it felt uncomfortable to be responsible for unnecessary destruction.

"Oh, screw it! I guess I'll have to do this job by myself then!" Gerald made up his mind to clean up his own mess and so he would.

"I really didn't want to bring this thing into this world, but I don't have much choice right now, do I?" Sighing he took out a paper scroll and a small bottle of ink.

With his mind made up, he made a thought and the ink splashed on the paper, forming a pristine blueprint for a weapon.

"It is done! From now on, I will bring honorless death!"