Civilization

I open my eyes in the game once again, feeling the spider legs move at my command. The sensation is still weird to me since it felt like I was moving my shoulder blades, but in reality, I'm moving the spider legs around. I do my best to convince myself that it is just part of me now, and I got to live with it. I look around as the blazing sun burns my skin, seeing the brown spider floating in the air.

Knowing that I have new skills, I try to follow the description of Predator Instinct. I focus my vision solely on the brown spider. The Eye of the Roc compliments the Predator Instinct, and I feel like I could see each and every individual strand of hair on the spider. In the midst of the hair, I see a strand of translucent blue hair. In the middle of the spider's abdomen, I see the translucent blue hair floating upwards.

I raise an eyebrow at the strange sight and focus my senses on the hair. Little by little I see the hair become longer and longer, branching off the spider and into the sky, floating and fluttering in the wind. I realized at this point that it wasn't a hair. Confused as I was, I continue to follow the blue line.

Even as the sand storm starts to brew, I concentrate on the blue line as it arches down from the sky towards the ground. The sand roars around me and I start to dodge the spikes that appear from the ground, but at the same time, I follow the blue line deeper into the storm. As I proceed deeper, my vision becomes smaller, and I feel the spikes have become more aggressive, forcing me to move backward and further away from the blue line.

The blue line is key. I can just tell. The sandstorm has never felt more alive than when I started to move towards the blue line. It intimidates me with the howling winds and the piercing sand, cutting away at my HP with the spikes as a wall and a spear.

I grit my teeth and push off the ground, running forward towards the blue line with all my strength. I activate Enhanced Agility and Quickstep to dodge a spike, missing another by the skin of my teeth but for the first time, 3 spikes came out of the ground piercing into my chest and killing me.

However, right before I die, I see a glimpse of something connected to the blue line. It moved out of my vision just as I died, but I know something was there.

[ You have died. ]

[ Live on then, Yet Hang: 3354:27:15 ]

The moment I open my eyes in this attempt, I focus on the blue line instantly. Looking at the sky and following it down towards the ground, I use Enhanced Agility and sprint. Compared to last time, it was much easier to follow the blue line as the sand storm hadn't started yet and as the blue line nears the ground, I finally see what it was connected to. A similar no, an exact copy of the brown spider that is floating in the sky.

The moment I see the spider, I notice a buff on my screen activate.

[ Predator Instinct - While the prey is within sight, +10% Strength, +10% Agility ]

Name: Ian

Race: Arachne

Faith: 4302/10,000 ( Reach 10,000 to pick a Religion )

Happiness: 25  ( Happy ) 930/1000 ( Reach 1000 for a Golden Age )

Culture: 15 / 500 ( Reach 500 to choose the first Social Policy )

Health Points (HP): 30/60

Mana Points (MP): 15/15

Strength: 38

Vitality: 30

Intelligence: 30

Dexterity: 25

Agility: 54

Luck: 31

Skill: Enhanced Agility, Quickstep, Cleave, Charge, Stealth, Eye of the Roc (Passive), Predator Instinct (Passive), Limb Regrowth (Passive)

My agility broke past 50 and I feel my feet become lighter. I activate Stealth and Charge toward the spider, but it noticed me approaching, and spikes started to appear from the ground targeting me. Each and every spike forming faster than the last, with 2 sometimes appearing at the same time, but with the increased Agility from the Predator Instinct buff, I was able to dodge them before they could even touch me.

It seems with me disturbing the spider, it couldn't keep casting the sandstorm skill, instead in my peripheral vision I see the floating brown spider coming downward. The one on the ground scurries away while making more spikes in between me and itself, but with a hop, skip, jump, I leap over the spikes with Quickstep and fly over the spider landing in front of it.

I instantly attack with my own spider legs, piercing the ground as the spider scurries side to side. I cast Cleave as I kick off the ground, lunging towards the spider, using my spider legs to cut off the spider's movement.

I feel my knife dig into the spider's flesh, noticing how defenseless the monster was, I push forward, even more, attempting a second slash. However, it's emerald green eyes shine in front of me and I could feel my body slow down with each passing second. On the other hand, the spider zips away and I'm left with an empty feeling as it goes outside my vision.

[ Emerald Gaze - Affected user is slowed for 2 minutes. -90% Agility 00:01:50 ]

2 minutes passed, and the spider was long gone, and the sand storm had started to pick up. My body goes back to normal and I try to focus on finding the blue line. I guess it was some sort of tether between the 2 spiders, but maybe one of them is real and one of them is fake?

The sandstorm affected my ability to see as well as my ability to focus on anything around me and before long, the spikes started to attack me once again. I run into the storm searching for the spider, only to slowly die to the sandstorm, chipping away at my HP.

I repeat the same strategy over and over again, finding the spider and engaging in combat. Attacking it and damaging it, but just missing the kill. At times, it would slow me, running away for the rest of the attempt, and other times it would cast triple spikes in between us, blocking my attack.

After the 5th attempt of the night, I notice the monster spawns in the same general location, making it easier for me to target it. I remember the route and dash in that direction the moment I spawn, and along the way, I focus on the blue line to correct my movement. I reach the spider faster with each attempt, and by the 10th attempt, I was able to reach it before it noticed me with stealth.

With a surprise attack, I Cleave two of its eyes. Green blood spurts out, splattering all over me. In response, it attempts to slow me with Emerald Gaze, but I Quickstep to the side, dodging the emerald shine. With the spider looking forward, I slash at the legs, cutting through 2 legs like butter.

I notice the sand near the ground spiraling and rolling to the side as spikes start to appear. I cut at the back legs, but the spider dodges forward. However, it awkwardly tumbles to the side as it lands. Its legs wave in the air as it hurriedly tries to stand up. The second brown spider lands in front of the first, waving its front two legs in an attempt to intimidate me.

I smirk and slice through the monster, only to feel no resistance. The spider fades away and behind it, I see the original spider preparing another Emerald Gaze. Unable to dodge it this time, I toss my knife at the monster and move my spider legs to stab into its body. My legs pierce into its flesh while the knife ruptures another eye as I fall under the effects of Emerald Gaze.

It wiggles and screeches, but is unable to escape my legs. Once it realizes that I was slowed, it starts to cast its spike skill. However, I don't know if it ran out of MP or the fact that I had 2 spider legs puncture wounds, but the skill was unable to form any spikes. At most, it was swirling the sand at its legs and once the debuff timer was over, I gave it a few more holes, killing it.

[ You have killed an Emerald Eyed Desert Spider. Activating hidden trait Rule Over Spiders. ]

Rule Over Spiders - As a member of the Arachne race, when the individual kills a unique spider, the essence of the spider is drawn into the individual. The individual gain a skill that the spider once had. Trait associated with the Arachne Race

A golden-brown haze escapes from the spider corpse floating in the air for a second before condensing into an orb and flying into my chest.

[ You have gained Skill: Emerald Gaze. ]

Emerald Gaze (Active)  10 MP - When the user casts Emerald Gaze, all enemies that the light shines upon are slowed. -50% Agility Duration 1min. Cooldown 1 hour.

"Why is it less…?" - Ian

As I read the skill, I notice the debuff is less than what I had to deal with and while I found it weird, I also understood the reasoning. If I could use the skill as often as the spider could, I would be too overpowered. I let out a sigh and the desert slowly falls into darkness as the environment gets replaced by the black space. A system message pops in front of my face and I immediately answer.

[ You have completed the Second Challenge: Survive]

[ Congratulations ]

[ Would you like to see your rewards? ]

"Yes." - Ian

[ Here is your reward. ]

[ Skill: Earth Spike

Bonus for completing a cursed challenge: +5 Intelligence, + 5 Vitality

Bonus for completing the challenge unconventionally: +5 Agility, +5 Dexterity, +5 Luck ]

Earth Spike (Active) 5MP - Conjures an earth spike out of the materials on the ground, solidifying the spike once it reaches 1 meter tall. Duration 10seconds. Cooldown 5min

I take another look at my stats, since I had acquired such a bountiful reward, smiling to myself.

"I'm getting stronger, bit by bit." - Ian

Name: Ian

Race: Arachne

Faith: 4312/10,000 ( Reach 10,000 to pick a Religion )

Happiness: 25  ( Happy ) 930/1000 ( Reach 1000 for a Golden Age )

Culture: 15 / 500 ( Reach 500 to choose the first Social Policy )

Health Points (HP): 33/70

Mana Points (MP): 17/17

Strength: 35

Vitality: 35

Intelligence: 35

Dexterity: 30

Agility: 50

Luck: 36

Skill: Enhanced Agility, Quickstep, Cleave, Charge, Stealth, Emerald Gaze, Earth Spike, Eye of the Roc (Passive), Predator Instinct (Passive), Limb Regrowth (Passive)