Morning came.
Ahh, that was nerve-wracking.
I was so tense I could barely fall asleep.
Wasn't the hurdle a bit too high for the very first dialogue of my life as a spider to be with the world's administrator?
For someone who's already shy around people, it's like being told to have a chat with the prime minister.
In reality, the person in question holds an even higher position than the prime minister in this world.
D?
That was the exception, so it doesn't count.
Ideally, it should've started with some forgettable Villager C or something.
Why C?
No particular reason.
Well, at least Gyuliguli won't be getting involved for a while, so it's a relief that the concern is gone.
That person is way sweeter than I imagined.
Though, if they weren't, things wouldn't have turned out like this.
I owe them my life.
Anyway, let's forget about Gyuliguli and head for the mountain.
I took it too easy yesterday, so let's pick up the pace a bit today.
I move faster than yesterday while using Appraisal.
I only stop briefly when I find plants that weren't there yesterday through Appraisal.
I'm in a hurry, but if something catches my eye, I can't help it.
I cross the plains and plunge into the forest.
There's no path, so it's dense and hard to navigate, but I hop from tree to tree using Spatial Mobility.
There are no traces of beast trails either, and I don't see any Monsters.
Are there no Monsters around here?
Maybe there are just fewer of them.
Oh?
I spotted a vine-like plant with red fruit.
[Bonkula: A plant widely native to the Kasanagara Continent. It periodically flowers and bears fruit. The fruit is sweet but contains a mild paralytic compound.]
Huh.
Seriously, what a terrible name.
Paralysis, huh.
Hmph, someone like me who has Status Ailment Nullification — as if that would work.
And so, I'll have some.
Sweet. Delicious.
There's a slight tart kick to it too — really good.
So good!
Before I knew it, I'd eaten every single fruit on the vine.
Aww, is it already gone?
That was delicious.
Thanks for the meal.
Fresh fruit really hits different.
The stuff I had before was dried, so— Yeah.
It was so juicy.
This doesn't seem to be a particularly rare plant, so maybe I'll find more if I look?
Hmm.
But the main objective is the mountain, after all.
I'll grab any I come across along the way.
I bounce through the forest.
I found several Bonkula along the way.
Of course I secured every one of them.
Storage, a spatial magic spell, proved useful for the first time.
Storage is a spell you learn through Spatial Magic — essentially an item box spell.
It lets you store things in a pocket dimension and retrieve them anytime. For a human, it would be an incredibly convenient spell, but for me, carrying stuff around was never really a thing, so it had been gathering dust until now.
I'd always either eat food on the spot, teleport it to my nest, or just make a new nest right there — so I never needed it.
I think having such a convenient nest is the problem.
Isn't the nest enough by itself?
That's how I feel.
When I first learned Storage, I tested it out, and it consumes MP when activated and also when retrieving items.
The MP cost scales with the size and weight of what you're storing.
Retrieval costs slightly less MP than storage.
That said, if your MP is running on fumes and you've stored MP recovery potions inside, you'd hit a tragic situation where you can't pull them out.
By the way, even though items are stored in a pocket dimension, they still deteriorate over time.
Time apparently still passes inside the pocket dimension.
But perhaps because it's a separate dimension, the rate of deterioration is slower.
So for proper preserved food, it should last a pretty decent number of days.
Probably — I suspect that among Dimension Magic, there's a similar spell where time doesn't pass at all.
Maybe I'll learn it once my Level goes up?
So anyway, Storage — which until now had been a completely dead spell — finally came in handy.
Normally, there's no reason a spell like this would end up being dead.
Come to think of it, I feel like I don't have that many dead Skills.
Part of it is that I deliberately picked useful ones, but even the ones I gained automatically through Titles have come in handy.
Poison Synthesis, which I initially thought would be useless, turned out to be a lifesaver. Skills that were useless at first evolved and suddenly became great.
Shadow Magic — well, I can't use that one, but its derivative, Dark Magic, has been a huge help.
The only ones that still haven't found their moment to shine are the Ruler Skills from Naraku and such, aren't they?
I have no plans to use Ruler Skills since they reduce the divine domain, so that's staying the case.
As I was mulling over all these thoughts, I arrived at the mountain.
Or rather, before I knew it, I was already inside the mountain.
Ah, well, the boundary between forest and mountain is hard to tell apart naturally, isn't it?
Unlike the forest, though, the trees are spaced a bit further apart, and there's less undergrowth.
I should be able to walk on the ground here.
Hm?
My Perception is picking up a few biological signals.
In the forest, it was only tiny birds and mice, but inside the mountain, there are noticeably larger presences.
Let me check out the nearest one first.
I could use Farsight, but since I'm here, I might as well move closer and get a look with my own eyes.
What was there was a single Monster.
Umm.
What the heck is this thing?
A pig?
The Monster had a pig-like face, but its body was closer to a gorilla, and to top it off, tentacles sprouted from its back — quite the grotesque appearance.
Uhh.
A chimera pig?
Doesn't look very appetizing.
And despite how menacing it looks, its Status is low.
Just a bit over a100 — a weak Upper Layer-class Monster by dungeon standards.
Something about this creature is just off — its appearance and its strength don't match at all.
It's already gone stiff from the pressure I'm emitting.
My Intimidation Skill has evolved into Tyrant.
The effect is essentially a straight-up boost to Intimidation's power.
Having this on at all times, combined with the effect of my Title — Bringer of Terror — cancels out my Stealth-type abilities.
In that sense, you could say Stealth is a dead Skill too.
Well, I dispatched it in one go.
More like one look from my Evil Eye and it was over instantly.
I keep Evil Eye off when I'm outside, but the moment I turned it on, it ascended to heaven.
Rest in peace.
It doesn't look very appetizing, but I'll eat it anyway.
Wha— what...!??
Delicious!?
Is this the power of the mountain?
Even something that obviously unappetizing becomes tasty when grown in the mountain?
Mountains are insane.