First Evolution

Some time later, we accepted a quest where there is a insect infestation. In the east of Noltia, there is a cave that has a massive surplus of insects and could attack nearby villages once they run out of food.

We arrived at the cave where it is larger than the cave where rabbits attack the farmer's crops. This time, it could attack villages that are defenseless.

We encountered a spider that is the size of my palm. It is brown and have eight red eyes.

"System, check its stats."

[Checking...complete]

Though it is a J rank, that poison will get you if you're not careful. Thankfully, I have Poison Resistance along with me being a D rank. I slowly approach it and offered the spider Redflies. A small red insect that is like houseflies, but red. It came at the food cautiously since I was a stranger to its eyes, but once it took a bite, it began to eat it quickly.

"It looks like the spider likes it." Hyoran said.

"Kain, we let you keep Gris, but some people in Nolten Village don't take lightly with insects. Especially this Cave Spider." Ezo said.

"I know, I'll make sure he doesn't reach there." I said.

The reason I wanted to get another monster is because I can't be in many places at once, I need more monsters to do my dirty work while I start my rise in the ranks. Just having Gris can only do so much.

"I'll name you, Paura." I said.

[Acknowledged. Cave Spider is now named 'Paura']

The spider now named Paura is jumping up and down. He must've like the name I gave him.

"I like to evolve Paura."

[Acknowledged. Providing evolution paths...]

[Completed.]

The system gave me multiple paths to Paura's evolution, I could go for Big Cave Spider for bigger raw stats and some poison along with the ability to dig better. Thorn Spider is where he is faster, hits harder, and deals bleed. Black Spiders have stealth and Dark magic, Red Spiders have Fire resistance, Purple Spiders specializes in Poison and Poison Nullification, and lastly, Green Spiders have Paralysis with Poison Resistance.

Since the insects in the cave usually have Poison Resistance, getting a Purple Spider won't do much. I'll go with Thorn Spider.

"Thorn Spider, system."

[Thorn Spider selected. EP required: 1000. Proceed?]

"Before I do it, I would like to add a phrase for evolving a monster."

[Select phrase. This can be changed at any time.]

"Evolution."

[The phrase has been set.]

[Thorn Spider selected. EP required: 1000. Proceed? Reminder: This process cannot be interrupted and cannot be undone.]

"I know."

I knelt down to Paura and looked at him in the eyes. Paura did so in kind. I placed my palm forward at Paura.

"Paura. Evolution." I said and the system reacted.

[Acknowledged. Now evolving Paura.]

"Kiiii!"

In that moment, Paura let out a screech and raises his frontal legs. As he screeched, a gray mist swirls around Paura and creates a small tornado around him. Ezo and Hyoran are shocked to see that a monster is covered in gray mist.

"Papa, what's happening?" Hyoran said as she is confused and slightly frightened.

"Hehe. Something you don't see too often." Ezo chuckled in disbelief. For monsters to evolve, they either have to live long enough and defeat enough enemies, but even that is rare without all those outside factors. I came to this world, from the Void Realm, mind you, and evolved a monster and I ain't stopping there.

Few moments later, the swirling mist dissipates and Paura is now rocking a new look. Gray body that has hundreds of barbs, white legs with black eyes and is now bigger than before, bigger than my entire hand. Especially, he grew two extra legs on the front where it is sharper than the other eight.

[Evolution complete. Paura is now Thorn Spider.]

[Due to the evolution. Paura is now rank H.]

[New skill acquired for Paura. Thorn Body.]

"Check his stats."

"Woah...when's the last time did I see a monster evolve?" Ezo said.

"Is it a good spider, Kain?" Hyoran said, holding Ezo's hand and being cautious. I looked back at Hyoran and Ezo with a big smile on my face.

"Yep, meet your new friend, Paura." I said excitedly. "But we have a quest to do, Paura, climb onto my head, Gris, go in front of me."

After my commands, Paura climbed onto my right leg, on to my right arm, and on my head. Hyoran shuddered at the sight of me having a spider climb onto my head. Gris then walked in front of me and we began to advance deeper in the cave. The problem is, it's dark and I can barely see even if my eyes are accustomed to it. Wolf Beastkins can see in the dark better, but Fox Beastkins see it as if it was daytime.

Oh wait, I have a skill called Echolocation, I don't need eyes. However, I still gotta be careful of the rough terrain.

Gris was sniffing around until his ears perked up and sees a faint green light. He barked to inform me that he sees something ahead.

"Gris found something, follow him." I said, picking up the pace. I follow him towards the green light. As we advance further, the light becomes brighter, meaning we're closing in. On the next turn, we reached to a place where there are glowing mushrooms, magical ores, and numerous amounts of spiders. What stood out for me is the 5 large nests for the spiders. Looks like if left unchecked, it could cause a bad infestation for sure. 10 Cave Spiders jumped and stood in our way, protecting the nests. All of them are J ranked. Gris growled at them, preparing for battle.

"Gris, get behind me." I said. I know Gris is strong because he is at rank E, but I can't get him poisoned. Paura, has the resistance against poison. Gris walked back and got behind me

"Paura, you're up, kill those spiders for me." I commanded. Paura then jumped off of my head and skittered at the weaker spiders. One cave spider tried to bite Paura with its fangs, but with Paura's frontal legs from the evolution, he stabbed his appendages into the Cave Spider in the head and abdomen.

[J rank target killed. 100 EP acquired.]

"Hyoran, freeze the nests so that none of them gets out." I said. Hyoran nodded and jumped beside me and created a ball of ice.

"Iceball!" Hyoran yelled and fired the ice at the nests. It hits the nest and the projectile began to freeze the nest around where it hit. She yelled the spells again at other four nests, freezing them.

Paura went on to kill the other 9 spiders, but is surrounded. One spider tried to bite him in the abdomen, in which in the game deals extra damage and causes critical hits more often. However, his skill, Thorn Body, sticks thorns in the attacker's body, dealing damage and sometimes inflicts bleed. However, it doesn't mitigate damage for the user.

Paura turned around and stabbed the spider in the eyes in retaliation and continued his assault on the others.

[9 J rank targets slain. 900 EP acquired.]

"Had they hatched, we'd be in big trouble as using magic here might get us hurt." I said. Although I'd miss out on EP when each nest hatches 10-20 spiders, but Hyoran, Ezo, and Gris might get overwhelmed. Ezo is an S rank, but he can't risk getting any of us poisoned or worse, killed.

I took out my dagger and cut the legs of the 10 spiders, then took a chunk of the spider nest that hasn't been frozen. The reason for it is to provide proof, just like I did when I was a Soil rank. I put the materials in the bag and sheathed my dagger. The glowing rocks are Mana Stones which is the candy for every monster out there. I could take it, but I don't have a pickaxe.

"Now that's done, let's head back." I said.

We head back, exiting the cave to where we arrived at and is safe and sound. The sun is still present which means it didn't take long. I turned to Paura and healed his wounds quickly.

"That's the end of the Wood quest." I said, arching my back, cracking the stiffness out of me.

"Now..." Ezo said. "Would like to explain to us why did you evolve a monster?" Ezo told me with a serious expression. Throughout my 10 years here, I never seen him like that. This happened to the skill called Evolutionist. But...would he know about it? Will he take it the wrong way? Will Hyoran react negatively about me evolving Paura? What about Tuya? What about me?