Salticidae

"Ugh… I feel like death."

In the slightly dusty room, Leonhardt rolled on the bed while groaning, with a stabbing pain in his head worsened by the dungeon notifications echoing in his mind.

"Well, you were asleep for three days and almost died."

A soft, but bright, voice echoed from the door, followed by her light footsteps and the sound of something rolling against the wooden flooring.

'Huh?'

Leon lifted himself, feeling much lighter than he expected, almost flying off the bed, as he finally opened his eyes.

"Ugh…" 

The moment he opened his eyes, the world appeared in immense detail, his pupils shimmering with a vivid colour as he saw the blonde priestess from the other night.

'Could I always see this well?' 

"It wasn't that he almost died, the idiot died several times, his heart stopped." A low, raspy voice sounded from his left. 

'Who is that?' 

Leon's eyes made his head ache, causing the symptoms of a migraine.

Although he could see clearly at a much wider angle than before. The centre of his vision grew to almost 180 degrees. His peripherals remained sharp and detailed.

That's when he noticed the woman who spoke, vibrant fiery hair, a muscular tanned body, and a long, thick tail covered in red scales. 

"Oh, it's the hot dragonoid who likes to drink." 

'Hmm? What was that vocabulary, hot? Why?' 

"Hah? You sound much different compared to the other night, haha." Asuka hit the table with a thud, before chuckling until she snorted. 

"Asuka, don't be so loud, Sylvie is still asleep." 

The priestess scolded the dragonoid before pushing the wooden cart to the side of Leon's bedside. On the top was a small bowl of buttered bread, and a deep bowl of a buttery soup with a strange type of meat floating inside with a white, fluffy texture.

'Ifrit!' 

[Hah~ you finally called my name!]

'Why didn't you respond earlier?'

[Because you complained about all the dungeon messages in your head.]

'Ah…'

Leon couldn't help but regret his earlier thoughts.

Now that the headache started to fade, he realised that something happened. However, instead of asking Ifrit he looked at the pretty priestess with gentle eyes, and asked her instead. 

'Something about her feels familiar.'

"Hello, miss… Erina was it?"

"Oh? You remember me?"

In reality, there was no chance that he could remember her.

After suddenly collapsing and sleeping, his mind became a messy mixture of memories and thoughts. What helped him notice was the strange floating image in the air above her head in a light blue colour.

"How could I forget you, but it's embarrassing, can you tell me what happened? My mind is a little painful."

◊ Erina • Sainted Candidate (21)

Level: 11

• STR: E

• VIT: E

• DEF: E

• AGI: D

• INT: D

The small screen allowed him to see their specialities and realised the difference between his strength and theirs at the same level.

'Wait… when did I reach level 15?'

◊ Asuka • Dragonoid Fighter (22)

Level: 17

• STR: C

• VIT: D

• DEF: D

• AGI: D

• INT: E

Though he wanted to see more detailed information, this seemed to be his limit currently, but it was a great help for Leon who needed help to analyse his potential allies and enemies.

"Oh my? Well, I am not sure what happened but three nights ago…"

"Three nights?" Leon gasped, causing Erina to scowl at him, before she coughed and continued.

Ahem

"Three nights ago, you seemed to start suffering and despite my attempts to use healing magic to help you, it didn't help. Throughout the nights, your body burned up as if you were on fire, and we took turns in nursing you, since you seemed to know both Sylvie and Asuka."

『He doesn't seem to be dangerous, but his strength while sleeping was immense!』

Erina thought to herself, while biting her lower lip, reminded of Asuka being forced to use her full power to hold his body down, while Sylvie froze his body with ice magic.

However, for that reason, his clothes ended up destroyed and…

"What's the matter, Erina? Your face is really red."

"A-Ah, it's nothing, but after you suffered for three days, finally you woke up this morning!" Her voice turned inside out. Leon noticed her slightly strange actions, but he didn't think it was important compared to learning he was sleeping for three days.

"I'm really grateful for the help, I think I mentioned to Asuka that I might need your help for something, did she tell you?"

"Huh? What did you ask me, I forgot." The redhead gazed at Leon with a confused look while scratching her head. 

"The quest to kill that wolf in the forest."

Erina looked at Asuka, who touched her chin as if thinking hard, then she suddenly seemed to have a moment of clarity and clapped her hands. "Oh yeah, you offered good payment for the quest, and it would give us a chance to scout the goblins!"

'Yeah, but it was also a chance for me to convince the others that they aren't bad goblins.'

The phrase, 'the only good goblin is a dead goblin' suddenly echoed in Leonhardt's mind, but he couldn't quite remember where or who said it.

"Hmm." Erina and Asuka gazed at each other, before turning back to Leon, who started tearing at the soft bread, oblivious to their secret look. 

"Can we discuss this together first, then get back to you, sir?"

『His eyes don't carry any lies or danger. Let's discuss it seriously』

"I'm Leon, didn't I already introduce myself?"

"Sir Leon, we came here for a reason, but now you've given us an offer, I would like to seriously consider it."

Erina's voice became serious.

Maybe it was her business voice as she suddenly started organising her things and dragged Asuka into the side room where the third member slept.

"Phew…" 

Leon leaned back against the headboard.

He didn't need to eat, but didn't want the women to think he was some kind of freak, or find out he was a monster before he built trust with them.

'Strange.'

Although he evolved, it didn't affect his looks that much, instead his changes seemed more internal as he could feel a stronger connected to his three bloodlines. 

The Mana pumping from his Djinn heart followed his thoughts, and the same was true for his Fae blood, but something new surprised him. The webbing that he struggled to use effectively now flowed a little easier from his claws that were disguised as nails. 

[Your Arachne bloodline is much more complicated than what I thought.]

[That insane woman gave you the genes of a jumping spider, which enhanced your vision.]

Leon noticed this change from the start, his field of view much wider than a normal human. He could see and sense things almost behind him, rather than just to the sides of his vision.

The improvement allowed him to see anything that moved.

He could zero in on the tiny insects and bugs on the walls or flying outside, along with detecting elemental Mana floating in the air.

"It's quite wonderful, but there is another bloodline, right? My memories tell me that jumping spiders don't use webbing to hunt."

[Master, I cannot analyse the bloodline as it hasn't fully materialised yet.]

"No problem, the only thing to do is test the changes… now that I am level 15 my attributes are quite impressive."

[Only for a D-Rank Adventurer or Mercenary.]

'Shut up!'