Mythshaper
patreon
Chapter 48 - Compulsion
🕑 Added 2024-03-22 19:54:31 +0000 UTCShai had a pleasant dream, one of the nicest dreams she had in the last couple of years. The details were lost in her mind when she roused, but the indications were evident. She was refreshed and felt stronger than she had ever been.
It wasn’t simply because of the sleep. Although she needed rest, it didn’t explain how invigorating she felt. It felt like some kind of therapy. Her body felt light as a feather. Essence weaving was easier than ever, and most of all, no troubling thoughts were weighing on her mind.
Then came the barrage of notifications, as Grandpa explained the improvements she had made while sleeping. Shai couldn’t believe it.
[Congratulations! Advanced Meditation (E) has reached 100% of mastery. +4 to Mind, Soul, Recovery.]
[You do not have enough Evolution Points to evolve the skill Advanced Meditation (E).]
[You do not meet the prerequisite to evolve Advanced Meditation (E). Please Advance to the next rank.]
[Congratulations! Your concept of Hunger has reached the Intermediate state.]
[The effect of your aspect, Essence Eater (B) has been strengthened. +10% Efficiency to Recovery —> +20% Efficiency to Recovery.]
Shai didn’t wait anymore and summoned her status page to check.
________
[SYSTEM PAGE]
[Shai]
Rank: Foundation (F)
Path: Favoured Hatchling Lvl 22
Laws: Concept of Hunger (intermediate)
Mark: Fatemarked. Blessed by Kismet (Lesser). Predator.
Attributes:
Primary Attribute:
Physique: 44
Mind: 58 (+20%)
Soul: 66
Recovery: 41 (+20%)
Special Attributes:
Insight: 2
Evolution: 0
Fortune: 9
Unallocated points: 13
Aspect:
Golden Eyes (A) | Poison Affinity (D) | Essence Eater (B)
Skills[8/8]:
Advanced Meditation (E) - 100% | Predatory Instinct (D) - 73% | Arcane Shot (D) - 76% | Essence Weaving (E) - 84% | Force Shield (E) - 49% | Empower (E) - 92% | Mental Corrosion Resistance (D) - 100% | Spellforging (D) - 1%
Boon:
Inventory | Lingual Comprehension
Remark:
I promise I won’t eat you...
[System Log] [Active Quest] [Skill Reservoir]
___________
How long have I slept to receive so many benefits? Shai couldn’t help but wonder. She had 13 unallocated points, she could use them to at least evolve [Mental Corrosion Resistance (D)], but she wasn’t sure if it was the right place to do it. After all, she was right within the grasp of those frightening spiders.
Marvel was already awoken before her, now in meditation, waiting for Solace to return. The array flags that let them have the rejuvenated rest lay in one corner, next to them was a small heap of gleaming crystals and mushrooms.
Shai’s stomach lurched with a reminder that she had eaten nothing for a long time. Even though her hunger was immense, the grumble her little stomach could create was minuscule, yet that was enough to alert the young spider.
“Come on, eat them,” Marvel told her. “Solace left them for us.”
The spider probably discerned her hunger through the empathic waves she was radiating in her unguarded state. Figuring that out, Shai guarded her mind and slithered to the food. She helped herself, gobbling them without showing any qualms. Well, this was how they were supposed to treat a guest.
By the time she was finished, the heap of mushrooms was half as high.
“Can’t believe you can eat so much,” Marvel said, not looking at her, “even with that narrow body of yours.”
“I’m special like that,” Shai replied offhandedly, her eyes returning to those array flags.
They seemed to have lost most of their spirituality and some other components. They weren’t damaged in any way, merely drained of their essence. Recharging them with the required essence would bring them back to their prior state, though she wasn’t aware of the cost.
“What are these arrays?” Shai couldn’t help but ask.
“Some kind of formation with the laws of Dream,” Marvel said, turning her head to look at her, resting from her meditation. “Solace said it is a smaller copy of the Grand Dream Formation. It helps with enlightenment as well as sustaining mental faculties. You have noticed that already, no? Half of my skills and abilities improved by a few percents.”
Shai agreed, eyeing the array of flags greedily. Obviously, she didn’t act on her greed. With her mind working perfectly, Shai wasn’t one to make foolish mistakes. The spider granny would make a leather accessory out of her, if she messed up with her stuff.
“This formation was way better than any of the formations that helped with cultivation,” Marvel kept on singing praise of the formation, and Solace, the creator of it. She seemed to respect the elder spider a great deal.
“You haven’t used the Grand Dream Formation before today?”
“No,” Marvel transferred an empathic wave of denial. “Before today, I never knew something like this existed. I wondered why they never let me use it.”
Before Shai could say anything, the familiar voice of the elder spider rang in their minds.
“Because we cannot afford to use them unless it was a dire need.”
The tone wasn’t angry or anything, but Shai felt her body tense upon sensing the presence of the elder spider. Her mind reeled, producing the highest form of mental defence she was capable of. It was all instinctual. Even though [Golden Eyes] depicted this elder spider with in a whitish halo, Shai felt a deep-rooted dread from her.
Solace easily noticed the change in her state and mental defence, but instead of being angry, she chuckled, dropping behind them. “Marvel, your friend seems more suited for the path of Empathy than you,” she said. “Do I have to tell you every time to guard your mind from empathic manipulations?”
“But my mind is guarded,” Marvel whined, creeping closer to the greater spider.
“With only the basic form of defence.”
“But it is still better than Shai’s,” Marvel retorted.
“But not the best you’re capable of.”
Marvel grumbled as she guarded her mind correctly. She wasn’t annoyed or angry in any way. “What’s the point, anyway? If you want, you can easily invade my mind.”
“That should have made you more wary, eager to improve, not disregard the defences and be prone to manipulation. Serenity was right to be worried about you.”
“But,” Marvel said, “you would never manipulate my mind.”
Shai’s insides twisted, and she finally understood why she was guarded against the elder spider, even though she showed no form of hostility.
“You...” Shai said, her tone shaking, “You compelled me into coming with you here.”
“Compel is a big word, child,” the elder Arachnid said, not even a little offended at Shai’s accusation. “I merely soothed your mind lest you try something rash. Young ones seem to master that before any of their recognised skills. Kismet bless them.”
Shai’s indignation only rose upon learning that she was manipulated into coming with them. Even if it wasn’t compulsion, her free Will was violated. She had every reason to be angry.
But then again, the elder spider didn’t seem to have any bad intentions. She was merely doing it for her clan, and...
“You’re doing it again,” Shai screamed, fortifying her mental defence even though she saw no particular weakness in it.
“Am I?” Solace seemed amused. “I guess your time at the Hell Chasm made you sharper in detecting mental manipulations. Just needed the rest to cash into the benefits.”
There were some helpful implication in her phrase, but Shai was too furious to notice. Shai stared at her accusingly, as Marvel crept between them to amend the conflict. It did not mend anything. Shai would never forgive anyone manipulating her mind.
But Marvel was quick to notice the implication. “Hell Chasm benefited us?”
Solace gave her a look as if it was obvious. “Haven’t you noticed the benefit?”
“But I thought they were from the Grand Dream formation.”
“True, but not completely,” Solace said. “You’ll probably need a week to process it all. The formation simply progressed the process by seven times. However, don’t just run off there… training your mind there takes a heavy toil.”
Suddenly, everything clicked in Shai’s mind. The guardian spiders didn’t just leave them there as punishments, but as contingencies to build a defence against mental corrosion. At least that’s what the Elder Spider implied.
“We slept for a whole day?”
“Eighteen hours,” Solace said. “The point is Hell Chasm is rewarding if you have the Will to endure it. Or did you think the guardian left you there to die?”
Marvel’s empathic pulses stirred. “Then... they—”
“Still, their decision was rash. Directly sending to the chasm in the state you were in, there was a good chance of you not making it if they didn’t help you out. Now, I just hope you learned your lesson, and won’t try anything rash after learning about corruption.”
Physically, spiders can’t cry, however, Marvel’s empathic pulses reacted to the turmoil she was feeling, even affecting Shai through the link.
They aren’t monsters, Shai couldn’t help but wonder, at least, not Little Marvel.
But she wasn’t so sure about that White Death, or this Elder Spider.
Comments
myth
they don't... sometimes i forget im not writing about humans... there were occasions where I wrote of shai frowning in first draft... lol. ANyway, fixed, thanks...
No Name
"Marvel said, her eyes still closed" - what kind of spiders have eyelids they can close? My mental image of the empathic spiders is now very weird.
myth
Fixed, thanks...
No Name
Hmm... Error in the text? The first system announcement refers to Mental Corrosion Resistance,which was already maxed, but the following messages all refer to Advanced Meditation...
