~Good,~ he thought to himself, taking a moment to read the system notifications before carrying on with his experimentation. Once the solar pit was completely saturated, he proceeded to increase the intensity of the crux before trying to send out streams of solar energy.
~Nice, I finally did it. Whatever this... is,~ he thought to himself as multiple streams of what looked like miniature lightning streaks, spread from his crux toward the edges of the force field.
The baby was currently underneath the streaks, so he made sure not to move them around carelessly. As he moved them around the force field, he could feel the heat with which they burned.
~No new spell huh?~ he thought to himself after having moved the streaks around for some time.
Just as he was about to recall them, an interesting thought occurred to him.
~Laser beam,~ he thought, before focusing the streaks into one area. With that, a powerful focused beam shot out of the crux, piercing even the solar field, and scarring a hole in the cave walls.
The babies woke up with a start, instinctively trying to push themselves even deeper into their corners.
[Processing...]
[New spell acquired... 『Solar Beam』.]
[Adding 『Solar Beam』 to 『Solar Sorcery Index』...]
[Complete. 『Solar Beam』 has been added.]
"With this, I might have a chance against the undead," he whispered, his vision suddenly becoming blurry and his mind fuzzy.
~It seems I overworked myself,~ he realized, before placing the arachnid baby back on the ground.
~I'll continue this experimentation tomorrow. I need to rest first,~ he thought as he stood up to leave.
As he was exiting the cave, he heard the sound of little footsteps following behind him.
"You want to come back with me?" he asked, turning to find that the baby who seemed to be accustomed to him was following.
The arachnid stopped as he did and simply stared at him.
"I hope the insectoid doesn't mind," he whispered to himself before picking it up.
***
"Exipor, derux arex?!" the insectoid shrieked as Lucius brought the arachnid into the cottage.
"I'm guessing you don't like it then?" he asked, watching as the arachnid 'play' hunted the insectoid, biting at it repeatedly.
"Arum Deverex!!!!!!!!!"
~Does it know that this is its prey?~ Lucius thought to himself, all the while the insectoid shouted what Lucius could only assume were profanities.
"Oi, enough," he said after a while, picking the arachnid of the insectoid.
"Derux arex, Exipor," the insectoid whispered in defeat, like an old grandmother fed up with her grandchildren.
~Anyway, I'm completely worn out. I'll check up on the progress with structures tomorrow morning,~ he thought as he dropped the arachnid in the same cottage that Ghost was in. He figured it would feel more at home there.
***
Early the next morning, Lucius went to the cottage that the arachnid baby and Ghost's pod were in.
~It's time,~ he thought to himself, before touching Ghost's pod.
[100,000 Helios is required to complete evolution.]
[Accept] [Decline]
~Accept.~
[Purchase 『Sobriquet』 from 『System Shop』 in order to add creature to linked commune.]
He then quickly bought the item and tagged her as 'Ghost'.
[『Ghost』 has been linked to your commune.]
[『Ghost』's stats can now be viewed.]
[『System Shop』 items may now be shared with 『Ghost』.]
[『Ghost』 's genomes have produced three natural skills.]
[『Ghost』 has gained 『Poison attributes』, allowing access to all poison based skills.]
[『Ghost』 has gained 『???』 skill .]
[『Ghost』 has gained 『???』 skill .]
"Ghost?" he whispered once the pod had opened up. Ghost slowly clawed her way out, a thin membrane of mist following her around.
She was now 12 centimeters tall, with a stinger tail about 30 centimeters long. Two pairs of what seemed like spider legs carried her nearly 5 centimeters off the ground, her body hanging almost limply as they moved around to support her.
Her skin was now primarily dark purple, however, there were streaks of obsidian black wood running along her body.
Her proportions were now more similar to Lucius's than Pagan's, with her arms and legs nearly being the same length. As if she were built to run on all fours as well. Her claws were different from his though, hers were like fingers, in fact, they were. Sharp, seemingly poison-tipped fingers.
After a few moments of silence had passed, she looked up at Lucius her eyes staring at him in a deranged manner. They were the exact same as Lucius's, but where there was green in his, there was purple in hers.
"Eyaghhh!" she shrieked, before the spider legs that carried her scurried towards him.
"High speed, good," he whispered, noting down that she was just as fast as he was when he was around her size.
With a single swat, he sent her flying toward the wall, however, once he looked down at his hand he found three small holes.
~Poison?~
[+5 points added to 『Poison Resistance』]
~I forgot I even had that,~ he thought as he read the notification.
The arachnid baby shivered in fear as he watched on, moving slightly behind him as Ghost stood up.
"Holding you down will be an issue with that tail of yours," he whispered, noticing that her tail was now standing up, ready to strike at him.
"Though mine's better," he said right after, his tail whipping out to wrap around her. She stabbed at his tail with hers, poisoning him, though this did nothing but increase his resistance as it was too weak to be of any effect to him.
It took quite a while for Ghost to come to, but after five minutes she seemed to be back to her right state of mind.
"What are you?" she asked, looking up at him.
"A ghost," he replied, before letting her down.
"Luci?"
"Indeed, now let's get you washed up. I'll explain everything on the way to the river," he replied.
As they spoke, the arachnid baby peaked out from behind him, and stared at Ghost as if deciding whether or not to approach her.
It gave out a little shriek, and Ghost immediately looked toward it. There was a moment of silence, and Lucius feared that perhaps there had been some permanent change to her personality.
But just then.
"Cute!!" she shouted, picking the arachnid off the floor and looking into its eyes.
