Agatha was frantically flipping through her grimoire, but the spiders were already emerging from their underground dens—massive, violet nightmares with eyes like cold obsidian.
The spiders sank their fangs into the group, paralysing them whilst the toxins entered their bloodstream, breaking down the body from the inside.
Signs of loxoscelism appeared on the bite wounds right away. The area is turning dusky as a shallow open sore forms as the skin around the bite dies (necrosis).
Agatha stared forward as Markus appeared from above, staring towards her at eye level.
"It's too late to apologise, you'll meet Saylor in hell, eventually, tell him I said hi," Markus turned around, disappearing into the forest.
Agatha, paralysed, tried to move her mouth, but nothing came out of her; her eyes filled with regret, she made peace with her demise.
He reached for his Starlight Bow, not to save them, but to ensure that if the spiders missed a vital spot, he wouldn't.
4 Starlight arrows drifted in silence, finding their marks, and the bodies fell limp as silence was reclaimed by the forest.
The purple recluse spiders spun their prey into a cocoon and dragged them down into their den underground.
[Survive the betrayal, eliminate all hostile threats: 4/4]
[Reward: 50 Unassigned Attribute Points]
'What a waste, their storage rings are probably deep underground'
Markus sighed, making his way stealthily through the forest, hunting and foraging for herbs.
Markus skilfully utilised his starlight bow, assassinating beasts within their domains and retrieving his spoils.
[Tier 3 Hybrid Tree Frog] Level 37 Slain
[Tier 3 Hybrid Tree Frog] Level 32 Slain
[Tier 3 Hybrid Tree Frog] Level 34 Slain
[Tier 4 Hydroxis Boa] Level 42 Slain
[Level Up]
..
..
[Tier 4 Shadow Monkey]Level 42 Slain
[Tier 4 Shadow Monkey]Level 41 Slain
[Tier 4 Shadow Monkey]Level 42 Slain
[Tier 4 Shadow Monkey]Level 43 Slain
[Tier 4 Shadow Monkey]Level 41 Slain
[Level Up]
..
..
[Tier 3 Vampirix Bat] Level 34 Slain x 3
[Tier 3 Vampirix Bat] Level 32 Slain x 2
[Tier 3 Vampirix Bat] Level 31 Slain x 4
[Tier 3 Vampirix Bat] Level 33 Slain x 5
[Tier 3 Vampirix Bat] Level 36 Slain x 2
[Tier 3 Alpha Vampirix Bat] Level 37 Slain
[Level Up]
..
..
[Tier 4 Harpy Eagle] Level 41 Slain
[Tier 4 Harpy Eagle] Level 43 Slain
[Level Up]
..
..
[Tier 4 Purple Recluse Spider] Level 43 Slain
[Tier 4 Purple Recluse Spider] Level 42 Slain
[Tier 4 Purple Recluse Spider] Level 42 Slain
[Tier 4 Purple Recluse Spider] Level 44 Slain
[Level Up]
..
..
Markus picked off the nocturnal bats he found within a deep cave structure one by one, the bats dying in their sleep, dropping off from the ceiling as they fell into Markus's spatial inventory below.
Utilising his spatial bubble and spatial domain, Markus clouded himself within layers of space, heading down underground to hunt for the purple recluse spiders that took his teammates.
[Tier 3 Storage Ring] x 2
[Tier 4 Storage Ring] x 2
'I won't allow my kills to be stolen by mere beasts'
----------------------------------------------------------
Name: Markus Blackwell
Age: 10
Class: Void Apprentice
Affinities: Space (L), Time (L)(Sealed), Fate (EX)
Health: 26,000/26,000
Mana: 23,000/40,000
Level: 46
Strength: 155
Agility: 155
Constitution: 155
Intelligence: 200
Available free attributes: 0
Laws: Space (40.00%)
Active Skills:
Spatial Slash (4x)
Void Severance (4x)
Spatial Bubble (4x)
Spatial Domain
Spatial Detonation
Sword Skills:
Vorpal Strike
Meteor Strike
Spatial Ascension
Legacy Skills:
[Legacy of Sagittarius]
Starlight Bow
Passive Skills:
Body refinement (Tier 4)
Void Perception
Dimensional Inventory (100 x 100 sqm)
Fate's Eye
Equipment:
Heavenly Scriptures of Space
Key to the Temple of Space
Valerian Academy Student Badge
Aurelian Royal Family Crest
Dimensional Storage Ring (Tier 3)
Dimensional Storage Ring (Tier 1)
Prayer Cushion
----------------------------------------------------------
Markus, sitting within a giant hollow tree, assigned his attribute points, almost reaching a balance with his intelligence.
'As my attributes creep towards 200, I am gradually feeling a balance between my body and soul.'
Markus sifted through his spoils in the past 6 days, planning to return to Illinois City soon.
'Why does Bloodhound have a collection of women's underwear? What a sick bastard, definitely deserved to die.'
Agatha's storage ring was filled to the brim with monster cores.
Markus, curious, took one out: Tier-4 Earthen River Hippopotamus beast core.
[Would you like to absorb the Beast core?]
[Yes/No]
'Interesting, let's see what this does.'
Markus selected, [Yes].
[Constitution + 8]
'Ooo, an Earthen beast gave me 8 constitution, what about beasts from other elements?'
Markus searched through Agatha's storage ring and took out Tier-4 beast cores from the other elements.
[Tier-4 Magma Snail Beast Core]
[Tier-4 Water Strider Beast Core]
[Tier-4 Flying Fish Beast Core]
[Would you like to absorb the Beast cores?]
[Yes/No]
Markus selected without hesitation, [Yes].
[Strength + 8]
[Agility + 8]
[Intelligence + 8]
'Hmm, so the 4 basic elements provide a boost to the 4 basic stats.'
'What about unique elements?'
[Tier-4 Purple Recluse Spider Beast Core] (Illusion Element)
[Would you like to absorb the Beast cores?]
[Yes/No]
[Yes].
[Hidden Attribute - Perception + 8]
'Oh, perception, that's new.'
Markus's awareness of his surroundings without the use of spatial perception improved dramatically.
He could see the bugs crawling up the trunk of the tree, the marks left by man and beast over time, and the damp moss stretching over the base of the tree.
'Perception, we'll need to adapt slowly; information overload would fry my brain if I continuously consume the purple recluse spider cores.'
----------------------------------------------------------
Name: Markus Blackwell
Level: 46
Base Attributes
Strength: 163
Agility: 163
Constitution: 163
Intelligence: 208
Hidden Attributes
Perception: 18
----------------------------------------------------------
'Here I am, thinking I was a prodigy. If there are legacies involving hidden attributes, there could be students in tier 1/2 with the combat capabilities of tier 3/4.'
Markus thought, grounding himself in reality, that now that he had unlocked one hidden attribute, he would be more careful going forward.
Markus stood at the edge of the forest, the city lights of Illinois shimmering in the distance.
His body felt different—denser, more attuned to the vibrations of the earth and the flow of the wind.
Absorbing the cores had left a lingering warmth in his marrow.
He had gone into the forest as a student; he was returning as a harvester of both beasts and men.
"Reporting the deaths of my fellow adventurers will be annoying," Markus whispered to himself, "I'll deal with it one step at a time."