1.7 A deal
''Eh, long metal vehicles that transport tons of goods over long distances on metal roads that don't require horses?''
I had just tried to explain what a ''train'' was. It was pretty hard to explain something that did not have any counterpart in this world. I had dubbed it an ''iron horse'' the same way as in our early history. but she didn’t seem to grasp the idea. I decided to use old, steam trains as a way to explain the idea, electricity was not a thing yet but the power of steam was easy to understand. Let's start with the basics before we move on to advanced things or she will never believe me.
''Okay, so you got the front part that has something called an ''engine'', it pulls carts that are ''chained'' behind it. That front part produces the power to pull through burning wood or coal, it doesn't use any actual animal to generate that power''
Velariah seemed fascinated but distant, as if she didn't want to believe a word I was saying. It was a common issue; culture shock. One would not easily believe something that goes against everything they know, they would rather deny it or meet it with hostility... unless they were shown. Maybe I could show her something that would make her believe me? The question was, what was easy to show with the materials I had available?
If history developed in the same way as on Earth, I would have to pinpoint exactly what era we are in. The problem was that the presence of magic could lead to either the invention of things I didn't know, or may have caused the absence of certain scientific discoveries due to its unnecessity. Let's see where they are at, starting economics
''If your world is as I imagine it, I assume your village pays taxes to some larger entity?''
She looked at me with a frown.
''Well, duh, how else would that work?''
''And what do these taxes consist of?''
''Coins, and trade goods we produce like hides, furs, crops, and lumber. We have several other things but these are our main sources of produce.''
Seemed pretty medieval alright. let's dig a bit deeper.
''I assume animal husbandry is nothing new, correct? Or do you get everything from hunting?''
''No, you're right we have a wide variety of domesticated animals to take care of our most basic needs. Sheep, cattle, chickens, horses for transport.''
I thought about several things but came to a conclusion. It would be dangerous to share any info from my own world that could change the course of history.
''Uhm, there is something you need to know about my world. You see, it appears we are far, far ahead of your age and I fear that sharing any info may cause wars. I do not intend to be the trigger for bloodshed, so I would ask of you that anything I share is to be kept secret.''
She seemed... angry? Was it because she didn't believe me or because she wanted to know more?
''I truly wish I could tell you more, but let's just keep it at trade for now.'' I paused before looking down at my makeshift bra. ''Speaking of trade, I would like to get some proper clothes sometime soon, these are not exactly the most comfortable.''
''Alright.'' she sighed, ''let's start with trade, I would happily get you some clothes in return for the wolves that you felled, I will try to get you some healing potions as well if you could give us some of that venom of yours, it seems quite potent.''
Somehow that didn't sit exactly right with me, I mean the first part was a great deal. It’s just that the venom part seemed a bit unethical to me as I had no idea what it would be used for. I was not planning to be turned into some kind of bio-weapon. I tried to renegotiate.
''I am not feeling too happy about the venom part but I could throw in that unibelea pelt though.''
''Including the horn and antlers?'' She asked.
I hesitated for a moment, not knowing if they had some kind of insane value. Getting rid of this pain sure was an attractive prospect but I would be giving up something that I hoped was worth more. On the other hand, I would still have the venom as trade leverage for later and maybe... silk? I knew silk could bring in quite a dime back on earth if you had the expensive kind. I wondered how high the quality of mine was. If her village was able to process that into high-quality goods I would have to make sure not to get ripped off.
''Deal.'' I said after a long pause.
I tried relaxing again but the pain in my arm flared up again which severely impeded my ability to do so. Velariah must have seen me struggling as she handed me the small yellow vial she held earlier.
''What's this?'' I asked.
''The potion I talked about earlier, what else?'' she rolled her eyes.
''Wait, healing potions are not red?'' Immediately after saying that I remembered the potion she used to create the anti-venom, that one had been blue and wasn't a mana potion, apparently. 'Damn you online games, you failed me too!'
''Actually, never mind. Thank you.''
I had finally found some semblance of civilization but I didn't know how to feel about it. It was nice having someone to talk to but I knew there were certain risks. Talking to Velariah had made me realize them all the more. I was an irregularity in this world possessing forbidden knowledge. I would have to be careful to not stand out too much. That being said I missed the luxury of Earth... Would I ever be able to go back?
I was handed the potion and uncorked it before sniffing. What met my nostrils was a foul odor, it was impossible to describe but it triggered my gag reflex.
''You're supposed to chug it down, quick, you didn't think potions would smell like cherries, did you?''
I actually had. I mean wasn't that the idea of healing potions? Weren't they supposed to taste like cherries? I mean, that's why they were red, no? Never mind, this one was yellow, it completely screwed with my head. Damn this fantasy world, I want a refund.
''It's not actually a healing potion either, it's more of a painkiller.'' She provided some additional information.
Heeding her advice, I pinched my nose and chugged down the horrible tasting liquid quickly. Almost immediately I found a warmth from my stomach spread throughout my body in a wave. When the wave reached my arm, I felt all the other ripples of the warmth going through my body flow towards my wounded arm. There, it concentrated into a fire that actually hurt for a second before the pain I felt before completely died down. Wow, that stuff was amazing, I'd have to be careful not to get addicted. I think the best way to prevent that was to get it fixed by someone she mentioned that sounded like a healer earlier, did she mean magic healer? Now I was curious.
''So...'' I broke the silence. ''How will we do this trade of ours?'' I asked as I reached over for another piece of meat that I had been steadily cooking and consuming as we talked.
''If you don't mind, I think the easiest way is to get this material to our village.'' she looked up at me. ''If you are more comfortable waiting outside the village, that's fine. I can take the materials inside and come back with clothes and potions, or, if you want, I can look if one of our treemenders are available.''
I think I knew what the meant by that but she completed the meaning.
''Our healers.''
''I figured.''
The outside had become darker, the moons disappeared beyond the horizon. For lack of anything to do other than wait I walked over and added more wood to the fire. I grabbed the bow that the human had used and handed it to the elf. 'Screw it, I want to know'. I deviated from what I had held myself to earlier and decided to spill the beans, how bad could this go?
''So, remember what I said about my world? There being no sentient races other than humans? Well, elves exist in fiction and fantasy in our world. In those stories they are generally portrayed as great archers, is any of that true?''
A wide smile ran across her face. That wasn't the reaction I was expecting bit it was a welcome surprise. It also was the first time I'd seen her smile, she seemed like a very serious person. Did she have to keep up some kind of façade? She did mention her father earlier, was he some kind of big shot in their village? I would have to find out sometime, later, not soon. She stretched her arms and shoulders.
''You got that right, alright. it's widely known elven archers are the best. It wasn’t for me though. But yeah, it's interesting how they got that part right. I still don't fully believe there is a thing such as another world though.''
''I know, I know. I will show you a couple things over time if things go well. Keep in mind though, this stays between us.'' I reiterated.
She placed a fist on her chest.
''I swear it on my honor as a knight.''
That seemed awkwardly formal but I hope that meant she wouldn't break the promise. I would hate for nations of this world to start tugging on my legs, even if I had eight now.
''Also, this bow is flimsy, where did you get something as crappy as this?''
''Got it off some human that tried to kill me.'' I shrugged, ''No, I didn't want to kill him, in fact I saved his life. Once it's light outside watch for a troll body, I assume it's a troll judging from my world's description for it. I saved the human from that thing before he turned on me with this ''flimsy'' bow. Hit me in the shoulder too, the bastard.''
She glanced at my shoulder. ''Explains the bandage. But yeah, this is nothing compared to a proper Elven bow.''
''It is worth anything, though?'' I would probably be better off selling it, I had no idea how to handle a bow. I could probably fire an arrow, but in a world where archery is as widespread as this one, I doubt I would have any use for it, I would be outclassed by far too many people, it would be pointless to even try unless I got some kind of training.
If fighting was necessary for survival, I should just stick to what I know and improve on that for the short term. Training my speed would probably be the best thing to do I could already see the speed at which I covered the distance to the human archer, with more experience I doubted anyone would be able to outrun me. If I combined that with a proper set of armor, I would be the ultimate ranged counter.
This made me wonder how strong this body really was in terms of defense, the archer's attack had simply ricocheted off of me earlier. I knew spiders had an exoskeleton, but it being strong enough to block arrows was new to me, what was the exoskeleton even made of? Was it simply because everything was enlarged compared to the normal creepy crawlies? It would make sense, but then again, I was not an entomologist. Wait, did they even cover spiders? A spider wasn't an insect.
'Whatever', I finally thought, right as my train of thoughts was interrupted by a laugh.
For some reason Velariah was having a blast.
''Not in our village no.'' she continued laughing, ''Perhaps as firewood, don’t let anyone see you with this, lest you be laughed out the village.''
'Okay then, never present a human made bow to an elf,' I noted, leaning back again.
''Probably a good idea.'' she said, still grinning.
That made me lean forward again, no rest for me it seemed.
''Do you read minds or what?'' I asked, trying to sound somewhat angry but my new, sweet voice wouldn't allow me.
This only made me more frustrated, intimidation wouldn't come through my words, good thing I have other things that help with that. I mean I would rather just be normal, but I guessed being a normal human with this voice and no combat skills to speak of would not go well for me in this new world. Why did it have to be the most extreme of both sides of the isle? Stupid compromises.
''No, I don't, but your face is easy to read and you are utterly predictable. You're lucky I was to exhausted and confused when I got here, I would probably have killed you out of pure instinct if I hadn't been.''
''Wow, thanks so much for not killing me I guess.'' I reacted with hypocrisy dripping like venom. This only caused her to laugh again.
''No need to thank me. Actually, I'm happy I didn't, you have proven to be... interesting.''
Was that a compliment? Or was I seen as some kind of tool? I wasn’t sure. I sighed as I tried to relax against my abdomen yet again, hoping to make the time pass faster. Just waiting was boring, but not having to sleep tonight had turned out to be a blessing. I managed to proceed with another part of what I had been looking to do.
Trade would allow me to build a relationship with people, hopefully I could convince them I wasn't just any monster that needed to be exterminated to safeguard themselves. This was the most basic of diplomacy and could perhaps get me in touch with others too. I hoped nations were at least friendly to each other, if there were common enemies in monsters like trolls and goblins that was surely the case?
''I would love a pillow.'' I muttered quietly as I relaxed. I felt my long, messy hair getting all tangled with the black hair covering my behind and sighed.
''And a comb.''
''That can be arranged.''
I was surprised she even heard what I had said. I concluded it had to be the ears.
I sighed again, still leaning back. ''Fine, what do you want for them.''
''You know what I want.''
''My venom? What do you intend to do with it?'' I had to make sure she would not massacre a village before selling something so dangerous. My virtues crumbled to dust, I was surprised I was even considering trading it when I had vowed not to earlier. Comfortable sleep was an enticing prospect, and not having my hair all tangled and messy was a welcome addition.
''Anti-venom.'' she stated simply. ''You see this?''
She held up the glowing orange vial of anti-venom she used earlier. I sat upright again, some of my hair still stuck to my spider parts. She sipped down some more and grabbed the piece of meat that had been slow cooking and took a bite. She started to get awfully brazen. The scared to death persona from before had completely disappeared. I nodded in response to her question.
''You see, when you mix the base potion with a venom it will take on a color.''
That much I had seen before.
''The resulting color is an indication of the quality. The redder the color the higher the quality, a red anti-venom potion can virtually neutralize any venom or poison. The resulting quality from low to high goes from blue to cyan to green to yellow to red. Since this is glowing orange, the quality is really, really high. You can't get this quality anti-venom without adding a lot of expensive additions. You see why this venom had such value? You can create high quality potions without having to invest a lot of coin.''
So, there was a very sound reason behind it. I started thinking about it, but she continued.
''Our village is regularly attacked by goblins, they don't pose a major threat but they use nasty poisons created from rare plants that can be found in the caves where they live. in recent years, our village income has tanked and our combat supplies are running low, including the higher quality anti-venom potions. I would forever be grateful if you were to help out.''
Suddenly she appeared to be... begging? What happened to all the confidence she had shown earlier? Was that a façade to try to have the upper hand in the trade? Was she afraid I was going to rip her off if I knew she desperately needed what I could offer? I wasn't a monster, well, whatever.
If I could help save people's life so easily, I would probably have done it for free. It was sad that they were struggling like this but it allowed me to show my good side. If I knew my venom would be used for good instead of evil, I would have no ethical objections. I still couldn’t run the risk of it being used behind my back so I decided to counteroffer.
''Sure, I'll help with that, on the condition that I have complete oversight over the process, ideally outside your village, I want to make sure it's not used for other ends.''
''If you're willing to help, it shall be so.'' She put a hand to her chest again before bowing, which looked funny when done in a sitting position. The meat in her hands got a lock of hair in them which she then had to remove afterwards.
If what she was saying was true, and it had the looks of it, it would also mean that killing me on sight would be detrimental to their village. Unless they found something else, I would be safe, even then, I doubted they would get rid of me. Diplomacy was complicated and I really wasn't the kind of person to look into it deeply. I would rather spend my time and energy on other things. I hoped I would get somewhere with the basics of it in this world, for now it looked to be going in the right direction. An Idea sprung to mind.
''Say Vel, do you have another one of those anti-venom potions?''
''The name's Velariah, and I believe I do have one more, yes, why?''
Ok, so she wasn't the person for nicknames, good to know, I guess.
''I'd like to confirm what you said earlier, I want to take some of the poison in the unibelea and make some anti-venom.''
Her eyes grew wide for a moment but she nodded in understanding.
''It's a bit of a waste since they only produce cyan to teal potions but if you will help, it's a small price to pay, the base ingredients for these potions are quite simple to get, anyway.''
She rummaged through her small pack and fished out another blue potion and handed it to me.
''Be careful with that, it's my last.'' she grabbed the vial she used earlier which still had about a quarter orange liquid in it.
''Besides this one, that is.'' she said as the put it back in the pack.
I moved over to the buck, knife in hand before realizing I had no idea where I would find the poison. She mentioned it was located in its meat but most of that was already missing, courtesy of my oversized lower body.
''What is the best place to find the poison?'' I asked, hoping her anatomy knowledge would help.
''Right below the skin.''
I opened the animal again; the meat was still strikingly fresh. Refrigerator companies must hate them! I wonder what that one simple trick was that kept them fresh.
I scraped off a bit of flesh from the inside of the skin, uncorked the vial and put whatever I had just scraped off inside. I corked it again and repeated the shaking Velariah had done earlier. Just like she had said, the color of the liquid turned from blue to a cyan color. Okay, so she was speaking the truth and apparently, I am valuable.
''Here.'' I handed her the vial, ''I doubt I would need this.''
''Thanks.'' She replied politely.
I sat back in my relaxing position again.
''You should get some sleep.'' I said to the elf, knowing that she must still be exhausted even though she managed to hide it well.
''I should, you better not kill me.''
I wasn't sure if that was a joke or a threat.
''And ruin my chance at meeting civilization? No thanks. You have also proven to be... interesting.'' I repeated what she had said earlier, earning a suppressed laugh.
I saw her make herself comfortable, as much as that was possible in a cave anyway. And I soon heard snoring coming from her. Yep, she had definitely been exhausted. I stretched my legs in the freakiest manner, not moving much had made them feel as if they were sleeping and it annoyed me. When that didn’t work, I decided to walk around a bit outside.
I saw the faintest glimmer of light rise above the trees telling me dawn would soon arrive. While walking around I bumped into one of the wolves still laying around. I decided to relocate both of them to the cave entrance, ready to be transported when the elf got her strength back. Thinking about transporting them, what would be the easiest way to get them to the elven village? Not only that, but they had large wounds that might ruin the fur if I transported them the same way I had the unibelea. For the buck I hadn't minded since it had initially been mine, but these wolves were going to be traded, I couldn't just drag them across the floor now, could I?
I got to an answer fairly quickly, but I wasn't sure if I actually liked it. Partly wrapping them up in silk would close the wounds and make them easy to transport. I got to the idea of using them as ''saddle bags'' so to say, connecting the both of them by a thick thread and then having them hang on each side of my behind. Yep, I was quickly transforming into a pack mule. I couldn't believe it either.
While I was at it, I should probably do the deer corpse as well, except that I didn't dare to wake up Velariah. If she was already far too serious earlier, I didn't dare to imagine how she would be like if she didn't get any sleep. Her behavior so far was puzzling to me. From surprised to scared to steadfast as one would expect of a knight. But beyond that she went to intrigued to my story, to nonchalance, to serious, to distant, to pleading. I couldn’t put my finger on it, I guess if she had been examined by psychologists, they would be sure to come up with several ''diagnoses''.
Speaking about diagnoses, I would probably be far worse off. She was likely in shock and disbelief for meeting anything that was me right now. I had to go through the same except that it was me!
Besides that, there was also the fact that this was her world, and she was used to it. I had to get accustomed to a new world, new environment, a time period which had fascinated me but had no experience of how to live in. New animals, new races, new languages. By the time they figured out what was wrong with me I would already be used to it making the case moot.
I sure as hell hoped getting used to things would put my mind at ease, although I doubt my mind would find any rest until I truly knew what happened to me in my old life. I hoped my family was ok. I knew I had family, I knew I had friends, I just couldn't remember them or their faces, history, anything.
I grabbed one of the wolves before I realized that I had no idea what I was doing. I could go about this two ways: the creepy way, or the maybe not as efficient but less likely to cause me trauma way. I chose the latter.
I walked back to the entrance and got down on the dry, stone floor mentally preparing for what was to come.
'Here we go again' I sighed.
I rolled over as quietly as I could, the freaky sounds of spider legs skittering across the stone floor was not loud enough to wake the elf but it enough to drive my mind crazy.
I'm far too nice, I should cut that down.
I tried not to think of anything while pulling silk out of somewhere but the feeling I got while doing that was undeniable proof that I was no longer just human. I was part human, yes, but I doubt any human would have to experience this super awkward feeling of string being pulled out of several orifices, unless they had severe physical implications perhaps.
I managed to spin the silk into decent non sticky bandage like material (though it was really several smaller threads making a band) around my arms, I bet sleeping beauty would be proud to see I could spin so well.
Thinking about sleeping beauty, the elf was a snorer, a loud one. It sounded like she was sawing down an entire forest in this cave with that kind of noise. Even if I had managed to sleep, she would have likely woken me up. Frustrated by the noise I went to work.
After several minutes of pulling, I ended up with what I thought was enough ''bandage'' to close up the wolves and prepare them for transport. I wondered if maybe the other option would have been less awkward. What I meant with the other option was, of course, just doing this the way a spider cocooned its prey.
Unfortunately, I had no idea how that worked and I kind of want to hang on to my humanity as much as I could, suddenly doing things another species would do didn't sit right with me. I feared I would get too used to things and forgot who I was, am. I guessed I would have to use four legs to rotate my so called ''prey'' under my body while using the other four to stand? That sounded logical, I liked logic. I didn't like spiders, or thinking like one, it scared me.
With a makeshift bandage around my arms, I got to work on the first wolf. The bleeding had obviously stopped but moving it caused more to ooze out. I wrapped the silk around the wolf's wound and a few times around its body, quite possibly turning it into a piñata. I repeated the same for the other wolf and turned it into a double piñata with a shared rope of silk that would allow me to easily transport them.
I had a bit of silk left over and decided to see for myself how strong it actually was, I had not tested it yet, after all. I rolled up the silk to make a thicker thread and pulled on both ends. No matter how much force I applied I couldn't get it to snap, or even expand. It turned out this thread wasn't elastic at all, it was nothing to what I thought would compare back on Earth.
I had always thought spider thread was elastic. I had heard it was stronger than iron if it had the same thickness, I had no idea if that was true but this stuff seemed indestructible at about 2.54 cm. I laughed at myself in my mind for avoiding the use of ''inch'' even though it would be much simpler in this situation, and possibly this world if they used the same measurements humanity did back on Earth in the medieval era. I had always preferred the metric system even though I was born and raised in the States, it made much more sense to my mind that preferred to find logic in all things.
'Okay, so let's put this to a proper test.' I thought as I skittered to the knife I had used earlier.
I tried to make as little sound as possible but knew that no matter what I did it would be impossible to produce more sound than this sleeping elf. I soon found the knife and moved over to the exit again.
Holding a piece of thread between two hands in front of me I grabbed the knife in my last remaining working hand and slashed at the thread. It wouldn't budge, that was interesting. This knife had been fairly sharp, maybe I had dulled it too much in the short period I had had it? I wondered if cutting it would work. So, I tried cutting through my own silk, it wasn't easy, but eventually I got through. Slashing it wasn't going to do much, I should try this with a sword someday, for science obviously. After all, I had to know what I could do to survive, right?
Thinking about why it was not elastic even though I had assumed it would be made me think about the way I had willed it into having certain characteristics earlier. When I had wanted it to be sticky it was sticky. When I did not want it to be sticky, it wasn't. Maybe I needed to want it to be elastic for it to be that way? Would combinations be possible? Questions for which I wasn't going to look for answers anytime soon.
'Maybe I would have to do it soon, for survival reasons obviously.'
I would be lying to myself if I said I wasn't at least a bit curious. I was rather curious but I really wasn't planning to come to terms with what happened to me. I doubt I would ever be, but I could probably at least live with it. Give a girl some time alright?
I finally had some time in which I had nothing to do. The elf was still sleeping, I had water, some coconuts, even some alcohol. I doubted I would need to eat anytime soon considering I had literally eaten kilos of meat within a day.
If we were leaving in the morning, I wouldn't need any more wood than I already had. I felt a bit sad having to leave the coziness of the fire behind me when we travelled to the elven village, I was not looking forward to starting a new one. My mind was bewildered with the idea of the tree menders that Velariah had mentioned earlier. From what I had heard I would assume they used magic, I doubted any medieval surgery was going to get my arm working properly again.
If healing magic was a thing, then fire magic was certainly a thing, right? I wondered if I could learn magic. For someone whose life was not filled with anything specific, magic would be something they could only dream of. Making a fire would be a breeze. Maybe I could use nature magic and grow watermelons or other fruits? Or maybe water magic to cool off people who got angry with me.
Actually, maybe that was a bad idea, I imagined it would make things worse. The other thing that shot to mind was wind magic, maybe I would be able to fly? Imagine the sight of that, a huge flying spider ambushing from the sky. Never mind, scrap that, that was horrible. The idea of huge spiders flying and jumping at people made me shudder throughout my entire body. I was glad they didn't exist back on Earth, well, maybe they did in Australia. I wholeheartedly hoped there wasn't a continent filled with the world's creepiest and deadliest animals on this world.
What was this world anyway? I still didn't know the name. The elf had not shared any information regarding this world not any info on her village's name. I would have to ask that when she woke up.
Doubt started to creep into my mind about this whole ordeal. She seemed like a decent person, stubborn but honest, I hoped I was right but it wouldn't hurt to know more before travelling to her village. Cursing myself for not being logical about things I '''sat'' down near the campfire again. Sitting was a big word. I basically put down the middle segment of my body on the floor, the chitin of my body segment where all my legs were connected to didn't seem to allow the cold to permeate where I could feel it. My fangs were stretched out in front of me, even though I couldn't feel much, having them tucked under my body felt uncomfortable.
With nothing to do but wait, I started playing around with my pedipalps. Poking the burning wood to see if the heat would affect me turned out to have interesting results to say the least. While the heat would not burn or hurt me, it did burn away the hairs on the appendages.
Those were not important, were they?
Still feeling fine, I decided that they weren't. I also figured out I could grab smaller things with the small claws at the end. That was kind of creepy but it could prove useful in the future. Maybe they would be able to hook into things that I would normally not be able to grip? I was thinking about walls, it seemed my legs had no problems scaling the rocks of the cave with my legs before.
I absent-mindedly tapped the floor softly with one of my pedipalps as I was lost in thought with nothing to do but wait.
Another world, huh? Wonder if it's anything like the games I've played.
I thought of nothing for a few seconds before realizing I made a rookie mistake. If this was truly another world with fantasy creatures (myself not included, that couldn't be fantasy, it was a nightmare creature) maybe it had some kind of levelling or a system? I cursed at myself for being so stupid, all kinds of profanity shot through my mind. I would really have to work on keeping that down around others. Why did I never try to invoke the system that you get tossed to death with in anime and cliché fiction, it couldn't hurt to try right?
'STATUS' I declared loudly in my head. Nothing happened. Ugh, please don't tell me I actually have to say it out loud? Please don't let this be a world where all the spells are called out mid combat as well like the most cliché anime battles ever. If I had to look at people calling out fireballs and ice shields and wind gusts and whatnot I would probably die of embarrassment.
''Status'' I murmured firmly but quietly as to not wake the woodcutter not far from me. Honestly, why was I even trying to not wake her, there was no way that would happen anyway.
I heard a clinking sound, and visualized a key being turned into a keyhole to unlock an old door. It seems that actually did something. I was not sure whether to be happy about landing in one of those worlds where you would actually have to call our stuff, that just seemed rather ineffective to me and honestly, it made you look like an idiot. At least it did in my opinion.
Nothing. Nothing happened. I had waited for whatever process was going on to play out but nothing happened. What was that sound before? Something must have happened.
''Status'' I tried again.
I heard a clunk again but this time it clearly came from inside the cave. I looked over to Velariah and noticed she had toppled both iron canteens with a hand that was stretched all the way above her head as she was laying on the floor. This elf was going to be the end of me, I swore. My heart could only bear so much.
''Status, Menu, Info, Character, Player, Inventory, Skills, Abilities, Options'' I tried many things I could think about that could be a trigger for any system in place that would recognize them as such. I tried, tried, and tried some more but none of the words I thought or uttered yielded any response.
''Great, so, different world, no system, no cheat skill to speak of, unless you count the fact that I seem to be great at angering people into shooting at me even after saving their lives. No people that I knew or trusted. Humans spoke a language that I didn't know. Reincarnated as a monstrous spider thing and probably dead soon because of that. What an amazing and epic story.'' I sputtered in sarcasm.
Yep, I would have to do everything myself it seemed, no external power to help or rely on. At least I had one elf that hadn't tried to kill me, yet.
1.7 A deal
''Eh, long metal vehicles that transport tons of goods over long distances on metal roads that don't require horses?''
I had just tried to explain what a ''train'' was. It was pretty hard to explain something that did not have any counterpart in this world. I had dubbed it an ''iron horse'' the same way as in our early history. but she didn’t seem to grasp the idea. I decided to use old, steam trains as a way to explain the idea, electricity was not a thing yet but the power of steam was easy to understand. Let's start with the basics before we move on to advanced things or she will never believe me.
''Okay, so you got the front part that has something called an ''engine'', it pulls carts that are ''chained'' behind it. That front part produces the power to pull through burning wood or coal, it doesn't use any actual animal to generate that power''
Velariah seemed fascinated but distant, as if she didn't want to believe a word I was saying. It was a common issue; culture shock. One would not easily believe something that goes against everything they know, they would rather deny it or meet it with hostility... unless they were shown. Maybe I could show her something that would make her believe me? The question was, what was easy to show with the materials I had available?
If history developed in the same way as on Earth, I would have to pinpoint exactly what era we are in. The problem was that the presence of magic could lead to either the invention of things I didn't know, or may have caused the absence of certain scientific discoveries due to its unnecessity. Let's see where they are at, starting economics
''If your world is as I imagine it, I assume your village pays taxes to some larger entity?''
She looked at me with a frown.
''Well, duh, how else would that work?''
''And what do these taxes consist of?''
''Coins, and trade goods we produce like hides, furs, crops, and lumber. We have several other things but these are our main sources of produce.''
Seemed pretty medieval alright. let's dig a bit deeper.
''I assume animal husbandry is nothing new, correct? Or do you get everything from hunting?''
''No, you're right we have a wide variety of domesticated animals to take care of our most basic needs. Sheep, cattle, chickens, horses for transport.''
I thought about several things but came to a conclusion. It would be dangerous to share any info from my own world that could change the course of history.
''Uhm, there is something you need to know about my world. You see, it appears we are far, far ahead of your age and I fear that sharing any info may cause wars. I do not intend to be the trigger for bloodshed, so I would ask of you that anything I share is to be kept secret.''
She seemed... angry? Was it because she didn't believe me or because she wanted to know more?
''I truly wish I could tell you more, but let's just keep it at trade for now.'' I paused before looking down at my makeshift bra. ''Speaking of trade, I would like to get some proper clothes sometime soon, these are not exactly the most comfortable.''
''Alright.'' she sighed, ''let's start with trade, I would happily get you some clothes in return for the wolves that you felled, I will try to get you some healing potions as well if you could give us some of that venom of yours, it seems quite potent.''
Somehow that didn't sit exactly right with me, I mean the first part was a great deal. It’s just that the venom part seemed a bit unethical to me as I had no idea what it would be used for. I was not planning to be turned into some kind of bio-weapon. I tried to renegotiate.
''I am not feeling too happy about the venom part but I could throw in that unibelea pelt though.''
''Including the horn and antlers?'' She asked.
I hesitated for a moment, not knowing if they had some kind of insane value. Getting rid of this pain sure was an attractive prospect but I would be giving up something that I hoped was worth more. On the other hand, I would still have the venom as trade leverage for later and maybe... silk? I knew silk could bring in quite a dime back on earth if you had the expensive kind. I wondered how high the quality of mine was. If her village was able to process that into high-quality goods I would have to make sure not to get ripped off.
''Deal.'' I said after a long pause.
I tried relaxing again but the pain in my arm flared up again which severely impeded my ability to do so. Velariah must have seen me struggling as she handed me the small yellow vial she held earlier.
''What's this?'' I asked.
''The potion I talked about earlier, what else?'' she rolled her eyes.
''Wait, healing potions are not red?'' Immediately after saying that I remembered the potion she used to create the anti-venom, that one had been blue and wasn't a mana potion, apparently. 'Damn you online games, you failed me too!'
''Actually, never mind. Thank you.''
I had finally found some semblance of civilization but I didn't know how to feel about it. It was nice having someone to talk to but I knew there were certain risks. Talking to Velariah had made me realize them all the more. I was an irregularity in this world possessing forbidden knowledge. I would have to be careful to not stand out too much. That being said I missed the luxury of Earth... Would I ever be able to go back?
I was handed the potion and uncorked it before sniffing. What met my nostrils was a foul odor, it was impossible to describe but it triggered my gag reflex.
''You're supposed to chug it down, quick, you didn't think potions would smell like cherries, did you?''
I actually had. I mean wasn't that the idea of healing potions? Weren't they supposed to taste like cherries? I mean, that's why they were red, no? Never mind, this one was yellow, it completely screwed with my head. Damn this fantasy world, I want a refund.
''It's not actually a healing potion either, it's more of a painkiller.'' She provided some additional information.
Heeding her advice, I pinched my nose and chugged down the horrible tasting liquid quickly. Almost immediately I found a warmth from my stomach spread throughout my body in a wave. When the wave reached my arm, I felt all the other ripples of the warmth going through my body flow towards my wounded arm. There, it concentrated into a fire that actually hurt for a second before the pain I felt before completely died down. Wow, that stuff was amazing, I'd have to be careful not to get addicted. I think the best way to prevent that was to get it fixed by someone she mentioned that sounded like a healer earlier, did she mean magic healer? Now I was curious.
''So...'' I broke the silence. ''How will we do this trade of ours?'' I asked as I reached over for another piece of meat that I had been steadily cooking and consuming as we talked.
''If you don't mind, I think the easiest way is to get this material to our village.'' she looked up at me. ''If you are more comfortable waiting outside the village, that's fine. I can take the materials inside and come back with clothes and potions, or, if you want, I can look if one of our treemenders are available.''
I think I knew what the meant by that but she completed the meaning.
''Our healers.''
''I figured.''
The outside had become darker, the moons disappeared beyond the horizon. For lack of anything to do other than wait I walked over and added more wood to the fire. I grabbed the bow that the human had used and handed it to the elf. 'Screw it, I want to know'. I deviated from what I had held myself to earlier and decided to spill the beans, how bad could this go?
''So, remember what I said about my world? There being no sentient races other than humans? Well, elves exist in fiction and fantasy in our world. In those stories they are generally portrayed as great archers, is any of that true?''
A wide smile ran across her face. That wasn't the reaction I was expecting bit it was a welcome surprise. It also was the first time I'd seen her smile, she seemed like a very serious person. Did she have to keep up some kind of façade? She did mention her father earlier, was he some kind of big shot in their village? I would have to find out sometime, later, not soon. She stretched her arms and shoulders.
''You got that right, alright. it's widely known elven archers are the best. It wasn’t for me though. But yeah, it's interesting how they got that part right. I still don't fully believe there is a thing such as another world though.''
''I know, I know. I will show you a couple things over time if things go well. Keep in mind though, this stays between us.'' I reiterated.
She placed a fist on her chest.
''I swear it on my honor as a knight.''
That seemed awkwardly formal but I hope that meant she wouldn't break the promise. I would hate for nations of this world to start tugging on my legs, even if I had eight now.
''Also, this bow is flimsy, where did you get something as crappy as this?''
''Got it off some human that tried to kill me.'' I shrugged, ''No, I didn't want to kill him, in fact I saved his life. Once it's light outside watch for a troll body, I assume it's a troll judging from my world's description for it. I saved the human from that thing before he turned on me with this ''flimsy'' bow. Hit me in the shoulder too, the bastard.''
She glanced at my shoulder. ''Explains the bandage. But yeah, this is nothing compared to a proper Elven bow.''
''It is worth anything, though?'' I would probably be better off selling it, I had no idea how to handle a bow. I could probably fire an arrow, but in a world where archery is as widespread as this one, I doubt I would have any use for it, I would be outclassed by far too many people, it would be pointless to even try unless I got some kind of training.
If fighting was necessary for survival, I should just stick to what I know and improve on that for the short term. Training my speed would probably be the best thing to do I could already see the speed at which I covered the distance to the human archer, with more experience I doubted anyone would be able to outrun me. If I combined that with a proper set of armor, I would be the ultimate ranged counter.
This made me wonder how strong this body really was in terms of defense, the archer's attack had simply ricocheted off of me earlier. I knew spiders had an exoskeleton, but it being strong enough to block arrows was new to me, what was the exoskeleton even made of? Was it simply because everything was enlarged compared to the normal creepy crawlies? It would make sense, but then again, I was not an entomologist. Wait, did they even cover spiders? A spider wasn't an insect.
'Whatever', I finally thought, right as my train of thoughts was interrupted by a laugh.
For some reason Velariah was having a blast.
''Not in our village no.'' she continued laughing, ''Perhaps as firewood, don’t let anyone see you with this, lest you be laughed out the village.''
'Okay then, never present a human made bow to an elf,' I noted, leaning back again.
''Probably a good idea.'' she said, still grinning.
That made me lean forward again, no rest for me it seemed.
''Do you read minds or what?'' I asked, trying to sound somewhat angry but my new, sweet voice wouldn't allow me.
This only made me more frustrated, intimidation wouldn't come through my words, good thing I have other things that help with that. I mean I would rather just be normal, but I guessed being a normal human with this voice and no combat skills to speak of would not go well for me in this new world. Why did it have to be the most extreme of both sides of the isle? Stupid compromises.
''No, I don't, but your face is easy to read and you are utterly predictable. You're lucky I was to exhausted and confused when I got here, I would probably have killed you out of pure instinct if I hadn't been.''
''Wow, thanks so much for not killing me I guess.'' I reacted with hypocrisy dripping like venom. This only caused her to laugh again.
''No need to thank me. Actually, I'm happy I didn't, you have proven to be... interesting.''
Was that a compliment? Or was I seen as some kind of tool? I wasn’t sure. I sighed as I tried to relax against my abdomen yet again, hoping to make the time pass faster. Just waiting was boring, but not having to sleep tonight had turned out to be a blessing. I managed to proceed with another part of what I had been looking to do.
Trade would allow me to build a relationship with people, hopefully I could convince them I wasn't just any monster that needed to be exterminated to safeguard themselves. This was the most basic of diplomacy and could perhaps get me in touch with others too. I hoped nations were at least friendly to each other, if there were common enemies in monsters like trolls and goblins that was surely the case?
''I would love a pillow.'' I muttered quietly as I relaxed. I felt my long, messy hair getting all tangled with the black hair covering my behind and sighed.
''And a comb.''
''That can be arranged.''
I was surprised she even heard what I had said. I concluded it had to be the ears.
I sighed again, still leaning back. ''Fine, what do you want for them.''
''You know what I want.''
''My venom? What do you intend to do with it?'' I had to make sure she would not massacre a village before selling something so dangerous. My virtues crumbled to dust, I was surprised I was even considering trading it when I had vowed not to earlier. Comfortable sleep was an enticing prospect, and not having my hair all tangled and messy was a welcome addition.
''Anti-venom.'' she stated simply. ''You see this?''
She held up the glowing orange vial of anti-venom she used earlier. I sat upright again, some of my hair still stuck to my spider parts. She sipped down some more and grabbed the piece of meat that had been slow cooking and took a bite. She started to get awfully brazen. The scared to death persona from before had completely disappeared. I nodded in response to her question.
''You see, when you mix the base potion with a venom it will take on a color.''
That much I had seen before.
''The resulting color is an indication of the quality. The redder the color the higher the quality, a red anti-venom potion can virtually neutralize any venom or poison. The resulting quality from low to high goes from blue to cyan to green to yellow to red. Since this is glowing orange, the quality is really, really high. You can't get this quality anti-venom without adding a lot of expensive additions. You see why this venom had such value? You can create high quality potions without having to invest a lot of coin.''
So, there was a very sound reason behind it. I started thinking about it, but she continued.
''Our village is regularly attacked by goblins, they don't pose a major threat but they use nasty poisons created from rare plants that can be found in the caves where they live. in recent years, our village income has tanked and our combat supplies are running low, including the higher quality anti-venom potions. I would forever be grateful if you were to help out.''
Suddenly she appeared to be... begging? What happened to all the confidence she had shown earlier? Was that a façade to try to have the upper hand in the trade? Was she afraid I was going to rip her off if I knew she desperately needed what I could offer? I wasn't a monster, well, whatever.
If I could help save people's life so easily, I would probably have done it for free. It was sad that they were struggling like this but it allowed me to show my good side. If I knew my venom would be used for good instead of evil, I would have no ethical objections. I still couldn’t run the risk of it being used behind my back so I decided to counteroffer.
''Sure, I'll help with that, on the condition that I have complete oversight over the process, ideally outside your village, I want to make sure it's not used for other ends.''
''If you're willing to help, it shall be so.'' She put a hand to her chest again before bowing, which looked funny when done in a sitting position. The meat in her hands got a lock of hair in them which she then had to remove afterwards.
If what she was saying was true, and it had the looks of it, it would also mean that killing me on sight would be detrimental to their village. Unless they found something else, I would be safe, even then, I doubted they would get rid of me. Diplomacy was complicated and I really wasn't the kind of person to look into it deeply. I would rather spend my time and energy on other things. I hoped I would get somewhere with the basics of it in this world, for now it looked to be going in the right direction. An Idea sprung to mind.
''Say Vel, do you have another one of those anti-venom potions?''
''The name's Velariah, and I believe I do have one more, yes, why?''
Ok, so she wasn't the person for nicknames, good to know, I guess.
''I'd like to confirm what you said earlier, I want to take some of the poison in the unibelea and make some anti-venom.''
Her eyes grew wide for a moment but she nodded in understanding.
''It's a bit of a waste since they only produce cyan to teal potions but if you will help, it's a small price to pay, the base ingredients for these potions are quite simple to get, anyway.''
She rummaged through her small pack and fished out another blue potion and handed it to me.
''Be careful with that, it's my last.'' she grabbed the vial she used earlier which still had about a quarter orange liquid in it.
''Besides this one, that is.'' she said as the put it back in the pack.
I moved over to the buck, knife in hand before realizing I had no idea where I would find the poison. She mentioned it was located in its meat but most of that was already missing, courtesy of my oversized lower body.
''What is the best place to find the poison?'' I asked, hoping her anatomy knowledge would help.
''Right below the skin.''
I opened the animal again; the meat was still strikingly fresh. Refrigerator companies must hate them! I wonder what that one simple trick was that kept them fresh.
I scraped off a bit of flesh from the inside of the skin, uncorked the vial and put whatever I had just scraped off inside. I corked it again and repeated the shaking Velariah had done earlier. Just like she had said, the color of the liquid turned from blue to a cyan color. Okay, so she was speaking the truth and apparently, I am valuable.
''Here.'' I handed her the vial, ''I doubt I would need this.''
''Thanks.'' She replied politely.
I sat back in my relaxing position again.
''You should get some sleep.'' I said to the elf, knowing that she must still be exhausted even though she managed to hide it well.
''I should, you better not kill me.''
I wasn't sure if that was a joke or a threat.
''And ruin my chance at meeting civilization? No thanks. You have also proven to be... interesting.'' I repeated what she had said earlier, earning a suppressed laugh.
I saw her make herself comfortable, as much as that was possible in a cave anyway. And I soon heard snoring coming from her. Yep, she had definitely been exhausted. I stretched my legs in the freakiest manner, not moving much had made them feel as if they were sleeping and it annoyed me. When that didn’t work, I decided to walk around a bit outside.
I saw the faintest glimmer of light rise above the trees telling me dawn would soon arrive. While walking around I bumped into one of the wolves still laying around. I decided to relocate both of them to the cave entrance, ready to be transported when the elf got her strength back. Thinking about transporting them, what would be the easiest way to get them to the elven village? Not only that, but they had large wounds that might ruin the fur if I transported them the same way I had the unibelea. For the buck I hadn't minded since it had initially been mine, but these wolves were going to be traded, I couldn't just drag them across the floor now, could I?
I got to an answer fairly quickly, but I wasn't sure if I actually liked it. Partly wrapping them up in silk would close the wounds and make them easy to transport. I got to the idea of using them as ''saddle bags'' so to say, connecting the both of them by a thick thread and then having them hang on each side of my behind. Yep, I was quickly transforming into a pack mule. I couldn't believe it either.
While I was at it, I should probably do the deer corpse as well, except that I didn't dare to wake up Velariah. If she was already far too serious earlier, I didn't dare to imagine how she would be like if she didn't get any sleep. Her behavior so far was puzzling to me. From surprised to scared to steadfast as one would expect of a knight. But beyond that she went to intrigued to my story, to nonchalance, to serious, to distant, to pleading. I couldn’t put my finger on it, I guess if she had been examined by psychologists, they would be sure to come up with several ''diagnoses''.
Speaking about diagnoses, I would probably be far worse off. She was likely in shock and disbelief for meeting anything that was me right now. I had to go through the same except that it was me!
Besides that, there was also the fact that this was her world, and she was used to it. I had to get accustomed to a new world, new environment, a time period which had fascinated me but had no experience of how to live in. New animals, new races, new languages. By the time they figured out what was wrong with me I would already be used to it making the case moot.
I sure as hell hoped getting used to things would put my mind at ease, although I doubt my mind would find any rest until I truly knew what happened to me in my old life. I hoped my family was ok. I knew I had family, I knew I had friends, I just couldn't remember them or their faces, history, anything.
I grabbed one of the wolves before I realized that I had no idea what I was doing. I could go about this two ways: the creepy way, or the maybe not as efficient but less likely to cause me trauma way. I chose the latter.
I walked back to the entrance and got down on the dry, stone floor mentally preparing for what was to come.
'Here we go again' I sighed.
I rolled over as quietly as I could, the freaky sounds of spider legs skittering across the stone floor was not loud enough to wake the elf but it enough to drive my mind crazy.
I'm far too nice, I should cut that down.
I tried not to think of anything while pulling silk out of somewhere but the feeling I got while doing that was undeniable proof that I was no longer just human. I was part human, yes, but I doubt any human would have to experience this super awkward feeling of string being pulled out of several orifices, unless they had severe physical implications perhaps.
I managed to spin the silk into decent non sticky bandage like material (though it was really several smaller threads making a band) around my arms, I bet sleeping beauty would be proud to see I could spin so well.
Thinking about sleeping beauty, the elf was a snorer, a loud one. It sounded like she was sawing down an entire forest in this cave with that kind of noise. Even if I had managed to sleep, she would have likely woken me up. Frustrated by the noise I went to work.
After several minutes of pulling, I ended up with what I thought was enough ''bandage'' to close up the wolves and prepare them for transport. I wondered if maybe the other option would have been less awkward. What I meant with the other option was, of course, just doing this the way a spider cocooned its prey.
Unfortunately, I had no idea how that worked and I kind of want to hang on to my humanity as much as I could, suddenly doing things another species would do didn't sit right with me. I feared I would get too used to things and forgot who I was, am. I guessed I would have to use four legs to rotate my so called ''prey'' under my body while using the other four to stand? That sounded logical, I liked logic. I didn't like spiders, or thinking like one, it scared me.
With a makeshift bandage around my arms, I got to work on the first wolf. The bleeding had obviously stopped but moving it caused more to ooze out. I wrapped the silk around the wolf's wound and a few times around its body, quite possibly turning it into a piñata. I repeated the same for the other wolf and turned it into a double piñata with a shared rope of silk that would allow me to easily transport them.
I had a bit of silk left over and decided to see for myself how strong it actually was, I had not tested it yet, after all. I rolled up the silk to make a thicker thread and pulled on both ends. No matter how much force I applied I couldn't get it to snap, or even expand. It turned out this thread wasn't elastic at all, it was nothing to what I thought would compare back on Earth.
I had always thought spider thread was elastic. I had heard it was stronger than iron if it had the same thickness, I had no idea if that was true but this stuff seemed indestructible at about 2.54 cm. I laughed at myself in my mind for avoiding the use of ''inch'' even though it would be much simpler in this situation, and possibly this world if they used the same measurements humanity did back on Earth in the medieval era. I had always preferred the metric system even though I was born and raised in the States, it made much more sense to my mind that preferred to find logic in all things.
'Okay, so let's put this to a proper test.' I thought as I skittered to the knife I had used earlier.
I tried to make as little sound as possible but knew that no matter what I did it would be impossible to produce more sound than this sleeping elf. I soon found the knife and moved over to the exit again.
Holding a piece of thread between two hands in front of me I grabbed the knife in my last remaining working hand and slashed at the thread. It wouldn't budge, that was interesting. This knife had been fairly sharp, maybe I had dulled it too much in the short period I had had it? I wondered if cutting it would work. So, I tried cutting through my own silk, it wasn't easy, but eventually I got through. Slashing it wasn't going to do much, I should try this with a sword someday, for science obviously. After all, I had to know what I could do to survive, right?
Thinking about why it was not elastic even though I had assumed it would be made me think about the way I had willed it into having certain characteristics earlier. When I had wanted it to be sticky it was sticky. When I did not want it to be sticky, it wasn't. Maybe I needed to want it to be elastic for it to be that way? Would combinations be possible? Questions for which I wasn't going to look for answers anytime soon.
'Maybe I would have to do it soon, for survival reasons obviously.'
I would be lying to myself if I said I wasn't at least a bit curious. I was rather curious but I really wasn't planning to come to terms with what happened to me. I doubt I would ever be, but I could probably at least live with it. Give a girl some time alright?
I finally had some time in which I had nothing to do. The elf was still sleeping, I had water, some coconuts, even some alcohol. I doubted I would need to eat anytime soon considering I had literally eaten kilos of meat within a day.
If we were leaving in the morning, I wouldn't need any more wood than I already had. I felt a bit sad having to leave the coziness of the fire behind me when we travelled to the elven village, I was not looking forward to starting a new one. My mind was bewildered with the idea of the tree menders that Velariah had mentioned earlier. From what I had heard I would assume they used magic, I doubted any medieval surgery was going to get my arm working properly again.
If healing magic was a thing, then fire magic was certainly a thing, right? I wondered if I could learn magic. For someone whose life was not filled with anything specific, magic would be something they could only dream of. Making a fire would be a breeze. Maybe I could use nature magic and grow watermelons or other fruits? Or maybe water magic to cool off people who got angry with me.
Actually, maybe that was a bad idea, I imagined it would make things worse. The other thing that shot to mind was wind magic, maybe I would be able to fly? Imagine the sight of that, a huge flying spider ambushing from the sky. Never mind, scrap that, that was horrible. The idea of huge spiders flying and jumping at people made me shudder throughout my entire body. I was glad they didn't exist back on Earth, well, maybe they did in Australia. I wholeheartedly hoped there wasn't a continent filled with the world's creepiest and deadliest animals on this world.
What was this world anyway? I still didn't know the name. The elf had not shared any information regarding this world not any info on her village's name. I would have to ask that when she woke up.
Doubt started to creep into my mind about this whole ordeal. She seemed like a decent person, stubborn but honest, I hoped I was right but it wouldn't hurt to know more before travelling to her village. Cursing myself for not being logical about things I '''sat'' down near the campfire again. Sitting was a big word. I basically put down the middle segment of my body on the floor, the chitin of my body segment where all my legs were connected to didn't seem to allow the cold to permeate where I could feel it. My fangs were stretched out in front of me, even though I couldn't feel much, having them tucked under my body felt uncomfortable.
With nothing to do but wait, I started playing around with my pedipalps. Poking the burning wood to see if the heat would affect me turned out to have interesting results to say the least. While the heat would not burn or hurt me, it did burn away the hairs on the appendages.
Those were not important, were they?
Still feeling fine, I decided that they weren't. I also figured out I could grab smaller things with the small claws at the end. That was kind of creepy but it could prove useful in the future. Maybe they would be able to hook into things that I would normally not be able to grip? I was thinking about walls, it seemed my legs had no problems scaling the rocks of the cave with my legs before.
I absent-mindedly tapped the floor softly with one of my pedipalps as I was lost in thought with nothing to do but wait.
Another world, huh? Wonder if it's anything like the games I've played.
I thought of nothing for a few seconds before realizing I made a rookie mistake. If this was truly another world with fantasy creatures (myself not included, that couldn't be fantasy, it was a nightmare creature) maybe it had some kind of levelling or a system? I cursed at myself for being so stupid, all kinds of profanity shot through my mind. I would really have to work on keeping that down around others. Why did I never try to invoke the system that you get tossed to death with in anime and cliché fiction, it couldn't hurt to try right?
'STATUS' I declared loudly in my head. Nothing happened. Ugh, please don't tell me I actually have to say it out loud? Please don't let this be a world where all the spells are called out mid combat as well like the most cliché anime battles ever. If I had to look at people calling out fireballs and ice shields and wind gusts and whatnot I would probably die of embarrassment.
''Status'' I murmured firmly but quietly as to not wake the woodcutter not far from me. Honestly, why was I even trying to not wake her, there was no way that would happen anyway.
I heard a clinking sound, and visualized a key being turned into a keyhole to unlock an old door. It seems that actually did something. I was not sure whether to be happy about landing in one of those worlds where you would actually have to call our stuff, that just seemed rather ineffective to me and honestly, it made you look like an idiot. At least it did in my opinion.
Nothing. Nothing happened. I had waited for whatever process was going on to play out but nothing happened. What was that sound before? Something must have happened.
''Status'' I tried again.
I heard a clunk again but this time it clearly came from inside the cave. I looked over to Velariah and noticed she had toppled both iron canteens with a hand that was stretched all the way above her head as she was laying on the floor. This elf was going to be the end of me, I swore. My heart could only bear so much.
''Status, Menu, Info, Character, Player, Inventory, Skills, Abilities, Options'' I tried many things I could think about that could be a trigger for any system in place that would recognize them as such. I tried, tried, and tried some more but none of the words I thought or uttered yielded any response.
''Great, so, different world, no system, no cheat skill to speak of, unless you count the fact that I seem to be great at angering people into shooting at me even after saving their lives. No people that I knew or trusted. Humans spoke a language that I didn't know. Reincarnated as a monstrous spider thing and probably dead soon because of that. What an amazing and epic story.'' I sputtered in sarcasm.
Yep, I would have to do everything myself it seemed, no external power to help or rely on. At least I had one elf that hadn't tried to kill me, yet.
