บท 36: Chapter 36: A new Companion
'This….this is mana!'
The overpowering sensation of harnessing mana nearly caused Noah to lose his chance of targeting the approaching mantis. His adrenaline rush was kicking in at an all-time high. When he placed everything in this moment, he wasn't consciously aware of it, but he was now using all four pupils in complete cohesiveness that time seemed to slow down, allowing Noah to track the mantis's movements with unparalleled focus.
Soon, a jet-black stream of webbing shot out of Noah's wrist towards the mantis. Though the speed was only average, Noah's ability to discern the mantis's movements down to the smallest detail allowed him to position the webs in a way that the creature couldn't evade.
Noah wasn't aware that the mantis shared a similar limitation with his Arachne, they couldn't freely maneuver their bodies while in mid-flight. This was the reason why the mantis had to briefly stop when it passed him before taking off again. Due to this particular flaw and the mantis's rapid approach, it left itself with no way to avoid the incoming webs.
Hiisssss!*
After tumbling to the ground, the mantis hissed in frustration as it attempted to free itself from the webs constricting its movements. Its front legs, crucial for mobility, were ensnared, and the area near the base of its wings was almost fully encased in black webs. Despite its efforts to use its blade-like claws to cut through the webs, the mantis struggled to break free. Maybe if given enough time, then it would be able to cut through the mesh.
Observing the mantis's struggles, Noah recognized that he couldn't afford to let this opportunity slip away. Though he felt a slight depletion in stamina from using his webs and experienced some lightheadedness from his first time tapping into mana, he remained confident that he had enough energy to finish the job. He didn't want to kill the mantis; if he could successfully tame such a formidable creature, then it would significantly increase his chances of getting stronger on his own.
With his arms still raised, he let out another volley of webs onto the mantis, this time targeting its upper portions. Both streams of webs shot out of his arms to form a tight hold around the mantis's main weapons, making it thrash about even more vigorously than before.
As he quickly made his way to the captured mantis, Noah glanced over to check on Arachne's situation. To his surprise, he found her no longer towering over the mantis but instead in the process of, wrapping it into a cocoon? This would be the first time Noah didn't see her immediately start feeding, but after thinking about it, maybe she has already eaten too much for now.
Refocusing his attention on his captured mantis, Noah's mind raced through his options for completely neutralizing the threat it posed. The current bindings were insufficient to render it harmless. Noah was set on releasing more of his webs, recognizing the utility of the skill in subduing the creature. However, his body showed signs of depletion, causing him to hesitate in continuing.
'This skill is definitely making me feel a bit sluggish, not to mention the small headache I'm having right now. I guess that makes sense since it's using up whatever is in my body to create them. But I wish I could at least know how much mana each cast costs. Wait…I can just check my status right?' He quickly went to access his panel; if he could use a little bit more webbing on the mantis, then he would feel more assured to get close to it.
Player: Noah
Race:Human Chimera
Class: monster tamer
Gold: 195
Lvl: 5
Exp:165/400->267/400
Health:89%->90%
Stamina:64%->62%
Mana: 44/44->18/58
His attention was only directed towards his stamina and mana before he refocused back to the mantis, but he couldn't help but frown.
He noticed a change in his overall mana, but attributed it to the recent transformation he had undergone. Although curious about any other boosts he may have experienced, he knew there were more pressing matters to address.
'That's not right…there's no way I would feel this way if my stamina only went down that much…maybe it's only showing me from the last time I opened my status. My stamina should've definitely risen more by then, especially with my skill. In that case, let's just use the webs without supplying mana.'
Noah focused his concentration, channeling the power of his Undead Webbing skill through one outstretched arm, aiming towards the mantis's face. His intention was to subdue the part of the creature that he was going to use for physical contact to initiate his taming ability. While he knew he could initiate the taming process by touching any part of the mantis's body, he reasoned that targeting its face would likely yield the quickest results.
During the process of shooting his webs, he tried to stop the circulation of his mana being supplied, but he quickly realized he couldn't cut off entirely. The most he could do was to allow the bare minimum to be mixed into his veins before shooting out, causing his headache to worsen.
"Fuck!" Noah cursed under his breath, realizing that his attempt to use the Undead Webbing skill without supplying mana had failed. ' Either I'm not proficient enough to use it without mana, or there's no way for me to use it without it. I might need to build my magic if that's the case. At least it got the job done, let's see if taming it will be more difficult than Arachne.'
With measured steps, Noah approached the mantis from behind before he placed his palm on its head to initiate the taming process.
Noah re-emerged in that black universe-like space that was being illuminated by the balls of light just like before, but he quickly noticed a change. The ball of gas that represented him now had more specs of black swirling within it, unlike before, and there now contained small wisps of red. While the white remained stable, the black and red would occasionally flare out.
There was no way for Noah to understand what the colors signified, but he knew it was likely due to his unique body changes. It felt like a necessary change, and he understood that it wasn't going to end there, especially as he began to develop those traits even further.
Instead of focusing on something he could no longer control, he focused on the ball of light in front of him. The ball was almost completely identical to Arachne's, except the white was a little bit more noticeable. Noah wasn't planning on having an epic battle like he did with Arachne; his goal was to completely dominate it fast. Even though he wanted another creature, he didn't want to constantly have to share an equal amount of experience. He wanted to be able to freely adjust the amount shared in the future, so he needed to be in full control of the bond to do so.
Moving forward, Noah felt the familiar force trying to push him away. However, unlike before, he persisted in his advance without caution or wariness.
It didn't take long before he approached the boundary where he was almost stumped by an emotional attack. The small wisps of red within his core began to glow more intensely; any feeling that was being projected to him was partly absorbed and intensifying his own.
"Schree….."
The mantis cried in defeat, losing any desire to fight, just like Arachne before it, but this time Noah didn't bother to spur it on. It didn't take him much longer to enclose himself around the mantis's ball of light, having it submit to him.
As the appendages tethered themselves to the mantis, Noah observed a significant change that hadn't occurred with Arachne. Unlike Arachne's bonding process, where only a single color was involved, the parts secured by the red appendages on the mantis also began to take on a reddish hue, while no other color influenced the other side.
Noah still couldn't process what the red signified, so there was no way he would know what was happening. This scene only led him to further questions.
'Is this only for the mantis or has Arachne been affected too?' Noah pondered, making a mental note to observe Arachne more following this. Having spent enough time with her, he hoped to notice any changes that may have occurred. He just wished he knew exactly when he was influenced by the red wisps.
Soon, he was brought out of that space and back to reality. The mantis was no longer as frantic as it was originally, but it still struggled to free itself from the webs. Arachne stood a bit further away from him, dragging her prey behind her with her webs.
Meanwhile, Noah could sense that he had another notification. Most likely, it was regarding the amount of experience shared between himself, Arachne, and his newly added companion. Before he planned to check, he wanted to release the mantis from its bondage. In his attempt, he pulled and tugged at the firm webbing, but it wouldn't budge with everything he tried.
"How the hell is it so strong? I know my stats aren't that ridiculous besides my spi-of course! Spirit influences spells by increasing their effectiveness. But this is just too exaggerated…Arachne, I need your help with this!"
He decided to leave this type of work to someone with more experience, although he didn't know how spiders dealt with these kinds of situations. What Arachne did next almost caused Noah to faint.
"No! No! I said help with the webs, not to eat the bug, dummy! Do you know how hard it'll be until we finnnnnndd…" Noahs words trailed off when he noticed that Arachne really wasn't trying to devour the mantis but was instead eating the webs. What he didn't know was that spiders would sometimes eat their own webs as a form of recycling so they could replenish their energy.
"Haha, I didn't mean to call you a dummy, I was trying to say 'not to eat it, it's not yummy'." Noah chuckled, caressing her backside as he tried to make it up to her.
"Humph!" Arachne wasn't interested in what he had to say. She had something more important on her mind: the delicious silk her master was able to spin. As she ate it, she noticed her own webs undergoing a qualitative change.
"Hehe~" Noah tried to laugh it off, but he realized two things. Arachne was developing a personality, and two, for some reason, she was really enjoying herself while she was eating his webs. He decided to create a bit of distance from her in case she tried to ask him for more. In the meantime, he used the opportunity to check the notifications.
[Taming of mutated Praying Mantis successful. Because the Mantis was completely subdued, you are now given the option of the amount of experience to share.
Would you like to set the shared Experience to the standard 50/50 or custom distribution?]
Noah didn't need to think about this; he couldn't neglect his own level, so he set the experience for the mantis to 80/20. Arachne would be his primary monster, while the majority of the mantis' experience would go to his own growth, allowing the mantis to gain most of its experience by eating. He noticed that after the fight with the running zombies and now the mantis, his stats were lacking. He was about to at least check the mantis' status, but the notifications weren't over.
[Arachne has successfully mutated her webs with hosts undead webbing. Arachne's Spiders silk has changed to 'Cursed Silk'.
Cursed Silk- Unlike its original natural ability to create silk, the spider's webs are now imbued with an otherworldly mana that shouldn't co-exist. Each web fortified by the infusion of corrupted mana, making it tougher than before. Grows stronger with strength and mana infused.]
"….Why is it that everyone is gaining skills by eating? INCLUDING ME? I'm just waiting to gain the skill of gluttony anytime now. But…" Noah relooked over her skill and then compared it to his own.
"Does that mean I'll also have to raise her magic stat now so she can use her webs? No…If that was the case then her skill would be more of a nerf than an upgrade, I don't want to believe it. She still has the five unassigned points; I'll just have her try it later and then we can use the points then."
As Noah waited for Arachne to finish what she was doing, he used this moment to check the status of his new mantis companion.
[Player: Mantis
Race: Praying Mantis
Class: Mantodea
Lvl: 6
Exp:73/800
Health:94%
Stamina:87%
Mana: 8/8
Attributes
Strength:33(35)
Agility:32
Constitution:16
Stamina:21
Magic: 4
Spirit:29
Skills
Active
Burst flight(Lvl 0)-
Camouflage(Lvl 0)-
Passive
Echo location(Lvl 0)-
Noah's eyes lit up when he saw the level and stats of his new creature. He felt lucky that he was somehow able to overcome them, let alone tame one. He felt that both he and Arachne were a direct counter to the mantis, who clearly outmatched them based on stats.
"Oh? You're done?" He noticed the movement of two figures behind him and saw that the mantis was able to stand on its own. The mantis curiously sized both Arachne and him up and down. It felt that they were friendly, but part of it was unsure because it was just trying to kill them. Yet, amidst this uncertainty, it couldn't shake the feeling of a unique connection with them, one that made it feel closer to them than to its fellow mantises.
"Hey, even though we started off on the wrong foot, let's get along!" Noah said with a smile, he was excited to obtain another ferocious creature that he didn't realize how cringe sounded. Fortunately, the mantis wasn't yet accustomed to human speech and could understand from Noah's intentions that he was welcoming it, clearing up its earlier confusion about them being friendly or not.
However Arachne had enough understanding to notice Noah's awkwardness and began to shuffle her legs repeatedly, making her own imitation of laughter.
"Well, that odd one there would be your older sister you would have to listen to, clearly somethings wrong with her so you don't have t- okay okay! Sigh…Nevermind, make sure you listen to your older sister…." Noah relented when he saw her attempting to do her "threatening" poise, where she would lift her front legs and her upper body in the air. It was obvious she was throwing a small tantrum; hierarchy meant a lot to her, so he decided to give in.
He looked around while the two attempted to get used to one another, which was hard to do since the mantis wasn't as expressive, appearing to come off as a strict soldier after learning its place. Nevertheless, Noah was sure that Arachne would rub off on it sooner or later.
Now that he had an extra accomplice, Noah felt that their farming should be much easier. Yet, he still had to solve one last issue. He pondered while he turned back to the mantis with one of his most serious expressions that he rarely wore. Both Arachne and the mantis sensed that he had something to say while they waited in suspense.
"Are you the fucker or the one that gets fucked?"
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