Zzzzz. Yaaaaawn! Ahhh, I slept a ton! Did I oversleep? I’m feeling a little sluggish. Ahh, well, sleeping without a care in the world is the best!
How long did I sleep? Well, in my previous life I tended to sleep for about four hours a day. This, though, feels more like the time where I passed out from lack of sleep and slept through an entire day. It’s hard to tell, though… humans and spiders are very different creatures, so I don’t really have any way to figure out how long I was actually asleep. Yeahhh, I want a clock.
How long has it even been since I was born? I’ve got a vague sense that it’s been two, maybe three days, but since I’m in a dungeon it’s not like I can use daylight to tell.
I don’t even know what kind of calendar this world uses! Maybe one day isn’t actually twenty-four hours. On Earth, a year is the length of time it takes the planet to go around the sun, and a day is the time it takes for it to spin around its axis. Does this planet have exactly the same size and mass of Earth, and does it spin around its star at the same rate? It’s pretty unlikely. Ah, well, that’s just the explanation according to science, but in this magical parallel world, it’s not entirely impossible that we’re operating under entirely different laws of physics.
It’s not like I can really verify it either way, though. If I ever leave this place someday I might look into it, but for now I’ll just enjoy this lackadaisical lifestyle to the fullest. …Well, maybe instead of lazing about, I should try thinking about some of the unanswered questions I’ve collected until now.
First off, how did I die? Ah, hm, now that I think about it, I’ve basically just been assuming that I’m dead. I’ve been working under the assumption that I suddenly died and was reincarnated as a spider, but I don’t actually remember dying.
Hm?
The last thing I remember was being in Japanese Lit. Our teacher, Oka(TL.1), was in the middle of reading something aloud, right? I was drowsily nodding off, then suddenly there was a blast of blinding pain, then I don’t remember anything after that. If I did die, it was most likely because of all of that pain, but I don’t know what could have hurt so bad to begin with.
Well, the most likely theory is that I died from that mysterious pain, then I was reincarnated as a spider. If I didn’t die, I could… merely be possessing this spider while my real body is comatose in a hospital bed? Oh, and this one’s even crazier, but it could be that I’m a completely different person with a copy of my old memories, and my original self is still stuck in literature class.
Hmmm, I’m sure that if I kept thinking I could come up with even crazier ideas. If I wasn’t really me, how would I prove it? I could try saying incomprehensible things like “I am me, therefore I am me,” or whatever… It’s hard to believe, but reincarnation is the simplest explanation I’ve come up with, so I’m going to stick with that for now. “I think, therefore I am,” right? Let’s just assume that I’m me.
Next up, this body that I’m in. A spider’s body is surprisingly convenient! I’m not having any trouble moving around on my eight legs, and it’s actually way easier for me to move around as a spider than as a human. I can run along walls, and, absurdly, can even walk along the ceiling. I’ve got a few weaknesses, though. I don’t have hands, and I can’t look behind me without turning around.
Not having hands is a real pity. I could use my front legs to grip things, but it’s really a poor substitute. I won’t have anywhere near the same precision or finesse that I did with my human hands. Plus, my legs each end in a single sharp claw, and there’s no way something so dangerous could be used in place of a finger. It’s a shame, but I’ll be able to manage somehow.
There’s only one really big problem: I can’t see what’s behind me.
This is extremely dangerous. Spiders don’t have necks, so my head is attached directly to the rest of my body and can’t turn independently. I’ve got plenty of eyes, so my field of view is actually quite large even if I can’t turn my head, but I’ve got no way to see what’s behind me at all. I’m incredibly vulnerable to a surprise attack.
I might try using my threads as a countermeasure. Since I can’t see behind me, I’ll need to rely on some other sense, and if I can keep threads spread out behind me, I could use my sense of touch to tell if there’s something behind me. Ahh, well, easier said than done. I need more practice with my threads. I’m safely hiding in my home, so I don’t really need an early-warning system, but better safe than sorry.
Lastly, skills. There’s a million little things I want cleared up, but for now let’s just focus on the big one: what the heck is a “skill”?
If I’m using game logic, a skill is some kind of ability or technique. The kinds of actions you can perform are based on the skills you have, so as you acquire more skills you can do more things. However, I don’t know if this world treats skills the same way, so I shouldn’t make any assumptions.
My first priority is figuring out what skills I have, and what skills I can acquire.
I have three skills that I know about: [Appraisal – LV 1], [Acid Resistance – LV 2], and [Poison Resistance – LV 2]. I bought [Appraisal] with skill points. Those are a mystery too, huh. I spent all of my points on [Appraisal], but I have no idea how to get more. If this were a game, I’d get more when I leveled up, but I don’t know if this world even has things like levels. It could be that I’ll get more as time passes.
Worst-case scenario? Never getting any more. Skill points may just be something an individual is born with, and you only get to spend them once. Ahh, that would be shockingly awful.
I hope that’s not true!
APM - Translation 