Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
Additional thanks goes out to mae and Legit-rikk. Join our discord

---

Another day after another day of sneakily, sneakily scuttling along. The labyrinthine zone from the upper area had a billion twisty little passages, but this has just been one long, unbroken passage. I mean, it’s great that I can’t get lost, but… if this passage happens to connect to the Bottom Stratum, I’d be stuck, right…? Aaagh, let’s not start imagining the worst. This road leads to the Middle Stratum! Yes! I believe this completely!

Well then, my red meter’s about to run out. I… did eat one of those snail-bugs earlier, but that is really, really an absolute last resort. Even now, I can see a few of them crawling around on the walls, but I can’t really imagine myself willingly eating any of them. That’s right! These things are atrociously awful to eat.

So, while I’ve still got a few points left in this meter, I should try to find a more normal meal. …Let’s not worry about whether highly poisonous monsters are “normal” or not. Ah, well, it’s not like I haven’t eaten a bunch of them alreadyyy… Ugh, and now there’s these guyyys… Why can’t I find something tasty for ooonce! I really miss instant ramen.

Right, right! Front: clear! Rear: clear! Perimeter is clear of external threats! Perfect, perfect.

{Elroe Randanel – LV 8 – failed to appraise status}

{Elroe Randanel – LV 7 – failed to appraise status}

{Elroe Randanel – LV 7 – failed to appraise status}

Look at that, they’re in a group of three, just like last time! What a friendly bunch. Their levels are way higher than the last group, though, as expected for things down in the Lower Stratum. That level eight one might even evolve soon, if level ten’s their evolution threshold. Ah, what a bright future… that they will never see, heh.

I circle around behind them, hidden in the gloom. And then I deploy my brand-new weapon: Casting Net!! …Huh? The name’s kind of boring? Haha, it’s fine, it’s fine. Sometimes nothing really clever comes to mind, you know! “Ku-morning star” made me grin as soon as I thought of it, but coming up with names of that caliber every single time would be a huge pain!

So, without further ado, Casting Net: GO!

Please do not be mistaken: this is no ordinary throwing net. This new weapon… argh, this really does need a name, hm… oh, what? An explanation? Right, right! This net collapses into a ball as I throw it, then springs open wide as soon as it reaches its target! This is my amazing new combination attack, mixing the precise craftsmanship of my [Spider Thread] and the dextrous control of my [Thread Control].

All three of them are wrapped up tightly in an instant! Ha ha hah! A great catch, a great catch! Now, as usual, let’s end things with a little [Poison Fang]… chomp!

<Condition satisfied. Acquired Title [Poison Technique User].>

<Acquired skills [Poison Synthesis – LV1] [Poison Magic – LV1] as a result of Title [Poison Technique User]>

Oh? Ohhhh?! I got another tiiiiitllllllle!! It’s a poison one? It’s a poison one!! Man, I have been using nothing but poison since I was born, and this is only finally showing up? These must be some strict requirements! Hm, now that I think about it, though, all of my titles have had some pretty harsh entry conditions… maybe they’re just hard to earn in general? Ah, well, I’ve got this one now so it’s not a problem.

Now, the skills, [Poison Synthesis] and [Poison Magic], huh… Well, I’m going to just ignore [Poison Magic] because I still have absolutely no idea how to use it at all. Throw it on the magical garbage heap I’m accumulating. [Poison Synthesis], hmm, might share the same fate. How do I use this thing? “Synthesis” huh, so, do I use this to make poison? I’m a spider, though, I can make my own poison already.

Ah, no, no, let’s not waste time messing with my skills. I still have work to do! There are still two more of these things that need to be disposed of. So, with my [Poison Fangs]… chomp!

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Poison Fang – LV 7] has become [Poison Fang – LV 8]>

Oh? Ohhh?! OHHHHH?! What’s today’s forecast, poison with a chance of more poison? This is great, this is great! If level ten is the maximum skill level, my poison should be getting way stronger now that it’s at level eight. It already could take down those wasps, who I assume were venomous themselves. This is way easier than getting titles, hah.

Right. Let’s take these three dead things and hide amongst the crags. Ergh, man, with my terrible physical stats, carrying three of these at once is extremely difficult! Man, if I’d carried these things one at a time, I might have had an easier time but… huh? Didn’t I complain about this exact same problem a while ago, you ask? Didn’t I come up with exactly the same solution the last time, you ask? Hmmmmm? I know nothing about anything like that! I don’t remember that at all, and my memory is nowhere close to bad, so it can’t have happened. You got that? Good.

Well, while I’m stuck here eating, I might as well play around with [Poison Synthesis] some. Of course, I have no real clues about how to begin, so, uh… I’m basically just going to take a wild guess. So, deep in my heart, I silently whisper, [Poison Synthesis].

Huh, and something actually popped into my head. Just like with [Appraisal], I can see a status window floating in my mind’s eye.

Poison Synthesis Menu:

Weak Poison
Spider Poison	Lv8

What the heck? Oh, well, if it’s displayed like this, let’s try using [Appraisal] to read up on it…

{Poison Synthesis Menu: From here, you may synthesize poison.}

{Weak Poison: An extremely weak poison.}

{Spider Poison – LV 8: A lethal venom secreted by spiders. At level 8, it is extremely potent.}

Umf. [Spider Poison] is undoubtedly my own poison. This [Weak Poison], is it what a level one [Poison Synthesis] can normally make? To try it out, I select [Weak Poison]. As I watch, a ball of liquid bubbles into being in mid-air, then suddenly drops to the ground with a splash. Whoops. I really should find a container for this, shouldn’t I? Just to be sure, I appraise the puddle.

{Puddle of Weak Poison}

Yeah, that’s weak poison, all right. I see… it looks like [Poison Synthesis] is a skill that can conjure up poison without needing any materials at all. If I was a human, this would be super useful, but I’m a spider, you know. Well, I might be able to come up with a use for it anyway. Yeah, a no-cost way of generating poison is pretty awesome, after all.

Ah, no, wait, my mana’s gone down a bit. Looks like it’s not completely free, after all. That’s another big strike against it. I guess that if I keep leveling it up I might gain access to a larger variety of poisons, but I’ve already got my super-powerful spider venom! This isn’t very appealing at all. I’m glad that I figured out how to use it, though. This is, at the very least, way more useful than the completely incomprehensible magic system.

Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
Additional thanks goes out to mae and Legit-rikk. Join our discord

---

I stealthily move along. If I kept watching these guys fight, after all, I’d definitely have gotten dragged into it, so getting out of there immediately was the best idea. Maaaan, this lower stratum… That praying mantis… I thought it was ridiculously strong, but it’s really just kind of average down here. There’s not only the spider that devoured the mantis, but also winged lions and even a giant serpent that is probably the evolved form of one of those snakes from earlier. Truly, a peerless collection of monsters. Nai wa.

I’ve been sneaking along, trying to avoid drawing attention to myself, and so far I’ve been able to slip past everything without being detected. Well, if I had been detected, it would have been all over, anyway.

For a while, I forced myself to keep moving constantly, not even stopping for sleep. After a while, my red stamina meter finally started to decrease again. I still have no idea what was keeping it maxed out before, but it seems like there’s some kind of time limit on whatever it was. Before these thirty-eight points disappear, I’m definitely going to need to find myself some food.

I couldn’t find a target that I could actually defeat, though, so I tried to force myself to sleep. Let’s be clear. I couldn’t sleep at all. Obviously. Before, I could guarantee my safety while sleeping by building a basic home and sleeping in there. In a monster lair like this, though, I’d need more than just a basic home to guarantee my safety and, of course, anything more sturdily built would be way more conspicuous. I don’t want to stand out at all.

If you have to ask me why, it’s that the Earth Dragon is terrifying. If I build a decent nest, the Earth Dragon is probably going to come straight for me. What’s that? I have a persecution complex? I don’t know… The Earth Dragon is terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. Nope, nuh uh, no can do.

And, so, for the first time in my life, I slept without the comfort of a home. This was waaay too stressful! Until I tried it, I never could have imagined sleeping in the open was going to be so terrifying. Every time I started to nod off, the slightest sound would shock me awake, and then I’d start to nod off again. I got basically no decent sleep like that. Next time, I’m going to make a simple home, just for the peace of mind. It’s not bad now, but if I wind up super sleep-deprived, something bad might happen. Ah, well, in my previous life I only really got four hours of sleep a day, so this might be okay after all.

Well, that’s just my sleep problems. The real issue is food. I need to find a way to secure some food in this monster lair. This might be me being overly enthusiastic, but I think there’s a simple enough way to make this happen. After all, there’s a kind of food that I can obtain without breaking a sweat.

I thought it was a little odd, earlier. The strength of the monsters here is ridiculous! But, mixed in with those are some monsters that are way weaker, comparatively, the kinds that I saw back in the upper levels. Take the snake, for example. Ahaha, I never thought I’d be calling the snake weak!

Well, if there’s weaker monsters, what do they eat? After all, the weak don’t eat, they get eaten. That’s the law of the jungle, and this dungeon follows it to the letter. But there’s a tiny stream of weak things down here, the kinds of things that the wasps focus on as their main target.

So, after spending some time observing these weaker monsters, I’ve realized the common thread between all of them.

They’re all extremely poisonous.

It’s so obvious once you realize it. I was born with a little bit of [Poison Resistance] skill, so I didn’t mind eating poisonous meat very much, but an ordinary person wouldn’t want to eat poison! These guys might be weak, but any stronger monsters that don’t have [Poison Resistance] would avoid eating them. This might even work in my favor; if I get spotted, they might leave me alone because of my poison! Well, I say that, but it’s really better not to be spotted to begin with, so I really should keep sneaking around.

So, what do these weak monsters eat? There’s two kinds of food, as far as I can tell. The first is, of course, other weak monsters. This is the big one. The weak monsters have to compete with other weak monsters. If I stumble across one, and I know there’s no weak monsters nearby, I can easily finish one off with a sneak attack.

The other one… well, it’s what the weak monsters eat when there’s literally no other choice.

{Elroe Gestruch – LV3 – failed to appraise status}

These things look like flat, black bugs that somehow remind me of snails. They cling to the dungeon walls and slowly creep along them, exactly like a snail. Let’s call them… snail-bugs. These snail-bugs are abundant down here. No matter where you look, you’ll see at least one, stuck to a wall. That’s how many there are. After learning about these things, I foolishly wondered why none of the other monsters were eating snail-bugs when they were so omnipresent.

This was before I actually ate one.

Yep, that was foolish. My mind was made up, fighting this thing was inevitable and, well, this isn’t the kind of thing I can take back. It was only after I ate it that I realized why the other monsters used it as an absolute last resort.

Yep, I ate one. I really ate one. Killing it was easy; I yanked it off the wall with a thread and finished it off immediately with [Poison Fang]. I had yet to uncover its true horror, however. “Time to dig in,” I blithely thought. Ugh, why did I do that?

Snail-bugs are un-freaking-believably disgusting.

So, yeah! That taste was not of this mortal world! Sure, I’ve eaten a ton of rather gross things since I was reincarnated as a spider, but those flavors pale in comparison. It was so disgusting that I lost a few points of health! That was not food. My [Rot Resistance] skill went up! Under any sane criteria this is not a good thing for your food to do! If “waste not, want not” wasn’t such a deeply-held personal belief, I wouldn’t have taken another bite.

So, as you can see, there is food that I can easily obtain without breaking a sweat… but it comes bundled with such extreme pain. Well, if I had to pick between starving to death and eating food that merely makes me wish I was dead, I’d have to pick the option that doesn’t involve actually dying. So, if I am out of literally every other option, I’ve got snail-bugs to eat. Let’s pray it does not come down to that.

Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
Additional thanks goes out to mae and Legit-rikk. Join our discord

---

The vast assembly hall stretches before me as I pass through the door. At the end of a long, red carpet, a man waits behind a pedestal, while a crowd of people watches us quietly from their rows of seats along the walls. Everyone in the audience is a high-ranking member of the nobility.

Sue and I proceed forth along the red carpet, walking majestically like we had been taught for this occasion. I can feel the pressure of every eye in the audience as they watch us, but I ignore it as best as I can.

After what feels like a lifetime, we stop before the pedestal, then kneel. The man behind the pedestal, who is in reality our father, the King Meiges Derra Analeit, turns to face us.

“Let us commence the rite of [Appraisal],” intones the King, his majestic voice reverberating through the hall.

This man may be my father, but I haven’t met him more than a few times, so he does not feel very much like a family member. Instead, he gives off the air of a powerful ruler. It would be a serious understatement to say I’m nervous right now. The King has been continuing to speak, but I’ve barely heard a word he’s said.

“…Schlain Zagan Analeit, rise.” “Yes, my Lord,” I reply, rising to my feet. “Begin the [Appraisal]”

I step up onto the small stool in front of the pedestal. With my height, I wouldn’t have been able to reach the top without the stool to help. Set within the pedestal is a flawless black gem. This seems to be the [Gem of Appraisal], but it’s smaller than I thought it was going to be, small enough to fit in an adult’s palm. I shake off my unexpected thoughts and place my hand on the gem. I concentrate on the word “Appraise”, just like I had been taught. In an instant, my stats are revealed.

Name	Shun, Human
Level	1
HP (Green)	35/35
MP (Blue)	348/348
SP (Yellow)	35/35
SP (Red)	35/35
Average Offense	20
Average Defense	20
Average Magic Power	314
Average Resistance	299
Average Speed	20
Skill Points	100.000

My stats appear in my mind’s eye. Simultaneously, they are also projected high on the wall, like a screen, for the entire room to see. This screen is linked together with the [Gem of Appraisal], so results can be displayed easily.

The crowd behind me begins to murmur. The King commands everyone to be silent, but the talking still continues. Based on that reaction alone, it looks like my stats are outside the norm. Quite honestly, this is the reaction I had been expecting.

My magic-related stats are, of course, quite high, as Anna could attest. In contrast, though, my physical stats are about where they should be for a child my age. Well, that’s not quite accurate; they’re definitely on the high side compared to my peers, but nowhere near the same extent as my magic stats. Hmm, my stats have become really unbalanced.

As for my skills, though, I know that there’s some sort of Voice of God. If I understand it correctly, it alerts you whenever your level rises or you gain a new skill. However, I have two skills that I wasn’t told of at all: [Divine Protection] and one whose name looks garbled. I’m a little curious about both of those, so I try Appraising them.

{Divine Protection: Blessed by the protection of Heaven. Any outcome you desire is made easier to obtain.}

{n% I = W: Impossible to appraise.}

What the hell? [Divine Protection] is amazing. It’s OP! Although, it does only say “easier to obtain”, so it’s not like the world will move exactly as I wish. This is an amazing skill, but I shouldn’t lean on it too heavily.

The other skill, though, is much stranger. Not only is its name cryptic, the appraisal result is even worse! I have no idea what this skill could possibly be. Even a [Gem of Appraisal] of the highest quality can’t glean any insight as to what this might be and, if [Appraisal] can’t tell me anything, I have no idea how to explore it any further. I know nothing about this at all.

“Oh, that looks just like the one the Duke’s daughter has!” says someone in the crowd. “That amazing prodigy, right?” asks someone else. “Yes,” adds a third, “but it would appear that the Prince is just as talented… maybe even moreso!”

I’ve been catching snippets of conversation from the murmuring nobles behind me, usually comparing me to the daughter of a Duke. Is there seriously another child out there who is as gifted as I am? I thought Sue was the only one…

“Silence!!” thunders the King. The room quiets down immediately. The King presents me with a sheet of paper, on which my stats have been recorded by the magical writing device linked with the [Gem of Appraisal]. I respectfully accept it, bow deeply, and step back. My part of this ceremony is complete.

Next, Sue steps forward. Her results are roughly the same as mine, which causes the crowd to erupt into noise once more. The important difference, though, is that Sue lacks both [Divine Protection] and that mystery skill.

Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
Additional thanks goes out to mae and Legit-rikk. Join our discord

---

This path I’ve been following is pretty big.

Well, it’s got to be pretty big if those two-and-a-half meter wasps can fly about freely. Even that five-meter praying mantis can move freely, too!

{Elro Greshgard – LV 3 – failed to appraise status}

A swarm of wasps are swarming around a giant praying mantis, who is slashing back at them with the giant sickles on its forelegs. Unlike an ordinary praying mantis, though, this guy has six. Like an Asura. The wasps want to strike from the air, but they don’t want to get in range of those sickles… what a stalemate.

As for me, I’m sneakily observing these proceedings from behind a rock. It looks like neither party has noticed me just yet. It looks like my [Stealth] skill is far more effective than I was giving it credit for! I sneak a peep over my rock in order to activate [Appraisal].

{Elro Greshgard: A praying mantis-like monster that inhabits the Great Elroe Labyrinth Lower Stratum. The attacks it makes with its sickles are extremely powerful.}

Oh! One of the wasps just got bisected by a sickle. Whoooa, those things must be crazy sharp to cut a wasp in half with a single blow! Man, if those things are that ridiculously sharp, they might even be able to cut through my thread! Well, since they haven’t noticed me, I have the great privilege of just being able to sneakily scuttle by as I please.

Oh yeah, before I forget, I should look up these new vocabulary words I got from [Appraisal].

{Great Elroe Labyrinth Lower Stratum: The area between the Middle and Bottom stratum of the Great Elroe Labyrinth. Many powerful monsters inhabit this level.}

Ahhh, I see! These are the lower depths, huh… And there’s even more below me, huhhh… And there’s tons of strong monsters down here, huuhhhhh…

I didn’t want to know any of that.

By the way, I did in fact try looking up the {Middle Stratum} and the {Bottom Stratum}, but all I got was {the stratum in the middle} and {the stratum which resides at the bottom}. Why do I bother, [Appraisal]?

Although, it seems like this is not actually the deepest layer like I thought it was; there’s even more below. I can’t help but imagine that the Bottom Stratum is packed to the gills with absurdly powerful monsters. Ugh, this is, of course, the world’s largest dungeon, and when I think of a dungeon, I think of a place where the monsters get stronger and stronger the deeper in you go. If my current stratum really is filled with powerful monsters, then it’s totally not unreasonable to think that the Bottom Stratum could be crawling with Earth Dragon-class monsters. Just thinking about it gives me the chills.

That’s far away, though. Hmm, if I had to guess, I’d say I probably was in the Upper Stratum before. If humans were able to get in and out, those tunnels must have been connected to the surface somehow. Aaaargh, why didn’t I follow after those footsteps instead of running away! Although, really, even if I did manage to follow them out, I still look like this… Just because I’m a spider, I’d still have to live out my life hunting like a monster.

But yeah, that really has nothing to do with things right now, right? I’ve got to figure out how to escape these lower depths, after all… which would put me in the Middle Stratum, huh. Really, though, I don’t even know if this tunnel connects to the Middle Stratum at all! Maaaan, I really want to avoid that Bottom Stratum.

Oh, another wasp died! It’s not looking good for the wasps. Mantis, you’re way strong! Hmm, isn’t that thing way stronger than a snake? This is weird, I’ve been ranking the snakes as boss monsters… they don’t even compare to that Earth Dragon, though, and if this praying mantis is so much stronger… The snake is plummeting down my rankings. This is pretty obvious, but… those snakes are nowhere near the toughest things on this level, are they?

Well, it’s far too early to tell. It could be that the praying mantis is just way too strong.

…That is also a thought that needs correcting. Immediately after the third wasp was slain, something entirely unexpected happened to the praying mantis. In the blink of an eye, it was crushed between the mandibles of a giant spider.

Uh? Wait, wait… Seriously?

{Greater Taratect – LV 18 – failed to appraise status}

Whoa. Is this what my Mega Evolution looks like? Really?

{Greater Taratect: The evolved form of the spider-type monsters known as Taratect. Their powerful, carnivorous fangs drip with deadly venom.}

Ohhhh! If I keep evolving, is that what I’ll become!? It’s still really small compared to “My Mother”, that super-huge spider I saw way back when, but this thing is seriously over ten meters long! That praying mantis looks tiny now. …Wait, was that thing taken down without the use of thread at all? Just with a bite? Wouldn’t that require a stupidly high offense stat? Mine’s still only 21! How many times am I going to have to evolve to turn into that thing…

Well, I should probably sneak away before I get spotted. Noooo way I can win against something like that.

Alright, I’ve learned one thing today: the Lower Stratum is seriously bad news!! Why do I say that, you ask? It’s pretty obvious!! All these monsters around me are so powerful that I don’t even know if making a nest will be enough to beat them. Like I said before, [Stealth] is the last thread I’m clinging to. Was I too quick to flee, huh? Should I have seriously tried blasting through that swarm of wasps to get out of here, huh? Maaaaan, though, I’m not really feeling that sense of overwhelming doom like I was when that Earth Dragon was nearby, huh…

Although, I do know that there’s monsters down here that the bees actually can kill, so maybe this isn’t completely hopeless after all. Praying mantises and giant spiders are one thing, but the other monsters down here can’t all be that strong, right? If I find a monster that I think I can take, I’ll make a meal out of it, otherwise I’ll just keep using [Stealth] to sneak by. By the way, my red status gauge hasn’t dropped at all! If I can trust this display, I don’t need to worry too much about food for the time being. I should be able to pick my targets freely, acting with the utmost caution. I don’t want to blunder across anything else like the Earth Dragon, after all.

Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
Additional thanks goes out to mae and Legit-rikk. Join our discord

---

I survived. I am grateful beyond belief. I’m alive. What an amazing thing to be.

As I think that, though, I can’t stop faint feelings of despair from creeping in. What on earth am I going to do now?

My nest is gone. Completely, utterly, gone. I caught a fleeting glimpse on my way out of the destruction wreaked by that breath-like weapon.

There’s an enormous crater in the wall where it once stood.

Ha ha. A crater in the wall, that’s kinda weird! How did that even happen? Isn’t a crater supposed to be something that happens when a meteorite or whatever crashes into the ground? What on earth could put a crater on a vertical surface? On top of that, didn’t it have to blow through that huge rock too? Yeah, kinda weird.

Even when I was dazed and defenseless, the wasps didn’t attack. Those guys are probably just as terrified of the Earth Dragon as I am. It’s just that powerful of a being. Anyone would be terrified. Even I’m terrified.

Seriously, what do I do now? Breaking through the wasps and returning to my original tunnels is… possible. That’s only if I disregard the Earth Dragon, though. This time, I survived through pure luck. Next time, though, I don’t think I’ll be anywhere near as lucky. Based on that thing’s actions, it’s clear that it recognized my nest as a particularly troublesome thing to deal with. Otherwise, there’s no way it would let loose such a ridiculous attack. From here on out, whenever I build a nest, I need to acknowledge the high chance that the Earth Dragon is going to take offense.

So, I can’t make a nest. Or, rather, I’m terrified, so I’m not going to. My spirit has been broken. I absolutely do not want to anger my superior, the Earth Dragon.

Maybe I’m wrong, maybe the Earth Dragon destroyed my nest on a whim, but I can’t say that a creature that powerful would attack like it did without some level of thought behind it. It really doesn’t matter either way, though, since I’m too weak to do anything about it. If I meet it, I will die. That’s it.

Twice so far, I’ve been able to escape. Both of those times have been extremely lucky. I don’t think it was entirely luck though. Even though that thing is monstrously powerful, it wasn’t able to see me while I was hiding… right?

Yeah, I think so. I really want to think so. If I don’t, I’ll lose that last thin thread of hope I’ve been hanging on.

My single way to survive. If I keep myself absolutely hidden, I’ll somehow be able to make it out of the Earth Dragon’s territory. I’ve got no other options.

I’ll need to rely on my [Stealth] skill. When I first got it, I didn’t think it would help me all that much, but now it’s my only lifeline. Its level is five, which is, quite honestly, not great, but I’ve got no other choice.

I focus on my thoughts. First off, I have to figure out which direction the Earth Dragon went. I survey the ground around me, and notice that it’s left splendidly clear footprints. They lead off away from me… in that direction, it looks like there’s just one big tunnel. Back there, it seems, is where the Earth Dragon lurks. Just realizing that makes me nervous.

I should go down the path that points as far away from the Earth Dragon as possible. That much is obvious. Who’d be so stupid as to aimlessly meander towards it? To be honest, though, I have no idea where this path may lead. Putting my fears aside, the best way to get out of here would be to try climbing again. Putting my feelings aside, I think it would really be my best chance for survival. Seriously, though, that’s still impossible. I don’t need to think about this one, I can feel it in my gut.

If I proceed slowly and keep myself hidden, I’ll be able to move forward. Staying hidden will be hard… where’s a cardboard box when you need one? Heh… Looks like my mood’s recovering a little bit, huh?

Speaking of recovering, it looks like that huge pile of damage I took when I fell has already been healed, thanks to [HP Auto-recovery]! Man, I really should have spent all of those skill points on this, instead of that worthless [Detection] skill. It’s fantastic that I was able to acquire it on my own, though. I wonder how quickly I regenerate? I didn’t really have the luxury of being able to watch my meters fill back up back then. It’s still low-level, so I can’t rely on it for rapid recovery, but I shouldn’t need to be overly concerned about a few scrapes every now and then.

Ahhhh, I didn’t really think about it much back then, but I did notice that my red Stamina bar wasn’t going down at all! I wonder why that is? I’ve never noticed anything like this before… Maybe there’s some sort of condition that stops it from decreasing, but I really have no idea what it could possibly be. …I don’t think this is the case, but… is this a bug? Is my stamina going down without the meter being updated? Ah, that would suuuck! I couldn’t do anything if I suddenly ran out of stamina. Hey, Ms. [Appraisal], I can believe in you, right? You’re a can-do kinda girl, right? I trust you, but… with things like this… can I really believe in you?

I think [Appraisal] might level up soon. It’s been a while since it last leveled, and I’ve been using it constantly since then. Since getting it up to level six made it a billion times more useful, I have really high hopes for level seven. I will be grateful beyond belief if it gives me a skill readout or anything like that. Having all of these skills I know nothing about is seriously inconvenient, you know! I might even have some skill hidden away that will turn this entire situation around! Even if I’m expecting too much of it, maybe there’s something that will make things even just a little bit better.

Even the tiniest little advantage I can scrape together in order to get out of here would be amazing. What about a skill that gives me the location of all of the nearby enemies? If I had that, I could constantly be checking to make sure the Earth Dragon wasn’t anywhere near me as I move forward. It would be great if I could use [Detection] like that, huh… I’ve given up hope on that by now, though.

I could really use a map, too! I don’t know if this tunnel is going to lead me to a safe place or not. There’s actually a pretty decent chance that this links directly up with another danger zone! If that happens, I’ll probably die… right?

Well, for now, all I can really rely on is my own terrible luck. Please, if I may be so bold, let this passage bring me to somewhere safe!

Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
Additional thanks goes out to mae and Legit-rikk. Join our discord

---

After my successful defeat of the first squadron, the wasps started attacking continuously. I wiped out the second squad they sent at me without any trouble, but after that, things started getting a little hairy. They started sending multiple squads at once. Nai wa! I mean, this is the right thing for the wasps to be doing, but, please look at it from my perspective! I don’t want this many wasps to come! I’m still totally safe in my nest, but there’s this constant feeling of pressure, you know! What am I supposed to do about all of these wasps constantly buzzing around me, day and night?

I sigh a little and look around me. Everywhere I look is wasps, wasps, wasps. Seriously, guys, what’s up with you? With this many of you this close, your buzzing is no joke! You’re seriously annoying! You’re so loud I can’t sleep!

On top of that, if I do manage to shoot all of you down, I can’t eat that much! Sure, my [Overeating] skill might let me eat more than I could before, but even that is nearing its limit! I was complaining that one of these things was too huge, and then I got five more. Eating all that brought [Overeating] all the way up to level three, didn’t it?

The worst part of this is that, while I’m being harassed by these wasps, work on my nest has stopped completely! My absolute top priority is escaping. Not dealing with wasps. But now, thanks to this unrelenting onslaught, my construction work can’t continue. I’d really prefer if they stopped attacking and left me alone… I already have more than enough food. Well, it’s not like they could understand that, anyway.

I really have no choice but to thread a little more work in between each attack. With the wasps being as vigilant as they are, leaving my nest is straight-up suicidal. The “charge straight to the top” plan I was thinking about before is definitely impossible. My speed may be 369, but I won’t get anywhere close to that amount when I’m charging straight up a wall. If I run into any wasps on my way up, it’s plain to see that I’ll be stabbed straight to death.

Ahhhhh, son of a bitch! I really don’t want to get slowed down like this! What happens if that Earth Dragon suddenly shows up? …If that Earth Dragon… suddenly…

A tremendous chill runs down my spine.

Wh… what? Oh no, oh no, oh no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no!!!! This isn’t happening. This is not happening!! Ahhh, but it really is!!!

{Earth Dragon Araba – LV 31 – failed to appraise status}

The last guy I ever wanted to see has arrived. What’s worse, it looks like he is quite interested in my nest.

Wh… what do I do?! Wait, no, what can I do? Nothing. I can’t do anything. Not against an opponent like that. I have, basically, one option: pray with all of my heart that he is going to pass me by.

My prayers, however, are ripped to shreds.

The Earth Dragon opens its mouth. A dragon’s greatest weapon is, without a doubt, its breath weapon.

A thunderous roar splits the air. A blast of pressure rips forth. A terrible vortex of destruction swallows everything in front of it.

What happened next, I’m not so sure about. It’s pretty easy to put the pieces together, though. The big, sturdy rock I had used as the foundation for my nest simply vanishes, along with a huge chunk of the wall behind it. An enormous crack runs up the wall above the blast site. Chunks of the wall start to rapidly break off; a literal cave-in. In a single blow, the bottom half of my nest was destroyed. The remaining top half was soon swallowed within the collapsing wall.

I was in the top half, spared from the direct effects of that breath weapon. I fell, surrounded by my broken webs, unable to do anything. I helplessly fall to the ground below. Oof. My health meter empties in an instant, but I’m still alive somehow. I’m alive, but I don’t know for how long. Everything is up to the dragon, now.

I’m covered in layers of my own webbing. I’ll get stuck in it if I touch the sticky parts, even though it’s my own thread. That’s really not a problem, though, not now. This might actually be lucky. If I’m covered in a pile of thread, the dragon might not be able to see me amongst the wreckage. He might even think I’m a rock, if I had to take a guess! If I just lie perfectly still, maybe he’ll miss me entirely?

Seizing this faint hope, I hold my breath, and clamp down on the fear that trembles through my body.

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Acquired skill [Fear Resistance – LV 1]>

My trembling lessens by just a fraction, but I’m still scared. I am still quivering in abject terror! I’m scared i’m scared i’m scared i’m scared i’m scared i’m scared i’m scaaaared!!

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Stealth – LV2] has become [Stealth – LV3]>

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Fear Resistance – LV1] has become [Fear Resistance – LV2]>

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Stealth – LV3] has become [Stealth – LV4]>

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Fear Resistance – LV2] has become [Fear Resistance – LV3]>

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [HP Auto-recovery – LV1] has become [HP Auto-recovery – LV2]>

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Fear Resistance – LV3] has become [Fear Resistance – LV4]>

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Stealth – LV4] has become [Stealth – LV5]>

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Fear Resistance – LV4] has become [Fear Resistance – LV5]>

The, ahah, “Voice of Heaven” pulls me back together. Or, maybe, it’s the five levels of Fear Resistance that I earned while lying here trembling. I have no idea how long I’ve been hiding here. From the number of skill levels I got, it feels like forever. I check my stamina meter to see if I can tell how long it’s been by how much it’s gone down, but for whatever reason it’s still at max.

I use [Thread Control] to rip off the threads stuck to my body. From my earlier experimentation, I learned that I can use [Thread Control] to change the properties of my thread somewhat, even after I’ve detached it from myself. Now, I decrease the adhesiveness and peel it back, slowly crawling out from under the pile of webbing. The Earth Dragon is gone.

Oh man, I’m lucky.

Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
Additional thanks goes out to mae and Legit-rikk. Join our discord

---

Ah, is it finally happening?

{Finjegoat – LV 6 – failed to appraise status}

{Finjegoat – LV 4 – failed to appraise status}

{Finjegoat – LV 5 – failed to appraise status}

{Finjegoat – LV 5 – failed to appraise status}

{High Finjegoat – LV 1 – failed to appraise status}

Hovering in the sky before my eyes is a squadron of wasps, and they sure don’t look like they’re just here to watch. They’re giving off an atmosphere of hostility, like they’ve finally seen me as a threat and are here to settle things.

My nest stretches up about halfway to my goal. As I’ve been building higher and higher, the wasp’s attitudes have been changing bit by bit, but it looks like I finally hit a point where they just can’t leave me alone anymore.

But still, they just sent one squadron. Are they not taking me seriously, or are they just testing the waters? Regardless, in my nest I can totally win against just one squad.

I ready my Ku-morning star. I’ve been building the walls of this nest out of a fine mesh, but I’ve left cracks for me to throw my weapons out of. Of course, even though there’s cracks, it’s not like they’re big enough for those two-meter-long wasps are going to be able to get through them. My foes have no way to get through to me, but I can attack outside as much as I want. Well, they can always run away, though, so it’s really more of a tie.

The two level fives rush in to assault my nest. Heh. Even when there’s two of them attacking simultaneously, my nest doesn’t even budge. My [Spider Thread] skill is level eight! Even when it was low-leveled, my thread was something I was proud of, and now that it’s this high-level, it’s only gotten better. Just like that, it was able to withstand two of those wasps directly charging into it, without moving an inch! Even though they came at me with their impressive bulk and their great speed, there was literally no damage at all. It literally didn’t even shudder from the impact.

The threads I’ve surrounded my nest with are maximally strong, with just enough rubbery elasticity to be excellent shock absorbers. I designed it so that the threads can expand and contract somewhat, in order to absorb a certain amount of shock. Two wasps ramming into it head-on did nothing! It can absorb at least that amount. If it couldn’t, then I’d have to rely solely on the raw strength of the threads to keep things together.

It’s not like those wasps’ attacks are particularly weak, or anything. From my observations, these wasps are, hm, how do I say it… strong. They drag all sorts of prey back here, including those huge snakes!

They can attack unopposed from the air, with their poisoned stingers and powerful physiques. Under any normal circumstances, they would be a huge threat! No ordinary attacks can reach them when they’re in the air, so they can attack without fear of reprisal. Ah, hm, this might be why they seem so weak to my anti-air attacks. My perfect accuracy with the Ku-morning star may be because they just simply aren’t expecting anything to hit them!

Thanks to all that, an ordinary battle with these wasps would be extremely difficult. Yes, an ordinary battle. My home, my trump card, is not, however, ordinary. It possesses extraordinary resilience, extraordinary binding power, and extraordinary siege potential! I’ll bet these wasps haven’t ever seen any tactics like these. This is, after all, what happens when a spider’s strongest trump card is wielded by a human’s powerful intellect.

For now, I’ll ignore the two wasps that got stuck in my nest after they body-checked it. I turn to the remaining three wasps, who still haven’t grasped the severity of their situation, and hurl my Ku-morning star! Their leader is completely unable to avoid it, and takes it full on. This was my goal all along. I crack my thread like a whip, and the centrifugal force slams my foe down into my nest. The leader has been neutralized.

The remaining two wasps panic, not knowing what to do now that their leader’s been taken out. Perfect targets. I fling out the Ku-morning star yet again and dispatch the higher-level one. After that, the remaining wasp gets its head together, but its next move is awful. I don’t know if it was expecting a turnabout, but it charges straight at me! Didn’t you learn anything from the other two that tried that? Well, unfortunately, that desperate attack completely fails to reach me, and there’s one more wasp stuck in my webs.

It was over too quickly. The wasps I thought were so dreadful and terrible when I first fell down here have no strategy to deal with me once I’ve built a nest! If it can withstand a straight-on charge without even shuddering, then no matter how many wasps may attack, they’ll never reach me! This alone is proof of the ridiculous defensive strength of my nest.

In a video game, if your defense stats are high enough, attacks from weaker characters won’t deal you any damage at all. It looks like that’s holding true for my nest against those wasps. I had imagined that the wasps wouldn’t be able to break through, but I was figuring that they’d at least do enough damage that I’d have to do some maintenance every once in a while.

There are still hundreds of pathetic little wasps buzzing around above me. I remember the terror I felt when I first realized how many there were… but, now that I have my indestructible nest, it’s an entirely different story. It doesn’t matter if you bring hundreds, or even thousands, if you cannot break through my webs, your stingers shall never reach me!

My chances of escape are looking better and better. In an excellent mood, I finish off these captured wasps and get back to work.

Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
Additional thanks goes out to mae and Legit-rikk. Join our discord

---

After killing a few more lone wasps, I finally heard that voice.

<Experience has reached the required level. Individual Small Taratect has increased from LV2 to LV3.>

<All basic attributes have increased.>

<Skill proficiency level-up bonus acquired.>

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Strength – LV1] has become [Strength – LV2]>

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Solidity – LV1] has become [Solidity – LV2]>

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Overeating – LV1] has become [Overeating – LV2]>

<Skill points acquired.>

The level up that I’ve been waiting for all this time comes at me in an instant! My skin rustles as it peels away from my body. Somehow, although I can’t really describe how, I can feel that the wound on my back has closed completely.

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Acquired skill [HP Auto-recovery – LV1]

…Huh? Really? Ohh! Now this is a surprise. So, uh, does this mean that my full-heal on level up is a kind of automatic recovery? I am extremely, unbelievably happy about this, but, man, I really could have used this earlier… My life wouldn’t have been nearly this hard if I’d had such luxuries available to me.

No, I shouldn’t be complaining. This really is luxurious! My anxieties about if I would ever level up have vanished. This is when I should be smiling thankfully.

Seriously, though, things had gotten pretty dangerous. My health, which had been stuck at six for a while, went down to five on its own, so I got seriously worried about my continued existence. It kept going down, too, and by the time I leveled up it was all the way down to three. Seriously dangerous. I clamped down on my anxious heart, and threw everything I had into hunting stray wasps.

Hunting the loners was remarkably easy, though! Unlike what I’d expected at first, my accuracy with the Ku-morning star has been one hundred percent. This was a serious surprise, you knooow! Is this another thing that spiders can just do naturally? Regardless, on top of that, I picked up both [Throw – LV1] and [Hit – LV1]! Both of these are probably skills that give me a passive bonus, I think.

And on top of all that, I got three bonus skill levels when I leveled this time! I don’t know what any of them actually do, but since I’ve somehow accumulated some skill proficiency, I’ve probably been benefiting from them unconsciously. I don’t… think… there’s any downsides to this… probably. I’m a little bit concerned about [Overeating], though…

Thanks to all the web-weaving and wasp-hunting I’ve been doing, my thread-related skills have gone up quite a bit, too! My [Spider Thread] is now at level eight, and [Thread Control] is up to level five. [Thread Control] is way more useful than I thought it was gonna be. Now that it’s level five, its accuracy and speed have gone up quite a bit. Picking this up was absolutely the right choice.

[Pain Mitigation] also hit level five, so my back was actually pretty comfortable. This skill is pretty awesome; it alleviates pain, but it leaves enough feeling that you have a sense of how bad your injuries are. Pain is a great indicator of danger, so feeling it is actually pretty important. If it disappears entirely, you’ll have no idea of how dangerous any of your injuries are. This skill, though, still gives me that sense of danger, despite taking the pain away. It’s hard to describe… wounds have a sense of… uneasiness about them, I guess, that is distinctly different from actual pain. So, taking away the pain isn’t a problem at all. Ah, well, it’s only level five, so it’s not like it gets rid of it completely.

Well then! I leveled up after all this time, so let’s check out my new stats!

Oh ho! All three meters went up by two, as did Offense and Defense, and Magic Power and Resistance went up by one. But uh, hey, Speed, what are you doing? I remember you being 348 before, and then you gained… twenty one points…? Isn’t that a little weird? The other stats were a little more reserved about it… aren’t you trying a little too hard? …Offense, Defense, why did you go up the same amount? You’re leaving Magic Power and Resistance in the dust, you know… Nai wa…

Ah, well, I’m going to have to ignore my unbalanced stats for now. Gotta focus on the present.

At long last, I’ve leveled up and regained all of my health, so now I can focus my full efforts on getting out of here. With my injuries as bad as they were, my work was slower than I would have liked; plus, I had to be extra cautious. From now on, though, I’m going to keep hunting the loner wasps for stamina while extending my nest higher and higher.

By now, I’ve made it about one quarter of the way to my goal at the top. I’ve still got a loooong way to go. So far the wasps haven’t been aggressive or even just intimidating. I have no idea how long that’s going to last, though, so I need to make sure I’m still building this strong enough to withstand an attack. This is crucial… but man, it’s way hard. Unlike building a regular nest at ground level, this climbing nest is super challenging! The higher I go, the harder it gets. I keep having to run a thick support thread from the foundation rock to the wall above me, and then I have to bind it tightly to the rest of the structure. I’m only a quarter of the way there, and this work is getting harder and harder as I climb.

I’ve got no choice, though, I have to do it. I have no idea if or when that Earth Dragon is going to show back up here. What I do know is that I want to be far, far away from here when it does happen. Worst case scenario, I have to abandon my nest halfway through and just charge straight up as fast as I can and hope for the best. This is, of course, extremely dangerous… but if I stay down here, my death is inevitable. So, until then, I’m going to keep building this web higher and higher. I absolutely do not want to stay down here.

Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
Additional thanks goes out to mae and Legit-rikk. Join our discord

---

Today is the long-awaited day where I finally get my stats checked with the Gem of Appraisal. There are stats in this world. I can’t say that I haven’t wondered why that is, since this is reality and not a game, but I’ve given up on looking for the answer. The explanation is pretty simple: that’s just how this world is.

Yes, a simple explanation. This world really is very much like a game. If you work hard enough, you’ll earn a reward, just like that. Sure, there seem to be differences in raw talent, but if I compare it to Earth, this really does seem to be a world where your efforts are acknowledged far more easily. At any rate, these rewards come in the form of things called “skills”.

To earn a skill, you must perform actions that match what that skill does. As you do so, you accumulate a number of “proficiency points”, and when you’ve earned enough of those, you earn the skill. Once you’ve earned it, you can start using it immediately. On top of that, if you keep using the skill, you keep earning more proficiency points, until you pass a certain threshold and the skill’s level increases. The harder you work on it, the better it gets. There’s no such thing as an effort gone to waste! Truly, this is a magnificent world.

Ever since I was born, Anna and Klevea have been tutoring me, so by now I’ve picked up quite a few skills. The more I did, the more I got out of it, and I got swept away by the thrill of greedily acquiring skill after skill. Sue has always been by my side, mimicking me, and has picked up a lot of skills herself. Sometimes, we overdo it, and Anna and Klevea get angry, but they do it out of love.

In a game, more strength equals more fun. There are other players that like to pace themselves, but I always try to get as strong as I can as fast as I can. This is doubly true now that I’m not just leveling a game character, I’m working on strengthening my own self.

It’s all well and good to work on getting stronger, but there’s one inconvenient thing about this world: I have no way to check my stats. This world definitely has the concept of an individual’s statistics, but trying to see them is extremely difficult.

To do so, you need a skill called [Appraisal]. If you have that skill, you can use it to see someone’s statistics, but there are few humans in the world who can use it. In order to start building proficiency points, you must first build a deep understanding of what makes something valuable and a sense of what materials things are made of, much like an appraiser does back on Earth. The level of technical skill required is far beyond what a novice can muster. Even if you can somehow acquire the skill, raising its level is an extremely difficult task, so there are very few humans out there who can truly use it.

It’s not impossible, though, if you just want to easily acquire the skill. If you have any of these things called “skill points”, you can spend them in order to acquire a skill directly. Even a skill as difficult as [Appraisal] can be acquired, as long as you have enough skill points to spend. Even if you do so, though, you can’t really go very much further.

To level [Appraisal], you have to use it. Using it grants you proficiency points, and, once you’ve accumulated enough, the level goes up. However, activating [Appraisal] is actually pretty hard on your mind.

[Appraisal] requires neither magic nor willpower to activate. It’s definitely wrong to say, though, that you can activate it as much as you want. If you fall into that trap, you’ll be assaulted by severe headaches and a sort of intoxicated feeling. The limit varies from person to person, but apparently there are people who can’t even use it once without falling ill. Even if you’re talented, trying to appraise two things at a time will leave you ill, with a crippling headache.

Since just activating it once could cause such serious effects, activating it over and over again in order to grind out your skill proficiency would carry a terrible cost. And, on top of all that, if you don’t get it up to a high enough level, it’s effectively useless. Thanks to that, there aren’t very many people alive who can use [Appraisal] effectively. Apparently, it’s a profession that’s passed down from parent to child.

So, to solve the problem of people still needing to be able to check their stats, this thing called a [Gem of Appraisal] was introduced. If you can acquire one of these rare, specially-crafted magic items, you can temporarily use [Appraisal] as if you had the skill yourself. The skill level varies depending on the quality of the Gem, and the one owned by the royal family is, naturally, beyond compare: it’s level ten, a level that no other stone in the world can match. Of course, its use requires special permission, so it’s really only the royal family and their most valued friends amongst the high-ranking nobility.

Since I’m a member of the royal family, using it will be no problem. However, even though I’m a prince, I can’t just use it whenever I want. No matter how many tantrums I threw to try to convince Anna, she was very insistent: you can’t get permission until you’re old enough. Of course, once you’re old enough to appraise your status the first time, it’s treated as a special event. Even if you’re merely a noble, there are still rites to be held, a majestic ceremony for a child’s first [Appraisal]. I, of course, still have to go through with this ceremony.

These ceremonies are not just for [Appraisal]: they also serve as the child’s first appearance before the nobility. The [Appraisal] results are displayed such that all of the gathered adults can see them as well. I don’t think it will be a problem that my skills are atypical for someone my age, but I’m a little terrified that my stats will be so low that my family will abandon me.

In any event, Sue and I are making our grand debut here. We’ve been dressed in our ceremonial children’s clothes, and have been drilled endlessly on the ceremonial rites. In attendance will be the current King; that is, our father. Even more, it looks like there’s someone especially important in attendance, so it is extremely crucial that we don’t mess up at all. Even if we’re children, we are members of the royal family. We are the stars of this occasion, so we must present ourselves with all of the dignity and grace that is expected of the royal family. This is a lot to ask of me; I used to be a lowly commoner in my previous life. However, when I saw how magnificently my little sister was standing beside me, I was filled with determination. I must do this.

“Are you ready, my Prince?” asks Anna, solemnly. I silently nod. “Then, after you.”

Anna pushes lightly at our backs, and Sue and I enter, side by side, into the assembly hall.

Author’s note – This has turned out somewhat longer than I was expecting, so I’m cutting it off here. It will continue in chapter S06.

Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
Additional thanks goes out to mae and Legit-rikk. Join our discord

---

For now, I’ve secured a source of food. This wasp is big enough that I’ll be able to stave off starvation for another few days, so I don’t need to worry about my stamina at all. I have way more options available to me now.

Most realistically, I should keep doing the same thing, doing this small-scale hunting thing until my level goes up. I can eke out a safe, honest living that way, not taking any unnecessary risks.

I had another idea, though: work on expanding my nest. Upward.

Exploring this floor warrants a big fat “nope”. It’s not a question can or can’t. Nnnnoooope! That dragon’s too scary. Noooo can do.

So, if that’s my plan, creeping my way up this wall will let me get back to the tunnels from before. In order to do that, I’m going to need some way to avoid all of those wasps. If I were to just climb up as-is, those wasps would eat me alive! I need some sort of countermeasure.

I’ve thought about it somewhat, and my best plan so far is somehow extending my nest vertically. It’s less a plan and more of an application of brute force… ah, and what a blatant use of force it is. Really, though, it’s all I’ve been able to come up with so far.

There are, of course, problems. First of all, weaving a nest like that is going to burn through all of my stamina. I’ve never tried to build a nest up a wall before! I have no idea how much more stamina it’ll take than usual. This is a seriously huge project, and the stamina from the single wasp I’ve caught so far isn’t going to last me very long at all. I’m going to have to replenish it, somehow.

On top of that, there is an excellent chance that I’m going to have to fight a bunch of wasps. Down here, they’re overlooking me, but if I start to encroach on their domain up above, they’re going to have problems with that. A violation of sovereign airspace. I wonder if they’ll be able to overlook that… The absolute worst case scenario is that hundreds, no, thousands of wasps will all swarm in and attack me at once. This would be a straight-up nightmare; there’s no way my nest could withstand an attack of that magnitude.

I shouldn’t just be worried about the wasps, either. There haven’t been many other monsters that have come wandering into this pit, other than the snake and the Earth Dragon from before. If that dragon were to wander in here, though… Last time, I escaped by hiding in these crags, but if I start extending my nest it is going to stick out like a sore thumb, and if the dragon takes notice… I’m dead. Even after all this time, I”m terrified that the Earth Dragon is going to appear at any second.

So, if this works, I can finally get out of this mega-danger zone, but there are some serious risks involved. I really don’t have a better plan, either. There could be one, but I certainly haven’t thought of it.

So, then. Commence the preparations for nest extension!

First up is the foundation. When building a house, you must start with a sturdy foundation, after all; it’s not a stretch at all to say that the quality of a house is decided by the quality of its foundation. And, here’s a good, sturdy rock!

It’s the first rock that I took shelter behind. It is seriously huge, about seven meters high and five meters wide, sitting slightly away from the wall. I’ll use that one as the foundation, so I’ll start expanding my nest over that way.

What I’ve got so far is a web connecting one side of the rock to the wall, with a little horizontal bit jutting out. First, I need to link the other side of the rock to the wall and web that up. Next up is a diagonal thread that connects the top of the rock to the wall… then, using that as a base, connect it to my other walls. With this, my foundation is complete!

Now, it’s time to try to expand things up a little bit. I snack on the wasp to get my stamina back up, then get back to work. While I’m working, I notice a few wasps silently watching me, but, as expected, they don’t approach. Looks like I’m still far enough down that they’ll keep overlooking me.

I wrap up my work for the day, finish eating up the wasp, and call it a night.

Day Five. It feels like my back is a little less sore than before. My health is, of course, still six. Since the wound hasn’t gotten any better, I guess my [Pain Mitigation] skill leveled up again while I was sleeping. Probably.

It’s really great that the pain’s going away. I’ve still been able to move around without any trouble thanks to [Pain Nullification], but there’s a night-and-day difference in my mood now that I’m not hurting any more. Ah, no, the pain hasn’t gone away completely, and the wound still isn’t cured, but this is way nicer. I never had a wound nearly this bad when I was a human. The worst pain I can remember was stubbing my pinky toe on the doorframe. That really hurt, but it doesn’t even begin to compare to having a huge, gaping wound opened up in my back.

Thanks to my elevated spirits, work goes great!

As I’m working, one of the loner wasps buzzes over. There’s a full squad nearby, though. Umf…

Now’s a pretty good opportunity to run a little experiment, so I think I’ll provoke this loner wasp. If I threaten the loner, will the squad react? If they do, I can immediately escape deep into my nest. If they don’t, I can do it like I did before

I ready my Ku-morning star. Oh, yeah, didn’t I pick up a [Concentration] skill last time I did this? What does that do, just increase my ability to focus? …Eh, it’s level one, so the effects aren’t going to be huge, so I’ll just leave it be for now.

Wait, no, concentrate, concentrate. Heh, thinking about [Concentration] ruined my concentration. Aim caaaaarefully… there!!

Ah, it hit.

Wha, what?! I’m awesome, aren’t I? I was thinking “oh man there’s no way this is gonna hit, heh” and then I got a direct hit two out of two times! Me, who consistently ranked lowest in the class for physical strength; me, who could barely even throw a softball…

Uh, whoops, in my surprise I completely forgot to keep track of that squad. They are… oh, there they are! Umf, no reaction at all. Man, can I really attack these loners without facing a counterattack? That’s really heartless, you know, guys? Or maybe this is just how severe life in the wild is. Well, regardless, either way this is great for me. I can pick off the loners at my leisure.

Chuckling happily to myself, I bring the captured wasp back into my lair, and finish it off with [Poison Fang].