“I am a spider. As yet, I have no name.”

What, did that sound like it came out of nowhere? Don’t be surprised! I just wanted to see how it sounded out loud. After all, it seems like I really don’t have a name. What’s that? Why don’t I have a name? Ahhh, oops, I think I skipped ahead too much. Let’s rewind a little bit so that I can explain.

I am dumbfounded by how unbelievably large I am. That’s a normal reaction, right? I was already in shock from realizing that I had been reborn as a spider, and then I had to discover I’m a monster as well. This is overwhelming! Anyone would be in despair! Anyone would be driven to suicide!

Haha, well, it’s not like I’ve actually been thinking about my own death.

Well, I don’t really have time to be overwhelmed. After all, I don’t know where I am! This world is very different from the Earth I know, so I have no idea what sort of danger I could be in. Couldn’t there be other monsters out there that are just as scary as that enormous spider?

That spider, though. If I’m about one meter long, then that thing has to be around… thirty meters? Can a human even handle a spider that big? I really hope the people who left these bootprints don’t have to fight it. Ah, no, wait! Perhaps if they had heavy weapons they could have a chance! This is a fantasy setting, right? Maybe they’ve got some sort of high-powered attack magic! That would work, right?

Hmmm, I don’t know. I should definitely think of that spider as a boss monster, though. If I don’t, I probably won’t live very long.

I was just thinking that it wouldn’t be so bad if those people fought that giant spider… but isn’t that kind of wrong? After all, it seems like, you know, that monster is my mother. I’m her widdle monster baby!

Ahhh, yeah, this is no laughing matter. I’m a spider monster! If those people found me, wouldn’t they try to kill me?

Yeahhh, probably. Definitely. What should I do? I want to know more about those people, but I know that if they find me I’m definitely toast.

Yeah, this is bad. I have way too little information about, well, everything. What kind of world is this? What are the people like? What kind of treatment do monsters like me tend to get? I want to know so many things but have no way to find them out.

Ugh! If this were anything like a novel, this is where the protagonist would start looking around using his [Appraisal] skill! That would be so conveni―

“You currently possess 100 skill points. The skill [Appraisal – LV 1] can be acquired for 100 skill points. Would you like to acquire it now?”

What.

A mechanical voice suddenly started talking to me in my head. Ah, yeah, that makes sense. Complete sense.

Ahahaha! Of course! Of course this parallel world that I’ve been reincarnated into has such things! System messages! An Appraisal skill! This is great! I’m hype! I’m maximum hype! Yes! Yes! My answer is YES!

“You have acquired the skill [Appraisal – LV 1]. You have 0 skill points remaining.”

I just spent all of my skill points in one go without any hesitation whatsoever. After all, I’ll get more when I level up, right? This is fine. This is fine!

Because! Right! Now! I shall use my precious [Appraisal] skill to pull back the curtain on the mysteries of this world! …

Ah, ahem, hold on. How do I use this thing? Let’s, uh, let’s try the standard method. I face a suitably interesting rock, concentrate, and think to myself, “Appraise”.

Mmm! It feels like it’s working! Information is streaming into my head!

{Rock}

……Uh. Huh? Is that it? No, no, no, that can’t be right. I must have screwed it up somehow, it was my first try, after all. I clear my mind and try again.

{Rock}

……No. It can’t be. That’s it? That’s really it? No, no, no, no! There has to be a better explanation. Perhaps this is merely an ordinary rock! Perhaps there is nothing useful to know about this rock at all! Let’s try appraising the wall next. Perhaps doing so will tell me more about the place that I’m in! Even if it only says something like “The Cave of ______” or whatever, even that would be a relief!

{Wall}

……I have no words.

Perhaps I should have thought this through more. It’s right in the name, isn’t it? “Appraisal, level one.” It explicitly states, level one. What did I think was going to happen? I have just witnessed, first-hand, how useless a level one skill is. This might be useful if I managed to level it up… but, of course, I’ve spent all my skill points.

Aaaaagh! I’m an idiot! I’m a wasteful idiot! I blew all of my skill points on Appraisal without even bothering to check if there were any other skills! What if there’s one that’s actually usable at level one?

Wait, no, let’s not beat myself up here. If Appraisal is this weak at level one, then none of the other skills should be any better. I’m going to assume that this is the case and move on. Yes, I’m moving on.

Ahhhh. Nai wa. Almost as an afterthought, I use Appraisal on myself.

{Spider – no name}

Huh? It says “spider” like I expected, but “no name”…?

And, that brings us back to the top. So, that’s the gist of it. I don’t have a name. Well, I have a name from my previous life, but the spider that I am now was never given a name.

For now, let’s put aside this worthless [Appraisal] skill. Well, it’s not quite worthless; it has revealed a bunch of new mysteries.

“Skill Points”. These are probably points that I can save up to buy new skills. However, I have no clue how to earn them. Do creatures have levels in this world? Maybe if I raise my own level, I’ll earn more skill points. This is just a theory, though.

Levels, skills, points… this world is just like a game, isn’t it? Isn’t it?

Regardless, I’m now a monstrous spider. Living a normal life is going to be completely impossible. Well, maybe I shouldn’t think of a “normal life” in human terms, since I’m in such an unbelievable situation. I’ve been reborn, as a spider, into a video game world! I’m a gamer, right? This will be fun! I’m going to enjoy this.

…First things first, though, I really do need to eat.

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

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Well! It seems like I’ve been reincarnated as a spider. This sucks, but they do say that the first step towards solving a problem is admitting that problem exists. Step two: figure out what to do about it.

Crunch!

Disturbing noises snap me out of my thoughts. Ah, that’s right, I’m still in trouble; better not lose track of reality. I’m still surrounded by an army of spiders (my siblings, I guess?), and now they’re making strange sounds that I can’t quite identify. I slowly turn back around to face them.

Crunch! Munch!

Wha?! What are they doing?! They’re eating? They’re eating each other?! Cannibalism! Before my eyes, my spider siblings engage in a gruesome battle for survival! This is bad! This is very bad! Brothers, sisters, why do you fight?

Ah, but it’s food. It’s food, and I’m hungry. To be quite honest, I’m probably about as hungry as these guys, and food is food…

Wait, no! I mustn’t lose sight of reality again. I am but a pure, innocent young maiden! If I were to throw myself into that battle, surely I would be instantly ravaged by those men’s evil intentions! …Well, it’s a metaphor, but the meaning is clear.

Fight

Items

Escape ←

It’s times like these when one must withdraw. Me? Fight? Impossible. I’ve always been the quiet type who goes straight home after school, so thinking about diving in to such a violent crowd is insane! Even if I’m a spider just like those guys, I’m not going to jump in there. Yeah, if I’ve got time to think about such impossible things, I’ve got time to start running away.

Thud.

A tremor from behind me ripples through the ground. Now what?! I turn around to see what new trouble I’m in. Towering over us all is an enormous spider. Is this Mother? (Or is it Father?) Mother, why are you so enormous? Aren’t you far too large to exist? If spiders that were as large as you existed anywhere on Earth, wouldn’t I have heard about it?

With a crunch, the giant spider spears one of my siblings with the mighty claw on her foreleg, then pops it into her mouth like a potato chip. Mother, no! Must you do such cruel things to us as well?

I have to get out of here. The time for thought is over, the time for action is now. Escape, find shelter, survive. GO!

I fled as fast as I could, not stopping until my legs gave out and I could no longer hear the sounds of carnage behind me. Now, looking around, it doesn’t seem like anyone from the spider army followed me. Good. I seriously thought I was going to die back there. Dying immediately after being born, what a joke.

Now then! I’m not in immediate danger, so let’s sit down and sort out everything I’ve got so far.

I’m a spider now, there’s no doubt about it. I didn’t take my physical fitness very seriously when I was still a human, so there’s no way I could have jumped like I did back there, let alone run along the walls. I definitely wouldn’t have been able to push my way straight through that many spiders.

Seriously, there were way too many spiders. That was like trying to fight my way through a crowd of crazed grandmothers, trying to get the last carton of eggs on discount day at the supermarket. Well, not like I’d ever have done something so reckless to begin with…

Anyhow, while I was escaping from the spider mosh pit, I found myself running along the walls and jumping like a ninja! It was very strange at the time, but despite having eight unfamiliar legs I had no trouble moving exactly the way I wanted to. It looks like my new body has some good basic instincts, which is great. The first good news I’ve had so far!

So, seriously, what was with that super-enormous spider? Was that really one of my parents? I don’t really know much about the ecology of spiders, so maybe there are some spiders that eat their young. Regardless, if that’s my parent, am I going to get that big someday?

…Now that I’ve had a chance to think about it, this might not be so bad after all. Spiders are useful little bugs, right? I could definitely be way more helpful to people now compared to when I was still a human. Wait, isn’t that a sad thought? Shouldn’t that make me sad? Maybe I’m thinking about this too much. Not good, not good…

I guess I might be misrepresenting the huge spider’s true size. After all, it’s only “huge” relative to me, and I don’t really have any way to figure out how small I am. If I’m as tiny as a fingertip, then the big one’s a much more reasonable size than I was originally thinking, probably about the size of a tarantula. On the other hand, if I’m tarantula-sized, then… that spider is bigger than anything that’s ever been discovered on Earth. Come to think of it, it’s not too far-fetched to think that it could be a strange new species; after all, reincarnation is already a pretty fantastical thing so there could definitely be other fantastical things around me. I should probably avoid being too optimistic…

I should verify this. First, let’s try to figure out how small I really am. Is there something around here I could use as a comparison?

I survey my surroundings. It looks like I’m in a pretty big cave. There isn’t very much light at all, but the murky gloom of the cave feels just about right to me. I look around cautiously.

Ah… aha! I’ve found bootprints! An unmistakable trail of bootprints, marked clearly in the earth! Even better: because there are bootprints, there are travelers, and because there are travelers, there are human beings living in this world! This realization brings up such emotions within me that I can hardly contain myself.

…Although, of course, now that I’ve found the bootprints, the… ah, uncomfortable truth is quite plain to see. This discovery is, um, not a very comforting one.

I’m definitely bigger than a footprint.

Yeah.

If I guess that the people who left these tracks were about 170 centimeters tall, then… I’m probably about one meter long, aren’t I.

Ah, yeah. I’ve had this sneaking suspicion ever since I saw that giant spider. No matter how I look at it, I’m definitely not any kind of spider that’s been seen on Earth before. In other words, even in this world that is quite clearly different from Earth, even if the lighting were good, if someone were to look at me, they’d be right to call me a monster!!

Ah, yeah. I’ve had this sneaking suspicion ever since I saw that giant spider, and this confirms it. No matter how I look at it, I can’t be any sort of normal spider that I would have seen on Earth. That means that, even on this world that is quite clearly not Earth, even if one were to put it nicely, it would be very reasonable to call me a MONSTER, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!