Progression(1)

"Hmrgh…."

"Blurgh"

*Splatter*

I vomited blood. My vision is practically bouncing around now, my arms and legs laced with cuts and were trickling blood. I practically didn't have much cloth to patch them all up, but I tried my best to make do with what I had.

I'm sure you're wondering what happened... Let's just say Yuiji's experimentation quest did not go as planned. I was right back here with "Mr. polite wall" here and frankly, the entire cave was filled almost to the brim with burnt spider corpses.

If I had to say how it went it would literally be something like this…..:

[Experiment 1: Stealth]

' Ok! tiptoe....tiptoe....tiptoe,' I chanted this, as I made my way through the darkness. I had a small blue flame about the size of a tiny ball, I was mostly trying to preserve it. Considering that the spiders were blind they wouldn't be able to see the flame, I also made it pretty small so that they wouldn't feel the lingering heat. I was practically one step above them!

'Hee hee smart plan Yuiji!' I thought triumphantly.

I took slow steps as I turned to the left, trying to follow where I initially came from.

"...!" My heart pounded because I came across one medium one that was facing the wall. I was glad that there were no webs on the ground, the floor was pretty bare here. The spider stood stock still, maybe it was sleeping?

I cautioned my steps, even till the point where I couldn't hear my own footsteps. 'Great almost there!' Just as I was about to pass right by the thing….

*GRRROWL*

I froze solid like a rock. My stomach made a war cry to the heavens...

*SCRRREEEECH!!!* The spider, having heard my stomach, quickly turned around and made a loud cry. It must have been an alarm because a whole army of its brethren came rushing in at the speed of sound!

"WWWAAAAH!!!!" I screamed.

I ran as quickly as I could, with those spiders hot on my tail.

[Experiment 2 - Distractions]

I picked up lots of lingering pebbles on the ground until my entire hand was filled with them. I then made my way through the tunnels, however this time I made a right. Since spiders were quite sensitive to sound, If I could somehow trick them, then I can easily make my escape.

' Great plan Yuiji! You're so smart'

Mono 1: Why yes Yuiji you are indeed smart!

'Hee hee, how flattering!

I proceeded to chuck the rocks in different directions, catching the spider's attention. They turned in the direction of the sound.

' YAY!!! now once they go and inspect the area, I just have to run and….' However, They wouldn't move. ' Wah why isn't it going over there, it was a pretty loud sound ya know...' It simply stood there.

'Agh whatever, I'll just keep moving slowly then...'

Just as I made a step.

*Boing* *Boing*

I froze solid like a rock.

Turns out this section of the cave was littered with spider webs.

*Scree* *scree*

A whole swarm of tiny spiders sprawled from the webs and climbed up my legs. I could feel tiny bites as they bit into my flesh.

"KYAAAAAA!!!" I erupted in flames burning them and ran as fast as I could, the rest of the spiders hot on my tail.

[Experiment 3- Not much of an experiment because I was pissed off!!!!]

" HYAAAAAH" I made a loud war cry and shot forward lots of fireballs everywhere. The spiders lunged towards me and a frenzy, but I burned every spider that I saw on sight. At first, it seemed like I had the upper hand, howeeeevvverrr…..

*SCREEEEEEAAAAH*

I froze stone solid.

Slowly I turned and I saw a much larger spider, it could barely fit through this cave entrance. Its eyes glowed a dark purple. This one was completely different from the medium and smaller-sized Arachnas.

"Oh….." So those weren't the only sized spiders here...

I quickly hightailed it out of there, not daring to look back at whether that thing was following me.

[Back to the present]

I slumped down on the wall. 'It just never ends huh…' I thought. I was really in a tight spot right now, and it seemed like it wasn't loosening up at all. I was contemplating whether I should just resign myself to making a living here.

[Mono 6]: A image of me as a cavewoman dressed in short ripped fabric appeared in my mind. I had a rock club and was cooking a Arachna on a spit.

*SMACK!* I slapped my cheeks with both of my hands, I felt a sharp stinging sensation. "NO MOPING!" I declared loudly.

Though my experimentations failed, perhaps I haven't been taking this seriously. If I don't get serious now, I'd end up going back to the Stone Age....

I stood up, but then I found myself staggering right back down on the ground. Frankly, I was exhausted. I haven't really slept at all since I got down here. My body was riddled with stinging cuts from trying to get the poison out of my system. Though most of it was gone, I was still coughing up blood, guess some of it was a bit stubborn.

It's possible that it was the poison that was weakening my body and magic and not magi depletion. Regardless, it would still prove fatal for me if I was to kick the bucket here. I winced in pain as I took a step forward. 'I wonder if these will scar, like my other wounds…' I thought.

'You'll just have to press through the pain Yuiji!' I didn't have time to worry about my body now, besides it really didn't matter when you're in a den full of powerful monsters that try to eat you at every turn.

'Let's take it from the top! It's true that my fire is capable of burning them, but If I had just a bit more magic I could probably make it out of here faster, but frankly, I'm limited now...So I'm going to have to rely on something else…'

I went through my memories regarding all my past lessons from mom. Most of my training was combat and survival training. I didn't start learning magic until I was 6. I only know fire spells since that was my affinity….

Then I remembered the book I found near my destroyed house, buried in the soil. 'AH RIGHT!!! Illusory sense!' I thought.

If I could learn that, then maybe I can have an upper hand in this situation. Plus, it had nothing to do with magic, at least from my understanding.

'But how do I start learning it….' I frowned because all the book said was that the basis of the technique was to single out smells….I don't see how that will help me here.

'Wait, the spiders here are all blind…OOOH, THAT'S IT!' I thought excitedly. The spiders here are much more similar to the ones on earth than I thought. I naively thought that since these fantasy spiders couldn't see me, I'd be one step ahead of them! But, that's not the case at all.

This was their home, so obviously they had to adapt here. It's kinda like how I adapted to the Moon Forest despite initially being a regular ol human. Certain external factors in environments shape what you become in the long run. They may not have sight but much like earth spiders, they get through by touch. By singling out even the tiniest of vibrations they are quite invincible in this hole here. However, they also have another scary power: they can hear quite well.

I noticed in one of my failed experiments that throwing rocks wasn't all that effective. The spider reacted but it never inspected the area, it simply glanced at it, which means they could also differentiate sounds as well. It's kinda like on earth, if one of the 5 senses vanish, let's say sight, then your other senses become several times more useful, like hearing!

'Then I know what I must do now. I must become like them or something just a bit similar! I'm no longer Yuiji the Saphiras dragon, instead, I'm Yuiji the Arachna!' I declared.

[Mono 1]: WHOOOHOOO!!!!!

[Mono 2]: Is that something we can eat!!! YEAAA!!

[Mono 4]: WHOOP! WHOOP!

I could practically hear cheering from somewhere...maybe it was just my imagination?

************

I peeked around the corner. It was just as I expected, I couldn't see squat.

Haha, I thought I was going to receive like an MC boost or something so I got a little excited ya know….Ahem. A-anyway, I also have a legitimate reason for not using my fire, and that's to get the last experiment going. Illusory sense, I should give it a try.

I quietly sniffed the air,

" Umph" I quickly covered my mouth to keep from lurching. It smelled horrible here like a dead body has been here for years and was slowly rotting. 'Isn't it just like that wolf? Is there something in here, how come I wasn't able to smell it before?' I thought.

I shook my head, I had to press onwards, I closed my eyes to get a better focus.

'Mom wrote that I need to single out the smell….' As I continued to breathe in and out softly, I made short breaths so as not to entirely inhale the entire scent.

*ziiiing*

!!!!!

I flinched. My nostrils detected a faint whiff of something. Beneath the foul odor lay a much less strong scent. It smelled of a deep odor of chemicals that make up ink. I frowned.

Then I felt something brush past me, I sucked in a quiet breath and stood still not making a sound. I knew it was a spider. The spider paused, it seemed to be listening for something. I stared in the direction it was in for a long time. After a bit, the presence vanished in the darkness.

I let out the breath I had been holding. Then I grinned. ' That's score 1 for Yuiji!' I put up two fingers in the darkness and cheered internally. I was finally making progress.