I still enjoyed Elly’s cooking. It just felt there was something… missing. I didn’t know how to explain it.

It made me nervous.

I disregarded the odd feeling as a simple side-effect of my most recent molt. Maybe I’d stored up plenty of sustenance before going out.

Velariah and I prepared to move out. Draco requested permission to read some of the books that were stored upstairs, and Velariah had given him permission to do so. Nira seemed interested in the idea and wanted to join him. Elly would help them find whatever they needed.

I wasn’t quite sure what Seralyn was planning to do, but I imagined I didn’t have to worry about her.

I decided to leave my helmet behind. I could see without wearing it that my eyes would cause all kinds of problems with it. Velariah took hers with her but didn’t put it on.

Once fully armored and packed, The elf and I headed out for the fields. I covered my eyes with my hair again, not quite wanting to give this information away to anyone else yet.

The weather was sunny as usual and I felt like it was getting even warmer than before.

It was probably true, considering that summer was right around the corner. I did luck out in that regard, coming to this world in the most favorable season possible to get through my first few days of survival.

This had turned into so much more than survival. I could have never imagined this…

I smiled as I looked at Velariah next to me. We had already reached the fields and were currently finding a nice spot on the grass, somewhere at a decent distance from the checkpoint.

I could still see the corpse of the massive borer we killed near the tower on the other side of the dirt road. Plenty of soldiers were guarding it, ensuring nobody could try anything funny with it.

“Has anyone else tried to go to the dungeon?” I asked as we reached our destination and Velariah sat down on the grass.

“Yep. Some adventurers tried their luck. That human... I believe Eric was his name, correct? He and some others fought against that monster we left behind last time. They actually defeated it too, while only suffering minor injuries.”

“Not bad,” I said as I lay down in the grass. “I wonder if Arch will make another copy of it, so we can try our luck against it as well.”

“Perhaps if you ask him nicely. I was actually looking forward to fighting it myself. I’ve never seen or heard about anything like it,” Velariah suggested.

“Do you know how creatures in dungeons come to be?” I asked. “I mean, why certain creatures exist in certain dungeons?”

“As far as I know,” The elf started. “I’ve been told that dungeons seem to copy whatever is brought inside them. If someone brought in a boar inside a dungeon, the dungeon would be able to spawn boars.”

I nodded to Velariah who was sitting in the grass before me. She had placed her pack at her side and was looking at me from above me.

“Arch told me something like that during my dream. He also said that he is able to combine certain traits in certain animals and monsters to create new monsters. These new monsters have a certain power cap that depends on the strength of the dungeon. While that thing looked quite dangerous, with Arch’s current power, I imagine it couldn’t have been terribly strong.”

“That’s quite interesting information, El. How did he create that thing, though? It seemed to have… dragon wings? If I were to guess.”

“That’s because Arch was able to copy aspects of Ember, due to our steel that was blessed by her. Apparently, some of her power still resides in the steel.”

“I see...” Velariah smiled. “Also, is there any reason you covered your eyes?”

The elf brushed my hair behind my ears again and my vision expanded once more, only to be filled by one of her beautiful smiles. The sudden increase in light that was absorbed by my eyes did increase my headache slightly, but I imagined this was part of the adjusting process.

“I don’t mind it, you know?”

“I just did that to not scare people in town, and to keep it secret for now. You know, with all the stuff going on that is aimed at me. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a reason for someone to attack me again.”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. My father has been working tirelessly to find out what the other adventurers, especially the humans in town, know. So far, he has come up dry. Our only lead so far is Lorin… who is missing.”

“Can’t say I’ll miss him. Unfortunately, I’d rather have him in jail if he is behind this.”

“My father has sent a missive to the king at the royal capital. If Lorin doesn’t show up anywhere within the next thirty days to answer questions, he’ll be declared an outlaw. It’s… quite unusual for this to happen, but he has support from both Master Pylanor and Grandmaster Ineus, who also served as witnesses to the crime, and Master Pylanor to the testimony of Lorin’s involvement. His disappearance doesn’t speak well for him at all, either.”

“You think he knows about your father’s special enchantment, and that’s the reason he fled?”

“Unlikely, but possible.”

Velariah crept closer to me on her knees.

“But that’s enough serious talk. It’s your birthday, El. You should enjoy the day.”

“Thanks, Vel. By the way, when is yours?”

“First day of the fourth moon. The first day of spring.”

“That means your birthday wasn’t long before I came to this world, I guess?”

“A few weeks out. I guess you could call that not long,” She replied.

“Aww, now I need to wait almost a year before yours. At least I’ll have time to get you a proper present.”

“You’re the best present I’ve ever gotten,” She smiled in a teasing manner.

“You temptress,” I smiled back.

She leaned forward and I eagerly took her in for a kiss.

I chuckled as she broke away.

“Hm?” Velariah hummed.

“It’s so incredibly awkward to see myself kiss with my eyes closed,” I chuckled again. “At least I’ll be able to see Seralyn coming from behind me now. That’s quite something, I guess?”

“See,” Velariah said. “I told you it’s not so bad. We can probably come up with some ideas to train this new eyesight of yours, too. I imagine proper control over it will be a huge boon in combat.”

“Being able to observe my legs and most of my rear should prove quite useful, for sure.”

“Speaking of legs,” Velariah smiled at me seductively. “When do you plan to use them on me?”

“Well,” I smiled. “It is my birthday. Or so I’ve been told.”

“Tease!” Velariah grinned as she hugged and kissed me again.

I bent over forward and laid her on the grass under me. “I can’t really do it here, though, you know?”

“That’s fair,” She replied. “How’s your headache?”

“Honestly? It’s quite bad. This bright sun doesn’t really help with it.”

I closed my human eyes and relaxed with the elf under me. She seemed to relax as well and spread her arms and legs.

“I’ll just try to relax and give it some time. I do wish I could close them, though. I love taking in the sun with my eyes closed. It feels refreshing, especially after a molt. It’s just… heaven.”

I sighed. “Then again, if I kept them closed the entire time, there’s no way I’ll ever get used to them… or get rid of this headache…”

“Awww, my poor spider,” Velariah cooed as she put her hands in my hair and ran them through it.

I smiled at her playful naming as I brought in my front four legs to place around her frame while my pedipalps hugged her backside.

“How does it feel to be held by a spider?”

“Pretty good, actually,” She answered nonchalantly, which caused me to giggle. “Though, your non-spider parts are a large part of it, I have to admit.”

“Soooo,” I started with a wicked smile. “Does that make me a spider with benefits, or what?”

“Hum, I guess you could call it that.”

I giggled at her response and kissed her once more before I spread my legs and pedipalps and simply relaxed as I closed the only two eyes I could close.

The sun did wonders for my exoskeleton. I started wondering how I was going to have to do this in winter.

Would some sort of infrared, or heat lights be a thing in this world?

Auto-dimming, magic-fueled lights were a thing, so I had high hopes.

I found out that I could still relax pretty well, despite my vision being filled with the vibrant colors all around me. My headache seemed to gradually ebb away, not nearly as fast as I’d like, but progress was there.

“Hmmm, I don’t mind being your benefit,” I said after a long pause. “I love you, Vel.”

I removed her gauntlets and interlocked my lower arms’ fingers with hers as my upper hands were in her long, white hair on the grass.

“I love you too, El,” Came her response.

I further relaxed, but Velariah’s voice interrupted my daydreaming about a minute later.

“You want to work on the silk, or?”

“Does it look like I’m planning to move anytime soon?” I asked.

“I’ll just wait here until you decide to let me go then,” Velariah smiled.

“What if I don’t let you?”

“That’s fine too, I don’t mind.”

I giggled and put my head next to hers. This new sight was extremely confusing. I was now looking at the grass and the sky. I was happy that it didn’t appear like bright sunlight was an issue for these new eyes. Not being able to close them would be quite problematic on bright days such as these.

Velariah brushed my hair with her hand as I took in the sunlight to allow this new carapace to harden properly. It seemed she had already adapted more than I had; her hand never poked my new eyes again.

I imagined we lay there for about an hour when Velariah asked me to let go. I rolled off of her and placed my head on a set of arms while the elf walked to my rear with her pack.

“You wanna see what this Steelthread does?” She asked.

“Was hoping you’d ask that. I’m praying that thinking of the name will give it the properties that it’s supposed to have.”

“Let’s see,” She touched my spinnerets as I thought of the name of the silk. Soon enough, I felt threads exit my body.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Velariah said. “It’s literally what it says it is.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I’ll show you in a sec. Let me finish this spool.‘

Interestingly enough, thinking about the name worked. In addition, I didn’t have any issues producing it, unlike the effort I had when creating waterproof silk.

A minute or two later, Velariah tapped my behind to signal me to stop producing. She walked up to me and I raised my torso to check out what I’d made.

Velariah knelt down and showed me the spool. The silk was still white, but it seemed to behave exactly like the iron wire that I knew back on Earth. The strands of it were far thinner but it seemed like Velariah had combined the four strands (I had four spinnerets) into a single wire.

I examined the white threads and tried pulling them, but they wouldn’t stretch at all. Their tensile strength was quite insane. They could also be bent in all shapes and stay that way.

“Huh,” I chuckled. “That’s actually quite interesting. I can create steel wires now, except they’re white. I wonder if they are as strong as silk...”

“Steel is stronger, no?” Velariah asked.

“Heh, no. When both materials are of the same mass, silk can withstand more tensile force before it breaks. That’s about the only spider fact that I found interesting.”

I split the wire into separate threads.

“I imagine if I leave them split like this, they could actually act as knives. Imagine something running into these razor-thin threads that won’t bend when something hits them.”

“Ouch, El. That sounds pretty brutal.”

“It reminds me of a certain scene in a certain movie in my old world. Some guy got cut into tiny pieces by extremely concentrated beams of lights. That scene still haunts me to this day.”

“Wait, people die in those movies?”

I shook my head. “No, they don’t. It’s… complicated.”

“You otherworlders are weird,” Velariah laughed. “Anyway, what do you think about this stuff?”

She held up the spool in her hand.

I thought for a few moments. “I mean, I imagine this could be used in armor, no? I’d say give that spool to Dworag and have him test out its properties. I am a bit hesitant to use it myself, considering that I know it’s going to be much stronger after another evolution or two. At least, I would imagine that’s the case. Apparently, this is considered weak.”

“Spider silk chainmail,” Velariah chuckled. “And here I thought I’d seen everything. Do you have any idea how long it takes to make chainmail?”

I shook my head. “I have no idea.”

“Crazy long. Do you have any idea what this would do to the industry?”

I sighed. “Oh no.”

“Yes,” Velariah said. “This stuff looks like it’s going to be far easier to process than chainmail. I can see smiths preferring this.”

“Well, just see what Dworag can do with it for the moment. I imagine it’s not much… yet.”

“Sure. You want to try some fire-resistant thread next?”

I nodded. “And then some water-resistant, see if that’s easier on me now.”

And so Velariah worked on my rear as I created fire-resistant thread. As was the case with the water-resistant earlier, this was quite draining for me. It took me quite a bit of effort to sit through the process of filling an entire spool. By the end of it, I almost decided to call it quits. I panted as the elf approached me.

“You okay, El? That seems to have been rough.”

“It was,” I said. “Try the water-resistant next.”

“Are you sure? Don’t you want to wait for a bit?”

“It’s okay. I want to know how easy this is now.”

Velariah went to work when a question I had on the tip of my tongue earlier finally clicked in my mind.

“By the way, Vel. You have two moons, right?”

“We do, yes.”

“Then which one do you use as a reference for your months?”

“One of them is visible the entire night. That’s the one we use.”

“I see.”

“You only had one, right?”

“We did, yes. It was also used to measure days way back in the old days. I believe in some religions, it’s still used to this day to measure months, but I’m not quite sure about that.”

I paused for a second. “Did you even name your months?”

“We did not,” Velariah said. “We tried to, but as usual, the humans and elves wanted to call the months differently. Hell, even the dwarves and gnomes wanted representation. Ultimately, we decided to just settle on first, second, etcetera. It’s quite important everyone is on the same page when it comes to things like these, you know?”

“And you’re calling us weird,” I said with a smile.

“You still are. By the way, I’m done here with a spool. How are you feeling?”

“Pretty good, actually. I wouldn’t mind doing more of that, but I’d suggest making at least one with normal silk, considering the strength has increased. Who knows if it’s worth more now?”

“I doubt it would matter when you look at what this is used for, but I get your idea. Let’s do that.”

I simply let my body relax while Velariah worked. I had to focus on making sure I’d create normal silk for one spool, before switching back to the water-resistant version. Things went far easier than the last time, which made me hopeful for fire-resistant thread somewhere in the future.

I was certain that one would have plenty of combat applications.

This tailor better keep quiet about where he was getting all this wonderful silk.

I thought that, but I knew the connection between a massive half-spider walking around Dawnleaf and high-quality silk clothing was going to be an easy one to figure out.

I hoped nothing bad would come of it. This was too easy to make money. I didn’t want to give up on it.

About half an hour later, Velariah finished and put her spools of threads away in her pack. She then lay down in the grass once more.

I slowly skittered over to her, moving my human torso over the elf’s as I moved forward.

“‘Sup?” I said in the most anticlimactic manner I could, once my face reached hers.

“Damnit, El. You totally ruined it with that.”

“What was I supposed to say? ‘Hello, my little elf. Welcome to my web?’”

“Hmmm, that does sound tempting,” Velariah smiled seductively, her eyes filled with a certain spark.

“Damnit, Vel. You’re far too eager for me to use my… spidery abilities on you.”

“Well, it’s your birthday, after all. I’ll let you do whatever you want,” She teased, before kissing me softly.

I opened my normal eyes to look into hers, and placed my pedipalps on her shoulders.

“Hmmm, tempting… I think I might take you up on that offer tonight.”

“In that case, I’ll have Elly prepare a grand meal tonight, so you can go all out,” She continued teasing.

I gave her another kiss and placed my head beside hers once more.

“I gotta admit,” I started. “This evolution was quite something, wasn’t it? There has been quite a bit of improvement, especially to my silk. I wonder how fast my third inherity will allow you guys to evolve yours now.”

“Good question,” Velariah said. “It’s hard to guess when one evolves. I guess you are something of an exception because of what you have to go through. I would imagine that Nira may evolve sometime soon.”

“Isn’t my healing ability somewhat counterproductive when it comes to her inherity?”

“Perhaps, but she’ll get there, thanks to yours.”

I smiled. “I imagine that helps.”

Things went quiet between the two of us. I simply enjoyed her and the sun’s presence. Both warmed my heart, maybe in different ways, but they did.

My headache was slowly disappearing as well.

I smiled and kissed the elf’s cheeks before relaxing deeply once more.

Faragi

I've added some art to the first chapter of  The Knightly Elven... Spider?

I'm hoping to get some kind of collaboration going where I can add art to both stories. Make sure to check it out :)