The green scenery on the third floor was as beautiful as ever, and even the spiderlings were stunned as they laid eyes upon it. I didn’t know everything about it, but there certainly was some kind of connection between me and them, and I felt that they were as amazed by the view as I was.

“Good to see you enjoy it, but there’s also danger. The enemies we are about to face shift in and out of invisibility. I want you to stay safe until I’ve brought them down.” I sighed when I recalled the requirements for the devour spell to activate for the spiderlings. “Speaking of, how am I going to fight them without killing them?”

“Worst case scenario, I suppose you can heal them?” Cellestra suggested.

“Macabre, but possible.” I paused for a moment as I tried to visualize an idea that just now popped into my mind. “Hold on. Let me try something.”

I summoned a myriad of threads in the air before me and kept them suspended as I tried to create something that resembled a typical spider’s web. Then, I used my wind gust spell to launch it forward. My idea was to use it to ensnare prey before jumping on it to properly bind it.

“That’s a great idea, but I think it may be a bit slow.”

“Yeah, I agree, which is why I’m going to do it again, but faster this time.”

I cast the spell again and was able to do it much quicker, quick enough to convince myself I’d be able to hit the phasing lizards with it. I knew they possessed a fire spell that could burn through the threads, but all I needed was a brief moment where they were vulnerable and I could capitalize on that. Besides their magic, they were fairly weak creatures, after all.

I thought about how to keep the spiderlings safe and the only solution I saw was to keep them close to me where I could protect them with an elemental wall if spells were flung our direction before I could spot the assailants.

So that’s how we went to work, the six of us slowly skittering forward while Cellestra was safe and sound on my back, protected by my spells, her armor, and her multi-barrier.

It didn’t take long before we ran into the first bit of trouble as I saw the temperature to my right drop drastically within a fraction of a second, and I knew exactly what would follow that. I immediately erected a fire wall to absorb the spell and tried to spot the next place where it would appear. I had no idea yet in what direction it was moving and would need this bit of crucial information before firing a spell of my own.

A fireball formed in the air and was fired at me. After it was completely nullified by my barrier, I created a web with lightning speed and shot it at where the lizard should be.

I cheered in my mind when I saw my new ability hit the creature, which broke its invisibility. With a few steps and a small jump, I was right on top of it and pinned it down with my powerful legs as I called over my minions to finish it off.

They injected their venom and the lizard collapsed soon after. When it did, I let go of it and told my spiderlings precisely how their skill worked. I didn’t know if they knew already, but what I did know was that this thing tasted bad. I imagined the prospect of becoming stronger could act as a sweetener.

At the very least they were effective.

Because there were five of them, they had no trouble working their way through the lizard and within mere minutes, a message showed up.

“Wow,” Was all I could say in reaction to the extraordinarily long message before me. I didn’t quite expect this, but it was clear in its wording.

My spiderlings immediately stopped eating when it popped up as well, leaving me to believe they detested the creature’s meat as much as I did. I couldn’t help but let out a small giggle at the thought while I processed some more information.

The skill they’d gained was considered “Strong”, which was several levels below what I’d gained from the same creature. Now, I wasn’t sure if this skill worked exactly the same as mine or whether there were restrictions on the spiders due to them being less powerful than me. Would it be possible for them to get spells of the same magnitude, perhaps even from the same monster type?

Would they need upgrades to their mana reserves as I did? How did their mana reserves work either way?

“Elysa?” I asked without even thinking.

“Well, I guess I know now.”

“What did you ask this time?”

“They got a spell, fireball, so I got curious about how their mana works. They don’t appear to have any kind of regeneration, so it’s going to be heavily limited how much they can cast each day.”

“Fireball?” Cellestra asked. “That’s pretty nice. Though, I’m not sure how much use it will have here.”

“I’d happily have them demonstrate, but I think it’s a better idea to do that on the previous floor. For now, I think it’s time to hunt some more of these things and see what we can get.”

She nodded as I moved forward, the spiderlings close at my sides, eager for more action if Faerith’s twitching was any indication of that. Then again, it could be her hard-to-contain personality.

Within a matter of minutes, we found another phasing lizard which I managed to bring down quite quickly, but as I jumped to it and pinned it down, another one appeared and attacked Myria out of nowhere.

A fireball was flung her way and she was out of my effective wall range. Without hesitation, I fired a flurry of my strongest ice lances at it and watched as one of them hit, causing the fireball to explode at a safe distance. Myria and the others reacted by quickly skittering towards me while I sank my fangs into the restrained phasing lizard, administering a good dose of paralytic venom.

Then, I tried to pinpoint our ambusher, but I needed to block another two spells, this time through the use of my fire wall, before I was able to toss my webs at it and ensnare it. After pinning it down and having the others kill it, I felt relief flood through me.

I knew there was very little I could have done back there, but I still felt that I’d been careless. I knew that it was unlikely that a fireball would severely harm my minions as they did have at least some resistance to magic, but the idea of them suffering just made my stomach twist.

“You okay?” Cellestra asked quietly as the spiders went on to eat their latest kill. “You’re quiet.”

“Made a stupid mistake.”

“And now you’re agonizing over it, aren’t you?”

I nodded, my eyes closed.

“Mistakes will happen. The only thing you can do is learn from them. That fireball you intercepted? That was pretty awesome, though. You have to admit that.”

“I guess that was pretty neat. Needed too.”

Cellestra paused for a while and I at one point saw a pained expression run across her face. She seemed to hesitate twice before talking again.

“I kind of don’t want to say it, but do you think it would be useful for them to run into some danger? I mean… Goddess forgive me.” She took a deep sigh and struggled with her words. “I mean, if that fireball had hit, do you think it would have helped them…? You know what I’m trying to say, right?”

“I do, don’t worry. And yes, I think it would have made them more than aware that danger can lurk in every dark corner, especially with the abilities these lizards possess. On the other hand, I think that attack spooked them, and made it evident that they had better stay close to me. I’m not sure what they are supposed to do against attacks like that yet other than stay where I can protect them.”

“Have them eat more,” She said with a soft giggle.

“Thanks. I would have never thought of that,” I replied with a grin.

She’d managed to cheer me up just like she always did and focused on my brood eating their fill. I hoped that our time here would be well-rewarded in the form of new skills and abilities. There were still plenty to get and I was looking forward to how much of a fighting force we could form once properly armed.