There, in the comforting web of Crimson Alchemist's not-so-humble abode. In a study surrounded by bookshelves with countless books. There was a King, a spider, a skeleton, and a... child(?).

  Let us all just ignore the human skeleton in the study – It was best not to question such delicate things. After all, the said skeleton stood out the least.

  The Spider King blinked once, twice, thrice... a dozen times. He could not believe his eyes. He expected a hatchling barely be able to crawl; after all, the months passed weren't that many. And yet...

  Sure, the hatchling had a boon of [Growth] and a blessing from the Great Ancestral Wisp. Sure, the mother was an Alchemical Vessel. Sure, this was a half-monster. Sure, the Monster System guaranteed quick growth and development.

  But this...

  This was no mere hatchling! He was looking at someone on the crisp of becoming a full slung web-weaving spider.

  The child(?) sitting proudly on the lap of Lord G Bling was neither human nor spider. She was both – a creature called Aranea.

  She was humanoid enough, with two arms and two legs, her frame resembling a petite doll. She had the golden eyes of her father, two spidery orbs of intelligence and brilliance. She inherited the mandibles too, a set of delicate gnashers. But she smiled like her mother would, her pearly white smile surprisingly human, but also, fiery and full of confidence. Her face was round, her cheeks slightly puffy, her chin pronounced but feminine. And fortunately enough, unlike the spiders, she wasn't bald. A lush bundle of fiery red was tamed into a single braid, dangling all the way to her slender hips.

  Her body was part carapace part skin. At a glance, it looked like she was wearing insectoid armour. Her chitinous carapace was like her father's – shiny and obsidian black. Her skin was dull grey. Her slender fingers were elongated, ending with claw-like nails, but no doubt rather dexterous and nimble. She was spidery, yes, however, her figure remained pleasant to the eye. No doubt, as she developed some more, she would be a charming stunner just like her mother. Perhaps even outclassing her. One asset shone through already – it was her... spidery behind.

  The feminine blessings of her mother weren't the only charms she inherited; she had the charming style of her spiderish father too. A delicate dress was draped over her slender body, its pattern a striking web. The cloth was red and the webbing was woven out of golden threads. She had a golden pin in the shape of a spider decorating her hair. Solid golden bands framed her wrists and ankles. An intricate chain hung by her neck, the links fashioned in the shape of spiders linking their appendages. But unlike Lord G Bling's her jewelry wasn't excessive. It was just right.

  All in all, this spidery beauty was a marvel of nature. A budding seed of love between a human and a spider. And not an abomination one might expect. Not at all!

  Well, the Spider King was biased here so... No, definitely not an abomination!

  And for her stats:

  Monster Race: NotAbomination!

  Variant: Aranea

  150HP, 150MP, 150STA

  Active Perks: [SpiderCharm], [WebWeave], [Bless:Chaos]

  Passive Perks: [Growth], [ObsidianChitin], [GreaterIntelligence], [FirstOfHerKind]

  Tags: [Blessing of the Great Ancestral Wisp], [Blessing of the Spider Horde], [Blessing of the DarkFlame]

  "She's adorable," he said the obvious. "Do you have a name?" He asked the aranea, the first of her kind.

  The girl simply smiled shyly, casting her eyes down. Too shy to give a reply.

  "Hmm... This is unlike her." Lord G Bling clicked his mandibles, his claw landing on her shoulder in an encouragement. "Go on, tell our King your given name."

  She lifted her head to meet his gaze. "My name is Uwu~," she said, her chirp full of mischief.

  "Uwu?" The Spider King asked, making sure he heard it right.

  "No... It's Uwu~. You have to say it properly with a cute ~, just like the spiders do," she admonished.

  "Uwu~," he tried again.

  "Yes, it's better. But put more oomph to it."

  "~Uwu~," he tried once again, with more oomph.

  "Close. Just a bit more," Uwu encouraged.

  "~?Uwu?~!"

  "Almost perfect. Almost..."

  "Uwu, what are you trying to do to our King?" A discouraging claw landed on her shoulder. "He got it right the first time. Any more and the King would break."

  Almost perfect... – that was no good. The Spider King here strove for spidery perfection!

  He put all of the oomph he could muster. "~??Uwu??~!!!" He chirped like a spider would, making an overly cute sound. Yes, he achieved the impossible, but also, something a normal man never could (or should) do.

  "Eeee..." Uwu made an overly cute sound of her own. "This was Perfect!" She clapped spidery palms together.

  Lord G Bling, joined in congratulatory clapping. "Yes. Yes! Spider King, I never doubted your ability to make cute 'n spidery sounds!"

  Happy with his own performance, Spider-King posed a question which has bugged him the entire time. "But why such an exotic name?"

  "Well... I and Lady Crimson struggled to pick a name, so we asked the spiders for help. And as soon as they saw our daughter, they made that uwu~ sound, their faces going ':3'. From that day on, it sort of stuck."

  "I see... It's a good name." The Spider King admitted that it fit her very well. "But it might be a bit hard for humans to pronounce it."

  "It will be fine. The humans will..."

  "Spider King!" Uwu jumped off her father's lap. "Will you sign my favourite storybook for me? Please? Please!"

  She comes running past the seated skeleton and towards the seat of the Spider King. The storybook in her arms was as thick as her palm.

  "Oh? Is this your favourite?" He looked at the weathered and well-worn storybook, an entire tome of spidery delights.

  "Yes. I've read it at least a hundred times already!"

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Indeed, it was incredibly worn away. But...

  She could read already? – Yet another surprise! But perhaps, considering who her parents were, it was to be expected. However, the books her parents liked to read were a bit...

  With a slight worry, he looked at the barely legible title.

  "A thousand binding threads: The Spider King and a horned damsel in distress." It sounded appropriate enough. He flipped through its pages just in case. "Safe, phew..." He briefed a sigh of relief. "Looks like a wonderful book."

  "Do you want to borrow it?" She asked with a smile.

  "No, I couldn't deny you your favourite book. But perchance, is it about me?" He signed the inside of the worn cover, scribbling his official title in Spider Chirp.

  "It has the Spider King, so... But I know it's entirely fiction!"

  "Or is it?" For unknown reasons, Lord G Bling added entirely unnecessarily.

  "I just don't get it." The Spider King opened a random page. "What is the appeal of... this kind of fiction." He pointed at a rather elaborate drawing.

  The drawing depicted a Spider King in his spider form. His spidery claws were casting silky threads, snatching a horned damsel away from her shadowed castle. Hopefully saving her and not kidnapping.

  Lord G Bling leaned in closer. "The appeal? I'm glad you asked, O' Spider King." For unknown reasons, he emphasized the royal title.

  "Fiction allows us to experience the impossible. It allows us to explore our desires – however dark or bright they might be. It allows us to go on adventures which otherwise would be impossible."

  The spider didn't stop at a simple explanation.

  "Fiction allows us to gaze into the abyss within ourselves, without the risk of getting trapped in its webs. We can witness the grotesque, the depraved, the utterly chaotic, and find a strange, spidery kinship. We see the reflection of our own hungers, our own hidden corners, in the pages. A comfort, wouldn't you say? Knowing you are not alone in your Darkness?" He said the last bit with meaning.

  "Also, fear, that exquisite spice, is best savoured through fiction. We can indulge in Terror and Dread without consequence. The chaos, the whispering corruption, the slow, creeping madness – all these delicacies are served up for our consumption. We taste the weakness of others, and it sharpens our own predatory instincts. It is a wonderful form of Hunting, spidery or otherwise."

  The spider, clacking his mandibles joyously, continues.

  "In these woven tales, we become gods of our own small universes. We can create and destroy, cause chaos and revel in the consequences, all within the safe confines of the mind. Where else can we explore the depths of Taboo without the messy, inconvenient realities of flesh and chitin? We can create perfect suffering, perfect terror, perfect despair. All sweet like the nectar of Tomgrape and unforgettable like Slug Jelly."

  His eyes glowed at the pleasant memory of such delicacies.

  "Fiction, in its way, is a form of art. We manipulate the characters, the plot, and the very fabric of their existence. We become the puppeteer, pulling the strings of fate. A delicious sense of power, is it not? To see how easily they break, how readily they succumb to our whims. It is a wonderful method to test and refine one's strategic thinking, for when one needs to apply such skills to the real world."

  The spider grows thoughtful, pressing a claw up to his chin for pondering.

  "Of course, some tales are not meant for the light. They hold secrets, forbidden knowledge, the whispers of ancient powers. Fiction preserves these fragments of darkness, allowing them to be passed down, to be savoured by those with the proper... palate. These stories are not just entertainment; they are keys to unlocking the hidden doors of reality. A dark, but vital, education. No?"

  The spider drew even closer, close enough to touch the spidery tome. His claw flipped through the pages knowingly, almost as if he was the one wrote them. The claw points at a rather sus (but entirely PG) image of a completely web-bound horned damsel, a strange expression on her face.

  "To understand your prey, you must first understand their fears, their hopes, their desires. Fiction allows us to walk in their shoes, to see the world through their eyes. A subtle but effective way to ensure a more efficient hunt. Knowing what they cherish, what they fear, makes the final strike so much more… satisfying."

  The spider leaned back, his explanation spun to completion. It was perfect. However, the Spider King still had a few questions. No, he had a thousand more but one stood above all.

  "I get that. But why the Spider King, why cast me as a protagonist of such stories? ... Since it's all fiction(?) it could easily be anyone else. Someone more heroic, more dashing, and easier to relate to. And yet, I find the Spider King a recurring figure in so many tomes of yours." He scanned the nearby bookshelf, their spines spelling titles not too dissimilar to the one still in his hand.

  Throughout the conversation, Uwu had somehow found her way to the King's lap, her clawed finger urging to flip the pages forward. "It's the Spider King because he is the best!" She said it as if stating the universal law of the universe. "Look, In this chapter, he kidnapped the horned damsel against her will, whisking her away from the Demon Castle."

  Eh?! So it was a kidnapping...

  Uwu continues slowly, flipping through the pages. Rather than reading, her mind recalls the story from memory. "He takes the role of the villain here. But there's more to it than the eye sees." She points at the captured damsel, her body trapped in a sticky web. "The web here is s symbol. It symbolizes the ever binding love of the Spider King. The horned damsel doesn't know it yet, but she is already in love with her captor."

  What? Is this really what the sus picture symbolizes? – He hadn't read the story, so he decided to roll with Uwu's interpretation.

  Uwu's continues summarizing the chapter:

  "The horned damsel realises that her home, the Demon Castle, is a construct of tyranny and oppression! That the Demons never truly loved her. And that she never was actually free, neither in body nor soul. But, in the binding embrace of the Spider King..."

  Uwu's finger landed at another picture. In the picture, the damsel was thanking the Spider King. "The Spider King helped her to unlock her desires, to achieve her true potential. She Transformed in his presence. No longer was she just a damsel in distress, she became an enchantress who embraced darkness and learned to weave the threads of Chaos itself!"

  Her finger pointed at another picture. Indeed, the naive damsel is no more. In her stead stands a proud woman, clad in black and spidery attire. Her hand is weaving a web; in the web is trapped a map of an Empire – it's easy to deduce the symbolism of the scene.

  "Just so. The Spider King is both a hero and a villain. That's why he's so ??? ho... so appealing as a character." Uwu concluded

  "I... I see..."

  "Yes, my daughter is correct. His appeals are... many. But also, it's his flaws that I find the most attractive. After all, a flawless character is boring!" He chirped with passion.

  "I guess... It's easier to relate with someone flawed." The Spider King scratched his head awkwardly.

  "Yes!" Uwu flips the pages further.

  An adversary of sorts comes into the picture. It's the Lamia Queen, but not the one we know. The depicted woman there is many times more larger than the Spider King; she's a total unit.

  "Next volume. Lamia Queen, jealous of the Spider King's power, attempts to Charm him. For herself." Uwu summarises. "Little does she know. The Spider King is immune to all charms, hehe."

  She flipped page after page, each chapter accompanied by a masterful illustration. The pictures were playful, depicting various methods the Lamia Queen tries to 'charm' the King.

  "Strange... It looks like her charms are totally working. Is he really immune?"

  The current picture shows the Spider King bound tight in the lamia's tail; she's rather forcefully feeding him tomgrapes. Weirdly, a massive grin is plastered on the Spider King's face. Even more weirdly, he can relate to that expression.

  Of course he can! The picture might as well be a mirror!

  Lord G Bling explains. "That's the point. The Spider King is immune, but he greatly enjoys the Lamia Queen's mischief and abuse."

  "That's his flaw," Uwu adds with a knowing grin.

  Urgh, he somehow can relate to that again. Were the spiders taking a jab at his and the Lamia Queen's relationship? Well, hopefully, they were still talking about the fictional Spider King and not the real oh-so-flawed man here.

  Wait... Actually... These super detailed images of...

  Something was appealing about the giantess version of the Lamia Queen and the way she manhandled the poor oh-so-tightly bound Spider King. The super-sized version reminded him of the heroic queen and how she helped to put down the monstrous worm. The Worm of Oberon.

  Wait, no... It's not the time for this!

  "Well... No one is perfect." He scratched his head awkwardly again, his eyes still locked on the lethalities of the late Lamia Queen.

  "Exactly. That's why he's both a hero and a villain. But..." Uwu let out a wistful sigh. "This is just fiction."

  "Or is it?" Lord G Bling leaned back even further, clasping his claws in question. "Speaking of heroes and villains. I and my wife can't agree on one matter of high importance." His spidery eyes filled with high anticipation. "What letter fits the Spider King the best, is it M or S?"

  "M or S?" The Spider King furrowed his brows at a sudden change of topic. "I might not look it, but actually I am XL!" He puffed his chest to appear bigger. "And if I transform..."

  "XL..." Lord G Bling scratched his chin in deep thought. "XL..." He repeated it meaningfully.

  Just then, at the height of the chaos, Lady Crimson stepped back into the study, in her hand a tray of snacks and refreshments.

  "Sorry for my prolonged absence. I couldn't find where I put... Never mind that." She set the tray on the nearby table. "I see, you're discussing books. My favourite topic!"