Back in the Spider Kingdom.

  The Spider King stood inside the Spidery Workshop, not just a workshop but a supermassive complex of various manufacturing facilities. Spiders, their forms evolved to specialize in their assigned task, crafted goods in a conveyor-like fashion.

  A spider, an imposing figure with a playful smirk, shook its body. The action was remising of a wet dog shaking its fur, but instead of throwing water droplets, the spider shed its metallic scales.

  Metal Spider, [ShedMetal] > [Spider Scale].

  The metallic spider wasn’t alone, its offspring surrounded it, all doing the same slightly cheeky smirk and shedding all their scales.

  A little fellow, a basket on his back almost comically large, rushed to gather the scales all by himself. With surprising efficiency and multiple libs at work, he stuffed all the pieces in the basket. It was almost strange how it put more items than the basket was supposed to hold, or even how it wasn’t bothered by its weight at all.

  Spider Gatherer > [Gather]. Spidery Backpack > [VoidSpace]

  A few spidery pitter-patters away, the backpack was opened, spiling the scales by a gathering of different spiders. The spiders were arranged in a neat line, grabbing a spidery scale each and putting them on their anvils. Chirping ‘Hammer Time!’ the mischievous spiders, their expressions full of glee, brought down their spidery hammers, flattening and shaping the scales.

  Spider Hammerer, [ShapeScale] > [Spider ArmourScale]

  Thus, the unamusing scales were transformed into armour pieces. Another spider, another little fellow, its backpack way too big, gathered the pieces and skittered to the next row of spiders. The spiders there were all bunched close together, their limbs long and spindly, their eyes unnaturally big. They attacked the freshly left pile of armour pieces like ravenous beasts. Their elongated limbs moved with frightening precision, painting strange and odd symbols on the pieces. The symbols glowed in purple upon completion.

  Spider Enchanter, [RandomSpideryEnchantmentGoesHere] > [Enchanted Spider ArmourScale]

  They enchanted armmourscales with an array of varying enchantments. The most popular were [Reinforced], [SpideryMagnificent], and [ShadowVeil]. But amongst the many, there were a few with [Reflect], [Devour], and [SpiderBlessed].

  Yet another spider gatherer moved the now enchanted armourscales to their next destination. Unlike before, the scales didn’t find themselves on a pile, they were put on a sticky web instead. Spider Crafter moved his spidery claws like a grand painter painting a masterwork. He slotted the pieces on the hanging web, sometimes deliberating where to put this or that scale. But despite the pauses, he worked surprisingly quickly. Bound together by magically glowing spider threads – the pieces took shape. In a frighteningly short amount of time, a piece of art was hanging suspended by the spidery threads.

  Spider Crafter, [Craft:ArmourPlate] > [Spidery DarkPlate].

  The spider crafter didn’t work alone, there were other weavers just like him, creating the webs they specialized in: pauldrons, greaves, boots, and helmets. Once put together, the pieces would make [Spidery FullPlate] – a masterpiece of magnificent spidery craftsmanship.

  That was the System’s description, and for what the eye saw:

  The Spidery FullPlate glistened with a sinister aura. Its spidery scales tightly overlapped each other, their edges curled and tapered. The Spider Chirp – inscribed into each scale – pulsed in a faint purple glow, whispering of latent power. The segmented design was reminiscent of a spider’s exoskeleton. All of the pieces fit in perfectly, allowing its wearer almost inhuman grace. Web-like engravings shimmered across the pauldrons and the face of the chest plate. The helmet – mimicking the visage of a snarling spider – had two rows of gold-glimmering gemstones reminiscent of the spider’s eyes in the dark. The boots and the gauntlets were twisted and shaped to resemble spidery claws, but the alterations didn’t take away from their utility.

  The Spider King, the inspector of the final product, gave the spider crafter a thumbs up – 11/10 was the rating. The extra +1 to its rating was because of the extra cosmetic details the armour had. It was very spidery.

  Then he moved to the next spider-conveyor line. The process here wasn’t too dissimilar, however, the spiders here were making Spidery ShadeWear. If the FullPlate was meant for knights the ShadeWear was meant for rogues and assassins.

  Very nice, 11/10! – was the honest appraisal.

  These two sets aside, spiders made many other spidery and magnificent pieces of Equipment. The gear made en masse here in the Spidery Workshop was meant for the Corrupted Humans of the Aurelian Dutchy. In the name of serving the Monster Realm better, Duke Aurelius proposed dispatching his standing army of veterans to protect the re-established Centauri Territory. The veterans were in the Aurelian Order, an elite force. Before the fall of the Aurelian Kingdom, the order was mostly knights, but since then this has changed significantly. The order consisted of: Dark Knights, Shadow Rogues, Scroll Squires, and Lantern Bearers. It was a motley gathering of very odd people – their abilities were even stranger. The Spider King struggled to put his finger on how best to describe them: oddballs, goobers, or just cringy edgelords… Either way, the show of goodwill was appreciated, thus the current crafting of high-grade equipment to better arm the ‘cringy-goober-edgelings’ of the Aurelian Order. You’re welcome!

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  All kinds of equipment were made here. Currently, the sets are grouped into four categories:

  Spidery FullPlate for Dark Knights,

  Spidery ShadeWear for Shadow Rogues,

  Spidery ArachoMantle for Scroll Squires,

  Spidery WebShroud for Lantern Bearers,

  All four sets were masterworks of spidery craftmanship.

  Pleased with spidery excellence, the Spider King left the spiders to their diligent work and stepped outside. The sky above was overcast with dark clouds. The clouds were a mass of swirling anger and soon there would be a downpour of Dark Rain. Spiders aside, the dark-infused rain wasn’t kind to gentle creatures. He spotted squirrels running to take shelter from the rain. Calling it running was a bit of an exaggeration – they sluggishly wobbled their fat laden bodies to seek refuge under the tomgrape vines. This was both quite a sight and quite an achievement for the fattened squirrels.

  The Lamia too, they were slithering with urgent coils of their tails, rushing to hide within the palace. For some reason, there were a lot of them outside, a whole gathering – a full deceit of Lamia. Perhaps they were setting up a picnic or something like that, if so, it was a shame it was ruined. Just then, he noticed that they had a guest. He recognised the human – Gareth, the resident of New Hope and Master Tamer of the Devourers – what was he doing here? Gareth’s presence was both unexpected and unannounced, but not unwelcome.

  For a moment their eyes met, Gareth looked at the Spider King with begging eyes. The eyes trembled as if expecting something out of him. “Not that place! No! Ah…” He shouted before his mouth was forcefully shut close, not by a hand but by a lamia’s kiss.

  The Spider King couldn't quite figure out what this was about. Before he could ask Bareth about it, the man was dragged away by the deceit of Lamia. The coiling girls had ravenous eyes; their expressions full of hunger.

  Was it because their picnic was just ruined? If so they can have a feast inside the Spider Palace. No?

  Either way, the Spider King didn’t follow them to the place. Just like spiders, he wasn’t bothered by the rain. Actually, he quite enjoyed it. And there was that place he wanted to visit. As he ambled through the kobold brick paved path, the darkened sky split open. Dark and voluminous drops rained from above, dispersing into dark mist before they could touch the ground – making absolutely no sound. It was strange for the rain to do that, but this was no ordinary rain anyway. Roofs, structures, and people, however, didn’t evoke that phenomenon, rain splashed on such things with full sound and volume – it was only the soil; the soil of the place once known as the Dreaded Place that changed the rain into obviously magical mist.

  It became a torrential downpour. Thick, dark mist shrouded the path, making the cobbles invisible. Raindrops swirled and tumbled in the air. The Spider King was hit with the full brunt of it, and yet, he wasn’t bothered. The dark rain felt nice on his pale skin, he felt refreshed, reinvigorated even. However, with the path out of sight, it was hard to know where he was going. Few landmarks aside, everything here looked the same – it was an endless maze of webs and tomgrape vines.

  The downpour progressed, shielding away the sight of the palace – his only guiding compass. This wasn’t great, but not to stray from the path, he could still use the feel of the hard cobbles by his feet. He wanted to reach that place exactly because it was raining.

  The rain was in full swing now, and aside from him and the spiders, no one remained outside. That was until now. One by one, shadowy creatures manifested out of the mist. These were monsters birthed by the rain and the darkness – yet another magical phenomenon unique to the Spider Kingdom – the Shadow Creatures.

  They looked odd, but… they were mostly harmless.

  There was a great variety of them. Some looked like wolves but wrong – no eyes, no ears, just a hungering maw; there was a wriggling mass of tentacles on their back. Others could fly but didn’t look like birds at all – they had a body resembling a flattened snake with leathery wings at their sides; a spiked tail wriggled behind as they raised into the darkened sky. There were many others: hedgehogs, runners, aardvarks, boars, and such – all slightly wrong and odd, touched by the Darkness and the Chaos.

  They were scary, but… they were mostly harmless.

  The Shadow Creatures greeted the strolling Spider King with a humming cry. It was a low-pitched sound that pierced the rain and the darkness all too well. it was possible to hear it from tens of miles away, especially when they hummed all at once and in unison. Yes – quite unsettling.

  The Spider King nodded in acknowledgement at the nearest Shadow Wolf. It nodded back, bowing low, and then it disappeared into the dark mist, probably running to hunt for some squirrels. Even the Shadow Creatures needed sustenance to live.

  Some unfortunate squirrels aside… they were mostly harmless.

  The odd and wonderful creatures left the Spider King to his business, and he proceeded to that place. The rain was pleasant, the mist felt great, and the sighting of an occasional shadowy-wonder was a welcome one. Perhaps it was odd, but right here, and right now he felt the most alive.

  Clip-Clop, Clip-Clop – sharp sounds of heavy hooves pierced the darkness of the mist. Centauri? If so, he would be quite surprised, just like the Lamia they weren’t the biggest fans of the rain.

  Indeed, a figure of a dashing mare emerged from the veil of shadows. But it wasn’t the mare he recognised it was the rider. Bareth the Dark Rider was atop her slender back. He was a heavy armoured knight, the colour of his armour blending well with the dim scenery. But! Heavy was a keyword here. Even if she was capable, It seemed somewhat abusive to make a slender mare carry all that weight, and yet, there was an almost heavenly smile on her face.

  Just as their eyes met that smile turned into an embarrassment, deep blush covered her face. But why?

  Somewhat urgently, Bareth dismounted his mare, took his helmet off and bowed to the Spider King. The Centauri did a curtsy of her own.

  “Spider King, a pleasure to meet you,” Bareth said while still bowing. “But what are you doing so deep within the tomgrape webs? And during the Dark Rain?”

  He could ask Gareth the same, but it was likely that the man was simply patrolling the webs, after all this was his job. Thinking about it, perhaps it was too much for old Bareth. The webs stretched far and wide, miles upon miles. There was a lot of work to do. As embarrassing as it was, the Spider King had forgotten that he had given this assignment to Bareth – patrolling the webs wasn’t even necessary at this point!

  Deliberating such and so, the Spider King took too long to answer a simple question. Bareth mistook that silence for something else. He rose his head to meet the Spider King’s eyes, his gaze uncertain as if he weighed his next words. “Are you lost, my King?”

  Lost? No! He wasn’t lost…

  He was just going to that place.

  Not that he could tell the two such things. He would never admit to it.

  “I’m just on my daily stroll. Yes, that’s it. Just stretching my legs. Just like the two of you, right?”

  “Stretching... my legs…” The centauri parroted, embarrassed and unable to meet the King’s eyes.

  “Ahem…” Bareth too seemed flustered for no reason. “Yes, us too… just on a stroll.”

  Having places to be, “Then, I’ll leave it to you,” the Spider King left it at that.

  “Wait!” Bareth stopped him. “I’ve heard a rumour. The Centauri Champion…” He looked at his mare.

  The mare looked back at Bareth, then, for the first time, she met the Spider King’s gaze.

  “A child…” The centauri uttered. “Are the rumours true?”

  Ah yes, they were talking about those rumours. They were true.

  However, they weren’t just asking to clarify one stray rumour or such thing, they were asking because…

  “The potion and the transformation did the trick.” He reached into his Inventory pre-emptively. “I assume you want the same thing?”

  “With your permission.” Gareth nodded.

  “Nyah-YES!!!” She neighed.

  He passed the Forbidden Potion+ to Bareth. “Be careful. It is forbidden for a reason…” He warned just in case.

  “Thank you! … and congratulations!” Bareth bowed deeply.

  “…Congratulations on the child,” She curtsied low.

  Now then, he gave the potion but would it work? Bareth was no longer simply human, yes. He was the Dark Rider, a unique variant of the Corrupted Humans. So it would work… probably. But what would their offspring even look like? Would their child retain the Centauri features, or would they be born as human?

  Such thoughts were pointless. If anything, he should ponder on the spider-hybrid child cooking in the Centauri Champion’s oven first. No… first he had to go to that place, and while it was still raining.

  He bid farewell to the happy couple, the raider and his mare. Bareth jumped on her slender back, making the centauri buckle from all the weight. She neighed with power, straightening her back, and galloped into the mist rather vigorously.

  “Nyah! Nyah! Ride me!” The centauri mare neighed as she disappeared into the veil of darkness.

  >_< – He chose not to hear that line, or imagine what was about to come. He had better things to worry.

  “Now then… I better hurry.”

  With equally vigorous determination the Spider King stepped into the opposite reaches of the dark mist, straying further away from the Spidery Palace and deep into the webbing maze of chaos and darkness. Into that place.

  … … …

  He was not lost! He was going to THAT place.