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The spiders came in different sizes, ranging from two-meter-long monstrosities to palm-sized spiderlings. They were so densely clustered that a mere glance could erode one’s sanity.

Even the bravest, most experienced adventurer from Sword and Broken Blade tavern would turn tail and flee at this sight… provided it was not too late to escape yet.

This part of the labyrinth had already devolved into a monster nest.

This was beyond the scope of what adventurers could deal with, and the matter ought to be escalated to the fief lord. Besides, adventurers only saw labyrinths as a means to make a living. There was no reason for them to put their lives on the line for the fief lord’s woes.

Crypt spiders, despite being labyrinth monsters, were capable of developing human-level intelligence. It was also possible for them to overcome their reclusive racial trait and form an orderly tribe.

This phenomenon was more likely to happen when labyrinth monsters shared a living space with natural-born monsters. The latter would propagate ‘forward-looking ideas’ in the labyrinth, thus accelerating the labyrinth monsters’ evolution from primitive into civilized beings.

A qualified demon king would prevent such things from happening.

Only obedient monsters were good monsters.

Monsters who had formed their own group were not only unreliable, but they also become vermin in the labyrinth.

Under the right circumstances, other monsters had the potential to develop into a civilization too.

Monsters who had forged a new order among themselves were less likely to respond to the demon king’s summons. They might also attempt to break away to establish their independent ‘nest’ in the labyrinth to hunt other monsters.

One could say that the Northpeak Shaft’s slave rats were victims of this occurrence.

Back then Lej Dracul was still alive, the slave rats lived fairly comfortable lives in the labyrinth. Not only were they guaranteed a steady supply of food, but they could also occasionally head out to steal nearby farmers’ crops.

The demon king’s death overturned their lives.

Being in the lowest stratum of the demon king domain resulted in them being demoted from cannon fodder to food.

In contrast, the crypt spiders, one of the ratmen’s natural enemies, flourished amidst the labyrinth’s chaos.

A mother spider named Alakinse, under the support of her tens of thousands of descendants, had declared herself the Crypt Lord. They founded a nation called the ‘Weaving Shadow Nest’ in the northern region of the labyrinth’s first floor.

Unlike the ‘loners’ wandering the labyrinth, they were much stronger, much more diligent, and displayed a clear division of labor.

Some took care of the spider eggs. Some transported hunted prey back. Some fed the knot wormlings. Some dug the labyrinth walls and transported the soil elsewhere to expand the nest.

They were as busy as bees.

Under the Crypt Lord’s orders, the Weaving Shadow Nest’s crypt spiders had been using a mix of favor and threat to bring ‘loners’ under their command.

At the same time, many crypt spider tribes came into prominence, becoming stalwart pillars of support for the Weaving Shadow Nest. It was an era of unprecedented prosperity for the crypt spiders!

Just like how human ambitions ballooned, the same went for spiders.

Alakinse knew well how powerful the demon king was, and that made her painfully aware of how weak it was despite her hulking stature.

‘Unlike those little rats, those demons will be much harder to deal with.’

While they might not have the energy to interfere with what was happening on the labyrinth’s first level yet, it was only a matter of time before they set their eyes here.

Not to mention the underworld would eventually dispatch a new demon king here.

To achieve true freedom, the Weaving Shadow Nest would have to expand its territory outward, increasing its living space along with its population. The goal was to establish a massive ‘nest capital’ surpassing the labyrinth and even Thunderbuzz City.

By then, neither the underworld nor the human countries would dare underestimate them!

While the great Crypt Lord was busy unrolling its ambitious plans, a few fellows emitting corpse stench stepped into its webs…

Flustered footsteps interrupted Alakinse’s train of thought.

A brawny, gray-shelled, male spider lowered its posture before the entrance of its lair as it reported, “Your Majesty, the adventurers have murdered the ‘pioneers’ we dispatched. Our sentries have been destroyed, and the area is covered in our children’s corpses. There is not a single survivor!”

Its voice was filled with anger and sorrow. Were it not out of fear of the intruders’ strength, it would have charged up and torn them into pieces.

The humongous Alakinse gazed down on her servant, her crimson eyes flickering with disbelief and terror. “What? How is that possible? Why would the adventurers suddenly set their eyes on the northern entrance when they have steered clear for a long time?”

Before Alakinse came here with her spiderlings, this place was already occupied by many little spiders, who spun a thick web together. That was the reason she designated this place as her new nest.

The gray-shelled, male spider further lowered its big head, “I-I don’t know! But recently, there have been more people at the northern entrance than before!”

It suddenly thought of something and added, “Those adventurers seem to have something to do with the ‘Great Harvest’ a while back!”

Alakinse lowered her gaze, her crimson eyes flickering with fury.

‘Adventurers. Of all times, they choose to appear now.’

This was terrible news to the Weaving Shadow Nest, which was aggressively expanding toward the northern mountain range.

After a moment of silence, Alakinse issued her order, “Arakdor, take a few hunters with you to scout the situation. Find out what the adventurers are up to. We have to first find out their nature and aim.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

The black-shelled, flower spider lying at the corner of her lair quickly scurried out with his eight muscular but agile legs.

Alakinse dismissed her servants with a wave before leading a group of trembling male spiders back into its lair.

‘Danger is pressing close. As the Weaving Shadow Nest’s mother, I have to bear more spiderlings…’

…

Meanwhile, Roan, having rested up after spending some time in meditation, stood up and continued his grind.

Despite having said he would leave the troublesome work to the players, he didn’t intend on truly dumping all work on the players to skive off. As Necropolis’ boss, the least he should do was to ensure he stayed firmly ahead of the players.

His hard work paid off. He successfully advanced to LV33 before evening!

The five players also managed to make some progress, albeit to different extents.

Dragonmyriad, Dragonthousand, Dragonhundred, and Twilight had maxed out their experience points. As soon as they hit the required contribution points, they could advance to Iron-tier right away and be blessed with transcendent powers.

Meanwhile, the sharp-witted Autumnleaf, by coming up with strategies to dish out more damage on the crypt spiders to leech more experience points, managed to further raise his level to LV5.

Even Roan thought it was a waste to let this fellow player this game for free.

【ID: Roan

Race: Human

Soul Tier: Steel (Level Cap: 50)

Level: 33

Experience Points: 112/330,000

Constitution: 13

Strength: 13

Agility: 13

Intelligence: 38 (+2)

Psyche: 39 (+1)】

Roan glanced at his character page, followed by the carcasses littered on the floor, and he couldn’t help but remark, “A hero stands atop tens of thousands of skeletons.”

‘Is this how the high demons grow so powerful? How many cities did they have to decimate to reach their current level…’

Just then, Youyou made an untimely interjection, “Demon King, arachnids have skeletons.”

Having expected the retort, Roan scoffed, “Chitin is a type of bone too. I can even reanimate skeletons from their corpses. And Youyou, you won’t have any friends at this rate.”

Youyou: “Wuu! QAQ”

Roan’s final remark was a critical blow to Youyou. She transformed into an emoticon she probably saw on the internet and drifted off in the mirror.

…

Calamity Online’s official site was bustling today.

It had been two days since the closed beta’s opening. While most players had barely gathered three digits of contribution points, someone had already amassed 1000 contribution points and broken the LV3 level cap.

What could this be if not cheating?!

Orcknight: “It’s a ploy! Someone must be screwing with us!”

Festivepool: “Yaaa, it must be a hack or a glitch! We need to crack down on this!”

Festivepool: “Huh? What the hell, developers? Which bastard changed my username?!”

Explodingknowledge: “Pfft! Hold on, hold on. What happened to you is pretty funny, but let’s focus on the hack first.”

Orcknight: “We’re all still LV0. How can that fellow possibly be at LV4? (Screams)”

Minowarrior: “You have to the cheek to complain… I wanted to take you leveling, but you’re either being grounded or on your way to be grounded. (Sweat)”

Dragonslayer: “Nerf him! I don’t care! Nerf him! (Frenzied)”

Autumnleaf: “It’s one thing for them to complain, but you aren’t even in the game yet. (Sweats)”

Unyieldinglife: “Gwahaha! That made me burst into laughter!”

Festivepool: “Dogshit developers, come out! This must be a sign of guilt! If not, why would you change my name from ‘Fecespool’ to ‘Festivepool’?!”

【Player ‘Festivepool’ has been muted for 24 hours. Please be courteous in the forums.】

Villagegramps: “Where did this rabid dog come from? (Sweats)”

Orcknight: “tremble.jpg”

Autumnleaf: “Calm down, brothers. I have already added the details into my guide. It’s not that hard to pull it off, though it can be challenging in terms of reflexes and control. Also, I am not at LV4 but LV5 now.”

Villagegramps: “Holy sheet! So fast?! (Spurts blood)”

Autumnleaf: “I was lucky, but that’s not the main point. Let me share my conclusion… Mage is the ultimate answer to this game!”

Explodingknowledge: “Hold on, you can cast skills now?!”

Autumnleaf: “Not yet, but NPCs can.”

Autumnleaf proceeded to share the fortuitous encounter he had in the afternoon. He elaborated in vivid detail how suave the Demon King was when he crushed the crypt spiders.

With a wave of his hand, the Demon King obliterated countless crypt spiders, each of which would have taken them skeleton soldiers great effort and wits to defeat.

His descriptions were so exaggerated that even Roan, who was secretly peeking on the forums, blushed.

Last but not least, Autumnleaf also shared what happened when he overcame his LV3 bottleneck, emphasizing the effects arising from the growth in his psyche and intelligence.

He was no longer a brainless skeleton soldier but an intelligent elite mob!

Villagegramps: “If there’s MP, we should be able to learn skills, right?”

(T/N: MP is mana points.)

Autumnleaf: “That should be the case, yes, but I haven’t figured out the way to learn skills yet.”

Browsing through the discussions on the forum set Roan thinking.

“Youyou, is there a way for players to learn spells?”

Since the players had a MP bar, it would be a waste not to put that to good use. It should be possible for some of them to convert to skeleton mages.

Skeleton mages were still incapable of human speech, but they could wield transcendent powers through communing with the elements of the natural world.

Youyou pondered for a moment before replying, “It’s possible. I was wondering if it is still too early, but since your valor has struck a chord with the players, maybe it is time to further fluff up your lore.”

“Fluff up my lore? What does that mean?” Roan was confused.

Youyou replied matter-of-factly, “It’s to build your faith, of course! Be it issuing a divine decree or speaking through the mouth of an oracle, these are the God 101, no?”

Roan stared at Youyou with confused eyes. He was struggling to keep pace with the latter’s train of thought.

Youyou quickly continued her explanation, “For instance, Saint Sisto’s worshipers often preach that Saint Sisto brought holy light to this world, and that’s why it exists. That is the most classic example of a lore!”

Roan was stunned.

“You’re saying that holy light was conceptualized, and it didn’t exist before?”

Youyou was baffled. “Of course! How could such convenient light exist in the natural world? Others in this world might not know better, but you should at least at least be wiser!

“It’s not just holy light; it is true for most magic in this world. Communing with elemental spirits is, in essence, praying to the elemental spirits to summon the elements. You should have sensed it by now, right? The summoned elements are different from what they are in the natural world.”

‘Indeed.’

Roan nodded in agreement. He had been curious about this for some time now.

Fire, in the natural world, is the movement of particles under high heat.

This is very different from the fireballs he cast. The fire he conjured with his mana is capable of burning independently without using anything as fuel; it might not even undergo oxidation at all. It was an entirely different entity arising from transcendent powers.

“I get what you mean. In other words, the true nature of transcendent powers is faith?”

“Indeed! Transcendent power is the same thing as faith. To put it more directly, gods are congregations of faith, and they serve to realize what mortals firmly believe in! Demon King, are you only realizing that now? This was strongly hinted in Calamity Online’s setting.”

‘Urk… Was it? If you’re talking about the line where it states that ‘the people of the First Epoch used transcendent powers to forge divine personas’, isn’t that expression way too abstract?’

Roan massaged his temples before pressing on, “So, what do I have to do? Do I have to create my own system of magic like the Demon God and Saint Sisto? Isn’t that too difficult for us?”

He only had a hundred or so worshipers now.

If he put aside the players, all he had were the few adventurers he had locked up and the part-time sales assistant in his provision shop.

If even a god like that could create a system of magic out of nothing, all beings on this planet should be trampling down mountains and flying in the sky by now.

Youyou: “There’s no need for all that trouble! Look, even the Demon God didn’t create a new system of magic, right? The underworld is still using the same magic system inherited from the Netherworld God, even if there were some modifications made along the way.

“Times have changed. The many rules created by the previous gods and mortals have already perfected this world’s fundamental base code. You don’t have to create a brand-new magic system from scratch. All you have to do is to review existing spells and skills and assign them to the players accordingly!

“It’s perfectly fine even if you bestow holy light upon your players… Ah, but holy light has a curbing effect on the undead. In view that you have already adopted the Netherworld God’s magic system, I wouldn’t recommend you do that!”

“Huh?! Hold on, you’re saying I can just assign spells to the players? It’s… that simple?”

Roan couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Youyou confidently nodded its head.

“That’s right, it’s that simple! When players execute their skills, they are using their own transcendent powers and consuming their own mana. In other words, they are using this world’s pre-existing code instead of borrowing your powers.

“To complete the lore, all you have to do is to find a few masters to teach them the basics so that they understand how the skills work and what effects they have. Then, I will add a user interface on the players’ side for them to execute the skills they have learned. Alternatively, you can also personally teach the players an ‘incantation’ to focus their psyche, through which, they would be able to execute their skills too!”