Keizeix stared at the question.
**Would you like to view your available Evolution Tree options?**
**YES**
**NO**
He selected yes.
The display changed.
Four paths appeared vertically beneath one another.
**EVOLUTION TREE**
**Current Race:**
Silversilk Spiderkin
**Current Rank:**
Heroic Tier Breaker
**Available Primary Paths: 4**
**WARNING**
**Evolution Path selection is permanent.**
**Once a path is selected, incompatible primary paths will be permanently locked.**
Keizeix opened the first.
---
**PATH ONE**
**DREADSILK BEHEMOTH**
**Evolution Type:**
Pure Arachnid
**Evolution Principle:**
Perfect the natural spider body without compromise.
There would be no humanoid development.
None.
The path instead intensified everything naturally arachnid.
Physical strength.
Carapace density.
Venom.
Silk production.
Vibration sensing.
Territorial control.
And eventually—
Size.
A ridiculous amount of size.
**Projected Apex Form:**
Primordial Dreadsilk Behemoth
**Projected Mature Scale:**
Comparable to a three-story structure.
Its final body could potentially withstand forces approaching nuclear-scale destruction.
Then came the signature ability.
**Dominion Web**
Projects a massive reinforced web across an area approaching one-quarter square mile.
Targets beneath the web who are weaker than the user are forcibly pinned against the terrain.
More powerful targets must physically resist or destroy the web.
Keizeix imagined becoming a walking fortress capable of blanketing an army in silk.
Then imagined entering a castle doorway.
"No."
He closed it.
---
**PATH TWO**
**SILVERSILK WARFRAME**
**Evolution Type:**
Arachnid-Humanoid Combat Hybrid
**Evolution Principle:**
Gain humanoid versatility while preserving overt arachnid weaponry.
This path began immediately with a humanoid torso.
His spider lower body would initially remain intact.
Later, the spider thorax would shrink.
Two humanoid legs would develop.
Eventually the remaining thorax would merge into the humanoid body entirely.
The final form would possess a fully humanoid central body with eight hardened spider limbs protruding from the center of the back.
Four on either side of the spine.
Each independently controlled.
Each capable of serving as a spear, anchor, defensive weapon, climbing limb, or silk weapon.
**Arachnid Limb Silk Glands**
Specialized silk structures develop through the eight back limbs.
Silk may be projected directly from their tips.
Possible applications included rapid cocooning, battlefield binding, independent weaving, and—
**Compressed Silk Shot**
Dense silk projectiles may be launched at lethal velocity.
Keizeix paused.
"Silk bullets."
Extremely tempting.
He closed the branch.
---
**PATH THREE**
**SILVERSILK ASCENDANT**
**Evolution Type:**
Concealed Arachnid Humanoid
**Evolution Principle:**
Preserve spider capabilities while eliminating visible arachnid anatomy.
This path also began with a humanoid torso.
But unlike the Warframe route, it progressed toward a completely humanoid exterior.
Two arms.
Two legs.
Two normal-looking eyes.
No visible spider limbs.
No exposed shell.
No obvious arachnid traits.
Internally, however, the spider remained.
**Palm-Weaver Glands**
Silk glands develop throughout the palms and fingers.
Silk may be produced and shaped directly between the hands or projected toward a target.
**Selective Venom Canines**
Slightly enlarged canine teeth develop microscopic venom channels linked to independent venom glands.
Available venom development included:
**Paralytic Venom**
Disrupts muscular movement.
**Liquefaction Venom**
Produces progressive internal burning and tissue breakdown.
**Hypnotic Venom**
Induces a chemically heightened state of suggestibility.
**Berserker Venom**
Causes seizures followed by uncontrollable aggression toward surrounding creatures and objects while excluding Keizeix from hostile targeting.
The branch also preserved extraordinary jumping ability, barefoot wall traversal, fingertip adhesion, and enhanced vibration sensing despite having only two visible eyes.
Keizeix stared at that one for a while.
If all he'd wanted was to become human again, this would have been the obvious answer.
But it was still an answer chosen for him.
He closed it.
Then opened the fourth.
---
**PATH FOUR**
**PRIMORDIAL WEAVER**
**Evolution Type:**
Adaptive
Self-Directed
Open Development
**Evolution Principle:**
**Freedom through self-directed development.**
Keizeix leaned closer.
**This Evolution Path does not restrict the user to one predetermined biological endpoint.**
Future development could be modified, redirected, expanded, sacrificed, exchanged, or rebuilt through compatible evolutionary development.
Then the System introduced something new.
**PRIMORDIAL EXCHANGE POINTS**
**Current Balance:**
0
Keizeix frowned.
"Naturally."
They would be exceptionally difficult to obtain.
Meaningful changes would be extremely expensive.
Traits could be sacrificed, but only a small portion of their value would be recovered.
External appearance could be modified.
Biological structures could be developed.
Existing traits could eventually be altered or redirected.
But every meaningful decision would cost him.
The path didn't make evolution easy.
It made evolution his.
**Projected Apex Path:**
Primordial Sovereign
**Final Biological Configuration:**
User-Directed
Keizeix smiled.
The other three paths each offered a powerful destination.
This one offered freedom to build his own.
That settled it.
He selected:
**PRIMORDIAL WEAVER**
A final warning appeared.
**SELECTION IS IRREVERSIBLE**
**Confirm Evolution Path?**
Keizeix selected:
**CONFIRM**
The other branches vanished.
One heartbeat passed.
Then his entire body erupted in blinding white light.
"Oh—"
Power exploded outward.
The tent snapped violently around him.
A massive circular wave of energy tore through the surrounding camp.
Loose objects flew.
Supply racks overturned.
Nearby soldiers shouted.
Inside the light, Keizeix's body changed.
Pressure.
Stretching.
Restructuring.
Something rose from the front of his spider body.
A chest.
Shoulders.
Arms.
Elbows.
Wrists.
Hands.
Fingers.
A humanoid neck and head.
New muscles connected to old structures.
His entire balance shifted.
Then the light vanished.
Keizeix swayed.
Eight spider legs scrambled beneath him.
Two unfamiliar arms flailed outward.
"Whoa—"
He crashed sideways.
The remains of the tent entrance were thrown aside.
Shirespoke entered first with his sword drawn.
Marike followed.
Sia was directly behind her.
All three stopped.
Keizeix lay awkwardly on one side.
His spider lower body remained.
But rising from its front was now a fully developed humanoid torso.
He slowly lifted one hand.
Five fingers.
He moved them separately.
Closed them.
Opened them.
His eyes widened.
"Oh."
He rotated his wrist.
"Oh, this is fantastic."
Shirespoke lowered his sword.
Then grinned.
"You broke through."
Keizeix looked at him.
"Heroic Tier Breaker."
Shirespoke nodded.
Sia went completely still.
Then her eyes narrowed.
"No."
Keizeix looked toward her.
His smile formed automatically.
That made the situation considerably worse.
"You beat me?"
Keizeix probably should have shown restraint.
"Yes."
Black-purple electricity snapped across Sia's body.
Marike stepped immediately between them.
"No."
Sia glared.
"I haven't done anything."
"You were considering it."
"I was thinking."
"Violently."
Keizeix laughed.
Sia looked furious.
Not merely competitive.
Offended.
She had been ahead so often.
Had pushed him constantly.
And now he'd crossed this threshold first.
"I'll catch you."
Keizeix nodded.
"I'm sure you will."
"Stop saying it like that!"
"Like what?"
"Like you're humoring me!"
Shirespoke sighed.
"They're fine."
Marike looked at him.
"Your definition of fine concerns me."
---
The following morning, Commander Vaelcor arrived.
By then half the camp had heard about the breakthrough.
That tended to happen when someone transformed into a miniature sun.
Vaelcor stopped several feet from Keizeix.
His single visible eye traveled slowly over the new humanoid torso.
Then down across the still-arachnid lower body.
"Heroic Tier Breaker."
Keizeix nodded.
"Yes, Commander."
Vaelcor studied him for another moment.
"You developed the torso."
Pause.
"Which path did you choose?"
Keizeix froze.
Only internally.
And suddenly he was three months old again.
---
Shirespoke sat beside him in one of the castle's upper courtyards.
Keizeix had still been learning how to make eight legs cooperate without tripping over himself.
He remembered watching adult spiderkin moving through distant corridors.
Some remained overwhelmingly arachnid.
Some had humanoid torsos.
Others possessed human legs and arms while carrying spider limbs from their backs.
Keizeix had asked why they looked so different.
Shirespoke drew three lines in the dirt.
"Eventually, every spiderkin must decide what kind of being they wish to become."
Three lines.
Only three.
"The oldest path was made famous by **Graveth the Unbroken**."
Graveth had rejected humanoid development entirely.
He followed pure arachnid evolution until he became a colossal fortress of shell, venom and silk.
By the end of his development, Graveth stood several stories high.
His webbing could immobilize formations.
His shell endured attacks that shattered fortifications.
He became legendary as a siege monster.
He also became practically incapable of entering civilized buildings.
Shirespoke had laughed.
"Royal gatherings involving Graveth were eventually moved outdoors."
Three-month-old Keizeix had asked:
"Because he didn't fit?"
"Because replacing ceilings became expensive."
Then Shirespoke pointed to the second line.
"The path most common among nobles and high-ranking members of our court was made famous by **Kaelor Eight-Lance**."
Kaelor initially evolved a humanoid torso while retaining his spider body.
As he advanced, his lower body reduced.
Human legs formed.
Eventually his spider thorax disappeared into a humanoid body while eight hardened arachnid limbs remained protruding from his back.
Kaelor could wield weapons in both hands while the eight limbs attacked independently.
According to Shirespoke, he'd once killed multiple enemy officers simultaneously without ever releasing his primary sword.
But combat wasn't the only reason his evolutionary path became popular.
"Castles favor humanoid bodies," Shirespoke had explained.
"Doors. Furniture. Armor. Clothing. Books. Tools. Tables. Court life."
Keizeix remembered looking around the castle.
"So become human?"
Shirespoke's response had been immediate.
"No."
Even at three months old, Keizeix had laughed.
Shirespoke tapped the second line again.
"Kaelor's path preserves spider dignity. You gain the practical body required for civilization without discarding what you are."
That philosophy had spread heavily through the royal court.
A humanoid body made high-class life easier.
Weapons became easier to wield.
Clothing and armor became practical.
Furniture no longer needed to be custom-built around a massive thorax.
But the eight spider limbs remained visible.
Powerful.
Unmistakably spiderkin.
A compromise between practicality and racial pride.
Then Shirespoke pointed to the third line.
"**Velisara the Veiled.**"
That path had always been controversial.
Velisara progressively eliminated every visible spider trait.
By the end, she appeared entirely humanoid.
No spider legs.
No shell.
Only two eyes.
Traditionalists despised it.
But Velisara retained spider adhesion, venom, silk and enhanced senses beneath the surface.
She became a renowned diplomat.
And a terrifying assassin.
Shirespoke told Keizeix that an enemy ruler once allowed her into a banquet after his guards thoroughly searched her for weapons.
They found none.
Velisara killed him with venom delivered through her teeth.
Three-month-old Keizeix had stared at the three lines.
"Which is best?"
Shirespoke flicked him lightly between the eyes.
"The one you can live with after choosing it."
---
The memory disappeared.
Keizeix looked at Vaelcor.
Then at Shirespoke.
Three historical paths.
Three choices known to spiderkin.
And none of them knew there had been a fourth.
They could never know.
Not ever.
Fortunately, his current body gave him the perfect lie.
Humanoid torso.
Spider lower body.
Exactly how Kaelor's Warframe route began.
Keizeix answered without hesitation.
"Warframe."
Vaelcor nodded once.
Shirespoke smiled.
"A practical choice."
Keizeix kept his expression neutral.
Inside, he thought:
*Not even close.*
Sia looked at his new torso with narrowed eyes.
"Of course you chose the typical castle path."
Shirespoke immediately frowned.
"Typical?"
Sia bo.wed respectfully. "Appologies Shirespoke i merely meant I suspected he would follow in Graveth's footsteps Not Kealor's whith how he seems to love to fight webbing and stabbing things as he does.
Keizeix didn't smile.
That statement had annoyed him.
His real path stayed his.
---
Vaelcor looked at him again.
"Walk."
Keizeix did.
Poorly.
His torso leaned backward.
His spider legs compensated.
Too much.
He rotated halfway around before managing to stop himself.
Silence.
Keizeix straightened.
"...Still adjusting."
Vaelcor looked at Shirespoke.
"No battlefield."
Keizeix's head snapped around.
"What?"
Shirespoke nodded.
"Agreed."
"I just broke through."
"Exactly."
"I'm stronger."
"You also have half a body you've never used."
Shirespoke tapped one arm.
"New reach."
His shoulder.
"New balance."
His chest.
"New places to be stabbed."
Keizeix attempted to fold his arms.
His hand struck his elbow.
Sia burst out laughing.
Shirespoke pointed toward him.
"And coordination that is currently embarrassing the royal bloodline."
"I dislike all of you."
"Good."
Shirespoke smiled.
"You'll have plenty of time to dislike me."
That sounded dangerous.
"Why?"
"You're returning to the castle."
Sia's laughter stopped.
Keizeix looked toward the battlefield.
Shirespoke continued.
"You are not fighting again until your instincts understand the body you're standing in."
Then he looked toward Sia.
"She stays."
Sia immediately straightened.
Marike nodded.
"I'll continue her training until she reaches her own breakthrough."
Sia had no numbers to consult.
No exact measurement.
Like every other spiderkin, she would simply keep growing until she felt the threshold arrive.
Then instinct, history and conscious preference would guide her toward one of the three paths her people knew.
Shirespoke nodded.
"Once she evolves and can safely control whatever form she chooses, bring her back to the castle."
Sia stared at Keizeix.
"I won't be long."
Keizeix smiled.
"Try not to miss me."
"Try not to stab yourself."
---
The castle felt strangely quiet after weeks of war.
Shirespoke fixed that on the first morning.
He threw Keizeix a sword.
Keizeix nearly dropped it.
The hilt bounced against one hand.
Then the other.
He finally grabbed it with both.
A real training sword.
Dulled.
Balanced.
Simple.
Keizeix smiled.
"I've wanted this for six months."
Shirespoke drew his own blade.
"Give it ten minutes."
The first lesson lasted seven seconds.
Shirespoke struck Keizeix's wrist.
The sword flew away.
"Dead."
"That doesn't count."
"It counted."
"I wasn't ready."
"Enemies famously wait."
Keizeix retrieved the weapon.
The second attempt lasted eleven seconds.
Shoulder.
Ribs.
Throat.
Three strikes.
"Dead."
"You're a Master Heroic."
"And you're holding the sword like you're trying to strangle it."
---
Day two was worse.
Keizeix remembered having arms as Yuto.
Unfortunately, Yuto had never possessed a humanoid torso attached to an eight-legged spider body.
Keizeix turned like a human swordsman.
His lower body rotated too far.
Shirespoke struck him in the back.
He tried lunging.
His spider legs generated far too much force.
Keizeix flew past Shirespoke.
Then crashed through a training dummy.
Wood exploded.
Shirespoke stared at the wreckage.
"Excellent."
Keizeix lifted his head.
"Thank you."
"The dummy never stood a chance."
"I hate you."
---
Day three introduced blisters.
His new palms were soft.
Hours around a sword hilt corrected that painfully.
Several blisters tore.
Keizeix held up his hands.
"They're bleeding."
Shirespoke inspected them.
"Good."
"How?"
"Your hands are learning."
"They're learning hatred."
"Also useful."
Keizeix wrapped them and continued.
This time he loosened his grip.
Shirespoke attacked.
Keizeix blocked.
Nearly lost the sword.
Held it.
Another strike.
Keizeix adjusted three spider legs while keeping his torso centered.
Blocked again.
Then countered.
Shirespoke parried easily.
But smiled.
"Better."
Keizeix froze.
"Was that praise?"
Shirespoke smacked him across the shoulder.
"Don't become emotional."
Keizeix stared.
"You and Estros would get along."
Shirespoke stopped.
"Who?"
Keizeix's thoughts froze.
"Nobody."
Shirespoke narrowed his eyes.
Keizeix attacked immediately.
"Training!"
Steel met steel.
Subject changed.
Good.
---
By the fifth day, the new body finally began feeling like his.
His shoulders no longer required conscious thought.
His hands began understanding the sword's weight.
His torso and spider body stopped fighting each other.
He was still terrible.
Shirespoke reminded him often.
But less terrible.
One afternoon Keizeix blocked three strikes.
Then a fourth.
Instead of retreating, he anchored four spider legs into the ground.
The others rotated him sharply.
His torso followed.
His sword cut across from an angle Shirespoke hadn't expected.
Shirespoke blocked.
A fraction late.
Keizeix grinned.
"You reacted late."
"No."
"You did."
"I reacted sufficiently."
"Late."
Shirespoke attacked.
The training sword struck Keizeix squarely across the forehead.
He collapsed.
"OW!"
Shirespoke looked down at him.
"Lesson."
"What lesson?"
"Don't celebrate while your opponent is still armed."
Keizeix lay sprawled across the training ground.
Painful.
Humiliating.
Useful.
Somewhere far away, Sia remained on the northeastern battlefield.
Fighting.
Growing.
Furious that he'd beaten her.
Eventually she would feel her own breakthrough.
Eventually she would choose one of the three paths she believed existed.
And eventually Marike would bring her home.
Keizeix tightened his aching fingers around the sword.
By then, he intended to be ready.
And the fourth path would remain exactly where it belonged.
His secret.