I am a Green Basilisk.
A three-day-old lizard.
It's been three days since I arrived in this world, so calling myself three days old is accurate enough. After all, it really has only been three days since I hatched.
That means the spiders sobbing and clinging to each other in front of me are my elders.
They're small, not young.
I have no idea how they've managed to survive in this harsh world. I've already had several brushes with death myself.
Thwack!
I brought my tail down on the still-breathing diving beetle, finishing it off for good.
The spiders flinched and crept backward.
"Gek gek."
I dug my claws into the flattened beetle's shell.
Rrrrip.
With my claws, I began to butcher the beetle's meat. Tsk, shouldn't I learn some kind of martial art for this? Something like the Nine Yin White Bone Claw would be perfect.
"Kieee…"
The trembling spiders must have caught the scent of meat, because they started tilting their heads.
Instead of handing them a piece of the beetle's flesh, I dropped it right into the water.
"Hieeek!"
The smaller one instantly played dead, while the bigger one leaped back in surprise.
They probably think I'm messing with them.
My reason for dropping the beetle meat into the water was simple: it had a unique stench. It wasn't so bad that I couldn't stomach it—a human wouldn't be able to, but my palate has adapted to that of a lizard.
However, the meat contained a component surprisingly similar to a toxin, which could have harmed the spiders.
The only reason I ate it unwashed was in the hopes of acquiring a poison-related skill.
"Kiooong…!"
The spider that had been playing dead had gotten up at some point and was now making a clapping motion with its thick forelegs.
Hmm, a little sycophant, are we?
I handed it a piece of the cleanly butchered beetle meat.
Tus and Pus dove in, frantically tearing at the beetle meat.
"Kieee!" they cried out again and again, as if exclaiming how delicious it was.
The scene felt strangely unfamiliar.
It sounds odd coming from someone who's only three days old, but my life so far has been a constant struggle.
I've been chased by an Oviraptor, stolen prey from a giant spider, fought an ant legion, hunted piranhas, and gotten my ass kicked by both a toad and a turtle.
After living such a high-stakes life, the reactions of these tiny spiders felt incredibly novel.
"Gegegek."
"Kiooong?"
I don't mean you look fresh, I mean this feeling is new to me.
…Of course, there's no way they understood that.
I watched quietly as the spiders ate.
These two, Tus and Pus, were actually kind of cute, to be honest.
They were spiders, yes, but they looked quite different from the ones I was used to.
Their overall shape, their gentle-looking eyes… Even the way they sometimes grooved to some invisible beat seemed harmless.
Compared to that other spider I met in the trees, these two were practically celestial maidens.
I wonder how she's doing.
The bond I'd formed with Nephila Jurassica had probably lowered my psychological defenses.
Before I knew it, they had devoured all the beetle meat and were now staring up at me, their eyes sparkling.
"Kieng!"
This novel feeling… It was similar to what I felt when I was slaughtering all those aphids.
"Gek gek."
"Keeeek!"
They went wild with joy when I made the cry I used to as a gecko.
The way they looked at me was like fans gazing at their idol.
…Not that I'd ever experienced that before.
Still, I was glad to be on the receiving end of it, even if it was just from a couple of spiders.
I was now basically an idol to all of spider-kind.
Since the prideful Nephila Jurassica had acknowledged me, it was inevitable that these little spiders would adore me.
A lizard of devilish charm. I had become a man who attracted spiders just by standing still.
....
Is that a good thing?
As I watched the spiders' antics, I formulated a plan.
They were some of the only friendly creatures I'd met.
Even if I wasn't going to travel with them, it was only logical to make use of them.
In other words, perhaps it was time for a temporary symbiotic relationship.
Pus and Tus.
The two spiders were from different species.
Pus was a web-spinner, while Tus used poison, much like a tarantula.
This meant their roles didn't overlap.
"Kkegek!"
I called to the spiders, beckoning them with a lazy wave of my hand.
They tilted their heads at first, but soon seemed to grasp my meaning and crawled over.
Good.
1. Lift Pus.
"Keeeek?"
Shwwwk!
I pulled a strand of silk from Pus in one go.
"Kieeeek!"
Startled, it began to flail.
Tus covered its face with its front legs as if it had just witnessed something indecent.
I ignored them and continued to harvest Pus's high-quality silk.
"Kiiiik…"
100. Put Pus down.
"Gegek."
Alright, kids. Big bro's about to show you something awesome.
I waved my forelimbs.
Pus immediately turned its head away, its body trembling.
That's a weird reaction.
I didn't touch it anywhere I shouldn't have, did I?
I just pulled out some silk, right?
…And you two are guys, right?
*
Pus's silk was waterproof.
It was also as strong as any other spider silk, making it perfect for a fishing line.
I fashioned a makeshift fishing apparatus—calling it a 'rod' would be a stretch, as it was just a line and a hook.
A hook carved from the leg of the diving beetle.
Waterproof spider silk.
For bait, I used the leftover remains of the beetle.
After a moment of silence for the beetle that kept on giving, I put my creation to the test.
The results were highly satisfactory.
[Black Piranha LV2]
[Black Piranha LV3]
They were smaller than the one I'd encountered yesterday, but they were the same species. That meant they would taste just as good.
"Kioooong!"
The spiders circled me, waving their legs in the air.
I had long since moved past being their idol.
Worship.
They were worshiping me.
To creatures that couldn't even hunt a single diving beetle, piranhas were probably the neighborhood bullies.
So when a ridiculously handsome green lizard showed up and caught two of them with a miraculous technique, their reaction was only to be expected.
After a good while of worship, the spiders started nudging each other with their little legs, as if they wanted to say something.
Seeing them drooling confirmed it: they were curious about how the fish tasted.
Fine. Since you worship me, you deserve a reward.
I'll fill your bellies with five diving beetles and two fish.
I quickly prepared the diving beetle and the fish.
And so, the Swamp's Special Course was served.
Tus and Pus devoured the meal ravenously.
You guys were starving, huh? Just watching you eat is enough to fill me up... Hey! Leave one of the piranhas for me!
[[Attercopus LV4] and [Anthracomartus LV3] worship you.]
Huh?
The system notifies me of this now?
No, wait. Whenever the status window sends a message like this, it means I'm about to get something.
A skill, or maybe a title.
[A faint divinity settles within you.]
…A faint divinity!
What the hell is that?
Tell me more!
I glared at the status window, but nothing else appeared.
Is that it?
Are you sure you're not forgetting something?
Dammit.
Maybe because it's only a faint divinity, there are no noticeable changes.
I feel like something more might happen if I get more worshipers… but that won't be easy.
There aren't many creatures that worship others as a group, like humans do.
Still, I could see the potential.
If these spiders pass down my story to their children, perhaps my 'faint divinity' might grow into a 'small divinity' someday.
Before I knew it, Tus and Pus had finished all the food.
[Anthracomartus LV4]
[Status]
「Worship」「Satiated」
[Attercopus LV5]
[Status]
「Worship」「Satiated」
I thought I'd caught too much, but they finished it all.
They even leveled up.
They patted their now-plump bellies, then approached me and bowed their heads.
"Kieng."
It was nice to meet you.
The food was delicious.
We will pass your story on to our descendants.
It was just a guess, but that's what I imagined they were saying.
And seeing the two of them scuttling off somewhere together, I figured my interpretation was probably close enough.
Scuttle scuttle scuttle!
I dashed forward and grabbed Tus and Pus.
"Kieeeek!"
Startled, they began to tremble again.
Cute, maybe, but they had no conscience.
You didn't really think that meal was free, did you?
"Gekgegek!"
You'll pay with your bodies.
I'll make you produce as much as you ate.
*
Pus's once-plump belly was now deflated.
The result of me extracting a massive amount of its silk.
The whole time, Tus had watched in terror.
I would have loved to turn Tus's full stomach into silk as well, but it was the type of spider that couldn't produce any.
I wasn't disappointed, though.
It had its own uses.
I realized my greatest weakness during the battle with the ant legion.
I'm vulnerable to poison.
Of course, few creatures are immune to it, but it was a particular problem for me.
I could handle most other threats.
If a dinosaur bigger than me gave chase, I could probably escape.
But there was no way for me to cure the poison from the bite of a tiny insect like an ant.
My only options were to wait for the poison to wear off naturally or to level up and clear the status effect, neither of which was reliable.
In the former case, if the remaining poison damage exceeded my total HP, I'd be dead.
In the latter case, since I couldn't just choose to level up in the middle of a fight, that method was nearly impossible to use in practice.
I had to find another way.
I had a decent grasp of how my skills worked.
Get hit with acid, gain acid resistance.
Get hit with a paralyzing stinger, gain paralysis resistance.
By that logic, getting poisoned should grant me poison resistance.
But when I was poisoned fighting the ant legion, I didn't acquire any such skill.
I figured it was because I'd only been bitten once; I hadn't built up enough 'experience.'
If I was exposed multiple times, I was sure I would naturally develop a resistance.
The problem was, multiple exposures to poison could easily lead to death.
It wasn't like a venomous creature would bite me gently.
And then, in the midst of this dilemma, I met a tiny, poisonous spider who just so happened to worship me.
Tus.
"Gegegek."
You ready?
"Hiooong…"
I pressed Tus's fangs against my own tail.
This way, if things got out of control, I could sever it immediately.
"Gek gek."
Bite gently, now.
I took a deep breath and cleared my mind.
This is going to hurt. A lot.
But it's what I have to do to get stronger.
Isn't there a saying that a drop of sweat in training saves a drop of blood in battle?
I steeled myself, clenching my jaw.
I was confident I wouldn't so much as blink, just like the famous general who played a game of Go while a surgeon operated on his poisoned arm.
Alright, do it!
CRUNCH!
"GEEEEEEEEEK!"