The room itself was built in the same style as the rest of the ruins. The high ceiling arch reminded me of some old cathedrals I had visited. The spider iconography was much more pronounced than outside, most of the finishing touches were engraved with webs and the like.
At the center was the ritual circle. When I examined it, the magic seemed to be gone for good. Parts of the carvings had even burned out. I resolved to destroy it completely before we left. I didn't want some adventurer stumbling upon it and turning themselves inside-out with an incomplete ritual.
A dozen or so meters from the circle, there was a stone altar. Nothing particular about it, except for the enchantments. It looked like the altar would work with the key enchantment in my ritual bracer. With my perception sphere, I had a good idea of where the opening was. The ritual room was a dozen meters shorter than it appeared from the outside.
Vel had prepared another meal for us while I stumbled around. Finding a way to sit down was harder than I thought, my legs took an absurd amount of space on the floor no matter how I tried. In the end, I curled them inwards.
Vel leaned against me again. I took the bowl she offered and pulled her closer with my arms.
"Do we have enough provisions to stay here a while?" I asked.
"With what's in your amulet, we have more than enough."
"I feel we'll get sick of lizard meat before we run out."
"Probably."
After the meal, I pulled out all of my enchanted items out of the amulet and put them back on. It felt a bit naked without them on. Then I did something else I had been putting off for a while. There were a lot of system notifications pending in the back of my mind which I had ignored until now.
A lot had happened.
Your group has defeated [Mature Taratect Warrior (Level 95-120, Rank 4)] x 8
Your group has defeated [Mature Taratect Warrior (Level 120-145, Rank 5)] x 4
Experience gain reduced by 20% for fighting with a group
Experience gain increased by 50% for fighting a group
Experience gain increased by 100% for defeating a monster above your rank
Experience gain increased by 150% for dangerous encounter
Essence Absorption collected 104 ES
Reached Level 106 (Rank 4, +12 level)
Gained: 100 ES
Received Perk [Blessing of Lolth] from Lolth
Received Secondary Class [Mystic Priestess] from Lolth
Gained Divine Patron [Gaia]
Gained Divine Patron [Lolth]
Error: Multiple Patrons!
(Overridden by Administrator)
Arachne Ascension Ritual Activated
Added Special Ancestry [Arachne]
Added Special Class [Arachne]
Skill Poison Resistance already present, awarding levels …
Skill Poison Resistance raised to rank 3, level 30 (+25 levels)
Physical transformation for [Arachne] started
Your group has defeated [Alpha Taratect Warrior (Level 186, Rank 6)]
Experience gain reduced by 20% for fighting with a group
Experience gain increased by 200% for defeating a monster above your rank
Experience gain increased by 100% for fighting an alpha
Experience gain increased by 200% for dangerous encounter
Essence Absorption collected 12 ES
Reached Level 122 (Rank 5, +16 level)
Gained: 146 ES
Physical transformation for [Arachne] complete
It was a lot to take in.
"You forgot to mention you killed the alpha," I said.
"I … didn't really think about it," she mumbled, "I was more worried about you."
"I just checked, I got twenty-eight levels from all the kills, sixteen from the alpha."
"I ignored the box. I was too worried about you."
I pulled her closer against me and kissed her cheek.
"Maybe you should check," I said, "Gaia interfered and I got a new perk from her. She also gave me a class."
"Another class?"
"I haven't looked at my status yet. I got the Mystic Priestess secondary class from Gaia, and the Arachne class from … well … being turned into a half-spider."
"How does this keep happening to you?" She laughed.
"Maybe it happened to you too this time," I poked her in the ribs.
"Fine, I'll check," she closed her eyes.
I did the same and brought up my status screen.
I was surprised to see that Arachne had been added to my list of races, next to Dark Elf, instead of replacing it outright. I wondered what would happen if a human went through the ritual, and it worked, would they be a human-spider hybrid?
I brought up the descriptions for both of my new classes.
I had a feeling that a priestess class was a requirement to undergo the ritual and it was why Gaia had given it to me, she had wanted me to survive for some reason. She had said that Lolth was one of her previous identities, one that likely hadn't been worshiped for a long time if the state of this temple was any indication.
Maybe it was simply for her entertainment but she didn't really give that impression when she appeared before me. She had seemed more like a mother who wanted her child to succeed. She had given me a second chance at life after all.
I shook my head. It was best not to dwell on it. What happened, happened. I wouldn't rely on a convenient deus ex machina saving my ass at every turn.
Next, I took a look at what the Blessing of Lolth and the other new perks did.
"I take back everything I said," I mumbled, "Gaia is the best goddess."
"I agree," Vel said right next to me, "she gave me the same blessing as you, including the Essence Mastery perk. My Druid class changed to Mystic Druid, Plant Shaman changed to Mystic Shaman and became a primary class, and she gave me the Mystic Priestess as a secondary class for some reason."
That was a lot of upgrades.
"Don't try to think too hard about it," I shrugged, "she probably has her own reasons. I don't think she has a master plan for us, she just took the opportunity to tip the scale in our favor."
"Well, I won't complain. "
"Me neither," I grinned. "Now, let's see how I can spend the mountain of essence I am sitting on …" I continued. "And now that you have access to the essence perks, buy Essence Absorption at least. It's incredibly powerful, I got the majority of mine from there."
"How much do you have right now?"
"Eight hundred or so," I said.
"Holy … that's a lot! Can't you spare some for me?"
"Maybe? There's probably a perk for that even if I haven't found it yet."