"Greetings." A voice of a man suddenly sounded from somewhere to her right, setting off dozens of Naphaela's survival alarms. She dashed away from the source of the voice and instantly switched her sword for her bow, before drawing an arrow from her quiver, nocking it, and aiming at the voice's general direction. She did it all in one swift second.
Upon seeing the stranger, Naphaela locked aim at him and prepared to shoot, but it wasn't clear if the man was an enemy or foe, so she held fire.
The black-haired stranger was named Neiurem, and his demeanor made it look like he was just chilling around at teatime. Naphaela could see dozens of weak points from his stance, but at the same time, she felt like it would be dangerous to attack.
"Isn't that remarkable?" Clapping softly and slowly, Neiurem praised Naphaela, "Such reflexes!"
"Who are you?" Glancing once at the spider she was initially targetting to check up on it, Naphaela asked Neiurem.
"Hmm," He pursed his lips together and thought for a moment, closing his eyes, "For now, I'm just looking to watch you fight that creature. Oh, and rest assured that I won't pull anything funny."
Naphaela felt a bit ticked that this guy managed to close his eyes even with a full-drawn bow was pointed at him, and she felt inclined to release the arrow. Still, unnecessary combat was something she would avoid, so she held herself back.
Still, she wouldn't want to hunt a creature while somebody suspicious was around, so she wasn't sure if she should go on with her hunt for the spider right then and there. But if she waited for the stranger to leave, the spider creature might heal and gain resistance to her poisoned arrows.
Clicking her tongue, she put her bow down and told Neiurem, "I'd really appreciate it if you do stay where you are."
"Yes, please don't mind me."
Giving Neiurem one last strange look, Naphaela continued on her way to the creature. She switched back to her flimsy sword and began to run swiftly across the forest. Her footsteps almost made no sound, thanks to the webs she could release through her feet and shoes. While it helped her approach others silently, it left a track. She could of course turn it off though.
Still, when she got close enough, the spider noticed her and stared intently at her with its many red eyes. Naphaela didn't mind it though and continued her approach. She knew that the spider wasn't willing to go down its web because it had an advantage while on it. Or at least that's what the spider thought.
Naphaela swiftly scaled one of the trees the web was attached to, and jumped right into the giant spiderweb, letting her body stick to it.
The spider immediately rushed towards her to inject its venom and wrap her around its web, but there was something the spider wasn't aware of. Naphaela, at that point, was the incarnation of 24 spiders.
As the giant spider loomed over the human girl, Naphaela shot off a net-like web and restricted the spider's movement. Then, she changed the properties of her skin and unstuck herself from the spiderweb, before continuously firing off net-like webs to further restrict the beast's movement.
After a few minutes, only a human girl and beachball-sized web-cocoon sort of thing could be found on the web.
Naphaela then unsheathed her flimsy sword, applied a different kind of poison all over the blade, and repeatedly struck at the spider covered in her web.
When an orb glowing with a light-blue color the size of an apple rose up from the cocooned corpse of the spider and shot off into Naphaela's chest did she stop with her attacks. That orb was the flux core, and all she had to do was refine it before she could work with her Tier Evolution preparations.
"Finally," she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, "I'll be a tier 2 now."
She then remembered about the strange man whom she talked to earlier, and glanced at the spot where he was initially. And indeed, Neiurem was still there, and he appeared to be clapping. Naphaela couldn't really hear it since she was far enough, though.
Still, she couldn't care any lesser about the strange man, so she went back to business. She felt like evolving into a Tier 2 right then and there. After all, while a cultivator undergoes their Tier Evolution, no one can practically hurt them.
She used the next twenty minutes or so reinforcing the web she was currently standing on. She added more layers, skewed and not, expanded the web area, and interconnected pretty much every layer. The end result was like a white, spongy structure that was larger than a mansion.
Neiurem knew what she was going to do, but he didn't really have to do anything concerning it. If there was something he needed to do, it was to wait until Naphaela finished.
"Still, an arachnid-based enhancement, huh?" Neiurem made a faint smile, nodding, "Bold choice."
Neiurem then watched the human masterfully tread through the messy, interlocking strands of web to go at its dead center. Then slowly, she underwent her Tier Evolution.
One by one, fine layers of web rose up to cover the lady's body. The process was awfully slow, but after thirty minutes, Neiurem couldn't see the layers of web anymore. All he could see was a human-shaped bundle of web, situated in the center of a goosebump-inducing tangle of spiderwebs.
"At most, I might have to wait a week." Neiurem shrugged, looking around the area for a suitable place to camp out on, "This couldn't get any more worth it."
♦♦♦
"Ngh . . ." Naphaela made a muffled groan as she woke up from a deep slumber. She tried to open her eyes, but she found that a strange substance was glued to all of her body. She didn't immediately realize what was happening, but for some reason, she didn't panic.
She was like a chick inside an egg. Stillborn and ignorant, but has instinct.
Still, she understood it soon enough. She had evolved, and now she was in her own cocoon. She first began to move her neck and limbs to crack the hardened parts of the cocoon, before she slowly worked her way out of the 5-inch thick layer of webs.
She wasn't able to breath the whole time, but her body was loaded with excess energy that she could hold her breath for more than an hour or so. That fact also made it easier for her to break out.
After about ten minutes, she finally got out. Her clothes and armor had decayed while inside the cocoon, so she was naked when she came out. That didn't bother her much, since she could make clothes for herself at this point.
She covered her body with a layer of hardened web, from her chest down to the middle of her thighs. The feeling of creating webs felt strange to her though.
Before she evolved, she had to issue commands manually to activate any of her flux powers, but now, it came natural. It felt as if she was born having arachnic abilities.
She had heard of the feeling before, but it was her first time experiencing it first hand, so she couldn't help but smile, "Woah . . ."
Before, she had to activate the spider properties of her skin to be able to scale vertical planes, but it was second nature to her now. It was like breathing-- a natural reflex, but when she starts getting conscious of it, her body feels funny.
Naphaela was truly exhilarated. She was making those weird, laughing sounds as she looked at her own body with awe. So this was what it felt being a Tier 2?
Without having to coordinate her moves manually, Naphaela gathered her other things and went out of her massive web. That was when she noticed a person lying down on a portable suspension bed. There was a tent of sorts near the man, and there was a firepit too.
On closer look, the man was the stranger who watched her fight her 25th prey-- Neiurem.
Naphaela found it weird that the man would camp out here, so she carefully approached.
"Congratulations on evolving." Neiurem spoke and got out of bed once Naphaela was in earshot. "This enhancement makes you the perfect assassin."
"You're always commenting on things and I don't even know you." Naphaela told the stranger in a low voice. "What are you doing here?"
"Ah, my bad, my bad." He shook his head, smiling faintly to himself, "My name is Neiurem, the Steelfang Brigade leader. I'm here to personally recruit you to my brigade, Naphaela."
Naphaela just realized how haughty she was being earlier, that she couldn't help but bow down. "I apologize deeply for my rudeness earlier, sir."
"It's fine, you didn't know who I am yet. I don't like showing myself to the public, so few people know of my face."
"Oh, um," Naphaela reluctantly raised her head, "Regarding your offer . . ."
"Hm?"
Naphaela was extremely happy that the leader of the top brigade in Rodor scouted her personally. At that moment, she was extremely pleased with herself.
"Allow me to join Steelfang Brigade sir."