Arachne glared at Ase and Mary, her eyes burning red. "I made many mistakes, multiple times. But this is the one that I'll never make a second time."
Six extra red eyes emerged on her forehead as she growled, fangs bursting from her cheek as her skin turned darker. She didn't need to say a single word for Mary and Ase to feel it, the crackling magic inside her, the bloodlust burning from her soul.
The city's arch-mage who had just woken up in his tower was washing his face, still drowsy and tired. Arachne's presence exploded inside his head like roaring thunder, the image of a massive Blackwidow spider soaked in blood and gore roaring in hell was engraved onto his mind.
The arch-mage dropped to his knees, shivering. Bloodlust travels across mana, which flows directly through souls. He was extremely sensitive to mana and sensed Arachne's demonic soul towering over all mortals, a monster far bigger than the worst horrors of his nightmares.
His assistant and student, a girl who had been studying under him for five years now rushed toward him. "Teacher! What happened? Are you okay?!" She cried, seeing him shaking on the ground like a terrified little animal.
"The spider…the spider…" He looked at his hands, the mana flowing through his whole body terrified him. It felt like a spider web piercing deep into his skin, tying him in place. Like a thousand small spiders crawling beneath his skin, he couldn't even breathe without fear that the spiders would eat him from the inside out.
Like how a man wouldn't want to drink from the same cup a gore-rotten zombie drank from, he couldn't help but feel terrified and disgusted ingesting the same mana that monster breathed.
The arch-mage threw up. From that day onward he couldn't bear the sight of spiders.
Back at the blue manor, Shin smacked Arachne on the head, "Careful without bloodlust. Aura and magic carry it like ripples across the water. Someone powerful might sense you out."
"Let them feel it." Arachne growled and he smacked her again, "You don't have the power to back up your immense presence. You'll only get us killed."
Shin looked at Mary and Ase, "Forget what she said. Let's focus on getting your money back so we can make our way to the capital. We'll think of something else when we get there."
Mary gulped down her coffee and stood, "You're right." She too wanted to end the conversation as soon as possible. When an argument turns awkward and would most likely result in no benefits, she rather ends it quickly to control the damage.
"And you?" Shin looked at Ase, and she was staring straight at Arachne with ears bent backward, "You're nothing more than a spider."
Half an hour later they were already walking through the city's plaza. Even though it was just dawn, a lot of the shops and stalls had already started setting up. Mary approached a large stone building where a young woman was sweeping outside with a large broom.
The moment the woman saw Mary she cried, "Headmaster!" She rushed toward her, "I heard you returned yesterday but we didn't see you here."
"A lot happened. I'll be leaving right away." She walked inside with her as Shin and Ase followed. Arachne had given control back to Char and was now a little spider hiding in Ase's hair.
Everyone inside the building gasped the moment they saw Mary, this was her shop in the city. The place sold almost anything from game hide and carcasses to monster parts, clothes, and camping tools.
Mary looked back at Shin, "Take Ase and get clothes for the trip. Whatever you pick, give it to her." She pointed at a woman in the back, "She'll make sure they are registered so I can count them later."
Mary's eyes turned toward the woman in the back, "Sara, mark them on my tab."
Her eyes quickly shifted toward the girl at her side, "Lina, go to the camping section and bring me the S-kit, with all the extras."
"James! James!" Mary then yelled and a sleepy young man rushed out of the back rooms, "Were you still asleep? Your shift starts right before dawn!"
"No, I was just…" He cried but she pointed aside.
"Forget it. Go to the stables and get me two warhorses, with all of the equipment." Hearing her growl, he rushed out as fast as his feed could carry him.
'Got the horses, clothes, and camping equipment, now all we need is rations and weapons.' She looked around and called another worker, "Got get us some rations, one month's worth for four people."
"As you say!" he rushed out, darting past Shin and Ase who were heading toward the clothes sections.
"Headmaster Mary, what's going on?" A woman rushed down from upstairs and approached Mary, "How was your trip? Did something go wrong?"
"A lot went wrong. Now we're trying to fix it. I want the magic bags from my office, both of them. And get me a smaller one with Lazron's enchantment." She waved her hand to her assistant and rushed toward the used weapons section.
Lazron's enchantment was a simple spell that most considered not that useful compared to its price. When cast on a storage bag, the holder can pick a set of clothes, armor, or equipment to instantly wear. She wants that for Ase so she can shift back from her beast form and have her armor and clothes on.
When Mary reached the used weapon section she wasn't looking for weapons to fight with, but instead looked for something to use for hunting. The trip would take at least a week and they'll need to hunt or set traps. A good bow, daggers, and a well-maintained set of arrows would be extremely useful.
Mary picked a long bow, two daggers, a wood axe, a quiver with over 1000 arrows that she shoved into the storage bag, and a rope that looked in decent shape.
"We have new ones." Her assistant asked and Mary looked back at her, "It makes no difference. Now, let's go to the new weapon sections." She rushed in and looked around, soon finding a set of leather armor enchanted with the silent spell. The spell simply reduces the noise around someone, making it both hard to hear, and hard to be heard when activated.
Right on the other side, she found a shadow mantle which was a large black cloak that had two enchantments, the dimmer spell and the scentless spell. When sitting in the shadows the cloak dims the light around the wearer which makes it hard to pinpoint them from the background, and the scentless spells mask someone's smell so monsters and animals can't pick it up, which is useful against guard dogs used by armies to guard their camps.
Half an hour later, Shin and Ase had finished picking up their clothes and headed to Mary to pick up armor and weapons.