Dawn Spider

Chapter 4: Shedding the Shell and Growing
"good to eat!"

"Comfortable!"

"This is the first time I've eaten so much in my life!"

Thirteen spread out his eight spider legs and lay lazily on the corpse of the red-bristled monitor lizard, rubbing his claws and sighing.

"From now on, you will stay with me and live in the cave."

Jin Bu Wu was very proud and said, "Living in this cave, we can eat so much every day. After eating, let the Lord of Si Kui Mountain go hunting for us."

"Uh... Fourth brother is awesome!"

Thirteen asked, "Can I move in? Is that okay?"

"No problem at all!"

Jin pointed to the stone wall and said, "This cave was dug by Lord Famu himself. It was dug for me. It's my territory. Whoever I want to live in it can live in it. Lord Sikuishan has no right to do anything about it."

"Oh……"

Thirteen was not sure and asked, "Where is the Lord of Sikui Mountain?"

Jin circled around the corpse of the Red-maned Monitor Lizard and examined it. He replied nonchalantly, "Is it working down the mountain? It's a Mountain Master-level Force Warrior, having overcome the innate habits of the Flame Spider. It works during the day and rests a little at night."

After the awakening of the Force, their wisdom grew and these Flame Spider warriors learned simple agricultural farming.

Different types of plants have different properties after the Force awakens, and the Force fruits they produce have different enhancement effects.

Therefore, these Flame Spider Warriors need to cultivate plants that suit their own properties on a large scale.

The owner of Sikui Mountain has planted dozens of trees in the jungle at the foot of the mountain, including Sikui, Phoebe nanmu, Syngonium, Sightseeing Tree, Yellow Heart Night Jasmine, Teak, Euphorbia, and Red Castanopsis.

Ordinary plants need care, and vital plants need even more careful care.

According to Jin's observation, the Lord of Sikui Mountain is busy in the forest almost every day, getting up early and going to bed late, and also taking time to hunt. At night, he distributes food to the common flame spiders and is busy until midnight before he can rest. He is a real coolie spider.

"Fourth brother, Spider Mom said you stole the Force Fruit from the Lord of Silk Kui Mountain, and your shell exploded, shattering your body into pieces... and then you mutated?"

"A patch? Not that serious, but almost."

"Thunder?"

"It shouldn't be wrong."

"Lightning is more powerful than fire?"

“That’s generally true, but not always.”

"Then, fourth brother, will you awaken and become a Flame Spider Warrior?"

"It's hard to say, the chances are better."

"Oh... then I..."

"Don't even think about it! I was lucky enough to survive, but you might not be."

"Try?"

"Aren't you afraid of death?"

"Afraid……"

The two brothers chatted idly.

There was a pause.
Thirteen raised his paw and pointed to the passage at the back of the wide cave, and asked, "Fourth Brother, is that the living nest of the Lord of Sikui Mountain?"

"Yes."

Jin Daqi waved his claws and beckoned, "Come on, I'll show you around and familiarize you with the surroundings."

Jin led Thirteen into the bedroom of Master Sikui Mountain.

He looked around for a while.

There is nothing to see, just a cave with a diameter of about 6 meters and a height of less than 3 meters dug deep in the mountain.

Follow the sloped passage, go back, and enter the storage warehouse...

Jin introduced, "This is where Lord Sikui Mountain keeps his Force food. However, Lord Famu came this morning and took it all away."

Thirteen walked over to a pile of neatly arranged spider silk bags, raised his paw and pressed it, and asked, "Fourth Brother, what is this?"

Jin: "It's called 'Raw Stone', a natural mineral containing pure Force. Flame Spider Warriors and Life Plants need it for breakthrough evolution. It's also useful for replenishing Force plants when they bloom and bear fruit. I heard from Lord Silk Kui Mountain and Lord Famu that Raw Stone can also be used as a trading currency for Force food."

"understood……"

Thirteen and a half didn't understand, so he climbed up the spider silk bag and found that the bag opening was tied and locked with spider silk rope, so he climbed down disappointedly.

"Fourth brother, have you ever come here secretly before?"

"Mom Spider brought me here to play twice while Lord Silk Kui was away..."

The two brothers chatted for a while, but didn't dare to stay any longer and returned to the nest to rest.

The nest was carved into the stone wall of the living room. It was a bit dry, which was not very comfortable for an ordinary flame spider to live in. Moreover, the entrance was open, so a door should be installed...

Wake up at dusk,

After a brief discussion, the two brothers began to divide the work.

Thirteen birds spin silk to decorate the nest chamber.

Jin climbed out of the cave and searched for dead branches of suitable size and length in the nearby woods. He brought them back to the cave, tied them together with spider silk and glued them together to form a door panel, which he installed at the entrance of the nest.

Finally, the two brothers left the nest together, found some pitcher plant leaves as containers, fetched water from the mountain stream, and poured it into the nest to increase the humidity.

When we finished, it was night.

In the cafeteria below, Lord Sikui Mountain has already started distributing today's food, which is still fish. The noisy complaints of the spiders can be heard from dozens of meters away.

Jin was about to ask Thirteen to go down the mountain together to look for Spider Mother, but he found that this guy was a little listless.

"Thirteen?"

"Fourth brother, it seems like I'm about to shed my shell."

"Shedding? At what age?"

"Twelve? Or maybe thirteen. I can't remember."

"…Return to the nest."

Thirteen was not in a hurry to return to the nest. Instead, he slowly climbed onto the red-bristled monitor lizard, had a hearty meal, and then slowly crawled into the nest chamber.

Shedding comes with certain risks.

Jin was worried and stood guard at the entrance of the cave.

Shedding its shell and growing up is a long process.

Late at night, after the food was distributed, Sikui Mountain Master returned to the cave with heavy steps. He stopped and asked:
"Who's in your nest?"

"My brother, Thirteen."

"Don't you dare crawl around in my cave."

Just as Jin expected, the Lord of Sikui Mountain didn't care about it at all. He gave a warning and walked away.

"OK……"

Jin watched Sikui Mountain Master walk through the living room and into the bedroom, then turned around and gently lifted the door of the living nest to check.

Fortunately, Thirteen successfully shed his old shell, so there should be no accidents. The new shell is hardening and will not be completed until the next morning.

Jin returned to the nest to rest, and when he woke up, he vaguely felt a little unwell.

"Thirteen, I'm going to shed my shell too."

"what?"

"You help me guard it."

"it is good!"

Thirteen agreed.

Jin didn't say much. He left the nest, climbed onto the body of the red-bristled monitor lizard, sucked the food to replenish his energy, and hurried back to the nest.

Wait quietly and feel silently.

He could clearly feel his body expanding little by little, a new carapace forming beneath the old one. After waiting for a long time, a crack appeared in the old carapace at his back, rapidly expanding and spreading towards his head and tail.

Jin carefully wriggled, bit by bit, freeing himself from the old shell. The new shell slowly solidified upon contact with the air...

At the same time, a wealth of information about plants, animals, and jungle life suddenly appeared in the brain. This is a "bloodline awakening," or more intuitively, the information written into the genetic code becomes activated and dominant as age increases.

Jin was concentrating on 'looking through' the new knowledge he had acquired.

It's late at night again,

After finishing a day's work, Lord Sikui returned to the cave and immediately saw Thirteen guarding the corpse of the red-maned monitor lizard.

"what!"

The Sikui Mountain Lord understood the situation with a quick glance of his spiritual power, and exclaimed in surprise, "It really has mutated!"

Another mental scan confirmed that it was a mutation.

Inside the nest, Jin molted once, and the cracks and scars on his carapace disappeared. His carapace bristles, originally a mix of brown and reddish-purple, changed dramatically after molting, becoming a pure, vibrant blue-purple.

The strangest thing is the forehead. Ordinary flame spiders have a tuft of red bristles, but this little guy has a translucent tuft on his forehead.

Faintly, there seemed to be a fluctuation of the Force.

"It's highly likely that my territory will awaken its first Force warrior, one with a lightning talent."

"Even if it can't awaken... it's even better if it can't! If it reproduces with other small spiders, perhaps we can cultivate a new tribe of flame spiders with lightning talents."

The Lord of Sikui Mountain pondered and walked away in a good mood.

Thirteen, who was terrified of being chased out of the cave, breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this, and was delighted: "Great! I can follow Fourth Brother and eat and drink for free!"
...

A long and difficult process.

Jin lay motionless in the nest chamber until the early morning of the next day, when he was absolutely sure that the new shell had completely hardened, and only then did he dare to move.

Much stronger!

Looking at the changes in myself, I am very satisfied.

Shedding the shell consumes a lot of energy and makes one feel a little weak.

After eating and replenishing their energy, the two brothers huddled in the nest and fell into a deep sleep to recover.

"Fourth brother, I'm recovered. Are you okay?"

"Barely."

"Fourth brother, it's getting dark. Should we still go out to look for Spider Mother?"

"Ugh……"

The golden leader climbed out of the nest and said, "Respect the natural laws of life... Forget it."

Thirteen said happily: "Actually, Spider Mom has not wanted you for a long time."

gold:"……"

The two brothers stood side by side on the mountain path, looking at the group of spiders queuing up below to receive food. They felt a sense of superiority and were very happy.

Today we are still eating fish, and there is a lot of resentment below.

"Fourth brother, how long can our food be stored?"

"The essence of decay is the growth of bacteria and fungi. Lord Famu's venom can dissolve even bones, let alone microorganisms. The only problem is that the toxin may naturally degrade over time. It depends on how long this process lasts. It will definitely take a long time."

"So...what then? Are you sure you can let Lord Sikui hunt for food for us alone?"

"Nonsense! After all, Mountain Master, raising tens of thousands of Flame Spiders is not easy, but taking care of two Flame Spiders alone is not a simple matter, right?"

"Oh... Fourth Brother, I'm thinking about that little female spider again. I wonder if it's still in my nest."

Thirteen suggested, "Since we can't finish the food, Fourth Brother, why don't we go over and take a look?"

"..."

Is it true that when you are well fed and warm, you will be tempted to have sex? Jin was speechless for a long time, then stood up and said, "It would be good to walk around after you have eaten."

The two brothers set off, and just as they reached the flat ground on the hillside, they saw the Silk Mountain Lord, who was manipulating spider silk to distribute food below, suddenly straightened his spider legs, horrified, and slapped the ground with his front paws, making a rumbling sound.

"Danger! Danger!"

"Deadly danger!"

"All spiders, gather under the Silk Sunflower God-given tree! It will keep you safe!"

"Danger is coming! All spiders, gather under the tree and don't run around!"

After giving the warning, the Lord of Sikui Mountain turned into a streak of red fire and disappeared into the forest.

On the flat ground, the spiders waiting in line for food were in an uproar, and then they all rushed towards the seeds given by the God of Silk Sunflower, scrambling to climb up the tree trunk.

"Fourth brother?"

Thirteen panicked and asked, "What danger?"

"I don't know..."

Jin was equally astonished and bewildered. He had been in this world for two years, and this was the first time he had seen the Sikui Mountain Master so nervous. His thoughts raced as he called out, "Thirteen, don't just stand there like an idiot. Run! Let's go lie down in the tree too!"

The bristles of the flame spider are the most sensitive sensory organs, especially to sound, which is extremely sensitive.

A red flame rose from the north side of the mountain, followed by a loud explosion and a hot current.

"It's on fire!"

"It's on fire!"

The spider in the silk palm tree cried out.

"idiot!"

"That's not fire, that's old spider Silkweed's fire ability!"

"Is Lord Sikui fighting?"

"It's a battle! The fighting has begun!"

"The woods down the mountain are all on fire!"

"Everything is on fire? Aren't you afraid of burning your life?"

"What's the danger?"

"Does anyone know?"

"They won't fight up the mountain, will they?"

"..."

The spiders were noisy and restless.

But it lasted for a long time and no danger was found, and it was unclear what the danger was.

So a brave spider suggested: "Let's go to the back mountain and take a look?"

Immediately a spider echoed:

"Have a look!"

"Not afraid!"

"Maybe it can help."

"go!"

"..."

Immediately, a large group of spiders crawled down the tree trunk.

Thousands of spiders formed a huge team and ran towards the back mountain along the forest path.

After hesitating for a moment, Jin called out, "Thirteen, let's go and take a look."

PS: New book uploaded, first update four chapters, then update two chapters every night, try to save manuscripts. Thank you for your support, please collect, recommend, monthly ticket, and investment...

(End of this chapter)