Regulus: This Time Will Be Quick
"Take your mate and get out," Regulus glanced at the nest, his words not harsh but leaving no room for negotiation. "I'll use the nest for a while." Aragog's compound eyes and the topmost primary eye widened instantly.
That doesn't make sense!
This is its nest, its throne. It has been weaving its own web for decades, and it remembers the position of every single thread. Every spider in the depression is its offspring.
Now this wizard is standing in its territory, using that tone, telling it to take its mate out?
It pushed its forebody upwards, lifting its thick forelegs off the ground, and spread its large pincers, revealing the dark red inner walls and menacing barbs.
A surge of anger rose from its massive body, its compound eyes filled with a defiant glint, and it hissed, "That's my nest!" It took a half-step forward, its eight legs stomping heavily on the web, and the entire swarm of spiders in the depression stirred and surged toward it in a dark mass.
Regulus didn't react or speak, just looked up at it.
The gaze was the same as when I looked at it earlier—no pressure, no threat, just a stare.
Aragog's chelicerae slowly closed.
It recalled the image of Baruk standing in the fire with his legs outstretched, the orange flames that surrounded the wizard when he first came, and the death threat etched into its blood like an abyss.
Its compound eyes lingered on Regulus's face for a moment, then shifted to the side, landing on the dark red mass of Baruk behind him. That was its offspring, the one the wizard was going to modify here.
In its own nest.
Use it if you want.
The front half of its body gradually lowered, the legs that had been supporting it returned to the ground, and the swarm of spiders that had surged forward also stopped and retreated.
"Fine, I'll give way!"
It roared in a rough, deep voice, its momentum undiminished, and then, without the slightest hesitation, turned and crawled deeper into the nest.
After climbing a couple of steps, he looked back again, probably thinking that his shout had been quite imposing and hadn't been too disrespectful to the leader.
But seeing that Regulus was still watching it, it turned back and continued climbing.
Mosag was called out from the depths of its nest. It was slightly smaller, with a more bloated belly, and its compound eyes were half-open and half-closed, showing a bewildered wariness. Aragog touched its carapace with its chelicerae, producing a series of fine, sharp, rhythmic friction sounds, probably spider language. Mosag didn't react much, just obediently crawled out.
It doesn't understand what happened, nor does it need to.
Two giant spiders crawled out of their nest, one after the other.
Outside the nest, the spider swarm was in turmoil. On the spider webs covering the walls of the depression, dozens of adult Acromantula crouched low, their compound eyes all facing the entrance to the nest. When they saw Aragog and Mosag retreat, they followed suit and retreated to the outer edge of the depression.
They lay huddled in a dark mass on the spiderweb, forming a circle, their numerous compound eyes shining in the mist, too afraid to approach.
Regulus watched them retreat, then his Magic Perception spread out, sweeping across the entire nest; it was empty.
Actually, this modification could have been done anywhere in the Forbidden Forest, but he specifically chose this place because he wanted Baruk to stay there after he finished. The Bowtruckle is different from the Salamander.
The Salamander's Magic Power flows inward; the Fire Affinity inward, and it simply fills its core with their own magic.
The Magic Power of the Bowtruckle is outward-facing; it senses plants and connects with vegetation.
In terms of Magic Power itself, it is simple, with an uncomplicated structure, only its nature is more complicated than that of the Salamander, and it has more functions.
That's determined by the nature of Magic Power; this is how Magic Power works. As for Magic Power itself, it's nothing special.
Theoretically, there will be an extra step. After the connection is established, Baruk will need to use the new Magic Power to establish external connections. Even after the connection is established, it's not the end; it's just the beginning. He's unsure how long this step will take, since it's his first time working on an external module.
During this period, Baruk should ideally maintain a large physique.
They couldn't bring it back to the Castle; there wasn't enough room in the Dormitory for a spider that was two meters long. Hiding it wouldn't work either—it was too big, and its legs would stick out no matter where they put it. Letting it roam in the Forbidden Forest was even worse; a lone spider would be caught in a swarm of Centaur, and besides, there were more than just Centaur in the Forbidden Forest.
As for feeding, it will eat more as it grows bigger, and feeding is already a problem in the Castle. We can't expect it to hunt for itself.
What to catch?
A little wizard?
Living in a group is the safest option. After finishing, they stay in their nest and wander around when they have free time. Spiders in groups are safe and have a guaranteed food supply.
Even if Baruk didn't want to hunt himself, he didn't believe Aragog would dare to starve his spiders.
Of course, what needs to be explained still needs to be explained.
Regulus withdrew his senses and was about to go inside when Baruk appeared from behind him.
With its eight legs moving swiftly, it rushed to the entrance of the lair, turned back and gave Regulus a thud, then plunged inside.
Regulus followed behind, and Hermes, carrying the Bowtruckle, also came in.
The inside of the nest appears larger than it does from the outside.
Grayish-white spider silk weaves a labyrinthine passageway and dome, with thick silk pillars supporting the ground from the ground to the ceiling, branching into countless forks, and the silk walls are inlaid with countless layers of old webs.
In the center of the nest was a relatively open area, with a thick layer of compacted velvet on the ground, soft yet resilient to the touch. The open space was large enough for more than a dozen adult giant spiders to lie on at the same time.
The velvet mat still bore the dents left by Aragog's years of lying down, with a few bristles around the dents now embedded in the velvet. Baruk went straight to the velvet mat, paused in front of the dents, glanced back at the entrance to the den to make sure Aragog hadn't followed him in, and then lay down in a very proper manner, embedding his body inside.
Its eight legs were tucked in, its chelicerae were placed neatly in front of it, its amber eyes rolled around, and it made a series of clicking sounds that echoed in the empty nest.
It lay sprawled in the leader's position, its chelipeds opening and closing rapidly, its head darting from left to right and then from right to left, scanning the entire central open space. Then it suddenly leaped up, frolicking in the open space, running in circles, before darting up a silken post, climbing halfway up, and then flipping and leaping down. In mid-air, it sprayed a strand of silk, flung itself onto the opposite post, swung again, and bounced back to the ground, the impact making a dull thud on the velvet mat. It had traversed the entire central area, Niffler here and rubbing there; this vast space, the place where it had spawned as a spider, was now entirely its own. It was the only large spider here!
Regulus let it make a fuss.
Hermes handed over the Bowtruckle he was holding, seven or eight of them, all unconscious, curled up in a small ball, their brownish-green twigs folded in his palm, their arms and legs limp and hanging down.
Regulus took it, Hermes stepped back a few paces, leaned against the nest wall, and stared at it.
I heard everything clearly outside just now: the renovation, the second time.
He had seen the results of the first attempt; Baruk was no longer afraid of fire. He didn't know what the result would be this time.
What abilities could Bowtruckle, a withered twig, possibly provide for the Acromantula?
These two things look completely mismatched when placed together.
Doubt, anticipation, curiosity—his eyes were glued to Regulus.
Regulus ignored the still-frolicking Baruk and didn't keep Hermes in the dark; he let the guy come along, so there was nothing he couldn't see. The source of this technique, <Transfiguration: Beyond Form>, was legitimate knowledge from the Library, nothing shameful. If Hermes could figure it out, he'd even feel gratified, proving that this guy had other uses besides being stubborn and a fighter.
Regulus began the process of extracting the Magic Seed.
He placed his palm on the Bowtruckle, Natural Magic Power seeped out from his palm without any intrusion, simply enveloping the faint Magic Power within them and guiding it outwards along its original path.
The Bowtruckle's Magic Power responded instantly, just like the Salamander's —too weak to resist, but its texture was completely different.
The Salamander's Magic Power was hot, directed inwards, and contained within itself.
The Bowtruckle was cool, facing outwards, as if fine tendrils were reaching out in all directions. Its Natural Magic Power would spontaneously draw near to him. He condensed a pale blue-white light at his fingertips, quiet, without flickering or dancing, its edges scattering with delicate wisps, like a frozen mist. He collected them all, neatly arranged, extracting the Magic Power from each one and merging them together in his palm.
Several clusters of blue light came together. At first, they were scattered, and the tendril-like light threads tentatively intertwined with each other. They quickly recognized each other and merged into one. The resulting seed was much more stable and larger than the individual seeds. It was about the size of a pea, and its pale blue-white color was more intense than before. The tendrils that extended outward from the edges were also more obvious.
He held the seed in his palm, closed his eyes, and replicated its structure in his Consciousness Space.
The Bowtruckle's Magic Power structure is also simple. Unlike the Salamander's straight line, it has a short branch that forks outwards. The ends of the branch are open, not closed, and tend to point outwards.
The structure itself is not complicated; it can be replicated in half a minute.
But the difficult part is its outward inclination, which is the core of the Bowtruckle's Magic Power; its ability to communicate with plants lies entirely in this.
It must be preserved when rewriting the runtime path; otherwise, it's all for nothing.
He rewrote the pathway of the Magic Seed from a plant-related one to one adapted to arthropods.
With the Salamander, he changed the path from following the spine to following the inside of the exoskeleton. This time, he couldn't just copy it; he had to align it with Baruk's external organs. Near the eight eyes, at the root of the visual branch system, it's most logical to connect sensory information here.
He made changes little by little in his Consciousness Space, while retaining the outward inclination.
The rewriting was complete. The seed hung in Regulus's palm, the bluish-white light receding slightly, and the outward-protruding tendrils of light aligned in one direction, waiting quietly.
He opened his eyes.
Baruk had crawled over at some point and was now lying opposite him, his eight legs tucked to his sides, his spider head resting on his forelegs, his amber eyes fixed on the ball of light in his hand.
It had seen this process before; the light was the same last time, only this time it was orange-red.
It knows what to do next.
Regulus beckoned to it, Baruk immediately scrambled to his feet, his long legs stomping as he approached, the velvet beneath his feet making a soft, thumping sound. Reaching him, he nimbly lay down on the velvet, sprawling out on the spider, his eight legs obediently tucked in, motionless.
Only their eyes were restless, following the light in his hand. The two main eyes at the top, the left one excited and the right one happy.
Regulus placed his palm on Baruk's back armor, his Magic Perception probing inwards.
He was familiar with Baruk's Magic Power structure.
The Salamander module has completely evolved into its own Magic Power, from its venom glands to its web glands, from its eyes to its legs, it is filled with Fire Affinity and out, and is indistinguishable from the other.
What he was looking for was an unoccupied gap.
Eight visual lines run in parallel, with structural gaps between them, just enough to fit a seed.
The landing point is set right here.
He raised his wand, pointed it at the empty space near the eight-eyed creature, and chanted the spell.
"Facultas Herbae Mutare Aranea Corpus."
Plant-based abilities; can alter the spider-like body.
As the syllable fell, the tip of the staff reacted, and Magic Power gathered in a specific direction—the direction was correct.
He reversed his wrist, pressed down with the tip of his staff, and infused it with Magic Power.
The spell opened an entrance at Baruk's head and chest, and the bluish-white seed sank in, passing through its carapace and entering the Magic Channel below. Baruk's body trembled, his eight legs tightened, and his bristles stood on end—that was all the reaction he showed.