Arpious of the Planes

It took Yin quite a while to try and copy what Kumo did. First, she tried to just stand in a shadow and fuse with it, which produced no results. Next, she stood in a shadow and wrapped her entire body with it, which produced a similar effect to what Kumo did but she wasn't actually inside the original shadow.

After an hour or two of trial and error, she was finally able to do it. Her body slowly sunk into the shadow below and was able to swim through it like water. If the shadow was connected to another shadow she could easily utilize it as well.

Another hour of practice and she could enter it as naturally as breathing. She could enter it in a split second before reappearing across the room now.

Of course, I wasn't idle while Yin practiced. I practiced what Yin was learning and was able to enter the shadow but nowhere near as fast as her. I also practiced [Magma Secretion], [Magma Control], and [Liquid Fire Secretion].

First secreting magma from fingertips I then use [Magma Control] to manipulate it into swords, spikes, spears, and many other weapons. This control was much harder to use than let's say [Fire Control] since it was just so heavy. I thought it was like moving air whenever you used a type of control but I was naive. Using [Magma Control] was like throwing a ball underwater… hard.

It took me quite a while to get a hang of using [Magma Control] but manipulating [Liquid Fire Secretion] was a piece of cake. When I used it a very sticky substance leaked from my fingertips. Looking at it closely I noticed that it was a bluish fire that had the same consistency as slime.

To manipulate the liquid fire all I had to do was activate [Fires Will]. With this, I could make the liquid flames reappear anywhere near me in a 2 feet radius. Not only could I make them reappear but I could also expand the liquid flames to about double their original size.

[Liquid Fire Secretion has leveled up (x2)]

[Magma Secretion has leveled up]

[Magma Control has leveled up (x3)]

[Shadow Magic has leveled up (x2)]

…

Finally, both of us finished assessing our skills after about 3 hours after I unchained Yin. Leaving the room I told Yin to hide in the shadows around me since Kumo should be able to tell that somebody is hiding in my shadow.

As she slipped into the shadows of the castle I made my way to the bedroom. The halls were decorated and the rooms were furnished. Losing myself a couple of times I eventually found a maid who took me to my bedroom.

Entering the room I saw Kumo sitting on the edge of the bed with a sad face. She quickly noticed me and tried to hide her sad aura with a fake smile but I saw her face. She got up to talk to me but I made my way over to the bed and sat her down while sitting next to her.

"Was it as satisfying as you thought it would be?" I ask her.

"No… no it wasn't," Kumo responds.

"Would you like to talk to me about why you are sad that you ended up killing your colony?"

"S-sure," Kumo agrees while trying to hold back tears.

I gave her some time to calm down so she doesn't leave out any important parts.

"So… we crawlers are all born and raised in the hive. Rarely crawlers get to leave their hive, well I don't know much about other crawlers, this might just be for berserk crawlers. Anyways, we don't grow up with parents but grow up with a friend that you could call your family. That friend that I grew up with actually ended up becoming the queen of our colony. Yeah, she was also the one I killed…" Kumo says.

My jaw dropped from this plot twist. I had no words to say.

"Yeah… anyway, we grew up together. I was never really good at fighting so I spent most of my time listening to stories about different species and the Mountain of Twilight. Whenever I was getting picked on by other berserk crawlers my friend would help me since she was the strongest in our age group.

There were no teachers so you had to learn for yourselves by picking fights with other crawlers to practice your skills. My friend was the queen of doing that, eventually getting recognized by the current queen at that time. She kept telling me about it which I wasn't jealous about but more proud since it was her hard work that let her be recognized by the queen.

Not even 2 days after my friend got recognized was she crowned as the next queen. By killing the current queen in battle was she able to receive the title and evolve that night. Eventually, the status got to her head and she became more arrogant caring less about the people below her which included me of course. When the other crawlers saw this, they knew they could bully me without repercussions since my friend didn't care for me anymore.

Eventually, I just decided to run away and die in the wilderness since I was already at an all-time low. I was being bullied and I lost my only friend/family member who supported me and protected me.

This led to me being attacked in a cave where I started to regret running away and wanted to turn back time so I could try and fight more to become stronger. Which is when I ran into you… so thank you very much for saving me at that time," Kumo finishes explaining.

"If you could change your friend's path of being arrogant would you? Or would you have tried to become stronger and adapt to her and stay next to her even if you were always below her," I ask.

"I would have tried to become stronger than her and take the title and try to not end up going down the same path as her. She was the only one who gave me the will to live and now that I was just killed I feel sort of empty. Even if I decided she was my enemy I knew deep down I still wanted to be next to her..." Kumo says.

I guess I can do it now...

"Come out," I ordered.

"As you wish," a voice says from the corner of the room.

Yin rises out of the shadow in the corner of the room shocking Kumo. Yin was just looking down at her feet in shame at how she ended up. Kumos speech was like a wake-up call that slapped her in the face hard with the truth. Even when she became the queen Kumo was still her family and only friend. Her relationships with other crawlers were just fake, they tried to suck up to her to gain a form of protection.

"I-Ina," Kumo says while covering her mouth as tears ran down her cheeks.

She also noticed her broken spider legs filling her with a sense of regret.

Ina? Is that her nickname?

"I know you won't forgive me but… I'M SO SORRY!" Yin says while bowing to her.

It seems she still puts me in front of her since she didn't kowtow. If she did that, it would be an insult to me saying that she thinks that I and Kumo are equals when I'm her master. I guess she's not wrong, but she doesn't know that we are both lovers.

"I-Ina please stop bowing, what are you doing?! It's because of my weakness that I ended up running away!" Kumo yells out while running towards her.

Before Yin could say anything else Kumo jumped into her arms crying profusely.

"It seemed like she regretted it a lot," I muttered to myself.

Leaving the room so they could have sometimes to themselves I checked out the newly expanded castle.

The farther you went in, the fewer rooms there were, but they became bigger. The training room that I designated from before had been moved to the center of the castle. It was about 4 times bigger than its original size and even though it was inside the hill, it had an open roof that went all the way up to the surface. It was quite the spectacle to look at since the actual surface was like 20 meters above us.

The training room had an assortment of regular weapons and weighted weapons in case you want more of a challenge. There was a ring for people to spar that was about 10 meters all around.

Wandering through the castle I realized that all of the hallways had looped in a very nice square. There were also floors on top of the original floors with rooms that were much bigger and had many more windows.

The thing that caught my eye the most was working bathrooms with semi-functional plumbing. Now we didn't have to do our business in the bushes like animals.

Running into a maid I asked her if any special things would interest me in the castle which made her excited. I don't know if she was happy because she got to talk to me or because the place she was going to take me is awesome.

Walking down the hallways we made it to a room that sounded like rushing water was behind it.

"YES!"

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