Bai Jie was woken up by Bai Huahua's pestering.
When it opened its eyes, it found that it was still dark outside.
"Sister is incredible. You can really sleep."
A coquettishly naive young girl's voice rang out in its mind. "No wonder you've grown so much bigger again."
As she spoke, the little snake's cool, slick body slowly slithered across the giant spider's imposing frame, coiling and twisting around like a lamia.
It was only then that Bai Jie remembered—after absorbing all the spiritual essence from the pink-purple crystal, it had felt no pressing thoughts and had quickly fallen asleep.
What's more, it hadn't heard any notification about its Vitality reaching the threshold or that it could begin evolving. Combined with the fact that it hadn't found any shed skin nearby, it was clear that it hadn't undergone a sixth evolution.
A sense of temporal disorientation washed over it. In a daze, it pulled up its Status Panel.
[Name]: Bai Jie (Bai Zhi)
[Title]: Demon Spider Bai Zhi; Night Goddess Nyx
[Race]: Shadow of Nether Lightning (Demonic-Evil Body)
[Vitality]: 430
[Skills]:
Dark Summoning Lv.1 (NEW) / Eternal Night Descent Lv.1 (NEW) / Darkest Hour Lv.3 / Advanced Self-Healing Lv.3 / Ten Thousand Binding Threads Lv.5 / Spider Sense Lv.5 / Advanced Intimidation Lv.7 / Stealth Camouflage Lv.7 / Mutagenic Venom Lv.9 / Egg Laying Lv.10 / Blade Leg Slash Lv.12 (MAX) / Bite Lv.12 (MAX) / Razor Spider Silk Lv.12 (MAX) / Urticating Hair Poison Needle Lv.12 (MAX) / Poison Arrow Spray Lv.12 (MAX) / Corrosive Venom Lv.12 (MAX)
[Talents]: Poison-Refining Gu / Spirit-Devouring Body / Thunder Mastery / Night Affinity
[Satiety]: 62%
[Body Length]: Leg Span 150cm
"The Vitality increase... it's far too much. Way beyond what I'd imagined..." Bai Jie instantly became fully alert.
Even though it hadn't evolved, this was more than enough to thrill Bai Jie.
It first looked at the first new skill.
[Dark Summoning]: Newly awakened skill. By consuming a large amount of spiritual energy, one can communicate with alternate dimensions and summon creatures of the mysterious dark races. As the skill level increases, the summoned dark creatures have higher Vitality, and the spiritual energy required to summon the same dark creature decreases.
Like what Li Jiayu did?
The spider immediately tested it out with curiosity.
Slightly focusing its mind, an intricate magic array manifested beneath its feet. It sensed several eerie presences responding to it from beyond the dimensional barrier—each presence carrying its own distinct emotion.
There was loyalty, admiration, greed, curiosity, jealousy, desire, and even... lust.
Wait... lust?!
The spider hurriedly canceled the spell.
"As expected of the utterly wicked dark races..."
That particular aura reminded it of a succubus.
Bai Jie felt its heart pounding violently. It thought to itself that this skill should be used with extreme caution—because it seemed to not only consume spiritual energy but also erode its own "sanity."
After taking several deep breaths to distract itself, it shifted its gaze to the second new skill.
[Eternal Night Descent]: Newly awakened ability. Consumes spiritual energy to strip all targets within a certain area of all sensory functions, plunging them into an endless abyss of darkness and rapidly depleting their "sanity."
As the skill level increases, the duration targets are trapped in the dark abyss increases, the Eternal Night coverage range expands, spiritual energy consumption increases, and skill cooldown decreases.
"An area-of-effect blindness skill?"
"Well... it's actually more accurate to call it a terror skill."
The spider then sensed its own body length. Very satisfied—it was developing in the direction of a human's long, elegant legs.
Closing the Status Panel, it brushed the little snake sprawled on its body aside and spread its perception outward.
It "saw" Lin Binbin standing guard.
Suddenly remembering the night watch task it had assigned him, it dismissed the notion of using him as a test subject for "Eternal Night Descent." After all, a wage slave had it hard enough...
Lin Binbin seemed to sense something as well. His body quivered as he whispered: "Lord Bai Zhi?"
"Mm. I am awake." The demon spider transmitted.
"Congratulations, Lord, on further advancing your cultivation. There is no longer any existence in this world capable of threatening you." Lin Binbin cupped his hands toward the direction of the demon spider.
As a human infected by the Mutagenic Venom, the demon spider's explosive Vitality growth also fed back to its Agent.
Bai Jie was inwardly quite pleased by this bootlicking, but it made no response, keeping its expression unreadable.
"You have worked hard. Return and rest early."
Bai Jie was also too embarrassed to ask what time it was, so it could only feign aloofness and tell him to leave and get some good rest.
"Understood. Your subordinate takes his leave."
When Bai Jie picked up its phone, it actually found that the device could turn on normally now.
Before it could even feel relieved, it was struck with shock—because the time was already the evening of the next day.
It had actually slept for an entire day...
And made Lin Binbin wait an entire day!
"Sister, I'm so hungry." The little snake rubbed its head against the spider's leg.
True. After such a long time, even its own Satiety had dropped considerably.
Bai Jie retrieved the Qiankun cloth pouch hanging from the tree canopy and poured spiritual energy into it. From within, it pulled out fruit after fruit in an endless stream, as if performing magic tricks.
These fruits were exactly what Lin Binbin had brought per its earlier instructions.
The little snake's eyes went wide. Drool pooled on the ground.
Perhaps because, after being reincarnated as a spider, it had eaten far too many disgusting and highly toxic things, Bai Jie was now particularly obsessed with the naturally sweet, refreshing flavors of melons and fruits.
This was likely driven by a kind of compensatory psychology—subconsciously wanting to prove that it wasn't one of those creepy, horrifying poisonous insects, and that it still retained hobbies similar to those of humans.
By consuming nearly two dozen fruits, Bai Jie's Satiety was barely pushed up to 70%. Although not as effective as eating venomous insects, at least its spirit and senses were satisfied.
On top of having just achieved a leap in Vitality, Bai Jie's sense of happiness at this moment had reached unprecedented heights.
"That said... my Vitality has already broken 400, and I still haven't been able to shapeshift. So just how many more evolutions will it take to achieve Transformation?"
"Sigh, the evolutionary path isn't even clearly defined. Maybe I've already lost the chance to transform. Or perhaps 'Transformation' simply doesn't exist as an option?"
"If I can't transform, then am I doomed to spend the rest of my life avoiding humans, hiding in the shadows, scraping by in obscurity? Or should I flee far from human civilization—head to the Amazon Plains to acknowledge my roots and let the leaves return to the soil?"
"..."
Thoughts swirled in profusion. Suddenly, Bai Jie's mood plummeted from the heights to rock bottom. Still, that didn't stop it from throwing out a few self-deprecating jabs.
"And the most miserable ending... would probably be getting discovered by humans and focus-fired, obliterated by technological weapons so fearsome even gods and ghosts would tremble—and being posthumously branded a demon of the age, a death well-deserved?"
"If my remains were still intact, maybe I'd even be put on display in a monster-suppression museum, for foolish humans to gawk at..."
"Tch. But... are humans even worthy?"
At this thought, the demon spider suddenly felt that death might not be so dull after all.