She stared at the clearing ahead at the webs. Thick, layered, gleaming in the filtered light like spun glass stretched between ancient trees. The air smelled faintly metallic. Wrong.
"No," she said again, more firmly. "Absolutely not."
"You said you needed something durable, waterproof, and resistant to abrasion," Faral replied calmly. "This is the best option within a three-mile radius."
"That is a nest."
Correct.
"That is a spider nest."
"Also correct."
She folded her arms, as if that settled it. "I am not wearing nest shoes."
If Faral could, he would roll his eyes. "You are not wearing the shoe of someone who died in the nest," he said patiently. "You are wearing the material."
Zhu looked at the thin web threats. "That is not comforting or understandable."
The webs trembled faintly as a breeze passed through the clearing. Zhu watched the strands flex and settle, each layer absorbing the movement without tearing. Despite herself, she noticed how nothing sagged. Nothing snapped.
"Arachthiel Spider silk has a tensile strength greater than steel," Faral said. "But unlike metal, it does not fatigue. It adapts. Even individuals with level A systems have a hard time breaking them."
She grimaced. "It still looks… alive."
"It is," he agreed.
Zhu swinted her eyes, wishing she could glare at him.
"Which is precisely why it is suitable," Faral continued, unbothered. "You require footwear that can survive prolonged exposure to hostile terrain. Stone, thorns, ash, corrupted ground. Dead materials fracture under repeated stress. Living materials learn."
She hesitated. "Learn, what do you mean?"
"This silk was spun by ward-spiders. Their nests are designed to endure storms, predators, and mana interference. The web repels water by default. Abrasion strengthens it rather than weakens it. Each time something tries to tear it, the fibres tighten."
Zhu swallowed. The metallic smell in the air wasn't rot; it was old mana, sharp and chaotic.
"And before you say it," Faral added, "yes. It will stop blades."
Her eyes flicked back to the web. "You're telling me this stuff can take a hit meant to cut through bone?"
"Indeed, that is what I am telling you," Faral said evenly. That gave her pause.
She shifted her weight on her cold, bare feet. "What about heat?"
"The silk chars but does not melt."
"Cold?"
"It remains flexible."
"Acid?"
Faral tilted his head. "It neutralises most organic compounds. Anything stronger, and the damage localises instead of spreading."
She let out a slow breath through her nose. "You've really thought this through."
"I did not bring you here to make a fashion statement," he replied. "I brought you here to keep your feet attached to your legs."
Her mouth twitched despite herself.
She looked back at the clearing at the layered webs stretched with deliberate care between the trees. They weren't chaotic. They were engineered. Pathways reinforced. Load-bearing strands doubled and tripled.
She hesitated one last time, then dropped her arms. "If anything crawls on me—"
"It won't," Faral said immediately.
A beat.
"…Mostly."
She groaned. "I hate you."
Zhu walked back to the web slowly. "Faral."
"Yes, girl?"
"Why are the webs… breathing?" Zhu whispered in total panic.
There was a pause.
"Because she is home."
The ground shifted.
Something massive unfolded from the shadows above them, descending with unsettling grace. Legs as thick as tree limbs touched down silently, eight eyes glowing like wet embers. The spider's body shimmered with iridescent black and deep violet markings, venom sacs pulsing faintly beneath translucent armour.
Zhu screamed.
Not a heroic scream.
A very practical, high-pitched, running-in-circles scream. She turned on her feet to run.
"YOU DID NOT SAY IT WAS…" she waved wildly at the creature "...A BIG ASS SPIDER."
Size is relative, Faral said, entirely unhelpful.
"And poisonous?! I can see the poison."
Technically neuro-paralytic. Very fast-acting.
"I HATE THAT YOU KNOW THAT."
The spider tilted its massive head, eyes focusing on Zhu's escaping figure. A strand of web shot out—
Zhu yelped as her feet were yanked together, silk wrapping rapidly around her. She stumbled, flailing, as more threads layered on, tightening, moulding.
"OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO DIE" She screamed and panicked. "NO, NO BITE THE HEAD END ME QUICKLY"
At this point, the spider was dragging Zhu closer and she was rambling incoherently.
"NO FEET STUFF," she yelled. "I DID NOT CONSENT."
The spider clicked softly, weaving with terrifying precision. The webbing hardened as it layered, turning glossy and smooth, forming perfectly contoured shoes around her feet.
After a few minutes of no pain coming from her feet, Zhu calmed down. She looked down at her feet to see another strand wrapped around her ankle, reinforcing the sole. The silk shimmered, then darkened, becoming dense and flexible.
Zhu wiggled her toes.
"…Oh. Oh, that's—"
She was stunned.
"Solid. Waterproof. Shock-absorbing. Protective pair of shoes." Faral listed off the qualities.
"…annoyingly excellent," Zhu muttered.
"What did you say?" Faral asked
"…Why does it fit so well?"
"She is a spider who likes to craft," Faral said. "Velistra is very proud of her work."
The spider withdrew, legs folding neatly beneath it, clearly satisfied. It lifted one leg and tapped the ground once done.
"Thank you, my friend," Faral's voice echoed from Zhu.
The spider clicked, "No need to thank me, Guardian. My webs are well stocked for doing you this favour. It was a fair exchange."
Zhu glanced down at her feet again. The shoes were beautiful and very comfortable. They came up to her ankle and looked more like short water boots. They had laces running down the front and were white with flecks of leaves and twigs. It was by far the best thing she'd ever owned in her life.
"…I'm not taking them off." She said in awe.
The spider clicked approvingly. "He he he. You have acquired a strange servant Guardian."
Her voice was soothing inside Zhu's head. She got up from the ground, dusted herself off and bowed to the spider to express her thanks.
The spider tilted her head.
"It is good to see you grown," she said.
Zhu paused. "Grown?" She flexed her toes, then looked up. "What do you mean by that?"
The spider let out a soft, chittering sound, not laughter exactly, but something close. "You do not remember," she said, matter-of-factly. "That is to be expected. You were a very small humanling. Very Loud."
Zhu's heart skipped a beat her head began to race with possibilities. "You know me..When I was a baby?"
"Indeed, I knew you before you knew yourself," the spider replied. She began gathering loose webs, her movements unhurried. "You were left at the forest's edge, wrapped in cloth that smelled of fear and rain. The Hollowvail does not often spare such younglings, abandoned things. But you cried, and I heard."
Zhu's breath caught. "Wow… what did you do?" Zhu completely forgot her earlier fear and trepidation.
"For three nights and two days, you cried," the spider said. "I kept the damp from your skin. I feed you honey dew from flowers. I chased away beetles that crawled too close. I wove warmth where I could and watched the dark so it would not watch you back."
Zhu's hands curled into fists. "Ms. Nanny told me someone must have kept me alive before I was found."
"Yes," the spider said simply. "A few humans came on the third morning. They carried the scent of kindness and exhaustion. I knew then that you would survive without me."
Zhu swallowed hard, her vision blurring. "So… you saved me when I was a baby."
The spider inclined her head. "Only for a little while."
Zhu looked down at the shoes at the careful weaving, the patience in every thread. "Is that why you helped me?"
The spider's eyes softened. "I do not waste good silk," she said. Then, after a pause, "And besides, your guardian helped me with hunting."
Zhu took a shaky breath, standing a little taller. "Then… thank you. For looking after me then and now."
The spider inclined her massive head and began her ascent up the web. Zhu watched as she disappeared into the silken shadows above, her mind reeling from everything that had just been revealed.
Zhu exhaled slowly. "Faral."
"Yes."
"Did you hear all that?"
"I did."
She shifted on her feet, rocking back and forth in the comfortable spider-web boots. She didn't know what to do with what she'd learned, so she pushed it to the back of her mind for now.
"Faral."
"Yes?"
"Next time," she said, glaring into the forest, "you tell me when I'm about to be shoed by a venomous nightmare."
Faral's voice carried unmistakable amusement. "You didn't ask."
She sighed, "Seriously fatal she threw up her hands in frustration
"You would have panicked and refused to come, The voice reasoned.
Zhu folded her lips, unable to say anything else because Faral was right. If she had known that it was a giant spider, she would have rather gone barefoot.
Zhu took a deep, calming breath. She tried to clear her head of the cob webs, both literally and figuratively "Alright, Faral, where to next?"