Cat's Cradle
Cat's Cradle's spider webs were hard to call a good weapon, strictly speaking. 'Just for the early game.' Without the Will stat, you couldn't use them properly, and even if you wanted to, you couldn't obtain them unless you captured the prison warden in Lee Seokhyun's prologue. In other words, the usage conditions were tricky, and the acquisition conditions were extremely difficult. But if you asked whether the effects were worth overcoming such harsh conditions, it was hard to answer confidently. 'The biggest problem is that you can't reinforce the webs themselves.'
When hunting Uberlak, if given one more chance, a player using regular weapons would have prepared a stronger one and tried to upgrade their specs. But with spider webs, they were an attached effect on equipment, and there weren't many ways to increase their power. One method was obtaining the Spider title, and while it was fortunate to have gotten it, without that the weapon truly had nothing going for it. 'Well, it's what I chose.' More accurately, it was the only option available. The weapons supplied by the academy were worse than spider webs because of my first-year status, and buying a good weapon would obviously draw too much suspicion.
[You have reached the limit of spider web generation.]
[To generate more spider webs, you must use up all existing ones.]
That was why the only way I could upgrade my specs right now was to prepare special means, just like when I obtained the Spider title. 'I need stats to support the webs.'
The most inconvenient part of using spider webs was having to visualize their shape from start to finish. For example, if I wove the webs into a rope and then hardened the end into a hook, I had to simulate the entire process in my head like a slow-motion video. That was why I'd only been able to use the webs in simple ways until now. In the middle of combat, trying to gain an advantage through complex shapes would overload my brain. But what if that wasn't necessary? What if I could skip the intermediate steps and create the result directly?
From that point on, the nature of battle would change completely. 'It's a different issue from the Will stat.' The Will stat was merely the foundation that determined how well I could use the webs. 'That's exactly what Cat's Cradle is.'
Cat's Cradle. A skill ranked in the top three of Final Destiny's worst hidden skills, with a description that simply said it allowed more skillful use of threads. It made sense—opportunities to use weapons like wires or spider webs only existed in Lee Seokhyun's prologue. Even if an opportunity arose later, most players ended up with a useless item because they lacked the Spider title or missed the timing to hunt Arachne.
[Operating spider webs at maximum capacity.]
[Excessive use may cause all webs to snap. Exercise caution.]
But Lee Seokhyun could utilize this hidden skill very actively. When spider webs combined with a high Will stat and Cat's Cradle on top, they displayed tremendous synergy. Moreover, since he could use multiple hidden skills, simply obtaining them was a massive synergy for him. 'A character that doesn't suit the phrase "too much of a good thing."'
Anyway, three conditions were needed to obtain Cat's Cradle: the Will stat had to exceed a certain threshold, and the spider webs had to be operated at their limit. Ssssssssk. Spider webs gradually spread from the spot where I'd hung from the cliff to eat honey, slowly taking the shape of a web. The threads connecting cliff to cliff were thin, but they overlapped several times, spreading densely as if compensating for that weakness. I squeezed my brain to its limit, thinking about where each thread should connect for maximum efficiency, then linked them immediately.
[Warning! The thread is about to snap.]
As soon as the warning appeared, I stopped moving the threads and slowly looked down at what I'd created. 'Good. This is the limit for now.' If my Will stat were a bit higher, I could've made webs that could withstand falling boulders, but I decided to be satisfied with this. There was no end to listing regrets, so I stopped thinking and carefully stepped onto the web. While hanging from the cliff, I'd felt uneasy because my feet didn't touch the ground. This time, the tension of standing on thick threads washed over my entire body.
Creak. Creak. With each step onto the web, it swayed wildly like a trampoline, giving the feeling it would snap at any moment. It felt like balancing precariously on rolling waves.
[So what are you going to do with this?]
Pepais, who had been quiet, spoke up, apparently thinking I'd produced some kind of result. It was impressive how it stayed quiet during concentration and picked the right moment to ask questions—definitely had the perceptiveness befitting my contracted spirit.
"The condition is to show remarkable results while pushing the spider webs to their limit."
[Does that make you stronger?]
"Yeah."
[Simple enough.]
"It sounds simple, but it's not in practice."
The final condition was easy to say but extremely difficult to execute. What counted as "remarkable" results, and who would acknowledge them? It was hopelessly vague. But there was always an answer. I'd made countless attempts and found the one method to obtain Cat's Cradle easily. 'It was tough.' The loneliness of having to discover everything alone because no one had written a guide for a character no one raised. Recalling past memories, I climbed the cliff. Since the gloves and webs were connected, I couldn't move far, and moving too quickly would snap the threads. In this situation, there was only one way to lure monsters.
"Pepais, blow it up."
[Understood.]
Fwoooooosh. In the dark night, a loud sound spread grandly through the sky like fireworks. BOOOOOOM! An insane explosion followed, drawing all attention once more. 'Come.'
The fight approaching now wasn't against monsters. It was simply experience points for my hidden skills. 'I'm going to milk every last drop.' To prepare for the disaster coming to Mirinae Academy, I had to become even stronger.
Inside the Jungle Fortress Command Center.
"How disorderly."
Jungle General Bedukto, the boss monster of the Jungle Fortress, was receiving a briefing on the recent unpleasant incident. The jungle orcs had been annihilated, most of the low-ranking soldiers meant for menial tasks had lost their will to fight, and several had even deserted. In just a few hours, a single human had shaken the very foundation of the Jungle Fortress.
"How weak were we?"
What use was ambition to rule the world? The reality was that we'd been toyed with by one human, had our gunpowder stolen, and couldn't even properly extinguish the burning barracks. And if you asked whether we'd captured that human and delivered appropriate punishment, the answer was no. Fwoooooosh—BOOM! We couldn't even catch him, and now he was provoking us again with that thunderous noise. A mere human, the weakest and most incompetent of beings, daring to provoke a fortress.
"We'll have to play along. He must pay the price for ignoring us in the most painful way possible. I'll tear off all his skin, keep healing him so he doesn't die, and sever his nerves one by one in torture."
Despite being filled with rage, Bedukto spoke calmly and softly to the end. The soldier before him trembled in the cold aura, forced to prostrate himself.
"Deploy all the monkey goblins and banana kobolds. If we've drawn this much out, he won't be unscathed."
And I'm going too. With those words, Bedukto made his subordinate leave, his poorly made cloak fluttering. No matter how charismatic he tried to appear, he was ultimately just a boss designed for the mid-early game. To grow, he needed a stepping stone. To reach higher, to break his limits, he had to hunt humans. Not just any humans—very strong ones, or those with potential.
'Finally, an opportunity has come to me.'
Like a signal that it was time to break the shell and be reborn. When the human came and caused chaos, Bedukto had laughed inwardly. His subordinates dying? They were useless anyway. Everything except himself could die without mattering. "Let's see the end, human." Bedukto looked only to the future. Abandoning the fortress's advantage, he led all his forces outside. For a better future, for the moment he would dominate everything and stand at the peak. He had made an irreversible mistake.