Kinogine Arachne
I carefully picked up the paper Ppuru-ru had sent. Then, I slowly shifted my gaze over it, taking in the drawing.
"......"
As I admired the drawing, I furrowed my brow slightly and said,
"...Nicely done."
Ha Yu-mi must have picked up on the shift in my expression. It wasn't that I disliked the drawing. My praise was genuine—no empty words. It was a striking, personality-packed piece that drew admiration naturally. For real.
The brief change in my expression stemmed from something else entirely.
"Nah. I really like it."
"Anyway, Lulu. This one's called Kinogine Arachne, right?"
I switched topics quickly to avoid making Ppuru-ru feel bad over that momentary expression.
"Oh, it's Greek. You put a lot of thought into this. Thanks."
Kinogine Arachne. The species name Ppuru-ru had come up with. I passed it on to the newly evolved Dog Spider. Upon hearing it, she made a subtle expression and murmured,
[Kinogine... Arachne...]
"Ppuru-ru named you. What do you think? Like it?"
The Dog Spider slyly opened one eye. She'd been doing that occasionally—it seemed like a habit when expressing emotion.
[It feels like a good name.]
The Dog Spider's lips curved into a slight smile. She seemed to accept the new name well enough.
"Alright, then from now on, I'll call you Kino for short."
[Yes, Father. And thank you for such a wonderful name, Ppuru-ru.]
Arachne gently closed her eyes and politely thanked Ppuru-ru. The innocent cuteness had faded, replaced by elegant maturity.
"Kino. Ppuru-ru says to call her big sis."
[Got it. Big sis Ppuru-ru.]
I pretended not to see Ha Yu-mi's messages.
I lightly ignored Rise's messages too. Before slipping the paper into the compendium, I showed it to Arachne. She ought to see a drawing of herself.
Arachne took the paper and peered at it with half-lidded eyes. Soon, she let out a soft gasp of admiration.
[Wow... I love the name, but the drawing's amazing too.]
"Glad you like it."
Arachne smiled contentedly, stroking the drawing.
[Looks like big sis Ppuru-ru has a talent for art like Father. It's not exactly me, but it captures all the key features perfectly.]
"Huh? How do you know if it looks like you or not? You haven't even seen a mirror yet."
[Evolution gave me super sense. I used it to check my own appearance.]
"Nice. That's a good ability."
"Anyway, Kino. Done looking? Hand it back now so I can tuck it in the compendium."
I held out my hand to Arachne. She hesitated, then clutched the paper tight and said,
[Father... Can I keep this drawing?]
She liked it more than I'd thought.
After a moment's thought, approval came from the artist herself. I nodded and told Arachne she could have it, adding that Ppuru-ru was cool with it too.
Arachne perked up, her floppy dog ears twitching happily.
[Thank you. I'll treasure it. This is my number two treasure now.]
"Number two? What's number one?"
[You, Father.]
"......"
With a cheeky grin, Arachne carefully slipped the paper between her cleavage. Her ample chest made folding unnecessary for safekeeping.
After the monsters gathered cozily for a meal, we checked out the abilities of the newly evolved Kinogine Arachne.
First up: super sense. With it, she could perceive her surroundings perfectly even with eyes closed.
And not just that. Her reaction speed had become unbelievably fast, as if predicting the near future—reading and countering opponents preemptively.
Next standout: enhanced incapacitation thread. Now, it worked without direct contact. Simply being near the threads weakened foes—a phenomenon similar to the explorer's nerf effect on nearby monsters, though far milder.
Note: Sparse threads had little effect. The more threads around the target, the stronger the weakening.
"On me... doesn't seem to do much..."
[Sss...]
Arachne-peers Azeras and Black Magma Slime-003 were unaffected. No matter how many thread clumps surrounded them.
Of course, that was without direct touch. Contact visibly sapped their strength.
Plus, Arachne constantly wore threads like a barrier. Magic or psychic attacks vanished before reaching her.
Even non-physical mental abilities couldn't interfere. Psycho Clown's mind control only worked on weaker foes, so untested, but telepathy and other mentals failed entirely.
There were various minor abilities too, but the coolest was spider spirit summoning. Arachne said she could summon tens of thousands at least. Currently, about a hundred.
The spirits resembled baby Dog Spiders, slightly smaller than newborns.
"D-grade."
Spider spirits rated D-grade danger, estimated actual B-grade. Tiny boss-level B-grades... Probably nerfed small now, normally much larger.
"Not by common sense. That's why she's SS-grade."
Spirit summoning wrapped up ability checks. The other monsters eyed ability-demonstrating Arachne with envy.
Soon, their attention shifted to Melody Fox.
[A-hem! As I said before, I want to be friends. Let's get along.]
A Centaurides sidled up to Melody Fox with a fake cough.
[Pii! Piii!]
Jellyfish-002 circled Melody Fox excitedly, eyes sparkling.
[Kirik. Tail looks soft. Cool.]
[Wanna dance with me-yot? Singing while dancing doubles the fun-yot! Duumba!]
Psycho Clown and Hedgehog Summoner God awkwardly approached Melody Fox.
SS-grades, Medical Mushroom-004, and Iris showed no evolution interest, ignoring Melody Fox. Despite the crowd,
[Kyung.]
Melody Fox ignored them, hopped onto Arachne's chest, and buried her face. Not ready to open up beyond Arachne yet.
I know who Ppuru-ru is. The moment I saw her drawing, her identity clicked. Her style's too distinctive.
Ppuru-ru is Seo Dan-bi. High school classmate; we'd sketched together sometimes.
'When should I let on I know?'
Not planning to play dumb forever. I'd reveal it and chat today.
Reason for stalling despite realizing earlier: consideration for Dan-bi. Give her a breather. Sudden exposure would fluster her badly. She wouldn't bolt now, but still.
Plus, I needed time too. What to say to an old friend after so long?
Mulling the natural moment,
Support item from PLATINUM-grade supporter 'Ppuru-ru' has arrived!
Another sheet arrived. I'd given the first to Arachne, so this was the new compendium version.
I picked it up without thinking.
And said, "Thanks, Dan-bi."
I'd called Ppuru-ru by her real name without realizing.