Free Web NovelChapter 62: A Month
One month had passed since Lukas discovered his new ability. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
Time, as always, seemed to fly by in the Dmond mansion. The days followed one another in a rhythm Lukas could barely keep up with: mornings of training in the forest, afternoons of studying in the inner garden, and nights spent taking notes in his increasingly full notebook. The leather pages were already nearly complete, covered in his small and precise handwriting.
Lukas had reached one year and five months of age. Seventeen months in this world. More than five hundred days since he had first opened his eyes and seen Aurora’s face.
His routine had gained a new rhythm.
In the mornings, he trained his control over the web in the forest behind the house.
He woke before sunrise, dressed in silence, and walked down the stairs with light footsteps. Tilbo was already on his left shoulder, her antennae twitching with anticipation. Prata remained motionless on his right shoulder, her multiple eyes reflecting the dimness.
At that hour, the forest was a different world. The gray light of dawn filtering through the trees created silvery patterns on the moss-covered ground. The air was cold and damp, heavy with the scent of earth and leaves. The birds had not yet begun to sing; only the distant sound of the wind and the rustling of small animals among the bushes could be heard.
Lukas spent hours there.
He had quickly learned that the web consumed mana. At first, he used it without thinking, launching long strands or sticking to everything he saw: trees, rocks, the ground. His excitement was so overwhelming that he failed to notice the exhaustion until it finally caught up with him.
After experiencing slight dizziness and fatigue following a more intense training session, the world spinning around him, his knees weak and his vision blurred, he realized that he needed to be careful.
Mana was not infinite.
It was like a muscle. The more it was used, the stronger it became. But it required rest. Gradual training. Moderation.
In the forest, he tested several practical applications.
First, climbing.
Using short, strong strands, he could stick his hands and feet to tree bark and climb with ease, almost like a real spider. The threads emerged from his palms and the soles of his feet, a strange but natural sensation, as though they had always been there.
He spent hours hanging from high branches, swinging back and forth while testing the limits of the strands’ durability. He discovered that if he concentrated more mana, the strands became thicker and brighter, capable of supporting his weight effortlessly.
Second, creating nets.
He spent entire afternoons weaving small nets between trees, testing different patterns. Some were thin and elastic, designed to catch insects, while others were thicker and more durable, useful for securing fallen branches.
The web was versatile. It adhered to almost anything, but if he thought of "releasing," it detached without leaving any residue behind.
Once, he managed to trap a fleeing wild rabbit. The animal froze for a few seconds, its eyes wide with fear, before Lukas approached and released the strands with a thought.
"Sorry, little friend," he murmured as he watched the rabbit dash back into the undergrowth, its white tail disappearing among the leaves.
"I was just testing."
Third, launching long strands.
This was the most enjoyable.
He would point his hand toward a distant branch, five meters, ten meters, fifteen meters away, and fire a silvery strand that cut through the air with a soft whoosh. The strand attached itself with precision, and Lukas swung between the trees, laughing to himself whenever he managed longer routes.
It was liberating.
The wind against his face. The trees were rushing past in a green blur. The world is viewed from above, from branch to branch.
It was dangerous as well. Once, he misjudged his target. The branch was thinner than it had appeared, and it snapped when he hung from it, sending him tumbling into a bush. But his strength saved him from serious injury. He suffered only a few scratches and a bout of breathlessness.
Over time, he learned moderation.
A small amount of mana for thin, discreet strands, nearly invisible and perfect for silent traps.
More mana for thick, durable strands capable of supporting his weight, restraining larger animals, or creating long-lasting webs.
He felt the consumption as a slight weariness in his chest, a warm sensation spreading from the center of his body to his extremities. Now he used it carefully, never exhausting himself completely.
’Mana is not a toy,’ he thought after each training session.
’It’s a tool. And like every tool, it must be respected.’
Tilbo and Prata accompanied him at all times.
Tilbo had changed significantly over the past few months. The metallic ant, now nearly twenty centimeters long, had developed a protective and territorial personality.
She never left Lukas’s left shoulder of her own accord. Whenever someone approached too closely, a servant, a visitor, even Clavor on his more suspicious days, Tilbo would raise her front legs and move her antennae in an aggressive pattern.
She didn’t attack. Not yet.
But Lukas knew she would protect him.
Once, one of the newer servants, a young man who had not been warned about the young master’s "pets," tried to pick Lukas up without warning.
Tilbo leapt from his shoulder and landed on the floor in front of the servant, her mandibles spread wide as she emitted a low sound, a metallic hiss Lukas had never heard before. freeweɓnøvel.com
The servant backed away so quickly that he stumbled and fell onto the floor.
"Easy, Tilbo," Lukas said as he bent down to pick her up.
"He didn’t know."
Tilbo climbed back onto his shoulder, but she kept her antennae pointed toward the servant until he had left the room.
’She’s becoming more aggressive,’ Lukas thought.
’More protective.’
Prata, on the other hand, had changed in a different way.
The spider with the black carapace and silvery threads was now about the size of an adult’s palm, approximately ten centimeters in diameter with her legs outstretched.
Her silvery hairs had grown denser, gleaming even in the dim light. Her multiple eyes reflected light like tiny black stars.
She was gentle with Lukas. Extremely gentle.
Whenever Lukas picked her up, she nestled into his hand, her legs folded and her body relaxed. She climbed onto his right shoulder without hesitation. She accepted insects from his hand with delicacy.
But with anyone else... Prata was aggressive.
