SSS-Rank Bloodline: Wolf Evolution

The spider woman became absorbed in thought, which made her prolong the silence, and because of the many fluctuations in her emotions, she unintentionally raised the intensity of her killing intent.

In the long web corridor that darkness had already covered, Arthur continued standing in his place obediently. His hind legs were trembling faintly, and he barely maintained his composure.

He was not pretending, and all his troubled thoughts and the feelings of fear that had taken control of him were real, and unfortunately, they had grown with every additional passing second.

’Tsk, why is she so silent? What is she thinking about? Ah, damn, this killing intent of hers unsettles me greatly, I feel as though hundreds of cold blades are pricking my body.’

Anger rose within him, and little by little he was no longer able to bear her unsettling silence and condescending attitude, the negative thoughts he had been suppressing began to surface.

For a brief moment, he bared his fangs, and nearly growled savagely, but he stopped himself, and held back at the last moment. Unconcerned whether she was watching him, he shook his head hard removing a little of the chaos inside him.

’Have I lost my mind or what? I cannot show hostility toward her, she will kill me. I must calm down, it is clear she is doing this deliberately, yes, she is trying to push me into revealing my true intentions.’

Even though he did not have any concrete evidence, he had no doubt about his assumption, he had considered the spider woman an extremely intelligent creature, so he dealt with her with the utmost caution.

This may seem very exaggerated, and mere overthinking and suspicion, but it was not. Their complex relationship was like a game of tug-of-war, the first one to stumble, or make a wrong move would lose, or rather, would fall into the other’s trap.

He took a deep breath, and without using his bloodline, began calming himself. Within a short time, his breathing steadied, and his emotions regained a large part of their stability.

Maintaining his composure was necessary, for through the few conversations and situations that had occurred between him and the spider woman over the past three days, he had become certain she was able to read his thoughts and emotions.

He did not worry much about his personal privacy, for apparently this ability of hers was very limited, and as long as he did not focus on one thought or feeling for more than four seconds, all she would get was a vague and unhelpful understanding. This was just his conclusion.

His tense expression relaxed, and unconcerned by her suffocating killing intent, he made himself comfortable and sat down, standing was exhausting and somewhat nerve-wracking, of course, he maintained his submissive posture.

The fluctuations in his emotions during the past thirty seconds had been very large, especially the moment when he showed hostility; they were so strong that they broke the spider woman’s train of thought and captured her full attention.

She realized she had unintentionally increased her killing intent which had made him have a hard time, despite that, she did not reduce it, she exploited the opportunity to the fullest, and read his thoughts and emotions while they were exposed.

Inside her cocoon a simple ripple appeared in her features, then in the next moment she opened her eyes to their fullest from the intensity of shock, and whispered, "What? He knows I am able to read his thoughts, when did he discover that?"

She felt as though a bucket of ice water had been poured over her, she snapped out of her daze, and realized that even though she had raised her opinion of him greatly she had still underestimated him.

’What is he trying to hide from me?’ Her expressions darkened, and she finally understood why he had been obedient even in his thoughts and emotions.

That urgent desire to uncover his secrets returned to consume her, but she suppressed it, for as she had decided earlier, she would leave this matter until she fully recovered, and at that point she would use the "Charm" skill to force him to speak.

Besides her terrible physical condition, her mental strength was severely depleted, and because of that, she was barely able to use 15% of the power of her mental skills.

Ten full minutes had passed since Arthur had asked, and since the silence had lasted longer than necessary, he took the initiative, and asked with a kind of hesitation, "Forgive me, but is losing one of my skills truly that serious? Your silence is making me tense."

Strangely, that annoying feeling of helplessness washed over her again upon hearing his voice.

He was making her uncomfortable, frustrating her, and pushing her to question her own intelligence, and yet... she did not hate him. On the contrary, she was beginning to enjoy the strange feelings he stirred within her, in a way that was difficult to explain.

She took a brief moment to organize her thoughts, removed her killing intent entirely, then replied in a calm tone, devoid of her usual indifference.

"’No, not really, even though it rarely happens, losing skills is something that can occur. Tell me, are you certain that your Storage skill doesn’t respond at all, even slightly, when you try to use it? And did you lose any other skills?’"

When the pressure he was feeling disappeared, Arthur released a breath of relief, he listened to her with great attention, then replied,

"I am certain, the skill gives no response, it seems as though it has disappeared entirely, as for the rest of my skills they are functioning normally."

He had no intention of revealing the "Evaluation" skill, for it was one of his secrets related to the system, in addition to that, he had shown her enough surprises already, and showing more might only get him into bigger problems.

The spider woman maintained her silence for a brief moment, she examined him again, and this time did not hide it from him, which made him feel a strange coldness throughout his entire body.

After that she said, "’Based on what I know, skills malfunction or go out of control in very few cases, among them severe brain damage, or being subjected to a strong curse or seal, and there are also some special skills that steal others’ skills, in your case all these possibilities are not applicable.

Most likely the reason for your loss of the skill, is damage to your bloodline, or perhaps your Primal Core.’"

She let out a light, mocking laugh and added, "If this is correct, you are in a serious predicament."

’Curses, seals, stealing skills, Primal Core, what is all this?’ Arthur was astonished by the amount of fragmented information he picked up from her words. He felt excited, and wanted to know more.

Without any hesitation he asked. "What exactly is the Primal Core, and why did you say I will be in serious trouble if it is damaged?"

Suddenly Arthur felt the air around him become heavier, and in the next moment the spider woman’s voice appeared inside his head, which had returned to its usual coldness.

’Do you not know what the Primal Core is? Are you mocking me?’