[Spear Spider]
[Magic: 0 | Might: 150,000]
[Shield Spider]
[Magic: 0 | Might: 100,000]
[Spitting Spider]
[Magic: 50,000 | Might: 50,000]
[Spark Spider]
[Magic: 150,000 | Might: 0]
The numbers danced before Maddy's eyes, making her breath hitch. Her pupils gleamed as she took them in, one after another.
"Oh god… they're beautiful. How do people get scared of spiders? Look at them… so adorable!"
Their traits reflected in her gaze. Spears, shields, venom, sparks of magic all staring back at her. She was too busy admiring them to notice the movement at her feet.
The baby was already crawling toward the swarm. He slipped between attacks, grabbed a spider, and bit down without hesitation. By the time Maddy gasped, he was already chewing.
As the spiders crept closer, her awe finally broke. Something clicked in her head.
"Oh yeah… I got a new power, didn't I? What was it called again? Absol—"
The system answered before she could finish.
[Response: Absolute Light Manipulation]
[You can bend, solidify, and shape light into any form—weapons, armor, or anything your mind can conceive.]
"Anything my mind can conceive… Thank god I took art class. Otherwise I'd just make a glowing stick."
Her eyes flicked to the baby. He was still crawling, still chewing.
"Okay, think… Nothing too destructive. Nothing that could hurt him."
She raised her hand, light gathering at her palm.
"…Something simple. Something safe."
As she hesitated, the baby was already busy. He munched through spiders like it was a game, rolling and dodging their attacks by instinct. Projectiles flew from the dark corners of the cave, and he slipped past them without even looking. Maddy watched, then it clicked.
"This cave is way too dark. If not for those glowing minerals, I'd be blind."
The system chimed in.
[If you are ready to use your Divine Magic, say the name and your action.]
"Okay, fine. Let's do this. This is kinda exciting… my first real magic!"
She took a breath.
"Yeah, the name sucks, but whatever… Absolute Light Manipulation: Daylight!"
Golden marks lit up across her body. A ball of dazzling light formed in her hand, then burst outward. In a single second, the cave flooded with brilliance, as bright as day.
"WOAH! That was clean! I just imagined the whole area lit up, like I always wanted back home, my babies need sunlight!"
Babies was her term for the indigenous species she had captured and cared for in her home.
[System Notice]
[Congratulations! You acquired a skill: Absolute Light Manipulation: Daylight]
[Absolute Light Manipulation: Daylight]
[Generate and release condensed light from your body, flooding the surroundings in radiant brilliance. Can erase darkness, illuminate vast areas as bright as midday, and suppress shadow-based abilities alike. Effect scales with the amount of light condensed and the user's will.]
The spiders lunged at her, but she dodged, testing her movements and trying to get comfortable in her new body.
"Damn it… spending a day as a worm really made me forget how to move like a human."
More spiders rushed in, trying to skewer her with spear like limbs, slash her with blade formed legs, and spit sparks at her from a distance.
"This is going to take too long if I make a sword and cut them down one by one. I need one attack something that sends them straight to the grave."
Maddy thought while dodging, her eyes tracking the weaponized spider limbs. A name clicked into place.
"Right! That's it, perfect! This will do… Absolute Light Manipulation: Radiant Rain!"
She raised both arms and clasped her hands together. A blinding light shot upward, then exploded like fireworks, scattering hundreds of dart-like rays that rained down on the spiders.
"PEW! PEW! PEW! Shoot them!"
One by one, the spiders were pierced point blank. Even the shield spiders' tough hides were punctured in seconds. The golden darts of light hissed through the air, the cave was filled with the sound of sizzling chitin and the frantic skittering of hundreds of legs before everything went deathly quiet.
[System Notice]
[Congratulations! You acquired a skill: Absolute Light Manipulation: Radiant Rain.]
[Absolute Light Manipulation: Radiant Rain]
[Condense and release focused beams of light from your body, scattering them outward like a storm of radiant darts. Can pierce enemies, bypass armor, and overwhelm defenses with pinpoint precision. Effect scales with the intensity of light condensed and the user's control over its trajectory.]
Maddy lowered her glowing hands, her chest heaving as she surveyed the battlefield.
"Did I do that?"
She wasn't even sweating. Smoke curled up from the pile of carcasses, and only then did it sink in how overwhelming the princess' demigod power was.
"She… she really is what I said. A literal god."
A dry swallow followed.
"If I were in my worm form, I'd never kill them all in one skill. Not this fast… Gosh."
Every single spider, from the massive Shield variants to the tiny Spitters and Sparkers, now had that ominous dark red Hellmouth icon pulsing above them. It was a sea of eyes staring up at her, waiting for the command. But before she could finish the job, her eyes darted to the floor, searching for her little trouble maker.
She found him sitting in the middle of a literal pool of green spider ichor, looking like the happiest baby on earth. He was patting his distended tummy, which had grown noticeably rounder since he started his snack. Maddy scooped him up, but as she did, she noticed the air around him felt even heavier than before.
"Wait a second. Appraisal!"
[Before: Magic: 290,000 | Might: 300,500]
[After: Magic: 300,000 | Might: 310,000]
Maddy's jaw hit the floor.
"You grew that much just from eating a few bugs? No wonder that Chief Ogre wanted my kind so badly. You don't need a breast milk; you just need a constant supply of monster limbs!"
The child let out a satisfied gurgle and leaned his head against her shoulder. Maddy smiled, despite the carnage, and turned her attention back to the hundreds of icons waiting for her.
"Alright, let's clean up this mess. I can't let all these delicious traits go to waste. INGEST!"
A massive, shadowy maw tore open in the center of the cavern, acting like a vacuum of darkness. The black and red shadows swept across the floor, dragging the hundreds of spider corpses into the abyss in one giant, synchronized gulp.
CHOMP!
[System Notice:]
[You have ingested multiple objects containing traits.]