Deities: Rulers of Nature

Beneath the statue of the god of poison and spiders lies a vast, dark space.

This is the ancestral home of the Snowdrop Spider Clan, the final resting place of the Great Mistresses and their consorts throughout history.

A strange smell permeated the air, and every so often on the stone wall, there was a ball of light made of the remains of fireflies, emitting a soft white light that illuminated the huge stone coffins carved with ornate patterns.

Directly below the statue, and in the very center of the ancestral land, there is a clean room built from a single piece of white crystal.

According to clan rules, only those who have reached the Bronze Rank are qualified to have their remains buried here after death. The Clean Room is the exclusive space where the successive Great Mistresses and their candidates retreat, meditate, and feel the echoes of the gods.

Now, this clean room is occupied by Kester.

Through the white crystal wall, a hazy figure can be seen perched in the center of the clean room.

Upon closer inspection, one discovers that his upper body is that of an extremely strong human male, with muscles so muscular they are almost exaggerated, and skin with an unhealthy pallor. From the waist down, a massive and grotesque spider body is attached.

Unlike Carlos, Kadia, and others, whose spiders have distinctive snow-white downy hairs, Kester's spider body and eight legs are covered with jet-black carapaces that gleam with a cold metallic sheen under the light refracted by the white crystal.

Everyone in the clan believed that Kester was a bloodline atavism, a rare occurrence that happens only once every ten million years. Kester had always claimed this, but only he knew that there was no such thing as bloodline atavism. The reason he was the way he was now was because of bloodline mutation.

The bloodline of the Snowy Spiderman accounts for about 90% of his body, while the remaining 10% is a bloodline called the Bloodthirsty Spider. The Bloodthirsty Spider bloodline gives Kester the ability to devour the blood of his own kind to purify and strengthen his own bloodline.

Kester's background was not good. The Snow Spider people revered women and considered whiteness to be beautiful, but Kester was born a male with a black spider body. In addition, his extraordinary talent was not outstanding. Before adulthood, Kester could only do dirty and hard work to support himself.

Although the Spider-Men his age didn't ostracize him, Caster felt he couldn't fit into their circle, and he became increasingly withdrawn.

The turning point came when he first went to clean up the carcasses brought back by the hunting party.

It was the corpse of a fellow creature torn in two by a wild beast. When Kester was carrying it, his spider legs came into contact with the flowing blood. At that moment, the instincts dormant within him were awakened, and tiny holes opened on his legs, instantly absorbing the blood into his body.

Kester did indeed feel a warm current flowing through his body, and even his weak body seemed to have become stronger.

Later, Kester discovered that it wasn't an illusion; he could indeed become stronger by absorbing the blood of his own kind.

From that day on, Kester discovered a shortcut that was uniquely his own.

The Dark Caverns have never been a peaceful place. They are home to many powerful wild beasts, and the harsh environment means that Spider-Men almost always lose their lives whenever they venture out.

Kester would take the initiative to move the bodies of his kin who died in battle or in accidents, and bury the bodies that had been partially drained of blood.

Kester knew very well that if the First Mistress or the Mistress found out what he had done, he was doomed.

However, the Bloodthirsty Spider's bloodline was indeed very powerful. In less than two years, he condensed a transcendent seed and entered the Black Iron Rank, and his level was still rapidly increasing.

This abnormal growth rate is not noticeable yet, because there are quite a few male Spider-Men at the Iron Rank. But if this continues, it won't be long before he breaks through to the Bronze Rank, which would be abnormal.

Driven by fear, Kester decided to take the initiative and fight for his own survival.

One day, he took the initiative to find the former matriarch and told her a carefully crafted lie: that his bloodline had reverted to its ancestral form.

After a series of tests, it was found that the purity of his bloodline was indeed far higher than that of the Snowy Spider-Man, so this lie became irrefutable proof of his rapid growth in strength.

All of this is thanks to the Bloodthirsty Spider's bloodline ability, which allowed Kester to passively purify his bloodline concentration when absorbing the blood of his own kind.

From that day on, Kester became a genius in the clan. His breakthrough to the Bronze Rank and even the Steel Rank did not arouse any suspicion. He received the clan's resources and was highly regarded.

During this time, under the arrangement of the Great Mistress, he had relations with many female spider-people in the tribe, obviously hoping that he could leave behind some offspring with the same bloodline of ancestor. Indeed, children with his bloodline were born, but none of them inherited the bloodline of the Bloodthirsty Spider.

As time passed, the previous Grand Mistress died, and Caroline succeeded her as Grand Mistress. Kester personally sent the sarcophagus of the previous Grand Mistress into the ancestral land and successfully broke through to the Silver rank with the help of her blood.

If nothing unexpected happens, Carlos will become Kester's future wife. One is the uncrowned king, and the other is the Great Mistress. Together, they will lead the Snow Spiders to regain their former glory, even though Carlos does not like Kester.

But a lie is still a lie. As a mid-level race, the blood of the Snow Spider-Man has gradually lost its effect on Kester, and the bottleneck of the Silver Rank has been holding him back for a long time.

Kester has two options: one is to slowly absorb the blood of the deceased Bronze-rank Spider-Man, and the other is to use a large amount of ordinary Spider-Man's blood to help him break through the bottleneck.

Given Kester's current strength, it doesn't really matter which path he chooses; his people are no match for him. However, Kester also understands the principle of not draining the pond to catch all the fish. If the Snowdrop Spider-Man bloodline is severed, his shortcut to growth will be gone.

"Crack... hiss... sizzle..."

A harsh screeching sound filled the cleanroom as Kester's enormous spider body paced restlessly, and the human faces appeared distorted with suppressed emotions.

"So close...it's always so close!" A deep, muffled growl escaped his throat, his dark pupils bloodshot. "This bottleneck is really getting to me!"

If you look further away, you'll find that the originally solemn tomb chamber appears somewhat messy.

The Snow Spiders were once an extraordinary race. Although their bloodline has degenerated, some of their skills have been passed down, including the stone coffins used to bury them in their ancestral land.

The function of this stone coffin is neither too great nor too small; the corpse placed inside can remain incorrupt for thousands of years.

However, what was originally a tribute to the Bronze-ranked Snowdrop Spider-Man became Kester's most perfect and secret blood bank, because no one would dare to offend the rest of their ancestors, not even the Great Matriarch would open the sarcophagus.

During this seclusion, Kester absorbed all the blood he could, turning the corpses in the stone coffins into dried-up corpses—an act of extreme desecration.

Unfortunately, even so, Kester still failed to break through to the Gold rank, and his patience was running out.