For some reason, the vampire kid started calling me "Master" or something.
What is she even saying?
Is she out of her mind?
And even though she's calling me Master, she doesn't sound respectful at all.
She sounds like she's saying it against her will.
If she doesn't want to say it, then don't say it!
Why on earth did she suddenly start calling me Master?
I don't get it at all.
Setting aside that little quirk of the vampire kid, the journey was progressing smoothly.
I wandered around eating local specialties from various places for about three years, and finally reached the edge of human territory.
Over these three years, my specs improved considerably.
Or rather, considering the three-year span, "considerably" is generous — it was a pretty modest amount of growth.
First, I succeeded in developing a perception-inhibiting camouflage spell, an improvement over my previous concealment magic.
It makes others unable to hold any impression of me beyond "white."
By implanting that sense of "whiteness" as the very first thing in their consciousness, it prevents them from registering any other traits.
Even that perception of whiteness is designed to slip right out of their heads.
Thanks to this, I'm no longer subjected to unnecessary staring.
The downside of this spell is that once someone sees through it, the effect vanishes entirely.
Also, it's not a very powerful spell to begin with.
Casual exchanges are fine, but if someone observes me intently for a sustained period, they'll break through it.
So if you end up in a daily face-to-face relationship with someone, the effect stops working altogether.
Well, as long as it works on the random crowds I pass by, that's good enough. It's not what I'd call a fatal flaw.
I'll keep refining it, but the priority has dropped.
Spatial magic has yielded solid results.
I completed the route to Earth, and I even succeeded in manipulating time within the extra-dimensional space where I store my clones.
It seems like I have a natural aptitude for spatial magic.
The aptitudes I inherited from D seem to apply to other types of magic, but this one feels like it's genuinely my own talent.
I plan to prioritize developing this field going forward.
Beyond that, I worked on reproducing the Evil Eye, hijacking the system, redoing the basics following the deity introductory course, and various other things.
Lots of stuff.
The Evil Eye is something I'm pretty proud of.
The Cursed Malice Evil Eye — New Version — is complete.
I kept tinkering with it enthusiastically, and ended up crafting something even more terrifying than the original Skill.
And then, riding that high, I completed several more new Evil Eyes.
The Tenfold Evil Eye of Dreams is just within reach!
Hehehe, my chuunibyou soul is trembling.
So my capabilities have been growing, but here's the thing — my combat power hasn't changed all that much.
Well, it's gone up, I think, but the baseline was already so absurdly high that the increase barely registers. It's within the margin of error, basically.
Hmm.
If I had to put it, it's like a battleship crewman being newly issued a pistol.
Sure, on paper that's an increase in firepower, but when you consider the battleship itself, it's pretty negligible.
That sort of thing.
I'm just adding little tricks on top of an already high-spec foundation.
Well, it can't be helped, I suppose.
Compared to how rapidly I grew within the system, it feels like my pace has slowed way down — but honestly, this is what growth is supposed to look like.
The world of gods isn't kind enough to let you get strong that quickly.
If it were, Kuro would've graduated to Lesser God ages ago.
I'll keep putting in the effort (through my clones), but from here on, I should probably accept that growth will only come slowly.
When you think about it, going from a mere spider to a god is already an outrageous success story. Wanting more than that is just being greedy.
D once told me that my survival was unexpected, but I'm not so sure that's entirely true.
Well, the "unexpected" part is probably genuine — she's not lying about that.
When D implanted Wakahime-iro's memories into me, a fragment of D's soul came along with those memories.
A fragment so small that D herself wouldn't even notice — practically a speck of dust.
But even so, it was a fragment belonging to the highest-ranking god.
My tiny spider soul was so profoundly affected that it was practically overwritten by it.
Honestly, almost none of my memories from my previous life as a spider remain.
I can recall that I was one, sure, and when I see contradictions with Wakahime-iro's memories, I can imagine what it might have been like — but that's about it.
I'm aware that these are false memories, but even so, the memories that define me are overwhelmingly those of Wakahime-iro.
All of this happened because that fragment of D's soul was far too significant.
Upon receiving it, my soul mutated — effectively absorbing the original spider soul — and became what I am today.
At that point, the strength of my soul had increased dramatically.
The reason I pick up Skills so quickly, and the reason my Skill aptitudes are so absurdly high, is entirely because of this.
It would make no sense for Skills created within D's own system to be incompatible with D's soul.
And because my soul had sufficient strength, I was able to wield things like Appraisal and Parallel Will to their full potential.
Oh man — when I heard the Demon King's take on what Appraisal actually does in this world, I was like, "Wait, what?"
"Your head will explode" — what does that mean?
I had no idea that something I'd been using so casually was that dangerous.
Ignorance is truly terrifying.
And apparently, being Appraised makes Monsters feel hostile, which is why they kept attacking me.
Ah ha, so that's why.
That's why I was getting swarmed by Monsters all the time!
I had no idea!
If I'd known, I never would've kept Appraisal running constantly!
So, that was a pretty shocking revelation — but now I can't use Appraisal anyway.
Can't use it, which is its own kind of inconvenient.
It's a Skill entirely derived from the system, and I can't replicate it with anything resembling magic.
These days feel a little lonely, to be honest.