The silence after the queen's final, shuddering spasm was even deeper than before. It wasn't the silence of an ambush, but the silence of death. The basement, which had been a stage for a frantic battle for survival, was now a tomb.
The air, still thick with the acrid stench of venom and the coppery smell of hemolymph, felt heavy and still.
Aryan stood panting in the center of the chamber, the soft light from his fingertip casting a lone, wavering glow. Every muscle in his body screamed in protest. His Qi reserve was a barren wasteland, scoured clean by the desperate invention of his final attack. The two fingers on his right hand throbbed with a deep, bone-aching pain, feeling fragile and hollow.
He was exhausted, but he was alive.
As he took a weary breath, the familiar blue panels of the System flickered into existence before him, their calm light a stark contrast to the surrounding carnage.
[Congratulations, Host! You have successfully defeated a creature far exceeding your current cultivation level.]
[Threat Analysis: Shadow Weaver Queen (Peak 4th Layer Qi Condensation Realm). Combat effectiveness rated at 5th Layer Qi Condensation Realm due to environmental control and venom potency.]
[Calculating rewards based on threat disparity and combat performance...]
Aryan's eyes widened slightly. The queen had been even stronger than he'd estimated. He had fought and killed a beast two full layers above him.
[Reward Issued: 1,200 SP.]
[New Technique "Void Piercer" has been analyzed and recorded.]
[Technique Analysis: Void Piercer (Self-Created, Grade-Unassigned)... Warning: Current technique is inefficient, resulting in significant backlash. It is recommended to purchase a foundational 'Finger Technique' manual from the Store to refine Qi pathways and mitigate physical damage. Cost: 300 SP.]
His SP balance, which had been a meager 70, shot up to 1,270. The reward was immense, far more than he had expected. It was a clear message from the System: high risk yielded high reward.
The analysis of his self-created technique was both a validation and a stark warning. He had a new trump card, but it was one that could cripple him if used carelessly.
He ignored the panicked drones for the moment. Their psychic link with the queen was severed, leaving them in a state of confused chaos. They were a problem to be solved later. His priority was the source of the infestation, the queen's nest.
Wincing from the pain in his muscles, he walked toward the dark alcove from which the queen had emerged. The webs here were thicker, almost a solid wall, but now they were dry and brittle with their creator dead. He pushed through them easily, the strands crumbling to dust.
The alcove was a small, cavern-like space, and the source of the colony's long life was immediately apparent. In the center of the nest, embedded in the stone floor, was a chunk of rock that seemed to drink the light from his fingertip. It was a crystalline, faintly glowing mineral about the size of a human head.
As he drew closer, he could feel it, a subtle thrum against his senses, a vibration of pure, dense energy that made the spirit stones his father had given him feel like dead pebbles.
The Qi emanating from it was so pure it felt ancient, almost sacred. This was the rock that had nourished the queen, allowing her to grow so large and powerful, and which had sustained the entire colony for decades.
But that wasn't the only treasure. In a hollow at the base of the glowing rock, nestled in a bed of the softest, silver-like silk, was a clutch of eggs. There were about two dozen of them, each the size of a quail's egg. They were pearlescent, milky-white, the same color as the queen's potent venom. He could feel a faint, dormant life force pulsing within them.
And next to the eggs, placed almost as if it had been set there deliberately, was a small, tough, leathery sac. It was translucent, and he could see the thick, iridescent venom sloshing inside. The queen's primary venom sac, perfectly preserved.
Aryan's mind worked quickly. He didn't know what the glowing rock was, but the System's implicit evaluation of the queen told him it was immensely valuable. The venom sac was a source of potent poison, a weapon or an ingredient for alchemy. The eggs were a potential future threat, but also a potential resource.