Apparently honesty, of a sort, had been the best policy. Sometime in the next week, Grey would be receiving a call, then a visit from someone at the Pentagon; and in the meantime, staff was actively hunting for and recruiting necromancers and others for the group.

  There was no official name as of yet; but apparently they were naming most of the groups the Bureau of whatever; and already had them for Elementalists and Healers, with every other class category getting its own Bureau, under an over-arching ‘Department of Magic’.

  So… he would probably be the head of a ‘Bureau of Necromancy’ and have at least a dozen necromancers, among others, working for him.

  He could see a variety of ways that he could use a position to forward his objective; so long as he wasn’t observed at all times. He could likely convince them to construct all sorts of traps and weapons for use against a hypothetical enemy necromancer or undead…. And then use them against Nightfire.

  Obviously he couldn’t specifically tailor them against the fire mage. But…. there were possibilities.

  For now, however… he sat against his truck, considering options. It had been a long, irritating day. He didn’t feel as tired as he should, probably because of the Stamina, but knew he’d still need to get to sleep at some point… and if he were going to work with the Pentagon, he should do something with the spiders. Both to get them some food, and to avoid some soldiers coming by to visit and asking odd questions regarding them.

  On the one hand, he was going to acquire some human minions. He could just use a blend of acid and poison, and wipe out the whole nest, get himself a bit more progress towards level 10. On the other…. It could definitely be useful to have minions not associated with the government.

  For now… they should have enough food. It might be best to relocate them outside the city in the truck, get them safely out of government overwatch… but how to prevent some random band from killing them?

  He’d figure that out after he got home.

  ***

  It was well past the time he’d normally get to sleep when he arrived home. And what he saw.. Was simultaneously disturbing and promising. There were letters and words carved into the walls all over the place; papers with various words and letters in some sort of black fluid that wasn’t quite ink; and the mother spider seemed to have reached level 2, and about two and a half feet across; and was currently sitting on the couch, going over writing with the other spiders; which themselves were all roughly a foot across.

  There… seemed to be less of them?

  He watched them for a minute, shutting the door behind him; and the mother looked at him… and made a bit of a chittering sound, before patting two of the smaller ones on the head, and hopping directly to his feet in a ten-foot jump.

  She lifted up a piece of paper. ~Home too small. Need bigger place. More room. Creatures to eat.~ was written on it in fairly precise words, clearly done with a pen rather than whatever fluid the others used.

  He gave a slow nod. “Try not to be spotted by the neighbors, but look at my truck outside. Between the cab and the back, see if you think all of your kids could fit.”

  He brought up the guide the Chosen had created on the tablet.. Was there an entry for ‘Sentient Animals’ in there?

  It took only a few seconds of searching, as the mother spider quietly slipped out the door to study the truck, to find the right entry.

  Huh. So this was a known phenomenon, with the only surprise being that it was jumping spiders rather than dogs.

  So…. if he found some abandoned property and set them up, they could make signs, build houses, hunt nearby monsters for food, gain levels….

  But what would stop some group like Sledge’s from killing them? They might not even realize sentient spiders might be a thing.

  If he notified the police, or the Chosen the idea of using the spiders collectively as an asset against Nightfire in the future would largely vanish; the government would step in, and likely help cultivate them for use in killing monsters, and Nightfire herself would likely work with them regularly. If he didn’t, unless he picked a particularly good hiding spot, they would inevitably be discovered.

  He stared at the spiders… the Government probably didn’t trust the Chosen. If he presented the spiders as a possible anti-Chosen asset, without telling the Chosen, then his new organization could work on their development, while not notifying Nightfire.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  So…

  He needed to find a good-sized abandoned ranch or farmhouse, something overrun by monsters. He could help the spiders claim it, and then pretend as if he discovered them, later.

  He could even start setting that ranch up as the ambush point for when he inevitably killed Nightfire and Golden Boy.

  This… might be workable. First, though, he needed to find a good place to set them up.

  By the time he’d worked through ideas, mentally, the mother spider had returned, chittered… and started writing, directly on his wall.

  ~Enough room yes. Where going?~

  “We need to find you and yours a new home, you won’t fit in here for long. And… you need to take steps to look smart, to avoid humans thinking you’re monsters. Tools and clothes would be the best options, if you can manage them. Building yourself a home. Signs.”

  He glanced around. “If you could ask the kids to help clean-up… and take anything they want to bring with them and load up in the truck after. I think I know a few good places.”

  ***

  When last he’d been by this ranch, it was abandoned; there was a bit of blood, dried, and there was a certain level of concern that someone else might be coming to claim it… but sure enough, while there was a light that had been left on since, most likely, the day this whole System thing had started, there were no living people; and likely wouldn’t be for some time.

  As he stepped out of the truck, heading up, the mother spider, and a few dozen of her babies, hopped out; and started to investigate, looking around, checking the place out; even as he headed up to the door.

  Still locked, and bolted… while the window was broken in. He hadn’t looked closely when he drove by it on the highway; had in fact passed dozens of similar ranches.

  Grey lifted the shotgun, using the barrel more like a club as he scraped shards of broken glass away from the frame, half crawling half stepping inside… and looking around the dark insides of the place. The power still worked.

  He should make sure there wasn’t a survivor hiding away in the ranch… and if so, handle them. Or let the spiders, so he could still be honest about things in the future.

  He could hear the chittering as some of the spiders followed him inside, as he started down the hallway… following the vile smell of death until he reached… a bedroom.

  Two bodies; not much left of them. A handgun beside the bed. Had this been monsters, or a murder… or suicide? They’d been eaten, but that might not be what killed them…

  He checked the pistol…. Un-upgraded. Common. Perfectly normal. Didn’t necessarily mean anything; whatever killed the man might simply have been…. Huh. He couldn’t loot him.

  That… was more telling. These bodies had been here before the System. Everything that had died since, animal, human, whatever, he could loot. As far as the system was concerned… these were just objects.

  He flicked the lights on, and looked around for a moment, before turning to the mother spider.

  “Make this place your own. Right now, food is going to be plentiful out there; you and your kids can go out and gather a whole mess of monsters and giant bugs and bring back the meat. Soon enough, that’s going to be difficult. I’ll help if possible; But you’ll need a way to get a steady food supply, and from what I recall, your people can’t survive on just fruits and vegetables.”

  He looked out the window into the darkness, at the lights of El Paso. “If you try to eat humans, they’re going to come here with fire and poison, and wipe you all out. You need to secure a food-source. Something long-term. Until then…” He raised a limb… and the mother returned, chittering.

  He could hear the TV turning on in another room… and the channels flipping. They were already looking for the educational channels again.

  “I’ll be back. Just…. Make sure to have your kids carry a sign they’re smart, not just animals. Clothes. Signs. Tools. Weapons. Otherwise… it’ll be over.”

  He turned, heading back to the truck; unlocking and opening the door, this time.

  It was possible he’d just helped a hostile species of spider gain enough awareness to start taking over the world. It was also possible that a grateful race of spiders would be useful in killing Nightfire someday; or even, in the unlikely event they came to dominate the world, they’d kill Nightfire without his intervention.

  Net positive, overall.

  ***

  When he awoke the next morning, Grey was miserable; he’d barely managed to get to sleep the night before. A bit of coffee helped him understand the immediately illegible notices on his tablet; both from Colonel Parsons, and from Sledge.

  From Parsons, an invite to head up to DC in two days for both a meeting with the other departments; and then a trip out on a helicopter to help him get a few levels

  From Sledge, a notice that the Fire-Ant Chitin armor was done, and they had a few new spots to hit today, if he had time.

  He checked the tablet for just what Sledge was talking about; as clearly, the meeting with Parsons wasn’t an immediate priority….

  A map came up. A suggested path through the desert, over a mile from any highway… showing another ant nest. A giant lizard nest. And… an unknown. Apparently something had happened; some mass-killing or other traumatic event, or even a deliberate summon; and something from another world had appeared in a valley. Whatever it was, it was less than level 15, so Sledge felt they could handle it.

  He tapped a few keys on the tablet to bring up the guide once again, to see if there were any details.

  So. If it was genuinely from another world, this would be the first truly alien life he’d encountered since this began. Its abilities, traits, capabilities, all complete unknowns.

  Definitely worth investigating.