Chapter 89: Eight-Armed Spider Spear

In the dimly lit basement, Roy pulled out the alchemical prosthetic he snagged from the black market.

It was a spider arm that, when folded up, looked pretty low-key but could stretch out to almost twenty-six feet.

Under the flickering gaslight, the eight spider arms had this dark, metallic shine. If you looked closer, each arm was covered in these crazy intricate runes.

The reason you needed a "master blacksmith" to make this thing was all about those runes. Carving that many runes on such skinny spider legs was way beyond what your average Joe could handle.

Even though Roy's alchemy skills were nowhere near master level, he wasn't clueless.

He could tell that the spider legs had not just single-layer runes but also some seriously complex, overlapping rune techniques.

It was like drawing a bunch of different patterns on the same piece of paper, each one staying separate and complete without messing up the others. That took some mad rune engraving skills.

Roy was stoked with how this prosthetic looked. The color was subtle and solid, perfect for all sorts of professional needs.

With the All-Seeing Eye's ID, he wasn't sweating any hidden traps Nikola J. might've left in the prosthetic.

After checking it out, the prosthetic was just like the blueprints said, and even had some extra perks thanks to the special materials used.

[Eight-Armed Spider Spear]

Details: Tier 1 dark gold quality alchemical prosthetic, needs high skill to use; containment rating A+ or above, Tier 1 dark energy value of 1350 points, distortion rate less than 8%; after fusion, overall body toughness +25, elemental resistance +20, agility +12, poison resistance +50%.

Alchemy's an old-school gig.

Alchemists dig into nature's secrets and hunt for the ultimate truth of the material world, but they don't really work on their own physical training.

Back in the day, alchemists figured out that their weak bodies were holding back their alchemy research and making them easy targets in a fight.

Some combat-focused alchemists thought about grafting special biological parts onto themselves to boost their stats.

But just slapping on new parts caused the body to freak out and reject the foreign stuff.

Then, in some ancient era, this mysterious and super powerful high-level alchemist, Nicholas Flamel, came up with a trick. He used space laws and equivalent exchange to create a special prosthetic fusion method that "fooled" the body into not rejecting the prosthetic.

This method let the external prosthetic chill on the host's body as a "spatial imprint." It stayed sealed most of the time and could be unsealed and powered up by dark energy when needed.

After generations of alchemists tweaked it, this evolved into the current "cursed prosthetic" system.

Modern "new school alchemists" are even crazier. They're not just cool with biological limbs anymore; they wanna swap out parts or even all their limbs with mechanical ones.

After downing the [Distortion Tolerance Enhancement Potion], Roy saw that his fusion success rate hit 97%.

Without a second thought, he laid out the materials he had prepped on the basement floor into a pentagram alchemical array. Just like when he first started this gig, he chanted the usual alchemist incantation and got the array going.

"By the law of equivalent exchange of all things, praise the glory of the primordial creator, and witness the miracle of creation through alchemy."

As the pentagram lit up, a wild "chemical reaction" kicked off. The eight-armed spider spear prosthetic started to dissolve in the array's light and slowly merged into Roy's body.

Before long, the array's light faded, and the prosthetic was perfectly fused with Roy.

Roy felt this super comfy sensation, like soaking in warm water. Checking out his attribute panel, he saw a big boost in toughness and resistance.

This meant he could take more hits.

For example, if a gunshot used to leave a fist-sized hole in his skin, now it would be way smaller, upping his survival chances.

With the prosthetic successfully fused, Roy was now a legit Tier 1 professional.

He thought for a sec, formed seals with his hands, and made eight different alchemist hand seals.

The essence of the "alchemist seal" is to guide the dark energy inside the body to flow in a special way, quickly forming an alchemical array to unseal the "spatial imprint" of the prosthetic.

Each alchemist seal represents a specific dark energy flow path.

Different prosthetic seal combos also vary, based on the four elemental attributes: earth, wind, water, and fire. Roy's eight-armed spider spear was all about the "metal attribute" derived from the earth element, needing eight seals to set up the "Five-Pointed Golden Array."

Thanks to snagging the soul of Black Tower Academy's assistant instructor Rosa, Roy had picked up the [Quick Seal] skill. Even though it was his first time forming seals, it felt weirdly familiar. He nailed the eight seals smoothly, and the dark energy inside him surged like crazy.

The seals were done in a flash. In less than two seconds, the pentagram array under Roy's feet lit up.

As the light faded, eight gnarly dark gold spider arms popped out from Roy's back.

"So this is what having a prosthetic feels like."

Roy felt a strange sensation. Eight spider spears sprouted from his spine, and even the skin on his back felt tougher.

The eight extra spider spears didn't feel like some external gear but like eight new arms he could control at will.

With his multitasking skills, Roy quickly got the hang of it. He controlled the spider arms, cautiously testing them by climbing the wall.

The spider legs had tons of sharp bristles and barbs, making it a breeze to grip the wall and climb up.

Since he had previously taken down the Spider Queen in the underground and snagged the [Intermediate Spider Climb] skill, using the spider arms to climb felt totally natural. Once he got the hang of it, Roy became more agile. The eight legs alternated in gripping the wall, and his speed shot up. In no time, he had climbed to the ceiling and was hanging upside down.

"So fast!"

Roy's face lit up with joy.

He tried it out a bit and was blown away by his speed.

With eight legs, he was at least several times faster and way more agile than with just his two legs.

He tested it briefly and found that his straight-line running speed was about one to two times faster, but his ability to change direction was off the charts. The eight spider legs could move without worrying about obstacles, stop on a dime, leap, cross barriers, and climb walls, giving him a massive edge over just two legs. His obstacle navigation skills had skyrocketed!

And with more practice, he could get even faster.

If he had had this spider prosthetic when he was in the underground, he wouldn't have been chased by monsters.

Even if he couldn't win a fight, he could outrun those mutated freaks.

Roy could already picture a killer tactic for this spider leg prosthetic: the "kite strategy"!

Fight while running, fight while chasing.

With Roy's long-range shooting skills and this new three-dimensional movement, his combat power was about to skyrocket.

Whether he was out in the wild or in the city, this was a game-changer for both survival and chasing down targets.

Plus, the spider spears weren't just for getting around; they packed a serious punch.

The eight spider spears had retractable "poisonous spikes."

These spikes, decked out with [Armor-Piercing Runes] and [Sturdy Runes], could slice through iron plates like butter.

Roy jumped down from the ceiling, the eight spider arms spreading out to cushion the fall, letting him land smoothly without a hitch.

Right then, he controlled one of the spider spears to stab at an old steam pipe nearby. The spear went through it like it was soft mud.

"Damn, that's some serious piercing power."

Roy stared at the cold, gleaming spike on the spider spear, his eyes wide with amazement.

Even though his shooting was top-notch, his close combat skills weren't anything to write home about. Now, with this spider prosthetic, his close combat game was on a whole new level.

An enemy with just two arms didn't stand a chance against him with ten, especially since his arms had a reach of thirteen feet. Eight spears striking at once could turn someone into Swiss cheese in no time.

At that moment, Roy pulled out the puppet controlled by steel wires.

Even though the spider arms didn't have fingers, he now had eight extra limbs. The hardened bristles and barbs on the spider spears were perfect for controlling spider silk, making them smooth and flexible, almost like fingers.

Now, when controlling the steel wires, one spider arm could handle multiple wires, and several spider arms working together could control even more.

This let Roy control two puppets at the same time while keeping his hands free to hold guns.

"Now my hands are totally free. In a real fight, I can control the puppets while forming seals and casting spells."

The more Roy tried, the more pumped he got. He wanted to push his limits, so he kept adding more steel wires.

But soon, he found himself in a hilarious mess.

After controlling four puppets, the steel wires filled the room in a chaotic tangle, almost tying him up.

Roy's first attempt at multitasking with eight arms was a bit of a disaster, and he was clearly overwhelmed.

Still, Roy was super satisfied.

After all, the [Multitasking] skill could get better with practice.

He was absolutely thrilled with the Eight-Armed Spider Spear prosthetic.