Chapter 96 - Chapter 96: Chapter 91: Promotion to a Two-Star Appraiser_i (1/2)
Chapter 96: Chapter 91: Promotion to a Two-Star Appraiser_i
Translator: 549690339 |
The spider looked vibrant, adorned with lustrous stripes on both its back and abdomen, exceedingly beautiful.
On its head, there were four false eyes, shiny black round spots, in declining
sizes arranged in a row.
It wasn’t large in size, appearing to be about three centimeters in body length. Spiders are infamous for their eight legs, which are generally quite long and arranged on the sides, causing their total body width to exceed their body length.
Qin Niu flipped it over to check, and its abdomen’s coloration was even more
dazzling and lovely.
The thickness of its eight legs was moderate, but they were quite long.
Even when bent, they still towered significantly above the body’s plane.
The fangs, after so many years, were still lustrously black, as sharp and fine as
a snake’s.
Its mouthparts weren’t well developed, or one could even say they were rather inferior.
Luckily, his Insect Identification skill had reached a level of minor achievement; otherwise, his identification of this spider would have been very superficial.
After completing its identification, Qin Niu began to write.
Arachnid class, Salticidae family, Peacock Spider genus, female, lifespan approximately 40 years, at the time of death about 27 years old. Remarkable jumping ability, highly agile, moderate endurance, intense toxicity, with fangs capable of piercing ordinary thin armor.
Its spider silk’s adhesive strength was relatively weak, as was its tensile strength.
The body’s defense was feeble, yet the head was hard, possessing the defense capabilities of an ordinary beetle.
Its special ability was an illusion-inducing skill, which leveraged the body’s colors to dazzle and enchant enemies upon sight, achieving a mesmerizing effect.
After writing, Qin Niu still felt somewhat unsatisfied.
Holding the specimen of the spider, he took another careful look, and this time
made a new discovery.
At the position near its spinnerets, close to the silk-producing holes, there was
a gland opening.
Definitely, the excretion hole would not be there.
What was this gland opening for?
After careful examination, he made an even greater discovery.
He saw a series of fines curved engravings, forming an umbrella shape wrapping around its center. It seemed to use the spider as a core, from which multiple curved engravings radiated.
Any insect that bore such engravings would possess a somewhat powerful special ability.
Illusion was its inherent special talent.
Male spiders could even display their hindquarters like a peacocks tail feathers.
Staring at the dark engravings around its gland opening for a while, Qin Niu felt as if he could be sucked in. It resembled an invisible vortex.
Generally, gland openings excrete special substances.
For instance, wax glands in insects secrete wax.
Scent glands emit an unpleasant chemical odor.
If this opening was neither for wax nor scent, what could it be?
Could it be the ‘Demon Eye’?
The more he thought about it, the more it seemed to be the case.
When encountering powerful enemies, it might deliberately display its lower abdomen, or lift it up, targeting the enemy. When this gland constricted, it formed a kind of special magical power.
It was somewhat similar to the Mental Attack abilities of Puppet Ants and
Ghost Ants.
Simply by looking at the varying lengths of those dark engravings, none longer than roughly a centimeter, it indicated that their evolution was not yet fully successful.
Qin Niu added another note to its special abilities: a gland opening near the base of the lower abdomen, capable of producing a kind of mental attack, causing an illusion to the enemy, which, stacked with its innate illusion skill, created a stronger mesmerizing effect.
However, this ability was still evolving and incomplete. As such, the gland’s illusion power was weaker, with a shorter effective range and less potent effect.
He also added a note next to the species name, suggesting it could be Magic
Peacock Spider.
Due to his limited knowledge of spiders, he could only identify it down to genus, not species.
This phenomenon was extremely common in insect identification.
Even just within Peacock Spiders, there were at least two hundred varieties.
Insect Masters breed new varieties each year, and the number keeps increasing.
No insect Master could identify every single variety of Peacock Spider with clarity. A lesser skilled appraiser who could identify it down to the family was considered alright, while a more skilled one could discern the genus.
Qin Niu identified it down to species.
This showcased an exceptionally high level of expertise.
“Very good! Your knowledge on spider identification is evidently weak, but in the end you are able to identify with such detail, which indicates that you already possess the ability of a two-star Appraiser. Furthermore, your talent in this area is exceptional, and I recommend that you develop in this direction, to become a great insect identification expert. I dare say, in less than five years, your level could very well surpass mine.
Master Hu’s gaze softened tremendously as he looked at Qin Niu, filled with affection.
This was the affection of discovering a top-tier insect identification talent.
“Thank you for your praise. When I have time, I will strengthen my studies in this area and strive to improve my insect identification skills.”
Qin Niu didn’t truly feel that he had a particularly strong talent.