Origin ARS (Origin A.R.S. Book 2) by Scottie Futch

that they tended to only pop up in areas where there was a high ceiling. His freeze spell would not reach it, but he did have one other that he could try that he knew might do the trick. It had worked before. After narrowly dodging another web-shot he reached a large rock and leapt atop it. Scott immediately jumped once more after reaching the top then loudly shouted, “Burn!”
    A fiery dart of burning magical energy raced out of his palm. The spider tried to avoid the attack, and partially succeeded. However, the burn spell was more than just a tiny little darting flame. A bright explosion of fire and light erupted outward with great force only two feet from its position. The extra height from Scott’s leap had given him just enough range to affect the monster.
    The shadow weaver screeched in panic and fell from the ceiling. It plummeted toward the ground then crashed into the hard-packed earth with a loud *thump!* The noise and light had temporarily stunned it and the hard landing had only deepened that status affliction. Its little spider legs wiggled in the air in a spastic and uncontrolled manner.
    Scott immediately hurled another fiery ball of destruction in its direction. The attack hit with another explosion of light and sound that rocked the area. The badly injured spider curled up like an angry fist, but that would not save it. The third burn spell set it on fire after doing over thirty points of damage. It did not take much longer after that for the annoying monster to turn into motes of light.
    “Man, I hate those damned things. I waste so much mana on them.” Scott continued to grumble for a brief few seconds. He would not make the mistake of trying to fight the spiders in this mine at melee range again. He could hurt them, and they could hurt him. However, they were also venomous. The poison was mild and it wore off quickly, but he only had three of Rhea’s herbal tonics to use in an emergency.
    The music took a little longer than normal to change back to its standard mine exploration track, but the result was the same.
     
    <<< * >>>
     
    Victory!!
     
    You have defeated a shadow weaver!
     
    +84 EXP
    +28 Fayth
    +1 Ability Points
     
    Item(s) Acquired:
     
    Spider Web X 3
    Spider Leg s X 2
     
    <<< * >>>
     
    “Not bad.” The only good thing about the annoying monster was that it did not swarm. Usually there would only be one or two in an area. If there had been more of them in the area than that working the mine even with Rhea’s help would not have been a good idea.
    Scott moved on. There would probably be no more monster spawns in this part of the mine due to the presence of that creature. The spawning system was a strange combination of random battles and natural habitat considerations that made little sense, but somehow worked. He had not fully comprehended all of the subtle nuisances of the system, but he learned a little more each day.
    Once he had escaped the spider’s lair, the web effect ended. It never lasted long, anyway. Luckily he had been hit in the chest with the sticky attack. His movement speed had not been slowed enough to matter. During a hunting trip with Rhea, he had been unfortunate enough to have a web-shot trap one of his arms against his side for a while. That had been a major cause for concern at the time since it effectively cut his attack options in half and threw off his balance.
    The sorcerer walked boldly through the mine while he searched for prey. Hiding and stalking prey was either not possible or required skills that he did not possess. Either way, if he wanted to fight he had to be seen by the randomly attacking monsters. It was annoying at times, as he would never know if a monster was nearby. They managed to get the drop on him most of the time and he was forced to fight battles that he might have avoided otherwise.
    It did not take long before he was faced with a new opportunity. A loud cry from the darkness alerted him to the presence of his next opponents. Four