Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons - Chapter 692 - Taming the Fifth Year - Optional Paths
Chapter 692: Chapter 692 – Taming the Fifth Year – Optional Paths
They continued advancing, Ren marking the path and leaving handprints periodically while navigating turns and bifurcations with a weird certainty that shouldn’t be possible for someone visiting this forest for the first time.
Maybe not possible for many in the 10th time, even if mapping it…
They reached the Bronze zone without much problem.
The transition was subtle but perceptible for those who knew what to look for. The silk was slightly thicker here, strands woven with more density and complexity. The tunnels were wider but branched with more frequency, creating a maze-like complexity that would confuse anyone without perfect memory. And the signs of spider activity were more pronounced, fresher webs overlaying older construction in layers that gave away the limits of territory and hunting patterns.
“Weavers in the Bronze rings aren’t giants yet,” Ren continued without anyone asking, falling back into explanatory mode that suggested teacher instincts emerging. “Here they’ll be around as big as an adult man and will belong to the agile weaver variable in this zone.”
“Variables?” Zhao asked from behind, genuinely curious now rather than simply supervising, interest piqued by a classification system he’d never encountered in Yano’s formal education.
“They are all from the same Weaver species root and there are three main types,” Ren marked another section of wall while speaking, multitasking with ease. “Agile ones, which are fast and use paralyzing venom. Constructors, which are larger and slower but with better web and build more elaborate structures. And Stoic ones, which stay in a single hidden place to make ambushes with trapdoor-like traps…”
“…Like how the now-famous Digger Beetle has two options to cultivate, the Greater Excavator or the Living Tunnel, these have three and the correct variable to go further as their tamer is the Agile one. Choosing wrong early like the Greater Excavator often gives a little boost in power to the beast… but limits potential growth later.”
“And how do you know which spider is which?” The girl asked, fascinated despite her nervousness about being surrounded by web in spider territory.
“By the sizes, shapes and web patterns,” Ren pointed to details in the silk around them that became visible once attention was directed properly. “Agile weavers make irregular patterns because they’re always moving. Constructors create perfect geometric webs. Stoics leave minimal traces except around their lair.”
They kept advancing deeper into Bronze territory.
For Ren, even Bronze weavers would continue being only minor obstacles of little difficulty, more annoyance than threat.
Klein was beginning to understand something important, realization dawning gradually.
Perhaps it wasn’t just that Ren was invincible through raw power.
It was that he knew exactly which battles were worth fighting with full force.
And which ones simply required a well-directed breath to resolve without wasted effort or unnecessary risk.
♢♢♢♢
Treetops – Pursuing Group A
Meanwhile, the pursuing groups were having a much harder time.
They’d entered through different tunnels to avoid detection, also trusting they could go straight through by brute force and eventually converge or at least get an idea of where Ren had gone. Simple plan that relied on strength overcoming complexity.
They were wrong.
“Where the hell are we?” one growled, looking around a tunnel that seemed identical to the last five they’d passed through, white silk offering no distinguishing landmarks.
“I don’t know,” his companion admitted, frustration bleeding into his voice. “Everything looks the same. White, web, more white…”
They couldn’t orient themselves well in the labyrinths that seemed designed to confuse rather than facilitate movement. Didn’t know their direction relative to entry or destination. Each turn seemed to take them deeper without actually bringing them closer to any clear destination, progress impossible to measure.
And the weavers…
“Another one!” someone shouted when an Iron rank spider appeared from a side tunnel, mandibles clicking with territorial aggression.
It was weak, yes. Easy to kill for students of their level with Silver 1 beasts support.
But there were many.
Too many.
Each tunnel seemed to have at least two or three defending their claimed space. And while individually they weren’t serious threats, barely scratching Silver-rank defenses…
In groups and on unknown territory where reinforcements could come from any direction…
They became annoying.
Very annoying.
“This is ridiculous,” the leader of one group declared after dispatching his fifth spider in ten minutes, breathing harder than the combat warranted. “We can’t keep going like this. We’re wasting mana on trash while Patinder is probably already reaching wherever he’s going.”
“So what do you suggest?” another asked, wiping hemolymph and other fluids from his arm with disgust. Iron-rank venom wasn’t remotely lethal for a Silver fighter, but it burned, itched, created discomfort that accumulated with each encounter.
The leader looked up, toward where the silk occasionally opened to reveal the tree trunks above, and natural gaps in the construction.
“The canopy,” he said decisively. “We advance through the treetops. Above all this web rubbish.”
There were murmurs of agreement from team members who’d been thinking the same thing but hadn’t wanted to suggest retreat from the first chosen strategy.
The tutor and watcher sighed heavily, exchanging glances that communicated shared resignation.
But it made sense from a certain perspective. Spiders built primarily in the middle and lower forest levels to hide from other beasts and hunt from safe spaces. The canopy would be clearer, easier to navigate, and should be easier without constant combat encounters.
And from above, they could see the terrain better through gaps in foliage. Maybe even spot Ren’s group if they were lucky, track them from aerial vantage point.
They began climbing.
Using their beasts as steps, scaling the silk walls until reaching the upper openings that led to actual tree structure. It cost them some work not getting stuck to certain parts of the web that were fresher and stickier than others, adhesive properties varying unpredictably. But with help from some of their beasts, they managed. Emerging from the white labyrinth into poor sunlight filtered through the canopy like surfacing from underwater, gasping relief.
They had found a lucky tree, even if they didn’t knew… Most trees weren’t empty.
