The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Planet Eleron)

(Zrudread University Main Campus- Private Training Centre)

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Three arrows shot towards a target over four hundred metres away.

Each arrow moved fast almost like a blur, and they accurately landed one after the other in the center of the target.

Sophie gently lowered the bow in her right hand and let out a heavy sigh.

She nocked another arrow using the string on the bow and aimed it at a target six hundred metres away.

Swish!

She released the tensed-up string and the arrow shot forward. This time it landed just outside the outer edge of the centre.

Slow but steady progress.

Thanks to her relatively high cultivation level, Sophie had excellent hand-eye coordination and only lacked familiarity with her new weapon.

"Moon… why is life so difficult?" Sophie asked her frostwing bat who was currently lying down in the shade of a nearby tree.

Squeak! Squeak!

(Tell me about it… I just want to go back home and relax…)

Sophie rolled her eyes at her lazy pet's antics and then returned to her task of shooting arrows at the different targets until her accuracy improved.

"I just don't understand how trouble seems to find me wherever I go… the hunter goddess said that I would have no more tasks until the void stage and then…" Sophie's voice trailed off.

"And then suddenly I have some new quest to go and sacrifice the body of the strongest enemy that I encounter in the sewers beneath a far away planet!"

"With only one month to complete the task!"

The hybrid girl felt a surge of annoyance in her heart, and she took her anger out on the poor motionless targets in the distance.

Thud! Thud!

Moon flapped his wings a few times and shot his mistress a sympathetic look. He got up from the ground and flew towards her.

Sophie's lips gently curved upwards and her mood felt a bit better as her pet landed on her head and began to play with her hair.

"Thanks Moon… but you still need to do some training today," Sophie laughed mischievously as she raised up her hand and tickled the underside of Moon's stomach.

Her frostwing bat trembled since he was very ticklish. He quickly flew out of Sophie's playful grasp and let out a shrill cry of complaint.

"No mister! If I have to train then you have to train as well," Sophie immediately addressed Moon's excuse.

The frostwing bat let out a weary sigh as he flew towards the other side of the field and activated his frozen domain ability.

,m The temperature immediately plummeted, and frost could be seen forming on the ground near Moon's surroundings.

Despite his lazy attitude, Moon was quite impressive and displayed abilities much stronger than a typical frostwing bat of his age.

He flapped his wings several times and several sharp icicles formed in the air around his body.

Moon concentrated and the icicles shot forward towards a humanoid target in front of him.

The target never stood a chance.

The icicles penetrated  its outer surface and frost began to spread from where the newly created holes were in its body.

Sophie whistled appreciatively as she gave her pet a few claps of encouragement. Moon raised up his head proudly and shook his furry tail from side to side.

The hybrid girl smiled and then walked over to a nearby bench to sit down. After a few hours of non-stop training, it was time to take a break.

Four days had passed since her first training session with Professor Macabre and tomorrow she would be learning new poison techniques to combine with her bow skills.

It would interesting…

Sophie enjoyed poison cultivation quite a lot since compared to the other types since she had a real talent for it.

Plus, it helped that her body was capable of naturally synthesizing extremely potent venom from the toxins that she ingested.

Honestly aside from the unexpected request from the hunter goddess… things were generally looking pretty optimistic.

The inter university tournament would begin sometime in October and Sophie was quietly confident about her chances of becoming number one.

She powered on her wrist communicator and checked the details about the one-star request for what must have been the seventh time today.

The missing pet was located in the sewers beneath the capital city of a planet called Rn'rn.

Planet Rn'rn was to put it nicely a relatively underdeveloped planet where poverty and crime flourished in equal abundance.

It was located around five days away from Planet Eleron so if all went well, she would be back in the university around eleven or so days after setting off.

And she only had a month.

Sophie sighed heavily as she read the request again. There was one detail about the request that made no sense.

The client had not put a description of his so-called 'missing pet' anywhere on the sheet of paper where it was written down.

Sophie had sent out a message to a representative of the Black Rose Hunter's guild but had not received a reply yet.

How was she supposed to look for someone's pet if the owner did not provide a physical description of the animal or even a name?

The hybrid girl leaned against the back of the bench and felt the warm rays of sunlight brush against her face.

There were two other people in the training center, but they were practice sparring in the far corner of the open field, so Sophie enjoyed a relative peacefulness in her area.

Buzz! Buzz!

Her wrist communicator vibrated slightly, and she saw a few incoming messages from her girlfriend back home.

Cleo: [Hey babe… did you find out more about the request?]

Sophie: [No… not yet… honestly this whole thing seems rather fishy and that's even before the hunter goddess got involved]

Cleo: [It always is my dear. It always is. Anyways I've been missing you a lot… have you been missing me?]

Sophie: [Come one… you know that I miss and love you. The bed is so empty these days…]

The hybrid girl smirked as she flirted with her girlfriend over the virtual Net for a few more minutes before saying her goodbyes.

There was no need to rush at least not yet to complete the hunter goddess' request, so Sophie planned to train a bit more with Professor Macabre before applying for leave.

And since the hunter goddess had not forbidden the use of outside help, Sophie planned to ask her friends if they wanted to tag along.

Hopefully it would only take a day to complete the task, but Sophie knew that things had a funny way of always turning out for the worst.