Actually..... She may not be that bad..... Still, I at least have to have a talk about it.....

*Sigh(Gin)

'What's wrong creator? It's normal for you to stare at nothing for long periods of time but, you have a weird look on your face. You can tell me anything and everything. Perhaps you want me to bind to you again? Fufu~ If it's what you desire~' Set

"No, no that's not it. I'm thinking about minds. "Gin

'Minds? What about them?'Set

"Well, I am not sure. I'm mostly human while you are an arachnid. The foundation of our minds are different..... I was thinking.... That there may be something wrong.... However, we are fundamentally different so I am probably mistaken..... Rather, there is probably something wrong with me...." Gin

'Heh? I can't understand. If there is something wrong with my mind I can change it if it's for the creator. Creator doesn't need to worry. Your mind is fine..... The new one on the other hand, has a rotten mind.' Set

Got to get her to address me in a different way. Creator is kind of weird..... New one? She probably means Xelu. I don't see the issue with her.... There was the one warning about her being unstable but wasn't that talking about her body? Her mind didn't seem that bad though. She was a bit robotic but, I figured that was just a personality quirk.

"Can you call me something else. Creator is a bit too much." Gin

'Master, leader, chief, king, or G.o.d. I actually want to call you something different but, it would be a little embarra.s.sing to say. So, what sounds good~?' Set

"It's hard to imagine that you have been around for a short time.... Why are they all.... Fine let's go with master. Xelu has already started calling me that anyway." Gin

I end up giving in. I want to try to convince her to call me by my name but, I have a feeling it will be a wasted effort. Onto a more pressing issue. Xelu.

"What do you mean by Xelu having a 'rotten mind'?"Gin

'You haven't noticed? She is crazy~.' Set

What? Crazy?.... She does have some mental trauma. However she seemed very sane to me. Maybe Set caught onto something I missed.

'She is not like how any living creature should be~. In the short time that we have seen her, she has shown no actions of her own will. Just a puppet~. We can't go against master. Though, me and sister would never want to. The new one on the other hand is likely having her actions and mind restricted. Her every urge is probably pus.h.i.+ng her to erupt in madness. Hence her mind being rotten.' Set

That's a lot to take in. Set noticed something vital. Xelu is not a robot or a puppet. She should have more complex interactions with the world. However, she only waits around for me and does nothing else unless I talk to her. This is much more than a personality quirk.

The only thing I can think of is to share steel mind with her. However I can only share skills up to rare-rank. Steel mind is a unique skill so, unless I can rank up subordinates welfare, I can't really help Xelu.

------------

After a while Kess returns with the spiderlings carrying all sorts of equipment and valuables. I go to the entrance of the nest to greet her along with Set who reattached herself to me. She seems to love 'binding' to me as she put it.

Kess looks at me expectantly with all her spiderlings behind her staring at me. I pat her head and she cheers, along with all of the spiderlings. The spiderlings start rus.h.i.+ng in to put away the loot in empty rooms near the back of the nest.

I'm left with Kess who is still looking at me with antic.i.p.ation. I give her permission to eat as much as she wants. I know that's what she wants.

----------

Its been a few hours since Kess has returned and Xelu still hasn't come back. I've been holding back from contacting her through telepathy. She may just be having trouble locating the base. I didn't say about looting it so she should return right away..... Hmmmm? Ahh, I see them now. It doesn't appear that there are any missing so it must've been nothing.

They land in front of me with Xelu landing about a meter away.... Her subordinates start looking at each other and then at me. One scratches right above its face. Can't really say they have heads as their entire bodies are made of gel clumps. These guys are fine? I didn't get a good look at them earlier but, they give off the same impression as Kess' spiderlings. Why is Xelu the only one that is messed up?

"So, what happened" Gin

'We found the treant base' Xelu

....

"Where is it?"Gin

'about 2000 meters that way.' Xelu

She points with her tentacle, directly opposite the way the nest is pointing. Surprised how well developed Set and Xelu's brains are. How do they know general knowledge? Its doubtful that meters are the measuring unit in this world. I can only guess that they must have some of my knowledge imprinted in them.

---------

The light is starting to fade so it's time to settle down for a while. Everyone gathers into the nest. In the main room I have Set, Kess, and Xelu lay around me. After all that's happened we need to rest. Xelu lays sideways and her face sinks into her body along with all her limbs effectively making herself into a gel-pile.

Kess lays against me. She is 40% larger after devouring a portion of the corpses from the rooms that are basically larders now. She is more satifyed now more than I have ever seen her. Despite being made of metal she does not seem hard. Kinda like a giant warm meatball.

As for Set, she created a more viscous amber sheet underneath me so I don't have to lay on metal webbing anymore. It's strangely comforting in more than just a physical way. She herself is still in tattoo form.

Well, goodnight....