The doom shrooms didn't take very long for the spirit smith to smith and craft. Out of the extraordinarily large white forge came out a small dark object. It was the doom shroom.
Ed had to say, it looked hideous. At first glance, one would assume the mushroom was going to shrivel up and die at a moment's notice. But as assessment had informed Ed, that was nothing but an illusion.
[Doom Shroom]
{A mushroom that is prone to explosions. The doom shroom seems weak and shriveled but fills up with deadly gas when about to explode. A single mushroom can kill a small rodent}
Ed's first impression was underwhelming. The doom shroom could only kill a small rodent… but if one was to be precise it was that only one doom shroom would kill a small rodent. Multiple doom shrooms… That was a separate matter.
Ed therefore had no qualms bringing this thought to reality, he took the shroom to the branding room.
[Brand <(Mushroom) Spores lvl. 1>? Y/N]
Ed had already sifted through many spore skills but unfortunately, he wasn't able to acquire any higher than level three. The doom shroom was getting the short end of things however as that one had already been spent.
As to how the higher levels translated into the different mushrooms… Ed could only say with certainty that the amount of ink increased. Whether a higher level resulted in higher levels been passed on was still uncertain.
[<(Mushroom) Magic Spores lvl. 0> has been branded]
'Huh? A new skill?' Ed hadn't expected this. The doom shrooms were made from natural materials, mana was natural after all. The distinction meant that there was a difference between spores with and without an element!
'Wait… then maybe if I get a lightning element mushroom I'll be able to get rid of the feed delay' Ed speculated this to be the case because if the spores carried on the elements then so would the mycelium!
Ed was starting to anticipate things even more but he never forgot to exit the system space and plant the doom shroom. As an extra layer of assurance, however, he also put in a piece of himself into it.
'It'd be bad if it blows up instantly or something' If he was inside he wouldn't blow it up. The split piece accounted for only 10% of his max health this time. Ed thought this would be the bare minimum to allow himself to have intelligent thoughts.
The doom shroom connected itself to the mycelium network but…
'Ah! My mushrooms!' The mushrooms connected directly next to it in the mycelium network were dying! That was to say the signals being sent by the shrooms did indeed include their elements but the elements of the doom shroom were both fire and death. To a mushroom that was double the death!!!
Ed spared no time in collecting these mushrooms before they could start to burn or rot and die. The mycelium was also slowly dying until the doom shroom ended up inadvertently isolating itself.
'All it was trying to do was communicate' What a lonely existence the doom shroom was. The real danger was however the fact that his consciousness was still in there. The other dangers were the other mobs but looking back at the feed, the centicrawler was already leaving.
The only other mobs were the small insects that fluttered from one of his mushrooms to another or hunted one another. Seeing their actions, Ed didn't mind letting the centicrawler leave alive this one time.
'It'll come back' Everything got hungry again, there was plenty of food there. Who could refuse an all-you-can-eat buffet? A free one at that!
With this peace of mind, Ed could really start planning on how to deal with the centicrawler's eventual return.
'The doom shrooms will keep on reproducing through the spores' Ed knew this because it had already released ash-like spores into its immediate surroundings.
[Mushroom DABTON: <Magic Spores> is recovering - 58:54 minutes]
The doom shroom had a cooldown double that of the regular element-less shrooms, but Ed felt that it still provided him with plenty of time. The number of spores mushrooms released was insane after all, and magical spores would not fail to deliver.
The budding doom shrooms could already be seen poking out of the rocky soil of the cavern. In less than an hour they would all grow and… Ed decided to speed this up.
'How did I not think to do this before' Expanding in a certain direction was a simple matter of redirecting the resources from one end to another. Similarly, if he wanted to boost the growth speed of the doom shrooms he just needed to reconnect their networks for a brief period and send them more nutrients.
'Some nutrients and mushrooms might be lost but if it'll increase the number of shrooms it's a victory' Ed planned to learn from this experience of speeding up growth in certain patches. If a few nutrients and mushrooms had to be lost then so be it, he had plenty.
'I should return to the system space' Ed now planned to make the elemental mushrooms he had put aside. It was funny that he came crawling back to them so quickly but what he wanted wasn't their magic skills.
'I can probably learn mana manipulation after I get them but…' Ed's priority was actually to counteract the fire mana and death mana. He didn't have a life element crystal so he couldn't counteract the death element, but the fire element could be safely doused.
Ed still remembered the basics he learned when Vorgarag was trying to test his affinity. The orc ancestors had inserted certain elements alongside their opposites. If you could control them things would be fine and if you couldn't control them, they would cancel out anyway.
Ed planned to apply this same theory to the mycelium network by barring the different elements with their opposites. Whether information could still be passed to him was a mystery.
Worst case scenario he'd be letting loose the elements into his side.
***
The situation in the marshlands had become rather bizarre as of late. Came the heavy fog they would fish, came the monsters they would fight, came nothing they would spar. But they now had another habit, that was... if they saw a sickly figure approach they would kneel!
The man in black robes was a mystic figure. The rate at which they did nothing had even recently increased!
With the man's extreme wisdom he planted weird magic devices that steered away the fog. These devices projected some sort of intangible wall. This wall didn't just keep the fog out however it also kept the monsters out.
The amount of time the lizardmen spent fishing and sparring had increased by at least tenfold. Even in cases where they would get called to action the matter would conclude with ease.
The man had gifted them great weapons after all! They were almost like the weapons of a god!!! To cut through the air with a single swing and to wash away beasts with a fluid motion, these things could be done with these weapons.
"Var Agus" The raspy voice of the muscular lizardmen chief said getting the attention of a seemingly wiser lizardman.
"Kurgher, what led you here?" The lizardman, Var Agus, asked while sitting atop a mat. They had been meditating piously with their eyes closed up to that point.
"The creature, man, as you said, is strange" Kurgher said in response to Agus' question.
Var Agus nodded silently acknowledging what Kurgher said. He had told him of the man, yes, but he didn't know much himself. He could only assent that the man was strange.
"Kurg, what more do you want to say" Var Agus was the brains of the lizardmen while Kurgher acted as the muscles. If Kurgher had to say who the leader was he'd say Var without a doubt, but the others seemed to think the war chief held stronger power.
The Wiseman could see even in the pitches dark. What could the warrior do? Swing their blade around without direction or purpose? Perhaps a stroke of luck would help them find their way out of the darkness.
"Our god… Lernaean, can you get to him?" Kurgher was beyond ecstatic with the gifts of the strange man, but that didn't mean he hadn't the slightest suspicion.
The atmosphere between the two turned cold as Var Agus glared at Kurgher.
"Don't mention God's name so plainly" Var Agus said with a harsh voice. While still staring daggers at Kurgher, Var Agus began to think about their first encounter with their god
The fog was so thick that it was impossible to see and the water was so deep that even he felt he could drown and sink. The frigid water… That was a lake.
Lernaean… Lernaean rose from the deep water and the cold water turned hot within moments. Var Agus had been both amazed and terrified ever since that moment.
Bringing the sacrifices to Lernaean was a tradition whenever coming to meet it. In exchange, Lernaean would allow them to learn something new.
"We can't meet god without the offerings" The offerings included fish and mobs but while they had plenty of fish they had no mobs other than themselves to turn in. Var Agus was not willing to do that ever again, even if what happened at that time had not been his fault.
"Var, with these weapons it isn't a problem" With the objects given to them by the sage gathering the offerings wouldn't have posed a problem.
Var Agus nodded inwardly. It was no problem.. That only made him more worried, however. What if some gave in to the temptation of benefits? But faith for the great hydra god should never be allowed to wither! Any such tribesmen were better off dead!