The dazzling lights of the glowing mushrooms had by this point become a sight for sore eyes. The lizardmen had set up shop in the area but soon realized there was a problem… No entertainment!
While they could fish in the marshlands and swamps there was nothing to do there but admire the scenery! To make matters worse, this scenery was alive and could very well try to kill them.
One could only imagine their faces when one of their own nearly fell for such a ploy. It wasn't the mushrooms themselves doing the killing but the things they controlled. They hadn't expected the deity's domain to be so full of strife!
While the Lizardman acclimated to their new environment, Ed focused on progressing his mushroom field.
By progressing the field he of course meant creating new variant shrooms and pushing back the natives.
'These mushrooms probably hate me' Or they would if they could feel things. Ed's focus on expansion however wasn't to spite his neighbors, it was to prepare to explore the outside.
'With Spiritual Mark, I can send messages thanks to transmission but that seems to be the end of it' So Ed had to figure out a way to not make it the end of it. If he could do that whether W controlled the body as a means of exploration didn't matter.
'Transferring myself from this current body seems to be impossible' This was why he had to rely on W. W could not access the system so it had no spirit insertion after all. Although W could still use the assessment's database access, it couldn't enter the system space or use any of the related rooms.
This made it impossible for W to take Ed's main body out of the mushroom.
'So I'd have to do it manually' But that was obviously not happening. Not unless he could escape from his bodily shell. The first hint Ed got towards doing this was the Mind attribute on his consciousness.
Why? Well, using the power of the mind he could try forcing his own consciousness out of the body. From there, his fortified mind skill could protect him and allow him to roam for a sufficient amount of time to get into another body.
There were two potential issues to this approach, however. The first was what he would call soul rooting.
As he had previously explained, the ability to call out his status might not appear if he entered a foreign body this way. Instead, he would end up calling out his consciousness status.
That would mean that while he might be in the body, he would not be rooted in it and perhaps not even protected from the elements. If he wasn't… his fortified mind might not save him. That led directly into the second point.
The second potential issue was if re-entry into his body or another would also cost mind power. If it did, he would be killing himself by going out with a singular point of mind power.
So even if he could soul root, if he couldn't afford it he would be screwed.
'The only fix is to increase it' Alternatively, Ed could take the gamble. Thought manifestation's level up told him that mind power was likely what thought manifestation consumed to function.
Yet, Ed didn't have this attribute until now. Could he really declare that so certainly? If the level up wasn't convincing enough, the fact that the small attack he sent was done through thought manifestation was enough. So though not healthy for the mind, if Ed gambled on this he might still be able to make it back into his body.
'Sigh… the domain of the mind is complicated' Unlike with his body, he didn't have the confidence to say the dungeon would bail him out. If he died or became stupid from one of the experiments there was no turning back.
'Hm?' The cavern started to suddenly shake. It wasn't a seismic shake, it was like the rumble of the ground when a train was passing. The settling of a house when a truck hits a pothole in the road outside. But there were no trains or trucks in the mushroom cavern.
'Not to my knowledge anyway…' Ed muttered inwardly.
This even told Ed however, it was time for his first innovation to come to flight.
[Fly Shroom]
{ A fleshy winged mushroom }
Using wings from monster bugs, Ed made a mushroom capable of flight. Its cap worked like a fuel tank carrying nutrients fueling its ventures and it had an eye that watched over everything it saw.
At the moment, the couple of fly shrooms he created were reproducing normally using spores. This meant they were grounded.
'First test of video transmission using mushrooms… The date is… yeah I don't know that. Weather conditions are... probably sunny...' Transmission could transmit signals. The mushroom could send signals. The only thing Ed knew was that this should work.
It was a no-brainer. Ed should have thought about it earlier but only now that the spiritual mark had him brainstorming did he realize this was possible.
The first step was splitting W with transmission included in its skills. That was easy and already done.
'Inserting W…' After inserting W, it was having W take flight.
If the fly shrooms couldn't fly, there was no point in having the images transmitted to himself.
'Add a spiritual mark-' Ed's thoughts were cut off in the process after keenly feeling a difference with this mark.
'The mind power was spent' Previously, a tiny portion of himself must have been split off to leave a mark. Now, he was leaving remnant mind power as an anchor for his transmissions.
That aside, with the mark set…
'W, commence flight!' Ed transmitted to the fly shroom. It looked funny with its inflated top and bug wings. But against all known laws of aviation, the fly shroom managed to uproot from the ground and take off slowly but surely.
'Excellent' Ed thought. Using ground troops for surveillance was fine and dandy if it weren't for the fact that the magic mushroom would try to kill them almost immediately. If they were in the sky… they could at least try to dodge attacks.
'I'm really flying! This is freaky!' W transmitted to Ed. This was what Ed considered to be soul rooting. What W was experienced right now.
'Although there is always an initial groggy feeling, there is never a sense of incongruency' The abilities to run, jump, lunge, all the bodily functions came naturally. Expanding on this, his orc subjects did not exhibit this behavior.
'That's because they are not a consciousness being' It was an easy distinction to make.
'Ed, stop monologuing, I'm about to send the signal' W transmitted while flying towards the nearby water mushroom field.
The bug wings flapped insanely fast yet W could only slowly but surely make his way over.
'Sending…' W said before his thoughts growing blurry and being replaced by a string of signals. These signals were promptly decoded and to Ed's surprise, turned into perceivable intent.
This action merely allowed Ed to see things as a fleeting memory.
[Transmission has leveled up]
[Transmission has leveled up]
'Huh? Wait… was that both you and I?' They had been briefly connected so it made sense for the system to capture both level-ups.
'Bo- Both!' W transmitted back with gleaming… mushroom eye? For the Fly Shroom to see it needed a sentry shroom. Ed was working on extracting sight as a skill but extracting was no different from gacha.
But as this experiment had just proven, it was good he went with the sentry shroom. He wasn't sure how direct application of the skill might transfer in signals.
'W! Return immediately to merge-' Before Ed could finish, the cavern started to rumble more intently. To be precise, it was thumping more intently. The vibrations felt like the heavy vibrations of steps.
Soon a new image appeared in Ed's mind. It was blurry. But it wasn't because Ethernet was superior, rather the distance was too far for a sentry shroom to capture.
'What is that?' Ed asked W who obviously had no way to know more than himself.
'I'll fly closer' W said before turning into the field of green. It was situated next to the blue and was out of sight.
A shrill whistle-like cry sounded out stunning the lizardmen in the surrounding. The Fly Shroom that W flew was suddenly struck by a wave of sound stunning it into pause.
W started to fly out of control and spiral towards the ground.
'It's a monster!' W transmitted with shouting intent.
The shrill cry soon alerted the lizardmen who all ran towards Ed's domain.
Var Agus who led at the front was petrified from surprise after he peered down the hall W was sent to inspect.
"It's a… mushroom monster!" Var Agus shouted with excitement coming to an understanding. The great mushroom god was calling back its subjects. As for why it might do that…
It was plain to see. It was to protect them better. Why would the benevolent deity go through the trouble of intimidating them with another monstrous guardian? If it was going to act that way it shouldn't have taken them in the first place.
"Var- Var! What do we do!?" A lizardman shouted seeing the mushroom figure grow closer and more distinct.
"We wait for salvation" Var replied causing the other lizardmen to become pale. They were going to die?!?!
The stalwart creature was at least twice as tall as themselves. This was including both the mushroom stalk and its root-like legs, alongside the tall fluffy cap. This cap had holes in them but these holes weren't that prominent.
The most prominent feature was the sticky pink liquid that shone brightly and spilled from the two big holes forming eerie tears. The mouth, no, the large hole that ran across the cap's bottom center seemed to be cut in the shape of a maw.
W who was still on the scene though now grounded could not help but shudder.
[???]
The assessment failed to go through.