Dug looked up at his daughter’s words. “Isa tink it be time tah play wid meesa fungee.” He felt her confusion and explained further. “Da adminis-tater said heesa would show me someting tah do to wid my Fungee in da garden. I no knows what ima supposed tah do.” As if in answer to his words letters formed out of green fire and began scrolling across his vision.
“It’s all pretty simple actually although you may need your daughter’s help for the final bits. It should be especially simple for you with your knowledge of Spores and Fungi. Essentially as a sub-administrator who is outside the system you cannot level up or utilize System Experience to grow stronger. The System therefore has banked the Experience you would have gotten for your use. There a couple of reasons for this.
1. If it wasn’t banked it would have been released randomly into the surrounding area which would increase the chances of dangerous anomalies among the local wildlife.
2. By banking the Experience instead it gives you the ability to funnel it into specific tasks, items, or creations.
This second reason is what you will be focusing on. By funneling your Experience into your shrooms you can increase their capabilities. That is not all, however. By utilizing your connection with your daughter you can use her new ability to form Sapient Frameworks. I will warn you now though. The rarer the Fungus the more Experience is needed to complete a Sapient Framework for that shroom. There is also the low chance that the Maker will not accept the Framework. If that happens the creation will devolve to the state of a monster. Good Luck.”
* The Administrator
Dug doggedly read through the whole message despite its length before nodding to himself. This was the longest message he had ever received from the Being in charge of this Plane of Existence and to his surprise it seemed rather straightforward. He turned to his daughter and smiled. “Seems like isa needs yousa’s ‘elp.” He grinned at her excitement and joy as it flooded their bond.
He quickly began stumping his way to the center of his garden. Despite his attempt at moving quickly, it was quite a journey. Plots of Mistcaps, placed here and there among the other plots, kept a steady supply of mist drifting through the air in perfect amounts to maintain moist soil. Their soft milky blue caps glowed in stark contrast to the many grays and browns of simpler mushrooms.
As he stumped his way along Dug let his eyes wander. A bright patch of red caught his eye and he made a slight detour. He knelt and gathered a few of the Ruby Sporecaps and stuck them in his long beard, where the mycelium quickly connected to the strands already present. They were good for stopping bleeding and infections though he mostly wanted them for a nice snack later.
He made another pitstop to gather more Healingcap spores, their softly glowing green and yellow caps buzzing slightly as he gathered the spores from their gills. His route took him deeper into the garden where tall Spindlecaps grew on their thin stalks, supported by Thread Spores that connected each stalk to the other in a strange web. Eventually, though, the old goblin made it to the center.
A single mushroom grew there with a vibrant purple cap and thick off-white stem that attached to the ground. Carefully cultivated from the simple Mindbender Sporecap this fungus was anything but simple. Dug had spent decades of his life enhancing the mycelial network of this one shroom. It wouldn’t be that much of a stretch to say that it was his first child and the foundation of his great garden.
Name: Overmind Sporecap (Pseudo-Divine)
Affinities: Mind
Rank: S(28)
Level: 139
Experience Till Next Level: 4,614 / 51,200
Description (Normal): The Overmind Sporecap is a unique creation among fungi. Fashioned by Dug Shardaal for his fungal garden, this fungus is the quintessential overlord of fungal kind. Its mycelial network is capable of connecting and supporting other fungi’s mycelium and can communicate via chemical signals. With a strong Mind Affinity, this fungus has achieved a kind of sentience through its massive mycelial network and is capable of the most basic of feelings, though higher forms of thought elude it.
The reason behind his choice was simple. He had cultivated the Overmind Sporecap to bind and link all of the other mycelial networks he would ever add to his garden. It would facilitate and govern every other fungi and like a parasite would be accepted by the other mushrooms as one of their own. In this way, it was able to keep his garden healthy and in harmony when in nature such variety would lead to discord and competition. What better mushroom to bring to Sapience and begin a new race.
Dug knelt and placed one gnarled hand on the cap. He reached out and connected to the simple mind and felt what it felt. It was largely simple in nature. There was hunger present and a desire to produce spores to reproduce. For the longest time Dug had suppressed its reproduction as he didn’t want it to spread past his garden. Now, though, he pressed into its simple mind the idea of change. Of hunger being satisfied and of reproduction being possible.
Dug felt the fungus almost shiver in anticipation. He looked up at his daughter and an unspoken affirmation came through the bond. Dug grinned and reached for his knife. Drawing it across his hand he let his life blood drip down onto the single sporecap and he began his greatest Working yet.
Drawing on the bond with Obu he felt knowledge flow from her and into his mind, schematics and data pouring out. Dug ignored them and did what he always did and went with the flow of his Waag. Many goblins got it wrong when it came to their birthright. They saw the Waag as an energy to be used and controlled. It was why many remained simple shamans, having not grasped the fundamental truths needed to ascend to the status of Shamaan.
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Waag was life and freedom in all of its terrible glory, the right to life and the right to choose that was made available with every sunrise. It was alive and lived through each and every goblin, granted so long ago by a sick and dying sun god to give freedom to the enslaved goblin race. Now Dug utilized that freedom and life to give it to his beloved mushroom. Usually this kind of working would require a whole host of goblins, their collective blood working to provide the Waag necessary.
Dug had no need of many goblins this time. With his bloody hand he reached into his satchel and drew forth a shining golden shard. The divinity within called to him to claim it, to be transformed. Dug disregarded the dead god’s temptations. Instead, he opened it up to his Waag and it rushed in. The shard of this realm’s sun god hissed as green light filtered into it like dye in water. Rapidly the Waag took over and then the shard blazed like the miniature sun it was.
Basking in the feeling of power, Dug lightly coaxed his Waag, reminding it of what they were doing. Joyfully the green fire aimed itself at the Sporecap and the working began. Dug relied on his daughter and their bond heavily as the Waag pieced together a possible Framework for his greatest shroom.
Shrooms were quite unlike an animal with their base sentience and capability of feeling. They weren’t that similar to plants either as they grew entirely differently and needed different things for growth. Dug knew this and didn’t stress about what he couldn’t change. His shrooms were shrooms and nothing would change that. But within their shroomish aspect lay hidden strength.
The mycelial network was capable of both communication and consumption, working to feed the fruiting bodies that eventually would emerge. His Overmind Sporecap took this strength to the next level as it connected to and fed every other mushroom in his garden. It made it possible for the giant underground patch of earth to sustain his life’s work. This interconnectedness was Dug’s focus.
Waag flooded into and enhanced that network, transforming it into a more robust system. The mycelium expanded in size nearest to the single fruiting body, creating a nexus beneath it of extremely sensitive and powerful connections. These connections sucked in Aether before turning it into some other substance, heavily tinged with Mind Affinity. That substance grew until it hovered on the cusp of something new.
“Use your banked Experience father.” Obu’s voice rang in his ear as the ritual reached a climax. Acting on instinct, Dug reached out for his new powers and felt something open. Like a dam being broken he felt something rush through him, all sunlight and beams of power, before flowing into his fungus. That substance sparked and Dug felt a presence descend that shook him from head to toe with awe.
“AN ACCEPTABLE OUTCOME BUT ONLY JUST. I SEE YOUR HEART DUG SHARDAAL AND HONOR THE LOVE IN IT BY GRANTING SAPIENCE TO THIS CREATURE. BUT. I SEE THE MISCHIEF AS WELL AND DENY YOU YOUR MACHINATIONS. YOUR NEW SON WILL BE FATHER TO MONSTERS. SIMPLE AND CRUEL. HE HIMSELF IS FORBIDDEN FROM PROCREATION. HE IS FIRST AND LAST OF HIS RACE. I HAVE SPOKEN.”
Dug collapsed as the presence departed, The Maker’s words ringing through his ears and heart. The goblin wasn’t sad, far from it. He had been successful after all. He had a new son and that son would be capable of growth. The goblin did frown at the ensuing negatives even as he struggled to stand up. He had chosen the Overmind Sporecap in order to cheat the System. By making the Overmind Sapient he had planned on using its powers to bring the others into Sapience as well over time.
The Maker had seen fit to put a damper on his plans, as was right. Dug had let his irritation at the System cloud his judgment and the reminder, while unpleasant, was welcome. He was saddened though at the thought that his promise of reproduction to his new son would go unfulfilled. Or at least partially. He would be able to make monsters apparently but what kind Dug didn’t know. It was clear, however, that he needed to start taking the System seriously as well as the powers he had been granted. While he remained irked at the apparent responsibility thrust upon him by the Administrator he would no longer try and deny it.
If he and his children were going to live in this new land then he would have to begin to treat it with respect as he had the Gitbog where he had lived for so long. Thinking in those terms, Dug settled and much of his irritation and lingering disappointment left him. This was simply another land with its own rules to follow and while he steadfastly refused to be “integrated,” there was no reason he couldn’t learn the rules even if that was in order for him to bend them.
Exhaustion from the ritual stole over him then. He felt Obu stir within her crystal and thrum as she drew in Aether, like he would breathe air. It was truly impressive and he had done his best to ensure that his son would be just as special. He didn’t know exactly what form that special nature would take but he had some theories. As the Overmind his son would be blessed with certain psionic capabilities that came from his high Mind Affinity. He hoped that that would allow his son better control over these “monsters” he was to create.
Dug remained there for a time in silence, staring at his new child and clutching the pulsing shard in his hand. He slowly shuffled over to his new son, placing his hand on the purple cap. He felt his son respond to the touch and smiled as the developing mind went through a similar process of Awakening that his daughter had gone through. In fact, he checked using his sub-administrator powers and wasn’t surprised at the words that flickered across his vision.
Congratulations Dug Shardaal!
You have successfully begun the Awakening process of one Overmind Sporecap. It is undergoing the awakening process to become fully Sapient. Any attempt to halt this process will result in catastrophic damage to the fungus being awakened.
Current Awakening Progress: 31% Until fully Awakened.
“Yousa’s name is Razum.” He croaked with a tired voice. “Yousa notta worry now, isa love you. Weesa will beez a good family. Jus a small one fah now.” He smiled sadly down at his new child as the shroom tried to understand him. He was still growing and awakening so not everything was getting through. He held back a sigh as he looked around at his garden. He didn’t have the banked experience to try again but perhaps he could do things differently if he worked with the System and his daughter instead of trying to do most of it himself.
As he took a step to leave he felt the presence of the Maker descended again, far softer than before.
“My son. I have seen your humility and have felt your acceptance. This pleases me. While your son will indeed be the first and last of his race upon this plane of existence, I am not without mercy. Within his sister’s Dungeon there may yet be a future for his monstrous children and for him. Her Aether will calm their cruelty and elevate their simplicity. Monsters, however, they will remain. Your son will have to find his own path. I have spoken.”
Dug simply bowed as the presence departed once more, his heart lifted by the Maker’s advice. He began his journey back through his garden with a lighter heart, knowing there was a path forward for his son. He could feel his daughter perk up at the words and could practically feel her vibrate at the idea. He knew she would be going back to work almost immediately in order for there to be a place for her brother and his old heart was glad. He had meant what he said. Theirs would be a happy family and he would do anything to make sure of it.