Razum found himself in a fascinating, for him, situation. A small part of his Mental Matrix had broken off to form its own tiny Matrix centered on his fruiting body. He found that once it had breached whatever barrier it had gone through his fruiting body had become separated from his mycelium network. Rather than abandon the body the portion of his mind that occupied it had been sucked in as well. He still controlled it but from a state removed from his main mycelium network.
He flexed that little portion of his mind and watched as it began to slowly grow its own mycelium network using what little it had on hand. He found it to be extremely difficult as having only a small portion of his mental prowess available stretched his capacity to truly expand. The mycelium grew outward only a short distance before it became impossible to create more and Razum gave up. Instead, he drew it back in and extended it in a straight line ahead of him and then marched his body along that line.
Once he got to the end he shifted the mycelium that was behind him back in front of him and repeated his action. In this way, he moved a couple of feet every few minutes. He found that he was aided in his task by the piece of Ten’Telo that remained within the fruiting body, the shadow-like flesh helping his mycelium to grow across the hard dirt of the cavern floor. The fact that it was a cavern was not lost on Razum. Even diminished his mind was able to pick up and discern his surroundings from the various inputs he received from his Sensory Mycelium. What little feedback he received was then transmitted and processed by his much larger Mental Matrix.
The air was damp and cold, indicative of moisture and open air. This was not a tunnel but a vast open area. An area absolutely soaked in Aether. Razum could feel it through his mycelium along with vibrations that shook the air, vibrations that his mycelium interpreted as sound. Razum didn’t really have ears which he believed to be why his father preferred to use his mental magic to speak to him, utilizing the spores of his lesser cousins.
If he were honest with himself, Razum preferred it that way too. Sounds had to be further interpreted by his mind into useful information before he could act on it. When utilizing mental magic, interpretation and meaning flowed much easier but some of that might be the result of his father’s openness with him. Dug was not above deception but he was unapologetically himself. If there was any deception it was due to the other person refusing to recognize his true nature.
Razum liked that and was determined to do the same. Perhaps that was why he chose the strategy he did when his mycelium relayed an increase in sound nearby. Coming to a halt, Razum planted his fruiting body, spreading what little mycelium he had in a circle around him, and hiding the more humanoid features of his body. To all appearances, it seemed like a mushroom had spontaneously sprouted from the ground.
He made sure to grow a few spores, the purple-blue of their mind attunement shining softly as they descended from his sporecap. He also corralled the spores already floating in the cavern and brought them closer so that he would have some tools already present in case he needed to act quickly. It didn’t take long for the source of the sounds to make itself known. Razum noted the surprise in the tone when it inevitably caught sight of him.
The sapient mushroom opened a visual pit, his horrifying approximation of an eye, in order to see what had discovered him. He saw a green form and his mind was shocked to stillness. It wasn’t at all like his father but it was similar to the point that it took him a moment to pick out the differences. It was smaller, if that was possible, as well as hunched in posture and stupid in the face and eyes. Only a sort of wicked cunning was there behind a wall of hunger and desire for violence.
The goblin-like creature shuffled forward and Razum had to hold in a surge of disgust that welled up within him at the stupidity written large on its face. Nonetheless, he let the creature come close until it was sniffing around his fruiting body. Like tiny motes of light Razum let his spores go and the sniffing turned to choking as the creature breathed in a cloud of purple-blue spores. He felt the moment the creature's mind bloomed within his own awareness. His smaller Mental Matrix whirled to life and Razum began to experiment.
He slammed his lesser mind into the other creature’s like a battering ram. It hissed in pain as its mind shuddered under the impact and lashed out at the only thing nearby, still unaware completely of how it was being harmed. Razum’s fruiting body had a chunk taken out of it but it was small and since he didn’t feel pain he cared even less. He slammed into the creature’s mind again and felt it shudder and crack.
The goblinoid keened softly, grabbing its head before collapsing to its knees. Razum waited for a moment but when it seemed as though the creature was unable to continue the fight he figured it was time to put it out of its misery. In this way, he mirrored his father. When hunting a creature it was best to refrain from torturing it. He sharpened his Mental Matrix, diminished as it was while separated from his main mind, and sent it like a spike into one of the cracks in the creature's brain. Immediately, the mind unraveled and the creature’s body stilled.
Razum reshaped his fruiting body into a more humanoid form in order to shuffle over to the goblinoid, sending his mycelium forward to facilitate his movement. It didn’t take long for him to reach the still-breathing corpse. It was quite interesting in fact. The mind had collapsed and unraveled like so many strings and yet the Spark remained active and the flesh along with it. He supposed that the inner spirit of a creature must be separate from its mind and a mind separate somehow from the physical flesh.
To experiment Razum pushed more power into his body’s transformation to fashion a spiked ligament in place of his right arm. He drove that spike into the creature’s heart, watching all the while. The flesh died quickly with no mind to keep fighting for life and the Spark released from the flesh with an almost audible Snap once it had given up its function. A strange development.
Perhaps further experimentation was in order of an entirely different sort. He had a freshly deceased body before him, a desire to propagate, and a Title given for the purpose. He had planned on learning more about spores and fungus from his father before creating a monster of his own but he figured that in the situation he had found himself in any mistakes could be rectified.
Razum focused intensely on his Title and found that the process of creating a Sporeheart was not as difficult as he had thought at first. From the edge of his Sporecap grew a singularly large stalk with a spore on the end. It glowed a bright purple-blue just like his normal ones but then it began to grow larger and shine brighter. Razum felt reverberations through his mycelium and realized that he was likely making a good deal of noise as well.
It didn’t take long for other noises to join his. Most likely other goblinoids. The spore began to pulse rhythmically on the stalk and he caught it awkwardly in his left hand even as the glow faded. The Sporeheart continued to thump sending pulses of intent and Aether outward. Moving as quickly as he could Razum placed the heart inside the hole he had made with his spike right arm. As it was introduced to the material, the Sporeheart flashed brightly once more before it exploded into motion.
Razum watched in awe as the goblinoid’s body writhed in place. Mycelium burst from the Sporeheart and fungal growths sprouted from the hole in its chest, carving its way in an outward arc away from the body and claiming the upper shoulder of its back. More growths burst from various places on its body before it seemed to calm. Its eyes flared with a brilliant purple-blue flame before fading into an eerie glow of the same color.
It shuddered and then rose to its feet in a lurching awkward motion, a low reverberation emanating from its throat. Just in time for a small group of its former kin to come howling around the corner. Razum, only slightly panicking since he didn’t really have the bodily functions to experience such an emotion, tried to mind-spike them and when that didn’t do much of anything, since he hadn’t ambushed them with mind-opening spores, he did what any mushroom man might do and planted himself.
His monster did the exact opposite. It howled in a weird bass tone and threw itself at the goblinoids. What followed was a bloody dance of brutality. The monstrous goblinoid tore into its former kin with a glee that was disturbing as it used its changed body as a battering ram to bowl over the charging creatures. It rose fast, awkward but fast, and lunged for a downed opponent with a hand suddenly transformed. Fingernails now more like claws, the creature ripped and tore at the body below it, rending terrible wounds into its flesh.
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It only switched targets when it was attacked from the side, bowled over itself by the force of numbers as three goblinoids tackled it. The growths on its body shone and its eyes glimmered as jagged knifelike growths erupted from the fungal protrusions emanating from its heart. Those growths dug into the creature's opponents and they hissed in pain, withdrawing. They had done some damage, however, as Razum noticed that his monster had difficulty rising from the wounds it had been dealt.
It growled low and deep before glaring at the circling goblinoids with a fury that Razum found remarkable. He noted it for later even as his mind worked to generate some kind of plan. The goblinoids, for whatever reason, were content to ignore him in favor of his monstrous child. Looking at its natural weaponry and slavering jaws Razum could perhaps forgive them for overlooking him.
It would be to their detriment, however. He began by activating his spores, spreading them out like a glittering cloud. Doing so allowed him to wield his mind magic more sparingly but also more strategically. When one of the enemies attacked his monster he would twist its perception so that it either missed or the monster was able to dodge. Breathing them in proved unavoidable to the enemy and it wasn’t long before the remaining goblinoids were hacking and coughing. In a bizarre turn of events, as the cloud spread out it seemed as though his monster was empowered by them as it moved more easily and less awkwardly.
While the remaining enemies were distracted it rushed forward and collapsed upon them with its claws rending and tearing. It didn’t take long for them to fall and soon enough his monstrous child was warbling its victory into the dank cavern. Razum watched in silence as the growths present on the creature rippled as if alive. He was surprised when the System manifested a prompt within his main Mental Matrix and he pulled his attention from the sliver of mind that remained with his fruiting body.
It was a strange sensation to have a mind in two separate places and yet be functionally the same. Perhaps this was the Boon called Divergent Overmind. With his curiosity sated and the danger to his fruiting body resolved he felt free to engage his main mind to the task of solving the issue. He quickly reached the conclusion that the Boon was indeed the catalyst behind his split mind and that his Mental Matrix had split to continue oversight of his Fruiting Body.
It was intensely interesting as whatever had caused the split continued to cut off his tiny sliver of consciousness from his main mind and though he could hop between the two as easily as breathing he could not control both at the same time. He was about to conduct more tests when he felt the System buzz insistently. ‘Ah, right.’ Razum thought, remembering the reason he had withdrawn back to his main mind.
The Growth has been detected…Analyzing…
Title granted by The Maker’s Decree…Accepted…
Congratulations Razum!
You have successfully created a Fungal Monstrosity. As the creator of this Monstrosity, you may rename it at any time.
Razum let the information pass over him but didn’t name the creature right away. If his father was to be believed names had power and he wasn’t sure about naming an experiment that he might not keep. Regardless, as he passed over the initial System message, more letters began to scroll across his mind.
Congratulations Razum!
You have entered a Dungeon Challenge! Due to the Dungeon Core being asleep, the System will automatically release rewards for completed steps.
* Your party has defeated Grungy Git F(1) x5!
Calculating Experience…Titles Acknowledged!
The 800 Xp generated during the challenge becomes 1600 Xp due to the Title -> Progenitor
Due to Title -> Umbral Host, 800 Xp has been reserved for Ten’Telo as per the covenant
Congratulations Razum!
* You have received 800 Xp!
As a sapient being with a Monstrous creation you may divide this Experience as you see fit.
Do you wish for -> Fungal Monstrosity -> to receive Xp?
Yes/No
Razum hopped back into the Dungeon to observe his creature. He found it spreading mycelium over the goblinoid corpses in order to break them down for sustenance. It was an ugly thing but effective. It was also an experiment and Razum didn’t think he wanted to be spending his Experience frivolously. His sister Obu had told him how she got a random choice after gaining five levels because she didn’t choose a Cornerstone for herself beforehand.
He didn’t think that would be effective for him. He wasn’t a Dungeon Core and he didn’t have a Cornerstone. Instead, he had a space for a class, a space that was currently empty. Razum had a feeling that he really needed to wait for his father to teach him before he went ahead and spent Experience like his sister had. It had obviously worked for her but such an approach would not work for himself. That being said, he would keep his Experience for himself.
His experiment had done well but he saw no reason to increase its power when there would be better opportunities down the road. So he shrugged his fruiting body and hopped back over to his main mind. He clicked No on his System message and watched new letters spring to life.
Congratulations Razum!
* You have enough Xp to ascend to Level 1!
* You have enough Xp to ascend to Level 2!
* You have enough Xp to ascend to Level 3!
* You have enough Xp to ascend to Level 4!
Razum felt excitement wash through him, a feeling that was mirrored by Ten’Telo through their connection. He didn’t know exactly what the symbiote would use the experience for but he figured it would know better than him what it needed to focus on to grow. As for himself, he knew that he would need to spend Experience somehow but couldn’t find any System prompts like his sister said there would be. Perhaps this too was another difference between A Dungeon Core and a Sapient creature.
He prodded his creature to exit back the way he had come. It obeyed, though it hissed at having to leave behind its meal. He had them exit at the same time and felt a measure of relief when his two minds reconnected seamlessly. He would need to practice dividing his mind so that it wouldn’t trip him up later. Perhaps he would get to the point of truly doing two or three things at once. The monster he swiftly brought to heal in order to keep it from wandering around.
Congratulations Razum!
You have entered a Dungeon Challenge! Due to the Dungeon Core being asleep, the System will automatically release rewards for completed steps.
* Room 1 Challenge Partially Completed!
Calculating Experience…Titles Acknowledged!
The 320 Xp generated during the challenge becomes 640 Xp due to the Title -> Progenitor
Due to Title -> Umbral Host, 320 Xp has been reserved for Ten’Telo as per the covenant
Congratulations Razum!
* You have received 320 Xp!
As a sapient being with a Monstrous creation you may divide this Experience as you see fit.
Do you wish for -> Fungal Monstrosity -> to receive Xp?
Yes/No
Razum’s awareness homed in on the information hanging in his mind. He chose once more to accept the Experience from completing the Challenge though it was interesting that the System called it a partial completion. He would have to ask his sister why that was.
Congratulations Razum!
* You have enough Xp to ascend to Level 5!
Warning! You have reached the Level Cap for Rank F(1)! To begin advancement to Rank F(2) please ascend to Level 5 immediately to receive your Advancement Quest! Any further Experience gains will be banked until after your Advancement Quest has been completed.
Razum controlled his fruiting body to begin moving even as he processed the System message. Ten’Telo sent him feelings of satisfaction and he figured the Symbiote had reached the same threshold as he had and was ready to Rank up. He sent feelings of patience down their connection along with a sense of greater connection between them. He wanted them to spend their Experience together in order to create a greater sense of Symbiosis. Ten’Telo’s reply was one of begrudging acceptance.
The covenant was clear that they would grow together and the Symbiote would do nothing to compromise their path to greatness. That greatness would be achieved was honestly not a consideration to Razum. He was the son of the greatest Shamaan to walk the face of another plane of existence. Potential was something he carried as an inheritance. All he had to do was not squander it.