Dug stared at the creature standing before him, assessing it with darting eyes and a hand stroking his beard. He could feel Razum’s great mind at work through the bond they shared as well as the spores present in the air and thus could feel his son’s great anxiety. He sighed and felt the anxiety spike in intensity. His son had told him all about his accidental stumbling into his sister’s Dungeon and the ensuing combat that took place.

Then there was the issue of the ‘Experiment’ before him. It was an atrocious Working, merely a corpse given new life through neural spore enhancement. It wasn’t that difficult to accomplish given the right spores and environment. Even easier if the spores took over a freshly killed creature. Controlled the right way these creatures were useful fodder and a good way to test various fungal infusions that affected flesh.

Dug had used them frequently when he had been an adventurer, back when his friends had known him as a druid with no knowledge of his true power. He had been young then, freshly elevated to his status as Shamaan. His eyes grew fond as he remembered the town of Greengale in the far north and the adventures he had shared there. He shook his head to dispel the fond memories and returned his mind to examining the creature before him.

The issue with it was that it wasn’t made through careful spore application but rather in an explosive and chaotic fashion. This ‘Sporeheart’ that his son had access to was filled with a latent subconscious, one driven to consume and grow. Had it not been thoroughly chained by the System, Dug would have obliterated it and left no trace. Such a thing was a plague that spread without care for the damage it did to the natural world.

For all of the danger that it represented unchained, he could see the potential of the power now that it was bound by The Maker. By The Maker’s decree, it was his son’s to use but Dug would not stand for further sloppy work. He would need to teach his son spore mastery quickly, the ways of weaving Aether and spore together to produce carefully guided results, and how to transform, carefully, material prepared for the insurgence of fungi.

“Dis beez poor work,” Dug said as he stepped forward to poke and prod at the creature, disregarding its hissing bass screeches. He felt his son’s disappointment but also a sense of acceptance and agreement. Good, his son had already known that his creature wouldn’t be accepted. “Notta perfig, bud notta bad fer an espirament. Uze must learn lots. Learn tah uze dis powah beddah. Isa teacha you. Teacha uze dah way of spore and Waag.”

Reaching into the folds of his robe he brought forth the shard of condensed Waaglight. “Dis beez your heritance. Dah Waag beez yours by birdright.” He put it back before placing his warty hand on his son’s sporecap. “First doh, weesa will talk on fungee. Only aftah yousa learn dah ways of dah Sporemeistahs will yousa learn of dah Waag.” Feeling his son’s acceptance he gestured for him to follow as he led the way to the fungal garden.

It took a bit as his son still moved his fruiting body awkwardly. To be honest it didn’t really matter as the fungal garden was the place where Razum’s main mind dwelled, among his vast network of mycelium. Razum had inherited the work of Dug’s hands as he had cultivated Razum to be the overmind of his garden and even after being raised to Sapience he still had that power. Dug could feel it even as he ambled beside the moving sporecap. It was strange to be so aware of his son’s presence in the metaphysical as opposed to interacting with a physical body.

Razum’s fruiting body almost acted as an avatar for his prodigious mind and Dug chuckled at the thought, aware that many mages sought for such a power as it would allow them to explore the world without risking their often frail bodies. It pleased him immensely to know his son would not have that limitation. His only limitation would be the vastness of his mind and the length of his mycelium network. As they walked, Dug checked in on his garden, stopping here and there to commune with each one.

Their minds were simple things and many of them weren’t even sentient, but long exposure to Razum’s former self had brought them a measure of existence not often seen in fungi. Many of them now sported levels and descriptions within the System and though Dug scoffed internally, he begrudgingly admitted that seeing the gradual rise in levels was helpful. They allowed him to see the gradual growth of many of his mushrooms and furthermore allowed him to see the variants and standouts among them without having to resort to extensive magic use.

Razum seemed content to watch him work and eventually, they made it to Dug’s destination which was, of course, his magnum opus, The Tome of Spores. He placed his hand lovingly on the cover and turned to Razum.

“Yousa know what dis beez?” At Razum’s nod, he continued. “Den foh dah next twee days, yousa gonna learn dis book, inside an’ out. When dat beez done, den weez can work on dah sporecraftie.”

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

So saying, he turned away and let Razum approach the book. He waited until Razum began using his fruiting body to turn the pages. Then, he turned around, planning on taking a long nap. He was brought up short, however, by his son’s voice.

“Uhh, father?” He turned to find the Tome of Spores glowing brightly before flaring with brilliance. When the glow faded, Razum’s fruiting body was still and Dug could sense that his son was startled and overwhelmed by a rush of information. He began to stump back over to check on his son when a notification appeared in front of him.

Tome of Spores: Secondary Feature (Skill Book) has been activated.

Due to the Blood Covenant between Dug Shardaal and Razum, Tome of Spores: Secondary Feature (Skill Book) has gifted Razum with the Skill -> Knowledge 3 (Fungal). Due to Race: Overmind Sporecap (Awakened), Knowledge 3 (Fungal) has evolved to -> Knowledge 5 (Fungal)

Full Sapience detected at F(1). No class chosen or Experience spent. No Skill Slot is available for Knowledge 5 (Fungal). Not enough Experience to receive the Skill -> Knowledge 5 (Fungal).

Error!

Dug felt the System begin to search for answers to resolve the problem. He snorted in exasperation before slapping the remainder of his pooled experience into the System’s control. “Jus’ give et to ‘im!” The System shuddered for a moment before responding.

Sub-Administrator protocol recognized. Skill -> Knowledge 5 (Fungal) given to Razum as a Free Skill.

“Thank you for taking care of the issue, even if your solution was to throw your own valuable Experience at it. As you didn’t know about your book’s hidden feature this was a fine outcome. Let me give you a quick run-through of how Experience works for Sapients like your son so that you can avoid further errors. As I mentioned before they can utilize it to grow stronger. Normally, this happens in a gradual way as they learn and seek new avenues to power. Classes and the Skill Slots they give are the framework Experience operates on.

Your son’s quick growth is abnormal in that he has managed to accrue plenty of Experience by using natural Boons without actually choosing a Class and opening Skill Slots. This must be rectified quickly or more of these errors will occur. I would recommend teaching him slowly and methodically so that he can spend his accumulated Experience and rise in Rank. Everything else will come with time.”

* The Administrator

Dug snorted again but took the time to read through the scrolling words. As much as he didn’t like it, the Administrator knew everything about the System he had made. It would be the height of foolishness to disregard his words and when it came to his children Dug would be anything but foolish. He nodded as he got to the end. He had an idea of what had happened.

Whatever this Skill Book feature of his Tome of Spores was it had tried to give his son a Skill that he didn’t have the ability to obtain. He could sense through the bond they shared that his son was overwhelmed by the amount of information he had received. He sighed in frustration. His goal had been to introduce everything slowly and instead, his book had gained System powers without him seeing it. The fact that it could confer all of the knowledge hidden within was an amazing feature but obviously dangerous.

The Tome of Spores held centuries of his personal study and knowledge of fungal formations and growing patterns. To have all of that shoved into your mind…Dug shuddered, trying to imagine it. He walked over to his son’s body and placed his hand on it, letting his senses dive deeper than he had since his son had reached Sapience. He found his son’s mind swimming in new information and though powerful his mind was floundering in trying to categorize everything.

Dug stepped in utilizing decades of experience to help put things where they needed to be. The two quickly entered a kind of psychological teaching session. No words were shared but their minds were closely connected enough that words were unnecessary. Dug helped his son form connections and understanding beyond what the System had given him and through it all he could sense the System attempting to help in its own way.

By the end, everything was where it was supposed to be and his son had recovered sufficiently to pilot his fruiting body once more. Dug pulled out of the bond and rubbed his son’s sporecap affectionately.

“Dat beez well done Razum. Sorry yousa had tah deal wid dat. Didn’t know dah bookie would do dat to yah. Yousa feel beddah now?”

Razum’s voice was tired but relieved. “Yes father, I am well. That was…intense.”

Dug chuckled at his son’s succinct explanation. “Yes et was but now yousa ‘ave everyting uze need in order to become a Sporemeistah in trude.” He brought his hand up and with just pure Aether-manipulation activated some spores he held lightly. They “woke up” and began growing a mycelium network right there on his hand utilizing the Aether he was feeding it.

He felt his son’s attention lock on the demonstration and he saw the sensory stalks of his son’s mycelium twinge as they began picking up what he was doing. He pointed with his other hand and began his teaching. He would go slow as the Administrator had told him to and in time he had no doubt that his son would be one of the most fearsome mages on this plane.