White wagons were lined up to form a caravan. The spider crafters had constructed them from IronOak, a task requiring patience and great skill. The wagons were made to transport the goods to the Human Kingdom but at this moment they were filled with stone bricks.

Obviously, the wagons will be pulled by centaurs; and guarded by them too. The pullers were wearing sleek garbs made out of the finest Blue Cloth, while it wasn’t the heavy armour they insisted on, the crafters lined the insides with Enchanted Boar Leather. They needed to understand that the heavy armour would weigh them too much and that the light armour was the most appropriate. However, there was the contrast of course, guards weren’t pullers so they did have that sturdy armour on their centaur bodies. And it was a full plate, the grey and worn Centauri metal was replaced by orange Corrundum. It was their few surviving Centauri knights who will be guarding the caravan.

The guards were bright and splendid, in their hands they had their favourite choice of weapon – a lance. The lances were reworked too: reinforced and enchanted even. Wind Lance, was only possible with Wind Spirit Stones, the ones purchased from the Human Kingdoms. It came with the perks of [Piercing] and [Speed Boost], the two worked in tandem with other Centauri' natural abilities to make them even more formidable.

Both guards and pullers had a large insignia of Spider Kingdom embroidered on their gear. Thus, even without spider escort, it was made clear who they belonged to.

With this, the road to humans should be finished even quicker.

…

The King of Spiders had found himself again in the Drow Archives, a place for research and study. The tower was filled with activity; the dull but scratch-like sound of scribing filled the spiral corridors. This place was as much for spiders as it was for Drow, the two worked together to further the magical research.

The nebulous cloud forming the ill-defined body of the Darkness Spider hovered past the King. Inside the cloud was a bundle of peculiar parchment sheets, for some reason the parchment was pitch black, the edges threaded in golden thread and the writing was blood red in colour. The cloud waved at the King and he waved back. The spider seemed busy so he didn't question what it was doing, after all, he was here for the High Chief.

If anywhere the venerable leader of the Drow will be at his study, so he went right to the place. The doors were open so he just let himself in and took a good look at the state of the study. The desk had piles upon piles of scrolls. The nearby shelves were filled to the brim with scorpion glass vials, the containers had various plants preserved inside. The High Chief was scribbling something using the Magical Ink, an invention the two came up with together by mixing the Mana Spring Water and Blue Dust + a selection of glowing mushrooms the Drow cultivated in nearby caves.

A familiar servant girl was standing by the High Chief’s side, ready for his commands; she seemed positively bored. The man was too busy to notice his King but the bored girl did. She tapped the desk trying to get the High Chief's attention – ignored. She cleared her throat – ignored.

“Greetings, King of Spiders!” She greeted loudly and bowed.

“Uh?” The High Chief blinked and looked up. “Ah! The Spider King, welcome. I’ve been expecting you.”

Of course, he was, the Drow Assistant must have informed him that he, the King, is coming.

He nodded to acknowledge their greetings, “Then you know why I’m here.” There were quite a few things on the agenda.

“Shall I start on the report about smelting Glem?” After receiving the confirmation the High Chief continued. “It wasn’t cheap, extortive even, but the scorpions shared their secrets. We have the blueprints needed to build the forge, but many of the ingredients are foreign to us. Have a look.” The High Chief produced a leather rag from one of the drawers.

The tattered rag was the blueprint and it looked centuries old. An old and inefficient design perhaps. Conveniently it already had the supporting notes scribbled by no one else but the High Chief himself. He had identified the materials, the ones they already had and the ones they would need to obtain.

The Comprehend perk activated straight away and from just a single glance he understood the blueprint, and how to improve it. “I see. It will require a lot of Fire Spirit Stone, and a few of Earth.”

“We, or should I say the spider merchants, managed to secure the earth variety from the scorpions themselves. And our Drow FireWalkers are working hard in the Fire Caverns.”

So in other words the most expensive ingredients were already secured.

“I think, we don’t need these exotic monster parts.” He referred to the rest of the materials. “We can achieve the same with treated IronOak, Kobold StoneBricks, generous application of Reinforce, and your enchantment rituals.”

The High Chief gave a surprised look. “Is that so?”

It was so, Comprehend assured him of that. “And we can further improve the smeltery… I already have a few ideas.” He was thinking of using the FireAgave Juice to increase the heat the spirit stones would generate, plus the improved Forge Bellows where the Drow would further enchant them with Air affinity; after all, they had the Air Spirit Stones now (only a small bunch but enough).

“From that look you have… I can easily guess what you’re thinking. King, wouldn't it be better to secure our own source of Air Spirit Stones? The price the human merchants ask is exorbitant!”

Oh… so the chief was privy to his dealings with the Black Hand Covenant. Interesting!

“I agree, the Trusty Advisor had already proposed that idea. And why stop at Air?.. but do you know any other sources aside from Fire?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“No, King, I do not. But considering what the spider merchants had brought from the desert the scorpions must possess an Earth source..”

“Hmm.” If anything he would have expected that the desert would host just a Fire source; apparently not. “That requires further investigation. For now, let's just get that smeltery made.” He pushed the stack of parchment slightly away from the table. “Let me get the new blueprint ready.” He borrowed the nearby supplies to do just that.

He was done in a manner of moments. “The spider crafters should be able to construct this. And the enchantments I leave to you.” He handed in the blueprint to the drow.

The forge business wasn’t the only reason he was here. “The Myconid Matriarch.” He opened the new topic. “How is she doing? Are you getting the mushroom shipments she promised?”

“Yes, King. The mushrooms are plump and ever so tasty, plus she sends us other ingredients like spores. Speaking of which, we have accumulated quite a large store of spores. And it's not like we can eat that.”

Indeed, those were alchemical ingredients. “Thanks for reminding me. I’ll see them sent to my Crimson Alchemist.”

The High Chief gave a surprised look. “Crimson Alchemist?”

“Ah, I guess you wouldn’t know. I haven’t met her either but she is a Master Alchemist, goes by the name of Crimson.”

“Like fire or blood?” The High Chief sounded curious.

He shrugged. “Haven't met her so… But she’s good, she’s better than the novice me. If you want I can send you more interesting potions she makes. No, I definitely will. To top your mana up. Reinforce Mana plus Regenerate Mana is quite a combination.” Because the mana spring could do only so much.

“That would be most useful.” The High Chief smiled and bowed ever so slightly. “By the way, on the previous topic of mushrooms. That creature… Myconid Matriarch?” He scratched his head and his facial expression looked apologetic. “Had requested your presence. That is, when you’re not busy. Didn’t seem important at the time…”

High Chief, you forgot, didn’t you? And remembered only now. “I’ll see what she wants.” But he also remembered something he’d almost forgotten. “And the egg?”

“The Desert Wyrm Egg? It’s incubating in hot sand. We keep the temperature stable and hence decrease the time needed. But it won’t be hatching any time soon.”

“How do you know when it will hatch?” He asked curious.

“The creature is of the magical nature, so we track the flow of mana. Currently, it is only accumulating ambient mana, but the presence of nearby sources like Mana Spring also helps. We’ll know it’s near to hatching once it starts to condense the accumulated mana into a core. The core finishes and the Wyrm hatches.”

Wow, the High Chief know his stuff! “Thanks for keeping it short and simple.” It was obvious that the process was more complicated. “Well, then. I’ll be off.”

He bid farewell to the drow and went to the Myconid Cavern.

…

The mulch the spiders have been bringing did wonders for the mushroom growth; the mushroom farm was prospering.

“I’ll need to ask the Kobolds to either expand this cavern or dig another one nearby.”

He continued walking while careful not to crush the sprouting shrooms. The little myconids scattered away from him hiding behind bigger mushrooms. The brown creatures were very shy, it was hard to believe that once they had ravaged his farm in a maddened rage.

The Myconid Matriarch was still there where he had planted her spore. She grew slightly larger but otherwise didn’t change much.

“Hello, the Drow told me you’ve requested my presence.” He spoke to her.

The mushroom bent its white stalk to bow. “Yes, I’ve awaited for Thee, my King. The Drow stopped their greedy plundering and the mushrooms grew splendid.”

“All well and good it seems. Did you call me here to ask a favour?”

She shook her brown cap. “Only for a chat. Would my King please take a seat?” A mushroom stool grew out from the ground. “Tell me how Thou is doing.”

Eh? Is this really happening? “Well, since we met a lot… A lot has happened.”

“When...” She puffed a cloud of spores and a small gathering of myconids rushed to her. “Have a snack and tell me all.”

The goomba-like creatures carried a platter with food. Yup, the food was mushrooms but the selection was large.

Eh? Myconids were offering him mushrooms, wasn’t this like cannibalism, but to refuse would seem rude.

“Don’t mind if I do.” He took an already sliced piece and into his mouth it went.

Poisonous mushrooms? What is that? His perks negated such things. The mushrooms turned out to be quite tasty. And while sampling the food he casually retold the abridged versions of his many exploits.

“But my King… Then Thou should have visited me sooner. I could have helped Thee.” She bobbed her cap.

Eh?!

The Matriarch was able to read his human face quite well. “Wondrous spores for potions, nutritious mushrooms for human famine, and I know the scorpions like the fungus as they like their trees.”

“They do?” Well, spiders did mention something like that in one of their reports. But he never bothered to sell mushrooms then he had much more precious Living Wood. Maybe a missed opportunity…

“Why wouldn’t they? I made sure to grow Thine mushrooms plump and delicious. And now you have Mutate… So the taste could be enchanted even further.”

Well, she was right.

“Hmm, to be honest, I‘m not big on mushrooms but Drow do like them quite a lot.”

“My King. Give it a try, please help yourself and improve my kin.”

Why not. He mutated a bunch of mushrooms, guiding the changes ever so slightly. The Matriarch had a similar skill to the White Dryads – [Grow] but for mushrooms. And very soon there was another taste test.

One specimen made his eyebrows rise. “Why does it taste like grilled meat?” He turned the brown cap in his hands still filled with disbelief. “Even the texture is right.” He took another bite. “A bit dry, it begs for a sauce, but this would make a splendid burger.” He marvelled at the lucky outcome of mutation.

“Dry?” The Matriarch gave him a curious look. “If the King desires I can moisten it.” A fungal root burst from the ground asking to take it from him.

“Uhm, sure. Do your best?” He was curious.

She brought the bitten burger-mushroom right under the brown cap of hers. He wasn’t an expert on the myconid expressions but that fungal face looked embarrassed for a moment. A slimy dew leaked from under the cap and onto the burger-mushroom. That was the condensed slime which would normally coat the mushrooms, or he hoped wishing that it wasn’t something more dreadful entirely. The fungal root offered the ‘moistened’ burger back to him.

He took it back hesitantly. His hand was shaking but even then he had enough courage to taste it.

“That’s one hell of a sauce!” The taste was unique and nothing like he tasted before, it was rich with those umami flavours. “It fits just right!” He gobbled up the burger-mushroom. “It just needs a bun, some cheese and lettuce and we have a proper hamburger.” But then sadness took hold of his face. “But without that ‘sauce’… and It doesn’t look easy to produce.”

“I have a proposition.” The Matriarch looked at him expectantly. “Evolve me, Mutate me, Imbue me with magic and I assure Thy, Thy will have Thine moisture.”

Evolving sapient and high-ranking creatures was always a risky business. “You know it’s dangerous, you might stop being you… And my affinity is Dark, and imbuing you with anything else is a risky business.”

“There is no risk.” The Matriarch assured him of something she must have no knowledge of.

But then, maybe she did know. Some creatures were born with knowledge and she seemed like one of such.

“I guess, I can. For the future of the burger!” He already craved for more. “Ready?”

The Matriarch gave him an approving smile.

“[Evolve],[Imbue: Dark],[Mutate].” He invoked one after the other.

[Perks: Unnatural Selection, Chaos Blessed – triggered]

[Royal Lineage requirements have been met (Monster King, Myconid Matriarch)]

[Myconid Matriarch has received Royal Evolution option]

She must have taken it because his mana drained to zero. The figure of Matriarch exploded into purple particles. The explosion knocked him off the mushroom stool. And then he passed out from negative mana.