I get to see again! As soon as the notification appeared spores started to coat the ground around my mushroom, just small dots. It’s less like optical vision and more like daredevil vision with way less clarity, kinda reminds me of scanner sombre. That's what I'm talking about though. Things are starting to look up for good ol’. Oh wait I don’t have a name, wait what was my name back on earth? How can I forget my own name? Before I was able to delve deeper into my own psyche a sharp pain jolted through my entire body, the pressure alone would have made me pass out if I were a human. Something was grabbing my one and only mushroom and slowly uprooting it, I can feel every fiber being torn as it was ripped from my mycelium colony. What about being harder to detect in nature! Why does it hurt this much! I’ve never experienced pain like this before, worse than the broken bone I got from “learning” parkour, worse than the pain of getting C. Diff in the hospital after already being hospitalized for pneumonia, worse than… I don’t know! Getting my arm ripped off (never happened). I can’t even retaliate, fuck you unknown grabber. Didn’t your mom ever tell you touching others without consent isn’t ok. Now I gotta grow another one, and so help me god if something else takes it and causes that amount of pain again I’ll… I’ll… Fuck it, I’ll think of something later, but just know it’s gonna be bad for whoever tries to do that again.
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The pain fully subsided after a few minutes, finally having a second to cool down after that traumatic experience felt like a breath of fresh air. Thinking about it now, even if I made another mushroom, who's to say that another would-be mushroom napper won’t come by and steal it again? I think the best idea would be to grow my colony for a day or two and spread them out so people are less likely to find them.
After that I was hard at work, well kind of. I was taking a break every few hours to eat, and waiting for my mana to refill, but I also kept finding myself zoning out/dissociating every now and then. I don’t think anyone else would have done better. I've never focused on a single task for more than a few hours (at most) at a time, and now I'm trying to solely focus on (what I assume to be essentially) stretching for hours upon hours. It’s like I’m a kid with ADHD going to the focus olympics. My mana spore skill disappeared a while ago, I guess without a constant stream of spores my vision dissipates quickly. I don't even know how long it's been, I’ve never been good at math and keeping track of all the minutes that went by due to skill use and waiting for my mana to refill isn’t something I could do without a pen and paper. After around 40 cycles using the skill really started to hurt, as if my mycelium was an overstretched muscle.
Level Up +5 stat points
Oh a level up, I didn't even notice I was close to leveling up. What was I thinking about? Ugh can't get distracted, I’m one intrusive thought away from getting side tracked and quitting what I'm doing. Drain mana, fight through the pain, wait for it to go back up, fight through the pain, dissociate, fight through the pain, eat every now and then, rinse and repeat. I've somehow managed to do this cycle 60 times total but then.
Mana Fatigue
Due to rapid physical growth and continued exposure to a drained mana pool has left your mana channels unable to keep up. your mana channels are temporarily strained for the worse.
-10 to total mana pool
-10 to MPM
Time left until mana channels heal 1 week 2 days 10 hours
Pain tolerance
Either through perseverance or pure stupidity in the face of pain you are now able to ignore pain up to a certain degree. (togglable On/Off)
A searing pain started to engross my entire body, a wild fire of pain slowly coursing through every fiber of my being. I didn’t even know I had mana channels, now I am painfully aware of their existence, able to point out their exact location within my body. the burning feeling, as if molten iron were poured through constricting arteries. A symphony of pulsating energy forcing its way through my mycelium, and a tightness continued to grow stronger as if a boa constrictor was squeezing around my soul. An all consuming pain that snuffed out any ability to form coherent thought. My mind, once a providence of clarity, is now a torrent of fragmented sensations as the pain grows. What were once a semblance of thoughts were replaced with whispers lost to the wind. Seconds turn into minutes, and minutes slowly creep into hours of carnal punishment, overwhelming my focus leaving me in a sea of anguish. Through the grueling pain a single thought managed to surface, ‘turn pain tolerance on’. Though only a fraction of relief was obtained, it was more than enough for the pain to dull to a manageable degree. Thoughts slowly started flooding back in as I was gaining control over myself. I never want to do that again, why didn’t the idea of overexertion come to mind. Tinges and flickers of pain still jolt through my body every second, but they are more faded now.
Mind over matter. Mind over matter. Mind over matter. God that’s a stupid fucking saying, my mind is making me feel the pain in the first place. A realization struck me as I was complaining. A negative 10 to my MPM, my life just got a lot harder. How am I going to progress this next week? Let's check out my status before I become apoplectic.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Status
Name: N/A
Race: Mana Mushroom (mana morchella)
Level: 1
Experience: 180/200
Gender: TBD
Age: 1 day
Notoriety/fame: nobody
Strength: 0
Dexterity: 1
Constitution: 8
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 6
Charisma: 0.5
Growth: 10
health: 60/60
Mana(5/min): 90/90 (debuff Mana Fatigue)
Size: 305.5 cubic feet
Available stat points: 5
Titles
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Chem addict: to anyone that previously knew you as a human you are and always will be an addict to them.
Traits
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One with Nature: When in naturally forming structures or locations people and creatures are less likely to notice you.
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One with Mana: Mana is as important as your health, and naturally flows to you. gain mana 1.5*(int) per minute.
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Reincarnated: living a life prior has allowed you to understand things unbeknownst to your species. +2 Intelligence, +1 wisdom, +0.5 charisma.
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magically Inclined: being a Mana fungal species allows you to expel mana naturally without the use of a spell formation.
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Innate magical hunger: You hunger for magic. 70% of all dietary needs must be met with Mana. 30% must be met with physical nutrients.
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Pain Tolerance: Either through perseverance or pure stupidity in the face of pain you are now able to ignore pain up to a certain degree. (togglable)
Skills
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(Novice) 99.8% Mycelium Growth (active): cost 10 mana per minute (MPM). Being a Mana fungal species Allows you to grow faster than your non magical counterpart. Every minute active allows you to grow 0.5 cubic feet.
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(Novice) 5.0% mushroom Growth (active): cost 20 mana. Once used produces a fully grown mushroom at a point above your Mycelium within 1 minute. (Mushrooms absorb an additional 1 mana per minute from ambient mana)
(Novice) 0.01% Mana spore (passive): As your fruiting bodies start to produce spores the mana they hold slowly coat the ground around. Allowing you to see rudimentary shapes.
Alright… yeah I can work with this. Wait, I’m huuggeee!!! I’m literally the size of my studio apartment back on earth. Game plan, make a bunch of mushrooms spread out around the outskirts of where I am, wait a few days, see where people don’t pick them and then grow a small fairy ring in that area. Wait, if I overuse my skills again the pain will only get worse, I'm starting at a deficit here. Ok new idea, just choose a spot and hope for the best. Preferably away from where my last mushroom got picked. Let's put all my stat points into intelligence, and get going. Hmm, hmm, this area seems good. It's right next to what I assume to be a tree or rock. Let the skill commence.
Concentrating, rather than an appendage being grown, I only feel the mana. It’s hot, too hot. The gathering of it feels like I am forcing mercury through a water pipe. The feeling fades away after a few seconds of the skill activating. I think I will just wait for next week, I’m getting a bad feeling about using skills. From today until my body gets back to normal I am on mana rest! Just you wait world, once I get my shit together I’m gonna find a way to stop being so lonely.
(??? POV)
Walking down the street from the adventurers guild I step into the tavern, greeted by a stout man with a long black and silver beard from behind the bartop. “Lilia, it's been a few ‘ays where ‘ave you been?”
“I just got back in town from the dungeon Iros, don’t worry I didn’t go to the one in weeping fallow again.” shuttering as the words leave my lips.
“Aye, I’ve ‘old you this adventuring business is nothing to scoff at, ‘pecially for a girl like you with no steel in their forge” Iros bellows as he slides a mug towards Lilia.
“Iv’e ‘old you before Iros, I ‘on’t understand your d’arven sayings.” I mocked as my gaze sharpened. Iros' nose curled slightly, as he fell silent. Followed by the looks fading away and dissolving into laughter.
Iros raised his eye with a smile “well ‘ur impression is get’in better by the day a’ least”
“Ah I nearly forgot,” reaching into my bag I pulled out a glowing mushroom, “Do you know what type of mushroom this is?”
“Would ya’ look at that. Nev’r seen a mushroom glow like that b’fore. Not my ‘pecialty sadly, but da’ ‘chemist ‘ould know what it is.” Iros signed as he handed it back to me.
Slamming the mead in front of me on the table I quickly say “Thanks Iros, gotta get going. A little bit short on money just put the drink on my tab.”
“YOU CAN’T DO THIS E‘ERY TIME YOU DRINK ‘ERE”