[First to discover Amanus]

*You have gained 1+ in all stats

*You have gained 10 % of the current level’s required XP.

A screen appeared in front me, but I was too exhausted to read it.

My eyes were closed and I grasped for the air that I had been denied moments ago. I felt my feet dangling free in the air, while my shirt tightened around my body.

"Surface-dweller, can you hear me?" Someone told me.

I opened my eyes only to find myself hanging above water, hooked to a large fishing rod.

I could see blue mushrooms all over wherever this was, lighting up my surroundings.

"Surface-dweller?" The voice said again.

I turned my head slightly right, and saw a yellow person in front of me.

But him being yellow was not the weird part. He seemed to be more mushroom than a person, with chanterelle-like hair pointing out above his forehead. He had an enormous nose hanging down all the way below his adam's apple.

"Who are you!?" I gasped.

The chanterelle-person swung his fishing rod around, slamming me down on the ground and my cherished air out of my lungs.

"UUUugh" I groaned.

The yellow man unhooked me and helped me up from the ground in an instant.

"You ask me who I am?" He asked.

I blinked twice. "Yes?" I said.

The mushroom man sighed. He pinched his nose, producing a feeble sound almost too quiet to hear.

"I'm Tsanterel, prince of Amanus. Tell me surface-dweller; Why have, and how did you come here?"

Tsanterel's face was full of disdain. But inside his amber eyes, I could see something else. I couldn't quite tell what it was, but it wasn't a negative feeling. That I could tell.

"I, uh..." I started.

His expression didn't change.

"I was doing some digging" I continued.

The chanterelle named Tsanterel nodded.

I however, didn't continue. I didn't know what else to say.

"Why were you digging?" He sighed.

How could I describe this? I was digging because Agda and Toby told me to teach some villagers about mining. Although I was technically using a pickaxe, I still call it digging because it was going so fast.

He repeated what he just said, obviously annoyed at me.

"Ugh, My friends wanted me to get them some stone... And while I was at it, the wall caved in and I fell into water." I said.

"And that's all?" He said.

I nodded, that was all! I mean, I don't even remember most of the stone-fetching I did, time just flies by when I'm in that zone.

"Good." Tsanterel said, as he pulled out a knife and stabbed me.

I fell to the ground, confused and in pain.

* You have been affected by "Tranquillized"

[Tranquillized]

A state which affects your body and mind, putting you to sleep.

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Some time went by, and I had no way of telling how long I was out. I could hear voices talk, but my eyes were too heavy to open.

"Is this the beginning of an invasion? Is he really a scout sent by the people from above?"

"You can't just trust everything you hear on the mycelium"

"But he's a surface dweller... What purpose would he have to come down here if it wasn't to attack us!?"

I could slowly feel some parts of my body coming back to life. Like my toes for example.

I tried moving them, up and down. It was hard. Almost as hard as it was swimming against the current that pulled me down to this mess earlier.

A surge of energy poured through my body, sending my whole leg flying towards the ceiling.

I opened my eyes, and all around me I could see glittering spores of every colour flying around.

"Quiet, the prisoner is awake!"

I tried to stand up, but my entire world was shaking and swaying from side to side. How did I get myself in to this mess?

I straightened my back, and in an instant my face smashed against the prison wall. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt. What I thought would be a stone wall, turned out to be a wall made out of fungi.

"uugh, what happened?" I groaned.

I tried to recall the last thing that happened.

It felt like my head was spinning, and I stumbled towards what looked like prison bars, only softer.

Instead of walking, like I intended, My leg felt like stumps and I tumbled downwards against the bars.

I managed to catch a grip around the bars with my hands, saving me from falling towards what I assumed to be fungi floor given how soft it felt.

In front of me, two death-cap looking women stood tall. Their noses however, were small, sharp and pointy. Far from the long nose Tsanterel had.

'That is right, Tsanterel!' I caught myself remembering.

'I was talking with Tsanterel, and he asked me some questions.' Right, I was on the right track. This tall yellow guy with an enormous nose fished me up from the water, saving me from drowning.

"Please, let me talk to Tsanterel! He saved my life!" I begged the guards in a second of joy.

The two guards showed their teeth in an instant.

"Let you speak with his higness?" They roared.

They reached for their spears that rested against a wall and immediately pointed them at me.

Sadly for me, this also reminded me of what happened next.

"That ugly, long-nosed excuse of a prince" I screamed in shock as I threw myself from the prison bars in anger.

The two death-cap guards' eyes turned red in anger. "How dare you!?" They roared even higher.

I don't know what got in to me, maybe it was some detachment from my regular brain because of whatever poison Tsanterel stabbed me with. But when the prison guards opened my cell and stabbed towards me with their spears, I could feel strength in my body I didn't know I had.

I rolled backwards, forcing their spears to stab into the fungi floor. Without rest, I threw myself up on my two feet, and with motions that only a drunk person could recreate, I swung my two feet up in the air towards the guards.

Unable to react, both from surprise that they missed their excuse of an execution, and the realization that I was capable of counter-attacking so shortly after waking up, each of my feet planted themselves on their sharp noses.

Green spores left my boots at the moment of impact, and the two guards got sent flying out of the prison cell, straight into the wall.

"That's right, that's what you get!" I yelled.

Then I lost control of my body once again and I fell flat down on the ground.

But I didn't lose consciousness, as the two guards did.

I struggled to crawl, because my legs failed me.

I crawled towards the guards, got closer and closer. I was hoping that they wouldn't wake up before I got to them.

Their stiff bodies were completely white, and their hair looked just like the death caps I read about when I was still in school.

Soon, sweat poured down my body as I struggled to push their not very awake bodies into the cell I woke up in. With a final push, they were both inside and I closed the gate still sitting down. I couldn't stand yet because the sedative was still in my system.

That's when I realized that the key to lock the gate was inside, with the mushroom ladies that I knocked out.

"Why do you have to hate me so much?" I cried. I had no energy to open the cell and get that key, and I'm pretty sure that time wasn't on my side.

The sound of squishy squeaks entered my ears and I turned my head to my left. I could finally get a better look at my surroundings. The fungi wall and floor were both purple, only different nuances.

Obviously shorter mushroom-men and women came rushing down the hall.

"I saw it on the mycelium, he knocked them down with two marvellous kicks. Don't underestimate him!" One red mushroom guy yelled as he rushed towards me.

I raised my hands in defeat. Why do I have to deal with all of this?

"Be careful, He's got a weapon!" Another mushroom yelled.

"Huh?" I said, and looked at my hands. What met my eyes wasn't two empty hands, but a large pickaxe shining at me.

"How did?" I said, as my pitch went higher then I thought was possible.

New energy entered my body, allowing me to stand up.

I waved the pickaxe around, sending green spores flying in every direction.

Every mushroom soldier stopped in their tracks, as the leader of the small band pointed at me in shock.

"He's been acknowledged by the False Parasol!" He screamed.

A new screen appeared in front of me.

[The Ancient Mycellium of Lepiota has blessed you]

* The False Parasol has found potential in you

The False Parasol, Lepiota, sees a strength in you. A strength that few others possess. She believes that you have the powers to reunite the people of Amanus with the world above.

[Blessing of Lepiota]

The False Parasol has planted a spore filled with ancient powers inside of you. In moments of crisis, you can harness this power, increasing your stats by three times for a short time. After the time is out, your body becomes unable to handle the poison within the spore, making your body extremely weak.

The red mushrooms at the very front all kneeled down in an instant. Confused by their sudden change in behaviour, I walked towards them.

"Why are you treating me like this, you rescue me, you stab me, you put me in prison, and now you KNEEL to me?" I yelled.

The fly agaric at the very front trembled in fear. He tried to answer but he couldn't find any words.

"We.... we.... WE!" He started, but he couldn't come up with an excuse.

I felt the power of Lepiota leave my body once again, and how weakness poured over me.

I struggled to remain standing, so I leaned against the wall.

"Your highness!" The fly agaric yelled as he rushed to my side.

"Highness, what's wrong with you people?" I cried. I really wanted to weep, let tears fall down. What kind of messed up place have I fallen down to?"

The red headed white mushroom guy stared straight into my eyes.

Then he said, almost whispering; "You've been chosen by an ancient one. That makes you royalty, and since you are the only one that has been chosen by the False Parasol in the last couple hundred years, that makes you... A KING!"

The other soldiers nodded in agreement.

The sound of a gate opening a couple steps behind me interrupted me before I could ask my next question.

The two death-cap ladies stared daggers into me, raised their spears towards me and took their first step.

"Stop right now, can't you see that he's glowing!?" The fly agaric yelled at them.

They both stopped moving immediately.

I, too, froze.

I looked down at my body and, just like they said, I was glowing. Small spores of green light levitated around my skin, sparkled and shone at anyone who caught a glimpse.

"Please forgive us!" The death-caps yelled.

"Whatever!" I yelled right back at them.

Right now, I only wanted to go home, home to Toby and Agda.