A Dungeon was just another type of Article, albeit one that indicated a place rather than an object. Being that it was significant enough to warrant nomination as an Article, he kept wary. Despite the quiet ambience of the cavern, he was expecting more danger than… this.
He walked around the mass of mushrooms, cutting it down at the knees. It flopped over and lay still.
He’d taken to calling them mushmen, on the sole detail they were vaguely shaped in some semblance of a biped. He’d thought they were parasitic, but he checked, it was completely mushroom.
They were shambling figures no more dangerous than the birds he’d spotted flying around in the canopy. Considering the description of the place, these mushmen were supposed to possess some inkling of intelligence.
“Although they don’t seem very smart.” He said, tapping the mushman with his foot.
He kept his [Steel Sword] out as he explored further. The Grren Tree was enormous in both height and width. The trunk itself was thicker than hundreds of lesser trees combined. And by now, he judged he was close to its center.
“Mushrooms must’ve taken over a whole part of the trunk.” He said, tasting the stale air.
The mushrooms themselves didn’t look sinister. He could still see the flesh of the Grren Tree now and then. Some parts even sprouted branches and leaves.
“Not harmful to the tree.” He said, looking around. “Symbiotic, maybe?” At the very least, it wasn’t malignant.
He found himself walking into an open room, one free from the larger clusters of mushrooms and claustrophobic nearness of the trunk’s interior. He watched as something moved at the end of the room.
It was like they had walked out of the wall. He was wrong, he knew. They had simply detached from a cluster of mushrooms, taking their shape along with them. Two masses of mushrooms. Spongey flesh taking form, only these mushrooms seemed brighter than the rest, glowing more intensely.
At once the bodies darkened to a low burning glow and the clusters around the eyes brightened in contrast. He was staring at wolven effigies. They moved smoother than the shambling forms nearer to the entrance, and, he hesitated, they seemed more intelligent.
One went left, the other right. He immediately started circling towards one of them. They were silent things, which made it all the more eerie when they attacked.
The righthand creature attacked, lights in its limbs pulsing as it lunged forward. He wasn’t sure exactly what weapons it had but he didn’t want to find out. He dodged out of the way, grazing the side of the cavern, when something grabbed his shoulder.
He jerked forward, breaking out of a weak grasp, and sliced behind immediately. A mushman’s arm fell down. Right as he was processing the harmless thing, the second wolf slammed into him. He forced his sword deep into its flank, the blue glow on its body flickering as he did so.
He kicked off its body and caught the first wolf, now charging at him, on the edge of his blade. The edge sliced clean through its mushroom body, its momentum doing most of the work. It fell in two halves and he backed away, watching the still body of the intact wolf he had stabbed. It didn’t move and as he watched it for any trickery, he saw its light dim before finally going dark as well.
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Another mushman appeared and he cut it down as an afterthought. The things were barely dangerous at all. This time though he noticed the same lights deadening on its body, the natural glow of the mushrooms. Not nearly as bright as the wolves.
“Some indication of sentience maybe?” He spoke, breathing hard. “Or power?”
He stared at his torso. Adrenaline ran through him and a pit of worry ate at him as he realized he was bleeding. An honest bite mark. Teeth. He held the wound, it had hit nothing but flesh, but the blood was already seeping down his leg.
He nudged one of the bodies, opening a mouth. There were teeth. Some kind of harder mushroom with spiked heads. He nearly cut himself on them again. But they didn’t bite deep, or rather, the wolf’s bite hadn’t been strong at all.
After wiping away the blood, he realized most of it was just that. Blood. The wound itself was not shallow by any means, but not nearly as alarming as he thought.
The second he had a moment to breathe something appeared.
Congratulations!
For overcoming an encounter against three enemies, you have been rewarded accordingly. Rewards are adjusted based on each encounter and modified by the First Discovery Bonus.
Chance! Reward modified by First Discovery Bonus: 20% increase in emergence rate of mushroom-related Articles!
[Healing Sap] (Common) -> [Blood Mushroom] (Common)
Reward: 2x [Blood Mushroom] (Common), 3 Nex
The mushrooms grew straight from the floor, his attention falling to them almost naturally. They sprouted from a small puddle of his blood, colored a bright scarlet that had its own type of glow. There was a sense of life from them he couldn’t quite place.
He immediately plucked the pair.
New Item: [Blood Mushroom] (Common)
Type: Consumable, Food, Ingredient
Blood Mushrooms are a type of fungus that grows in the presence of both life and death. They are commonly found sprouting on battlefields where blood is spilled but can also be found at sites of childbirth and adolescence. They are seen as an omen of life and death, bringing new life from those before. They possess many healing properties.
* Recovers 1.5% of max health every hour for 24 hours.
Hesitantly, he popped one into his both. He tasted the tang of iron before it faded away. Checking himself, he shrugged as he felt no effect other than the fullness of his stomach. It wasn’t much in the way of immediate recovery but he figured it was enough for the bite-wound on his torso. It was already starting the process of scabbing over.
There was something else too.
Name: None
Level: 2
Traits: [Nexus Born] (Ancient)
STR: 7 + 1
CON: 6
DEX: 8
AGI: 8
PER: 10
INT: 12
WIS: 10
WIL: 9
CHA: 6
LUK: 7
Stat Points: 1
Nex: 18
He’d leveled up. He wasn’t quite sure what the significance was aside from the extra Stat Point, so he shelved the matter for later. He did wonder how the attributes were actually affecting him in combat.
Without any method of incrementing the values, he couldn’t really place a tangible understanding on them. The only one which he could do so for was Strength, and that one was already fairly straightforward in effect, if not in potency.
He took a break, munching on some berries he had gathered earlier. There were a number of offshoots from the tree itself in here, untouched by the mushrooms, and they had graced him with fruit. He’d watched small mammals scurrying around, harvesting, to figure out what was safe to eat. He’d seen the same berries out on the branches.
“Well, maybe that’s Intelligence kicking in. Or is it wisdom?” He said to himself, juice dripping down his chin. It was only a handful wrapped in a leaf. Maybe he should invest in some kind of bag. Carrying it around in one hand wasn’t exactly convenient.
Eventually, he stood up, peeking into the next room of the [Mushroom Alcove]. The [Blood Mushrooms] were already really useful, and he’d gotten some Nex from the whole ordeal too. He could see why Dungeons were so lucrative.
He figured he’d explore the whole thing before heading for the treetop.