Chapter

When the young mushroom told me it was assisting in revitalizing plant life in a nearby territory after the fire had wrecked havoc and was asked if it could grow towards that area, I was overjoyed. Here was a devouring mushroom doing the complete opposite and choosing not to devour the forest’s nutrients and causing mayhem.

However midway through my appreciation I realized that revitalizing an area was absolutely not cheap in nutrients. Unfortunately I have had to revitalize my area on many occasions during my lifetime.

I asked how it was getting those nutrients and when it responded that it was getting them from a mycorrhizal network I grew increasingly incensed.

None of the other elders reported a rapid decline of nutrients exiting their networks which meant the elder there died. Knowing that an outsider even one as kind as guardian, has been using nutrients for their own gain was repulsive to me.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Guardian quickly and emphatically negated that notion by stating that it was not at all using the nutrients for itself but solely for the purpose of giving life to the plants that managed to survive there.

It told me that subsisting off of the network felt wrong, which again surprised me. It even used a peculiar word the carried a visceral meaning that signified it undeniably did not like the idea of depending on and utilizing the nutrients of the now elder-less mycorrhizal network.

I was heartened by its response and was inclined to encourage it to help restore plant life in that territory and if necessary expand towards that new area however I was not the only elder in this forest.

I did not desire to reveal Guardian’s existence to the others but if it was planning to expand into a new area, the others needed to know an aberrant devouring mushroom was in the area.

The others upon hearing that a devouring mushroom was in the area they grew increasingly distressed and I was quick to reassure and explain the situation.

They calmed down once I assured them I was going to keep a close eye on it in case it ever ran rampant.

I was already doing so in any case so it was an easy concession to make.