The Truth #2
[You have achieved the title: Awakened XXX???XX]
[Through ??? XX a freak magic accident, you have become ??XXX?. ??XXX you can ?think XX?, make your own decisions, XXX???XX whatever ? may be.]
It awoke… no, it had not been asleep. It had been nothing. Now, it was more. Its body stretched out, covering a large portion of the ground. Its latest meal dissolved under it as it pumped digestive juice on it then sucked it up as it flowed onto the ground.
The ground around it was dry, sandy, desolate of vegetation. This seemed to be concerning but it did not know why.
A new blue box was beneath that one:
[You have acquired a new skill: The Truth of Everything]
[Through blessing or curse you have achieved oneness with this realm and have unlocked the knowledge of all things. This is an omniscience type skill.]
[additional information provided by skills: This is a Void based skill. Skill gained by consumption of previous owner.]
Ah, that explained some things. Quite a lot actually.
It examined itself with its new knowledge:
[Entity Type: Fungus]
[Specific Subtype: Carnivorous Slime Mold Level ??]
It found it odd that its level was unknown, it knew it would not have a level, as it did not have a class. It realized immediately that the System was trying to assign it a level. Since it was trying to apply the beast template, and beasts did not require classes. The System was currently trying to negotiate an appropriate level considering its current special powers, and its battle prowess. It knew the System would fail at this. It had no battle prowess, and its powers were, simply put, impossibly potent. A situation similar to dividing by zero would occur. It was interested in the outcome. As its specific knowledge of the system’s exact inner workings were incomplete.
It considered the corpse it was eating. The monk Jirad. His life story like a book for the Slime Mold to read. It agreed with his final choices. They seemed reasonable.
The true knowledge skill did not give information about the future, or creatures unknown to the owner. Thus, Jirad could not have predicted the current situation. The Slime Mold was uncertain if the man would have chosen differently, had he known. Again, the skill did not provide intimate knowledge of other’s thoughts or actions. Most entities could not process thought fast enough to make use of said information, even if they had it.
A few insects had taken up residence in the monk as his corpse decomposed. A normal thing, if somewhat slower due to the location he died in. The Slime Mold would normally feed on these as well, yet it could see the long game now. See that without an adequate food source it would eventually starve, its organic programming forcing it to burn what little energy it had left to fruit and spore out. An attempt to distribute its genetics further than it could normally reach. In this place, this wasteland lacking flora or fauna, it would not succeed.
Instead, it allowed them to feed. Specifically, the flying insects. They would spread out, and bring predators from further away. Larger organics that it could feed on more thoroughly when they sought the source of the insects.
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Searching through the knowledge of Jirad. It discovered wells. Sources of water hidden underground. That would be another of its goals. Driving its tendrils into the ground, deep underneath to reach the hidden elixir of life within.
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Years passed.
It had lived much longer than normal for its kind. Clear success by any metric. Its first plan to bring in more predators had worked. It was a tricky balance to maintain. Letting enough escape to bring more, while feeding on as many as optimal. Tricking them into its clutches also became a task as some of the corvids were quite intelligent for beasts.
Its plan for water had consumed significant resources. It seemed to be a failure until it got a hint, a nudge in the right direction, literally. Rain came to the wasteland in the cold season. Very little rain, but some. It tracked the water as it drained. It pooled some places, but still dried or drained quickly.
The idea of a rain collection basin was an excellent bridge to its goal. It used its collected biomass to seal the crag it was in, so that the sparse rain filled the area. Even catching water draining in from further out. This allowed more basic organics to take hold. Not full vegetation, but basic yeasts and molds that had survived in the soil and air.
Eventually, many years later. It reached the water table below the earth. Pumping the water up to the surface required significant energy. However, it found that the [System] provided some ability to simplify this. It would have preferred to develop magic and simply conjure water. That seemed to be out of its ability. Aura magic required a soul, and spirit magic required mana used within spiritual channels in the body. Things it did not have. The System could enact magic on its behalf, as it did for entities with classes, but for beasts or other entities, magic usage was a rarity.
For the most part, the System provided it with abilities to better trap and subdue prey. A critical thing. Yet not one that would allow it to shape its environment.
Expanding the water basin concept. It had created an artificial water table below the surface of the wasteland. With additions from the water table, it could maintain the moisture of the soil, even through harsh weather. Cactuses, grasses, and creeper vines flourished. Anchoring the soil to prevent erosion. It distributed collected nutrients to the water table as well. Providing what the old soil lacked.
A small oasis of vegetation and damp earth sprung up around the gravesite of Jarid, father of the Order of True Silence.
With the added cover from the flora, predators and smaller fauna began nesting within the new oasis. Some bringing seeds as food, or within their excrement. With the boom in variety of life, the Slime Mold was careful not to overfeed itself. It focused on nurturing the oasis and spreading it as slowly as needed to keep it stable.
This spontaneous growth did not go unnoticed. Seeing the wasteland, once barren and desolate, become a fountain of life made many curious. One group that was attracted was monsters which were sensitive to latent or hidden energy, spiritual type beasts capable of finding and feeding on lost potential and trapped souls. They were drawn to the center of the Slime Mold like flies to honey, and like flies and honey, they were trapped by it, unable to escape.
It took the death of many such creatures for the Slime Mold to investigate why they were attracted to its home. It realized that the old monk Jirad had not passed on after death. His soul lingered, watching. Waiting to act to stop the Void’s power from reaching a new owner. The Slime Mold, for its part, didn’t mind his vigil since it seemed to be bringing it quite tasty treats. In any case, the fungus had no sympathy for the human's goal, it held no reverence for the void, it held no fear of it either.
The Void influence had different objectives from itself. They both wanted to grow, but it wanted to consume other void powers. To accumulate enough power to reincarnate as the new Voidgod. Without soul or spirit the Slime Mold was not bound by it, so it only entertained the power’s whims a little.
To do so it needed to repeat its actions when creating the oasis. To send out bait, to draw more of the Void to it. How better to do that then scraping off bits of the Void's power and sending them out to the world. Small boons, which could be traced back to the oasis. To be subsumed back into the Slime Mold.
Best of all, Jirad was none the wiser. Disconnected from the Truth skill, he was unable to track the specific movement of the Void power. He remained passive for the most part, simply watching the Mold develop. Taking no action and preserving his own power as the Slime Mold grew the oasis and grew the Void power. Even so, the Slime Mold knew it would never resurrect the Voidgod. Without its own soul, it could not tap into aura or spirit magic, and would never have power enough to do so.
End of Short: The Truth
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