“There it is all done.” I stood back and stared at the cabin, it was finally done. It had only been about a week, but working 16 hours a day for two cabins to fit one person each made it relatively easy. Especially when I could do most of the lifting myself.

“Wow, I didn’t think we would finish it this fast. But thank goodness, I could use a few minutes of privacy.” Cat was getting fed up with the lack of closed doors in the place.

I could understand it, not having Myc to help limit smell and sweat. Being able to wash myself off in the lake without having to worry about bacteria or parasites made ruffing it easy. Cat and Nate were forced to boil water and wipe themselves down with some extra scrap cloth I had. No privacy to just slink into the lake, it would start to get to anybody.

“So now that it has been a week, we have our cabins, we have gotten settled down, and we are definitely planning on staying. Would it be alright if I ask what the hell is in that cooler of yours.” Nate had been bugging me about the cooler since he looked in it the first day he got here. I couldn’t tell them without giving away Myc so I decided to just dodge the question like usual.

Perhaps you should tell them about me. Their decision isn’t final until we can infect them with my spores. Keeping it hidden will only make them more suspicious when you do reveal my presence.

“No.” To both of you. “Get settled and move your stuff in there. Now that the cabins are done, I want to start setting up the farms. You two will need more than just wild fruits and nuts to survive.”

“Just us two.” Cat was still skeptical about ‘my deal’. I knew she was suspicious, so I drank dirty water and ate raw food. I seemingly never slept or bathed, it was actually kind of weird that Nate hadn’t asked about it. He was determined to find out about the two capsules in my cooler.

“So I am going to find some branches to make a couple of hoes, you guys can figure out a good channel to divert some of the river to irrigate the fields.” They nodded their acceptance, so I headed into the woods. Myc wasn’t capable of keeping bone into a solid form, the need for veins to move through it meant it needed nutrients to stay in shape. However, we had been doing some experimenting and found that while bones couldn’t hold their form, wood did.

We still weren’t sure on the exact reasoning, we suspected that it was due to a mix of my human DNA and Myc’s, whatever it had. It was attempting to do what the DNA told it to do, make blood cells, storing and releasing fat and minerals. So as it attempted to do that, Myc’s stuff was attempting to help it.

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This resulted in essentially a feedback loop of continuously burnt energy, instead of holding its shape. So Myc’s moss would break down the bone to help it continue its vain attempt at performing its normal function. As the bone lost more and more structure and its DNA was corrupted it spewed out more energy. The moss continued to break it down, faster and faster until it crumpled into a dust of spent energy.

So, while we could go through the trillions of lines of DNA to reset and focus on the task of creating a bone tool, which we were doing. It would take too long, so for now we were using cellulose.

Myc found it easier to make plant based materials far easier than human ones. It also meant that there wasn’t any of my DNA in it to get mixed into the fold. It was Myc converting material into plant matter which could be controlled easier. Therefore we could make wooden tools without needing to be connected to us directly.

It was a big step forwards, although the downside was that to make the materials Myc couldn’t directly use my flesh. So it took more energy and longer to make the tools, compared to the bone ax. Luckily we were in stable territory currently and Myc could absorb material from the ground to make up for the lost material.

After a few hours wandering the woods, pretending to find materials to make some hoes. A strangely white hoe and shovel in each hand, and a concerned look from the siblings that were marking pathways for our irrigation.

“Why are they white?” Cat looked at me like I had just stolen these from some poor old lady. That or the more likely response that I was making them from bones of my victims. Although it seems we have come to a better understanding so maybe not the mass murder thing.

“Because.” They still didn’t need to know where they came from.

So with the siblings unsatisfied curiosity not satiated, we got to work on what was going to be a large farm. It was sectioned into four different areas, using the old 4-field rotating system. Rotating the crops around would allow the soil to be fertilized and healthy for every season.

Since we weren’t planning on selling most or really any of it if we could help it. We could continue the cycle, without having to worry about starving the fields or not making enough money from the non-cash crops.

We would have to eventually get the seeds from town, however hopefully if we got a good variety it would be just the one time. I am questioning if Myc’s abilities would stretch that far, but apparently Myc was more than confident. Being able to replant most of the seeds from the plants we harvested would be useful and cheap.

However, the growing season was still at least a couple months away, so for now we were just getting set up. We would track the river upstream and make sure the flow was as strong as it could be.

Then making sure we were far enough from increased flow, you know incase of flooding. We would section out large plots for the different plants, we would have essentially three fields all working on the 4-field system each. A mix of twelve different vegetables and grains should be a good enough mix. Especially since we would also need to expand the orchard, getting a few new fruits and nuts trees.

Then once we had enough flowing water and the plots laid out we would make paths through the field that the water could flow through. Before letting the excess drain back into the pond at the bottom. We would need to make gates to stop the water from constantly flowing through the paths. Soil erosion would be a consequence of the flowing paths no matter what but, this was hopefully temporary. We would eventually find a way to make sprinklers or if Myc could expand enough an all natural system of plant based water pressure systems.