Ren also bought a [Tortobas] when he found that Florin was selling one. Tortobas were rare species of giant tortoise that had the ability to grow nts on their shells.
They could grow depending on the amount of food they ate. Their adult size could range from one meter to fifty meters over the course of time.
Some even ended up growing an entire ecosystem on their backs. Since their shells were curbed at the edges, when it rained and when they dived, they could carry hundreds of liters of water, fish, and aquatic ecosystems with them, creating artificialkes around the shells, which, thanked to their rooting properties, could allow aquatic nts to survive.
Ren could acquire one inkes, but he didn''t want to go through the trouble of doing it. If he could save time by buying the items he needed, then the better.
If yers were busy hunting, goblins, or rescuing owlbear cubs from trees to go foraging, the nts they needed could be found for sale or trade across thend. Though they were in few quantities, and never could they found rare to Legendary nts sold in the market.
While they might found that the moremonponents for sale at a regr market, they could also visit any of the Botanist''s Guild guildhouses or Herbalists Shops to trade for umon and rare nts, sell any unneeded botanical supplies, or discover the location of hard-to-find specimens.
They could also pick extra work or quests from the guild to earn some additional coins.
After his short interaction with Florin, Ren proceeded deeper into the woonds, where he finally arrived at Mycelial Groves.
yers who didn''t know about this ce would find that it was the most dangerous ce in all of the Elven Realm.
Sentient fungi folks were usually peaceful and lived in close-knitmunities. Many had formed ofmunal telepathy or empathy, which, when twisted, was a terrible thing. Whether attacked during a time of failed consciousness or manipted by some fiend or aberration, what was once amunity of empathic individuals bes a screaming hive of hunger known as the Mycelial Grove.
The Grove released wave after wave of spores until the terrain itself was connected to its being. Then it waited until something fell into its midst, and, like dozens of carnivorous nts acting as one, it turned on its prey.
No one knew just how far the Mycelial rootwork extended. There was also the crucial question of whether a grove was a single mutated creature or a swarm of creatures operating as one.
Anyone who worked in the woods knew to tell people that fungi were serious business. yers who were trying to forage identally poisoned themselves all the time. Wanted shrooms for a good time and ended up with death caps? The woods didn''t care.
? For creatures so much smaller than them, the potential ways fungi could kill them were vast – infecting their brains, so they could climbed high enough to spread spores until death, rotting them from the inside or using their still-living flesh as a breeding ground. Nature was the horror game they wished they could write, and the scariest thing of all, it really wasn''t personal.
However, Ren had to brave all that because just passed this, Grove was the Queen Fairy''s Tomb.
Ren believed that the Mycelial Grove was put here as an additional guard.
Ren looked over at the darkest parts of the old woond. With the moss and rotting deadwood piled high in the undergrowth, he stumbled into a hallow. In the center of the Grovey an enormous tree covered in brown and purple fungal growth. Atop the trunk, the fungus rigs the tree like a crown over the hint of a face in the holes and knots of bark.
Sentient fungal colonies that came from underground and could release a variety of toxic spores. They were typically peaceful when let alone, but the creatures'' territory was farrger than it appeared, thanks to an expansivework of underground roots.
There were three parts in the Grove. The Deadwood Hallow which was the entrance. The Glowing Garden which was the middle part, and the Drider Graveyard is at the end.
Ren must go through three areas if he wanted to reach the previous Queen Fairy''s Tomb.
There was no going around it.
Taking a deep breath, Ren entered the hollow after equipping [Monarch Sovereignty] in one hand and [Infernal Scepter] in the other.
The deadwood hollow sensed Rening even if he was at least twenty meters away. It released [Awakening Spores] in advance and created at least one Deadwood Servant.
Once Ren entered the hollow, he thought that he had stumbled across a particrly aggressive treant with an infectious disease. Fires were easily distinguished here because of the dampness of the ce, and it only served to anger the fungi and nts in here.
Once inside, Ren was ambushed by the Deadwood Servant and a [Branch] attacking from the Deadwood Hallow before releasing [Rotting Spores]. It wanted to poison him and attacked it while activating its [Lair Actions] as early as possible to keep its prey from escaping.
The earth shook, throwing dirt and rock up into the air, and Ren casted [Gravity Zone] to stop the rocks and dirt from hitting him. At the same time, all the spores released by the hollow were useless against Ren because of the [Monarch Sovereignty] ability to null.
Ren continued forward while he activated [Touch of the Golden Sun] when all the nts attacked him. The Deadwood Servant attempted to tackle him on the ground but upon contact with him, it disintegrated into dust.
However, more Deadwood Servants took its ce while every branch, vine, and nt attacked Ren. With the things attacking him, they formed a thick web of vines and he couldn''t see where he was walking and was only guided by Pii on where to go. And thanks to his [Touch of the Golden Sun], everything that grazed him turned into piles of ashes.
Ren prepared these spells exactly for this case. If it was a group of yers'' first time entering the hollows, they''d be wiped out for sure if they didn''t bring any immunities against all kinds of status effects like poison, stun, charm, and sleep.