I felt a cold sensation run along my entire body, from my head it crawled down like water, but somehow it felt just wrong.
I opened my eyes and looked around, but there was nothing. I was in an empty room, and for some reason I couldn''t decide what color the walls were. Was the room bright or dark? As I breathed it didn''t feel as if I was inhaling any air, as if I wasn''t breathing at all. I could feel myself starting to panic. Why am I here? I fell down a ladder, atleast 15 meters. Am I in a coma? A sudden rush went through my head, as if a bomb had gone off nearby and I was hit by the shockwave.
"Ah, a new one" an indifferent voice spoke.
A figure walked past me, but when I tried looking at it, it seemed as if it disappeared. Only in my peripheral vision did it seem to exist.
"Not a good one this time, probably a low 30" the voice talked close to me, almost in a whisper.
"low 30?" I asked.
"You don''t need to be concerned with that"
"Where am I?"
"In between, one could say. Or after, or before. It doesn''t really matter to you either way"
The room now seemed lighter, and the walls where a light gray color. From the absolute nothingness in the middle of the room an orb was floating, it was also lightgray, but not quite the same color. The figure was also slightly more visible, the outline of it. It looked like a slim, white mannequin, with no face, nose or other features. The figure reached into the orb and pulled out a metal card, twice the width and length of a normal poker card. The card was black, but as the figure held it a golden symbol appeared on the card.
"A mushroom, unfortunate for you." the figure said, still in an indifferent, monotone voice.
"A mushroom? Why would a mushroom be unfortunate to me? What does that card mean?" I spoke, increasingly I was feeling more dread as this whole spectacle unfolded.
The figure ignored me, and clapped his hands together, but it did not make a sound. The orb vanished, also without a sound. It was as if I blinked and it disappeared. In its stead a spinning wheel appeared, like one of those you see at a carnival where they spin it to decide what prize you''d get.
"You may now spin the wheel" the figure said, still indifferent with no real emotion behind it.
"what does the wheel do?" I asked.
"You are not allowed that information"
"Then I am not gonna spin it" I replied. I wouldn''t play this game if I didn''t get some information.
"Hm. Then you will automatically get a 25"
I looked closer at the wheel, and saw that there were tiny numbers on each section. It seemed like atleast 70-100 sections at first glance. I stepped closer to the wheel and the figure remained silent and unmoving. I inspected the wheel, for atleast a few minutes, but time was hard to tell. I found numbers ranging from 1-100, and it seemed there were exactly 100 sections. I remembered the figures first words to me, that I looked like a low 30, and that that wasn''t a "good one". If I didn''t spin I''d automatically get a 25. And unfortunately for me, the black and gold card was a mushroom. What the fuck does any of this mean?. At the very least, I''d have to assume a high number on the wheel is better. A 25 is therefore quite horrible.
"So you won''t tell me why I am here, where this is, or why I have to spin the wheel?" I asked. I had managed to swallow a bit of the panic from earlier. I was trying to get my thoughts together, to think rationally about all of this.
"Correct" was all the figure gave me.
Ah fuck it. I have to spin it for anything to happen anyway, this is probably just a dream I am having while laying comatose in a hospital bed somewhere. I grabbed the wheel and gave it a good spin. The wheel also did not make a sound, and spun weirdly well for how much power I put into it. It spun for atleast a minute, and finally landed on 76.
"That''s fortunate for you" the figure was still indifferent. "If only you didn''t get a mushroom"
I felt as if I was going insane, what mushroom?
The figure clapped his hands, without a sound again. The wheel disappeared and four black cards appeared on a table. The cards looked like poker cards, but they were either face down, or it was like that earlier black card and had nothing on it, until the figure made the gold symbol appear on it.
"You may look at all of the cards, and pick whenever you choose. However, if you choose a card that is faced down on the table, you will get an upgraded version of that card"
I was done questioning this figure, and went ahead to the table and looked on the cards. Thinking rationally, I''d have to look at atleast one card to make any informed decision. I turned the card on the far left first. It depicted a mountain, almost entirely covered in snow. I suddenly felt really cold, and as if a harsh wind blew at me. That doesn''t really make any sense. Two cards might make it clearer, so I immediately turned the card on the far right. It showed a dark cave, with glowing moss and I got the feeling of being really far down somehow, and the air smelled damp.
Thinking about all the clues so far, I had played a few games before I took flight from that ladder. Board games, card games, computer games. This struck me as a starting setup for a strategy game. My starting resource node would be mushrooms, the number might mean starting population or starting wealth. I wasnt quite sure about that, but then this would maybe be my starting location. This figure seemed to like games, even if they all seemed to be simple games of chance. Assuming it is the setup for a game, I knew I wanted neither the cold mountain or the deep and dark cave. Then according to that logic, I turned the third card.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
A desert, with only dunes as far as I could see. I got the feeling that I was in the middle of nowhere, and the air was dry and the heat was unbearable. Shit. If this was a starting location for a game, any game really, none of these locations were good. In that case should I look at the final card, or simply pick it while it is face down. Was there a worse location I could pick? At this point I felt quite tired of these games, so I decided.
"I''ll pick the card that is face down"
"I see" the figure deftly picked the card up, and showed it to me. It was a deep forest, with massive trees. I could feel the refreshing air and the smell of herbs and vegetation. The temperature felt a little cold, as the trees blocked out most of the sun. I felt good about my choice, that was the card I would''ve picked even if all the cards were revealed.
"Which element do you choose?" the figure asked me.
"Element? Like earth, wind, water or fire? Or element on the periodic table?"
"The first example would do"
Hm. Is this like starting magic? I had no idea. In a forest earth magic would probably be the best. But this was a choice where I really didn''t have a clue what it eluded to. It might not even be magic. It could be resistance? In that case I''d want fire if I start the game in a forest. And I guess I wouldn''t be mad if I had fire magic either.
"I choose fire" I said, a little bit uncertainly.
"Okay"
The figure clapped his hands, and the table disappeared. The figure walked into the middle of the room, stopped, and turned to me. And it spoke.
"Beginning the reincarnation of soul entity. Starting species of soul entity: Mushroom. Potential: 76. Starting area: Deepwoods, on a dragonvein. Element: Fire. Starting transmission of soul entity to the crossworld of Mardarun"
"Reincarnation?" I blurted out.
Suddenly the room twisted in on itself, and I felt that same crawling, cold feeling I had felt earlier. My head felt like it was gonna explode, and then... nothing.
It was dark. I could not see anything. I could hear sounds, but they were muffled as if I heard them through a wall. I tried breathing, but I couldn''t. I panicked. I tried to scream but no sound emerged from my throat. It felt like I had no throat, no mouth or in fact no face at all. I must''ve spent atleast 15 minutes in this state of total and utter panic, but I finally calmed down a bit as I realised I was alive. I decided to try to figure out what was happening. I had feeling, although it felt weird somehow. I was quite sure I had no face, and I tried touching where my face would have been. I did not have arms or legs either. I tried feeling for anything, any sense I could still use. I somehow was quite sure which direction was up. I couldn''t explain how. I pushed myself further, exploring deeper what senses I could use.
In my head a "window" popped up.
It had information that I knew was of me. It read that I was a mushroom. I felt my heart drop, and then morbidly thought that I probably didn''t have a heart to "drop" anymore. The system came with different stats, all of the values were at 1 or less, except "Regeneration" which was at 2. As I inspected this system window, I found a tab that said mushrooms. As I opened it, a voice spoke to me. A gentle, female voice that sounded a little bit like artificial intelligence.
"Do you wish to choose your central mushroom?"
"Huh, ehrm, what is a central mushroom?" I was a little bit surprised, the voice seemed to come from inside my head.
"The central mushroom is half of the core of your being, if it dies, only half of your soul will remain until it is either regrown or your core in the mycelium is destroyed, in which case you die."
The mycelium is the "roots" of the mushroom. It is what allows mushrooms to grow and does a whole lot of things.
"Am I currently just the mycelium?" I asked the voice.
"Yes." It answered.
"What mushrooms can I grow, then?"
"Current choices are as follows. Firecap for a cost of 30 mana. Small puffcap: 2 mana."
I was waiting for more, but as the voice remained silent I understood that was all I''d get. I looked at the system window, and my max mana was at 39. Well, go big or go home I guess. The firecap seemed like the smartest choice for something that would protect my soul, rather than "small puffcap".
"I''ll choose firecap then"
"Acknowledged" the voice spoke.
And I felt as if I was stretching after sitting in chair all day. Slowly I started regaining vision, it was all very blurry at first, but gradually it became clearer. I saw a small clearing when I looked around, and somehow that I could look all around me. I tried looking at the mushroom that I had just grown, and my perspective swapped to look at myself. It was a weird feeling, it was as if I was not moving, but I could move "where I watched from". As if I was a flying drone with a camera moving around the forest clearing.
My mushroom was a normal shaped mushroom. A wide cap, and quite thick white stem. Underneath the cap there was a multitude of small holes, atleast a hundred. They were of a dark red color, almost like blood, but the flesh underneath the cap was white. The top of the cap however, was colored in what seemed to be a very reflective material. It was very light red in some places, and then there was a gradient to darker red colors, and it seemed it constantly changed these gradients in a sort of rhythm, or pattern. I once again looked out on the forest clearing, and saw that I could only see 10 meters or so, until a black wall seemed to block any vision.
I tried using my "drone" to push through the black wall, but it felt as if it just gently repelled me. As if gravity pushed me back. Thinking about it, the mushroom was what gave me vision. Maybe it only gives 10 meters of vision? I asked the female voice in my head.
"Is the mushroom vision limited"
The voice answered yes, but did not elaborate.
"Are you sentient, or are you a part of this system?" I asked the voice.
"I am the systems voice, given to those entities who start their life without all their previous senses"
"Oh, okay. What should I focus on doing right now?"
"I cannot answer any question that you cannot find yourself in your system window."
Ah, damn. I read a few reincarnation stories back on earth, I thought I had an overpowered advisor from the get-go.
I decided to read through the system a little bit more, and found out a few things. I could "decompose" biological matter that was above my mycelium. Doing so would earn me mana, and experience. I guess that''s a mushrooms duty, so fine. I was worried I had to kill monsters for experience, like som mushroom hero kind of deal. This makes it easier. It seems I can also level up my mushrooms independently. The central firecaps requirements is ashes. It doesn''t tell me how much ashes it needs, but it does have a progress bar that is at 0%.
I decided to shelve that problem for later, and looked around my small area of mycelium. It was approximately 5 meters in diameter.The area seemed unusually clean for a forest. There was really just a dirt patch where I spawned, conspicuously also 5 meters in diameter. I assume it''s because I reincarnated here that it became like that.
Nothing is ever easy is it. Well, if my second life is going to be as a mushroom, I am gonna make the best of it!