I thought about it. Atleast for an hour I debated with myself whether to go for one of each of the fungal workers. I can see how a forager is useful immediately. They could probably forage resources outside of my mycelium and bring it back for me to decompose. I assume the builders.. build? But what do they build? I might need the researcher to get blueprints for what to build. And the researcher sounds necessary, but do I need a prerequisite building for it to work in? Like a lab, or just a research desk somewhere.
The big upside with the fungal workers that I could see right now, is that they did not cost any upkeep in mana, or any other resource. However they could only work for 4 hours, before needing to root themselves in their quarters for recharge. Oh well, 4 hours are much better than not being able to get any decomposable materials at all.
I decided that I atleast need a forager. So I chose to make one of them a forager. A red sporecloud instantly emerged from me, covering the forager from my vision in a swirling red mist. It took about a minute for the sporecloud to dissipate. The fungal worker was now significantly larger, about twice the size and length of the others. It was about 10 cm tall, and the body (or stalk really) was maybe 3cm wide. The biggest change though, was that it now had a wider, red cap reminiscent of my own firecap. It''s stalk now was a darker shade, a light gray.
[Fungal Worker] Has been promoted to [Fungal Forager (Fire Element)]. Oh, it gains my element when I upgrade it. That seems neat, however looking at its information it did not seem to have any skills other than [Forage]. It was level one, and I could only see the experience bar in percentage form. Of course it was at 0% currently.
It bowed to me, and then went on its way towards a nearby tree, outside of my mycelium range. It picked up some sticks and other materials. I assumed it was already working on getting me items for decomposition, so after watching it for a while I went back to the other two fungal workers, dutifully waiting nearby my central firecap. Seeing the foragers movement speed, and how agile it seemed even with it''s appearance as a cute mushroom, I decided one was enough for now. Next was the choice whether I''d go for a builder or a researcher. I was a bit reluctant to choose researcher first. It seemed to me that a researcher would be something I''d need later, and a builder might be able to build walls, or move my mycelium core. So with that thought in mind I chose builder for the next promotion.
Yet again, the red sporecloud emerged, and enveloped the fungal worker. And a minute later I got the notification.
[Fungal Worker] has been promoted to [Fungal Builder (Fire Element)].
The builder was shorter, maybe by 2cm compared to the forager. However, it had longer arms, and a stockier build. The stalk, or what would be its spine, seemed stronger somehow. It had the same coloration as the forager.
Unlocked [Defensive Wood Plating], [Fungal Watchtower] and [Farmhouse] blueprints.
Oh. Defensive wood plating was an addon I could build and attach to my mushrooms for increased toughness. That seemed very useful, and I briefly wondered if the system had heard my thoughts about the stupid placement of my cores, and my wish for toughness. I smiled a little bit in my mind, not that wood plating would do a whole lot if anything bigger than that Green Nutrat came visiting. It cost me quite a bit of wood for reinforcing just one mushroom though.
Fungal watchtower was also extremely useful. It cost me mana, and more wood than the plating, and also fiber. I assumed fiber would be collected from plants? There was some shrubs and other vegetation nearby, so I''d have to wait and see what my forager brought back. The watchtower increased my vision by 30 meters. 30! Thats triple my firecaps, and according to the system, all these buildings were upgradable.
The farmhouse was interesting, but the information on it was also quite a bit confusing. It cost less wood than the others, an only wood, but no mana or fiber. However it required a seed of a known plant. So I couldn''t build it even if my forager brought back wood for it. Also I did not know what it meant with "known plant". Did I have to focus and inspect it for its information? Or was it the researchers job to research it before I could get it?
The builder had already walked off while I was deep in thought. But the forager was on its way back, and I was utterly shocked at what I saw. The forager had already woven a basked with straps, that it had equipped as a sort of backpack with an open top. In its hand it had a small, sharpened stick, that looked like a farmers sickle. It stopped in front of me, and it said nothing, it couldn''t speak. But I knew it was awaiting orders, it was as if my mind was absolutely certain that was what it wanted. So I spoke in my mind.
"Go out and find me wood, fibers, and decomposable materials. And if you find a seed, immediately come back and show me. Otherwise continue foraging until you have to recharge."
The forager bowed and swiftly went to work. I saw it pick up and bundle a leaf together, and place it in his basket before scurrying of behind a tree for more materials.
I looked at the last worker. With the builder I had gotten three building blueprints unlocked, so now I was more willing to risk making this worker into a researcher. But I briefly wondered if it was better to make another forager. With mana, I could make another fungal workers quarters in a day or two. But if the researcher had any ways to improve my defenses, or gave me any offensive abilities I''d want that as soon as possible. It was after all not long after I almost got killed by an acorn. All the stories I read about heroes and demon kings, they strangely never mention the hardest challenge of all, the acorn and its summoned beast.
Jokes aside, I thought about the choice for a few more minutes and eventually decided.
[Fungal Worker] has been promoted to [Fungal Researcher (Fire Element)].
The researcher came out of my sporecloud. It looked as if it had a labcoat, but it was its coloration on the stalk that was pure white, and in the middle there was a darker stripe that made it look like a coat. Its cap was tall, but not wide, and a deep red color darker than my own firecap. It was the same size as the normal worker, if not for the cap which made it almost as tall as the forager. It was slim, and had small arms and legs.
Unlocked [Research Lab], [Research Tree] and [Tool Crafting].
Alright, good. I got the research lab that I wanted. However, it had the requirement of it being built underground, into my mycelium. It cost mana to build, and also a slight bit of wood. It was the cheapest in cost of wood, but by far the most expensive in mana. I was going to have to wait quite a bit for the mana to regenerate before I could build the lab. The researcher sent me the mental signal for orders, but I had none to give, really. According to the system, the researcher could only be used for research, and would not be able to do even menial labor if I commanded it to.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Go to the quarters and recharge until I call for you"
The slim mushroom jogged on its tiny legs over to the workers quarters. It bobbed quite a bit as it had a little hop in every step. Cute. The builder had now come back, and similarly to the forager it had made simple tools made of wood. It had a stick that looked like a crude shovel, and a stick with a blunt end that I assumed would be used as a hammer. It awaited my orders. So I commanded it to dig out an area for the research lab near to my central firecap. It started digging almost immediately, and it had quite the speed and strength. After watching it for about 15 minutes I figured it take approximately 5-7 hours for it to get it done. So two of its four hour workdays. That wasn''t so bad, I would not have the mana for the research lab tomorrow anyway.
The forager came back, and went over to the storage mushroom. It deposited materials into the mushroom, put the basket on its back and went back out to forage. It had put the leaf and some other compostable material into the storage mushroom, so now I had to try to figure out how to use the storage.
In the games I used to play there was often an "inventory" so I tried focusing as hard as possible on that thought. Nothing happened. I tried chanting "Withdraw" and "Open Storage" in my mind. I read the storage mushrooms system information, I even inspected the storage mushroom. It gave me no clue to how I should use it. It took me a good few hours to figure out how it worked, and the forager had come back five times during that period.
I had to imagine the inside of the mushroom itself. I had to look at that hole in the stalk, and imagine a warehouse, and suddenly in my mind I saw massive shelves, with item information on each shelf. I thought of "decomposable" materials and it was like it input the information straight into my mind. I could not see the materials, but I knew how many of which item I had. I thought of withdrawing all the decomposable materials, and they disappeared from the warehouse in a flash.
I exited the warehouse in my mind, and I was suddenly back in the world. Outside of it, in a neat pile was all of the materials I just withdrew. I used my skill to decompose all of them. They gave me quite a bit of mana and experience, but none of them were worth as much as even the acorn. All together though, I estimated it was about three times of my natural mana regeneration, so it was a welcome boost. Especially if a nutrat showed up again, I''d have enough mana to fire off a few firespikes.
---
So, its been a couple days of foraging and decomposing. Ive built a few more firecaps, as I thought with my stable recovery of mana I should have the defense ready before I started using my materials to build the different structures. I''d hate to lose any of my expensive structures, as wood was not easy to come by even though we were in a forest. I was also worried about Freddy, Bobby and Ricky. Yes I named my mushroom men. Freddy the forager, Bobby the builder and Ricky the researcher. Easy to remember. The plan for today is to build the research lab, as Ricky hasn''t had anything to do since I promoted him.
However, I was waiting until level five before I built it, as I was now a few experience away, and currently decomposing an assortment of leaves that Freddy brought back.
[Level 5 achieved]
Unlocked [Class Change]
Please choose the class out of the options offered. The options are:
[Mushroom Warrior] Allows for the movement of your central mushroom, can summon an upgradable weapon and armor, and increases toughness and strength significantly.
[Mushroom Elementalist] Allows for the movement of your central mushroom, can cast elemental spells, and summon a small, lesser elemental of the elements you have acquired. Casting of non-attribute magic and arcane magic is also possible.
[Mushroom Territory] Empowers your central mushroom, giving it more stats the larger your mycelium network is. Entities who are not summoned by the mushroom, who live on the territory and acknowledges the mushrooms claim to the territory can be empowered by the mushroom. Entities who are not summoned by the mushroom, who live on the territory also grant a bonus of stats for the central mushroom, and the mycelium network if they acknowledges the mushrooms ownership.
Alright, hold up. I can move? I can actually be a mushroom hero, running about killing dragons? I am extremely tempted to choose the elementalist. Casting spells, like an actual for real wizard this time, would be awesome. The warrior is also good, but I do not have faith that even with the toughness increase, I would not get murdered by a random animal of the forest. My toughness right now is pathetic, so a significant increase, even if it is four times of what I am now would not amount to much.
But then, after actually thinking about it, I am not very good in fights. I''ve never once won a fistfight when I was human, I have a tendency to freeze up and just not do anything. My fight or flight response is basically only "stand still and get punched". The acorn and the nutrat almost threw me in a full panic. Had the nutrat approached me without the acorn hitting me first, I might have not collected my thoughts enough to attack with a firespike in time. So being a mushroom warrior or elementalist could be a fatal mistake.
The mushroom territory, if I am going to be honest, seems to allow me to have others fight for me. And even though I am quite annoyed about not being able to move, it is not the worst feeling in the world. I can feel other things now, that I could not as a human. My network underground feels the earth breathe, and my "drone" vision is amazing, even though it is currently limited by my vision range. My mind is not the same as when I was human, it differs slightly. I feel happy when I see an insect of some kind skittering on the trees nearby, the growth and health of the nearby plants gives me a sense of peace. These things can be "felt" by me, in a way I could not as a human. So being immobile is not that horrible.
I thought about this choice for nearly the entire day. My mushroom men had long since gone to recharge in their quarters when I came to the decision. I chose [Mushroom Territory].
You have chosen [Mushroom Territory]. Please name yourself, and your territory.
Shit. I am not very good at names, and I don''t want to use my old name, that''d be weird for a mushroom. What would you name a sentient, magical fungus? Hmmm.
This decision took about an hour, until I finally gave up and chose to combine "magical" and "fungus" into Mafu. Yup, I am Mafu the magical fungus. And since I now rule over a territory, I shall name it the Fungal Fief!
Acknowledged. Entity [Mafu] has become the territory lord of the [Fungal Fief]. Name of the territory can be changed at any point, for a cost of mana. The name of entity [Mafu] is now set for the rest of your lifetime.
Unlocked [Warriors Barracks], [Archery Range], [Mana Collector] blueprints.
Unlocked [Designate Subordinate], [Telepathic Link], [Grant Vassalage], and [Grant Territory].
"Stats increased. Mycelium network now provides vision directly above it. A notification will be given if entities not registered to your fungal fief enter your territory".
My mind felt as if it suddenly expanded extensively. I got something like a headache, and there was a shrill sound ringing in my ears as I felt the mycelium network more clearly. I could feel every strand throughout my entire network. I could feel that there was an ant passing on the edges of my network, and my hearing got alot better. I could suddenly hear the wind rustling through the leaves of the trees above me, and the low hum of a flying insect somewhere over on the other side of my storage mushroom.
As I calmed down, and my senses settled in, I felt so happy. It was as if I did not know I was thirsty and got to drink water for the first time in a week. I did not know that my senses could improve this much, if I had eyes I would have been crying. I took some time exploring my territory through my other senses other than vision for a good while, it was as if I closed my eyes and melded with the world. As I was about to "open my eyes" again, I heard it.
It was a bad sound, and I immediately swapped my vision over to it.
"Entity Goblin Scout has enter your territory" the system announced. I already saw it, and I felt fear unlike anything before. Not even the nutrat scared me this much.
My territory might rise and fall in the same hour.