The only good encounter I have had so far is the first negotiation with Taressa, and that only ended well because of our mutually beneficial contract and situation. So I prepared for battle.


    My five mushroom warriors were notified of the direction and started marching toward the mycelium border. It was only 45 meters away, I had grown quite a bit due to the new ants, but my territory was not large. I started conversing telepathically with Taressa.


    "How many intruders?"


    "Four."


    "Goblins?"


    "No, but they walk on two legs."


    "Humans?" I was secretly quite interested in getting in contact with humans, but this felt far too early in my development.


    "Not quite."


    "What do you mean by that?"


    "They seem to have features that do not belong."


    Features? I was a little bit confused, but this was a conversation for later.


    "Can we win against them?"


    "My children alone can win."


    Alright, great. Then the plan is to find out who they are. I still wanted to be cautious, as I assumed Taressa could be wrong or simply too arrogant as a queen to recognize others strength.


    "See if you can capture them. I would appreciate it if you could talk them into surrendering and bringing them within range of my firecaps at the border. I wish to speak to them."


    "Understood. We can do that."


    I detected a bit of disappointment in Taressas voice. She seemed to not like humans a lot. Well, it does not matter, as long as she followed the orders I gave. The ants right now are more important to me than humans, but we can''t kill everyone who enters our forest, that would not only be cruel but also counterproductive.


    The intruders immediately surrendered to the ants, but since they were outside of the borders of my mycelium, I could not see the battle if there was one. Soon four figures appeared out of the shadows of the trees and were escorted by ants all around them. They looked scared, frail, and the oldest one looked as if he was about to collapse.


    But that was not the first thing I noticed. The features Taressa spoke of were animal features. Two of them, a boy and a girl who both looked to be somewhere around ten years old, had cat ears sticking out on top of the back of their heads. The girl had long, all-black hair that reached her waist, and the ears were black as well. On her hands there were black claws coming out of the tip of each finger, but also normal, human fingernails. The boy also had black hair that reached his shoulders, but there were streaks of blonde hair and blonde fur on his ears. Both of them had intense lime-green eyes, and the pupil was that of a cat instead of a human. They were both slender, more than you''d expect kids to be, and were just about taller than my central firecap.


    Both the cat people looked around and reacted to every bit of noise that surrounded them. They did not particularly look scared, rather, they were looking for a way out.


    The oldest one among them was a short old man. He looked to be about 150 cm long, maybe? His white skin was covered with wrinkles, interspersed with some green patterns. His hair was brown, and he looked mostly human in general. But his mouth was open, and he only had eight teeth. Four in his upper jaw, four in his lower jaw. They were thicker than normal human teeth, and he was not missing any teeth. It looked like he had teeth for crushing, not for ripping meat. His eyes were gray, and it looked like he was staring in the direction of my central firecap. I took note to be careful with letting him close.


    Slightly hiding behind him was another girl, maybe 7 or 8 years old. Her hair was pure white and seemed to go in all directions. It was hard to tell how long it was. On the side of her head there were two horns growing. They bent backwards, curved around, and pointed forwards. It looked to be some sort of sheep person. She was shorter than my central firecap and a little bit chubbier than the cat people. Her eyes were blue, and she was mostly looking down or at the old man. She was clearly scared, and in my mind I noted her as the one to not be too mindful of if it came to combat.


    All of them wore some sort of burlap shirt and pants that were tearing in different places.


    "Bend the knee, you have entered our territory without permission and will now be judged" Taressa spoke.


    That was a bit harsh, I did not really want to start this off in such a hostile manner, but what is done is done.


    "Greetings, I am Mafu, and I rule this piece of forest." I spoke to the group. The younger ones looked around to see who was talking to them, but the older man calmly responded.


    "Greetings, Mafu, I am Toqlan."


    "Why have you come here, Toqlan?"


    "Me and these children are escaping. We are slaves, and due to some circumstances, we got a chance to escape our masters."


    Slaves, huh. I figured they were poor or thieves with that clothing.


    "Elaborate. Where did you flee from? Is anyone following you? What are your plans?"


    I talked a bit too much for a dignified ruler of a territory, but my curiosity had the better of me. I needed information outside of this little piece of land, I did not realize how much I missed feeling connected to a bigger world.


    "We fled from a frontier village that has no name, about three days on foot from here. Our master was killed in a disagreement, and his slavemaster''s ring fell off and was trampled by a horse not long after. We do not know if anyone is following, and we fled to this forest because the humans fear it."Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Hmm. More questions popped up in my head as he spoke. And he did not look healthy, so I decided to ask more specific questions.


    "Are you aware that you are outmatched in strength? My ants number over 5000, and the five fungal warriors could win against you on their own."


    "Yes, we are aware that we are at your mercy." Toqlan spoke in a resigned tone.


    "When did you last eat?"


    "We have not eaten in more than three days. We found a stream earlier this day and drank some water, but have found no food."


    I decided to offer them a contract, like I did with Taressa.


    "I will feed and protect you in exchange for information about the wider world. I may also have other orders for you, such as foraging and other tasks. Is this acceptable?"


    I felt a distinct angry emotion coming in from Taressas direction. I mentally waved it away.


    "Yes, but I do not understand. We were told we would be judged for our transgression."


    "That was the opinion of Queen Taressa, the ants are all her children, and they are the military arm of my territory to some extent. I do not really care about you entering my territory, as long as you do not harm the ants or my mushrooms."


    "Understood, we will make sure not to do so."


    "Also, know that if you do show any hostile intent, I will not stop Taressa from taking action. She is a psychic ant and can read your mind."


    Toqlan swallowed nervously and nodded in agreement. I spoke to Taressa.


    "Make them an area, and have some of your ants guard them and make sure they do not do anything bad."


    "Are you sure? It is easier to kill them. They may not be well fed, but they would still provide food and experience."


    "We need allies and information. If we feed and protect them, they will tell us what we need to know. That information is worth far more than the experience and food we would gain from killing them. I also do not wish to attack those that do not attack us."


    "Understood. I will try to see it your way."


    She sounded less hostile but not entirely convinced that they deserved to live. I had to work on changing Taressas values in the future. I would rather not let loose a massive murderous ant colony on the world. Well, now onto the next issue, feeding the former slaves. I spawned a sugardrop mushroom next to their new campsite and had them place leaves under it. I set the mushroom to spawn 20 drops an hour and informed them of it. It would help them survive, but it was not enough.


    I wondered if my sugardrop mushrooms were edible, not just the sugardrop part but the entire thing. I spawned a sugardrop mushroom next to me and had one of my axemen chop it down and drag it into my fungal pool. If I needed information, I believed the pool would give it to me.


    The pressure of putting the sugardrop mushroom into the pool was not the same as the spearman. It still overwhelmed me for a second or so, but then it subsided. I looked through all the information on it, and it seemed that the flesh of the mushroom was not poisonous but also did not contain any real nutrition. I looked at the small containers containing sugardrops in them and analyzed the sugardrops themselves. They were pure carbohydrates, sugar in other words. Hm.


    I started spawning mushrooms and having my warriors pull them down into the pool. This went on the entire day. I was fairly focused on the nutritional value of the mushrooms.


    [Fungal Pool option unlocked: Nutritional Alteration]


    Oh, a new menu was available in the pool. I was currently analyzing a storage mushroom. In the new menu I could use a slider on different components of nutrition. I could increase carbohydrates, protein, fat, and different vitamins. I could change pretty much everything it contained. I started by maxing out all the sliders and chose the option to save the blueprint.


    [Maximal Mushroom unlocked]


    Oh, so that is how I get new mushrooms. I took a look at the new mushroom and facepalmed. Well, I have neither a face nor a palm, but if I had them I would. The new mushroom cost over a hundred times my maximum mana. I made a superfood that could feed dozens, so of course the cost would be ridiculous.


    I went back to the pool and started making a mushroom that would give protein and fat. I did not max out the sliders and tried to be conservative. I wanted a meat replacement in mushroom form basically. After I saved the blueprint, it was called [Meatshroom] and had a cost that was manageable. I also made a [Vitashroom] that contained some basic vitamins.


    I spawned the two mushrooms next to the campsite.


    "Toqlan, these mushrooms will sustain you. Do not remove them from the ground; you can cut the tops off and grill them. That way they will stay fresh for the days to come.


    "Okay, thank you. Where should we build a fire?"


    Oh right, a fire. If there were people following them, a fire would be bad. A firecap would be better. So I had them gather some stones, and when they had assembled a fireplace, I put a firecap in there.


    "I will light the firecap three times a day for your meals. I will contact you beforehand.


    "Okay."


    I let the four of them eat, and they looked happy with the food. They ate more than I expected, but then again I had never starved for three days. After they had rested a bit after the food, I contacted them again.


    "Was the food acceptable?"


    "Yes, thank you for your kindness. We had almost given up on surviving. This demon forest was our last bet, but it turned out to be a blessed forest.


    "As I said before, your payment for food and protection is information. But first we should have some introductions. Name, race, and age of all your companions to start with."


    "Understood."


    Toqlan pointed to the catlike girl and asked her to introduce herself in her mind.


    "I am Kira, a cat-kin, and this is my little brother Akro. I am 10 years old, he is 9." She pointed at the boy, who in my eyes had seemed the older one.


    "I am Ula, a sheep-kin, and I''m 7."


    "I am Toqlan, a honu-kin, and I am 302 years old."


    That last one caught me off guard. 302?!


    "You are 302 years old?" I asked, my tone was quite surprised.


    "Yes, honu-kin, or what the humans call tortoises, are long-lived animals. My ancestors signed the pact with the Honu, and we attained longevity and perfect memory in exchange for strength and agility."


    "The pact?"


    "We come from a world that is quite different from this one. We too were humans once. Our goddess was the all-encompassing Omnia. She loved every living being in our world and allowed us to sign a pact with each other. The pact would share our strengths and reduced the weaknesses incurred. The humans in our pact gained near immortality and perfect memory, and the Honu gained adaptability and intelligence."


    Interesting. That was quite out of left field, but I guess I am now aware that there are real gods. I used to be an atheist, as most other scientists. But what interested me more was the otherworldly origin.


    "You are all from another world?"


    "Yes, of course. The humans of this world invaded our world and captured us. They then destroyed our world and captured our goddess. They enslaved all the ones of us with value and killed the rest."


    "How long ago did this happen?"


    "154 years, 6 months, and 2 days ago."


    Alright, so the humans of this world are invaders of another world. That did not make me happy. I can overlook quite a few things, as my emotions and desires did not seem to be the same as when I was human. But slavery and destroying worlds? That was not something I wanted in my territory, and I would expand. Eventually I will have to deal with this. At this point I decided to trust these slaves fully.


    "I need to introduce myself fully. Toqlan, please follow the ant I am about to send to you."


    Toqlan followed the ant I asked Taressa to send. Taressa also decided to come to my central firecap, as she did not trust the slaves. As he arrived at my central firecap, his gaze only fell on my main mushroom.


    "I am Mafu, owner of the mushroom territory called the Fungal Fief. I am level 10, and I have been in this world for some two months. I was originally a human from another world. I died in an accident and was reincarnated here. My world was not connected to any other worlds, and it did not have magic. My goals are to expand and to gain levels. I do not condone slavery and aim to coexist with those I deem worthy. This is a show of trust to you, as I deem you both valuable and worthy."


    Toqlan fell to his knees, and I saw tears form in his eyes. Why? I didn''t do anything worthy of tears?


    "Omnia has granted us a challenger!"


    Challenger?