Chương 88: Death Cap - Forty-One - Days Passing in Self Improvement

I checked back on my bid the next day, then the day after, then every day for the next week. After the first week passed, I started to check every-other-day, then once a week. At some point, it became a habit to run over on weekends to see if there was anyone answering the bid. I was constantly tempted to increase the amount I would pay out, but at the same time... well, it was a lot of money to spend, and I couldn't bring myself to spend it. Time passed relatively quickly, mostly because I was as busy as could be.

The more time that passed without me finding someone, the stronger I became. First, I took up jogging as something of a hobby. I found a stretch of the catwalks on the second level of the slums that rarely had anyone on it, and started running back and forth for a few minutes each day. I didn't see much progress, but my [Running] skill did improve, initially by a level every couple of days, then even slower as time went on. I didn't mind the slow progress.

It was progress, and that's what mattered for the moment, even if only a couple of minutes of sprinting left me gasping for air with lungs that didn't seem able to pull enough. I felt healthier, and a steady diet of [Healing Chimes] was certainly helping, but I think I had some deeper issues that those mushrooms couldn't help. They were magical, technically, but I think there was a limit to how much magic could heal.

My nutrition wasn't great to start with, and while I wasn't as sickly-thin as I'd once been, I was still a bagful of twigs as far as musculature went. I had a steady and reliable source of protein and probably a few other important nutrients, but my diet lacked variety, even if I was willing to spend a little to get mom better ingredients to cook with. I had to start branching out to non-mushroom-y things. It didn't matter too much in the end. I was feeling a little better.

At the rate I was going I wouldn't have to worry so much about starving to death. I never got [Running] high enough to gain the next subskill at level sixty, but I did improve some of my other skills. [Aura of Growth] was the first major skill to hit its next milestone. It took a fair amount of work, what with diminishing returns coming into play, but I think using the skill nearly-constantly and on new and different mushrooms all the time helped it improve.

That might have been part of the system's gimmick for growth, actually. Doing the same rote task over and over would hit a hard limit early on, but trying new and challenging things helped compensate for that. It meant that people working the same spot in a factory were out of luck when it came to constant growth and improvement. I wouldn't say I was addicted to the progression, having come from a world without it, but I still shuddered at the idea of improving so slowly. [Congratulations! Your [Aura of Growth {Rare}] Skill has unlocked the [Unrestricted Growth] Subskill!] [Unrestricted Growth] Even in places where growth is improbable, you can endow the seeds you've planted with your essence, encouraging the unrestricted ability to grow on all you touch. Practice will increase your efficiency with this subskill. I, of course, tested that.

First by growing some [Brown Chanterelle] on some random bricks outside, then with more complicated and uncommon mushrooms in places where they weren't naturally predisposed to growing. The limitations were obvious. Mushrooms would only grow when I was applying my aura to them. Areas that were too hostile would inevitably lead to the mycelium breaking apart or being ruined by the environment.

Still, the subskill made it possible to grow mushrooms just about anywhere as long as I was there and applying a light amount of attention to their growth. It was mana-intensive though, at least at first. The big advantage came from the experience gained from growing things in places they didn't belong. My next skill, in order, to gain enough levels to unlock a subskill was [Blight]. Probably because I was practising with it so much and had weaponized it a few times. [Congratulations! Your [Blight {Epic}] Skill has unlocked the [Rigour Mortis] Subskill!] [Rigour Mortis] By applying your Blight onto the living, you can force their muscles to contract, their skin to tighten, and their organs to writhe with the early symptoms of death's grasp. That sounded awesome, but as was often the case with magical abilities I gained, it wasn't as strong in application as it was on paper. Sir Nibbles, after being bribed a little, ran out and found me a rat or two.

The badger was a sort of unnaturally strong predator in the slums, able to enter rat warrens and rip them apart, regardless of their larger size. I used my newly empowered [Blight] on one of these in a cage, and its consequences were fairly obvious. If I concentrated the [Blight] on a specific limb or area, that area would not only necrotize on the surface, it would also lock up. Limbs would stiffen and organs would fail. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Interestingly, it was more temporary than [Blight]'s other effects and it took a moment for the localised paralysis to take effect. Still, for all that it was a bit niche, it did have its uses. I could freeze up limbs. Paralysing an adversary, even if it wasn't all of them, could change the tempo in a fight. And with more control over my [Blight] I could shove it down throats and at eyes. Paralysing something's entire face had a wonderful ability to make that thing go absolutely nuts.

The next skill I got came from hours of practice. Surprisingly, it seemed to relate to Sir Nibbles more than I would have expected it to. It also made my rat-based experimentation a lot less comfortable than it had been. [Congratulations! Your [Druid Sight {Uncommon}] Skill has unlocked the [Druid's Ear] Subskill!] [Druid's Ear] You have listened to nature long enough that you have an empathic understanding of natural things. This will improve with practice.

It bothered me that a skill called [Druid Sight] gave me the ability to hear nature better. Although, it was less about hearing, and more about understanding. Now, when I slowly killed a caged rat, I could understand its squeaks and moans enough to tell that it was begging for freedom, from the cage and from the pain I was subjecting it to. I stopped the experiments. Sir Nibbles was very miffed about it, and used the new subskill to express that to me at length.

He liked the chase, though I didn't stop him from hunting for sustenance. Mushroom Magic hit level forty, and I got one of the most potent skills I'd ever seen from a subskill. [Congratulations! Your [Mushroom Magic {Rare}] Skill has unlocked the [Mushroom Remaker] Subskill!] [Mushroom Remaker] As long as you have a spore linked to a previously self-grown mushroom, you can influence its growth along a similar path. It took me a bit to untangle that.

When I did, I was flabbergasted, because that was not how nature worked. I could, simply put, take a spore of one mushroom, and turn it into the spore of another. But only if the mushroom was part of the same evolutionary path. That meant that I could take some [Beige Puffball] spores and magic them into [Dead Man's Cough] with nothing but mana. It took a ton of mana. I was left a shaking, sweating mess after using the skill on a needle-tip's worth of spores, but it worked. In theory, given...

significantly larger stores of mana and more efficiency, I might be able to recreate my entire mushroom arsenal from a few base samples. If I had to abandon my farm, I could walk around, find a few common mushrooms, and have most of my best shrooms back. It would take days still, but... yeah. Handy. Not something I'd be able to practice too much though, its mana-cost was too ridiculous. The last improved subskill came from my [Social Manipulation] skill. [Congratulations! Your [Social Manipulation {Uncommon}] Skill has unlocked the [Too Cute to Kill] Subskill!] [Too Cute to Kill] As long as people perceive you as weak, innocent, or defenceless, they will find it much harder to suspect you of any activity they imagine to be morally reprehensible. There was a lot of leeway in that one's wording, but I would sure take what I could get. I suspected that I would need every 'get away with homicide card' I could get my grubby hands on. All I needed to do was leverage my looks for it.

It disturbed me a little, but the payout might be worth it. The day after I got that skill, I was given the opportunity to put it to the test. It was mid-winter, and someone had finally agreed to my bid.

Name: N/A Race: Human {Common} Age: 7 Years Mana: 41/49 Primary Class: [Feronie's Crusader {Epic}] Afflictions - Black Lung {Common} - Child of Poverty {Common} Blessings - Blessing of Feronie {Unique} Feronie's Crusader Class Skills - Level One Hundred Ninety-Two - Aura of Growth {Rare} - Level Sixty-One > [Shaped Aura] > [Careful Casting] > [Unrestricted Growth] - Blight {Epic} - Level Forty > [Persistent Death] > [Rigour Mortis] - Ritual of Sporemageddon {Legendary} - Level One - Druid Sight {Uncommon} - Level Forty-Three > [Druid's Sense] > [Druid's Ear] - Mushroom Magic {Rare} - Level Forty-Seven > [Super Shroom Zoom] > [Mushroom Remaker] General Skills - Level One Hundred Ninety-One - Running {Common} - Level Fifty-Two > [Surefooted] > [Sprint] - Knitting {Common} - Level Sixty-Three > [Patterner] > [Clicky Clacker] > [Resizer] - Basic Poison Resistance {Common} - Level Twenty-Seven > [Mana Bleed] - Social Manipulation {Uncommon} - Level Twenty > [Too Cute to Kill] - Poison Handling Expertise {Rare} - Level Twenty-Nine > [Iron Lunged]