– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 219, Season of the Rising Moon, Day 51 –

The bundle of energy in Terry's arms started to wiggle and puff a variety of scents, which caused him to halt.

"Too fast?" Terry reflexively looked at the two beady eyes.

I thought they liked going fast. Did I overdo it?

"Or what are you trying to say, Shroomling?"

As a reply, he only received an unintelligible whirlwind of little limbs flaring around, paired with another assault on his nostrils.

"Uhh…" Terry looked from the shrooman to the beetlefolk, who was flying in front of him.

How fast can they fly? They didn't appear troubled to keep up with me.

Just like with Shroomling, Terry had chosen a name for them already. This time, he had been inspired by an acquaintance from the dungeon scavengers. "Bugsby, a little help?"

Terry had discovered that the taller of his two strange guides appeared more capable of communicating with gestures.

Bugsby pointed at the squirming mushroom and then down at the floor. They flew slowly down and landed.

"Put Shroomling down? Okay…" Terry gently lowered the little mushroom with legs.

Shroomling immediately dashed away towards a nearby tree.

Terry scrunched up his face. His shrooman acquaintance was burying themself butt first into the earth next to the tree. Although burying was an aggrandizing term for what Terry was seeing. Shroomling was rubbing the earth away with their behind.

Reminds me of Pa Bjorln when he sat himself down to get comfy in his favorite armchair.

Terry waited with growing confusion before noting a look of relaxation in the beady black eyes.

Don't tell me…

Terry looked questioningly at Bugsby. "Please tell me that isn't peeing. I'd rather not learn that I was watching a folk pee. Shrooman or not."

Completely expectedly, Bugsby only tilted their head and stared up with incomprehension.

"Nevermind." Terry took a deep breath and shook his head. "Let's just never talk about this again."

Not a hard thing to do if none of them can speak our language.

While waiting, Terry noticed a change in Shroomling. The little mushroom person had grown slightly. Barely visible to the eyes but noticeable in his mana touch.

Terry narrowed his eyes and focused on his mana perception.

Faint traces…

Some mana-charged particles in the groundwater.

Terry realized that the shrooman was doing the opposite of peeing. They appeared to be drinking some kind of magical solution from underground.

How did Shroomling manage to use the existing root network?

That's kind of neat.

"Like a drinking fountain…" Terry muttered to himself before becoming aware of Bugsby's questioning insect eyes on himself. "Uhh…" He couldn't help but imagine a judgemental look in the multi-faceted eyes.

Weirdo.

Good to know that even with a little chirping bug person and a butt-digging shroom, I'm still feeling like the weirdo of the group.

After a few minutes, Shroomling was waddling back to Terry and indicating with their fluttering arms that they wanted to be lifted up again.

Cute.

Terry involuntarily thought back to the time he had seen Devon wrestling down the urge to pet the fluffy fur on the canan coordinator of the Deathguard in the Chara Settlement. He had to remind himself that this little mushroom appeared to be a proper folk and not a potential pet.

It was difficult to keep in mind when Terry lifted the excited shroom up like a toddler, though.

"Where to?" Terry asked and kept his eyes on Bugsby. Over their few hours of travel, Terry had learned that Bugsby and Shroomling could somehow understand each other. Even though Shroomling was apparently the one deciding on the direction, Bugsby was the better interpreter for Terry.

As soon as the direction was clear, Terry started running while Bugsby was flying at his side. A part of Terry wondered what he was even doing with these two. He had no idea where they would lead him.

Then again, Terry didn't have any other idea of where to go, either. He simply kept his mana bubble spread far and wide to get an idea of the area and keep an eye out for the rest of the realm expedition team. Periodically, he checked the links in his signaling cubes and released a few more signal amplifiers.

***

After running for nearly a day, Terry noticed Bugsby falling behind slightly. He stopped and looked at his otherrealm acquaintances.

A corner of his mind pointed out that technically, he was the otherrealm acquaintance here. This was their realm after all.

Terry studied the insectoid face. His gaze mostly clung to the slightly limp antennas and back to the multi-faceted eyes. In contrast to the shrooman, the beetlefolk had eyelids and their eyelids were moving slowly, seemingly falling closed.

Unsurprisingly to Terry, Bugsby used the chance to land on the floor and sit down.

Terry felt his second acquaintance squirming in his arms and let Shroomling down. The little shrooman was still as energetic as ever, with no signs of tiredness whatsoever.

Benefit of being carried around everywhere perhaps?

Terry watched Shroomling cuddle up to Bugsby. However, the shrooman didn't sit down. They rubbed themself against the bug person while wildly flailing their little limbs.

It took Terry a while to figure out that among the wild flailing, there was a repeated pattern to point into a specific direction.

Terry followed the indicated direction and recognized the location where the sparse trees became denser to merge into an unruly forest. "Is that where we have to go?"

Terry summoned his signaling cube to check for the links with his companions. He quickly sighed and put it away again. "Still nothing."

His mana touch washed over the forest and he could make out more of the magic groundwater and widely reaching root network, which confirmed to him that this forest was their current destination.

Terry retrieved a chocolate bar and ate it while watching his two acquaintances and trying to interpret the conversation going on between the two. He didn't speak either of their languages, but from their demeanor, he couldn't help but recall some of his own memories.

Specifically, his mornings in the Libra Outpost when his Senior Sister Thena had radiated an unreasonable energy, much to the annoyance of her bodyguard Clayson.

If Shroomling becomes one of our friends, then Thena won't be the shortest in our groups anymore. I wonder if Thena would be as protective of Shroomling as Gellath was of Thena?

Terry washed down the chocolate with a sip of his favorite brand of mana-imbued cold tea from Arcana. He noticed that, from the moment he had unwrapped his chocolate and uncorked the cold tea, the attention of his two acquaintances slowly shifted to focus on him.

I guess sweet tooths are the same, no matter the realm…

Terry retrieved another bar and bottle. "I hope you know what you're doing, because I don't know if these are safe for you to consume."

It turned out that they each had their own preference.

Bugsby only took a small sip of the mana-imbued cold tea, but was ravenous for the chocolate bar.

Shroomling didn't spare the chocolate a second huff, which was apparently a shrooman equivalent of a sniff. A full-body inhalation of air. The mana-imbued cold tea, by contrast, was a definite favorite of the little shrooman. They excitedly poured some of it on the ground and quickly placed their butt into it to absorb it.

Terry watched the process with fascination in his mana-sight. The mana was absorbed and circulated around the body of the shrooman. Their beady eyes appeared almost starry-eyed afterwards.

Mana, I hope this stuff isn't addicting to them…

For a moment, Terry worried if he had done something wrong by mistake. Flashes of the addicted hunter, who had betrayed the Freedom Cooperative to get drugs from the Hound of the Lich Kingdoms, flickered in his memory.

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Fortunately, Shroomling appeared blissful but normal. Or at least as normal as a magic walking mushroom folk could appear to Terry's eyes.

I should keep an eye on them, just to be sure. Nothing wrong with a little indulgence, but if I notice any serious changes, I should not offer them more.

At least not until I've figured out a way to properly communicate with them.

Terry smiled at the otherrealm folks, who appeared both happy and grateful. If he was right, then the two of them had argued over whether or not they should continue for today.

Terry knelt down to get closer to their eye-level and gestured. First at Bugsby and down. Then at Shroomling and towards the direction of the forest. Last, at himself. Terry pointed towards the forest to communicate his vote.

Terry could see Bugsby lowering their shoulders and quickly lifted a hand because he wasn't done. He pointed at Shroomling and then at his chest where he had carried the shrooman earlier. Then he pointed at Bugsby and to his back.

"I can carry you both," assured Terry.

After a few more minutes of otherrealm charades, Terry had a shrooman wiggling in his arms and a beetlefolk clinging to his shadow cloak. They were ready to continue.

***

Terry felt a pat on his shoulder and stopped. He had noticed that Shroomling had gotten more agitated, but the shrooman was always wiggling and pointing. However, while the shrooman was harder to interpret, the beetlefolk appeared clearer in their communication.

Terry let them both down and waited. While Bugsby was waiting next to Terry with a comparable look of confusion, Shroomling was excitedly darting forward.

The Shroomling placed their butt down briefly and then darted to the next location. This continued for a good minute until it morphed into a strange dance consisting of whole body wiggles and flailing limbs.

Terry furrowed his brow, not sure what he was seeing here. Only when his mana sight reacted to the growing fluctuations of mana, he began understanding what was going on.

"Magic?" Terry puffed his cheeks. He had seen Bugsby perform magic abilities before, but Shroomling hadn't demonstrated any magic until now, at least not beyond the accumulation of mana.

Terry began circulating a low level internal disruption. He didn't believe his two acquaintances had any malicious intentions, but he would rather be safe than sorry. He had already messed up the start of this expedition and would prefer to not make it worse.

Before long, Terry could sense the weather changing, and a light rain shower was descending.

Terry was still pondering the possible connection between the shrooman dance and the fresh rain when his mana touch informed him of more astonishing changes inside the forest.

"What the…?" Terry's mouth hung agape. His mana perception clearly showed him the rain vanishing into the forest floor. From the floor, shroomans were growing rapidly. Until nearly a hundred of them were rushing towards them while wiggling and huffing and puffing.

"Uhh…" Terry glanced at Bugsby, who didn't seem to mind the horde of wiggling mushrooms.

He looked back at the shroomans greeting each other and forgot to even consider if he should feel threatened. The little mushroom people appeared simply too…

Adorable. Terry inwardly reprimanded himself for thinking in such terms of an otherrealm folk. Friendly. They seem friendly.

Terry observed the shroomans and noted two things.

First, this didn't seem any different from the oldfolks or newfolks he knew. Like a family greeting one of their own coming home. Lots of hugging – or rather rubbing against each other, which Terry assumed to be the shrooman equivalent of hugging.

Second, something was special about Shroomling. Even though they all carried mana, something in Shroomling's mana felt different. Now that Terry had other examples to compare to, he also noted that Shroomling's colors held a starker contrast. Their stem was darker and their gills brighter than those of the others.

Terry wondered what this could mean when it seemed the shroomans had finally noticed the presence of two rather unmushroomlike people. A few larger shroomans pulled Shroomling behind themselves and began wiggling with agitation while many others were huffing and puffing in an uproar.

A rather smelly uproar.

"Uh, hi?" Terry puffed his cheeks. To his relief, Shroomling escaped their protectors and quickly placed themself between their friends and their fellow shroomans.

Terry watched Shroomling wiggling and flailing their limps while clouds of smelly air floated back and forth between the many shroomans.

Well, I hope this turns out well…

Not for the first time in this expedition, Terry was questioning his choices.

***

Terry felt like a giant walking through a village of chubby dwarves. After Shroomling had stood up for him, the shroomans had been very welcoming. Terry might not be able to speak to them, but their gesture of offering him berries and fresh water crossed language boundaries.

They hadn't exactly offered him a place to stay, but that appeared mostly because the shroomans didn't exactly have places to stay. They didn't have houses or any shelter for themselves. On the contrary, they seemed to relish the open rain, sunlight, and night sky.

Terry observed them while staying on the side of their activities. He discovered that they did have shelters after all, but not for themselves. They appeared to raise a range of small magic insects for which they were building stables with fresh moss and some of the magic water flowing below.

Terry couldn't make out what exactly they were using the insects for, but their care-taking definitely invited images of animal domestication. He could see the shroomans periodically sharing their mana with the insects and later siphoning a bit of it back.

Terry could neither make heads nor tails of the process, but it looked fascinating in his mana sight.

The first resemblance that came to mind was the process of group cultivation for using an external push to increase a person's mana pool, but that didn't quite match what he saw.

The closest image he could remember was Miguel feeding Goo and how the slime slowly but steadily adopted Miguel's mana aspect. But still not quite.

Terry could clearly make out that the primary aspect of the insects was the shadow aspect, which was not the case for the shroomans. It didn't look as if the process influenced the insects' aspect.

Terry wasn't sure what to make of it and it only got more confusing when he checked the shadow plane. It felt like a natural thing to check given the insects' aspect, but Terry didn't expect to find actual vegetation on the dark side of the shadow boundary.

Mushrooms?

Where the regular plane was filled with a lush forest, the shadow plane showed its own fauna made of large mushrooms and dense shrubbery.

Terry didn't remember ever seeing something like this in the shadow plane before. His mana bubble washed over the area and he could feel the shadows of insects, seemingly stronger and presumably older than the insects he had seen in the regular plane.

Terry tilted his head and watched the insects crawling around the mushrooms. It looked like they were cleaning the mushrooms. The domesticated insects even hunted a bunch of smaller parasites infesting the vegetation.

Terry observed something strange going on where the large mushrooms connected to the window-like ground of the shadow plane. As if some of their mana vanished into nothingness…

Terry returned to the regular plane and continued observing. He had no real lead to search for the rest of the expedition. His options were either to wait around here and stick to the shroomans or to leave and run around aimlessly while spreading his signal amplification network in case some of the expedition members came by the area.

He still remembered all the running from the exit of the martialist tomb to the Freedom Cooperative and was not looking forward to another tour like that.

He also couldn't help but be curious about the shroomans and their magic culture. Their domestication of insects. The strange groundwater and vegetation in the shadow plane.

These two sides of Terry allied to converge on the decision to stay with Bugsby and the shroomans for now.

Terry eventually got fed up with quietly observing and decided to join the little mushroom society. When he saw a bunch of them struggling to carry a particularly moss-covered tree trunk, he stepped forward and carried the trunk alone while following the excited bunch that were huffing and puffing happily at having their work eased.

From the corner of his eye, Terry could perceive the gaze of Bugsby on himself. The beetlefolk had helped the shroomans by flying up to fetch materials from the tall trees while always sticking close to Shroomling.

Terry waved at Bugsby and smiled. He had no idea if the bug would understand his mannerisms, and he was relieved when he saw the beetlefolk hesitatingly mimic his waving.

***

After a day of helping the shroomans with their chores, there was no doubt left in his mind that these were proper sapient folk. Lending them a hand had allowed him to witness not only intelligence extending to retrospection and planning ahead, but a society that, as strange and foreign as it might seem, still showed signs of complexity and deliberate structure.

Terry distanced himself from Shroomville, which was the name he had mentally given the little place. He wanted some time alone to sort through his thoughts.

While deep in his thoughts, Terry retrieved another flying construct. This one looked like a hummingbird. It was another of their preparations in the case one of them got lost. The construct would record a location and then fly off in a pattern to search for any of the recorded mana signatures.

They were intended to help locate a missing member or to transmit a location together with a message to others.

There were two reasons why Terry hesitated to use this construct.

Just like the dragonfly construct that Brynn had sent to him and Sigille in Tiv, the construct represented a risk if it was used in a hostile environment. The signal amplifiers were different, because they only stayed in a certain range. They didn't seek out any specific person or location and therefore didn't draw the same level of attention.

Terry's second concern was that he didn't know how long it would take the construct messenger to reach one of the registered signatures. Transmitting his location via this only really made sense if he knew he would remain here for longer.

Terry subconsciously put the hummingbird construct away. He knew he wanted to stay in Shroomville for now and observe. For all he knew, these folks might be the only ones remaining in this cursed realm.

However, Terry wasn't sure yet if he would stay here for an extended period. Who knew when he might find a clue to follow? Or any other reason to leave the shroomans?

"No reason to slack off…" Terry muttered to himself and walked a bit further away from Shroomville. He had worked the whole day, but it was the kind of work that barely counted for someone with his mana foundation.

Time to train.

Terry retrieved a monster core from his storage. He allowed his fingers and mana sight to examine the core. He tried to recall all the information Samuel and Siling had drilled into his head.

Terry had wondered how to best make use of his strange new skill. It would have been perfect if the summoned creatures weren't hostile to him.

The beast tamers had demonstrated that it was possible to turn hostile creatures into allies, but Terry didn't see how he could make this work for him.

He wasn't really the type to run around surrounded by beasts.

His fighting style wouldn't pair well with allied beasts in his vicinity.

Not to mention that in the past, Terry sometimes had trouble feeding himself. Imagine being trapped in a dungeon or folded space while having to feed a bunch of tamed beasts as well?

If Terry could unsummon and resummon them, then it might be a different story, but he couldn't.

Mana cost aside, Terry was satisfied with having the option to summon hostile creatures to spread chaos behind enemy lines. However, he was also determined to use the skill to its fullest extent.

No matter which idea he came up with, they all required or benefited from one core skill: An understanding of which core would summon which creature.

Terry knew that Samuel had marked the most suitable cores for his ideas. All the others were in a separate area of his storage to be used for his mana sublimators.

Terry suppressed the urge to check the marking and look up the solution. It had been a fun pop quiz style learning experience when he was still in the Lands of the Four Towers, but here, Terry had something else in mind.

Something more memorable.

Terry finished his checks on the core and made a mental note of his prediction. His mana pierced into the core until his mana sight flashed purple of its own.

Terry didn't stop to appreciate that his prediction was correct. He charged forward and challenged the summoned mana-corrupted creature, which met his charge with a ferocious roar of its own.

Terry might not be able to summon allied beasts to help him fight, but an endless progression of sparring partners with whom he didn't have to hold back was just what he felt he needed.

Every day, a battle of beasts.

Every day, a sequence of increasingly powerful monsters.

Every day, until he reached the one monster that mattered.

***

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