Chapter 124 To Dominate (1)

Lucius then got to work using Elmando to command a few vines from nearby trees to snake toward him. He then picked up a few of the bone pieces he had crushed, and used the sharp tip of one of them to bore holes into the others, creating makeshift needles.

Once he had made around ten of them, he used Elmando to split the vines into fine thread-like strings and pushed them through the needle eyes.

Once all that was prepared, he got one of his stone knives and began cutting the fur up into equal squares. He had learned a few tricks from the last time he had created a cloak, so they were less crude this time. Though, his cutting skills still weren't at the point where the end product would look professional.

He then began sewing, this time he made sure to make very large cloaks. And since these creatures were around the same size as him, the fur harvested from one was enough to cover him completely.

"Hmm, it would've been nice if the camouflage worked. Perhaps I'll need to capture one alive and study it first," he whispered to himself.

The arachnid began scurrying around him as if to inspect his handiwork and after looking at it for a while, it let out a small shriek before climbing up the cloak onto his shoulder.

"You like it?" Lucius asked, before sitting down to continue his work.

He made smaller versions for both Pagan and Asclepius before setting them aside to take a rest. Around an hour had passed at this point, and the chieftains were probably still waiting, so Lucius went to brief them on the issues he had.

*

"Lighted One," the chieftains said in unison once he came into view, genuflecting.

"Sharing info?" he asked, noticing that they were discussing something with Asclepius.

"That is so," a chieftain replied.

Lucius made a hand gesture for them to stand, he had long become tired of telling them they did not have to kneel whenever they saw him.

"Anyway, I'll make this brief. I want you to pick out the fittest shrooms among the 8 pillars, and have them stand guard on the outer rims. If they see a threat, tell them to report it to me before anyone else, especially the southwest pillar. I want twice as many guards in that area," Lucius ordered.

"We understand Lighted One," they replied in unison.

"And you will be living in this area from now on. I shall construct personal quarters for the 8 of you beside Asclepius's cabin," he added.

By doing this Asclepius could keep a better eye on them, and on a smaller note, perhaps attempt to manipulate them into trusting Lucius instead of fearing him.

"We understand Lighted One," they said once again.

"Good, go collect the men," he said, and they left in an organized manner.

"Pagan trained them well," Asclepius commented as the chieftains left.

"He's quite proficient at it it seems, though his methods are... crude," Lucius replied.

"Oh, and this is yours," he said after, holding out the cloak he had made for her.

"T-thank you," she replied as Lucius helped her put it on. It was kind of on the large side since he had made it with her future growth in mind, but she would soon grow into it.

"We'll be holding a session right now, come along," he said after, and the two left back for the camp.

After Pagan woke up, the three of them, along with the arachnid had a session. Lucius would've liked for the insectoid to be a part of it, but the darn thing always disappeared in the mornings and only returned at night.

During this session, the arachnid lasted only a minute before passing out, while Asclepius lasted 6, it seemed she was already beginning to improve. Pagan and Lucius stopped the session there, as they did not want to wear themselves out before they had a proper one.

This one did not have a catalyst and was merely for Asclepius and the arachnid to get a session in. If they were willing to do another when Pagan and Lucius were doing theirs they would be more than welcome.

"Hmm, she's at least a few millimeters taller than the other shrooms. Though it will probably be a few more sessions before she's on the level of the chieftains," Lucius commented as Pagan picked Asclepius up and took her to the main cottage.

"On the other hand, this is quite odd," he continued, now looking at the baby arachnid. Even though it had only been absorbing helios for one minute, he noticed that it had grown quite a bit.

~Is it because it's still a baby?~ he thought to himself. But it was also likely that it might be due to other factors, so he decided to refrain from making conclusions right now.

"Here this is yours," he said, handing Pagan his cloak.

"T-Thank you Lighted One," Pagan replied, before genuflecting. Lucius then placed the cloak on him, before gesturing for him to stand.

"It looks good on you," he commented. "I would've made bone weapons, but I realized that when compared to our claws and magic, they are quite redundant."

"Anyway, you can practice solar beam, and solar pit while I'm out hunting. I didn't fully explore their applications so you might be able to find something interesting," he said, before turning to leave.

"Am I not accompanying you this time?" Pagan asked.

"Someone has to look over the camp. Though the pillars will act as a boundary defense, there's a chance that an enemy might break through," Lucius explained.

"Such is your foresight, I understand Lighted One," Pagan replied, and the two went their separate ways.

This time Lucius decided to explore the 'clan lands'. He had gotten reports from Asclepius that there were herds of large creatures here that the shrooms had spotted, so he wanted to check that out.

"This must be it," he whispered to himself, as he spotted a mushroom tree in the distance. From that point on, the vegetation became fungus-based, with little to no green plant life.

~They said that the creatures grouped up further north, closer to the pristine forest, so that should be... that way,~ he thought to himself, before stealthily making his way up north.

On his way he came across many odd creatures of different shapes and sizes, each carrying some sort of resemblance to mushrooms. They crowded on top of trees and under mushroom bushes, scurried across the mushroom-covered floor, and some even took the skies. The area was quite noisy, reflecting just how dense life here was.

~Hmm, what's this?~ Lucius thought to himself, noticing massive footprints on the ground.

~This'll probably feed us for a while,~ he realized, before stealthily following the trail.

After following it for a while, something massive was picked up on his earth sense, and he figured that it must be his prey.

"What the hell is that?" he whispered in shock, spotting 6 meters tall mushroom golem stalking the area ahead of him. It was currently shaking down a tree, apparently attempting to devour a creature that was perched at the top.

It wore clothing made of a material that Lucius had never seen before. Though based on this fact alone, he knew that it must be a sentient.

~Could my earth sense be broken? How come it doesn't seem like an impossible threat?~ he thought to himself. He had expected the golem to give off the same feeling as the 'furry-folk', however, his earth sense only registered it as a medium threat. In fact, it wasn't even telling him to run.

~Maybe I can talk to it? If it's sentient, we might be able to come up with some sort of deal,~ he thought to himself, before staring at it for a while. It had no weapons on its person, and it seemed to be the only one of its kind close by. Worst case scenario, he would blast it with a solar beam, and run away.

"Okay, here goes," he whispered to himself before quickly galloping up one of the tallest trees close by him. He used Elmando to create platforms from which he could jump onto, allowing him to move up with ease.

"Oi, you there!" he shouted from high up on the tree.

No response.

"Oi!!" he shouted again, this time the creature began looking around.

~We should speak the same language if it's a sentient. I mean, it's still a type of mushroom creature, and I can understand those,~ Lucius thought to himself.

"Puny creature, is it you that calls me?" the golem asked, looking toward Lucius.

"Yes, it's me. I wish to trade with you!" Lucius replied.

The creature let out a booming laugh, before standing up and walking towards the tree that Lucius stood on top of. Each of its steps let out a loud thud, applying considerable pressure to the soil.

Once it got to the tree, it stretched its arms out in an attempt to grab Lucius, but found that he was just out of reach. It tried shaking the tree, but this was among one of the largest, and it couldn't quite get him to lose his footing.

"Cowardly creature, come down here so that I may devour you," the creature said.