Death Cap - Twenty-One - On the Importance of Names and Companionship

Death Cap - Twenty-One - On the Importance of Names and Companionship

Death Cap - Twenty-One - On the Importance of Names and Companionship

The next couple of months sort of just... flew by. I split my focus three ways. One part of that went to preparing for a busy spring of selling mushroom skewers. Another part was focused hard on practising. And the last bit was focused on my new badger friend.

As winter started to approach its end I started to focus my farm on food crops once more. I needed money, and that year was going to be a huge one for me, I could feel it. I used some of the money Id set aside to buy oil for my burner and a shiny new plate for my table. I was considering commissioning a new one, but... well, it was expensive, and the table I had was made by Dada. It had its own worth.

That was mostly an idle activity. Growing, ensuring that the mushrooms I was tending to were in good health, a bit of pruning and some careful breeding.

Mushrooms werent plants. The methods used to breed them, though, were roughly similar, at least the broad strokes. I was using those same techniques to try and get... not new specimen of mushrooms, but healthier ones with properties that I found more desirable.

That was a pretty time-consuming task, but it made my main source of income and my primary weapons better by tiny increments. They might pay dividends later too. If I had a healthier strand of a mushroom and tried to make it a hybrid with something else, then some of those good genes might carry over.

Other than that, I spent a lot of time with my badger.

Nearly a month after having him, I let him out of his cage.

The badger stayed inside the open cage for a long while and I let it. When it snuck out, of course, it immediately zipped across the room and bit my ankle.

Ow! You shit! I shrieked as the panbadger darted around my farm. I chased after it, which proved somewhat difficult when the thing was small enough to pass under my workbench and mushroom racks.

Still, it had spent a long time in that cage, it wasnt in the greatest of shape.

I caught it eventually, grabbing it by the scruff, which was great until it spun around on itself and started to claw and nip at my hand.

Stop it! I shouted. You stupid thing! I should have left you in the cage! Do you want to go back in there?

The badger paused and stared at me with angry, beady eyes. It didnt like that idea.

I swear on Feronie, I will shove you back in that box and drop you off at the seediest pet shop I find if you dont behave, I warned.

The badger went loose, but it still looked at me with suspicion. So I placed it on my workbench and watched it scurry to the far end. It hissed at me, but didnt seem quite as hostile.

Look, I want to work with you here. Ive been lugging around your cage since forever now, Ive been feeding you, and Ive picked up your own weight in excrement already. The last had served as fertiliser, but it was still a bit gross. I cant go on doing that if this whole thing will be one-sided. So, Im going to open the door. If you want out, leave. If you want to stick around, then thats cool too. No more cages. Just me and you.

The badger glared at me even as I crossed the room and opened the door of the farm and gestured outside.

Then, in a few quick bounces, it jumped down from the workbench and out the door.

I was honestly floored.

The little shit, Id fed it for over a month!

At night, hed follow behind me on the way home, never straying more than a pace or two and occasionally hissing at the alley cats and rats who darted away at the sight of him. I think he liked that.

The rest of my free time was spent on training. I ate mildly-poisonous mushrooms and learned that the best way to handle those was to tie myself to a chair first. It prevented some of the vertigo and when I vomited it was only in one corner of my farm instead of all over.

Poisons were more fun when used on others.

Other than that, I practised with my aura, with my blight skill, and more passively with all of my other mushroom-growing skills. That resulted in a few improvements and a few important milestones.

[Congratulations! Your [Blight {Epic}] Skill has unlocked the [Persistent Death] Subskill!]

[Persistent Death]

Your Blights magical effects sink deep into living matter and remain there, active until the living passes away or endures through the Blight.

That made my [Blight] skill last longer against living things without me using mana on it. Basically, if I hit something with [Blight] it would do an amount of damage equivalent to the amount of mana I poured into it, but over time, and without the mana cost. That was kind of nuts, but the duration was very long. Hours long. So it wasnt spectacular at killing anything quickly, just at making the pain last longer without me spending mana on it.

Still, a nice effect, and I bet it would stack well with future things.

[Congratulations! Your [Druid Sight {Uncommon}] Skill has unlocked the [Druids Sense] Subskill!]

[Druids Sense]

You have gained a heightened sense for an areas attunement, or lack of attunement, to nature.

That was the same as the last time Id gotten [Druid Sight] above level twenty.

[Congratulations! Your [Mushroom Magic {Rare}] Skill has unlocked the [Super Shroom Zoom] Subskill!]

Now this one was different, and a godsend.

[Super Shroom Zoom]

All fungal bodies will grow at an increased speed as long as you are directly applying magic to them.

I could grow a fungus from mycelium to mushroom in an hour or two with this one. Faster if the mushroom in question was a fast-grower already and the conditions were decent.

That meant that if I went for a long dungeon dive, all Id need to do was keep some spores on me or some starter growth and I could replenish my stock in an hour or two.

The rest of my growth was all in my general skills, which didnt make it any less interesting.

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