The young Mushling held a troubled expression, she was deep in thought about something. It had now been another few days of wandering around with her parents , the forest they were in seemed to have no end. They had not seen a single intelligent species, monster or otherwise.
That wasn’t what was worrying her though. I don’t have genitals… How have I never noticed before? I used to play with Mushmen all the time. How did I never realise they didn’t have genitals!? I mean obviously even if I did it’s not like I’m attracted to a giant mushroom anyway, but how do they reproduce? There’s nothing to stick anywhere! Truly, our dear protagonist's worries were merely a sign of how leisurely her life was up to this point.
A decision was born the day she realised she did not have anything, another prerequisite of her desired evolutional path. I need the right parts. I can’t live without the right inny and outy bits. That does narrow my choices even more though. What have I got already? Arms, long life span, the ability to communicate and genitals… That seems reasonable right? For a monster, it was not in fact reasonable.
For now, all she had was her thoughts. Her body followed her parents and they didn’t do much aside from wander and eat moss, which she was now somehow developing a taste for. It was close to a gourmet meal for a Mushman apparently, she could now understand why they always went so mad for it back on the farm.
Her father appeared to be leading them upstream, hopefully to bathe in a lake or pond. Many monsters liked to keep clean though she couldn’t remember ever watching a Mushman bathe, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t. It had now been three weeks and one lifetime ago since her last bath, and there was nothing quite like it for relaxing oneself. Not that she had been stressing much recently, it was hard to let anything drag you down when you’re a tiny mushroom.
They had been walking most of the day when they finally arrived at what she assumed to be their destination. A great opening in between the trees with a wide pond sat in the middle.
A dozen different monsters lazed around by its calm blue shore from half a dozen species. Frogs, Rabbits and even a few other Mushmen on the far side. The grass looked a healthy deep green and grew thicker as it gave way to the forest floor. At the far end of the sparkling blue pond stood an arched rock the size of a human, the two other Mushmen were snoozing beneath its shade. The last of the falling sun lit all of them up with a warm gentle light. In other words, it was a truly tranquil scene, that was somehow free of predators. Save for one lazing Fox atop the rock.
She took a deep breath and began her walk to the waters edge, that is until she was nudged from behind. It was her mother who tilted her little head with a squeak. Further along she could see her father gather moss from the edge of the clearing. Well, I guess we’re not going in yet? Mushmen always seemed to make bathing something of a ritual, so maybe dad wants a whole day for it? Can’t argue that it is quite late.
The delay didn’t bother her that much, our dear protagonist never made it past her teenage years in her last life so sleep was never something she would turn down. It also helped that moss was possibly the most delicious thing on the planet to her these days.
The rest of the day passed by quickly, especially as her baby body still needed regular sleep. She didn’t even get to see the sky turn dark, the sounds of various monsters crawling around and the subtle splashes of water sent her off before she could even finish her meal.
Then she awoke. With two white blobs covering her vision. ‘Squeak!?’ her yell made both of the shapes jump away.
It was the other Mushmen, who both stood over her in the wake of the morning sun. They were just staring at her. She tilted her head as if to question why, but it only made both of them tilt theirs too.
All the commotion woke her parents, who also tilted their little heads in confusion. Though, as soon as they had their share of staring for a few seconds both walked away, towards the pond's edge. She had no idea what that was all about.
Her parents, being the simple Mushmen they were, quickly recovered from the confusing interaction and stood their small bodies up. The one she referred to as father gently nudged his daughter to feet too, encouraging her towards the pond. It seemed as though her guess was correct.
Something she did not know about Mushman bathing however, was how they did it. Mushmen generally didn’t have arms, so it was difficult for them to bathe their own bodies. What they did have, however, was tongues and generally, they travelled with family. What did that mean for our dear protagonist? It meant that her parents licked her clean.
Oftentimes rumours would reach her village of nobles hiring Catkin as maids purely for their “bathing” methods, honestly after experiencing such a similar one she couldn’t see what the fuss was about.
They ended up spending most of their day there, which was quite relaxing really. The only upset being a small scuffle on the other side of the lake between two Lesser Forest Frogs. A very small yet very aggressive species, the Forest Frogs, the Lesser variety even more so. From what she could see, all they fought over was a fat looking fly, which was apparently a prize more than worth it to them.
Her father, perhaps finding this terrible act of violence abhorrent, ran to stop the two titans of conflict. They took one look at the Mushman and ran away, completely unaware of his utter pacifism. They could have probably sent father dearest running, but luckily Mushmen are decently big as far as forest species go. Still tiny though. She watched, both amused and disappointed.
For a newly born Mushling, a day doing nothing was a good day, so she ate up the peace and quiet. They ended the day just like they began it, huddled together munching on moss. Only this time she managed to stay awake a little later to watch the sunset drop.
The very next day, they were back to travelling. The little Mushling knew it would happen, but she had hoped it wouldn’t happen just yet. What if we miss some more drama? What if that was the safest spot in the forest? They could be putting their poor daughter in danger! Her thought lingered on the pond for a while.
Unless trained, or domesticated in other ways, Mushmen don’t often stay in one place for long. They’re quite nomadic, in contrast to their mindless cousins dotting the forest floor. This meant that her mother did not even wait for dawn to break before she was nudging her awake to continue moving.
In protest, the Mushling waddled slowly for most of the day, staring at the floor as she did, not that her parents would understand what that meant. Instead they just matched pace with her, going at a crawl. They didn’t get very far that day.
Their journey carried on for more than a day though. After a few days they reached new scenery. The tree line gave way to a small opening around a cliff, finally revealing the land they had been trudging through. She could not believe her eyes though, even with the great advantage this spot gave her, she could still only see more forest.
The little Mushling scoured the horizon. This has gotta be the Great Rurrian Forest right? I’ve never even been to the central continent before, but the world map in the mayor's office showed it off. It looked massive, pretty much the entire north of the continent I think. Where am I then? In the middle somewhere maybe? Can’t even see a sign of civilization so gotta be. She used her feeble sight to try and get some sort or orientation, but truth be told she couldn’t even see a smoke stack.
Her parents also admired the view in their own way. Whether there was a destination in mind for them now she didn’t know, but they left quickly. Quicker than she wanted at least. She had never seen a view quite like it before, there were no such cliffs back on her island home.
They headed down a path that clung to the cliff's edge, dangerous to a human, not so much to a tiny mushroom creature. Down at its base, the canopy covered them in shade once again. A cave lay against the cliff wall with a gentle stream trickling out on its left side. They hadn’t seen any water since the pond outside of a few puddles when it rained, so it was a pleasant sight. Her parents must have thought so too as they sprinted inside.
The little Mushling didn’t hesitate to follow along. Another bath and another day of rest! Finally, walking on these tiny feet is a pain. How do Mushmen do it all day all the time?
The stream followed the cave on an upwards slope with a miniature waterfall, the cave split into two tunnels, but the stream only headed down the right most one, so that’s the way they went. It took longer than it should have, but she noticed that she could still see quite well despite the dark.
“[Skill [Night Vision lvl 2] has increased to [Night Vision lvl 3]]”
A voice echoed in her head, something she had experienced more than once in her past life. It was her voice, sort of. Always felt like another part of her mind was telling her, which presumably was the same for everyone. Huh. Can’t believe I’ve already leveled a skill up. Is this cave really that dark that I leveled up a skill this quickly? Her stubby legs kept her walking as she marveled at her new stat improvement. She found out shortly after that she didn’t need that skill for this cave in the first place.
Gradually, the tunnel and stream opened up to a large oval room, with the stream keeping to the left side but widening up to a pond. Droplets of water dribbled down all the walls and there were dozens of stalactites and stalagmites. Along the right wall delicious looking pink moss covered any signs of rock. The most beautiful part though was the softly glowing vines that hung from the ceiling.
The only downside, was that they weren’t the only occupants of this cave. So far, that has not been a problem. Most creatures of the forest feel no danger from Mushmen and the last pond they stayed at was far too warm and tranquil for the one predator there to do anything. Besides, they would have been the last choice for dinner.
No, this situation was different. A family of Horned Rabbits were huddled around the pond. A weak species on the level of Forest Mushmen save for one thing. The singular sharp and rigid horns on their head.
They also were not an inherently aggressive species, herbivorous and cowardly, except when it came to territory and of course their young. The young Mushling knew this of course, having grown up on a farm when she was human, but her humble parents would definitely not have the same knowledge.
She plodded forward and grasped her mothers back in her own little mouth.
‘Squeak?!’ her mother yelped in surprise, turning to see what had just caused that small sharp pain. She looked down at her child, mouth open and head tilted. Not even angry.
The ex-farmer tried to beg with her eyes, their lack of communication more frustrating now than ever before. She pleaded with every emotion she could force in her big round eyes, and her cute little squeak.
‘Squeaak?’ Please Mum. You’ve gotta listen, you gotta understand. We need to go. You guys will die if you get punctured by one of those horns, let alone five. Just go, please? Her inner monologue may not have matched her outward communication.
For a moment, their eyes continued to lock. She thought that perhaps, so did their minds. The way they held in place without moving seemed a good sign. Of course, it ended up not mattering either way as she had forgotten her other parent, the far more unaware one of the two.
There were some odd little growls from behind her mother, that would have been cute if they didn’t worry her so. She looked past to see her father walking up to the family of Horned Rabbits, completely oblivious to the mother monster growling at him.
The Mushling cursed in any way she knew how and ran past her confused mother. She saw the rabbit tilt its head down as her father got closer and closer. She willed her tiny stubby legs to move fast, to try and get there in time. The rabbit began to charge so she did the same, lowering her head and charging towards it with a high pitched warcry.
A sharp pain shot through her head, then it was followed by a thud and a yelp.
“[Overall level has increased from [Level 1] to [Level 6]]”
“[Skill [Pain Resistance lvl 1] has increased to [Pain Resistance lvl 2]”
What? She opened her eyes slowly, an amber coloured blood like substance covering one side of her vision. In front of her, the mother Rabbit lay below one of the small rocks by the pond with a blood splatter against it just above her head. I… I killed her? The Mushling asked herself, already knowing the answer.
Her father seemed confused, maybe stunned. He plodded over to the body and nudged it, whilst the rest of the rabbit's family cowered. The Mushling felt guilt, but for some reason, it wasn’t for taking a life, it was for upsetting her father.
After mere moments, the patriarch of the Horned Rabbits led the rest of his brood out of the cave and away from the Mushmen. At this point the Mushlings mother had grown sad about the body too.
As soon as they realised what had happened. They mourned it. Or, what she assumed was mourning. They cried. Their squeaks became distorted and broken and they nudged the body away.
Our young Mushling wasn’t sure what to think. Do they understand I did it to save them? Do they hate me now? See me as a killer? God’s I wish I understood those two.
She shook off her thoughts. The fact that she was feeling like this, in the body of the most innocent creature on the planet made her feel. Wrong. She needed to think and to let her parents mourn. So great was the Forest Mushmans' empathy that they would mourn a stranger's death.
With a few small plods of her tiny feet, she turned from her parents towards the entrance of the cave, her head still stinging a little. She also needed to check her stats at some point when she had calmed down, collected her thoughts.
As she began to walk, something stopped her. She literally could not move. Then, her father appeared at her side tilting his head, eyes still watery. A strange thought came to her at that moment. Why exactly do mushroom monsters have tear ducts?
Suddenly, her body lifted up off the ground effortlessly. She dangled her tiny stumps below her, swinging them to try and find traction, but none could be found. She began squeaking for help, but her father only walked slowly by her side. Whatever carried her dropped her on the other side of the rock, away from the sight of the corpse.
There was a soft thud, then she was dropped onto the ground with little force. The Mushling turned her head to see her mother with her mouth partially open. She realised she had been carried like a kitten, but she had no idea Mushmen could do that, even with how much time she had spent around them.
A wide fungi tongue stretched out of her mothers mouth and began to lick the wound on her head. Her worries suddenly disappeared. Of course they don’t blame me. What was I thinking? These things are incapable of blame. Incapable of hatred. She shook her head, feeling her body grow heavy.
She was going to let sleep take her, feeling a little better than earlier. Though she may have preferred not to sleep just around the corner from a corpse. Before that though, the Mushling wanted to check her stat changes.
Name: N/A
Age: 25 days
Species: Forest Mushling, Mushman
Height: 1.5”
Sex: N/A
Level: 6 +5
Health: 6/7 +1
Mana: 1/1
Stamina: 9/15 +2
Energy: 6/15 +2
Attack: 5 +1
Defence: 14 +2
Magic Attack: 1
Magic Defence: 4 +1
Skills: [Pain Resistance lvl 2] +1 [Night vision lvl 2] [{Mushroom Helmet lvl 2}] [Tough Stomach lvl 1]
Damn stats grow slowly for a Mushling. Five levels and some of my stats didn’t even go up! Ah well, monsters are different from humans after all, when I evolve my stats will probably get a lot better. I wonder what it’s like to evolve? Does it feel like sleep?
‘Squik!’ A soft pink mass rubbed against the Mushling's cheek just visible in the corner of her vision. She looked down to see the curious moss that she had spotted when they first entered the room. Her father was trying to feed her, to which she was far too distracted to accept.
Even if she was about to fall asleep, it would have been far too impolite not to accept the meal. Unfortunately for her, so strong was the urge to sleep for her child's body, that she drifted off mid munch. Which was quite an unsightly way to end quite an unsightly day.
Changed slightly from chapter two of the original. I always felt like the protagonist didn't spend quite enough time at the start doing this part (No spoilers ;)). Also you may have noticed more time in general is passing. As I've gotten older I've always found it a bit silly that someone could become godlike and have these incredibly close connections in a matter of weeks or months, though the genre is inheritly a bit silly isn't it? Overall it'll still be very similar, just more time between events.
Had a quick skim through for grammar and the like so hopefully its all good!