The sound of crashing trees became distant as I ran, but I barely recognized it. I just kept going until I thought my legs would give out, and then I took a deep breath.
Please, I thought, slowing a little to open the water sack in my hand. You can heal me, right? My hands were shaky, so I took the risk to stop completely as I opened up the bag.
Then I drank.
Words cannot explain what it was like to drink water from the Diktyo River. It felt like drinking menthol, followed by the feeling spreading to my limbs as if it skipped my throat and went straight into my bloodstream. The cuts on my feet disappeared, and the barb marks on my neck faded. My aches disappeared, and energy flooded into my body.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, feeling whole.
I could do this. I could live.
Getting to the marker for the Treskirita was easy—finding it was another question.
Okay, if you're a normal person, you've probably got dragged into a six-hour hike with your foresty friend at least once. When that happened, you probably spent the whole time sweating, hating your life, looking around at the plants as if they were all the same. Here's a green one, that one's yellow, this one's big—this one's small. There's nothing unique about it.
But if you're a mycologist who studies mushrooms, you can sit down beside a dead log and find twenty different types of fungi growing on it. Tooth fungus, jelly fungus, shelf fungus—it's estimated that there are millions of fungi on Earth, with only around 120,000 species formally described.
Mushrooms are everywhere. Lining the trees, growing on logs, covering leaves.
So when I got to the general area that the Treskirita miranita mushroom was in, I got four pop-ups every time I broadly asked what something was. In addition to moss and trees the fungus was on, there were rows of things I couldn't even see.
Stonecap Fungus. Thronshroom. Sporecloud Puffball. Luminara Cap. There was an endless sea of beautiful plants and fungi that I wanted to explore and research. But I couldn't research them, so the options just became a menace. It only got better when I focused on something specifically and asked in my thoughts.
"Wait… Lithco, what does the Treskirita look like?" I whispered. To my surprise, it pulled up a screen this time—probably since it was part of my "Information Request." The screen read:
Common Name: Treskirita
Type: Soul Eater, Fungi
Summary: Sometimes, the best way to deal with soul plants trying to kill you is to find soul-eating mushrooms that will kill them. Enter Treskirita. Nicknamed the "Soul Strangler," this parasitic fungus has Rhizoctonia's love and Ted Bundy's embrace. If you don't know what this thing does—you should've chosen another class that you couldn't mess up, like cobblestone cleaner… or something. Oh, and it's an LBM. So good luck finding it.
Species: Treskirita miranita
Description: Fruits tiny brown mushrooms. You can find them near slias ferns and trelsa bushes. See complete list by thinking about it.
Key Facts:
Acts as a parasite by sucking the soul from soul plants.
Spread through both spores, mycelium and sclerotia.
It feeds like root rot fungi, but it's more direct. Mycelium hyphae directly penetrate plant roots like threading a needle and then coils, using tiny barbs to cling to the plant like barbed velcro. Then it sucks the soul from the body by killing the host while making itself into a vessel.
The more souls it steals, the larger the body becomes.
It is usually found near soul-rich environments.
It can grow quickly, spreading as fast as 100 feet a week on a soul substrate.
Once it establishes a body, it can move omnidirectionally.
Substrates:
Soul-bearing plants and animals.
Weaknesses:
Prolonged exposure to air.
Sharp objects.
Fire.
Salt.
Warning: The mycelium is poisonous, and its microscopic barbs will cling to your throat and organs, leading to internal bleeding and potentially death. It will feed on your soul if properly inoculated.
Information Request Note: The water sack plant in your inventory is extraordinarily resilient. The barbs cannot break it.
After reading the description, I didn't know whether to be relieved or scream. I knew what the request was asking for from the beginning—but the information request clarification made it clearer. The Oracle wanted me to produce a mycopesticide by creating a slurry—a mixture of treskirita and water—and then inoculate the wandering reaper with it. That only made sense, considering that I was given water, a bag, mycelium, and an information request note telling me that it would be safe to put the mycelium into the bag.
Inoculation was clearly the point.
But… maybe not.
Inoculating the wandering reaper would kill it, but it would take two and a half months to reach the main body—and it would take days for the mycelium to get large enough to even tickle the tendrils.
That was impossible. Still, the quest didn't say that I needed to kill the reaper—only that I needed to get my stuff back. That meant that it was technically possible to just use the treskirita as a deterrent, like warding it off by masking myself with the scent of their natural enemy.
I say technically because this was a tactic for bugs and animals—not plants! Plants couldn't smell spores, so I couldn't just walk around using mushrooms like maracas, doing a classical dance to ward away bad spirits.
Or maybe I could. Plants here had souls. One could probably do advanced physics for all I knew. I laughed at the thought but then decided to ask.
"Hey Lithco," I said. "How sensitive is the wandering reaper to the presence of treskirita miranita?"
You have 15 Information Requests. Would you like to use one?
Warning: The Trial of Worth determines the subclass options neophytes get when following The Path. Using Information Requests to determine the nature of voluntary quests can showcase incompetency or ignorance, potentially removing subclass options you would excel in. It's recommended that you only use Information Requests if they showcase your understanding of the quest.
Would you still like to use a request following the solution to this problem?
"Seriously?" The entire left half of my face twitched. "Seriously? So I'm going to get punished for asking you to clarify your instructions? Gah!"
I kicked a stick and sat on a log that was relatively free of moss and fungi. Then I looked at the treskirita information. It grew near slias ferns and trelsa bushes. So I asked: "What's a slias fern look like?"
A new pop-up arrived—this one far worse.
Skill "Identify (Plants: Advanced)" cannot fulfill your request. Please upgrade the skill or buy books from the Library that include images of ferns.
Note: You are in a dangerous location. Survival Mode has restricted access to the Library.
I almost threw a fit but kept my cool to prevent attracting beasts.
"Does the treskirita have an image?" I asked. A new notification answered me:
Skill "Identify (Fungi: Advanced)" cannot fulfill your request. Please upgrade the skill or buy books from the Library that include images of fungi.
"Great. Then I'll just start looking." I laughed venomously and scanned the area with a gnarled smile. LBMs meant little brown mushrooms. On Earth, LBMs were famous because there were thousands of types in any given forest—and they were nearly all poisonous to eat.
I crouched and found a little brown mushroom—which was easy, considering they're everywhere you look!—and turned to Kline. "I need unique mushrooms that look like this…" I stood and went over to a nearby fern. "They'll be near plants like these…" I pointed at a bush. "Or bushes. Can you help?"
Kline huffed as if I were patronizing him and then sauntered off, determined to find one before I even moved. I chuckled and sighed, putting the bag of water into my jacket's pocket and scratching my neck. Then I set to work. It was going to be a long grind.
Saying it would be a "long grind" was an understatement. If this were a death game where someone had two hours to find the solution or die—we'd be dead. In fact, I was surprised we weren't eaten, considering how much time we spent in one location. We spent an hour in the center of four trees and identified over 50 species. Then, we moved one tree over—and were in an area just as large as the first. Now we were in a third, and all the different types of mushrooms were blending together. The only reason I could keep focused was because the identify made it simple to accurately identify fungi.
It was brutal.
But it was also engrossing. I loved this type of work. If it weren't for the fact that my neck was so damn itchy, I probably wouldn't have noticed how much time had passed.
"Ugh… what is with this…?" I itched my neck and felt a trickle moving down from the area. It felt like sweat—until I looked down and saw my fingers were crimson.
I stared at my fingers for a good moment, nodding my head, confirming what I was seeing—and then I let out a suppressed scream. I did well, given the circumstances. If I were in the Rockies, I would've scared hikers for miles with the scream I wanted to release—but I couldn't. Instead, I stumbled backward and fumbled with the water in my jacket, forcing myself to breathe before opening it. Then, I drank the water and felt the skin mending. The itching disappeared, and all the small scrapes I had developed over the last two hours magically healed.
Kline yowled. He was looking at me with terrified eyes. "Come here little buddy."
He jumped into my lap, and I poured a small amount of the water onto my clean hand and let him lick it up. He did so greedily, and relief washed over his face.
"Yeah, it's the best, isn't it?" I asked.
Kline purred.
I smiled and took a deep breath. "What was that? It's from the plant I ran into, right?"
Name: Wisteris (Bristara follica) Poisoning
Type: Fern Poisoning
Summary: As proof that fate wants you dead, you've somehow run into the only poison in a five mile radius the Diktyo River's water can't cure. Wisteris is a tall fern that sprouts under trees and then injects bioluminescent pigments into the trunk. Over time, it spreads to moss, turning it bright blue. This distracts prey so it doesn't see the clear branches that spread its spores. Westeris is nicknamed the "Newborn Killer" because animals teach their young to avoid bright colors above them. But newborns who find it before anyone can warn them, like you, fall for it—hook, line, and sinker. But don't worry, that blood on your fingers isn't necrosis—it's just from constant itching, you idiot.
Species: Bristara follica
Key Facts:
Wisteris is a fern that spreads its spores through its barbs—along with deadly toxins.
The toxins usually kill their hosts within six hours, and the spores use the host's body as a source of nitrates and nutrients.
This wisteris has reached the Third Evolution and, therefore, has injected you with toxins that water from the Diktyo River cannot immediately cleanse.
Symptoms (estimated using your current makeup):
Stage I: Itchiness near the spores within the first two hours.
Stage II: The body turns sluggish and feverish during hours three and four.
Stage III: Paralysis, delirium, and death during the remaining two hours.
Cure ingredients: Available nearby.
Cure skill requirements: First-Tier Alchemy
Important: The cure requires alchemical knowledge to make. It is therefore recommended that you complete the Legacy Mission "Get Your Stuff Back" instead of searching for a cure.
"O-Oh hell no," I stammered, eyes wide. "Fuck your subclass options and tell me two things. First! I want the fastest safest path to the wandering reaper. Second! Tell me where this goddamn mushroom is!"
It was a race against the clock to finish this quest. So when it asked me if I wanted to use two Information Requests, I said yes!
Aiden wasn't fighting for his life. He enjoyed a nice relaxing train ride to the Areswood forest. He had a window seat, which was great, considering that he didn't like talking to people. Or, rather, he was bad at talking to people. His conversations usually lasted a total of 30 seconds before he didn't know what to say, and then he silently chastised himself for not having anything to say, and then things got so awkward that people just said, "Um, goodbye," and left, assuming they said anything at all. It was so bad that the religious missionary beside him gave up trying to convert him and let him stare out the window.
That's why he worked with animals. He wasn't shy around them, and they didn't judge him. They quickly became friends, and their relationships thrived.
The same wasn't true of the chatting people around him. They were concerned, angry, vindictive, awful, and dangerous.
He would watch out during their "Trial of Worth."
It took an hour to get to their location, and the train's surreal speed turned the rolling landscape a distant blur of purples, whites, and greens.
Their destination was supposed to be a conservatory, but it looked like the gates of hell. It was curved and blocked off with a 50-foot wall tattooed with colossal magic circles and topped Victorian-era spikes.
"What the hell is this?" a woman asked as we reached a checkpoint guarded by soldiers.
"Relax," Graxan said. "This curved wall's known as a 'Ring' and there's seven of 'em here. The first one makes up the Restam Conservatory, which's opened to the public. Aside from the helpers, you're only gonna see animals and peaceful spirit beasts. That isn't to say that some of the animals aren't dangerous, but you're not gonna find serious threats in the conservatory."
That didn't inspire confidence.
"What… is a spirit beast?" Aiden asked. The others turned to Graxan for an answer.
"Beasts have mana cores," Graxan said. "That allows 'em to use magic and grow in size. Some get pretty big, but once again you're not gonna see those. There's two more Rings in our domain, and those'er blocked off by walls like this. So you don't have to worry about them."
"You said that there were seven rings," the woman pressed.
"Yeah, there's seven, but you only gotta worry about three. Everything around us is the First Domain and only beings Second Evolution or lower can be here without gettin' slapped with a curse that restrains their power. That's what prevents the strong from enslavin' the weak, and almost everythin' in the Fourth Ring's gonna get slapped hard by a curse."
Mr. Smirk, who Aiden would later know as Everen Heath, laughed and said what was on everyone's mind. "If they aren't dangerous, why do you have seven walls separating us?"
The bus let out a collective groan as people watched waves of soldiers as the train continued forward, moving into the conservatory.
"The first three prevent the biggin's from gettin' out," Graxan said. "The fourth prevents people from gettin' in."
2.
The Information Request took me right to the location of the treskirita, and thank God! Haha! Because it was one hundred feet away, and the mushrooms looked exactly like another two dozen, I had started ignoring. It would've taken me a week to find them!
I'm not sure I had ever been so furious. Still, the information request took me right to it, and that's what I needed. It was already afternoon, and there was still a serious hike back to the wandering reaper since I needed to go around the river, and I was literally dying. So I dug for the mycelium under the ground and found it. Oh, yes, I found it. And when I did, my hatred of Areswood Forest multiplied tenfold.