137 Honing Ones Own Spore-Skills (1/2)
I could hear the mental voices of the fungi I had connected excitedly chatter to each other. Their voices were all distinct, to me at least, and they discussed a range of topics. I was listening to them when the fungi subdomain spoke to me once more.
”Althos, if you cause a lesser fungal or mold creature to evolve they'll automatically become infused with your parasitic spores. They'll become new friends!” The subdomain informed me, catching me off guard. And it wasn't done either.
”And if you opt to cause a creature infected with spores they gain a new evolutionary route: a fungal path that allows even humans or other humanoids to become true fungal creatures.” The subdomain informed me, making a small part of me want to try that. The part of me that thought about things from a purely neutral point of view was intrigued by the possibilities and power of the spores.
”Fungal friends...” I muttered, in my mind. I worded it that way to excite the subdomain and I internally laughed when the subdomain excitedly gasped.
”Yes! Fungal friends! And unless when you cause them to evolve you mentally will them to come out like any other fungal friends would if they evolved alone they'll take on traits influenced by the other domains and subdomains you have influence over.” The subdomain told me, catching me off guard. This well and truly surprised me, and was enough to persuade me to experiment.
While I was mentally chatting with the subdomain I had been moving and was now near the center of the town. I was also in the presence of several patches of fungi. I glanced at them excitedly and began to activate my fungal powers.
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The deity who stood near the heart of the now-annihilated community activated his powers over fungi with an excited grin. He took a second and mentally targeted the patches of fungal matter around him.
The patches of fungal matter he selected were thriving mushrooms that were on the unmaintained dirt roads that connected parts of the community he was in. The mushrooms were a range of colors and were mushrooms that were unique to Salifinos.
They began to visibly bounce as their god drew near. They were visibly ”dancing” to celebrate the coming of their god, as his mere presence infused them with new energy and powered them. They had no idea just how much more exciting their days were about to become.
When the god had targeted all three patches of the fungal matter, he silently activated his ”Lesser fungal manipulation” power, which allowed him to forcibly cause the mushrooms to evolve.
He was totally silent, at least externally, as his mind cycled through the menus that his powers made him fill out to force the evolution of the simple mushrooms. It took him a few seconds to do, and as he did it the smile on his face grew wider and wider.
In navigating the menus before him he was able to learn more about evolution, and about the full and diverse scope of what was considered a ”lesser fungal creature”. It was surprisingly diverse, and wasn't just simple mushrooms and mold and then fungal folks.
He was delighted to learn of creatures like ”Mushroom mages” and ”Spore stalkers”. The first of those two creatures were magical, bipedal mushrooms, and the second were eerie spider-like creatures that existed to infect creatures with spores and came in a range of sizes.
The god wasn't searching for spiders. He selected the magical mushroom people and watched as the evolutions began.
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Before my very eyes the mushrooms began to radiate intense, almost solar, light. I could see through it no problem thanks to mastery over light itself, but it was still fascinating to watch.
The mushrooms radiated light for a few seconds and then began to expand. Their odd, reverse silhouettes began to grow in size and take on a new shape. The three mushrooms were shaped and reshaped by my fantastical powers. As they grew in height and width, they also took on a distinctly humanoid shape, two legs and all. When they stood about a meter and a half tall each the light that illuminated their forms began to dim, until it was completely gone.
The first and most immediately noticeable change that wasn't expected was that the creatures appeared to be gendered. They were naked, and they had the distinctive sexual organs that distinguished males and females. Two of them were male and one was female, or at least those were the organs they possessed.
The two male-looking mushroom mages were red and blue respectively. The female was bright green. All three looked like humanoids but they lacked eyes and mouths and their skin wasn't skin. Their equivalent of skin was a thick mat of fungal matter. They possessed two hands each and had fingers made of the same matter as the rest of their skin.