Chapter 29 - Walking Mushrooms Are Tricky

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As we moved across the forest, we came across something, a large mushroom walking with two feet, at least a meter and a half tall. It was taller than me but not as big as my father. It looked at us with two eerie crimson-red eyes.

The mushroom was white-colored and had a red and white cap. It had two small limbs with what seemed to be very soft-looking fingers. This thing didn't look threatening at all, but closer inspection told me it was actually poisonous and might be able to produce a venomous cloud of spores. With my current body, it would be a pain to die from poison… so I better stay away from it.

"Gruuuooohhh…"

It noticed us as it began to slowly crawl towards us.

"A Walking Mushroom…" said Eleanora.

"Eleanora, swiftly kill it from a distance." I said.

"Understood!"

Eleanora quickly gathered my Mana. I felt 5 Mana were used in an instant. Blood emerged out of thin air, gathering around her tiny hands, she pointed it at the Walking Mushroom and then fired!

FLAAASH!

The mass of blood quickly shaped itself as if it were a slashing attack, slashing through the mushroom's body cleanly, leaving it cut in half.

SLAAASH!

"Gruuuooh?!"

The Walking Mushroom was an easy prey, it died on the spot with ease.

[You gained 100 EXP]

Well, at least this is something.

I took out the knife that my father had gifted me on my fifth birthday, as I slashed open the stomach of the mushroom which had not been slashed properly, and took out a slightly bigger spirit orb, it was covered in goo.

"This is good enough." I said with a smile, as I saved the spirit orb in my pocket.

What about the corpse? This was venomous so it cannot be eaten, burning it will make a venomous cloud as well, so I will just leave it here to rot and go back to the forest naturally.

"For now let's continue."

"A-And the corpse?"

Eleanora asked the same question…

"People can't eat venomous things, they're not like we were back then, even I… I think I won't be able to handle it." I sighed.

"But this is such a waste!" she said.

"Don't eat it!" I said, as Eleanora almost tasted the mushroom.

"Does nobody buy these, for real?" she asked.

"I don't think anyone would buy poison unless they want to kill somebody…" I said.

"O-Oh… I suppose you're right." Said Eleanora.

Eleanora was a bit stubborn. The truth was, she was greedy deep down, but wasn't I also very greedy before? I might have become a bit less greedy, I guess. There are always people willing to buy anything, I am sure of it, but the chances of encountering someone willing to buy the corpse of a venomous walking mushroom in this little village was dim. I am sure it could be used for alchemy; I can see the potential in the materials by just looking, but it's not worth it, nor do I have any way to easily store it.

We continued advancing through the forest as we found more Walking Mushrooms than we thought. There was three more right around the corner. It made me wonder if there was a colony here.

Using rocks I had picked up, I fired them with incredible speed towards them using the Throwing Technique. The +10% damage dealt was really apparent as they became powerful blows. I discovered that three shots were enough to finish off the Walking Mushrooms as long as I could aim at the middle of their eyes, where their nervous system was located. They didn't have brains but this was their weak spot.

BOOM! BOOM!

Using both hands as someone who is ambidextrous, I was able to fire the rocks right in the middle of the forehead of the Mushroom six meters away from me.

After that, I picked another rock and fired the third.

BOOM!

"Gruuoohh…"

BUMP!

The Walking Mushroom fell to the floor, its eyes rolled out.

It died instantly.

[You gained 100 EXP]

"Hah!"

Meanwhile, Eleanora, for the sake of not using all my Mana, used her long nails to fight, which she can grow as blades by only spending 1 Mana.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

The second Walking Mushroom was bathed in slashing attacks before it could fire any poisonous spore cloud, as its entire body was sliced apart into pieces and died on the spot!

"Gruuoohh…"

[You gained 100 EXP]

The last Walking Mushroom was a smaller one, looking at us with anger it rushed directly at us and then unleashed a poisonous cloud.

POOOF!

The poisonous cloud spread around, as Eleanora and I retreated back.

"That damn thing… the poison is not so strong, but it seems that it could paralyze a target." Said Eleanora.

"Indeed…" I said.

It would be so nice if I could tame this monster.. Having a creature that can paralyze others using a poisonous cloud would be very useful. But how can I tame monsters in this world? In my previous life, I simply used my Intent and my Aura, forcing myself on the wills of defeated monsters until they decided to obey me.

But here? I don't have such overwhelming might, so my approaching methods are terrible and won't work as intended, only angering the beast more. I suppose I could damage it and force it, but that might risk the creature using this smoke even more. Therefore I decided to not waste my time and fired three rocks at it consecutively.

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

The three rocks landed with incredible precision, the Walking Mushroom twisted its face in pain, and dropped dead in an instant.

[You gained 100 EXP]

"Phew, let's wait for the smoke to dissipate a bit." said Eleanora.

After the poison was mostly gone, we picked the spirit orbs and continued moving.

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