It seemed that his first encounter with another race would once again have a hostile start. Tristan watched the large piece of wood, seemingly intended to take their lives, flying toward them.
Or at least, that was how he interpreted it.
As the object flew through the air, he didn't even need to calculate where it would land to conclude that dodging wasn't necessary. Before he could think about how bad the mushrooms' aim was, he noticed that all the others were also preparing to throw whatever they were holding. 'At this rate, one of them might actually hit us.'
"Uh, Zahira, I think those guys aren't too happy with our presence here."
She nodded. "They're always like this."
"Don't worry, I have a solution for that." She reached into the tangle of vines on her back and pulled out a small membranous sphere. When Zahira opened it, something resembling yellow dust spread out and clung to her body. Worried, Tristan held his breath and tried to step back.
Using her hands, Zahira rubbed the dust onto her fur and onto Buk.
Tristan noticed a change in the strange beings' behavior. They stopped raising their arms and began approaching more slowly.
He used his diagnostic ability on the dust. All he could determine was that it was some kind of cluster of cells, unlike anything he had seen before. He couldn't tell if it was alive or not, but its structure was so simple that he judged it harmless.
"What is this?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. It's something I received in a trade. When I use it, they don't try to kill me."
"Trade?" He frowned. "Are they intelligent?"
"Not very. Most of them are dumber than the beasts in the forest," she explained. "But at the center of the village, there are some evolved ones capable of understanding a few things, like trade and alliances."
After Zahira crafted a new torch, she said, "Come! Follow me! I'll show you their village." She walked casually among the mushrooms.
Tristan followed her. As he passed the mushrooms, he noticed no reaction from them. He couldn't even imagine how those beings perceived the world.
***
As they walked through the tunnel, Tristan took out his backpack. After some searching, he retrieved the two remaining vials of sleep salts.
'The effects of this surprised me. I never thought it would help me so much one day.' Tristan decided to place the vials in a safer spot. He hid them within his clothes, along with the blue crystal and other small valuables, such as his money.
After walking through the tunnels for several minutes, they reached a large cavern.
Gray mushrooms, not very different from normal-sized ones, were scattered everywhere—from the ground to the walls and even the ceiling. When he looked toward the center of the village, he estimated that the Fungelite population must be in the hundreds. There were no streets, and they moved around haphazardly.
What caught his attention the most were the massive mushrooms, almost as tall as two-story buildings, with numerous holes in their bodies where other mushrooms rested.
"Unfortunately, there's not much to see here. They spend most of their time cultivating and reproducing. They can't create anything as impressive as the things you told me humans have made."
Tristan saw a group of those beings carrying the carcasses of peculiar forest creatures. They dumped the bodies on the ground and began smashing them with branches and large stones. Once only small pieces remained, they spread them across the soil toward smaller mushrooms on the ground.
White filaments emerged from the ground and moved toward those pieces.
"Will all of them become Fungelites?" He pointed at the small mushrooms on the ground and walls. Tristan couldn't imagine how the balance between races could be maintained if every one of them could evolve.
She shook her head. "No, most of them will stay like this. The evolution rate here is very low."
He nodded in understanding.
"But in the main cradle, it's a bit different. There, they receive higher-quality nutrients, increasing their chances of becoming true Fungelites."
"Main cradle?" That piqued his curiosity.
"Do you want to see it?"
"As long as it doesn't cause us any trouble." He thought it would be good to learn more about other races.
"They don't mind as long as we don't get too close."
He watched as she leaped onto the head of a mushroom. She began hopping across them toward the village center.
'Well, that's a peculiar way to avoid traffic.' Noticing their lack of reaction, he mimicked her and followed suit.
She led him to one of the giant mushrooms, which was over 10 meters tall. Surrounding the area were dozens of Fungelites nearly 3 meters tall, their bodies much sturdier than the others.
"These are the more evolved mushrooms I mentioned earlier. They usually guard the main cradle."
She passed the guards but stopped at the entrance of the giant mushroom. Tristan stood beside her and peered inside.
He saw numerous forest beasts that looked familiar. His gaze landed on an orange-furred boar collapsing to the ground. Mushrooms were growing from its body, inside out. The slow rise and fall of its chest indicated it was still alive.
'Good thing Yue isn't here. She'd probably have nightmares about this for the rest of her life.'
Comparing this to all the things in his memories, he found it unshocking.
"When they capture a living being with a lot of essence, they bring it here. This allows the small mushrooms to access a high-quality vital energy source for longer, increasing their chances of achieving a good evolution," Zahira explained.
As he looked at the dozens of dying beasts, something immediately caught Tristan's attention. Unlike the others, this one had no tusks, claws, or fur covering its body.
A human. Tristan had found another human here. He was young, only a few years older than Tristan. From his appearance, he hadn't been here long.
His yellow robes and the red sash around his waist identified him as a martial artist. The emblem on his attire, a symbol of three white feathers above a cloud, was one Tristan recognized. It marked one of the major sects of Zaguhan.
The boy's arms and legs were twisted unnaturally, clearly having been struck by something heavy. Gray mushrooms had fused with the right side of his head and part of his chest.
Suddenly, Tristan saw the boy's left eye, the only part not consumed by mushrooms, move in his direction. Looking into the brown eye, he easily recognized someone who had cried until their tears dried up.
Tristan wondered if the boy was truly conscious or if it was merely a natural reflex.
"Oh, you found another human?" Zahira said, glancing in the direction he was looking. "It's a shame he's in this state. I bet he had many stories to tell."
"Why is the security here so tight?"
Tristan found it odd. The captured beings seemed completely incapable of fleeing or resisting. With so many mushrooms in the village, this place should already be safe for them. The level of protection seemed unnecessary to him, so he decided to ask Zahira about it.
"I doubt there are many beings capable of reaching this place and posing a threat."
She lowered her head to meet his gaze.
"There really weren't. They were more relaxed before, but recently, the number of 'Marked' has increased, and they have a preference for living creatures made of flesh. That's why they've strengthened the protection here, though I don't think it makes much difference."
'Marked? That word again.' He sighed, his intuition sensing trouble.
"You mentioned them before but didn't explain who they are."
"Oh, right. I forgot you don't know about them. They're the strangest creatures I've ever seen in this forest."
"Really?" he asked skeptically. "There's no shortage of strange beings here." He included her in that category.
Zahira nodded. "Their behavior is very odd. Sometimes, they seem intelligent and act with purpose. Other times, they seem completely insane, disregarding their own lives."
"Are they strong?" Tristan asked.
"Very. Of course, their power doesn't come close to the strongest beings in the forest, but they're far more dangerous than average. They appeared in this forest a few years ago."
"They," Tristan murmured. "Are they part of some species?"
"No. Well, at least I don't think so. Each one is completely different from the others. But they all have something in common—aside from the madness. They all have strange markings on their bodies. That's why I call them 'Marked.' I think it suits them. What do you think?"
He nodded absentmindedly. "I hope I never encounter one of them."
"You don't need to worry too much about that. There aren't many of them, so the chances of you running into one are low. Besides, you won't be staying here for long." She tried to reassure him.
"How about we eat something? It's best to rest well before we continue through the tunnels."
Tristan wanted to leave the forest's territory as soon as possible, but he really did need a good rest. His essence reserves were dangerously low, and his stomach had been growling for a while.
His eyes wandered over Zahira's body, examining her. Although she seemed fine, she had endured an impressive amount of damage in the last fight. He thought that even a Green cultivator would have trouble enduring all that without going through a long period of recovery.