BXBX NOVEL Chapter 8 Hunting Walking Mushrooms
"Can\'t Jobs learn it?"
"No. Jobs can\'t learn Magic, magic affinities come in the Race Skill Tree. You can pick a Job that enhances your already existing Magic Affinity though, if you pick being a Human, you can pick your magic affinity, which can only be one, other races have it fixated. Your Magic affinity and that of Ents and Brownies is Nature, so you got Green Magic," said the Guide Spirit.
"That\'s pretty interesting… So Fire Demons get Fire Affinity and Dark Demons Dark Affinity?" I asked.
"Fire Demons are Onis technically, and yeah… Dark Demons are called Majin, by the way." said the guide. "Don\'t forget this stuff, calling an Oni player as "Fire Demon" might sound rude."
"Huh… O-Okay… I doubt it," I said.
"So you would be happy if someone just called you a plant?" asked the guide. "No, right?"
"Eh? Well, I would feel a bit offended, yeah…" I said. "I guess I get it."
"You cannot see other people\'s status without their permission, but you can see their name, race, and job above their heads, so you can know the basics about them at the very least," said the guide. "Make sure not to confuse a skeleton player with an actual monster skeleton."
"O-Okay, I get it…"
I decided to check the three Spells in more detail now that I could.
[Plant Manipulation]
Cost: 10 ~ 500 MP (Varied)
Cooldown: 10 Seconds.
The natural magic that every Green Mage has grants them the power to manipulate plants that they directly touch, shaping them to their imagination. The larger and more complex the shape they take, the more Mana they require. Plants can be left permanently shaped in the form you desire or brought back to normal shape without Mana cost.
[Verdant Recovery Light]
Cost: 50 MP
Cooldown: None.
The natural ability of all Green Mages. Being close to nature make you an excellent healer, using the power and life of nature, you can recover basic wounds and the health bar will increase once more. If used near a forest, the Spell leaves a Status effect that double automatic recovery on a target for a minute.
[Accelerated Growth]
Cost: 200 MP
Cooldown: 20 Minutes.
By employing the power of Nature, you\'re able to accelerate the growth of living beings for 10 minutes, doubling their total growth speed. Players, NPC, and tamed monsters receive X2 EXP Buff and their HP and MP regeneration is also doubled.
Plants you\'re raising and also cattle receive a X2 boost to their growth speed and can grow more beautiful, with double the chances of becoming high quality or extra rare quality.
"W-What… This is amazing! All these spells are very useful! How come a Race that boosts EXP gain is not widely used by other players?" I asked. "What is wrong with people?"
"There are other spells that can boost EXP gain, such as the Bishop Spells, which are more common Classes amongst parties, and they\'re even more specialized healers, supporters, and can deal strong Holy Light Damage as well," said the guide. "Meanwhile, the Dryad is a bit lacking in all of that… Ents and Brownies too, Ents are way too slow too, and Brownies seem to specialize even more in growing plants than anything else… Ah, and maybe digging the dirt."
"Ah… I-I see… I guess it is not as incredible as I thought." I sighed.
[Agriculture: Lv1]
As a Farmer, you\'re incredibly close to nature and the Agriculture of plants is your greatest understanding. You\'re capable of raising plants at an amazing speed, being able to also help the soil gain nutrition in the most efficient ways, and more.
While raising any sort of plant, their growth speed is accelerated by X5.
Any plant you raise with care and time will have a guaranteed higher rank than they would originally have.
You\'re able to "recycle" plants by turning them back into seeds of a quality rank lower.
The soil you take care of will grow healthier, and you are able to innately enhance the soil with nutrients that you can make out of other items.
You can appraise any type of plant in the game.
Interesting! This supplemented very well the Race Skill I got… But it was all about raising plants. I should really get to make a farm right away after I was done with these quests. Perhaps if I could get the help of the squirrel-folk, that would be even better.
And lastly…
[AGI UP: Lv1]
Increases Agility Stat by +10% with each Level.
Oh, that one was quite simple. I guess that was it. My only attacking methods were Plant Manipulation or Shapeshifting my own body, both consumed Mana, but were the only way I can fight.
Alright, I was ready, and I only spent about five minutes checking that, so it was not too much!
"L-Lady Planta, those mushrooms there, the purple-colored ones that got spikes atop their heads, they\'re behind those big orange ones, kill those, they should drop the item," said Acorn at my side.
"I see… Come with me then," I said. "Make sure to stay behind me, dear."
"Okay!"
Acorn slowly walked at my side as we began to sneak around. We walked behind the bigger mushrooms and skipped the walking mushrooms walking around. If we enraged them all by attacking one, it would get pretty dangerous so we had to snipe out the purple ones and then get out of here.
"We need Five Spiky Purple Mushrooms, right?" I asked. "So we have to kill five… One, two, three, four, five, six… Ah, there are around eight of them scattered all around this mushroom canopy place… I guess that\'s enough."
"Yeah, that should be enough! S-So, what\'s your strategy? If we got closer, the poison might weaken us or kill us off…" sighed Acorn. "This is why nobody has tried hunting them."
"I see. Well, my strategy is simple, we won\'t even need to move near them, Acord. We\'ll snipe them out from a distance," I said then turned to orb over my shoulder. "Guide, do monsters follow you when you hit them?"
"If they see you," said the guide. "If they can\'t find you, they\'ll begin searching for you…"
"Okay then… I got an idea. I can shapeshift my body to any plant I have in mind, right? Can I detach my own body and fire it?" I wondered.
"Eh? I had not thought about it, but is it possible? Maybe?" he wondered.
Not even he knew, perhaps no other Dryad player had ever tried this before…
"Let\'s see…"
I looked into my hand and then shaped it as sharp thorns that grew long. That alone cost me around 20 Mana, but I knew that if I shape too much, it might cost way too much, so I left them like this.
"W-Woah, your hands are thorns now, Lady Planta?" asked Acorn.
"Yes… Look."
I pointed one of my fingers towards the moving mushroom, the nearest purple mushroom, which had suddenly stopped wandering around and stood there for a while rather dumbly…
"I am sorry little one…"
I apologized to the creature then I consumed ten more mana. The thorn of my finger then blasted off like a bullet!
BANG!
Wow, it worked! It even released a sound similar to a damn gun?!
CLASH!
"Gryuuu?!"
The purple mushroom suddenly was attacked, as a thorn flew into its body and pierced it. I saw its HP suddenly drop by 30 out of 100! They were not as deadly as actual bullets, but they worked as long-ranged attacks!
And… ouch, I saw my HP bar and detaching my own finger cost 1 HP! Well, that was not too much, my HP was 50 though, so I cannot abuse this too much.
"A-Amazing!" said Acorn.
"Now, fire an acorn while it\'s still confused!" I said.
"Okay!"
The squirrel-folk boy suddenly took a big acorn from his Item Bag and pointed it at the mushroom that was still somewhat dizzy and confused from the attack.
"HYA!"
FLAAASH!
CLASH!
"Gryeeh…"
The acorn flew towards the target, and just as he said, his aim was very good, the acorn hit the mushroom head on. His attack blasted it into the ground and made it roll several times. It was so cute it made me feel bad.
"Gryyu…"
The mushroom slowly tried to stand up, it had around 20 HP left, more than enough for me to finish it off! I pointed my second finger at it and then… fire!
BOOM!
The thorn crossed through the air and reached the mushroom, and hit it instantly.
The mushroom gave a pitiful groan of pain, as it quickly died. It fell over the floor as its eyes turned X-shaped, which was quite cartoony…
POOF!
And then as the Guide once said, it turned into particles of light and left some items behind. Something that looked like a purple-colored mushroom cap showed up, and some money too, they were all instantly added to my inventory.
[You defeated a Walking Spiky Purple Mushroom (Level 3)!]
[You gained 350 EXP]
[You gained 55 Gold]
[You acquired the [Spiky Purple Mushroom] x1 and [Poisonous Mushroom] x1 items!]
How odd, I got two items out of it. What was Poisonous Mushroom anyways? On top of that, the creature included another item. I looked into my inventory, and there was the spiky mushroom, which seemed nonpoisonous, and then a small, purple-colored mushroom that was poisonous.
Interesting… I wonder if I can take out the poison and eat it? Hmm… Now that I think about it, were these mushrooms edible? Maybe I could make mushroom soup?
Oh my, somehow these mushrooms now all look quite appetizing and my fear of killing such cute things has suddenly disappeared! Ahh, it had been a while since I ate some good mushrooms…
"Nice! Did you get the dropped items?" asked Acorn. "Is the item there?"
"Yes it is! Good teamwork, killing stuff from afar fits me better in the end, it is more secure that way," I said. "Now let\'s kill the other one in there."
"Okay!"
Now that I\'ve gained some more confidence, we sneaked around the mushroom forest and reached an area near another purple mushroom. I pointed one of my fingers at it, and quickly shot it down with two bullets in one hit.
BOOM! BOOM!
"Gryyawu!"
The double impact left the small mushroom rolling around the floor. It got so angry it suddenly released a large purple-colored smoke that started to spread around and reached me faster than I thought!
"Ugh… Cough…"
[You\'ve been inflicted with Poison Status (5 minutes), your HP will go down with each second]
"Ah, crap!"
I ran away from the smoke as I saw that Acorn managed to evade it in time. I was about to use my healing spell on me, but Acorn took out a small green-colored tonic and gave it to me.
"Please drink this! It can heal and cure poison! I made it using Recovery Leaves that we cultivate back at home," said Acorn.
"Oh my, thank you…"
I drank the potion, which was quite bitter, like the bitterness of a very strong tea, and I felt the poison fade away instantly.
"This is amazing," I said. "You could have used these with the people."
"No, they cannot fend off miasma, they are good for treating it, but not curing the disease…" sighed Acorn.
"I see… Well, quickly shoot down the mushroom, look, it is coming right towards here!" I said as I pointed at the mushroom. Acorn quickly took out an acorn and fired it at the mushroom right on its face.
BOOM!
"Gryyyehh…"
POOF!
It died on the spot.