Rate of infestation: 100%.

  New Quest!

  Quest: Purification.

  Objective: Cleanse the spores from your body.

  Rewards: Control of body. Increased resistance to Leminea sporae.

  Warning!

  Portal time remaining: 24:41

  Even as system windows appeared before Eric, he looked through them, ignoring them and focusing on the figures before him. They were towering figures, each covered in foliage. While tree roots and branches wrapped around their limbs in a strangely harmonious manner, covering everything, Eric could see patches of black fur in most of those that surrounded him.

  They were surrounding him, but they weren’t moving, as if they didn’t consider him a threat. Or maybe, they’re not alive, he thought. A thought that quickly died when he saw that one of them appeared to have taken a breath. It was small, but with the combination of his improved eyesight and hearing, he noticed it. The slight rustle of the leaves and movement of its abdomen.

  Remaining still, Eric took the chance to read the windows before him.

  Leminea sporea, is that the name for the spores? Wait, he paused, trying to remember something. Don’t spores come from something, plants? Mushrooms?

  He was about to inhale but stopped himself and was surprised at the control he had over his body. It was greater than what he imagined. It wasn’t only his awareness that increased, but also small things like exact locations for itches and sensations.

  Having stopped his exhale, Eric instead tried to mimic the breathing that the figures in front of him were doing. It was difficult, while he had greater control, it didn’t mean that that control came easy.

  There was also the aspect of satisfaction. He wanted to take a deep breath in, but instead only got a steady stream of air into his lungs—that fulfilling sensation of filling your lungs with air, making your chest rise, was nowhere to be found.

  Leaving complaints to the side, his need for air was satisfied, and he continued his analysis of the situation before him, or at least he tried to, but he was interrupted by thoughts that tried to influence him.

  It was similar to what he felt earlier, when the spore used his memories to go unnoticed, but it was significantly weaker, not due to lack of strength, it seemed intentional.

  Looking at the top system message and the quest, a thought came to mind. Does it think I’m under its control? Is that why its efforts are so weak? Because it thinks it already won?

  With an amused expression that he was very bad at hiding, Eric rose, standing as straight as he could. As if taking that as a sign, all the other figures surrounding him, began to form a single file line, but didn’t advance.

  With a quick inspection, Eric noticed an empty spot behind one of the figures, it was clearly meant for him. Still not sure if he could take them on, he decided to mimic the subtle and odd way they walked, making his way to the empty spot.

  They didn’t move their shoulders, and their entire torsos would turn without affecting their legs. They moved more like toys, and not the actual living beings that Eric assumed were under all that foliage.

  The line began to advance, making Eric leave his musings behind. He took the chance to observe his surroundings. The rooms that he passed through were large and had a light source from the ceiling. Any and all furniture that might have once been in these rooms, was now covered in roots and branches. Depending on how long it had been like this, there might not be anything underneath the greenery.

  ----------

  “See,” Wu Ling said, pointing at an opening on the forest ground.

  “I don’t see shit,” Mercer answered, genuinely not seeing anything.

  Wu Ling scowled. “Then stop looking at a tree, fuckface,” she said, yanking him by the neck and turning his head to what she was pointing. “See—”

  “Let go,” Mercer said, quickly freeing himself from Wu Ling’s grasp. “The hell is—Oh! I see it now.”

  “Fuckface,” Wu Ling muttered.

  As if not hearing her last comment, Mercer spoke calmly. “What are we supposed to do with that?” he asked, dreading the answer.

  A smirk appeared on Wu Ling’s face.

  “No. Come on, the gate is right there,” Mercer said, pointing at the gate that was now closer than ever.

  Her grin not disappearing, Wu Ling began speaking. “Think about it Mercer,” she began, now a saleswoman, “the more points, you get, you could probably afford a pretty good reward.” She threw her arm over Mercer’s shoulder, and with a raise of both eyebrows, she was ready to seal the deal. “Maybe even a phoenix feather? Or would you prefer alchemy books, maybe from the first universes? Heaven? Hell? Fae?”

  Mercer knew what she was doing, but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t interested. He let out a heavy sigh of resignation. The air that left his mouth being far more poisonous than the one that surrounded him, causing Wu Ling to back away slightly.

  “Fine,” Mercer said. “What’s the plan?”

  “Like I said, we’re doing the full quest.” Wu Ling finished speaking and began walking into the ground entrance.

  Sometime later, the pair found themselves traversing tunnels. They were ample and the walls were densely covered with greenery, but on occasion, a small gap revealed the original form of what was underneath.

  Mercer stopped, observing the small gap. “This seems artificial,” he said, pressing his finger against the surface that was revealed.

  “Does that matter?” Wu Ling asked, her expression undecided.

  “Might give us a clue of what we’ll find. If we—”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Wu Ling pushed Mercer out of the way, freeing her way to observe the revealed surface. “Hmm.” She narrowed her eyes and titled her head lightly.

  Mercer adjusted himself, watched Wu Ling move two fingers toward the surface and somehow extract part of it without the disturbing the surrounding roots. He nodded in approval and kicked her on the side.

  “Hey!” she exclaimed, in annoyance. “It’ll stain,” she added, patting her robe until the dirt print was removed.

  “Here we go,” Mercer said, facing Wu Ling and holding the piece that she had extracted from the revealed surface.

  Still padding her robe, Wu Ling let the moment drag on until she herself couldn’t tolerate it any longer. “Get anything?” she asked, lifting her gaze toward Mercer.

  Mercer brought the piece to his mouth and bit a part of it off, taking a moment to analyze it. Seemingly having understood something he began to nod. He continued to move the fragment in his mouth while observing the fragment in his hand, trying to grasp something more.

  “Answer me you fuck!” Wu Ling exclaimed, annoyed at how long Mercer was taking.

  Mercer chewed slowly, his frown deepening as he did so. “Always so impatient.” He lifted a finger up, gesturing for her to wait.

  “Put that finger down before I shove—”

  “It’s artificial,” Mercer began, his voice slightly louder than Wu Ling’s. “Its composition is far too complex for it to have been natural.”

  “How complex?” Wu Ling asked.

  Mercer began to consider his answer. It was a simple thing, but its design complex. Estimating the level of advancement for something like this was extremely hard. This wasn’t his area of expertise; it was barely adjacent to it. Than an idea struck him. “Wait,” he said.

  Mercer reached for his arms, once more the staff shifting from ink on skin to an actual physical one. As if scrolling through its contents, Mercer stood almost completely still.

  Wu Ling observed him with curiosity. She was always surprised by whatever method he used to answer problems that seemed to have no solution, or perhaps it was just unfeasible at that moment, yet he always did.

  “Dammit,” Mercer muttered, annoyance in his face. “How about this one.”

  Hmm, the storage item limitations. Wu Ling thought. If it weren’t for that, any of the powerful heirs would have already burned half this planet to dust.

  Finally, a potion vial that looked to be empty appeared on Mercers free hand. “Here we go,” he said with anticipation.

  He brought the fragment he was holding to the vial and dropped it in. Even though the vial appeared empty, the fragment floated as if in water. For a couple of seconds nothing happened.

  “What are we looking at?” Wu Ling asked, unsure if something was supposed to happen.

  “Don’t distract me,” Mercer answered, ignoring her question.

  With a frown forming, Wu Ling was ready to protest when all of a sudden, the potion shifted into multiple colors, revealing the liquid inside, until finally it landed on red. And before she could do anything else, the vial exploded.

  “What does that mean?” she asked, her eyes full of anticipation.

  Mercer shrugged. “I have no idea,” he said, his expression innocent. “Just thought it would be cool.” He made a small and awkward smile.

  With an expression that clearly showed disgust, Wu Ling spoke. “Let’s just go.” With a few steps ahead of Mercer she muttered under her breath. “Fucker…”

  Their initial journey into the tunnels was a calm and undisturbed one, but the deeper they ventured in, the more and more foliage covered figures they found.

  “Poor souls,” Mercer muttered, some genuine sorrow in his voice.

  “The hell do you mean?” Wu Ling asked. She pointed at the figure under her heel, “These?” she asked.

  Mercer nodded. “They’re probably still alive.”

  “How long does the, uh, the uh,”

  “The spore,” Mercer said.

  “Yeah, that. How long does it take to spread?” Wu Ling asked.

  “It’s pretty slow actually,” he began his explanation. “Depending on where the spore first arrived, they could have been alive for millions of years.”

  Wu Ling audibly gasped. “That’s why you know so much about it, your immortality research.”

  Mercer frowned. “It’s not mine, but yes,” he said, some distaste in his mouth. “Now, focus, they’re here.”

  “You focus,” Wu Ling replied.

  With that more and more figures kept appearing. Using their experience and years of knowledge, they began to advance toward where they were obviously being kept away from.

  ------------

  if you were to observe the forest from a bird’s eye view, you would see an uninterrupted streak of destroyed forest. Some parts of that streak were still smoldering while others were freezing.

  The two who had been fighting since getting here had not taken a single pause other than to insult one another. Even then, they were probably still in the lead considering the speed with which they tore through the forest.

  The white-haired woman arched her long leg back and flung it like a whip. The lizardman managed to block it, frost fighting to form on his sizzling forearm, only to fail and become steam. The steam was neither cold nor hot, its temperature somehow stabilizing at neutrality.

  The lizardman extended his arm, clutching the woman by the thigh and yanking her closer. Just as suddenly as she yanked her, the lizardman put his free hand on her face and drove it deep into the ground.

  The ground cracked due to the impact, parts of it freezing and becoming extremely brittle, while others began to melt, under the intense heat that was the lizardman’s very presence.

  As the lizardman attempted to free his hands and deliver further punishment, he found both to be unable to move, as if encased in concrete, no, in an iceberg that denied his heat.

  Holding each of the lizardman’s arms with each hand, she began to rise, the coldness of her touch increasing each second and even causing the melting of the ground to cease.

  The lizardman, even with his arms under her control, managed to stand before her. A bit of arrogance built within him. Of course, I should stand while you-— his thoughts caught off.

  The woman was on one knee, and sensing the growing arrogance in her opponent, strengthened her grip on each of his hands, and yanked him down. Fall.

  The lizardman was pulled with great force toward her knee. He struggled and managed to throw her aim off a bit, instead of his face colliding with her knee, it was his chest.

  The impact, however, was just as great as it could ever be. The ground cracked further, and just like when the white-haired woman increased her level of cold, now the lizardman did the same. With their respective increases, they backed away, observing each other.

  That exchange was a matter of seconds, but the surrounding forest and earth had suffered years of damage.

  With a deep breath, they no longer exchanged words, and their bout resumed. The intensity kept escalating; the ground refused to cease its shaking. Ice shards, and molten rock were flung with each exchange of punch and kicks that occurred.

  Some participants had come across the trail of destruction and while they followed it, came across the cause of such a streak and quickly retreated into the forest, it been far safer than being anywhere near the two fighting young emperors.

  With one last resounding punch delivered to each other, the ground couldn’t take it anymore and crumbled underneath their feet. The radius of which it crumbled was far too big for them to jump away in time, and they fell along with it.

  ----------

  Remaining in line and curious as to where they would take him, Eric was going deeper and deeper into the tunnels. After a couple of minutes of nonstop walking, they came across an incredibly large intersection of tunnels, almost square in shape, stopping for only a single second as the one in front turned awkwardly.

  However, it stopped midturn and then, incredibly faster than it was just doing, turned its entire body to one side, the others quickly following. They focused on a single tunnel.

  As the foliage covered figures geared themselves to move, almost priming their entire bodies, someone appeared at the front of the line, and with a quick swipe of their hand, the leading figure’s torso disappeared.

  Before Eric could react and back away, he saw something or someone jump right past him, at an incredible speed. However, he couldn’t turn, as his eyes, nose and skin started to burn. They weren’t simple sensations; they were agonizing ones. His new sense of body allowed him to feel everything that was going wrong with his own body.

  He could feel his organs begin to fail, some of them becoming less and less solid, almost as if they were melting. His eyes began to drift down and as his mouth began to do the same, he felt the familiar tug of the System, only nothing appeared before him.

  Rate of infestation: 99%.

  Whatever decay his body was undergoing, slowed down, and then, whatever was causing it seemed to freeze and burn away.

  Rate of infestation: 98%.

  In the middle of the intersection, the roof collapsed. As the dust formed clouds two figures appeared, obscured by the dust clouds and debris.

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