The apocalypse struck, and I became a druid.

Page 212

The enormous, purplish-black mushroom trembled, and a thick, purplish-black spore mist spewed out from the gills beneath its cap, instantly engulfing him.

At the same time, the fungal tissue on his wound seemed to be ignited, becoming scalding hot and frantically draining his spiritual and mental energy.

"Well!"

Han Ning groaned, feeling as if a floodgate had been opened in his body, and his spiritual energy, vitality, and mental energy began to slowly drain away.

The loss is not very fast at first, but as the number of spores increases, the speed begins to accelerate.

It felt like countless fine needles piercing his mind.

The process of spore association, these fungal consciousnesses, they themselves may not have much complex intelligence, but the instinctive desire for rampant proliferation and expansion is extremely strong.

As the saying goes, "many ants can kill an elephant," and with endless spores adhering to the body's surface, even Han Ning couldn't withstand it.

During the process of forming the society, these simple ideas constantly impacted Han Ning's spiritual world.

Han Ning's body trembled violently, and purplish-black and dark green spots appeared on his skin at a visible speed, spreading rapidly and connecting into patches.

A sharp, needle-like pain shot through his veins; it was the alien spore energy forcibly invading and attempting to transform his body.

Countless chaotic fragments of consciousness surged into his sea of ​​consciousness, as if trying to completely shatter and submerge his self-awareness.

In a moment of crisis, Han Ning bit his tongue sharply, regaining some clarity.

He gradually transformed into the form of a molten gold war tiger, striving to maintain his mental clarity.

The life bud at the heart began to beat at an unprecedented frequency, and a vibrant green light shone through the body, struggling to maintain its vitality.

But the green radiance he emitted flickered uncertainly in the surging, purplish-black fog of spores, like a candle flame in a storm.

More and more spores surged in, constantly consuming his spiritual power.

"No, at this rate, I'll be drained by the spores sooner or later. There are just too many spores; I simply can't sustain them all..."

Just as he felt his mental strength was about to be overwhelmed by the vast and chaotic torrent of spores, Han Ning remembered what the Spore Society's introduction had said about sensing the growth and decay of spores between life and death...

"Is it... that I can't resist, and I need to try to truly communicate with the spores and resonate with them..."

"Give it a try. If it really doesn't work, have Xuebing carry me away."

He gritted his teeth, first notifying Xuebing to come closer, no longer trying to fight against the boundless spore consciousness, but instead opening a corner of his mind to try to understand them.

In that instant, he felt as if he had fallen into a bizarre and fantastical microscopic world.

The birth and death of countless spores were magnified infinitely in his perception.

He watched as the spores frantically absorbed nutrients, rapidly divided, expanded, matured, and then released even more spores, in an endless cycle.

I also saw the mycelium spreading in the darkness, decomposing dead wood and rotten flesh, and even invading living organisms to draw life from them. They are both the terminators of life and the founders of new life.

Death and rebirth are blurred here; the emergence of new fungi from decaying soil often signifies the demise of other life forms nearby.

Each spore's consciousness is as faint as a speck of dust, but billions of specks of consciousness come together to form a part of the will of nature.

"I see... It is essentially a process of integrating with the will of nature."

Han Ning understood immediately.

They are an indispensable part of the natural cycle.

He tried to merge into this vast spore consciousness, letting the spores absorb nutrients from his body, and becoming a part of nature.

This kind of "playing dumb" approach to integration is extremely dangerous.

Han Ning's self-awareness is like a lone boat in a raging sea, which may disappear at any time and be assimilated into the collective consciousness of the spores.

But with the support of [Natural Harmony] and the Sprout of Life, his spiritual power stubbornly held onto the last glimmer of light.

Gradually, Han Ning felt as if he had truly become part of the spore.

He forgot his human identity; the only thoughts in his mind were reproduction and survival.

The enormous purplish-black mushroom trembled again, its cap drooping slightly, and the spore mist it emitted became much calmer, beginning to surround Han Ning.

Han Ning's consciousness completely sank into the world of the spores.

He stopped trying to resist and instead allowed himself to become one of those millions of tiny lives.

He felt himself float up lightly, swirling and dispersing with the invisible air currents, becoming part of the colorful mist that filled the forest.

Drifting with the wind, it seeks fertile soil or a suitable host, then takes root, absorbs nutrients, and grows.

Feel the mycelium spreading in the dark and damp, decomposing rotten wood and decay, competing with other fungi for living space, and after a brief period of prosperity, quickly decaying and withering, turning into new nutrients, waiting for the next round of life to sprout.

Chapter 248 "Fungus" Master

Life and death, prosperity and decline, cycle endlessly in this microscopic world.

In reality, Han Ning's body, which was sitting cross-legged, was completely covered by layers upon layers of colorful mushrooms.

Purple, green, black... all kinds of mushrooms grew wildly on his body as a base, quickly turning him into a huge mushroom clump.

These mushrooms had thick caps and sturdy stems, and they made a slight wriggling sound.

They grew larger and larger, their canopies pressing against each other, almost filling the entire forest clearing.

Just as they reached their peak growth, the outermost mushrooms suddenly lost their luster at a visible speed, the edges of their caps began to curl and turn black, and then the entire plant quickly withered, eventually turning into a pool of sticky humus that dripped onto the ground.

This growth process from death is like being on fast-forward, countless times faster than other naturally growing mushrooms.

Clumps of thriving mushrooms complete their entire life cycle in a very short time: prosperity, peak, decline, decay, and return to dust.

After they died, the purest life energy and nutrients from the earth that they left behind were somehow drawn back into Han Ning's body.

As the energy flowed back, the life bud within Han Ning's body began to throb with unprecedented vitality, greedily absorbing the abundant energy transformed and purified by the mushrooms.

Soon, the layer of fungus covering his body became thinner and thinner, eventually peeling off completely, revealing Han Ning's unharmed body underneath.

[The ceremony for the establishment of the sibling association has been completed.]

Unlock the Spore Guild's exclusive skill tree

[Gained Skills: Pale Parasite, Active Burst, Fungal Affinity]

[Gained Talent: Master's Will]

[Master's Will]: Druids possess the talent for perception, communication, and spore cultivation.

You have keen insight into the characteristics and potential of different mushroom spores, guide spiritual power to optimize their strains, and even influence their slow, directional evolution through willpower, cultivating more potent, more specific, or more environmentally adaptable spore variants.

Congratulations on unlocking three societies! But this is only the first step towards becoming a powerful druid and a representative of the will of nature. Keep up the good work!

Han Ning slowly opened his eyes, and a barely perceptible mycelium-like pattern flashed and disappeared deep in his pupils.

The mushrooms that had been growing wildly all over the body have withered and fallen off, turning into nutrients to nourish themselves.

"Phew... that was really dangerous."

He stood up and stretched his limbs, feeling the spiritual energy surging within him, more refined and abundant than before. It was as if a strange and hidden power was lurking in his blood, blending seamlessly with the natural spiritual energy, and carrying a sense of profound mystery.

Although the society was successfully formed, there was no significant improvement in the panel data, but Han Ning clearly felt that the quality of his spiritual power had improved considerably.

"Hmm? There are countless extremely fine spores flowing within my spiritual energy. I've now become a large spore carrier myself..."

With a slight thought, he simply raised his right hand.

Palms facing upwards, mind slightly focused.

In an instant, a pale white spot of fungus emerged from under his skin, growing and spreading rapidly. In the blink of an eye, it condensed into a pale mushroom about the size of a fist, shaped like a skull, in his palm.

The mushroom swayed gently, its cap punctured like eye sockets, exuding an unsettling, deathly aura.

【Pale Parasite】: Condenses dead fungal spores, which can be implanted into living organisms or corpses, frantically absorbing their life force and spiritual energy to feed back to the caster.

If the target is dead, its remains can be manipulated to transform into a spore-shaped puppet. The duration and power of the puppet depend on the spiritual energy injected and the strength of the target.

Han Ning closed his five fingers, and the pale mushroom vanished silently.

His gaze shifted to the remains of a giant purple mushroom that had withered in the previous energy impact, and he pointed with his left hand.

A barely visible green spore drifted out and merged into the remains.

The next second, the huge mushroom remnant suddenly expanded violently, emitting a teeth-grinding muffled sound from within, and an eerie dark green light shone through the cracks, as if something was about to burst out of its body.

【Active Explosion】: Special active spores are injected into organic matter (including plants, fungi, and corpses), causing its internal structure to ferment, deteriorate, and expand rapidly, eventually exploding violently and releasing a large cloud of spores with strong corrosive and nerve-paralyzing effects.

Han Ning did not let it truly explode; with a thought, he dissipated the spiritual power.

The violently swollen mushroom remains deflated rapidly, returning to a state of lifelessness.

He nodded slightly, gaining a direct understanding of the skill's effects.

Then, I tried to activate the third skill.

His skin had a faint grayish-white sheen, as if covered with a very fine network of mycelium.

The various spores that were originally slightly toxic in the surrounding air became unusually docile when they approached his body, and even actively merged into the mycelial network, turning into strands of pure energy to replenish his consumption.

[Fungal Affinity]: Passively and significantly increases resistance and affinity to various fungal spores, and can absorb free spore energy from the environment to slowly restore one's spiritual power and physical strength.

When actively stimulated, it can influence, soothe, or even command unclaimed fungal life forms within its range to a certain extent.

The three skills are all quite different from the traditional Druid's natural healing and wild transformation. One is more focused on insidious corruption and manipulation, another on frenzied area damage and crowd control, and the third on endurance and defense.

"As expected... it's closer to some of the methods of necromancers, but in essence it's still part of the laws of nature: decomposition and reshaping, death and rebirth."

Han Ning muttered to himself.

This gave him a deeper understanding of the diversity of the ways of nature.

Suddenly, he remembered an important question.

With a thought, his muscles and bones crackled and popped, and his body rapidly grew taller, transforming in an instant into the majestic and ferocious Molten Gold War Tiger form.

His brilliant golden mane flowed like flames, and molten gold flames covered his powerful body.

Even in his fully transformed tiger form, Han Ning clearly felt that the three spore skills were still as easy to use as his own arms, having become an instinctive part of him.

He tried to raise his front paws in tiger form, focusing his mind.

In an instant, several pale white [Pale Parasite] mushrooms rapidly emerged from under his fur on his tiger claws, which were burning with golden flames, blooming silently and exuding a cold and deathly aura that was completely opposite to his majestic tiger form.

Two completely different styles of power have been strangely merged together!

A glint of light flashed in Han Ning's tiger-like eyes.