"So meat can act as a catalyst, huh? Who knew?" Lucius whispered to himself. Though he was aware that corpses could decompose into nutritious fertilizer for plant life, he didn't think it would work if he just absorbed it raw.
"And 15% at that. If I can get a stable supply of these, then getting everyone to evolve will be an easier task... in fact, who knows, other creatures might give even higher benefits," he whispered. Though something was bugging him.
If he wanted to unite as many low-tier creatures into his camp as possible, then wouldn't this hinder things? How was he any different from the shrooms who had hunted down his children for their betterment?
"But these things didn't seem to be sentient," he whispered to himself as he dragged the two remaining worms behind a shrub for safekeeping.
"They didn't seem to speak any sort of language like the insectoid and failed to work together to try when I attacked them," he whispered.
"I mean, even when I first found the leaflings, they were capable of warning each other," he continued, putting the worm-skin bag in his mouth before heading back to the camp to grab a few sleds. He wasn't in the mood for balancing on two legs in order to carry the worms back.
*
"This thing has a foul taste," he grimaced, spitting the worm skin bag out of his mouth once he got back to the camp. ~But I'm sure it'll have its uses,~
He quickly grabbed the sleds and returned the two worms back to the camp. The leaflings on guard duty began surrounding the corpses, and the leaflings still up on the tree base kept begging to be let down so they could see as well.
"You killed all two of them?" Alpha asked, completely flabbergasted.
"Three," Lucius replied, pointing at the skin bag. "But it wasn't that hard," he finished off, before making his way to the ground shed to take a rest.
"Ghost, do you see that? He hunted three worms, by himself. I mean- I knew the Captain was strong, but-"
"Yeah... I know. It's scary," Ghost replied staring at the worms as well.
"To think, he hunted down the creatures that saw us as prey. And one day, we will do the same," Alpha whispered under his breath, a determined look in his eyes.
~What are they even going on about? But I guess I sort of understand,~ Lucius thought to himself as he entered the tent.
He realized that the older leaflings must've seen whole communes wiped out by single worms, so to see them so easily hunted down must've been a shock.
"L-Lighted One," a voice whispered as Lucius got into the shed.
"Ahh, finally. I was wondering how long it would take," Lucius whispered as a lay down on the ground.
"How are you feeling," he said after getting himself comfortable.
"A bit dizz- wait, what is this?" Pagan said to himself, shooting to his feet.
"Slow down there, it takes a while for the dizzine-" however Lucius's warning came too late, and Pagan fell to the ground with a thump.
"Yeah, well," Lucius sighed, before helping him up.
"Now what were you so excited about?" he asked, calling out his crux to check up on Pagan's status.
"This," Pagan replied, calling out a crux of his own. Compared to Lucius's, it was quite small, but Lucius could just make it out, floating above Pagan's head.
"Are you bigger?" Pagan asked, just now realizing that Lucius was almost too big to fit in the shed even in a crouched posture.
"You've been out for three days. Had you been here, I'm sure you would've grown just as large," Lucius replied. ~But not that it's going to be a problem much longer,~
"Solar Sorcery Index?" Pagan whispered slowly as if he were just learning to read.
~The sobriquet did state that the index would be linked- wait does that mean he can cast the spells as well?~ "Pagan, what else is there?" he asked out loud.
"Solar Cleanse and Spa-Spatial Solar Cleanse," Pagan replied after a moment,
"Lighted One, what are these?" he asked.
Lucius smiled excitedly before replying. "Spells, can you try using them?"
"M-Magic?" Pagan asked, before freezing in shock.
"Pagan?" Lucius whispered, tapping him on the side of his face.
"To think. that � have been awarded so graciously. I knew you were special, but I never would've imagined you had the power to offer me magic," Pagan mumbled to himself, staring at Lucius with scary reverence.
"Calm down, I didn't offer you anything. This is all the system," Lucius tried explaining. But Pagan couldn't hear a word of what Lucius was saying over all the praises he was mumbling.
"Can you please just try the spells?" Lucius sighed. His mind was too numb to deal with all this right now.
"Hmm, I see. So link the crux..." Pagan whispered after a moment of thought, before his crux began pulsing more vigorously.
~He got the hang of that quite fast,~ Lucius thought. But it only made sense, he had practice linking with Lucius's before all this.
"And exert more power into the pulse," Pagan whispered, before closing his eyes, "Like this?" And at that moment a pulse passed over Lucius.
It was hard to fully describe, but it was as if something were watching him, invading his personal space. A moment later another pulse passed over him, and he could feel the fuzziness from his mind float away.
"I-I did it?" Pagan was about to cheer, before being hit by a wave of sudden fatigue.
"You learned that pretty fast," Lucius commented, his entire body feeling rejuvenated.
"But you might want to rest before trying Spatial Solar Cleanse, though," he warned after, before leaving the shed. He had something else to take care of, and now that he was refreshed he could deal with it immediately.
*
"I hope you like worm," Lucius whispered, dragging a sled behind him as he approached the imprisoned shroom.
"Food, finally," the shroom shouted in excitement, struggling against its binds.
"Careful, you'll cut yourself again," Lucius warned.
