Reincarnated As A Plant Life
chapter-69

"Later," Lucius whispered in reply, completely oblivious to his foul stench. "Right now I need some rest," he continued, dragging himself to the cottage.

As he entered the cottage, his odor woke up the insectoid with a start. It buzzed its wings at him as he lay down on the floor, slowly backing away with a wary stance.

It took several moments for it to realize that it was him, at which point it gave out a soft huff, looking at him apprehensively before walking out of the cottage.

"Yeah, but when you leave poop everywhere it's normal," Lucius whispered to himself before succumbing to the heaviness of his eyelids.

*

When he woke up it was close to midday, and because he had missed the last session, he had to put priority on having a session today. He hoped to get Ghost to evolve before Pagan and Hannibal woke up, and with the arachnid perhaps it would be possible.

"Ugh, I stink," he grunted as he got a whiff of the toxic odor that clung to him. It had a sickly sweet smell, that somehow made his throat feel itchy, causing him to have a fit of coughs.

"A bath would be perfect right about now," he whispered to himself as he made his way out of the cottage.

It seemed that Pagan had brought the leaflings to the ground as Lucius found some of them running around the tree, playing with the insectoid. Pagan was seated just a bit in front of the cottage, his crux periodically zipping here and there around his head.

~I should really start doing some proper research as well,~ he thought as Pagan's crux let out a series of pulses.

"Lighted One?" Pagan whispered, turning to look at Lucius.

"I'm going down to the river to wash this stuff off. We're going to have a photosynthesis session in a few hours, so be prepared," Lucius replied, before walking towards the river.

On his way there he pondered over last night's hunt. Though there had been many unexpected variables, he still thought he could've been better prepared for the fight. For one, he would need to find a way to make some sort of clothing that could protect him from poison.

The 'furry-ones' that the shroom spoke about would probably be even more poisonous than the arachnid, and he didn't want to find out how painful theirs would be to the touch would be.

~Maybe the mushroom will know some natural poison-resistant materials,~ he thought as he reached the river.

Though the river's current had once been a near-fatal force, it now seemed more gentle. This segment of the stream had a laminar flow, strong, but not nearly strong enough to take Lucius along with the current in his present state.

Perhaps the only danger it now posed was its depth, but even then he doubted he would drown. Worst case, he could hang on to the river banks. However, being the person he was, he decided to take the safe route, using a vine to tie himself to a nearby tree before getting in.

"Soothing," he sighed as the river washed off the gunk that had stuck to his body.

~After today's session, I should finish off the materials storage. Maybe there are flowers, or some kind of plant around here that could mask the arachnid's scent,~ he thought before diving underwater.

After finishing his bath, Lucius decided to go to the mushroom to sort out the details on the production of the concoction.

*

"You're back. Did you get it?" the shroom asked as Lucius approached its cage.

"Yeah, but I can't bring it here. Its smell might attract hunters," Lucius answered before removing the pebble that kept the cage grounded.

"Seriously? You actually got it on your first attempt? You don't even look like you got h-" the shroom was about to saay, before Lucius lifted off its cage. "What are you doing?" it asked in confusion as Lucius began untying it.

"We're going to see it. You said you were going to show me your clan's technique didn't you?" Lucius replied as he removed the last few lines of rope.

The shroom rubbed its wrists, feeling the imprints that the rope had left. It looked suspiciously at Lucius, who now towered over it. And though he had a calmed look on his face, his tail stood straight above him, as if ready to rush at the shroom if it tried anything.

"If you run away I'll have to kill you," Lucius said before walking on ahead. "It would be a direct hit to the trust I have in you. And if I can't trust you, I can't let you live... even if you are of use to me," he continued, his tail turning to face the shroom as if it had eyes of its own.

"Wouldn't even dream of it. But can you tell your... appendage to calm down?" the shroom asked as it followed close behind Lucius.

"Oh that. The thing has a mind of its own, it doesn't listen to me," Lucius replied.

The shroom stared inquisitively at Lucius as it walked behind him. The fact that Lucius allowed it to walk behind him only proved to it that it was that much beneath him. That he needn't even worry about it throwing a sneak attack.

~But what kind of insane creature hunts an 8-legged one alone? Even with healing magic, breaking through its skin should be impossible for him,~ it thought as it watched Lucius's tail sway from side to side.

~And why does he walk like a beast?~ it wondered, trying its best to keep up with Lucius's four-legged gait.

They finally reached the tree that the spider had been perched on top of about 15 minutes later. Lucius quickly hopped up the tree and brought the corpse to the ground.

"Eh?" the shroom uttered in shock, unable to believe what it was seeing.

"What exactly did you do to it?" it asked, moving past Lucius to carefully inspect the arachnid's corpse.

"Does it matter?" Lucius asked before sitting.

"If its organs are crushed it will," the shroom replied, noticing that certain parts of the arachnid's corpse seemed to have collapsed in.

"You didn't tell me anything about that," Lucius whispered. If he had known that he needed its organs, perhaps he wouldn't have slammed it as hard.

"But you can still work on it right?"

"Perhaps... but I can't be certain. Let's open it up and see if its poison organ is still intact," the shroom replied, stepping back as if gesturing for Lucius to take over.

"And how exactly will we do that?" Lucius asked after a moment of awkward silence had passed between the two.

"You're asking me? I don't know how to cut through rock skin, use magic or something. I mean, you clearly did ��������� magical to bring it back in this state," the shroom said, pointing at the several patches of skin that seemed to have been 'rubbed' off.