He wouldn't be surprised if quite a few died or went mad from the pain. But they must have developed a proper counter against the pain for the newly ascended Ancestors.
David carefully took every bulb from the deity-eating mushroom, including the one which had Saphyrra’s essence inside and swiftly put them in his very limited inventory space as he didn’t know if it would be wise to put it in his Tri-Astromath green dimension.
Those weren’t just random plants, but actual divine energy reserves. The Inventory would preserve anything to the state it was put in so he would leave the bulbs here even if they took two spots out of ten. Better be safe than sorry.
With his new unlocked ability to have plant life in his green cubes, David also harvested every type of mushroom in the first and third room of the Mater Patria’s wing. He also took in the stalk of the [Corphex Verrator].
While it was useless to his current self, it could prove extremely effective as a weapon or even to harvest the energy of his fallen enemies. David hoped he wouldn’t have to dirty his hands but he also knew some people were either unreasonable or had no choice, he had seen that in Sapphyra, she might not have been evil or even stuck up, but she was desperate enough to take over his body.
The only thing remaining were the logs inside the console to read more about what happened here, he was quite curious about that so he actually decided to read them first before going to the Retribution wing. As he lifted his hand to interact with the first console he received a notification.
[Congratulations! You have discovered some Protheans Bio-Phytomycologist’s logs and unlocked it as a Job! Do you wish to become a Bio-Phytomycologist ?]
“Can I have a job description Syllena?”
[Right away!]
[Bio-Phytomycologist] [Unique] : Bio-Phytomycology, is a science which mixes two others : mycology and botany. They are able to create brand new species of plants and mushrooms with many kinds of effects and uses. It is said especially talented Bio-Phytomycologists are able to even grant life and sentience to their creations.
“So it mixes mycology and botany in a single field? And if that’s true I could have tiny mushrooms people following me?! And it’s [Unique]!”
[It seems to be the case. Jobs bring no stats but can help you deeply if used well. We know of spells that can summon those golems but it seems like you are able not to summon them but to create them from scratch.]
David stared at the system’s window in front of him and decided to press yes. If Job truly brought him no stat boost then he might as well pick the job he found great and interesting.
[You are now a Bio-Phytomycologist!]
[Basic botanist knowledge obtained.]
[Basic mycologist knowledge obtained.]
[Fusing Knowledge] : [Bio-Phytomycology obtained]
[Basic Myco-Golemancy obtained.]
[Basic Phyto-Golemancy obtained.]
[Fusing Knowledge] : [Bio-Golems Creation obtained]
[Bio-Phytomycology] [Basic] : Grant basic knowledge in all matters related to Bio-Phytomycology, basic plants and mushrooms now carry no secrets from you. You are able to mix and create plant or mushroom hybrids with different effects and properties.
[Bio-Golems Creation] [Basic] : You can now create basic golems made from plants, mushrooms or even both. Those golems cannot exceed level 30 and are locked into support classes. They only have very limited sentience and will obey any of your orders.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
David closed his eyes as the equivalent of years worth of knowledge was being forcefully shoved inside his head, it only lasted for a second or two, no doubt because of his now massive sight which allowed him to easily recall and navigate his mind.
Now David had the knowledge many botanists and mycologists had taken years to obtain through their studies. And it was freely granted to him by the System. He almost felt unworthy of it.
It also allowed him to realise he could have truly gotten much more beautiful roses and flowers with some of the new soil recipe he had in his mind. And having basic knowledge on pretty much every plant or mushroom below the [Uncommon] tier on Zenthia felt good.
“Syllena, how will I increase my job skills?”
[As you’ve seen, jobs don’t have levels, while they do have harsher requirements for their rarity, it does not really matter this much. Jobs are purely "recreational" even if someone smart can use them efficiently, from Chefs being able to sell meals for thousands because of the temporary stat boost they can grant.]
[To an Alchemist who could make their own offensive or support potions. In your case you can create new species of mushrooms and plants to sell to Alchemist or use them to turn them into golems.]
[The more you practice with your job the more experienced you become, and the more likely you are to advance in skill level. They seem as follows : [Basic] → [Adept] → [Expert] → [Master] → [Paragon] → [Artisan].]
“Thanks for your explanation, let’s read those logs, I should be able to understand much better with the new job.”
David started to read through the logs, it was… enlightening, it was clear those protheans were at least experts in their field, maybe even Masters but he couldn’t say precisely.
His understanding of Bio-Phytomicology was rising with every log he was reading, it seemed the job he had obtained was far more advanced than he thought, it wasn’t just creating funny mushroom people or floating rose fairies, those experts clearly intended to use this knowledge to make a god.
The first room was where they started to develop specific mushroom genomes that would be able to resist the most dangerous environments : lava, vacuum of space, abyssal depth and more strange fantastical yet clearly dangerous places.
They then selected every successful mushroom and tried to create a hybrid from all those species that could resist pretty much any environment. Once made, the newly dubbed [Corphex Verrator], able to survive and function in any environment was chosen as their first candidate.
They had a plant that could resist any and all of the most dangerous, noxious and toxic places the Protheans had visited during their travels through space. And now to study Divine Energy they had requested the body of a recently killed goddess : Sapphyra, The Moon.
The experiments didn’t go well, getting a Dominion ranked being’s body was hard in time of wars, and they discovered the Goddess’s soul and intent were definitely not willing to cooperate.
No amount of bio-modification done to the [Corphex Verrator] which could survive anything seemed to give it a semblance of sentience. While the mushroom was able to latch on the divine energy easily, it just didn’t seem to create life.
But one of the Prothean ended up proposing to use Sapphyra’s domain to access Felinid’s souls and shove them inside the [Corphex Verrator]’s modified body. It was discovered that adult souls were already shaped by the body they inhabited. They tended to force the mushroom body they inhabited to become more human-like.
This explained the strangely shaped mushroom in the second room, prototypes of trying to create sentience inside a mushroom by using the Divine Energy of a goddess. And to give those golems a soul they would take a Felinid’s soul at random and force it inside one of the bodies to see its reactions.
There were around one thousand and five hundred Leonid’s souls used in this way. Before they, by pure luck discovered that children’s souls were far more suited than adults, still fluid and able to fit inside another body without forcefully imposing its previous body’s shape.
With… very detailed reports of the souls' screams and the pain felt by those children being dissected alive by the Prothean scientists to observe the change in their new mushroom bodies.
The Protheans had even built a Karadium wall to block Sapphyra’s soul from bothering them as she had started to cry and scream in anger at their actions, having even shattered one of the scientist’s souls when he got too close.
David could understand the use of an enemy’s dead body to experiment in time of war, even if that body’s soul was still present, but children's souls? That was a limit David would not understand or forgive.
He understood that war and grief could change people, but experimenting on children was the point where even grief and loss couldn’t justify someone’s actions anymore.
As for what all this led to? A success. It might have required thousands of Felinid’s souls being tortured and broken, but they had succeeded in creating consciousness and sentience in mushrooms.
It reminded David too much of his own world, where some of the most despicable experiments done on innocent people or even animals had led to some of the most useful and greatest scientific jumps in domains like psychology, epidemiology and medicine. Except he wondered how useful this knowledge could be to justify those actions.
The Protheans had created a dozen species of mushroom with extremely high potential once transformed into golems, to reach at least the Ancestor level while developing sentience.
Each of those mushrooms, those that he had taken from the final room, were inhabited by a young and sleeping Felinid soul that had been pretty much “scrubbed” of its sense of self, to be perfectly compatible with the new bodies.
[Bio-Phytomycology advanced to Adept]
[Bio-Golems Creation advanced to Adept]
[Bio-Phytomycology] [Adept] : Grant advanced knowledge in all matters related to Bio-Phytomycology, plants and mushrooms up to the [Rare] quality now carry no secrets from you. You are able to mix and create plant or mushroom hybrids with different effects and properties.
[Bio-Golems Creation] [Adept] : You can now create advanced golems made from plants, mushrooms or even both. Those golems cannot exceed level 40 and are locked into support classes. They have limited sentience, making them no smarter than a five years old child. They will obey any of your orders.
As much as they are heartless, they truly are amazingly good to be able to advance from basic to adept just from reading their notes, experiments, thoughts… He wouldn’t bore anyone with his thought but he knew he could become the greatest botanist or mycologist on Earth with barely any effort with the ideas and recipes appearing inside his head.
But enough with the Mater Patria wing, David turned toward the Retribution Wing, he knew his target, his real rewards would be found and obtained here.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.
As my main language isn't english, don't hesitate to tell me if you spot any mistake.
Don't be worried or put-off by the Bio-Phytomycology.
For now it's of no use to Akhenamen, it will be properly shown and explained in a dedicated chapter.
Have a great day!