I Became an Ancient All-Host Lifeform - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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011 Oh? You here too?

The Slaughterhouse, situated near the Breeding Grounds.
Deep beneath this place, where countless Magical Beasts met their end each day, lay a natural cavern.
This was the birthplace of the rumors surrounding the bloodsucking specter of the Breeding Grounds.
Within the cave, countless varieties of mushrooms thrived as a single colony.
At its heart coiled the remnant consciousness of Morgul, the first Lich, who had met a wretched end three thousand years ago.

Goooooooh—!

Morgul’s Magical Power rippled through the darkness.
In life, he had been an Archmage who, in his pursuit of human evolution and the ultimate mastery of magic, had despaired upon discovering that human life had limits.
In the end, he chose to fall, seeking an eternal, imperishable form.
Humanity rose against him, and after a bitter war, he was defeated.
His Holy Relic, infused with his soul, and his body were torn to shreds and scattered as carrion for the beasts.
This shameful memory remained razor-sharp even now, three thousand years later, seared into his very bones.

“Ha ha ha! But you could never have known—one fragment of my Holy Relic survived, never fully crushed!”

In that tiny gem that had miraculously shot from the crusher, his remnant soul persisted.
Within that impossibly small shard, he endured the long centuries sustained by a single obsession: resurrection.
Then one day, fortune smiled.
A Magical Beast Slaughterhouse was built directly above the earth where he lay buried.
Each time a beast in the Slaughterhouse died and spilled its blood upon the soil, his plan crept forward by degrees.
When at last his Magical Power had gathered enough to exert subtle influence on his surroundings, he conceived an extraordinary solution.
He would command the mycelium that sprawled beneath the earth around him.
One by one, he began to enslave them with Mind Control.

“Kha ha ha. Soon the Mana to summon my true form will be complete! Go, my faithful servants. Go forth and gather blood and power!”

It began with but a single fungus.
Over time it became twelve, then a hundred, then a thousand…
After three thousand years had passed, it had grown to billions of servants, commanding the depths beneath this entire region.
The mushroom servants became his hands and feet.
From all directions they brought him blood and sustenance left by the Magical Beasts, and through it he scraped together Magical Power.
By hoarding every resource around him in this manner, he finally managed to restore the Holy Relic to the size of a thumbnail.
Morgul gazed upon the violet gem fragment and cried out in rapturous triumph.

“The moment I descend upon this land once more, the world shall be mine again. Uh huh, uh ha ha ha! Ha ha ha…!”

His mad laughter, born of certainty in his victory, rang through the dark—

Gulp.

And stopped abruptly.
Three thousand years of waiting evaporated in an instant.

* * *

‘Quite the chatty old codger, aren’t we.’

Cloaked in Invisible Presence, I was exploring the Mushroom Cave cautiously when I discovered something in its depths.
A strange gem fragment, muttering away to itself.
Apparently it had been alone underground for three thousand years—
Well, after that long in solitude, one’s mind would crack too. Spiderwebs would grow across its teeth.
In any case, by the sound of it, it had been quite the dignitary in its day.
Unfortunately, now it was merely a snack for Gyushik.
I crept closer to the gem fragment, still babbling away to itself.
And swallowed it whole.

[Activating Predation.]
Gulp.

The crisp texture slid down my throat, and a sharp rush of mana spread through my entire body in a tingling wave.
It felt like swallowing a peppermint candy.
In that instant, my status window began to spiral wildly out of control.

[You have obtained the Mushroom Colony Core. The core contains diverse genetic information.]
[You have obtained the genetic data of Mist Mushroom.]
[You have obtained the genetic data of Red-Haired Hallucination Mushroom.]
[You have obtained the genetic data of Iron-Headed Mushroom.]
….

Aaaah! Stop! My entire mind feels stuffed with mushrooms!
From that point on, I obtained the genetic data of countless mushroom varieties.
This old man was completely obsessed with mushrooms.
Once the barrage of mushroom genetic notifications finally ceased, a new message appeared at the edge of my status window.

[Your understanding of the ‘Mushroom’ species has deepened considerably. You obtain the Essence of Mushroom.]
[You have obtained the Essence of Species for the first time. The related system is now unlocked.]

Huh? Essence of Mushroom? What is that?
But my status window didn’t give me even a moment to examine what the Essence of Mushroom actually was.

[You have obtained the Fragment of Morgul’s Holy Relic.]
[※ Warning: A cursed soul dwells within.]

At that moment, a bizarre voice echoed through my mind.

—What, what has happened?!
‘Ugh! Shut up! My ears are about to burst!’

At that, the voice stammered as if confused.

—This, what is this…? No, I sensed no presence whatsoever!

It seemed the old man who’d been loudly babbling to himself earlier hadn’t been properly digested and had instead clung to me.
Well, this is a nuisance.
Still, since we’re meeting for the first time, I should introduce myself properly.

‘Are you the old man who’s been loudly prattling on since earlier? Your name is Morgul, correct?’

When I asked his name, the old man bristled.

—What?! How dare you call upon the name of one so great so casually? You insolent wretch! You are….

The old man’s indignant voice suddenly faltered.
Ah, once he confirmed what I am, he must be quite confused.
I was the same way at first….
As expected, the old man went into shock.

—A mouse? Ah, no. Not an ordinary mouse! Something is controlling from within. Is this… a parasite?!

At that moment, I had to bristle as well.
I am absolutely NOT ‘that’!
Of course, the mechanism is somewhat similar to ‘that,’ but….
In any case, it’s not!
I promptly corrected his inappropriate terminology.

‘My, parasites, you say? That’s rather harsh for a first meeting. Might you call us “ancient beings” instead?’
– A par-, a parasite talking back?!

Morgul, consumed by shock, continued to ramble incoherently.
Three thousand years of planning had dissolved into nothing in a single moment—quite a blow, it seemed.

– This can’t be… My grand design, undone so uselessly… At the hands of a mere rat and parasites, no less… No… This can’t be….

…An old fool who can’t be reasoned with, it seems.
If reason fails, domination will suffice.
From what I heard him say, he must have wielded considerable power in his youth.
All the more reason to make him my host.

A lich who once commanded the world as my vessel…!
I imagined myself radiating majesty, commanding tens of thousands of undead.
Zombie and skeleton legions following my lead, myself directing them with a mere gesture….
Commander of an undead army…! Ah—! Magnificent, isn’t it?
How could the leader of a mere mushroom colony compare?
I would become like Sauron of the Lord of the Rings—a being feared by all the world!
I immediately used a skill on him.

[Attempting Parasitism Level 3 on ‘Morgul’s Remnant Spirit’.]
[Failed! Target level is too high.]

Failed? Really?
My Parasitism skill is only level three, it seems.
Pity. I was hoping to become Sauron immediately and invade Middle Earth.
Then a new message appeared in my status window.

[‘Morgul’s Remnant Spirit’ attempts Mind Control on the main body. …Failed!]

So you tried too?
How strange—we think alike.

‘….’
– ….

An awkward silence hung between us.
It was Morgul who broke it first.

– Ahem! So you’re not some insignificant worm after all—quite the formidable entity, it appears?

Formidable? I’m not sure what he means by that.
But I gave no sign of ignorance.
In situations like this, showing weakness is losing.

‘You’re hardly some common vagrant spirit haunting the streets yourself.’
– A v-, vagrant? Such insolence…. Sigh, never mind.

Morgul let out a deep sigh, as if resigned.
With our respective standing acknowledged, we were able to conduct a proper conversation.

* * *

The top floor of the Third Magic Tower, in the Mage Tower Master’s Office.
In the dim chamber, Cornelius stared intently at the case files scattered across his desk.

‘Why on earth did the dragon egg decay?’

His mind was consumed entirely by questions regarding the ancient dragon egg.
A true dragon egg is a perfect crystallization of magical power.
Without catastrophic physical trauma or severe contamination from outside, it will never rot or crumble of its own accord.
The fact that we could restore a dragon egg fossil from fifteen thousand years ago through bioalchemy was itself a testament to that miraculous preservation.
Yet that precious egg had decayed overnight.
And at this precise moment, with the Imperial Investigation Bureau dispatch on the horizon.
He spat out muttered words, swallowing his rising rage.

“This is no accident. No mere negligence. Someone tampered with it deliberately.”

Cornelius reviewed Hans’s interrogation transcript.
The pages were crammed with the various delirious utterances Hans had spilled out amid the agony of flayed flesh.
Cornelius paused at one sentence.

– …When I transferred the rotten contents of the egg into the flask, I saw a ‘red impurity’ inside. My superior said it was just a dead blood droplet, but… something was wrong about it. It felt like it was looking at me, like… Ahhh! I swear it’s true!

‘A red impurity?’

If impurities had been mixed into the egg from the start, everything changed.
Bird and reptile eggs may appear perfectly sealed on the surface, but in truth they are riddled with tens of thousands of microscopic breathing pores—so-called pore channels.
Under normal conditions, the egg’s internal defense mechanisms would activate, but if malignant fungi or parasites breached these tiny openings and invaded the interior, the situation would be catastrophically different.
They would ravage the vast reserves of nutrients within the egg, multiplying in a frenzy, until the entire egg rotted.

‘Could it be…?’

The pieces of the puzzle clicked together in his mind, deepening the furrows already etched across his brow.

Knock, knock.

Someone rapped on the door to his office.

“Enter.”

The office door opened and the Investigator from this case stepped inside.
Cornelius covered the transcript and spoke coldly.

“Well? Did you find him—the senior mage?”

The Investigator bowed his head, his voice heavy.

“My apologies. It appears he has already fled beyond the Magic Tower Territory. Moreover, he has completely erased all traces of himself and vanished without a trace.”
“What?”

Cornelius’s expression hardened.
The Investigator reported the rest of his findings with careful precision.

“Upon reexamining his personal records, we discovered numerous inconsistencies in his identity documentation submitted upon entry to the Tower and in the genealogical data of his purported family of origin.”

A chill glinted through Cornelius’s murky eyes.

“Could he be a foreign spy?”

It was possible—even likely—that a hostile nation fearful of the Empire and the Third Magic Tower’s monopoly on the power of the ancient dragon, or some rival faction envious of that supremacy, had orchestrated this.

“It is too early to confirm the exact nature of the suspicion, but suspicious it undoubtedly is.”

Cornelius issued his orders in an austere voice.

“Mobilize every intelligence network and tracking unit the Tower possesses immediately! Scour the entire continent if you must and bring him in! I will uncover who stands behind him, no matter what!”

The Investigator saluted smartly and withdrew from the office.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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