I Became an Ancient All-Host Lifeform - Chapter 12

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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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012 His Collection of Memories

‘Sigh…’

Morgul watched the creatures who had swallowed his Holy Artifact Fragment and let out a deep, weary breath.
A tiny rat and the Parasite controlling it—of all things.
He could not fathom how such insignificant vermin had tracked him down after three thousand years buried beneath the earth.
And worse, his Mental Domination magic had no effect on them whatsoever.
What in the world was happening?
Just as his pride as a great sorcerer was about to take a grievous wound—

‘Wait. These creatures… they could prove quite useful in many ways.’

Practical calculation seized the moment.
For the past three thousand years, he had been trapped in this fragment no larger than a fingernail, unable to move so much as an inch.
But if he could only manage this bizarre creature skillfully and use it as his hands and feet?
He could gain a body capable of moving above ground, and through the Parasite, he could even enslave new hosts.
Then he might not only secure his own resurrection, but lay the groundwork for vengeance against humanity itself.
At the very least, it would be far superior to the feeble fungal beings that could barely comprehend a direct command.
Having resolved to win the creature over, Morgul spoke in a voice dripping with authority.

– Unknown parasite, I bid you join me in my grand design!

The moment he made his proposal, a sharp reply came hurtling back.

‘No thanks.’
– …At least hear me out before you refuse!

Morgul was taken aback by the creature’s brazen outright rejection.
A wretched insect daring to decline the proposal of a great sorcerer?
In life, such a thing would have been unimaginable.
But now was not the time to indulge pride.
This was his first conversation with a surface-dwelling being in three thousand years—a remarkably precious opportunity for him.
He swallowed his rising fury and attempted to persuade once more.

– Stand with me, and even eternal immortality need not remain beyond reach! Look at me—am I not living proof? Millennia have passed, my very flesh has crumbled to dust, and yet I endure! So then….
‘…living proof? More like a walking corpse that’s seen better days.’
– …Consider it! Think on how fleeting life truly is!

He thoroughly ignored the impudent parasite’s muttering and launched into a grand exposition of his magnificent ideology.
A lengthy discourse unfolded on the importance of pursuing biological evolution, eternal life, and the ultimate reaches of dark magic.
The parasite seemed unmoved—it listened quietly without a word of interruption.
Surely the creature had been won over by the great sorcerer’s elevated ideals.
At the conclusion of his speech, Morgul made his proposal once again.

– So join me in my grand design! Once I am resurrected, I shall grant you whatever your heart desires!

At the mention of reward, the creature that had been listening silently finally spoke.

‘How much longer do you need to resurrect yourself, Grandfather?’

Morgul answered without hesitation.

– Ten years.
‘Ten years? That’s insane, that’s way too long! No way. No way.’

After three thousand years of underground existence, Morgul’s sense of time had atrophied entirely, and he could make no sense of the creature’s response.
Ten years? How quickly ten years pass! It’s but a blink of an eye—ten years!

– Three thousand years, against eons beyond measure, is merely a blink—scarcely ten years in the span of infinity.
‘Ten years is five military careers!’ the Parasite protested.
– …?

I couldn’t fathom what this insolent creature was babbling about, but the gist seemed clear enough: ten years was far too long.
Then again, to the Parasite, a decade might as well be an eternity. Perhaps its lifespan wouldn’t even stretch that far.
Morgul, gathering what he could of the creature’s meaning, decided to placate it.

– Of course, this timeframe can be shortened considerably! Depending on how well you cooperate, it could be reduced to five years, or perhaps even three.
‘No! Absolutely not!’

The foolish mite even had the audacity to bristle with irritation.
Well, what could one expect from a mere creature of insignificance? It likely couldn’t grasp the magnificence of his grand vision.
Morgul, overflowing with compassion, expounded once more upon his lofty philosophy for the benefit of this benighted existence.
But it seemed only to backfire.

‘Sigh… could you please stop the reruns? And now that I think about it, you seem rather… dangerous.’
– Dangerous? Nonsense. Not in the slightest.

Morgul meant this with absolute sincerity.
It was the conservative forces who’d rejected his research that were the problem—Dark Magic and Bio-Alchemy themselves were perfectly harmless.
They were knowledge that could elevate humanity to a higher plane of existence.

‘Hmm… yes, I suppose I should just toss you into that enormous vat outside and run you through the crusher…’
– W-what did you say?!

In that instant, Morgul went rigid with cold dread.
Three thousand years prior, the terrible, humiliating memory of his body and sacred form being shredded to pieces and scattered as food for demons flooded back through his mind like a nightmare cascade.
That immeasurable agony, that bottomless shame—only one who’d endured it could truly comprehend it.
Only someone who’d lived through it could speak of such horrors so carelessly.
Morgul masked the tremor in his voice and spoke through gritted teeth.

– You think such idle threats could destroy an eternal, undying being?!
‘Well, you won’t know until you try. But if the remaining gems get pulverized to dust, wouldn’t resurrection take far longer than ten years? At least a thousand years, I’d wager—meaning world peace is guaranteed. Oh, I’ll just make sure to defecate it all out tomorrow morning and toss it straight into that crusher.’

With the humiliation of three thousand years suddenly vivid before his eyes, Morgul abandoned all pretense.

– No! Stop! Please, I beg you—anything but that!

The combination of “excrement” and “crusher” was enough to strike terror into even an ancient Lich three millennia old.
A being of such nobility, reduced to vermin waste, ground and scattered as food for demons—it was unthinkable!
Desperation seized him.

– I-I am the original architect of this Magic Tower Domain! Keep me close, and I shall prove invaluable to you time and again!

But the creature’s response was decidedly lukewarm.

‘First you said you were a Lich, now suddenly you’re the tower’s designer? Don’t just make things up as you go along.’

Yet it was the absolute truth.
Morgul, lost in reverie of his glory days, spoke with supreme confidence.

– It is true. In life, I was the First Tower Master of this very tower—and a founding member of the Magic Society itself.
‘Ohhh…’

At last, sensing genuine interest flicker through the creature, Morgul crowed with triumphant delight.

– Now do you see? Dwelling within you is the greatest mage in all of human history, a master of not only the Four Elements Magic but Dark Magic as well! Surely you won’t squander such extraordinary fortune?
‘Hmm… now that you mention it, I do find myself rather intrigued.’

Thanks to that glorious memory, Morgul’s pride—trampled to the very bottom—could finally lift its head just a little.
At last, he recovered his composure, and a smile returned to his face.

– Kkhahahaha! Now do you understand the true value of this body? I grant you another chance. Join me in my great plan!
‘Hmm….’

Parasite didn’t immediately refuse the proposal—apparently he’d grown curious about Morgul’s accomplishments in life.
But it was in that very moment of sincere deliberation that—

Screech! Squeak….

Something was wrong with the rat host.

‘Hmm? Gyugsik, what’s wrong? Does your stomach hurt?’
Squeak….

The rat’s color had turned pale.
It seemed the aftereffects of swallowing that Holy Artifact Fragment whole were hitting now.
In that moment, Morgul felt a chill run down his spine.
He realized another humiliating memory was about to be added to his list.
And sure enough, Parasite spoke with genuine apology, just as his dark premonition had warned.

‘Um…. Since I swallowed your artifact fragment, it looks like Gyugsik’s gotten an upset stomach. So I need to… expel it. I’m terribly sorry about that. I’ll see you outside later.’
– S-see me outside later? What do you mean by that? Hey! Hey there!

Morgul called out desperately, but received no response whatsoever.
The young rat called Gyugsik scurried to a corner of the cave and began frantically digging at the ground with his paws.
Morgul, witnessing this, fell into despair.

– No, no! This great body reduced to rat droppings…! Uugh! Do you think you’ll escape without answer for such an affront to me? You little vermin! Stop this instant, will you? No, no—!

Sacred Calendar Year 5,226, the 13th day of the 7th month.
Morgul, the great sorcerer who founded the first Magic Tower and the world’s first Lich.
Expelled as rat droppings.

* * *

While Gyugsik was taking care of business, let me organize the rewards I’d just obtained.
The Status Window messages had been endless before, leaving no time to examine them properly, but now I had the leisure.

‘Now that I think about it, I got the Essence of Mushroom earlier—let me take a look at what it does.’

Opening the ‘Genome Archive’ in my Status Window, I found that a ‘Species Essence Slot’ for the main body had been unlocked.
Two slots were currently available in total.
The first slot already had the ‘Ancient Dragon’s Blood Factor’ installed—ah, so that was what the ‘First-Time Bonus’ was back then.
It seems the main body’s genetics can’t be tampered with carelessly. When I tried the first slot, only the Essence of Mushroom could be used as a replacement—no other genetic factors appeared.
So it looks like only ‘essence-grade genetics’ can be applied to the main body.

The other was an empty slot that opened when I acquired a Species Essence for the first time.
In that case, it would be better to fill the empty slot first.
I installed the Essence of Mushroom into the vacant slot.

[Applying the Essence of Mushroom to the main body’s genetics.]

Immediately, the aftereffect of the main body’s genetic transformation washed over me.
Heat rose through my entire body, and my form shifted in real time—a sensation both alien and strange.
It wasn’t a pleasant experience, but I’d grown quite accustomed to it after going through it several times via Gyugsik.
Soon, a notification appeared indicating I’d acquired new skills and traits.

[You have acquired the skill ‘Spore Dispersal Lv1’.]
[You have acquired the skill “Vibration Sensing lv1”.]
[You have acquired the trait “Nutrient Absorption”.]

I’ve gained quite a few new abilities.
First, “Spore Dispersal”—it’s a bit vague, but I think I can use it as an escape tool or crowd control.
It’ll be handy in a pinch, whether I’m laying down a smoke screen or blocking an enemy’s line of sight.
I notice there’s an ‘edit’ button next to it, which suggests I can imbed various functions into the spores. In fact, I was able to incorporate traits from the mushrooms I’ve collected directly into them.

Next is “Vibration Sensing”.
It seems this skill is what allowed the eyeless fungal mycelium to act with such intelligence.
I should be able to easily perceive targets in my vicinity. This will be an enormous asset for survival going forward.

Hmm? But “Mental Domination” and “Collective Consciousness”—the ones I saw in my status window—weren’t included.
That’s unfortunate. I thought I’d be able to command the blood-drinking spirits from the Breeding Grounds myself.
On second thought, those seemed less like inherent traits of the mushroom species itself and more like Morgul’s own magical abilities.
After all, it was Morgul who orchestrated those flawlessly coordinated actions from the unintelligent fog mushroom mycelium in the first place.

‘So if I want to command a fungal army, I’ll have to win over that dangerous old man after all.’

Not ideal, but what choice do I have?
That cantankerous old man and his mushroom collective are far too valuable.
Besides, didn’t he mention earlier that he was the first Tower Master of this Magic Tower Domain in his lifetime?
Liches conjured images of nothing but skulls in my mind, but apparently there was a time when this one had flesh clinging to bone.

I had Gyugsik bring me the gem fragment.
The state of the Sacred Gem Fragment that Gyugsik returned with was deplorable.
After three thousand years buried underground and passing through Gyugsik’s stomach, what did I expect?
I’d have to rinse it in clean water first.
When I met with the old man again, he wouldn’t stop complaining.

“Ah… That I should endure such humiliation… Not content to be monster fodder, and now rat droppings? Me, a noble being?”

Good heavens, his incessant whining was unbearable. What kind of old man carries such a bloated sense of self? Or perhaps it’s precisely because he’s old?
I directed my words toward the gem cradled in Gyugsik’s hand.

‘Stop! Keep this up and I’ll really feed you into the industrial grinder.’
“Kh—!”

Whether from trauma inflicted three thousand years ago, the old man fell silent the moment a grinder was mentioned—like a dog with its mouth full.
It took some time to soothe the man’s shattered nerves.
After an earnest conversation, our interests aligned perfectly, and we forged a “mutually cooperative relationship”—though I was clearly the superior party.
We agreed that while we would support Morgul’s resurrection, he in turn would provide us with his backing and counsel without reservation.
There was a risk he might betray us later, but I had my contingencies for that.

The challenge, however, was how to carry around the old man’s gem fragment. Fortunately, Morgul solved it himself.
Using Dark Magic and Bio-Alchemy, he transplanted the violet gem fragment directly into Gyugsik’s forehead.
The result was a thumbnail-sized violet gem naturally embedded in Gyugsik’s brow.
Quite stylish, actually.
The glimmering stone looked just like the “face gems” idols stick to their cheeks.
Or perhaps like the hamster mascot that magical girls cart around in anime.

‘Nice, Gyugsik. It suits you.’
Squeak!

Pleased with the results, Gyugsik let out a spirited cry.

‘All right, then. Shall we test out these new abilities?’

And then the old man’s voice echoed out.

– Hmph. Don’t you dare strut about with my power as though it were some petty ability of yours!
‘Look, we’re sharing one body now anyway, so don’t be so stingy about it. Your body is my body, and my body is… well, still my body.’
– Ugh…!

Even as Morgul bristled with indignation, he grudgingly opened his Collective Consciousness to Gyugsik.

[The host’s nervous system synchronizes with the target ‘Morgul’s’ power.]
[Temporarily sharing the special state «Collective Consciousness (Fungal)».]

In that moment, Gyugsik’s senses interlocked with billions upon billions of fungal filaments spreading endlessly across the surrounding terrain.

‘Ohhh…!’

Every corner of the two-kilometer radius began to unfold before him with perfect clarity, as if the entire area rested in the palm of his hand.
Though to be precise, it wasn’t so much ‘seeing’ as ‘feeling.’
The delicate Fungal Mycelium Network saturating the underground and surface became a vibration-sensing array, relaying the tremors of living creatures across the territory in real time.
As his perceptual range expanded in an instant, it felt as though he’d become a god.

‘A couple of small things over there, one fairly hefty mass over here… Oh, at this level I can even gauge rough size and strength?’

It was like a minimap where unit positions appeared as dots—except the size of those dots themselves conveyed the target’s magnitude.
This scale of area detection would be an enormous advantage for both survival and hunting.
Armed with it, I could navigate every passage linking the Third Magic Tower’s Slaughterhouse to the Breeding Grounds beside it without a single map.

‘Nice. Navigation is solid.’

Now I could see exactly where the weak monsters were clustered, where I could slip past human patrols undetected.
What’s more, in a pinch I could gather the surrounding fungal filaments to conjure mushroom creatures.
The drawback, of course, was that it consumed considerable magical power.

‘Good. Let’s head back to the Breeding Grounds now, Gyugsik!’
Chirp!

Gyugsik answered with vigor, the jewel embedded in his forehead glinting brightly.
Now then—shall we properly begin hunting the livestock in the Breeding Grounds?

—————
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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