Cordyceps Six
Cordyceps Six
I was ready.
Or, I imagined that I was ready. In reality, because I didn’t know exactly what to expect, it was hard to truly believe I was entirely prepared.
In any case, it was too late now to do anything. At the ripe age of ten-and-a-bit, I was going to the Eden-Powell Academy of Arts and Sciences.
I had explained to my mom, with a bit of help from Grey at the union, that I’d earned an opportunity to work in a nicer part of the city for a little while. She... didn’t like it, but my independent streak was a mile wide by then. I gave her enough money to make ends meet for a long while, then told Bet and some of the others to come check on her every so often for me. Mom still insisted on working, even if my stalls earned enough that she could afford to stay home.
There was a lot of pride in being a worker, and telling someone to stay home and do nothing was generally considered pretty insulting.
I... didn’t press the issue too hard.
It was a bit dirty and pragmatic of me, but it would keep her busy and out of my business.
The day I was to head to the school for the first time, I found myself walking to Mister Digglestein’s place. I’d go from there to a carriage-stop, then to the Academy itself. Somewhere along the way I’d change into the uniform, but for now I was wearing my usual overalls. I had taken a long shower the night prior, scrubbing myself raw with a bar of pumice-filled soap to remove any grime and any stains on my skin.
It would be humiliating if a bit of soot gave away my disguise, or worse, the slum-stink that came from living downwind of too many factories.
On the way over, I looked over my skill sheet. It had progressed pretty satisfactorily over the last two years.
Name: N/A
Alias: Ginger
Race: Human {Common}
Age: 10 Years
Mana: 83/94
Primary Class: [Feronie’s Crusader {Epic}]
Secondary Class: [Angel of Death {Rare}]
Afflictions
- Black Lung {Common}
- Child of Poverty {Common}
Blessings
- Blessing of Feronie {Unique}
Feronie’s Crusader Class Skills Level three Hundred Twenty-four
- Aura of Growth {Rare} Level Eighty-Six
> [Shaped Aura]
> [Careful Casting]
> [Unrestricted Growth]
> [Sustained Growth]
- Blight {Epic} Level Seventy-Five
> [Persistent Death]
> [Rigour Mortis]
> [Infection]
- Ritual of Sporemageddon {Legendary} Level Twenty
> [Apocalypse Walker]
- Druid Sight {Uncommon} Level Seventy-Four
> [Druid’s Sense]
> [Druid’s Ear]
> [Health Sense]
- Mushroom Magic {Rare} Level Sixty-Nine
> [Super Shroom Zoom]
> [Mushroom Remaker]
> [Potent]
Angel of Death Class Skills One Hundred and Eleven
- Cherub of Death {Rare} Level Nineteen
- Guileless Eyes {Uncommon} Level Twenty-Nine
> [Lingering Look]
- Unnoticeable {Uncommon} Level Thirty-Two
> [Notice Me Not]
- Poison Blooded {Rare} Level Fifteen
- Angel’s Touch {Rare} Level Sixteen
General Skills Level Four Hundred and Twenty-Four
- Running {Common} Level Sixty-Two
> [Surefooted]
> [Sprint]
> [Runner's Breath]
- Knitting {Common} Level Seventy-One
> [Patterner]
> [Clicky Clacker]
> [Resizer]
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- Basic Poison Resistance {Common} Level Forty-Four
> [Mana Bleed]
> [Push Through]
- Social Manipulation {Uncommon} Level Sixty-Two
> [Too Cute to Kill]
> [Bargain Maker]
> [Misinformer]
- Poison Handling Expertise {Rare} Level Sixty-Six
> [Iron Lunged]
> [Toxicant Sense]
> [Thick Skinned]
- Academic Mind {Uncommon} Level Thirty-Two
> [Penmanship]
- Cooking {Common} Level Twenty-Nine
> [Eye for Sizes]
- Management {Common} Level Twenty Three
> [Stock Knowledge]
- Quick Sleeper {Uncommon} Level Nineteen
- Lie Detection {Uncommon} Level Sixteen
That was getting satisfyingly long! I could still vaguely remember my character sheet’s information way back when I was little. Nothing more than a few lines telling me that I was sick and unfortunate.
Those were still there, despite best efforts on my part, but now the rest of my stats told a story . It was a story of someone able to kill people with a whole host of poisons and fungi, and someone who wouldn’t care one whit about the same being used against them. Perhaps most importantly, a story of someone who could get away with murder with nothing more than a dumb, vacant look and a smile.
Maybe my skills were hyper focused a little, but, well, I was hyper focused as well. I had a goal, and I was gunning hard for it.
Over the last two years, as new skills and old improved, I unlocked new subskills. Those popped up every twenty levels. Most were small. Little bonuses and ways to make a skill work slightly better, but some were quite potent in their own way.
My [Aura of Growth] skill had, after much work, gained its fourth subskill.
[Sustained Growth]
Anything grown under the influence of your Aura will be better prepared for continued growth assisted by your aura. Practice will increase the growth speed of affected plant and fungal matter.
Surprisingly useful, that one. It meant that I could push my magical aura in a mushroom, and when I did it again later, it would grow even faster and hardier. Sustained use was improved as well.
The skill was still mana-hungry, but my manapool was slowly growing. Soon I’d be hitting one hundred points! A tiny powerhouse.
I waited for the carriage that would lead me to the school, my attention drifting to a flowerbank next to the roadway that gave it a little splash of colour.
Smiling, I let my aura sweep over it, and those few wilting flowers raised their heads.
The next skill with a new subskill, at least if I was going from the top down and not the order in which I unlocked the subskills, was [Druid Sight].
[Health Sense]
Your senses extend to an innate understanding of the health of any biological matter you focus upon.
I focused on one of those flowers.
[Common Primrose] Common 2/3HP
A common flower that blooms in spring in small clumps. Sometimes considered a weed.
Knowing the health of a plant was... interesting. This one probably had some sort of issues with the dirt it was in, I guessed. The number of cigarette butts wasn’t likely helping.
I could help it, but it was some random street-side flower. Besides, all of my best plant healing magic was focused on mushrooms. Like [Mushroom Magics] new [Potent] subskill.
[Potent]
Mushrooms grown under your supervision will be significantly more potent than their natural counterparts.
That skill was fantastic in many ways. The added potency tended to align with whatever that mushroom did best. I didn’t need to spend as much time cultivating more potent poisonous mushrooms when those I had already were now significantly more lethal.
I noticed a duo of Bullies passing by. Two big men in bigger suits, their bright blue uniforms impossible to miss. One of them looked my way, eyes buried under his peaked cap.
I focused on my [Guileless Eyes] skill for a moment, then smiled at the officer. I was hardly doing anything suspicious. Just some kid on his way to the Academy.
[Guileless Eyes] new [Lingering Look] subskill probably triggered as he turned his head around and looked for trouble elsewhere.
[Lingering Look]
The effects of your Guileless Eyes skill linger on anyone you use them on for a short period after eye contact is broken.
The moment I wasn’t focused on, I poured a little magic into [Notice Me Not], a new [Unnoticeable] subskill.
[Notice Me Not]
By expending a small amount of mana, you can make this skill more potent. As this skill improves, so will your efficiency.
Just another nobody in the crowd. No one of import. I could feel people’s attention drifting off of me.
I’d have to turn that off soon. Not only did it slowly chew through my mana, it also made it hard to grab people’s attention, which very much went counter to what I wanted sometimes. Hard to ask for directions when no one saw you.
Well, if I had to run to catch up to the carriage, I could manage that. [Running] had levelled up as well, from all the jogging around I did.
[Runner's Breath]
Running no longer requires you to breathe quite as much as it once did. Suffer fewer penalties while running without breathing.
That one was alright. It made it easier to slip through smog clouds whenever they descended on the city without turning into a coughing mess. And I could drop some of my spore bombs down and just zip through them without getting a lungful of poison.
Not that I had to worry much about poisons. I didn’t want to get cocky, but I had a lot more tools to help me with those. Not only was my own blood a lethal concoction now, I also had new abilities to help.
[Push Through]
It now takes significantly longer for a poison to start affecting you.
That would let me get cured up before a poison started to really affect me. Though it was a bit of a double-edged sword when it came to testing on myself.
I jumped as I heard a clatter coming down the road. My carriage was here!
I tugged my uniform on straighter, then waved for the driver to stop. Then I cursed as he very much didn’t.
***