With Nexus's 'theft', another one of the tree's root whitered, and he wasn't even satisfied with that. His mycelium continues to wrap around the tree's roots.
At a rate visible to the naked eye, his mycelium continues to expand. It was to the point that his mycelium is now not just absorbing life force on the tree's roots.
The more he used his [Gluttony], the more skillful he became. Now, with his control, as long as the root is intact and connected to the whole tree, he can use a single root to extract life force from the tree's whole body.
In just a single day, his mycelium doubled in size, and it now has a diameter of eight inches!
Such a fast growth made Nexus happy, and the more his mycelium grew, the faster he was in absorbing life force.
In just three days, the tree died. Its body turned into a dry, fragile husk that soon shattered.
"My mycelium now covers an area of thirty inches. This is more than halfway a meter!"
Seeing such visible progress would make any hardworking person happy. His mycelium covering such a large area brings joy.
However, Nexus soon frowned. His mycelium grew, and he can now absorb more mana, but he still doesn't have a way to defend himself.
Throughout the past few days, quite a number of wild beasts walked through the area. Their numbers are not high, but they still appear.
He was thankful that they seemed uninterested in eating him, but he didn't think that he would be lucky every day.
Not to mention, even if these beasts don't have a plan of eating him, they might accidentally step on and trample him.
He still has to have some fighting capabilities. Fortunately, he now has some idea of how to ensure his survival.
Using the might of all of his mycelium, Nexus furiously absorbed the free mana particles in his surroundings.
This time, he didn't use the absorbed mana to expand his mycelium but instead stored it inside him.
Another two days had passed with Nexus doing nothing but absorbing mana when he finally felt that it was enough.
He focused his senses on a random tip of his mycelium and poured all of the absorbed mana from the past two days on it.
Normal mushrooms reproduce by releasing spores in the air. A normal Blood Boiling Mushroom must be consumed by a living creature first before the spore can be released.
However, Nexus, as a mushroom that was blessed by the golden raindrop, does not need to be consumed before he can reproduce.
As long as he has enough mana, he can 'give birth' to a child.
Soon, with the injection of mana, another Blood Boiling Mushroom completely identical to Nexus's real body emerged from the ground.
With the birth of a new mushroom, Nexus's mycelium grew two more inches from where the new mushroom was.
This increase was short compared to the two days' worth of mana he used, but the purpose of this mushroom is not really for the growth of his mycelium.
In the area where Nexus grew, he was the only Blood Boiling Mushroom. If a beast decided that they wanted to eat a mushroom, he was the only choice.
But what if there are two, tens, hundreds, or even thousands of mushrooms? Would they specifically come to eat Nexus? Surely, no, right?
As of the moment, this is the tactic that Nexus devised with his limited power. If the beasts suddenly decided they want to eat mushrooms, then let them eat other mushrooms, just not him.
"Hmm?"
After the mushroom grew, which actually took another half a day, Nexus felt something through his instincts again.
His mind seems to be connected to the mushroom he grew, and he can control it the way he can control his own body and mycelium.
Of course, his 'control' over his own body is merely the ability to grow his mycelium and choose when to use the energy he has absorbed. As such, that is also the only thing he can do with his 'offspring'.
It seems like all the mushrooms he would personally grow will be connected to him, which is a good thing.
In truth, the reason why he only used two days' worth of mana to grow a mushroom was because that was the maximum amount of mana he could store after this little experiment of his.
He doesn't have to store mana first before propagating. He can directly control the mana to slowly grow a mushroom if he wishes to.
He just wanted to see first how much mana he can store, and with his current mycelium size, it is two days' worth of mana.
However, with another mushroom he can control, Nexus can also store mana into that new mushroom, albeit its storage capacity is only around 30% of his original body.
Still, this is a good thing. If someday Nexus learned offensive capabilities, just like in the webnovels, it will surely cost some mana. The more mana he can control, the more power he can unleash.
Not only that, but his instincts are also telling him that if he grows enough mushrooms, he would undergo a transformation.
"Hmm, I wonder what the transformation would be. I am looking forward to it!"
——
More days passed quickly, and as of the moment, Nexus's territory now covered a diameter of five meters in all directions. With his diligent effort, the number of his mushrooms also grew, and there are now twenty of them.
His growing territory brought endless joy to him, as that is technically the only thing he could do.
He felt that he was almost halfway through growing enough mushrooms for that transformation, and he judged that if the number of mushrooms he grew reached fifty, that might be the time when he would undergo a transformation.
Unfortunately, while Nexus wanted to expand peacefully, the nature of this forest is still that of a dangerous one.
Today, a lone, old, and skinny wolf suddenly appeared. Most beasts that go through this area are uninterested in Blood Boiling Mushrooms, but this one was different.
It started encircling a mushroom at the edge of Nexus's territory as if it were contemplating whether to eat it or not.
The wolf might have been kicked out of the pack due to being weak and old. It looks clearly starved, and that might be the reason why, although it usually eats meat, it was eyeing a mushroom to eat.
"Go away! Don't eat my mushroom!" Nexus screamed, but since he doesn't have a mouth, his words were heard by no one.
The number of his mushrooms is the key to his transformation, and he doesn't want to delay it. Not to mention, a single piece of a two-inch-long mushroom is definitely far from enough to satiate a wolf.
In fact, it might need to eat all the mushrooms, including Nexus himself, to feel full.
Unfortunately, despite his unwillingness, the wolf still succumbed to the temptation and resorted to eating the mushroom.
The wolf lowered its head and bit off the mushroom on the ground, including the growing mycelium.
Fortunately, maybe because he was a mushroom, Nexus didn't feel any pain, although the bitten mushroom is technically part of his body.
The poor mushroom was crushed by the wolf's teeth before it was swallowed, much to Nexus's anger.
That was a mushroom he painstakingly grew and is technically a part of his body; seeing it being eaten made him angry.
It was like seeing someone eating your limbs. Who wouldn't be angry at that?
Fortunately, Nexus remembered what his current race was. He is a Blood Boiling Mushroom!
He might be powerless, but if you want to eat him, prepare to die after!
"Wait, I can actually still sense the eaten mushroom, and I can control it!"
Nexus's imaginary eyes lit up, and in retaliation, he controlled the eaten mushroom and soon, the wolf's body trembled.
Intense heat engulfed its whole being as the wolf's blood boiled. The after effects were painful, but aside from the pain, the wolf's strength also grew stronger. It has become as strong at its prime!
Sensing this power, the wolf turned to look at another Blood Boiling Mushroom, and without hesitation, he ate another one, causing Nexus to curse.
Unfortunately for the wolf, when consuming a Blood Boiling Mushroom, it was not a 1 + 1 = 2 is better than 1.
After eating the second mushroom, the wolf started bleeding boiling blood from its eyes, ears, and mouth.
Its organs were fried by the heat, and it panicked.
If it had only consumed one mushroom, it could have lived for another ten minutes. Too bad that since it consumed a second one, in just three minutes, it met its end.
The wolf's blood boiled hot enough that its body exploded, and the mushroom it consumed released specks of spores that started sucking the blood, flesh, and organs of the wolf.
This was how a normal Blood Boiling Mushroom reproduces. They must be eaten by a living creature, and once the host dies, the spores they release would suck up the nutrients and energy from the host's broken pieces.
"So a single mushroom can release ten spores. Since the wolf ate two mushrooms, there are twenty spores in total. However, a single wolf is not enough to grow twenty spores into mushrooms."
"This old wolf's body at most can grow three mushrooms. No, it might not even be three, considering that its body exploded into tiny pieces, scattering all around. The spores cannot fully absorb the wolf's energy."
Thinking of this, Nexus cannot help but be a bit unsatisfied. The wolf ate two mushrooms, and in return, Nexus can only use the wolf's body to mature two mushrooms.
As for the remaining spores, they can grow into mushrooms too, but although they require less energy than growing mushrooms from scratch, they would still need around 95% of the energy it normally requires to grow a mushroom.
The profit margin is not high considering that growing mushrooms not only requires mana but also time.
"It would be better if the mushrooms didn't cause the host to explode, wasting energy. The spores can be released directly into the host's dead body so that all energy can be absorbed."
Nexus lamented before he thought of something. "Wait, I could control the mushrooms even when they are eaten. Can I also make it so that they can just kill the host without causing the body to explode?"
Thinking of this, Nexus immediately wanted to try it, as that would enable him to save energy. Unfortunately, since he cannot move, he can't actively seek another wolf.
He can only wish that another old, skinny wolf would stumble into his territory and eat one of his mushrooms, so that he could maximize his profit.
"No, no, no, what am I even thinking? It is better to grow slowly but safely. I can't wish for a beast to come and eat my mushrooms!"
"Even if an old wolf cannot withstand my mushroom and will die upon consumption, who could say that the same would be true for an adult healthy wolf?"
"Not to mention, this world not only has wolves. There are other much stronger magical creatures. What if there are creatures that can safely consume my mushroom without dying?"
"A wolf would die by eating Blood Boiling Mushrooms, but I doubt that a dragon would be the same."
"Even just back on earth, while pufferfish poison can kill humans, there are reports that dolphins use pufferfish toxins as party drugs."
"In a world of magic, I can't say that no creature will be immune to my mushrooms."
Nexus hurriedly threw away the dangerous thoughts he had. This is not the time for him to entertain such thoughts.
He cannot even move. If a beast found him and decided that he was a nuisance, he wouldn't even be able to flee.