Chapter 141: Strange Phenomenon (2/2)

“I’m ready.” [Ryouma]

I checked the viscosity of my traps.. I checked the brightness of my light magic. I double checked that the door behind me was closed.

And then as I kept my guard up just in case something were to come, I opened the door.

When I did that…

“!!”

“!!”

“…?”

The mushrooms were running.

Two legs had grown out from the hard tip of the mushrooms.

Are these mushroom-type monster beasts?

When I opened the door, the mushrooms ran away from me and crashed into the walls, causing them to tumble to the ground.

“…Are these ‘Running Mash’?” [Ryouma]

I don’t know much about them as monsters, but I do know them as medicinal ingredients.

’Running Mash’

As the name implies, running mash are running mushrooms.

They are mushrooms that have monsterified due to the influence of mana and are an extremely rare magic potion ingredient.

They can strengthen one’s body and reform one’s constitution. But what’s really good about them is that they can increase the efficacy of a completed medicine.

But if the original mushroom contains poison and some other medicinal effect, those effects will also be strengthened, so caution is necessary when handling them.

Not only are these mushrooms rarer than regular mushrooms, they also have legs with which to run with, so they’re really hard to get.

These mushrooms are usually found in wetlands and are especially abundant when there’s a rain forecast.

But these mushroom aren’t just rare. People also say that when these mushrooms are found, the place where they were found will have more mushrooms the next year. They are also said to bring good fortune and wealth.

But even though these mushrooms are supposedly so rare, right now, there are about 70 to 80 of them running in front of me.

“Maybe these mushrooms are different… ‘Monster Identify’” [Ryouma]

Running Mash

Skills:

Generate Spore Lv6

Scatter Spore Lv4

High-Speed Movement Lv6

Ah, it looks like I was right. They really are Running Mash.

And from looking at the skills, I think I know know why they say that there will be more mushrooms the following year in the place these mushrooms are found.

“Well, I guess it’s safe to say that these guys aren’t here naturally…” [Ryouma]

I mean obviously these guys came from the mushroom bed I was cultivating. A closer look at the running mash show that other than the sharp-looking nails and protruded feet, all the other parts are exactly the same as the mushrooms I was cultivating.

“I was planning to cultivate just normal mushrooms, but…” [ryouma]

Running Mash are the monsterified mushrooms. Monsterification is a phenomenon that occurs due to mana.

As such, the reason this happened has something to do with mana. …But just where could they have possibly absorbed the mana from?　I used water magic when I watered the mushrooms, but is that enough to cause monsterification?　…Running Mash are really rare, so I don’t think they can monsterify with just a little mana…

Oh, I know. Maybe it’s because of the scavenger slimes’ fertilizer?　After all, there’s a possibility that the body of the slime itself is mana. So if there’s mana imbued in the fertilizer of the scavenger slimes, then…

But either way, I can’t grow these mushrooms normally anymore.

“It’s not exactly a loss, but it’s still a pity…” [Ryouma]

…For the meantime, let’s catch them and deal with them. I’ll think about the rest after that.

These mushrooms are medicinal ingredients, so maybe the medicine slimes can eat them?

I have to make some medicine anyway, so maybe I should try making some with them.

While I wondered what to do after catching the mushrooms, I chased them into my traps like a sheepdog.

One hour later.

I messed up… But maybe this is good in its own way?

The medicine slime tumbling about on the floor of the medicine slime is sending me a lot of happy thoughts through the contract after gorging itself on the running mash.

“It sure ate a lot….” [Ryouma]

I was the one who gave it a running mash, but I was only planning on giving it one. Unfortunately, when I went to make a new mushroom bed, I left the basket full of running mash. The medicine slime then used its tentacles to eat the running mash one after another. By the time I noticed it, it had already eaten 10 running mash.

I only gave it one at first because I wanted to see first how it would react. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to have been harmed by eating them.

Still…

“… Monster Identify.” [Ryouma]

Medicine Slime

Skills:

Produce Medicine Lv5

Poison Resist Lv3

Disease Resist Lv5

Physical Attack Resist Lv1

Jump Lv3 Digest Lv3

Absorb Lv3

Split Lv3

Spear Mastery Lv1

…You can really see the effects of the mushrooms. The Produce Medicine skill has risen by two levels.

Moreover, when I took a look at the types of medicine it could produce…

Nutrient Solution

Tonic Solution

Medicine Tonic

These three types have been added to the list.

“Liquid that could be made into a nutrient solution or tonic…” [Ryouma]

It would appear that due to the effects of the running mash, the medicine slime has become able to produce a liquid with similar effects. These look difficult to use. Especially the third one.

‘Medicine Tonic’

A liquid that reacts with the mana inside a medicine to strengthen te efficacy of the medicine.

Sometimes a medicine that’s too effective can be poison, so I have to be careful when using it.

I don’t know how much it can increase the effect of a medicine.

There are existing recipes that use the running mash with the proper does listed, but there’s no such thing for the medicine slime’s Medicine Tonic. Moreover, it remains to be seen if this medicine tonic works exactly the same as the running mash (ingredient). I’ll need to run some experiments first or there’s no way to be sure.

Either way this doesn’t look like something I can use right away.

I’ll add these new findings to my notes too, so I can go back to them later…

The next day.

“A child like you is really…” [Grisiera]

I used the medicine I produced as a pretext to meet the guild master of the merchant guild. When she found out what I really came for, she looked like she’d had enough.

“Seriously, it’s just one thing after another with you. You really know how to keep people’s interest piqued, don’t you? I could still understand it if you brought 4 or 5, but… I can’t believe you actually brought 30 running mash with you all at the same time.” [Grisiera]

Actually, these are just the leftovers the medicine slime.

“Sorry to always cause you trouble.” [Ryouma]

“…You wanted to try cultivating your own mushrooms to eat, but when you went and put your ideas to practice, you ended up turning all of your mushrooms into running mash, so now you’re here because you want to know how to cultivate normal mushrooms?” [Grisiera]

“That’s right. I was thinking they would turn out normal if I just used fertilizer without mana. So, I was wondering if you could tell me about fertilizer without mana.” [Ryouma]

“Even if you tell me that… I’ve never dealt with fertilizer for mushrooms. In the first place, cultivating mushrooms is just way too luxurious… Can’t you just eat your running mash?　I mean from the looks of things it seems they’ve already returned to being edible mushrooms. And running mash are supposedly delicious anyway.” [Grisiera]

Really!?　I only knew about their medicinal effects.

“I’ve never tried them myself, though. I couldn’t possibly do something so prodigal.” [Grisiera]

“That’s true.” [Ryouma]

After all, there are a lot of medicine that uses running mash as its ingredient. Some of those are even used to treat diseases said to be incurable. As such, a single running mash goes for about 100,000 suits. If you choose the place and the season, the price can even go up. If I sold all these, I could make a fortune.

But what’s important to me is the taste. …Huh?　But since it tastes better than normal mushroom, maybe this will do just fine?

…But then again, if some weird stuff happens because of the medicinal effect, that would be really troubling.

“Then I’ll help you search for some normal fertilizer used by farmers. I don’t know if it’ll work with mushrooms, but you can figure that out on your own. In exchange, give me one running mash and concoct a medicine for me. Consider the labor and payment free with that.” [Grisiera]

“Thank you very much.” [Ryouma]

“Don’t mention it. After all, you’re helping me make a profit with your medicine too.” [Grisiera]

We talked idly while her people were preparing the ingredients. During our idle conversation, she said something that concerned me.

“Bandits?　Around these parts?” [Ryouma]

“We’ve been getting reports of suspicious people moving here. But there’s only about four or five of them. There was a bandit group that was destroyed at Gaunago, so maybe they’re the surviving members. I don’t know if they’re planning to work here, but you should be careful if you decide to go out of town. After all, they might think you’re easy prey. Of course, reality might beg to differ.” [Grisiera]

“Thank you for the information.” [Ryouma]

Let’s go and see if there’s a job posted on the adventurers guild after this.

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