How To Be A System (Dummy-Proof Edition)

Chapter 80. Lower Than A Fungus

Not long after all of the people left, both Ren Qingquan and I saw the corpse of the black robed man that had been killed by Bai Yushi slowly being swallowed into the soil that was opened by the group of fungi with an aura of luck. As for his soul, it has long been devoured by me through the use of Ren Qingquan [Devour].

When Ren Qingquan saw the corpse of that man being swallowed by the earth, I heard him scream. 'What in the name of a horror movie! This place is so scary!'

Ignoring Ren Qingquan's nonsense, through [Scan] I saw the clothes and corpse of that man being slowly dissolved by the fungi and turned into a spirit qi and many other substances I am not too sure about.

Even I am shocked by what I saw.

I- Is that even something a fungi is capable of doing? How did it even move the earth to swallow that corpse?

Once I collected my composure, I saw most of the substances and spirit qi the fungi absorbed are used to multiply and increase the range of their influence. Meanwhile a small part of it is sent together with some water to the surrounding trees connected to it in exchange of a... sugar?

When I saw this scene, I was not too sure what to do. This is probably the weirdest thing I'll ever [Anchor].

I don't think anything will ever top it.

'Umm.. system. How about trying to talk with it?' Ren Qingquan's half doubtful voice pulled me from my thoughts. 'Also, open Su Ping's view on one of my screens.'

Ren Qingquan's first question is what I've been waiting for.

[Do you wish to spend 10 points to grant it system screen, and spend 1 point to transfer the screen? ]

'Yes.' After Ren Qingquan nodded, I sent the already prepared screen to that fungi.

As for Su Ping? I already sent his problem to the back of my mind. All I do is leave a small part of my attention and [Calculate]'s calculation power to let Ren Qingquan watch Su Ping's surroundings.

After all, this fungus is much more interesting.

***

After waiting for a few minutes, the fungus still failed to respond. It actually doesn't even try to press anything on the screen.

Wait, can a fungus even see the screen I sent?

While I was in doubt, Ren Qingquan asked. 'How is it? Has the fungus responded?

[Not yet. System doesn't detect any input from it. Perhaps that's because it doesn't have any eyes?]

'Well, it is indeed possible.' Ren Qingquan nodded before he shared his idea while watching Su Ping and Bai Yushi's escapades 'Can you just automatically activate Devour so it will swallow every soul before converting their points as things they need? Nutrients, spirit qi, etc. who knows, just like in those novels, this fungi also needs to reach a certain level before gaining sentience.'

What Ren Qingquan said just now is indeed true. Although I want to just swallow all the soul this fungi obtained without giving it any benefit. But by giving it some benefit in exchange, it should allow me to gain its trust once it gains sapience.

After all, anyone with weird luck is a freak in their own right. Investing right now should give me more benefit in the future.

Once I reached that conclusion, I replied to Ren Qingquan.

[Then System will activate the automatic devour function and the automatic creation function for it. System will also constantly turn on its panel and warn the host once it responds.]

"Yes." After he replied, I feel Ren Qingquan prepared himself to fly and follow Su Ping once again. That is until I quickly stopped him in his tracks.

[Host, please wait a moment. System is preparing to do some experiments on this fungi network.]

Once he heard the word experiment, Ren Qingquan immediately asked. 'Will it trigger any attack from Heavenly Will or attack from other experts like before?

[No. System is sure this experiment will be 100% safe for the host.]

'Well, alright then.' With Ren Qingquan's agreement, I can happily start to experiment on the skills attached to that fungus.

First, I turn on the [Scan] attached to it.

As there are only 4 skills anchored on it, the distance I can sense through its [Scan] is only 20% of Ren Qingquan's range. That is to say, 200 meters.

But due to this fungus's special characteristic. All area that is enveloped by the lucky aura that Ren Qingquan saw through Turtle Divination Technique before is actually counted as a part of its body.

That means although the fungi's [Scan] can only detect a 200 meter radius, the starting point is anywhere connected to it! I can set the center point of its [Scan] at the fungus nearby Ren Qingquan, or at the fungus under the banyan tree 500 meters away from Ren Qingquan, and even at a fungus several meters below the earth.

I also tried to activate [Devour] and it actually works the same way! Its [Devour] can be activated within every area that's within its aura of luck.

Is it because the fungi network is connected to each other? Does that mean if I found something that spread throughout the world and used [Anchor] to attach some of my skills on them, I can control the whole world, or at least gain some sort of omniscience?

The thought of gaining that much power excites me as I quickly continue my experiment. This time I used [Anchor] to attach [Scan] on another fungi network. This fungi network isn't connected to those fungi with lucky aura.

Unlike when I scanned the fungi network with luck aura which allowed me to attach their entirety. This time my [Anchor] is only connected to one of the fungus that make up this fungi network. Basically I only anchored a mushroom instead of the whole network.

This fact makes my dream of gaining a partial omniscience burst like a bubble.

Now then, what makes that group of fungi special?

While in deep thought, I also scanned the fungi network with luck aura and compared it with other fungi networks.

That's when inspiration struck me and I found their difference.

First is of course their luck. One has a luck that's quite dense to the point it glows. Meanwhile the others only have an extremely faint amount of luck which can barely be seen when Ren Qingquan focused his Turtle Divination Technique on it.

As for the second one, it is mental power! The mental power released by the network of fungi with a lot of luck is a lot higher in size compared to the one released by the other fungi network. Of course, as they're just a fungi, even if the amount of mental power released is a lot higher than other of its species, it is still much lower than the amount usually released by a normal human.

For information, after I found out the relationship between cultivator's mental power and soul, I realized almost every creature in the world is actually capable of releasing mental powers. It's just that the mental power released by creatures below the nascent soul stage is extremely faint.

Furthermore, anything related to souls has always been my weak point. Which is why I failed to find out about mental power while in the Martial Arts World.

Wait, I am getting sidetracked.

Anyway, the mental power released by those groups of fungi with massive luck have the exact same aura and fluctuation.

That means the fungi within several hundred radius have the same soul or will. What's more, those fungi networks have evolved to the point of being capable of moving the earth to swallow things.

Is this perhaps the reason it has such a massive luck? A fortuitous encounter related to the soul that grants it sapience?

So if I want to [Anchor] several living things that connect to each other, it is necessary for them to have the same soul.

Once I arrived at a satisfying conclusion, I stopped myself and focused on something else.

It seems [Anchor] still hid quite a deep secret, and I need to raise the priority to further understand it on my priority list.

With nothing else to do here, I told Ren Qingquan so he can continue to follow Su Ping.

[Host, System has completed its experiment.]

Ren Qingquan curiously asked me when he heard my notification. 'What are you experimenting on anyway?'

[Whether it is possible to control the world through a fungi network.]

Ren Qingquan: ( ʘ⁠‿⁠ʘ )

'System, you just sound like an evil scientist from a children 's cartoon that is hell bent on dominating the world.'

When I heard Ren Qingquan's response, I decided to change the topic. Because I indeed just sound like a chuuni villain.

[Anyway, host. You should check on Su Ping's current state.]

***

A few minutes ago, Su Ping was still held by Bai Yushi like a piece of luggage with one of her arms.

While running, Bai Yushi explained some of her plan to Su Ping in a hushed voice."Let's escape inside the mist mountain range. The place is known to have some area capable of suppressing cultivator's spirit qi and making them unable to use magical techniques."

"Furthermore, I have placed a trap at an area with suppression power and where landslides often happen. As long as we bait those people there, I can activate the trap I've prepared and bury them for good."

When Su Ping heard Bai Yushi's plan, he fell silent for a moment. "Why do you spent so much effort to help me?"

"You've healed me before."

Su Ping replied truthfully. "I just do it because I feel like it. Furthermore, the medicine I used actually doesn't cost a lot."

"Doesn't matter. What I know is you have helped me when my death and life is uncertain. So I'll also try my best to help you."

While those two are being lovey dovey, Bai Yushi's face changed as she jumped to the right.

Almost at the same time as her jump, a great sword flew into her previous location and struck a massive crater.

I saw both Su Ping and Bai Yushi turn their heads to the source of that attack. There, the goth young master has arrived while accompanied by a Golden Core stage elderly man.

the goth young master and that elderly man stood on top of a cloud as they arrived at Bai Yushi's location at lightning speed. They easily traversed the 200 meters distance of my [Scan] within seconds and arrived at the location where the great sword is stuck.

While the elderly man pulled that sword, the goth young master spoke with his hand behind his back. "Those trash are so slow. They can't even beat a weakling at the Qi Refining stage after spending a whole night. This young master still needs to make a move anyway."

"Luckily elder Yi, an expert in tracking is with me. Otherwise I'll have no choice but to give up that cultivation manual."

Although the goth young master had the demeanor of an expert when he placed his hand behind his back. But what comes out of his mouth is a second rate villain dialogue. After all, which idiot will introduce their ability to the enemy.

Meanwhile, Bai Yushi frowned as she looked at the goth young master and the elderly man. "Someone from the demonic sect? What is your intention by attacking us?"

"Nothing much, I was just walking around when I heard of an auction that will sell a precious Nascent Soul stage cultivation method." Suddenly, the goth young master's calm face turned ferocious as he pointed at Su Ping. "But your little boyfriend over there stole it from me!"

"Nonsense, I never stole this from anyone. I bought it with my own spirit stones at the White Crane Auction!"

Bai Yushi's face slightly changed at the mention of White Crane Auction.

The goth young master shook his hand in disregard. "Enough chit chat. Senior Yi, please kill them."

Wait wait wait! This is too dangerous for them. Although I love to see other's adventures and won't intervene much on others lives. I don't want my investment to go down the drain.

Damn it, Ren Qingquan's location is still too far from them. If I want to kill that goth young master and his guardian, my card is quite limited.

Luckily I've prepared early and anchored that goth young master with one of my skills. Furthermore, Ren Qingquan's nonsense about the necklace actually worked in my favor this time, as I can find a reason to send a helping hand for Su Ping.

I decided to spend 10 points and grant the goth young master with [Devour] before activating it. Then, I sent several messages to Su Ping.

[In exchange for previously swallowing the host's cultivation. System has granted the host one free life saving attack.]

[Life saving attack has been activated, the target has been locked. Please escape from your current location.]

Although Su Ping was a bit confused, he still followed my notification and told Bai Yushi to run.

Initially, that elder Yi still targeted them. But not long after they ran away, the bloody scream of that young master can be heard. When elder Yi heard the young master's scream, he quickly changed direction and returned to the young master's location.