People who apologize to her are usually those who have actually done something to wrong her.
But Ning Lan couldn’t think of anything the Elf had to be sorry for.
‘Oh, right.
Picking mushrooms.
So is she feeling guilty about eating other mushrooms?’
To be honest, Ning Lan hadn’t even realized for a moment that she was part of the mushroom race and should feel some sort of grief for the passing of her kin.
However, she really couldn’t view those mushrooms as living individuals.
Not only that, but she had previously wanted to use the Elf’s body to taste a mushroom herself — a plan she only abandoned because she failed to start a fire.
‘I’m a failure.’
“It’s okay, I don’t mind,” Ning Lan said.
She had to maintain her persona as a gentle, understanding older sister, live in harmony with the Elf, and build a peaceful future for these two souls sharing one body.
She could easily overlook such a small matter.
However, Ning Lan didn’t expect that after she expressed her forgiveness, Lumina would become even more nervous.
As the “stomach flu” in the Elf’s gut — no, the mushroom in her head — Ning Lan could sense some of her host’s emotional shifts.
Fear, unease, and anxiety.
It seemed the guilt over the mushrooms was just a facade; what she was truly worried about was Ning Lan herself, the outsider.
‘She’s probably treating me like some kind of mushroom revenge.’
“Are you hungry?
Do you want to eat some mushrooms?”
Though she had lost control of the Elf’s body and was far from the Mycelium Territory, her skills were still functional.
After all, her main body was the mushroom on the Elf’s head, and the Elf herself was a large, mobile mycelium carrier.
As a swarm of pale gray spores drifted to the ground, a cluster of delightful Purple Mushrooms quickly sprouted around where the Elf was crouching.
They emitted a faint, fungal fragrance.
The Elf’s nostrils twitched as she stared blankly at this magical scene.
“As far as I’m concerned, I can have as many mushrooms as I want, so don’t worry about the ones you ate.”
‘Even though you almost snatched me out of a crack in the wall and ate me…’ Ning Lan thought.
To this day, she still didn’t understand why the Elf ignored so many plump mushrooms and insisted on targeting her scrawny main body.
“Um, thank you, but I’m not hungry yet.”
Perhaps because Mushroom Miss’s voice was so gentle and the goodwill she released was reassuring, Lumina found herself no longer afraid as she sat surrounded by the mushrooms.
‘Maybe Mushroom Miss is a good person… mushroom?’
She suddenly asked, “Mushroom Miss, do you have a name?”
“My name is…”
Ning Lan paused abruptly.
She thought about the names she had seen on the System Panel so far; clearly, her name from her previous life would be completely out of place in this world.
Rather than making people find it strange, it would be better to take a new name as the first step toward integrating into this world’s civilization.
“Well, I don’t have a name yet.
Could you help me pick one, Lumina?”
Lumina hadn’t expected the question to be turned back on her.
She even overlooked the question of how Mushroom Miss knew her name, her brow furrowing as she thought frantically.
Finally, she said somewhat tentatively, “Uh, how about Marlow?
Miss Marlow… yes, that sounds very nice.”
“Stop.
Don’t use titles; just use my name.
Besides, our relationship isn’t so distant that we need such formalities.”
‘Fortunately, I didn’t say my real name, or I’d be cringing so hard I’d dig out a three-bedroom apartment with my toes.’
After seeing Lumina nod repeatedly, Ning Lan chewed on the pronunciation and asked, “Marlow… does this name have any meaning?”
“It probably… symbolizes things like hope, beauty, courage, and life.”
There was no deep meaning.
It was just a name she had pulled out of thin air by using the transliteration for mushroom in the Elven Language.
‘I’m sorry, Mushroom Miss.
I know names are important, but letting someone who is terrible at naming choose for you was a very big mistake.’
“I see.
Then let my name be Marlow Lily of the Valley.”
Hearing the Elf’s stammering voice, Ning Lan knew she had put the girl on the spot.
How could one word have so many meanings?
She was clearly making it up.
A name was just a label, and she didn’t really care, but she still wanted to preserve a piece of her past as Ning Lan, so she added a surname.
“Lily of the Valley?
Miss Marlow… Marlow, do mushrooms have families too?
Like my name, Lumina Felin, from the Felin family of Elves?”
Facing the Elf’s curiosity, Ning Lan thought for a moment.
“Of course.
I am the Lord of Fungi, the king of all mushrooms.
As the host who carries me, you should feel honored.”
“So you’re royalty.
That’s amazing.”
Lumina thought that even if she was only the king of mushrooms — those fragile, tiny, ubiquitous mushrooms — anyone who was a king must be quite impressive.
And for such a being to be residing in her own body truly was an honor.
“Was that title bestowed by you then, Marlow?
Thank you.”
Deceiving an innocent little Elf into praising her really was a satisfying way to feed her vanity.
That pure, clear gaze and flawless, sincere admiration — being trusted like that was simply a delight.
Feeling a bit lightheaded, she instinctively replied, “Yes, yes, you’re welcome—”
Wait, title?
When did she have the ability to bestow titles?
Because of the [Man-Eating Mushroom] title, she had escaped the predicament of being reborn as a mushroom and had gained many skills.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this title had completely transformed her.
There was no doubt that titles were rare and powerful things.
They clearly hadn’t been on the Elf’s System Panel before, but now there was a new entry.
She wasn’t sure what it did.
She pulled up the Elf’s System Panel and scrolled past the attributes.
Sure enough, she saw a new section at the bottom.
[Combat Power Measurement Unit: 0.5 Mushroom]: Granted to those defeated by a mushroom — congratulations on becoming the floor that defines the ceiling.
No one is weaker than a mushroom, except you.
Title Effect: Extra gain of one-half of a mushroom’s total attributes.
“I just don’t know what it does.
My teacher said that titles are rewards for achieving specific conditions, and the rewards vary depending on the difficulty.
But I haven’t felt much of a change.
Is it because this title was too easy to get?”
‘No, it should be quite difficult.
You might be the only person in the world to achieve it.’
As for the change, there was one, but because the extra increase came from mushroom attributes, that one or two points of numerical change was far too subtle compared to the Elf’s overall stats.
“Maybe it will become obvious later,” she said vaguely, awkwardly shifting the topic.
“By the way, is the Felin name considered royalty or nobility among Elves?”
The other side of this title was on her own body.
She really didn’t dare let the girl know the conditions for obtaining it — if she knew she had been “eaten” once by Mushroom Miss, there was absolutely no way they could achieve a peaceful Symbiosis.
Seemingly touched by memories of the past, the little Elf gazed into the distance with a dazed look.
After a long silence, she said softly:
“I don’t know.
My mother never told me.
My aunt… she doesn’t like me either.
She says I’m a stain on the family.
Marlow, do you know?
Pure-blooded Elves all have blonde hair and blue eyes.
They are very repulsed by Half-Elves like me who have mixed blood.
But what can I do?
I can’t change the hair and eye color I was born with.
I wanted her to change her opinion of me.
I practiced magic and trained my skills diligently just to get her approval, but no matter how much I gave, I never received a single word of comfort or encouragement…”
“Ah, I’m sorry.
Forgive me for rambling on like this.
No one has ever been willing to listen to me talk about these things before.
Are you willing to listen to me, Marlow?”
As if afraid of being rejected, Lumina muttered an addition, “Even if you’re not willing, there’s nothing I can do.
Since you’re in my body, you have to listen whether you want to or not.”
“I actually quite like being an audience member and listening to stories, even if your story is a bit depressing.”
“Thank you.”
It was a thanks as quiet as a mosquito’s buzz.
Soft and fluffy like a marshmallow, it made one really want to tease her.
“I think what you need to hear is ‘you’ve worked hard.'”
Just like a worker struggling for a living, running around from dawn to dusk, wasting time and trading their life for a paycheck just to make their family’s life a bit better and happier.
They need a “you’ve worked hard” from someone close to them.
That is an acknowledgment of their sacrifice and effort, an understanding from those they love.
It was very clear that the Elf lacked both of these things.
From what she said, she was probably lonely and didn’t have a single friend.
How pitiful.
“Do you want to hear it?”
There was no response, but she could see that Lumina was clearly moved.
But how could one ask for such a thing?
If the Elf were the type of person who could say ‘I want to hear it,’ her frank personality would have surely allowed her to find a friend to talk to.
Even though she pretended not to care, deep down, she was still a bit expectant, wasn’t she?
Ahem.
Ning Lan pretended to clear her throat, setting the mood.