“But I’m not telling.”
It was an unexpected answer.
“How could you be like that?”
The Elf pouted, whispering a small complaint under her breath.
Rather than the casual words of a stranger she had just met, she probably wanted the understanding of her family more. Marlow thought about it quietly, recalling Lumina’s earlier stories. Most conflicts between relatives came from people whose bark was worse than their bite — at least, that was how things worked in the world she came from.
Still, this was Another World. Maybe things were different here.
“Cough. Anyway, no matter what, you still have me.”
Even if Lumina had no one else, Marlow couldn’t ignore the host who carried her. Their fates were tied together now — glory or ruin alike.
“I can’t even imagine my aunt caring about me,” Lumina said softly. She counted them off on her fingers. “She would only say things like, ‘You’re always such a handful,’ or ‘Why bother being an adventurer? With your third-rate stats and pathetic communication skills, you’d be better off farming in the Elf Village to avoid being a burden to your teammates.’ She’d say, ‘Don’t reveal our relationship, and don’t even think about using my status for your own gain…'”
Her tone turned flat, eerily similar to the aunt she was imitating. Hearing it made Marlow’s metaphorical scalp tingle.
Talk about pressure.
Clearly, this wasn’t a pleasant topic. They had just escaped death — there was no reason to drown themselves in old wounds.
“How does it feel to die and come back to life?” Marlow asked, deliberately changing the subject.
“There is nothing better than being alive,” Lumina answered almost instantly.
“Do you know, Marlow? Death isn’t a peaceful sleep at all. It’s a continuation of the pain from before you died. After being attacked by the monsters, my consciousness was constantly tortured by agony. It wasn’t until just now that this nightmare finally ended.”
Her body curled slightly, violet eyes trembling. Fear lingered beneath her calm voice.
‘Does Mushroom Miss have any ideas?’
Though Lumina didn’t speak it aloud, Marlow could almost hear the question echoing in her thoughts.
Only then did Marlow realize the truth. The pain Lumina described hadn’t come from nowhere — it was the residual agony Marlow herself had endured while controlling the body. Lumina’s consciousness had been dormant, trapped in a self-protective state, and Marlow’s injuries had dragged her mind back toward awareness.
Even weakened, that pain had been unbearable. To Lumina, it must have felt endless.
As the culprit, Marlow felt an unfamiliar twinge of guilt.
“Go play by yourself. I’m going to sleep.”
Whether mushrooms needed sleep or not, pretending to sleep was a convenient escape.
Lumina hesitated, then simply whispered a quiet goodnight. Soon, her breathing steadied as exhaustion claimed her.
With Lumina asleep, Marlow focused inward.
She remembered reaching Level 10 earlier — a milestone that had felt different from ordinary level-ups. Something new had appeared on the System Panel.
[Individual Purple Mushroom has met the requirements. Skills available for selection: Mana Crystallization, Spore Shot.]
[Mana Crystallization]: An advanced Mana Storage skill. Provides a higher mana cap and allows excess mana to condense into solid crystals.
[Spore Shot]: Fires spores like projectiles.
Mana Crystallization sounded useful, but it didn’t suit her current needs. Spore Shot, on the other hand, was a straightforward offensive ability — far more fitting for a mushroom.
Without hesitation, she selected it.
[Skill confirmed: Spore Shot. Individual Purple Mushroom has reached the level cap. Evolution conditions met. Evolution beginning…]
[Evolution failed. Target does not exist. Uploading to Administrator… Administrator privileges granted. Loading… Individual Purple Mushroom has evolved into Small Puff-shroom.]
“…What?”
The sudden appearance of the word Administrator made her freeze.
Was this truly a game world — or something pretending to be one? The System Panels and data felt unmistakably artificial, yet everything around her behaved too realistically to be just a game.
If an Administrator existed, did that mean someone had built this system? Or worse — controlled it?
She forced herself to stop overthinking. Even if there was some grand conspiracy, a tiny mushroom couldn’t influence it. For now, survival came first.
She opened her status.
[Status Window]
Name: Marlow Lily of the Valley
Race: Small Puff-shroom
Level: 1
Skills: Spread Spores lv4, Decomposition lv4, Mana Storage lv3, Luminescence lv1, Claw Strike lv1, Staff Strike lv6, Spore Shot lv1
HP: 12
MP: 15
STR: 12
DEF: 12
INT: 12
AGI: 0
Her name had finally appeared on the panel.
The attribute increases were modest — no dramatic transformation, just steady growth. According to her calculations, the growth attributes of a Small Puff-shroom increased by two points per level. At least now her base stats were roughly comparable to a Slime’s.
Another tab caught her eye.
[Evolution Tree]
Purple Mushroom, Small Puff-shroom, Scaredy-shroom…
She stared at it for a long moment.
“Wait… aren’t these mushrooms from a certain game?”
The resemblance was uncanny.
Then another entry appeared beneath her titles.
[Mushroom Witch]
A symbol of disaster and misfortune, master of ash and magic, the hero and central mind among mushrooms, a perfect girl who charms all living beings.
Marlow blinked.
“…Was that meant to be me?”
The thought lingered in her mind as she quietly watched over Lumina’s sleeping form — uncertain whether she had just evolved, or stepped one layer deeper into a mystery far beyond a simple mushroom’s understanding.
full chap at once
“But I’m not telling.”
It was an unexpected answer.
“How could you be like that?”
The Elf pouted, whispering a small complaint under her breath.
Rather than the casual words of a stranger she had just met, she probably wanted the understanding of her family more.
Marlow thought about it quietly, recalling Lumina’s earlier stories.
Most conflicts between relatives came from people whose bark was worse than their bite — at least, that was how things worked in the world she came from.
Still, this was Another World.
Maybe things were different here.
“Cough. Anyway, no matter what, you still have me.”
Even if Lumina had no one else, Marlow couldn’t ignore the host who carried her.
Their fates were tied together now — glory or ruin alike.
“I can’t even imagine my aunt caring about me,” Lumina said softly.
She counted them off on her fingers.
“She would only say things like, ‘You’re always such a handful,’ or ‘Why bother being an adventurer? With your third-rate stats and pathetic communication skills, you’d be better off farming in the Elf Village to avoid being a burden to your teammates.'”
“She’d say, ‘Don’t reveal our relationship, and don’t even think about using my status for your own gain…'”
Her tone turned flat, eerily similar to the aunt she was imitating.
Hearing it made Marlow’s metaphorical scalp tingle.
Talk about pressure.
Clearly, this wasn’t a pleasant topic.
They had just escaped death — there was no reason to drown themselves in old wounds.
“How does it feel to die and come back to life?” Marlow asked, deliberately changing the subject.
“There is nothing better than being alive,” Lumina answered almost instantly.
“Do you know, Marlow?”
“Death isn’t a peaceful sleep at all.”
“It’s a continuation of the pain from before you died.”
“After being attacked by the monsters, my consciousness was constantly tortured by agony.”
“It wasn’t until just now that this nightmare finally ended.”
Her body curled slightly, violet eyes trembling.
Fear lingered beneath her calm voice.
‘Does Mushroom Miss have any ideas?’
Though Lumina didn’t speak it aloud, Marlow could almost hear the question echoing in her thoughts.
Only then did Marlow realize the truth.
The pain Lumina described hadn’t come from nowhere — it was the residual agony Marlow herself had endured while controlling the body.
Lumina’s consciousness had been dormant, trapped in a self-protective state, and Marlow’s injuries had dragged her mind back toward awareness.
Even weakened, that pain had been unbearable.
To Lumina, it must have felt endless.
As the culprit, Marlow felt an unfamiliar twinge of guilt.
“Go play by yourself.”
“I’m going to sleep.”
Whether mushrooms needed sleep or not, pretending to sleep was a convenient escape.
Lumina hesitated, then simply whispered a quiet goodnight.
Soon, her breathing steadied as exhaustion claimed her.
With Lumina asleep, Marlow focused inward.
She remembered reaching Level 10 earlier — a milestone that had felt different from ordinary level-ups.
Something new had appeared on the System Panel.
[Individual Purple Mushroom has met the requirements. Skills available for selection: Mana Crystallization, Spore Shot.]
[Mana Crystallization]: An advanced Mana Storage skill. Provides a higher mana cap and allows excess mana to condense into solid crystals.
[Spore Shot]: Fires spores like projectiles.
Mana Crystallization sounded useful, but it didn’t suit her current needs.
Spore Shot, on the other hand, was a straightforward offensive ability — far more fitting for a mushroom.
Without hesitation, she selected it.
[Skill confirmed: Spore Shot. Individual Purple Mushroom has reached the level cap. Evolution conditions met. Evolution beginning…]
[Evolution failed. Target does not exist. Uploading to Administrator… Administrator privileges granted. Loading… Individual Purple Mushroom has evolved into Small Puff-shroom.]
“…What?”
The sudden appearance of the word Administrator made her freeze.
Was this truly a game world — or something pretending to be one?
The System Panels and data felt unmistakably artificial, yet everything around her behaved too realistically to be just a game.
If an Administrator existed, did that mean someone had built this system?
Or worse — controlled it?
She forced herself to stop overthinking.
Even if there was some grand conspiracy, a tiny mushroom couldn’t influence it.
For now, survival came first.
She opened her status.
[Status Window]
Name: Marlow Lily of the Valley
Race: Small Puff-shroom
Level: 1
Skills: Spread Spores lv4, Decomposition lv4, Mana Storage lv3, Luminescence lv1, Claw Strike lv1, Staff Strike lv6, Spore Shot lv1
HP: 12
MP: 15
STR: 12
DEF: 12
INT: 12
AGI: 0
Her name had finally appeared on the panel.
The attribute increases were modest — no dramatic transformation, just steady growth.
According to her calculations, the growth attributes of a Small Puff-shroom increased by two points per level.
At least now her base stats were roughly comparable to a Slime’s.
Another tab caught her eye.
[Evolution Tree]
Purple Mushroom, Small Puff-shroom, Scaredy-shroom…
She stared at it for a long moment.
“Wait… aren’t these mushrooms from a certain game?”
The resemblance was uncanny.
Then another entry appeared beneath her titles.
[Mushroom Witch]
A symbol of disaster and misfortune, master of ash and magic, the hero and central mind among mushrooms, a perfect girl who charms all living beings.
Marlow blinked slowly.
“…Was that meant to be me?”
The thought lingered in her mind as she quietly watched over Lumina’s sleeping form — uncertain whether she had just evolved, or stepped one layer deeper into a mystery far beyond a simple mushroom’s understanding.
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