Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 370 - Taming Trails - 2

Darkness enveloped them momentarily until Renʼs armor and the light lines of the ring began to glow, even in the absence of his mischievous beastʼs mushrooms, providing sufficient illumination to see the tunnel stretching before them.

”Tell me you know where this leads,” Lin murmured as they advanced, her voice hushed. Her fingers brushed the tunnel wall, testing its stability.

”Iʼm not entirely sure,” Ren admitted, the crystalline light revealing his furrowed brow. ”But when I had my mushroom on my head, I did know, and the memory of that will have to suffice for now.”

In the depths, barely visible in the tunnelʼs penumbra, a small luminous point moved rapidly, bobbing along like an errant firefly.

The tunnel narrowed as they descended, forcing them to bend increasingly lower. The damp earth released an ancient aroma that Ren found strangely comforting, like a half-forgotten dream suddenly recalled.

Unlike Lin, who observed the surroundings into which they had fallen with the caution of someone expecting an ambush around every bend, her eyes constantly scanning for threats, Ren allowed himself to be carried along with the familiarity of someone returning to a known place.

”Shouldnʼt we be concerned about the tunnelʼs owner?” Lin whispered, her voice barely audible over the sound of their bodies sliding through the narrowing passage.

”Itʼs an abandoned tunnel,” Ren responded, recalling what he had analyzed moments before losing his beast. His fingers traced the smooth wall as he spoke. ”According to the marks, already smoothed by erosion. No recent activity. Excavators always maintain their trap tunnels.”

Lin didnʼt seem entirely convinced, but continued sliding behind him without attempting to halt their progress. The tunnel descended steeply, taking them further from their pursuers on the surface. The temperature decreased slightly with each meter, creating small clouds of vapor before their mouths.

Soon, the light of luminescent mold growing on the walls caught their attention.

They reached the tunnelʼs base and encountered the first mushroom: a delicate structure, no larger than Renʼs fingers, with a fibrous stem and a small cap that shimmered with internal light.

Ren stopped, studying it with interest. ”These are what I need for my evolution,” he murmured, more to himself than to Lin. ”But this one is too small. I would need about a hundred like this to reach Silver.”

He crouched without touching it, observing the growth pattern in the moist soil. ”The ancient spores must have eliminated the excavators in this area,” he theorized, noting the absence of traces of the creatures that would normally dominate these tunnels.

Lin observed their surroundings with divided attention, alternating between watching for potential threats and studying the tunnelʼs strange ecology.

”I suppose itʼs good that the fungi expanded outside,” Ren continued, standing up. ”If they only fed on Iron-level excavators down here and remained this small, perhaps there wouldnʼt be enough for proper cultivation... I underestimated the nutrition that the Bronze-level mantis gave them that day.”

”Arenʼt you going to take it?” asked Lin, pointing at the mushroom.

Ren shook his head, taking a deliberate step back. ”I canʼt without my mushroomʼs help to neutralize the absorption effect of the ancient spores. These structures are just the visible manifestation; the true spores are everywhere.” He gestured encompassing the tunnel, his hand sweeping through the air. ”If I touch them directly, they would begin to consume me worse than a Shadow Stalkerʼs tentacles.”

A shiver ran through Lin at the casual description of such peril. ”Are you sure you know what youʼre doing?”

”Not entirely,” Ren admitted with a twisted smile, ”but I remember enough to move forward.”

The light of his wayward mushroom flickered in the distance, a tiny beacon guiding them deeper. They continued advancing, trying to catch up to it, but now with greater care about where they stepped, as golden mold began to appear with increasing frequency.

”Be careful,” Ren warned with unusual seriousness. ”Donʼt touch or break them. Making the spores fly would be a terrible mistake.”

They advanced as quickly as they could while trying to reach the small light, the tunnel becoming wider but also more irregular. Suddenly, the light of the small mushroom completely disappeared, as if swallowed by the darkness ahead.

”Damn it!” Ren cursed, accelerating his pace.

They reached a chamber with multiple entrances, like an earthen star formed by tunnels extending in all directions. The walls were completely covered with luminescent mold, offering enough light to reveal the total absence of the fugitive mushroom.

”What now?” asked Lin, turning slowly to evaluate each entrance.

Ren closed his eyes, attempting to feel the connection with his beast. He slowed his breathing, focusing inward to find the subtle bond that linked them.

A slight pull in his consciousness pointed him toward the tunnel on the right, like an invisible thread tugging gently but insistently.

”That way,” he indicated, setting off again. His steps were more confident now, guided by something beyond ordinary perception.

The tunnel was notably straighter than the previous ones, an almost architectural corridor amid natural structures. With each step, Ren recognized more details, memories surfacing like bubbles in still water.

”Weʼre in the same tunnel I followed that day,” he murmured. ”When I escaped from home.”

The walls showed increasingly more colonies of mold and golden mushrooms. The density increased constantly, as if they were approaching the epicenter of an infestation.

”My mushroom is heading to the chamber I found back then,” Ren continued. ”Where everything changed for me.”

Ren realized that soon he wouldnʼt be able to advance further through the thickening growth, so he decided to run at full speed despite his fear of stepping on one. He accelerated, dodging the mushrooms and mold patches covering the ground with feline agility.

Lin followed, matching his rhythm but clearly less familiar with the terrain. Her movements, while precise, lacked the intuitive knowledge that guided Ren.

Finally, he reached the small fugitive. It was advancing with surprising speed for its size, bouncing more than running on the uneven ground. But still slower than Ren…

”Got you!” Ren exclaimed, launching into a final step that finally brought the creature within reach. His hand shot out, snatching the mushroom mid-bounce.

The creature squirmed, attempting to free itself from his grasp. Its tiny limbs flailed.

”Enough!” Ren scolded, raising it to eye level. ”What do you think youʼre doing? Without your spores, I canʼt advance through this area. Do you understand the danger of me dying without you, silly one?”

The small mushroom stopped struggling, its tiny bright eyes fixed on Ren with what could be interpreted as obstinacy. The standoff lasted several seconds, neither willing to yield.

”Listen,” Ren continued, his voice softening. ”Itʼs okay. Iʼll take you where you want to go, I promise. But stop running away like this. Itʼs dangerous for everyone.”

To Linʼs surprise, the mushroom seemed to consider the words. After a moment of apparent reflection, the creature nodded with its entire diminutive body and vanished in a flash, returning to Renʼs body.

Immediately, the mushrooms appeared back in his hair and shone with intensity. A grayish powder began to emanate from them, first covering Renʼs hands and then spreading when he deliberately rubbed them together.

”Here,” he said, offering Lin a portion of the powder. ”Spread it on your body. With this, the ancient ones will ʼreadʼ us as part of the colony instead of as prey.”

Lin hesitated only for an instant before accepting the substance. She methodically applied it to her hands, arms, and face, feeling a slight tingling where it touched her skin.

”Will this really work?” she asked, observing how the powder seemed to absorb into her skin, leaving a subtle silvery glow.

”It did the last time,” Ren responded with a smile that mixed confidence and madness in equal measure.