Nine days of frenzied writing in his scarce free time had resulted in a notebook filled with detailed diagrams and meticulous explanations. Ren smiled as he handed "Ecology, Characteristics, Abilities, and Cultivation Techniques for Digger Beetles" to Taro, his mushrooms pulsing with quiet pride. "I want you to be the first to read it," he said while his mushrooms pulsed softly. "Though it’s not entirely complete." Taro flipped through the pages with reverence, his eyes widening with each diagram he found. There was information about tunnel patterns, living crystal composition, fortification techniques... things he hadn’t even known his beast could do. Each page seemed to hold another revelation. "Not complete?" he asked without taking his eyes off the book. "There’s enough information here to take a good while reading." "It only goes up to silver rank 3," Ren shrugged. "I want to include the path to gold, but I need a bit more time to have that information." "How long?" Taro finally looked up from the book. "Don’t worry," Ren smiled while his mushrooms pulsed. "It’ll take you some years to reach silver 3, so I’ll have plenty of time to complete it. And I only need one more day to know..." Taro froze, his mind suddenly connecting the dots. Tomorrow. Tomorrow Ren would complete his hundred days of cultivation. Tomorrow he would reach bronze rank 1. "Tomorrow you’re going to...?" Taro didn’t complete the question, but he didn’t need to. "Yes," Ren nodded while his mushrooms pulsed with anticipation. "Tomorrow I’ll know." ♢♢♢♢ On the 25th day of the fifth month, exactly 145 days after entering the academy, Ren held the final bronze crystal, a golden mushroom and the intelligence rune in his hands. The moment he had been waiting for had finally arrived. Liu, Taro, and Min held their breath, clustered around his bed. Their beasts manifested partially, responding to their anticipation. Lin leaned against the doorframe, apparently relaxed but missing no detail, and ensuring her student wouldn’t try to escape training afterward. "Here we go," Ren murmured while his mushrooms pulsed softly. He absorbed the materials and... The glow was... subtle. So subtle that for a moment his friends wondered if something had gone wrong. The previous days of his normal cultivation had been much more intense. This seemed almost anticlimactic in comparison. "Did it work?" Min leaned forward, his snake mirroring his movement. "Your mushrooms seem to... glow a bit more?" "Maybe?" Liu squinted, his night bat vision manifesting. "It’s hard to tell if they’re glowing more or if it’s just the morning light." But Ren was smiling. In his mind, new evolution paths unfolded like an intricate map. He could see routes that were previously nebulous, patterns that extended all the way to... "I can see it," he whispered in awe. "Up to gold rank 1... the path is clearer now." "But what changed?" Taro asked, searching for any visible difference. "I don’t see any new manifestation in your beast." "In my body I don’t notice much difference," Ren admitted. "But my spore is no longer a simple cloud of inactive tiny seeds. It’s a complete beast now, a real fungus." The four exchanged expectant looks. "Could you...?" Min made a vague gesture. "Show you my beast at bronze rank 1?" Ren completed the question. "I suppose so. Though I don’t love losing the knowledge flow from my head..." "Most of it is memorized already, isn’t it?" Lin commented from the door. "And I admit I’m curious too." Ren nodded and, for the first time in a long time, separated his spore from his body. The air in front of him rippled softly and then... "It’s... it’s..." Liu leaned so far forward he nearly fell. A small mushroom, no taller than five centimeters, materialized on the bed. It had a face that looked like a chubby baby’s, with big eyes and round cheeks that seemed designed to inspire cooing noises. "It’s tiny!" Min couldn’t contain himself. "What’s the increase to your capabilities now?" Liu asked, trying not to laugh. "Twenty percent in strength and another 20% in intelligence," Ren responded with dignity. Laughter erupted in the room. Even Lin had to cover her mouth with one hand. "Taro has 60% in defense!" Min held his stomach. "And 30% in everything else!" "And this cost ten times more to cultivate..." Liu wiped tears of laughter. "Any beast could eat it in one bite!" "Stop making fun of the world’s best beast!" The high-pitched voice, like a small child’s, made everyone freeze. Slowly, very slowly, all eyes turned to the tiny mushroom. "Did it just...?" Taro blinked several times. "Of course I spoke!" the mushroom crossed what appeared to be arms. "And I’m not small!" the mushroom began jumping indignantly on the bed, its cheeks puffed in an adorable pout. "I’m compact! Aerodynamic! Efficient!" The silence that followed was absolute. Beasts didn’t talk. It was a known fact that they communicated mentally with their tamers, sharing sensations and emotions directly because they were part of them. Sure, there were stories of dragons that could speak, but those were children’s tales. Taro and Min exchanged looks of amazement while Liu rubbed his eyes as if not believing what he was seeing. "It’s... it’s impossible," Liu stuttered. "Beasts don’t..." "I speak, deal with it already!" the mushroom continued, its cheeks still inflated in that impossibly cute pout. Lin was the first to recover from the surprise. "Well," she smiled, "this is unexpected but I suppose it makes sense." "What do you mean?" the mushroom looked at her with its large eyes. "Why Ren always seems to know so much about beasts," Lin moved away from the door. "He has a beast that can analyze and communicate information, like a huge living library." "In a very compact package," added Taro, unable to contain a smile. Stay tuned for updates on freewebnovel "Exactly!" the mushroom nodded vigorously before realizing they were teasing again. "Hey!" Min and Liu continued staring, alternating between the tiny talking mushroom and Ren, who smiled as if this were perfectly normal. "I’m the command center of a gigantic body! It’s like... it’s like your brains. Do you think you’re small if you only count your brain and couldn’t see yourselves complete?" "Command center?" Liu leaned closer to see the tiny mushroom better. "Yes, of the biggest beast of all!" declared the mushroom proudly. Laughter erupted again. "Why are you laughing? My mana roots, so fine that not even the sharpest eye could see them, will extend throughout the world! For now they only reach the first part of the gold ring," the mushroom admitted, but its eyes shone with determination. "But one day my influence will touch every corner of the world! I’ll know all the secrets! All of them!" Something about seeing the tiny creature claim it occupied such an enormous expanse of land made the boys unable to stop laughing.