Chapter 728: Shrooms

Michael followed the directions for Sporetastic and found a quaint little shop shaped in the form of a mushroom in the corner of a street.

He opened the door, immediately smelling mushrooms and seeing spores flying around in the air.

"Excuse me, is anybody there?" he asked.

A peculiar old man with a bulbous nose reminiscent of a mushroom got up from the counter, having bent down to pick up something from the floor.

"Yes? Have you come to experience a new world?" the old man asked creepily.

"Huh? No, I just wanted to buy some Morel Powder," Michael replied.

The old man walked closer to him. "Really? I assure you that taking a small bit of this thing can make you feel like you’re in another world. You’ll see the cosmos in its entirety."

He was presented with a vial containing a single mushroom.

[I have assessed the mushroom to be

Psilocybe cubensis,

or more commonly known as hallucinogenic mushrooms.]

Michael thought that this store only offered mushrooms meant for medicine or cooking, but as it turned out, this place was for people who liked to get high!

"Oh, you seem to know about this," said the old man. "I got something a little bit stronger in the back. Those will work best with magicians."

Michael had no doubt that whatever the old man offered him would be effective even with magically-inclined people. However, he had no intention of participating in this hobby—at least for now.

"No thanks. I don’t want another out-of-body experience," he said, rejecting the offer.

"Well, too bad," said the old man. "If you ever want to open your third eye, then you can come to me and I can offer you something good."

Then, the old man walked back to his counter and began looking through his cabinets, eventually finding a rectangular wooden box that was full of dust and cobwebs. It seemed to have been sitting in his inventory for a couple of years at least.

"Here it is, Morel Spores," said the old man unenthusiastically, pushing the box towards Michael.

Michael then opened the box, seeing a balled up roll of paper. He carefully unfolded it and saw a pinchful of reddish-gold powder inside.

[I can confirm that it is indeed Morel Spores,] said ChatJK5.

This was what Darkwood loved to consume the most. They absorbed this powder even more than water, which meant that this paltry amount wouldn’t be enough to even sustain Darkwood for two days.

The old man leaned on the counter. "Are you sure you want to buy this? More Spores barely gives me any hits. It doesn’t even my third eye."

So Morel Spores are a bit hallucinogenic. That’s good to know.

He didn’t want to accidentally ingest it and suddenly hear new voices in his head. Harbinger and ChatJK5 were already stressful enough.

[I’m offended.]

commented Harbinger.

Michael ignored him and asked the old man about how to get more Morel Spores.

"Do you have more?" he asked.

"How much do you want?"

"About thirty times as much," Michael replied. "Do you have that much?"

The old man raised his eyebrows, wondering what Michael would use those spores for, but he didn’t ask.

"No I don’t," he replied. "But I can make more."

"Really? That would be great!"

But the old man leaned on the counter and gave Michael a sleazy look. "Growing that much Morel Spores will take away from me growing more of the

good

shrooms, if you get what I’m saying."

Michael nodded. Price wasn’t an issue for him. "I can pay a lot for it," he said.

But the old man wagged his finger. "Uh, uh, uh, I don’t want money. I want you to take one of these!"

Michael was once again presented with the vial of hallucinogenic mushrooms. But this time, it was different. It had glowing spots on its stem, making it look poisonous.

But that wasn’t the only thing that Michael noticed.

He felt his heart reacting to the mushroom. It was stimulating his GodForge pieces!

Somehow, this hallucinogenic mushroom was filled with Aubility Power!

He couldn’t understand how that was even possible. Plants, animals, and even mushrooms could mutate to wield magic. But Aubility Power was a different thing. It could only be imbued into something. It wasn’t naturally occurring.

This could only mean one thing. This old man wasn’t as simple as he thought.

"So? Do you dare to take the offer? If you do, then I’m willing to supply you with Morel Spores as much as you want."

Michael was very apprehensive of this whole situation. He felt very cautious about the mushroom and what it would do to him, especially now that he realized that it contained Aubility Power.

What do you think, Harbinger? Do you think this old man did something weird to the mushroom?

[Poisonous, no. The Aubility Power is only meant to boost the hallucinogenic properties of the mushroom, meaning that even Maugnetics won’t be exempted from its effects.]

According to Harbinger, this mushroom was completely safe, aside from the fact that it would give its consumer a really wild psychedelic trip.

Should I do it?

He was really tempted to say yes. After all, the prospect of farming his own Darkwood was too promising to pass off. By taking this mushroom, he’d have a reliable supplier of Morel Spores, which would kickstart his agriculture journey that could potentially earn him hundreds of thousands of Sand Dollars.

The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to do it.

"Are you sure that it’s going to be safe?" he asked the old man.

"Of course! You don’t see me dead, do you?"

That wasn’t very reliable.

"The only thing you have to worry about is the fact that you must remember that everything you experience in the trip isn’t real. It’s all an illusion. You mustn’t fall for its trap."

Michael was pretty confident that he’d be able to tell which was real or which was not. Even if he couldn’t, he had ChatJK5 and Harbinger to help him decide.

"Alright. I’ll take it," he decided.

"Good!" said the old man. "Don’t worry, I’ll take it with you."

The old man then excitedly led Michael to the sofa, where they sat comfortably.

Then, he gave Michael one of the vials, and kept one for himself.

Without even a single hesitation, the old man opened the vial and downed the entire mushroom in one go.

"See you on the other side!" said the old man, before his eyes closed and his head plopped down to his shoulder.

He just looked like he was asleep.

At least I know I won’t immediately die from this.

Michael took the top off the vial and took one last look at the mushroom before putting it in his mouth.

Surprisingly enough, it tasted a little bit sweet.

He began chewing on the mushroom, but felt nothing different at all.

Even when he consumed all of it, he didn’t fall asleep like the old man. He just stayed conscious.

"Did it not work?"

[It seems that you have an immunity to this specific type of mushroom.] said ChatJK5.

Just then, Michael felt a little bit drowsy.

Then, his eyes closed.

’Wake up...’

’Wake up!’