Chapter 51: Project "Camp -> Settlement" (6)

After dropping off the tools at the supplies area, Lucius dragged himself to where the shroom was being held captive.

"Did anyone come by?" he asked, as he passed by the leafling currently on guard duty.

"No one, Captain," the leafling replied, stepping back to give Lucius space.

"Has it said anything?" he asked after, staring into the makeshift prison that he had crafted.

"It complained about being hungry, and made several threats to devour everyone in the camp," the leafling responded.

~ It's good that he's so calm even when saying that. Perhaps Alpha's men aren't so afraid of death?~ Lucius thought to himself, before dismissing the guard.

"Why do you surround yourself with bottom-tier creatures?" the shroom asked, its speech slow and slurred. It was clearly still injured from yesterday's beating.

Lucius could've healed it to make things a little easier, but that was not a privilege he was willing to give to someone under suspicion of killing half his commune.

"Bottom tier creatures? To me, you yourself seem that way," Lucius bluffed.

~Is this knowledge that it was born with? How is this tier hierarchy determined?~ he wondered, however after realizing that he was sidetracked a bit he cut to the chase.

"I asked you yesterday, and I'll ask you again today. Where is your leader?"

The shroom shrugged uncomfortably in its cell, its bindings biting into its flesh.

"You won't talk?" Lucius asked, coming closer to the cell.

"Why would I? Look at what you did to me the last time I answered," it said, shuffling backward as best as it could. "I already told you, my clan was wiped out."

"Wiped out by what?" Lucius asked, more forcefully this time.

"Webbed-feet. They came out of the river and devoured everyone," the shroom replied, its voice trailing off towards the end.

~Webbed feet? Amphibians?~ Lucius pondered for a moment, before pressing on.

"And you escaped? How?" he asked a moment after.

"I ran away, I got lucky. Now release me," the shroom answered impatiently.

"And whoever said that I would release you? What if I have you locked up to devour you later? After all, you are a lower tier creature than I am," Lucius replied, trying to force even more fear into the shroom.

"Pfft, please. Who are you trying to lie to? You are maybe one tier higher than my kind, but even then you are not a hunter. You have no sharp mouth parts, no claws, and no poison," the shroom said, inspecting Lucius's body. "You have those weird things on your head, and that thing behind you, but those do not look like they were meant for hunting."

"No, those look like they are meant to protect you. Those are the body parts of prey," it finished off.

"Do you really want to find out whether your hypothesis is true or not?" Lucius asked, his tail slithering through the gaps of the cell and wrapping itself around the shroom's neck.

~I really can't with this thing. Who told it to do that?~ Lucius wondered, watching as his tail tightened its vise on the shroom.

The shroom shook its head in response, its instincts warning it against the information that it thought to be true.

"Now, back to your clan. I don't believe it was wiped out. I need something to confirm this, what proof can you offer me?" Lucius asked, his tail releasing the shroom from its hold.

"I can show you the site," the shroom replied after a moment of thought.

"You could be leading me to a trap," Lucius responded.

"Then what else will you have me do? I told you what I know, now let me go," the shroom said loudly.

"When I said I never intended to let you go free, I meant it. But maybe, just maybe, if you figure out something else that could be given to me as proof, I might slacken your binds a little. Those don't look comfortable," Lucius said, staring at a part of the rope that had cut into the shroom's flesh.

"I'll leave you to think about it," he said finally, before leaving towards the shed.

"Wait, you can't leave me here. I have not eaten the entire day," it called out.

"That sounds horrible," Lucius replied as he continued on his way.

*

Lucius began the next morning with a few tree hops. It had become quite easy for him to do it now and felt almost as comfortable as walking once felt. Sadly, it didn't reward him with any more agility points, regardless of how long he did it, or how high he went.

Realizing this, he began trying to work on controlling his tail. Yesterday's interrogation had taught him something important about it. It didn't respond to conscious thought, but rather some sort of subconscious control.

If he had to describe it, it would be like trying to control your heart rate. Sure, there were a few things you could do to increase or decrease, but whether you liked it or not, it would do what it wanted if certain stimuli were introduced to the body. And his tail was exactly like that.

It would adjust its movement when he began ruing at certain speeds so that he would not fall. But if he even tried to walk, it seemed to completely go off the rail, and do the most random stuff.

So he assumed that perhaps, the more he practiced walking on two legs, the more acclimatized he would get to it. Even though walking on all fours made him more mobile, it made pulling and pushing an unnecessary chore.

He practiced walking on two feet for about 30 minutes before giving up. Little to no progress, was made, but he couldn't waste the whole morning just doing that.

Next, he began strength training. He would have to gain a considerable amount of strength If he ever wanted to bring those stones back to the camp. And he knew just how to go about it.

He took two sleds and loaded them with as many pebbles as they could carry. He then used one hand to hold up each sled, before slowly lowering it, and then pushing it back up. He did this a couple of times, and eventually, it began to stimulate stat gain.