An Owl's Rise

"There are some items that can slow the taint coming from the elemental rift, but the only sure way to avoid it is to leave the area for a while. The higher your rank, the longer you can stay within the range of the rift's influence. From what I have heard even sovereign rank beasts are not immune. I don't know about calamity rank beasts, though.

None have ever bothered to test there limits as far as I know."

Krunnen continued to explain the inferno rangers worked in shifts to make sure that no one was within the border of the Inferno Field for too long. That was why he only asked for Evelyn's help for three days. After that he would be relieved and would return to the Great Shell which was the separate domain that the society of Tortoises lived in.

"Okay, I understand. I won't overstay my welcome here. Now, time to collect the beast core from this stoat." Evelyn said.

However, before she could begin, Krunnen gave her another warning.

"I should also mention that the cores of beasts that have succumbed to the powers of the rift are contaminated by the rift's energies. Before using them, you will want to cleanse them. Unfortunately, the magic tools necessary to do so reside within the Great Shell. You likely won't find much use for any beast cores you obtain here."

Hearing this, Evelyn could not help but frown. Beast cores were always valuable and useful for many things. Not only could they be eaten to absorb the magical energy within, but they also were useful materials for creating potions and other magic items.

Krunnen offered to buy any cores off of Evelyn, but she declined. While it was a slight risk she wanted to test if the corruption of the fire elemental rift would actually work on her. Also, she figured that these unique beast cores might have certain properties that could lead to different brews when used in alchemy.

"Okay. You can do as you like, but don't say I did not warn you." Krunnen said, giving Evelyn a concerned look. He was beginning to believe that her sanity might be a little lacking. Though he would not mention his out loud as he was certain she was stronger than him.

Once Krunnen had finished giving his explanation and warning about aberrant beast's Evelyn nimbly used two of her talons to carve into the stoat and remove its beast core.

When she pulled it out, she could see slight traces of orange that had been growing over the normal green color of cores like an infection.

The rest of the stoat's body was basically useless as its fur was not particularly tough nor was their enough to be worth the process of skinning the beast.

Yet just as Evelyn was about to toss it away, she noticed something else that piqued her interest.

It was tiny and orange in color like the stoat's fur, so she barely was able to see the tiny mushroom growing out of its head.

'That is certainly peculiar.' Evelyn thought, pulling out a pair of tweezers from her storage cuff and pulling the mushroom off.

The fungus was attached far more securely than she had been expecting, and Evelyn had to pull with greater force than she expected.

In the end it was not even the mushroom that gave out but the stoat's scalp.

Once it had been dislodged from its host, Evelyn watched as the tiny mushroom extend several tendrils from its stem.

These tendrils squirmed about in an incredibly creepy manner that made Evelyn feel uncomfortable.

Thankfully she had it locked down in a pair of tweezers and the infernal fungus was unable to reach her body.

"Krunnen, do you know what this thing is? I found it attached to the top of the stoat's head."

Straining his eyes, Krunnen stared intently at the miniscule mushroom that Evelyn had presented to him.

However, when he recognized what it was, he went wide eyed and swiftly took several steps away.

From the terror in Keunen's eyes, Evelyn could guess that this little orange mushroom was really bad news. Though she suspected as much when she pulled it out of the stoat's head.

"You need to destroy that thing immediately! If it touches your body, we'll both be doomed!" Krunnen shouted.

Evelyn did as he asked, and incarnated the tiny mushroom with her heavenly flame, leaving only a couple particles of ash behind.

"Cleary you know what that thing was. Do you mind enlightening me?" Evelyn asked.

Krunnen nodded his head and told Evelyn about that mushroom. It was an incredibly rare and equally troublesome magical fungus.

The species was called Mind Manipulating Mushroom, and it would take over the minds of anything that ate one of its offshoots.

"Their main body lives underground protected, while it grows smaller versions of itself above the soil. I have never seen one before, but apparently, they emit an irresistible smell and contain a decent amount of magical energy to entice beasts to eat them. They're also an aberrant species effected by the elemental rift and did not exist until the rift opened.

From what I have heard they use their mind slaves to kill or capture other beasts to either create more servants or bring corpse to nourish the main body. It is a truly insidious entity." Krunnen said, looking disturbed.

He then told Evelyn that it was his duty to inform the higher ups of the Inferno Rangers about the discovery of the aberrant fungus. It posed a major threat and was to be eradicated by any means the moment it was detected.