It had been a couple of months since Mafu and the refugees arrived at the orc village. A few things had been made clear as time went on.

  First, this world was much easier to grow in for a mushroom than Dolorans' world. There seemed to be much more ambient mana in the atmosphere, and therefore it took less mana to grow. The mycelium network now covered a 4-kilometer-diameter area around the village, and the Hollow had yet to appear.

  Second, as Mafu grew, his level skyrocketed. There were so many different decomposable materials on the ground, and Mafu belatedly realized it was because he seemed to be the only mushroom around. Even insects were hard to find, except a few flying insects reminiscent of butterflies.

  Third, the Orcs were very set in their ways. They had worked in the same way for a millennium, done their tasks and their daily chores in the same way, and nothing had changed. Of course, they had tried breaking out of their predicament a few times, but each time the Hollow had pushed their numbers down so low that it was a miracle that the orc race had survived.

  Mafu was now level 42. And he had gotten three skills during that time. It was all because the orcs had all taken a dip in the fungal pool. He had gotten the same skill he had used on Kira, the one to make orcs gain stats and skills in a certain category. The other two skills were:

  [Orc Race Recovery] Where I could connect them to my mycelium to boost their natural regeneration, healing them and restoring mana and stamina. This took quite a bit of my mana but seemed like a useful skill.

  [Orc Race Symbiosis] Which meant I could place myself inside of Orcs. It was... not clear how good it was. The skill did not give me any other pointers to what it did. It reminded me of the shared senses with the king of my fungal fief, and because of that I had not yet used it.

  I was perplexed. Why had I not gotten any skills since the early levels? Something must be wrong. So I had a talk with Toqlan.

  "What is your perception of levels and skills?" It was the first question he asked me.

  "What does my perception of it have to do with gaining skills?"

  "It is a theory that the system helps us in the way we expect it to. For example, a swordsman expects to be able to learn the sword by swinging it, so the system demands for the sword to be swung ten thousand times for [[Basic Swordsmanship] to be learned."

  "What, so my imagination decides how I get skills? What if you are born with the imagination that you will get skills by lazing around?"

  "Well, it is still only a theory, but the system seems to require some sort of effort. And the more potential you have, the less effort it requires, I suspect. Another example of a swordsman might be that they expect to gain skills by learning from a teacher, and then the system requires them to follow the teachings for three months. However, it is always a fair exchange, as in the amount of swings and the time learning require the same effort."

  This gave me a headache. Why did I not learn skills then? I sort of expected skills to just be granted as I leveled up, but that was clearly not the case. After a while, Toqlan continued with:

  "You are from another world. What did you do in that world? Could that have changed the perception of how to grow as what you are now?"

  A light started forming in my head, a solution to the question of my low amount of skills. I had been a scientist studying mushrooms, and I had the perception that mushrooms could be made to do anything in nature as long as we just researched a way.

  Researched a way.

  The fungal pool. It was my way of researching. And I had only really put my mushrooms and all the refugees and orcs in there. And more than that, I had never put in two things at once. What if I wanted a mushroom that produced, say, coal? Could I put coal and a mushroom in there and make a [Coal Mushroom]?

  In the last few months I had not done anything but decompose everything I could find, and that had taken up all of my mental power to do. But now, I had a larger mana pool, and I could make another Mycelium Mind. Demeter had already been resurrected two months back, and the farming and lumber production had started giving returns already.

  So if I have another mind doing either research or decomposing, I could then learn new skills. I thanked Toqlan for his help, but he did not leave. Instead, he had a question of his own.

  "Mafu, when can I leave the King class to someone else? It is wearing on my mind, and it does not fit me."

  I had not known that it was mentally exhausting to be connected to my mind, as I felt no fatigue from my connection with Toqlan. But he was right; there was no need to have him be king if he did not want to be anymore.

  The only candidate to be a king in my mind would be Jod. The orcs might live on my mycelium, but they were not yet my subordinates. Since they had yet to accept me and Toqlan as "rulers," they were technically squatting on my territory. Albeit, with my permission.

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  "I will see if Jod can take over the King class," was my response, and Toqlan nodded and walked over to the tent he was sleeping in.

  ---

  Jod had gotten into a routine in the Orc Village. He spent the mornings making sure the refugees were alright and didn't need anything. After that he went up in a random watchtower and asked some of the Orcs if they'd seen any threats.

  After that, he visited the entrance to the anthill, and Taressa usually contacted him and reported what had happened during the night. Her ants were spreading mycelium on the borders of Mafu's territory, and most of her ants were outside of the borders trying to find food or resources.

  Then Jod trained for a while, making sure to not fall behind physically. At lunchtime he usually ate with the Warchief and made sure there was nothing he could help the orcs with. The farming and the mushrooms Mafu provided had lowered the stress of the orcs, as they no longer had to hunt or gather as much to sustain themselves, so there was seldom anything to help them with.

  Jod did not bother to visit Mafu, as he knew that Mafu could connect with him at any time as long as he was standing on his territory. But today was different from usual, as Mafu called him over to talk.

  Jod was a bit surprised, as he usually just talked wherever Jod was, but he stood up and started walking over to the center of what was now the small district of the refugees in the orc village.

  "Jod, do you like your current class?" Was the question he was asked.

  Jod thought about it and answered honestly: "Yes, I do think it is useful for my way of fighting. I have the advantage against monsters in many ways, and if we are fighting the faithful of Doloran in the future, my dark attribute would be useful against them."

  There was a break in the conversation, and Jod could feel Mafu's thoughts rumbling around in his head. He could not read them clearly; it was more of a feeling.

  "So, let me get to the point. Toqlan does not want to be king, and to be honest, the boost he gains from the king class does not benefit him, as he is not a fighter. Would you be up to being king?"

  Mafu's words sounded slightly sad, as if this was something he did not want Jod to do. Jod himself felt surprised at first, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Did he want to be king? No. It did not really matter if it was a small kingdom or a refugee camp; he had never thought of himself as someone above anyone else.

  And he had questions. So he asked them:

  "Why does Toqlan not want to be king?"

  Yet again, the feeling of Mafu's thoughts rumbling by was felt.

  "He says it puts a strain on his thoughts, as he is always connected to me. I do not know this mental fatigue he speaks of, so I cannot tell you how much it will affect you. When he became king, it was only to order the attack on the village, as I cannot command my mushroom soldiers outside of my territory."

  Jod was slightly horrified of the thought of always feeling Mafu's thoughts, but he had gotten used to it as he talked with Mafu most days. He could learn to cope with it.

  "What is the boost you were talking about?" Jod asked.

  "It is called [Royal Blood]. It increases your stats based on how many subordinates are living in the territory. It is probably not the only skill that will unlock with the King class. You also gain the active skill of [Royal Command], which will make you able to order any subordinate to do anything. I do not know much about this skill, as Toqlan has only used it once."

  Mafu followed it with: "It will also remove your class and levels and grant them to the new King class."

  Jod thought about it for a while. His class [Moonlight Sentinel] was a class with fairly strong offense, but it was slightly weaker in defense. He had the option of turning his sword slash into a ranged attack, and he was stronger at night. He was not all that attached to the class, but he liked the versatility of his skills.

  He sat there next to Mafu, deep in thought for probably half an hour. Mafu did not speak during his thoughts.

  "Well, since I think I am probably the most qualified for the position right now, I'll accept. If in the future, someone else appears that better fits the role, we can always transfer the title, right?"

  "Toqlan might know; I have no information on the King class other than what I've told you. As soon as it is granted, it is up to the king to learn about the class."

  After a few minutes, Toqlan came out of his tent and sat down by Mafu and Jod.

  "So, according to the system, we have to have a ceremony and a crown. It has to be watched by at least 10 subordinates of the territory, and the more that watch it, the better. It does not say why and how it is better with more; it simply claims it is."

  Inwardly, Jod did not want to go up in front of people to act as a king. He thought it arrogant to have a ceremony when they were just a refugee camp, but he kept his thoughts to himself.

  "Good," Mafu said. "We will have the ceremony in a week; I will prepare some things for a simple crown."

  ---

  It was a night with a full moon, and there had been simple bleachers and a stage built in the middle of the refugee camp, around Mafu. The construction was entirely out of wood, but it was a stage nevertheless.

  Toqlan was sitting on a wooden throne in the middle of the stage, and the bleachers were filled with mostly orcs. They weren't subordinates of the territory, but the ants needed no bleachers, and the beast-kin and humans were occupying a small section of the bleachers.

  The warchief, totemkeeper, and farseer were sitting on their own thronelike chairs a bit behind Toqlan, as witnesses to the ceremony. Mafu did not know if it mattered having the orcs there, but it couldn't hurt.

  The orcs were probably more enthusiastic about the ceremony than Jod himself and had brought out large drums made of hide. The whole plaza of the refugee camp was lit up with standing torches, and the drums started beating.

  The drums beat like a very slow heartbeat and reverberated deep into the forest. It made the night seem mystical, with the moonlight and torches setting the scene.

  Jod approached Toqlan slowly, taking a step with each slow, rhythmic beat of the drums. The crowd was silent, as they only watched Jod.

  Jod knelt in front of Toqlan at the end of his walk and looked at the ground. Toqlan stood up, placed the wooden crown with inlaid gems (that Mafu had extracted from the ground) on Jod's head, and spoke:

  "I now crown you, Jod, the second king of the fungal fief! May your reign be prosperous!"

  As the crown touched the head of Jod, the torches seemed to be dimming, and the moonlight shone much brighter than before. Energy seemed to drain from Toqlan's eyes, entering Jod's eyes that were now looking up at Toqlan.

  As Jod stood up, his eyes were shining with moonlight. He walked up on the scene and sat on Toqlan's throne, as Toqlan had walked off the stage.

  Everyone broke out in a cheer, more amazed by the effect of the moonlight in Jod's eyes than the ceremony itself.

  [Toqlan has transferred his kingship to Jod.]

  [Jod has become the Moonlit King.]

  Mafu was silently watching, as amazed as all the others present.