Chapter 55 My Deadly Ambitions

After showing all the leaflings to the new base, Lucius went to visit his prisoner with Alpha accompanying him as well.

"You can go rest, I'll take over from here," Alpha said to the leafling on duty once they arrived.

"So, have you figured something out?" Lucius asked, looking into the makeshift cell. The shroom was in bad condition, its wounds were beginning to rot, and its bindings had cut so deep into its flesh that it was beginning to swell.

"Did you bring me something to eat?" the shroom croaked, its movements slow and lethargic.

"Depends on your answer," Lucius responded.

"Kukk, I hope the forest swallows you whole," the shroom spat.

"You bas-" Alpha was about to shout before Lucius gestured for him to calm down.

"Then I take it you prefer starving to death? Or maybe your wounds will get you first?" Lucius said calmly, before sitting right in front of the cell. "I don't believe there's this much loyalty between you lot, so I'm inclined to believe that you indeed have no connection to the beings that killed my children," he continued.

"Then let me go!" the shroom screamed in reply, struggling against its bindings.

"But that doesn't mean a thing. You are the same species as the beings that killed them, and though I have no business with you, I still need information," Lucius replied.

"I told you everything I know already," the shroom responded, more calmly this time.

"No, you haven't. I want to know everything you know, everything. Where your kind is found, what their hunting patterns are, their weakness, and their strengths."

"Everything you know about the forest, hunters and prey, and this tier system you seem so fond of talking about," Lucius continued.

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"T-then you'll let me go?" the shroom asked.

"No, I won't. I'll integrate into my commune, but I will never release you," Lucius replied.

"Captain! His kind killed the others, you can't let him join our commune!" Alpha shouted, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"So what? We'll just hunt down every member of his species, even if they had never done anything to offend us?" Lucius asked, turning to Alpha.

"Remember when I told you you'd have to start thinking if you wanted to be a good leader? Now's the time to prove to me that you are worthy of keeping the name Alpha. I know that you sense it, you are close to evolution, but that means nothing if you're just going to end up a muscle-brained, Captain."

"So, tell me Alpha, what benefit does having him join our commune represent?" Lucius finished off.

Alpha thought about it for a moment, running through every possible benefit that this monster could offer the leaflings, but came up with nothing. All he could think about was how his kind had killed the other leaflings, and how one day it might do the same.

"I see," Lucius whispered in a disappointed tone.

? "Then let me help you. For one, he could help us get the rest of his kind under our rule," Lucius answered.

"Captain, you can't be serious. You want the rest of his kind to join the commune?" Alpha asked, completely flabbergasted.

"Of course, we'll take our revenge on the group that wronged us, but the rest of them might help the growth of the commune," Lucius replied seriously.

"Your plan will never work," the shroom interrupted. "My kind will never listen to prey, no hunter ever will. I don't understand why it is you are helping these leaf creatures, but I can tell you this. If not by the hands of my kind, all of them will eventually end up food for another," the shroom finished off.

"And that's exactly why I plan on ruling over your kind. I will grow the commune so large, that nothing will be capable of threatening it," Lucius replied.

The shroom laughed at this, a crazed sort of laugh. Perhaps its hunger had finally gotten to it, or it was doing it as a way to mask its pain. After whatever joke it had told itself died down, it spoke.

"I don't know what kind of world you're living in. But even if you got every single member of my kind on your side- no, every single low-tier being, we'd only amount to dust next to the high-tier ones. The true owners of this forest would look at your little commune, and squash it for fun," it said finally.

"We will see about that. But for now, what do you say?" Lucius asked, ignoring the sardonic tone in the shroom's voice.

"After you treated me this way? Why would I join you?" it asked.

"Because if you don't I'll leave you to starve. Letting you go was never an option, I'm sure you would've gone with revenge in your mind. This is the only way that I can make sure you won't," he replied.

"And what if I attack your commune the moment you let me free?" it asked.

Alpha moved towards the cell, his mind clouded with anger, however, Lucius held him back.

"You can try. But I assure you, starvation would've been a better option," Lucius replied.

"After all, I'm only offering you this chance because I feel that we've bonded so much over the few days I've held you captive. But I can always offer this chance to someone else, maybe someone I haven't tried to kill yet," he added on with a smile.

Though he knew that choosing this route would be hard. Finding another shroom in solitude would be unlikely, and approaching them when they were in a group was bound to end in slaughter.

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This shroom was his best chance at creating a bridge between their kinds, as well as his best shot at learning all he could about the shrooms that had attacked his commune.

"I'll join, but first I need proof that you won't just lead me to my death. My kind have an initiation for elders, the Shri'kilian fruit of the Dark Forest. If you can bring it back here, and eat it in front of me, I will join your commune and forget about everything," the shroom replied after careful consideration.

"You think you are in any position to negotiate?" Alpha spat.

"This is not a negotiation. My kind will only follow an elder, and this is the only way for him to become one. It is a minimum requirement for you to gain the subservience of the others," the shroom explained.

"That is, if you don't die trying," it smiled after.