After the Medical Mushroom Leaves
After the Medical Mushroom monster departed, I lowered my head and blankly stared at my left hand. My fingers had regrown perfectly. The severed area was pristine, without even the tiniest scar.
"...I ended up getting help from a monster purely by chance."
"Sure, why not? Monsters have personalities just like people—each one's different."
Just like Pruru said. That mushroom might be the type that gets a kick out of treating the wounded. Or maybe it's drunk on its own healing prowess and just wants to show off. All speculation, of course. No way to know the real reason.
Not that the reason matters much. Whatever its motive, the favor's real.
"Dog Spider, Magma Slime. You two knew that mushroom monster?"
[Srung!]
The Black Magma Slime-003 bobbed affirmatively. That's why it didn't stay on guard.
[Shee?]
The Dog Spider-001 tilted its head. Makes sense—she wouldn't know. She's barely hatched, and she's been glued to me ever since.
So it instinctively knew that mushroom was friendly to other species and had healing powers.
Like how they sense natural predators or symbiotic bonds. It must have clocked the mushroom as helpful, not harmful.
Which means that mushroom's been wandering the labyrinth for ages, patching up monsters left and right.
I turned back to the Magma Slime. "Marsl. Does that one just heal any injured creature it sees, no strings attached?"
[Srung srung!]
Another affirmative bob. As expected—a famous wandering healer among the monsters.
"I see..."
I muttered to myself, flexing my newly regrown index and middle fingers. Nerves connected perfectly. No awkwardness at all.
"Anyway, that mushroom was tempting. Way better than most saintesses when it comes to healing."
"B-grade."
The pink mushroom monster's detected threat level was B-grade. Its actual threat was probably S-grade.
"Nah. If we ranked saintesses, candidates are around C-grade, regular ones mostly B or A. There was one S-grade, but just the one."
"Not even that. Regenerating a severed limb like this in one go? That's S-grade saintess level. A-grades can't do it in seconds."
"Threat level factors in all abilities. Healing included."
"Same here as Yumi."
Pink mushroom monster. Detected threat: definitely B-grade. But the healing I witnessed? Beyond S-grade.
Probably healing untouched by nerfs, everything else dialed way down. Nothing else explains it.
Ha Yu-mi's take rang true. But I saw another angle.
This felt like a safety net for explorers. Monsters with intact combat or buffs would break balance, but a pure healer—even if slightly unbalanced—maxes survival odds.
Labyrinth wouldn't want its handpicked explorer dying too quick.
And the Loner Trait can't leverage it without lucking into the mushroom. But Domination or Helper Trait holders can tame allies and milk this hard.
Conclusion: I have to tame that pink mushroom. Exploit the labyrinth's perk to the max.
Essential for survival.
Should've tamed it right then... Situation was too sudden, slipped my mind.
I swallowed my regret and pressed on, resolving to hunt for another pink mushroom during exploration.
The one that healed me passed behind, but surely not the only one in this labyrinth.
It was 9 PM. I'd mapped this direction decently, but no other gains. No mushrooms, no monsters at all. Not even the finger thief.
Empty-handed, I returned to the rally point.
"You're back."
[Pii!]
Rise Nova and Jellyfish-002 had beaten me back. Two swords in his hands.
"Take these. Execution swords."
I took the execution swords. Hefty blades. Sharp, but I couldn't spot differences from regulars—I'm no sword expert.
Give 'em to a sword monster later.
Pocketed the swords, took Rise's map, shared intel from our scouts, and headed to shelter.
No revolutionary traces spotted. By me or him.
○ Countless forks.
○ Pig King discovered.
○ Healing monsters & finger thieves inhabit.
○ Eyeball monsters & leaf-covered monsters inhabit. (Unconfirmed sighting)
I stowed the two execution swords neatly by the box. Then swung by Passage 5 for a Poison Apple. No dinner monster caught.
"Dog Spider, you can release now."
[Shee!]
Untied the Poison Apple. Stimulated it as usual to summon its apple minions.
Pocketed the summon apples. Killed the Poison Apple. It'll croak naturally by tomorrow anyway.
Handed two summon apples to Rise.
"Safe to eat?"
"Yeah. Tastes great too—dig in."
"...Thanks."
Rise started hesitant, but one bite changed everything.
"Oho! Looks nasty, tastes divine!"
His tastes matched mine.
Before eating, I opened my notebook for monster codex work.
◈ Actual Threat:S-grade
◈ Current (Nerfed) Threat:B-grade
◈ Ability:Healing
Sketch done. I bit into a summon apple.
Delicious as always.
Savoring the sweet juice, slow chew, swallow. About to take another bite—
[Ppii!]
Familiar voice. Pink liquid dripped onto my apple—it reverted instantly.
"...Huh?"
I turned toward the voice. Right beside me. The Medical Mushroom floated with a beaming face.
[Ppii!]