Chapter 466

Chapter 466: The Fork in the Road

It lifted the soft material on the ground and gnawed at the bark of the ugly trees, as if venting both pain and anger.

This behavior seemed to have an effect, for a faint voice reappeared in its mind.

The voice seemed to descend from the heavens, soothing its pain and guiding it forward.

The extraordinary beast’s restless emotions were suddenly calmed, as if it had returned to a time it had never experienced—its cubhood—feeling the care of its mother.

Under the gentle guidance, the massive extraordinary beast slowly made its way deeper into the forest.

It passed under towering Giant Trees, crossed ditches flowing with biomass, and arrived at the edge of a bottomless large crater.

This crater had a diameter of several dozen meters, and nearly a thousand round-bodied extraordinary beasts with long mouthparts formed a large circle beside it.

They plunged their slender mouthparts deep into the crater, continuously sucking in the gray-black biomass from the bottom, seemingly unaware of the outsiders.

The bear-like extraordinary beast did not understand why its mother had led it here, but it chose to follow that gentle guidance.

So, it lay down on the ground, trying to ease its physical pain in this manner.

But at that moment, it felt a wave, or rather multiple waves, of intense pain surge through its body, causing its previously calmed heart to become restless again.

With a tremendous roar, the extraordinary beast raised its head to look behind it.

It saw four or five long, sharp mouthparts, like needles, piercing into its body from the back and sides.

The attacking extraordinary beasts were just like the plump ones beside the crater, constantly sucking.

The bear-like creature wanted to fight back and unleash its wild instincts to defeat its enemies.

But a tremendous suction came from those mouthparts piercing its body.

Those needle-like mouthparts stabbed, stirred, and sucked within it, shredding both undigested food and already toxin-infected organs into pieces to draw them inside.

With the bear’s roar, another seven or eight sluggish, round extraordinary beasts with long mouthparts approached it.

Long needles pierced its neck, body, abdomen, and limbs, stabbing into its brain and eyes…

The bear’s roar transformed into a wail, which then faded into silence.

In just a few seconds, only a nearly perfect bear hide remained on the ground.

This hide was naturally ignored, trampled upon, and eventually pushed into the center of the crater by those busy sucking up biomass, becoming a part of the biomass.

Clotho watched all of this through every strand of mycelium, falling into silence in the consciousness space that felt almost eternal.

He sensed that changes were occurring, both externally and internally.

Humans were changing, mycelium was evolving, and the world would never remain fixed at any given moment.

But this change left Clotho feeling unfamiliar and… fearful.

Lachesis’s recent state was somewhat strange.

Ever since completing the self-split and division, he had become dull in terms of consciousness communication.

Although Atropos agreed with Lachesis’s view and believed it was a side effect of the split, Clotho always felt there was something within it that he could not understand.

As for Atropos, that fellow had recently become even more immersed in his domain, conducting more and more complex experiments, leaving little time for communication.

These changes made Clotho feel alien, and the recent death of that ordinary extraordinary beast touched upon thoughts or emotions he had never experienced before.

Clotho felt the need for a self-examination, or rather, the will of the mycelium required a self-examination.

However… Lachesis’s plan was at a critical stage, and Atropos seemed to be in a similar situation.

So what should He do?

Clotho fell into deep contemplation.

He desired to think more deeply, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of Himself, and to comprehend everything related to this.

He needed to make some changes.

The three consciousnesses formed from the Supreme Will were not entirely separate; just like Lachesis, who oversees erosion while also promoting the spread of mycelium mats and tall grass on a large scale.

Clotho was no different; although Atropos managed learning, imitation, and change, it did not mean He couldn’t achieve similar feats.

Deep within the mycelium forest, dozens of Giant Trees began to move slowly.

These Giant Trees, capable of birthing extraordinary beasts, gathered together, and on their branches and within their crevices, cocoons shimmering with multicolored light began to swell gradually.

—

In the strange forest filled with trees, shrubs, and weeds, a group of peculiar monsters crawled and wriggled on the ground.

Some had limbs resembling those of humans, but their bodies had undergone replacement, while others exhibited features from over ten different animals, yet lacked proper fusion, resulting in a grotesquely distorted final product.

Most of these monsters were still alive, wandering aimlessly on the ground, while some had perished, their bodies enveloped by the ascending mycelium.

These were the "masterpieces" of Atropos, created during countless biological experiments—failed products unfit for battle, lacking special abilities and functions.

He also possessed a portion of birthing abilities, allowing Him to produce these extraordinary beasts, though not in the massive quantities that Clotho could.

The extraordinary beasts roamed the strange forest, occasionally clashing with the moving trees.

Atropos paid no heed to any of this; at that moment, His consciousness was immersed in the minds of twenty individuals.

To better utilize His abilities, Atropos had reserved the brains of biologists and geneticists entirely for Himself.

This had been agreed upon by Clotho and Lachesis.

At that very moment, He and His twenty avatars were listening to the private lectures of these scholars.

Over the past ten years, even decades, despite having heard this knowledge countless times, He still could not fully grasp it.

Now, a greater dilemma had arisen, one that Atropos could not ignore or choose to overlook.

If this problem was not resolved, His assimilation and genetic modification of living beings could not advance further.

Thus, He returned once more to the classroom constructed from these consciousnesses, but unlike before, Atropos had made a decision that went against His principles.

He decided to resurrect the owners of these brains to a limited extent, to aid Him in conducting related experiments and research.

This was a mad idea, so mad that He believed the other two consciousnesses would undoubtedly oppose it.

Atropos could not conceal this from His companions, so He could only delay the next gathering as much as possible.

But all of this was necessary; He had to find a way out for His tribe.