Chapter 33: Chapter 33-[Volume 2 Chapter 5] Shelter

Mika wasn’t disturbed by anything for the rest of the night and could completely replenish her mana and stamina. 

When she woke up, all the blood was drained from the snake, making it edible.

She didn’t want to waste any of her Nutritional Serums and mana stones. So, if she could hunt, kill, and eat animals for food, she’d rather do that than consume a limited item like the Nutritional Serums. 

To cook the snake, she created a small flame in her hands and hovered the meat over it, but since her power output was extremely high while her mana control was poor, she ended up overcooking it, burning it to a crisp. 

“My mana control really does need some improvement, or else I’ll have to keep drinking these nutritional serums.” Mika thought after cooking the snake. 

Afterward, she looked around and made a decision.

“I have to build a shelter—one on the ground, at that.” 

One of the main reasons her fight with the panther was so brutal was because she was thrown off the tree, causing several of her bones to break. 

However, she barely considered that a possibility when she chose to take shelter in the trees. How could she know that fucking panthers live up there? 

She thought that only monkeys and birds lived up in the trees, which she was confident in hearing before they ever reached her. 

However, that was a big mistake! This jungle, no, this world, doesn’t conform to the logic of her previous world. 

Snakes can shoot poison balls. The insects are enormous! And panthers can live in trees and cover their claws in darkness.

Nothing made sense, so she figured it’d be better to stay on the ground. There were too many unknowns, and she wasn't nearly as mobile while in the trees. While there might be an increase in potential dangers, at least she won’t have to worry about dying from fall damage!

Therefore, she needed to create a ground shelter.

To accommodate all the dangers in the jungle, she needs something that can warn the bugs away, warn her of incoming animals, a place to keep her meat stored, and a house that won’t get flooded whenever it rains. 

It wouldn’t hurt to have a stream or some sort of water source nearby, but that’s optional. There was more than enough water in the jungle to go around. 

Fortunately, with her current body size, she wouldn’t need to make a big shelter; it just has to be big enough to fit her tiny body inside it.

Over the next day, Mika focused on only creating a secure shelter. She collected plenty of wood, vines, leaves, and rocks while also investigating the surrounding area to find the best place to build a shelter.

She also studied the insects to see what they ate and what they stayed away from. Then, she could harvest that material, place it around her little shelter, and keep most of the bugs away. 

On the second day, Mika finished her investigation, and surprisingly, there was a purple and black dotted mushroom that the insects completely avoided. 

They didn’t even walk within at least 2 meters of it and for good reason! 

Mika knew she had probably been a bit reckless since the System teleported her to this jungle, which had almost killed her numerous times, so she decided to be more careful from now on.

Usually, she’d run up and grab the mushroom because why not? It’s a mushroom! But now, she was going to take a different approach. The insects must be avoiding it for a good reason.

She tried poking it with a stick, and nothing happened. Then, she threw a thumb-sized ant near it, and as soon as it got within a meter of it, the ant swelled up and exploded.

“What the…!” 

To say she was surprised would be an understatement. She couldn’t believe there was a mushroom that could make something explode without even touching it!

However, this only motivated Mika to put this around her shelter!

“No bugs will dare to come near me if I have this mushroom around my house!” 

...Is what she thought; truthfully, it wasn’t all that hard to do. All she needed was a long stick to pick up and carry them, then line her shelter with them, and she was good to go.

The problem, however, is she needed to know what would happen to her if she got near the mushroom. 

What if she accidentally runs into one? Will she die just like that ant?

She didn’t know, but she intended to find out. 

After observing it for a while, Mika realized that most of the bugs stayed around 2 meters away from it.

‘I guess something bad happens around the two-meter mark.’ 

Now that she knew the exact distance where she’ll face minimal effects but be able to test out the threat level of the mushroom, she decided to test it.

Therefore, she only pushed a single finger closer, her pinky finger to be exact, to test its effects. 

As soon as her pinky finger came within 2 meters, her skin felt like it was boiling.

*PSSHHHH*

“AH! FUCK! That hurts!” 

She immediately pulled back and noticed small bubbles had formed on her finger. 

“Are you kidding me?! How is this even possible?! How can a mushroom burn me?!” Mika shouted in disbelief. 

[That is called a Centaremors Mushroom, meaning Meter Death Mushroom. As you can tell, anything that comes within a meter of it dies. This is because the spores it releases react badly to lifeforms like you. These spores generally don’t extend further than two meters and are the most concentrated within one meter. Hence the name Centaremors Mushroom.] 

Mika didn’t even bother asking why this was happening because she was sure she wouldn’t understand. 

Instead, she asked, “Is there any way I can build up a tolerance to its effects? From what I’ve seen, this is the only thing the insects avoid in this jungle.”

[...Possibly.]

“Really?! How? Do I need to keep suffering and healing from its effects until it doesn’t do anything to me?”

[Yes, that’s one way, but there are a few other directions you can take if you don’t want to go that route.]

Mika’s eyes lit up hearing that! If she were being honest, she’d rather get bit by all the bugs than suffer the pain from that mushroom for days, weeks, or even months on end. 

[There are three primary ways you can build up resistance against the Centaremors Mushroom: 

One, you can grow strong enough to resist its effects, but the mushroom is more potent than you might think. It’s rated as a rank [F+] fungus meaning its spores will still be deadly to you even into the later stages of the Black Core Realm.

Two, you can slowly suffer for over six months to a year and build up a tolerance, but even after a year, you won’t be totally immune to it. 

The last and fastest way to increase your immunity to this mushroom and almost every poisonous object is to ingest it and survive. Do this repeatedly, and your body will eventually form a resistance to it.

However, do note that any of these options wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for your physique and Body Cultivation Technique.]

Mika’s eye twitched in response to the System’s last suggestion. 

“You know, System, I thought you wanted me to get stronger. But why do you suddenly feel like killing me now? I’m pretty sure I’ll blow up just like that ant if I eat that mushroom!”

[Host, please use your brain. You don’t need to start off eating the whole thing. Just start by inhaling some of the surrounding spores. It’ll be a little painful, but after a few days to a week, your body should have developed a little tolerance, allowing you to increase the dosage.]

Mika fell into deep thought and seriously considered this option. She glanced at her surroundings and noticed a bunch of these mushrooms just lying around. 

In fact, she felt lucky not to have run into one until now; there were so many of them.

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“There’s not really much of a choice here. Given how numerous these mushrooms are, I’ll definitely run into them in the future. I don’t really want to accidentally chance upon one without any resistance toward it and blow up.” Mika thought aloud, but she didn’t immediately begin inhaling mushroom spores. 

First, she needed to complete her shelter! 

From then on, it took Mika another half a day to complete her shelter and surround it with Centaremors Mushrooms. Of course, she kept them at least 5 meters away so she wouldn’t explode.

That’s just how much of a danger and a bother Mika felt the insects in this jungle were. She was more willing to risk her life being surrounded by those damn mushrooms than she was sleeping next to thumb-sized ants and fist-sized beetles. 

One must remember she still has the body of a toddler. If a few ants or beetles decide she’s easy food while she’s asleep, she’s as good as dead! 

Living next to a few deadly shrooms was nothing if it meant she could sleep soundly at night.

She built a small cone-shaped structure covered in giant leaves on tiny stilts that kept it about half a meter above the ground so she won’t end up drenched when it eventually rained. She even created a small moat around her house just as an extra precaution. 

Outside of the moat, she surrounded her shelter with many large rocks, sticks, and leaves so the small to medium-sized animals won’t spot her so easily. And since her shelter isn’t that big, Mika figured that might deter some of the larger animals away. 

The mushrooms surrounded the outside of her rock wall. 

After she finished building her little house, Mika laid down on the panther pelt with a smile. 

“Can I finally have a good night’s sleep tonight?” She couldn’t help but mutter. 

The first night in the jungle, she hardly got any sleep as she spent all her time meditating. Meanwhile, Mika spent her second night worrying about being eaten alive by mega-ants.

Now, she should be able to rest easy, knowing no bugs would dare to approach her little shelter.

There was still a few hours left until dusk, so Mika spent that time trying to improve her mana control. If there was one thing that could enhance her power in a short amount of time, it was that. 

Breaking through to the next stage in her Body Cultivation would take some time, and she doesn’t even have a Mana Cultivation Technique yet. 

She could cash in on using the System’s assistance to complete her [Volcanic Burst Technique], but she figured it might be more beneficial to focus on her mana control before doing that. What was the use of having a complete version if she could barely control the current one?

Also, her pride as a swordswoman didn’t allow her to take the easy way out by letting the System finish her own technique. That was the most enjoyable part of training, after all!

Mika pulled out the panther’s mana core and began trying to interact with and assert her will on the mana inside it.

However, after about 6 hours, she hadn’t made any progress. 

She couldn’t even inject her own mana inside the core because her mana control was too pitiful. 

She’d have to be able to control a tiny wisp of her mana if she wanted to inject it into the core, or else she’d risk destabilizing and destroying the panther’s mana core. 

However, right now, she could only control either all of her mana or none of it. She tried remembering the feeling she had when she created the [Volcanic Burst Technique], but that wasn’t any easier. 

“It seems I just got lucky during my enlightenment, or I suppose that’s one of the benefits of attaining it,” Mika muttered after finishing her training session, but she wasn’t disheartened. 

It wouldn’t be worth doing if it were easy. That was the kind of mindset she had and also why she enjoyed learning, practicing, and improving her swordsmanship. 

Mika looked at her sword, Chigatana, and sighed. She wanted to get back to training as soon as possible!

“Hopefully, all the bugs and animals will leave me alone tonight,” Mika muttered while lying on the panther pelt. 

She closed her eyes, and within seconds, she was asleep. 

Unfortunately, a few hours later…

*CRACKLE*

*CRACKLE*

*BOOM*

…Mika was woken up by a thunderstorm. 

“Ugh… Are you fucking kidding me? Couldn’t you just let me sleep, world?” She couldn’t help but curse. She was exhausted, and her toddler body needed to rest after all the intensive work she’s been doing.

“At least I’m nice and dry. Putting the shelter on stilts and creating a moat around the house was a good idea.” She said after noticing how dry she was. 

Mika stayed up a little longer to examine how well her shelter held up, but when nothing happened after 15 minutes, she decided to go back to sleep. 

***

That night was a long night for Mika. She kept being woken up by thunderclaps, but at least she managed to get a few more hours of sleep until she decided to stop trying.

It stormed the entire night and carried over into the next day, showing no signs of stopping. 

Mika glanced at her sword and sighed again, knowing it wouldn’t be wise of her to go out and train during the rain. 

“Fortunately, there’s still plenty of ways I can use my time even while it’s raining.” 

She figured now was a good time to begin building up a tolerance against the Centaremors Mushrooms. Plus, now is an excellent time to test her kimono's water resistance!

Stepping out into the rain, Mika felt the raindrops pelt her, but they glided right off when they hit her kimono. 

She could feel it getting slightly wet, but it would take a few minutes to get completely soaked. 

“Nice! Choosing the weather-resistant option was a good choice!” Mika exclaimed before walking over to the nearest Centaremors Mushroom. 

When she was at the edge of the 2-meter mark, she emptied all the air out of her lungs, extended her neck slightly, and inhaled.

*Inhale*

*Cough! Cough! Cough!*

“ARHG!!”

Immediately after, she began choking as if her mouth and lungs were on fire! She hurriedly ran back into her shelter before it got any worse to focus on recovering. 

She wanted to scream in pain, but her lungs already hurt so bad that she could barely let out a noise!

[Circulate your mana throughout your body, Host. That will help eliminate the spores that have entered your body.]

Mika instantly did as the System ordered. Mana circulated through her body, targeting the spores that had entered her lungs and rapidly infiltrated her bloodstream. 

It felt like her entire body was on fire, and her blood vessels began to expand slightly. Now, she understood why the ant she threw at the mushroom blew up. 

She was sure if she entered within a meter of it, she would also blow up! 

Mika suppressed the pain and circulated mana throughout her body for over half an hour until she finally got rid of all the spores.

“Haaa… Didn’t you… haaa… say… haaa… it would… haaa… only be… haaa…  a little painful, System?” Mika said in a hoarse voice between breaths but received no response.

She didn’t want to go through that again, but she knew she had to if she wanted to increase her chances of survival. Plus, if she could touch the Centaremors Mushrooms without any consequences, that could be her trump card for surviving in this godforsaken jungle.

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