I cultivate mushrooms in warhammer

Under-Nests, Seventh District.

The forging world of Deimos was responsible for rebuilding this district.

Ceiling fragments piled on the ground were removed.

After several smeltings, these huge fragments made of ceramsteel were purified of all impurities.

They would be poured into the foundation framework of the Seventh District in the form of hot magma, forming a hard and heavy base for the district.

In the bustling pouring site, a Tech-Priest directing servitors heard a series of alarms.

The sensors within them detected psychic fluctuations; the psychic readings rose significantly, and binary signals symbolizing imminent danger flashed through the logic conduits.

“1100100 1100001…”

The Tech-Priest reached for the power axe on his mechadendrite backpack, his crimson bionic eye flashing rapidly, doing its utmost to capture the source of the psychic signal.

Soon, the peak curve of the psychic readings leveled off, the value decreasing from Gamma level to Lambda level, indicating that the strong psychic signal source had left.

“Sensor self-check / / / Self-check complete / / No logical errors / / Confirmed abnormal psychic readings / / / Sending alarm…”

The vox-array emitted the Tech-Priest's self-talk.

As a mid-level member of the Adeptus Mechanicus responsible for directing engineering projects, he was well aware of his responsibilities; confronting Gamma-level psykers was not his job.

It was just about earning some Throne Gelt and academic credits; there was really no need to risk his life.

Just as he was about to send the alarm to the hive city's public network, the leveled psychic curve showed a small spike.

“Zzzzz—”

A faint electrical current flowed through the intracranial circuits, the Tech-Priest's body shook, the mechanical hand on the mechadendrite backpack slipped weakly, and the whole person was in a daze, as if crashed.

After half a minute, the Tech-Priest regained his senses, forgetting about sending the alarm, and continued to direct the servitors to pour the foundation.

The same scene repeated in the following half hour.

Tech-Priests from one engineering team after another detected abnormal psychic readings, and they all gave up reporting the alarm in a daze, acting as if nothing had happened.

Responsible for guarding the Under-Nest and the Under-Nest entrance was a company of new recruits from the Planetary Defense Force.

Behind the barricades piled up with sandbags and metal plates, the new recruits were changing shifts.

A five-man squad was heading to the camp on the first level of the Under-Nest along the winding passage.

The route taken by this squad was the very one that the Huntmasters had used to launch their raid on the headquarters of the Reconciliators.

After entering the hole in the ground, the first thing encountered was the Howling Passage.

The psychic effect of this passage had completely dissipated, and the human coccyx carvings on the walls had oxidized and peeled off, leaving meaningless mottled patterns.

“Ha, betrayers…”

A faint sigh seemed to echo in the winding passage.

The recruit at the end of the squad heard this strange sound, and couldn't help but slow down and look back in the direction of the sound.

He didn't find anyone.

The sound was like an auditory hallucination.

“Hey, keep up, don't fall behind.” The squad leader turned back and waved to the team member.

“Didn't you guys hear a sound?” The recruit pointed behind him, looking strange, “It sounded like someone was talking just now.”

“Tch, I didn't hear anything.” Another team member joked, “Do you miss your mommy?”

“Haha, I guess so.”

“Are you going to cry?”

The team members chuckled and teased him.

The recruit's face turned red and white, and he returned to the team, holding his lasgun.

The squad leader clapped his hands:

“Alright, enough nonsense. Our mission for today isn't over yet, follow me, we're going to patrol the very bottom of the Under-Nest.”

The squad followed the spiraling passage down to the first level of the Under-Nest.

Here, there was a hole in the floor about ten meters in diameter.

It was from here that the Huntmasters, led by Osgeos, had reached the very bottom of the Under-Nest.

They used explosives to destroy the floor, blasting down layer by layer, eventually forming a shaft more than a kilometer long.

This shaft had been modified by the Tech-Priests, who had installed a traction device and a lift, making it a quick passage for the recruits to reach the bottom.

The squad boarded the lift and descended with the roar of the traction device.

The first level of the Under-Nest was the camp for the new recruits, and the second level was the training ground.

Only these two levels were allowed to enter; the remaining floors were sealed with construction foam, and no one was allowed to enter.

Of course, there was one exception: the xenos civilization vault at the very bottom.

The Adeptus Mechanicus felt that it had some research value, so they built a xenos civilization research base inside the vault.

Research into the xenos civilization had never stopped from the second half of last year until now.

Although the artifacts in the vault had been emptied, the shelves remained.

These shelves were made of heavy stone, with Drincan language and incomprehensible graffiti on them.

Through the study of this xenos civilization information, the Adeptus Mechanicus discovered an interesting point.

Something was missing from this vault.

To be precise, it should have been a stele.

This stele should have appeared in the center of the vault, becoming a presence that would not be ignored by visitors.

But when the Huntmasters entered this vault, the stele was already gone.

The xenos civilization information recorded on the stele had also disappeared.

The Adeptus Mechanicus had reason to believe that this was the work of the Reconciliators, whose purpose was to cover up some kind of truth.

The excavation and exploration of truth is often the beginning of danger.

“Establishing 115th scanning archive / / / Activating multi-spectral optical sensor / / Energy pulse meter / / Chemical signal monitor…”

The Tech-Priest stood beside the base of the stele, emitting one energy pulse after another, extracting data from the xenos artifacts.

“Da da da…”

Footsteps approached from afar.

The new recruit squad patrolling came close to the base of the stele and saw the Tech-Priest scanning the artifacts.

The Tech-Priest, while emitting a blue scanning beam, turned back and gestured "Silence" to the new recruit squad:

“In the name of the Omnissiah / / / I need to figure out the purpose of the stele in the last week / / Otherwise I will miss the thesis defense / / So, be quiet / / Listen to the music of the Omnissiah.”

“Didi da didi da didi da…” A crisp working prompt sounded from the intracranial scanner.

The new recruits waited aside, the squad leader holding a data-slate waiting for the Tech-Priest to sign to confirm everything was normal.

After a few minutes, the Tech-Priest sighed regretfully and walked towards the squad:

“Another failure / / / Scanning results match previous records / / Displayed as a xenos artifact that cannot be further researched / / Abandon scanning = Thesis failure = Defense failure = Grade repeat / / Omnissiah above, what awaits me is a new round of retakes.”

The new recruits didn't understand anything else, but they understood the word "retake."

“Condolences, Priest. You will definitely find a more suitable thesis topic next time.”

The squad leader handed out the data-slate, signaling the Tech-Priest to sign.

Suddenly a voice came from the squad, the speaker being the recruit who had previously suspected auditory hallucinations:

“Don't you want to know what was written on the stele?”

“Yes, of course we want to know, but what's the use of just wanting? Didn't you see that even the Tech-Priest is helpless?” A teammate scoffed.

The recruit said:

“I think we can make a bold guess. Look, the Drincans are a fungal xenos civilization, with both predatory and parasitic characteristics. They certainly didn't build a vault here just for humans to visit. They could have deployed defensive forces here, but they didn't. Not only that, but they also allowed humans to take away artifacts from here and use them at will. Do you think there is such a good thing in this world?”

The teammates didn't care.

The Tech-Priest, however, was quite concerned, the logic conduits in his skull crackling, static noise continuous, indicating that his thinking was racing:

“Interesting proposal = Feasible idea = Thesis has a probability of passing the defense / / / Continue speaking / / Recruit / / I am listening.”

“Everything has a price.” The recruit spread his hands:

“Put ourselves in their shoes, if we were fungal xenos, why would we allow humans to possess our artifacts wantonly? Isn't it because we want humans to help us spread parasitic spores?”

The Tech-Priest suddenly realized, turned around abruptly, and looked at the base of the stele:

“Brilliant and theoretically sound speculation / / I partially agree with your point of view / / / Create a new logical reasoning archive / / According to the logic of putting ourselves in their shoes, deduce the purpose of the xenos civilization allowing humans to possess artifacts without restriction / / Deduction completed, the deduction result is to promote humans to spread parasitic spores.

///New problem discovered/// If humans only possess the artifacts but don't spread the spores, what will be the result? ///New logic deduction file created/// Deduction complete/// The deduced result is that humans will suffer retaliation from the Bone Drinkers.

The Mechanicus priest excitedly raised both hands and cheered in an electronically synthesized voice:

“Praise be to the Omnissiah///New argument established///The content on the stele may be a contract///Those who possess the artifacts must spread the parasitic spores, or they will be liquidated by the Bone Drinkers!”

The teammates looked at the recruit, not expecting this guy to solve the Mechanicus priest's problem with just a few words.

“Didn't realize you had some skills.”

“With a brain as useful as yours, you should try your luck at the academies in the underhive; you might even get a scholarship.”

The teammates praised him cheerfully, but the recruit, contrary to his usual self, didn't smile.

He swept his teammates and the Mechanicus priest with an indifferent gaze.

Everyone who was swept by his gaze felt a tremor in their bodies, their eyes losing their luster, entering a daze.

The scene was paused at that moment; everyone and every servo-skull except for the “recruit” stood still.

The “recruit” walked towards the base of the stele with his hands behind his back, his appearance rapidly changing, transforming from a fresh-faced recruit into Gennaro Mesraton.

In the Bone Drinker vault of Epimethius, there was a vast stockpile of mycelium from the Ghost Mushrooms.

This was an extremely generous reward.

But the Epimethians were greedy and insatiable, taking the benefits but not doing the work, only caring about making money and experimenting with the Ghost Mushrooms, completely forgetting that everything came at a price.

To this day, all the Bone Drinker parasitic spores in this vault have been destroyed, not a single one left.

Epimethius only took from the Bone Drinkers without helping them spread the parasitic spores.

Their actions will surely incur the Bone Drinkers' severe punishment.

Gennaro had come for this reason.

No, it should be said, the Bone Drinkers had come for this reason.

Gennaro extended his right hand towards the vault door, and beams of blue-purple light shot out from his palm, the light containing densely packed light spots, each one a parasitic spore that had been greatly enhanced and modified by psychic energy.

Gennaro used psychic energy to create a strong wind, blowing the spores towards the vertical shaft at an extremely fast speed.

These spores only needed 10 minutes to complete parasitization in ordinary people.

After 10 minutes, everything of the infected would belong to the Bone Drinkers, to my lord.

A Mechanicus priest and five recruits in the vault became the first to be infected.

The others in the underhive would soon follow in their footsteps.

A hive city with widespread infection has only one ending: death.

Either die from the Bone Drinker disaster, or die at the hands of the Imperium, becoming another death world under the Exterminatus order.

The Vice-Governor of Epimethius was very enthusiastic about fighting the Bone Drinkers.

He cooperated with the high-ranking priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to create a large number of scanning templates targeting the Bone Drinkers, and it was said that they were also researching vaccines.

This trend, unfavorable to the Bone Drinkers, must be stopped immediately.

The Bone Drinkers will use the destruction of Epimethius to warn those Imperial worlds that excavate the vaults: if they do not spread the spores, they will only face death.

One terrorist attack after another was already on the way; Gamma-level psychic Bone Drinkers would destroy the worlds that opposed the Bone Drinkers.

“Die, Epimethius; we will start our revenge by stepping on your grave… Uh? What is that?”

The wind, carrying the spores, rushed towards the entrance of the elevator platform but was blocked by an air wall that appeared out of nowhere; no matter how strong the wind howled, it couldn't move forward even half a step.

The air behind the spores also turned into an air wall.

The two walls sandwiched the spores, and countless dazzling blue-purple splashes exploded in the air, with parasitic spores dying in patches, forming a beautiful painting covered with blue-purple starlight.

Gennaro had no mood to appreciate this beautiful scene.

This scene before him indicated that an enemy had appeared here.

Perhaps it was some kind of technological device, or perhaps it was some kind of psychic energy; in short, the enemy was blocking the spores' path, and unless he solved it, the destruction of Epimethius would only stagnate.

Pausing the blowing wind and spraying spores, Gennaro raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

“Snap!”

The crisp sound was like thunder, and a visible spherical shockwave spread outward, instantly sweeping through every corner of the vault, even the passage outside the door and the elevator platform were not spared.

The light and shadow wrinkles caused by the shockwave changed when passing through a certain place; the arc-shaped shock texture was distorted into a human figure by a transparent object.

“Found you.” Gennaro raised the corner of his mouth and pointed at the transparent object; lightning bolts burst out.

Serpentine lightning leaped and ran, instantly bombarding the transparent object, but all of it disappeared without a trace as if sinking into the sea.

The lightning disappeared, just like that; the transparent object was like a bottomless abyss, swallowing all the lightning into its belly.

“This…” Gennaro's eyes narrowed slightly, his brows furrowed, realizing that something was wrong, and he quickly called for help in the psychic network.

But!

The psychic network had been cut off unknowingly!

There was actually a force field inside the walls of this vault that blocked psychic communication.

Gennaro, caught off guard, had become an isolated island on the sea of psychic information.

Just as his mind was shaking, the vault door closed rapidly with a roar; the Mechanicus priest and the recruits in the vault were crushed by the vibrating air, as were the spores in their bodies.

“Clang!” The door slammed shut.

The vault was deathly silent.

The hydraulic device responsible for opening and closing the door hadn't been activated from beginning to end, and Gennaro hadn't sensed a second psychic energy source appearing around him, but the vault door had closed just like that; it was really unbelievable, as if he had encountered a ghost.

“Gulp.” Gennaro swallowed hard, snapping his fingers in succession, releasing shockwaves that swept the entire area.

Waves of sound erupted, and the shockwaves repeatedly swept over the same location; the transparent object stood there, motionless like a sculpture.

“Who are you?”

Gennaro summoned a psychic shield.

His left hand was holding the snapping finger pose, ready to strike.

His right hand was spread out, palm up, and electric snakes were swimming at his fingertips; after a sound of electrophoresis, an electric spear formed from lightning appeared in his hand.

He grasped the electric spear and waved it forcefully.

“Crack!” The sound of thunder exploded, and the violent electric spear bombarded the transparent object with the force of thunder.

The expected explosion scene didn't appear.

The electric spear crashed into the transparent object and disappeared out of thin air, as if sinking into the sea.

“Damn it… What exactly is this thing?!”

Gennaro took two steps back, his expression becoming flustered, and a light of fear flowed in his eyes.

“Crack! Crack! Crack!”

One electric spear after another was shot out; Gennaro waved his right hand like crazy, and the vault was filled with flashes of lightning, thunder rumbling, and endless echoes.

One, two, three.

Ten, twenty, thirty.

One hundred, two hundred, one thousand!

The Gamma-level psychic unleashed a full one thousand electric spears, but nothing had changed!

“Huff, huff…” Gennaro gasped for breath, the veins on his forehead bulging, his face pale.

He staggered back a few steps, leaning against the hard stone surface of the shelf to rest, trying to calm the intense dizziness brought about by repeatedly using psychic energy.

The floor tiles around the transparent object had been completely shattered by the lightning, forming a large, deeply sunken arc-shaped depression, covered with black scorch marks.

The surface of the depression was covered with a layer of glittering material, which was the crystal formed by the stone being baked by the electric light.

Not to mention stone, even the ceramite power armor of a Space Marine would have melted in this violent torrent of lightning long ago.

But that invisible thing was still motionless.

“What exactly are you…”

Gennaro moved towards the vault door, while cautiously looking at the transparent object.

Today, he had asked this question countless times, and had never received a response.

But this time was different.

He heard a clear, cold male voice.

“You are weaker than I imagined.”

“What?!” Gennaro's body stiffened, repeatedly confirming that he had not misheard; this voice was coming from the transparent object.

“I said, you are too weak.”

The transparent object began to move.

His pace was unhurried, silent, and looked as light as a feather, like a nimble leopard cat.

But it was this kind of quiet pace that made Gennaro feel an extremely strong sense of oppression.

The transparent shell of the transparent object receded, and a dark shell gradually emerged, highlighting an indescribable shadow.