The dungeon has been parasitized

Chapter 12 Rock Rat Klein

In the plantation, Klein bound a struggling rock rat tightly with vines and then placed a seed on its body.

Activate skill: Accelerate growth

The seed immediately sprouted and grew roots, while Klein hardened the roots, piercing the soft skin of the rock rat.

"Squeak, squeak!"

Immediately afterwards, Klein activated his ability: Parasite.

Success rate: 100%

[Parasitism LV1: Can be activated when a seed takes root and parasitizes a plant. Consumes mana to parasitize the plant; once parasitism is successful, it can be controlled via vines.]

[LV2: Can parasitize animals, but the parasitized animals have no independent consciousness.]

[Probability: The more powerful an object is, the lower its probability; the weaker an object is, the higher its probability.]

[Mana Cost: 100]

The magic is introduced into the offspring, then travels along the roots into the rock rat's muscles, and then rushes into the brain, leaving a mark.

The parasitism was successful. Let's see how it goes in terms of control...

Klein manipulated the vines to release the rock rat, but the rat simply stood there, motionless. It made no move, a stark contrast to its earlier fierce resistance.

"Huh? Why isn't the mouse struggling anymore?"

Yanami peeked out from the side, staring curiously at the rock rat on the ground.

Activate skill: Remote control.

"It's under my control now."

Okay~ Let's move forward!

"Ah, let's move forward."

As soon as Klein gave the command to move forward through his mental power, the rat moved forward and did not stop even when it bumped into a stone.

It feels a bit like playing with a remote-controlled race car. If it could parasitize some strong creatures, it could probably do quite a lot of things.

Unfortunately, controlling the animals you parasitize requires either a direct connection via vines or control only within the range of the [Remote Control] skill.

How convenient it would be to become a traveling mouse and go out exploring in Klein's place.

However, this is not bad either. If Klein wanted to, he could build an army of beasts.

By the way... I can directly possess the offspring plant.

"Yana, keep an eye on our surroundings for me, and whatever you do, don't hurt this rat."

Klein glanced at Yanami, who was watching from the sidelines. She was munching on jerky; what a gluttonous girl.

"Yes, sir."

After Yanami agreed, Klein transferred his soul to the plant. His vision became much lower than before, and he noticed something very important—he could hear sounds.

Because he communicates with Yanami through telepathy, Klein doesn't usually activate his auditory perception, partly to conserve his magic power.

But he could hear sounds even without activating his auditory perception, which means... he has the perception of a mouse!

I never expected it to be like this!

Klein manipulated the rat's body. Because he had been manipulating the abstract tentacles and vines for a long time, manipulating the rock rat was not difficult.

Rock Rat Klein controlled his vines to come in front of him. From the rock rat's perspective, the arm-sized vines were huge and novel.

Climbing the vines, Klein manipulated them to lift himself up, then looked down over the entire plantation.

I... finally felt the sensation of a real body again, even though I was just a tiny rock rat.

Klein couldn't help but start taking steps, then clumsily running, getting faster and faster, weaving through his own green leaves.

Klein is now essentially a rock rat, possessing the rock rat's sense of touch, smell, sight, hearing, and taste—oh, and taste, in particular.

Suddenly, a pair of huge blue eyes appeared in front of Klein, startling him.

Yanami's eyes were full of curiosity as she looked at the rock rat that had suddenly become so lively. But Klein had instructed her not to disturb it, so Yanami just watched with curiosity.

"Yana, give me some jerky."

"Huh? Jerky... Ah, is Klein a rat now?!"

Klein's voice echoed in Yanami's mind, and Yanami was surprised to find that the voice came from the mouse in front of her.

"Yes."

"Klein the Rock Rat?!"

Yanami blinked her beautiful eyes at Klein, then took out a piece of jerky and handed it to Rock Rat Klein.

"for you."

Klein took the jerky and started eating it.

Although it was just ordinary dried meat, the smoky aroma, the unique flavor of meat, captivated and enthralled Klein.

He hadn't tasted food in a long time, and now he just wanted to savor it slowly... Klein decided that from now on, he would possess an animal every day at mealtimes to taste the food.

Overall, this ability is incredibly useful!

Thanks to that steel-toothed boar, after devouring all the flesh and blood, Klein upgraded both his parasitism and accelerated growth abilities to LV2.

Parasites are a Level 2 ability.

In addition, the accelerated growth technology upgrade also brought significant improvements:

[Accelerated Growth LV1: Consumes magic to increase growth speed, but also consumes nutrients.]

[LV2: Can consume magic power instead of nutrients, but magic power consumption is doubled.]

[Mana Consumption: The faster the speed, the more mana is consumed.]

The rate at which magic power is consumed has doubled, but most importantly, when using accelerated growth, magic power can be used directly instead of nutrients, so sometimes you don't have to consume other parts of your body.

Although it will still be consumed when necessary...

"Klein, may I pick you up?"

"Uh, sure."

Upon hearing Klein's agreement, Yanami carefully took the rock rat Klein into her hand, and Klein's field of vision immediately opened up.

"Can I touch its fur?"

"Uh, go ahead and touch it."

After Klein agreed, Yanami's eyebrows curved into a smile.

"Hehe, thank you."

But this rock rat is a wild rock rat that Klein caught... not some pet rat. Oh well.

Yanami gently stroked Klein's fur with her palm, experiencing a strange feeling that was hard to describe.

Her palms were so rough... covered in calluses, but worn down, leaving rough, dead skin.

I don't know what her past is like, but at least for now, Klein can protect her.

In the eyes of the rock rat, the plantation was many times larger and more magnificent than before.

Using the magic provided by the wild boar's flesh and blood, Klein gained experience in accelerating growth and also replenished his vines, making the plantation less empty than before. The nutrients accumulated by the vines were Klein's capital for fighting; he couldn't fight on an empty stomach, right?

In addition, Klein planted many bullet pods at the entrance of the cave using accelerated growth technology, so that they could be fired in a barrage whenever an enemy invaded, thus providing the plantation with an extra layer of protection.

However, this might not be the case for tough-skinned monsters like the Steel-Toothed Boar.

Also, a lot of foul-smelling flowers have been planted in the forest, so now basically no animals will go near the Klein Plantation. However, from time to time, animals that have escaped prey will still wander in, so we still can't let our guard down.