"Hey, aren't you a little too quick when I told you to fly away?"
Ash raised his eyebrows, eyeing the not so little raven perched on his shoulder.
Caw. Caww. "Yes. And I'm proud to admit that. That was the closest I ever was to those creepy meat eating plants. You're lucky I even agreed to fly that close to it!"
Keen fought back, raising one of his talons up high, not wanting to be outdone by Ash's eyebrows.
Ash sighed. But he still patted the little guy's head. "Yeah, thanks, bud. I won't ask much from you if it comes to man eating plants."
Caaw. "Yes. Don't expect anything from me when it involves plants that ate meat. I regularly don't want to do anything involving them!"
"You too, man. I felt your hesitation to let go of me. You're really the best!"
He turned to the doppelganger this time. Patting its shoulder and giving it a thumbs up.
Not knowing what to do, the doppelganger mimicked Ash's gesture instead.
Using its viney hands to pat Ash's shoulder and making a very convincing thumbs up using braided vines.
Finished giving his appreciation to the team, Ash put his palms on the dead Titanbark and activated the seed.
The biggest question he had in his mind now was what kind of modification he should add from the Titanbark's DNA.
It was an easy choice for the slug.
He clearly wanted the slug's regeneration. And after learning about the enzyme that broke down literally anything biological, he also wanted that.
As for the Titanbark, other than its tougher and more flexible titanbark, Ash didn't know what else he wanted from it.
But one thing he knew for sure, he needed all the additional power to face the Verdant Stag.
Fighting the damn thing twice and ending up losing was enough to instill a little PTSD in him.
If he could, he preferred not to fight it again.
Alas, the banyan tree had spoken. And he had to do it.
"Now, Keen, as the local inhabitants of this place, what should I do? What do I need to do to fight against that creepy ass stag?"
Caw. Caw. "If you ask me, just don't fight it. In fact, stay away from any moving vines. It's not good for your heart.
Me and my whole bloodline thrived for a reason. And it's not messing around with those."
Another sigh left Ash's mouth. "Yeah, right. Sorry for asking for your professional opinion."
In the end, it took Ash 30 whole minutes to decide what he wanted from the Titanbark's DNA.
His choice clearly went against Keen's and his species' motto.
Which caused Keen to stay away from Ash for a good hour before finally perching back onto him when he was tired from constantly flying above his head.
Ash knew that if he wanted to stand a chance against the stag and not lose for the third time, he needed to take some drastic measures.
Even if it earned some ire from Keen and disapproval from his ancestors.
And of course, to make sure he was in his best shape against the stag, Ash did more preparations with his diseases.
Instead of running around the forest and searching for more poisons and venoms, he decided to splice the existing disease.
His splice of tier 1 and tier 2 diseases worked just fine. However, when he tried to splice tier 2 diseases together, he couldn't do it.
His knowledge told him that he needed to set up a place first. He needed to create the proper environment and equipment first to splice tier 2 diseases.
Something that Ash planned to do later when he had a place that he could call his base or his home.
Fortunately, the spliced diseases were looking strong.
He had finished splicing the first three diseases. And now, he was going to finish the last one.
"Prepare to encase me in your vines again if I ever go out of control from the symptoms!" Ash said to the doppelganger.
As for Keen, the raven was 10 meters away from Ash, not wanting to be caught up in any mishaps that might happen.
Ash placed the catalyst, which was the titanbark from the tree. Completing the process.
"Here we go!"
As soon as the new tier 2 disease was completed, the symptoms instantly came.
His feet became rigid, rooted to the ground. His control over them was lost, taken by the disease.
Then slowly, his whole body hardened.
A layer of titanbark covered his skin, spreading the rigidness of his feet to his whole body.
If he had not known he would soon take over the control of the disease, Ash would have gone into panic.
But becoming a bark statue was the least violent compared to the first three diseases.
So Ash just accepted his fate and waited for his blessing to adopt the disease into his body.
A minute went by, and Ash's whole body had been completely covered in titanbark, which earned a look of horror from Keen.
If he hadn't seen Ash's shenanigans earlier, even Keen would have tried his best to save his friend from the clutches of the evil plants.
But just like any other disease that tried to infect Ash, Ash soon took control of it.
He emerged from the titanbark, breaking apart the casing that had incapacitated him. Regaining control of his body.
His fourth spliced disease was now done.
Ash smiled wildly, checking his gains in the codex.
===========================
Tier 2
Phantom Bloom
A neurohallucinogenic disease brewed from hallucinogen venom and floral hemotoxins. Breaks down mental cohesion and shatters spatial perception.
+Symptoms:
-Neural Bloom Echoes: Sensory feedback splits, creating delayed phantom movements.
-Petal-Warp Hallucinations: Vision is overtaken by blooming hallucinations—flowering doubles, terrain distortions.
-Pulse Misfire: Victim responds to nonexistent stimuli, mistaking illusions for real threats.
+Ability Unlocked: Hollowgrin Mirage (Active)
Fire a venomous thorn that causes powerful visual and sensory hallucinations. Victims see multiple Ash clones, false attacks, or visual warping and reduced spatial awareness. Stacks increase confusion and pain response.
Acidthorn
A brutal enhancement combining circulatory overdrive with a hyperacidic bile reaction. Converts the user into a walking burst mine of thorned projectiles and internal corrosion.
+Symptoms:
-Hypervascular Thornification: Skin blooms with thorn clusters along arteries, pulsing with pressurized blood.
-Gastro-Acid Pressurization: Internal acid sacs form and bubble violently with motion.
-Ejection Reflex: Sudden movements trigger thorn launches laced with acid.
+Ability Unlocked: Plagueburst Thorns (Active)
Launch venomous thorns that explode in an acidic spray on impact.
Bloodbloom Golem Syndrome
A vine-born parasite fused with necrotic venom and bursting capillary toxins. Animates a doppelgänger from the user's own flesh and blood that lashes out in blooming violence.
+Symptoms:
-Floral Puppetry: Vine growth overrides portions of the nervous system, enabling partial or full-body mimicry.
-Capillary Burst Clusters: Infection causes red blooming lesions that rupture outward under stress.
-Necrotic Vascular Spread: Weakened tissue around the infection blackens and decays, feeding vine growth.
+Ability Unlocked: Bloodbloom Doppelganger (Active)
Summon a semi-autonomous clone made of Ash's own vines, infused with necrotic venom. Its strikes cause bursting blood vessels and spreading necrosis. The doppelgänger mimics Ash's attacks or acts independently.
Titanroot Golem Syndrome
An arboreal disease harvested from a parasitic vine and ossifying bark strain. Mutates the host into a fortress of walking bark with rooted growth potential.
+Symptoms:
-Subdermal Titanization: Body slowly plates itself in titanbark
-Vine-Muscle Graft: Tendons replaced with vine-like fibers
-Root Anchorage Reflex: Legs stiffen and root into the ground
+Ability Unlocked: Verdant Golemform (Active)
Summon a semi-autonomous clone made of Ash's own vines, protected with the Titanbark. Able to ossify the vines with its will. The doppelgänger mimics Ash's attacks or acts independently.
==========================
Ash turned to his doppelganger, giving the widest smile he had ever made in his whole life.
"Let's welcome your new friends!"
Ash activated the Bloodbloom golem and the Titanroot golem simultaneously.
Vines grew from his body. Two kinds of them.
Each of them was braided and twisted into a humanoid form.
At the end of it, three vine doppelgangers stood in front of Ash.
The original one with green vines.
Another one with red, crimson vines.
And the last one with brown, woody vines.
Several loud caws were heard, which Ash could only translate as the little raven screaming, "Run! The end of the world is coming!"
But Ash ignored it. Instead, he looked at his three doppelgangers, a chuckle left his mouth as he couldn't contain it anymore.
"Now, my loyal friends, let's teach the stag about the beauty of gangbanging."