They Wanted a Hero. They Made a Monster: Born at the Bottom
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 2: A Stranger in the Garden
Evan felt almost blinded. That was impressive, considering he had no eyes.
His Mycelial Garden might be full of Puffcaps, but the basic variety sat firmly at the bottom of the food chain. Every one of their Stats began at 1, and they had a mere 10 HP. What ordinary Puffcap could ever reach 3,000 HP?
Evan could subdue her easily enough. It was the long list of Permanent Effects that truly inspired envy.
Enough envy to make him want to eat her and plunder her abilities.
Still, something novel had finally dropped into this dreary underground world. He would let her live.
Besides, the Status Panel suggested the Puffcap before him was probably human. Eating someone alive was a step beyond what Evan was prepared to become, at least for now.
“Calmed down yet?” Evan had the Puffcaps pinning her ease away, giving her a little room.
The sudden voice inside Elara’s head had left her badly shaken. She still did not know whether the speaker was human or monster. All she knew was that every nearby Puffcap obeyed him.
Was this the next part of the conspiracy? Had someone been stationed here to execute her?
“If you’re going to kill me, then do it!”
“Why would I kill you? Could you please calm down?”
“Huh?”
Outsider mushrooms had no manners. She had wrecked part of his Mycelial Garden and had not even apologized.
“I’m the lord of every mushroom on this stratum. You can call me Evan. What’s your name?”
“The ... lord of the mushrooms...”
Elara could not imagine how those words belonged together. As far as she knew, mushrooms were bottom-feeders with a Level Cap of LV10. Even at max level, they could become meals for monsters only a few levels above them.
Nothing she sensed here resembled the territory of an LV10 monster. Then there was this method of communication, which felt similar to a Tier 7 Telepathy spell.
No, it was clearly more than Telepathy. Before the connection, Elara had been able to sense only a few yards around herself. Now her awareness stretched far into the distance with astonishing clarity, as though she were receiving the senses of every mushroom nearby.
She had no way to judge how powerful this Mushroom Lord might be.
Her best option was to pretend she was an ordinary Puffcap and bluff her way through.
“I ... I’m a Puffcap too. I don’t have a name.”
“Then why don’t I give you one? How about Elara?”
“...”
What?
How did he know?
Could this Telepathy-like skill read minds as well?
The Puffcaps that had backed away began closing in again. Was he going to kill her for lying?
No!
They stopped when only a sliver of space remained. Evan’s voice returned inside her mind.
“I’m very friendly, as long as you don’t play games with me. Otherwise, I won’t mind having a little more fertilizer for the soil. Understand?”
Elara bobbed her cap frantically.
“Let’s try that again. Name?”
“E-Elara St. Clair...”
“Identity?”
“The daughter of ... Duke Alaric...”
A duke’s daughter?
So the outside world had something like a medieval social order.
No wonder she possessed a Church Blessing and a Fruit of Vitality, and still had 3,000 HP after being transformed into a Puffcap.
In any world, having the right father was life’s greatest shortcut.
“Tell me, then. How did a duke’s daughter fall all the way down here?”
Now that he knew the truth, Elara saw no point in hiding anything else. She told him how she had been betrayed and sent into the chasm, then answered each of his questions honestly.
Evan learned a great deal. The place he occupied was a dungeon within House St. Clair’s territory, and he lived in its Deep Strata. That explained why monsters seemed to be everywhere.
He also learned that the outside world contained all manner of species. Humanity was currently at war with the Vampires of Demonkind, and the two traitors who had tried to murder Elara were most likely working with them.
More importantly, Elara seemed unable to see a Status Panel despite being native to this world. Otherwise, she would never have tried to conceal her name.
Perhaps the Status Panel was a hidden privilege granted to a Hero.
Whatever the explanation, Evan found the pink Puffcap much more agreeable now that he had learned so much from her.